The very capacity to think points us to the existence of a Creator God.
The Psalmist summed things up, lifting his heart to praise God, saying: “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well” (Psalm 139:14).
The English novelist Rudyard Kipling (1865 – 1936) recognised the importance of questions in the human experience and wrote: “I keep six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew): their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.”
The Lord Jesus Christ asked questions, too, not so that He Himself might know, for “He knew what was in man” (John 2:25) and He who is God “knows all things” (1 John 3:20). But He asked questions to challenge his hearers, reveal the truth, encourage thinking, and prompt conviction and decision.
The Bible records an occasion when the Pharisees (the religious leaders in Israel at that time) joined forces with the Herodians (the political leaders). They developed a suite of “trick” questions, which they aimed at the Lord Jesus Christ, with the ulterior motive to “entangle him in His talk” (Matthew 22:15). Things changed for them when “Jesus asked them, saying, What do you think about the Christ?”(Matthew 22:41-42). This searching question, along with some others that Jesus used, revealed His deity. They were left scratching their heads, to the extent that “no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore” (v.46).
In a world full of questions, this is one that is not just poignant but pivotal, one that should stop us in our tracks: “What do you think about the Christ?”
The Bible records many people who were prepared to testify what they thought of Christ.
A woman called Martha confessed that Christ was the promised One, the Son of God who was to come into the world.
Martha’s “world” had been turned upside down by bereavement following the death of her brother. But a glorious light shone through the darkness of her sadness as the Lord Jesus Christ pointed Martha to the present reality of His power with the words: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26). She said: “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world” (v.27).
Graciously, the Lord Jesus Christ intervened in her circumstances and raised her brother Lazarus to life again, restoring her joy and giving her living hope and consolation.
A man called John confessed that Christ was the One who had been sent into the world as the Saviour of the world. John’s “world” had been transformed when he left fishing behind and became a follower of the Son of God (Matthew 4:21-22). He enjoyed close fellowship with Christ and was described as one “whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23). Later in life John wrote his testimony of Christ: “we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14 KJV).
The good news from God’s Word, the Bible, is that Christ, the Son of God, was both sent by God and came voluntarily to be the Saviour for this world. He came from heaven to rescue us from the penalty that our sins deserve – eternal punishment and separation from God. He had no sin of His own, yet He took the punishment we justly deserve because of our sins when He shed His blood and died on a cross. He rose triumphantly from the dead on the third day and ascended back to God the Father in heaven. If we turn from our sins in repentance and trust Him as Lord and Saviour, believing that He died on the cross for our sins and rose again, we are given the assurance of eternal life, a living vibrant hope, a glorious future beyond the grave.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-17).
At the end of his Gospel, John gives the reason for the signs he has recorded, including the raising of Martha’s brother, Lazarus, to life again: “these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in His name” (John 20:31).
“What do you think about the Christ?”
John Newton (1725 – 1807) understood the priority of such a question when he wrote:
“What think you of Christ? is the test;
To try both your state and your scheme;
You cannot be right in the rest;
Unless you think rightly of Him.”
