The Good Shepherd[1] came to seek and to save His sheep which were lost[2]. He came in human form that he might get nearer to the sinner. We couldn’t understand God in His invisible glory; and Immanuel[3] came, and in human form lived out the Divine life, showing us God’s thoughts, character, and feelings, especially God’s grace and his love for sinners. This was one object for incarnation- it revealed in a way which men could understand the invisible things of God. Then Christ became man also that He might learn life by actual experience, and thus be fitted to be our Savior, and to sympathize with us in all our experiences of temptation, struggle, and sorrow. We are sure now, when we come to Christ in any need, that He understands our condition and knows how to help us. We have a High Priest i.e. Jesus Christ[4] in heaven who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, because He was tried in all points of temptation as we are. Christ became man also that He might taste death for every man, thus abolishing death for His people. He remembers what He suffered being tempted; and when He sees His people in their struggle, He remembers when He endured the same, and is ready to sympathize with and help them.
We have to take a new birth[5] in our spirit. When we accept Jesus, we are crucified, buried and resurrected with Him in a new spirit acceptable to God. To born in God’s family[6], we have to re-born in our spirit[7]. Liberation from our negative attributes may grant us peace, satisfaction and happiness but we are not born again in spirit. We submit ourselves to God’s Spirit and He will lead us to the path of truth[8]. When a man comes under the influence of the Holy Spirit of God, his instincts are not killed but controlled and sanctified and led in the right channels of service[9]. Love with heart purity, love with holiness of life, and faith with humility, which the Lord Jesus gives a repentant sinner, result in a great capacity to bring men under the influence of the cross of Christ. When people are truly broken at the Cross, the resurrection power of Christ begins to operate in them.
The purpose of our redemption was not simply to deliver us from eternal hell, but God desires fellowship and communion with His men. This is the essence of salvation and it is stated in many ways in New Testament, where it is said that: we have been reconciled to God, we now have peace with God, we are accepted in the beloved, we are received by God, we are to abide in Him, and He in us, we are partakers of the Divine Nature, we are now alive unto God, we are born of God, we are children of God, we are heirs of God, we are the bride of Christ, we now have access unto the Father, we are made nigh to God, Jesus us not ashamed to call us brethren, Jesus now calls us his friends. When Adam sinned, the relationship was destroyed. But Christ went to the cross to make a way back for man to God; and in so doing He opened once more the door to fellowship, to intimate relationship. This is what Christian life is- restoration to fellowship with our creator- it is nothing less. He died on the cross to restore you to Himself[10]. In Christ Jesus, we first realize that we are born in state of sin, we accept our sins and repent for it and confess Him as our personal Savior[11], we nail him on cross with our unclean spirit and we then born again in spirit with new way of life in Christ. In Him, we transform our life and way of living. Here, having our sins forgiven doesn’t mean that we are subjected to continue act of sin in our life, but we are urged to quit the act of sin and never repeat again[12]. When God forgives us, he doesn’t remember any sins that we committed in our life[13]. Christianity teaches that humankind cannot do so by their own effort. It is why Jesus Christ came and took our sins and curse onto himself just to accomplish God’s justification and save us from eternal punishment! We live in Christ, and we live under the direction of Holy Spirit. We come to God for our purification. God has become our Father through Christ and He wants harmony in our relationship.
If human beings were to get rid of their sorrows, unhappiness and negative attributes by their self-effort, it would bring a conclusion that human beings are capable to live a good life even without God’s presence[14]. This probably makes human think themselves mightier than God or they may reject the existence of God. That’s why the people who fail to understand the purpose of life, who goes through tribulation becomes atheist. It is all the consequences of losing God. Jesus came so that we can be reconciled to God again and have an intimate communion plus relationship with Him. Jesus came to reveal and show how much God loves us! He returned our identity[15] and address that we lost. We cannot see purpose of our life until we are reconciled to God no matter how much we earn, study and how we do live in our community. God didn’t want to see us becoming destroyed eternally[16] because he made us in his own image not to be destroyed but to know him and to have relationship with him.
