“I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”-John 8:24
We know we must believe in Jesus, but what must we believe? It’s not quite as simple as you might imagine. The best answer comes from two Scriptures. In Matthew 16:16, Peter answers Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” with what I think would be the most common answer you would hear from Christians, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Combine that verse with Romans 10:9-10, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” and you have the bedrock of saving faith.
We begin to see the true majesty and glory of Jesus when we study and take note of all the ways our Savior is described in the word of God. Take John chapter eight for example. Jesus says we have to, “believe that I am he”-v24 to be saved. In the context of that chapter, Jesus is, “the light of the world.”-v12, the Son of, “the Father who sent me.”-v18, and “the Son of Man.”-v28. Jesus even alludes to his equality with God by using the phrase, “before Abraham was, I am.”-v58.
In the first four verses of the book of Romans, we have a rewarding study laid before us with this list of descriptions. Jesus is: Christ, prophesied about in the holy Scriptures, a descendant of king David, the Son of God, resurrected by the Spirit, and our Lord. That is six things Christians should know about the child born of a virgin in the humble town of Bethlehem.
Speaking of immaculate conceptions and small towns in Judah, those two items are both the result of fulfilled prophecy. God speaks through Isaiah with a two-fold prophecy. In the days of Ahaz king of Judah, the people of God are threatened by the armies of Syria. The Lord tells Ahaz in the time it takes a virgin to have a son and for him to grow up a little, God will destroy the enemies of Judah. “The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel…For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.”-Isaiah 7:14, 16.
In the book of Ruth, we are introduced to not only Naomi and her widowed daughter-in -law Ruth, but a kind and godly man named Boaz. Naomi and Boaz were members of the tribe of Judah and Boaz was a direct descendant of king David. When Boaz married Ruth, they made their home in Bethlehem where God’s word proved true, “O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel,”-Micah 5:2. Both prophecies were partially fulfilled in the Old Testament. But they found their Amen in Jesus in the time of the New Covenant.
The virgin birth points us to another biblical concept about Jesus. He was, “born of woman”-Galatians 4:4 and there was no man involved. Just like Jesus, our true, spiritual Father is in heaven. We are born of man and woman, but we are born again with water and the same Holy Spirit by which Jesus was conceived. Jesus is the Son of God, but when we are born of water and the Spirit, we likewise become sons of God, “who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”-John 1:13.
Keep studying your Bible and you will learn how multi-faceted a jewel we have in Jesus our Savior. He is: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Redeemer, the Righteousness One, the Alpha and Omega. This barely touches the hem of the garment. To God be the glory through Christ Jesus our Lord!
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