No-one else has fulfilled multiple prophecies, claimed to be God, and backed up His claims by rising from the dead. For almost 1500 years the familiar method of labelling years as B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (in the year of our Lord) has testified to the remarkable impact of Jesus upon history. However, His impact stretches beyond history and into eternity.
Jesus divides Eternity
A lady once told me that she didn’t think it fair that good people from other religions were excluded from heaven while God only allowed the good Christians in. On the face of it that does sound unfair. However, she had a deep misunderstanding of the Gospel.
God did not look down from heaven and see good Muslims and good Hindus and good Buddhists and good Christians and decide that He liked Christians best, so they could be in heaven. God looked down from heaven to see that people “have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one.” (Psalm 14:3).
No-one is good; all deserve God’s judgment. We need God to provide an answer to a universal problem: how can people be rescued from the judgment they deserve for sin? What is God’s answer? “The Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14).
One Saviour has been provided by God for all people. There is nothing unfair in this arrangement. The response of each person to this Saviour will determine their eternal destiny: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3.36).
Does refusing to believe in the Son of God put a person in danger?” No. Refusing to believe in the Son of God keeps a person in danger. The sins we have already committed have placed us in a precarious position: if we are not rescued, our judgment by a righteous God is certain.
If you couldn’t swim and fell off a pier into deep water you would be in danger of drowning. If a passer-by threw you a lifeline he would be providing for you a means of escape from death. However, if you refused it, your refusal wouldn’t put you in danger, it would just mean that you remain there. Your refusal would also make you even more responsible for your own death.
Because of our sins we are already in danger. God, in love for us, has thrown out the lifeline — His own Son. Receiving and relying upon God’s Son brings rescue. If we refuse to trust the Son of God it will ensure that we remain in danger and add to our culpability when we eventually perish.
What’s so Special about Jesus? In addition to Him being the prophesied Saviour, the divine Son of God and the Victor over sin and death, He is our one and only hope of eternal life. Your eternal destiny depends upon your response to Him.
Jesus is certainly special. In these posts I have shared four reasons why I believe that to be true. It may be that you remain unconvinced. Can I encourage you to investigate Him further for yourself?
However, if you are convinced that He is the fulfiller of prophecy, God in human flesh who died for our sins and rose again, why not bow your heart before Him, acknowledge your sin to Him, and entrust your soul into His care? If you do so, you can claim His promise, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life” (John 3:36).