If we analyze from the Bible, believing Jesus is not adopting new religion but it is reconciliation of one’s relation with God[17]. Jesus Christ is the focus of Christian faith and as per his commandment, Christians mobilize themselves around the world preaching gospel[18] no matter what persecution[19] they are compelled to suffer[20]. The preaching of gospel, accepting Jesus[21] as personal savior[22] and transformation of life[23] are important aspects in this faith.
No humans seek God, his kingdom and righteousness and hence God himself came to us in person of Jesus to seek the lost human beings and bring them back to God[24]. He, though being God, chose to be like a human being and suffered pains for our sake. He stood between God the Father and the people as a bridge occupying every gaps and brought himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the people. When we believe Jesus, we repent for our sins, we ask forgiveness, we die for our sins and resurrect again in Christ with new spiritual life. We submit ourselves to Christ and he lives in our life. We do keep ourselves far from sinful state by remembering that Jesus had to die for our sins and transgressions. It is personal to every humankind.
Even today, Bible and Christianity is credible, reliable and reasonable. The sixty six books compiled within the Bible describes about the relationship between man and God, human beings with their neighborhoods and human being within himself. The Bible is indeed a practical book that gives direction to entire humankind regarding living a righteous life acceptable to God. The New Testament is compiled with accurate history, geography, influence of Christ, work of early apostles, moral and spiritual guidelines, focus on faith, love, giving others, rejoicing in God’s presence, forgiving, honesty and other highest moral aspects, fundamental spiritual aspects, way of living, religious principles and future revelation in allegory language that are applicable even today and future. The Bible is translated, printed and sold even today in great number throughout the world to introduce the Savior of humankind. It is most selling book worldwide and has been translated in many languages. The theme of the Bible in few words is reconciliation and transformation.
In the world with many religions, influence of science and technology and modernization, this theme of the Bible remains same. Festivals, rites and rituals, arts, traditions, cultures are related to human civilization, their skills, ways of living and behaving in the society and their system with which they fit in the environment. They rejoice and establish harmony in relationships with family, relatives and neighborhoods. Science and technology is related with understanding the universe, nature and the laws, design, mechanism, purpose that works behind them. With scientific knowledge, people survive their life with convenience, utilization and protection. They implement what they learned in their life from nature so as to produce something new that can help them to live a systematic life. The theme of the Bible doesn’t hamper any of these aspects. As stated earlier, humankind is in need of savior and those aspects in their life doesn’t save them from their sins. Application of science, cultures, traditions and rituals can act evil to the world if human heart is under the bondage of sin and possess evil attributes. We can have many historical examples that shows how human beings have tampered with the world and within themselves regardless of their creed, race, nationality and religions. To be saved from bondage of sin, the Bible just introduces this savior to people[25].
Christianity has no specific festivals, cultures and rites except baptism[xxvi] and Lord’s Supper[xxvii] while Christmas[xxviii], Good Friday[xxix] and Ester [xxx]are parts of joy in remembrance of Jesus Christ, his birth, crucifixion and resurrection. However, every Christians from different human race of their own origin and kind enjoy their good rituals, cultures, arts, etc. but they glorify God and remains in Jesus. They can glorify God and serve Him[xxxi] even by their cultures, arts and traditions. The Christian faith can fit into any good culture, rituals, society, etc. God just wants every people knowing him through the Christ. All the people from different caste, race and creed can enjoy together and worship God within their own national culture, and rituals.
Modern people need to understand that Christianity is not a religion of set of culture and tradition. It is indeed relationship with God, not a religion. As James 1:27 in the Bible admits, Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. In fact, the Biblical message is unique among all the religions, in that it is not tied to a particular people or culture. It can be translated both linguistically and culturally in any social framework of humanity; so that the recipient can understand what it means to be a Christian in their own context. However, even after being of such special quality, the Christian message is often misunderstood as an intrusion of foreign culture. The Gospel is never a message of condemnation. It is indeed a message of true hope. It’s all about the Most Holy God wrapping Himself into a sinful humanity in order to save it. If only people will seek Him, He will be found in any corner of the universe and in any culture of the world.
