Finding Jesus in the Bible…So We Can Follow Him in Life
Bible Reading Plans
- Plan One: New Testament Only
- Plan Two: New Testament + Psalms
- Plan Three: New Testament + History
- Plan Four: The Entire Bible – Year 1 of 3, Year 2 of 3, Year 3 of 3
Don’t know which plan? Go to A Christ-Centered Bible Reading Plan: Quick Start.
Extras
Verse of the Day, Audio Capsule, and Video Minute
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Christ Is God
Chapter 51 – Conclusion
Most of us come to God in the middle of His story. That is, we come by way of Jesus. Usually, in the four Gospels. And this is to be expected. God came to us in the flesh for that very purpose. It was our best chance to know Him – the closest we could ever get to Him. A fellow human being.
Psalm 73:28 But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
That I may tell of all Your works.
And only in the wake of this this “near one’s” crucifixion and resurrection could we even begin to understand God – His compassion, His power, His righteousness, His wisdom, His glory, His love.
But coming in the middle of His story means we have to search for the beginning and the end. And that means studying the record He has left of His revelation: the Bible.
It’s an ancient book. And it was written in languages other than our own. But it does reveal truth to those who will read and study it with an open heart. The best way to find this truth is to read it every day. If you want help with that, I’d be glad to have you read along with me.)
As you’ve seen in this book, the Bible tells the beginning and the end – but it’s not like you can read it in sequential order. You have learn how to recognize threads of the story embedded throughout the Bible…and then how those threads come together.
The biography of God that the Bible gives us begins and ends with an invisible God. In between, we see Him first as a heavenly being, then a human being, then a heavenly being again.
There is but one God. And as the Red Sea parted for a time but then came back together, so God and Christ looked separate for a time but then came back together in the end.
The end of the story is the Second Coming – that is, the coming of the kingdom of God. Who was to be the king of the kingdom of God? The one who was named king: Christ means “king.”
By the way, I’m always puzzled when I hear people say, “Christ is king.” Do they not know that Christ means king?
The central message of the New Testament was that Jesus was the Messiah (Christ) promised in the Old Testament. The central message of the Second Coming is that the Messiah (Christ) is God.
In the Old Testament God wore heavenly garments, and in the New Testament He wore earthly garments. In the Second Coming He returned to the invisibility He had before creation began.
We might think that God was nearest to us when He was a man. And there’s a sense in which that’s true. But, in a more important sense, the invisible God is even nearer. For one thing, it’s the only way He can be near to each and every one of us simultaneously.
Don’t begrudge Jesus His hard-won invisibility. It’s the means by which He now and forever transcends heaven and earth. He’s everywhere! And His nearness is our good.
Christ is God. He alone is the one true God.
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