As the Bible states us, we do trust in His timing[xxxii], wait on His answers, listen to his whispers, rely on his promises, rejoice in his goodness, rest[xxxiii] in his presence[xxxiv], abide in his word, and believe in his salvation. We do receive opportunity to change our life. We cast our personal burdens on him[xxxv].
Today, miracles are possible in name of Jesus. Uncured diseases and illness are healed in his name. The victims of evil spirits get freedom in his name. Many people have got true hope for living a life. The bondage of sin, curse and evil power are broken down in his name. However, we have to maintain our personal relationship with Jesus. We need to seek God’s will in our life. God wants to implement his plans in our life which is even greater than our own dreams. In Jesus, we get peace and joy[xxxvi]. Healing in his name is physical, mental and psychological. This faith concerns with our present and future as Judaism. Whenever hopelessness surrounds us, we have to surrender our weakness to God and He will bring us unexpected hope in our life. As the Bible states, we just need to grab our faith in Jesus until death (Revelation 2:10; Matthew 24:13).
To sum up, believing and receiving Jesus Christ according to the Bible, is a necessity to entire humankind. However, it is again granted as free choice to humankind. People in modern world can either choose Jesus in their life or they can freely reject him. Meanwhile, the message of the Bible is crystal clear that humankind is provided with choice either to choose eternal life or not. It is indeed a sad news that this principle of the Bible and Christian faith can be obviously offensive, biased and even a hoax to modern aged people influenced by humanism, science and technology.
[2] This is an allegoric statement in which sheep refers to human beings and Good Shepherd refers to Jesus, God in flesh.
[4] Hebrew 7, 8
[6] Kingdom of God
[10] Romans 5:11; 1 John 2:2; John 10:11; 1 Peter 1:18, 19; Romans 5:10; Matthew 20:28; John 19:18; Galatian 3:13
[15] According to the Bible, after one receives Jesus, his identity gets exchanged i.e. the person doesn’t live his life but the Christ himself lives in him. Galatians 2:20
[19] John 15:18-20. This term refers to suffering and burdens Christians need to face in this world, in his family, and society to preach Jesus’ name. They have to go through temptations in their life for sake of truth.
[23] It means change in life, way of living and behaving. The change in life that leads humankind to be righteous.
[xxvi] It is one of the holy ritual for Christians at church. Jesus himself had taken baptism and commanded his people to take it. This is obedient to his commandment. In this ritual, one have to dip himself into water and come out of it within few seconds. This is outer symbol of inner belief that we have died for sins and this world and born again in Christ. This is performed not under force but with proper understanding of spiritual knowledge.
[xxvii] Declaration of Jesus’ death until his second coming. The Christians at church under direction of Leaders have pieces of breads and a cup of grape juice to consume in this Lord’s communion. Jesus had his Last Supper with his twelve disciples just a night before his arrest. The bread symbolizes his body that has been crushed, beaten and pierced for sake of our sins (Isaiah 52:14, 53:4, 53:5, 1 Peter 2:24, Luke 23:44). The grape juice (use of juice depends upon ease of excess with respect to culture and tradition) symbolizes Jesus’ blood that was shed for our sins. Thus, Lord’s communion is to declare his death until he returns. Also, 1 Corinthians 11:17-34; 10:3, 4, 16-22; 12:13.
[xxviii] The festival celebrated on 25th December every year worldwide on memory of Jesus Christ’s birth on the earth. However, the Bible doesn’t specify actual date of his birth. Traditionally, 25th December has been specified to celebrate Christmas. Personally, Christmas means to let Jesus to be born in our heart so that he would work in our life.
[xxix] The day celebrated in remembrance of Jesus’ crucifixion. Stating Good Friday, it can be stunning to people because he was crucified with pain. However, Bible admits that humankind were reconciled to God and saved due to his crucifixion.
[xxx] The day celebrated to mark the day of Jesus’ resurrection. This celebration remarks entire humankind that Jesus is alive.
[xxxiii] Matthew 11:28
[xxxvi] Read Luke 10:20 to know for what we are urged to rejoice. We are told to rejoice that our names are written in the Heaven and we have become members in God’s kingdom as Bible states.
(Extracted from the document: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1jNSYP5cBq2KZ2PYXGDkK_OYWTc1rHZJo)
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