This Whole Witnessing Thing

Listen! It's the voice of someone shouting, "Clear the way through the wilderness for the LORD! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! - (Isaiah 40:3 NLT)

I am a believer in Jesus Christ.

No doubt about it.

Even an atheist friend of mine vehemently determined that to be true.

According to the statistics posted by Wikipedia on Christianity, there are approximately 2 billion people all over the world who believes as I do. Together, we make up the largest community of theists among the major religions of the world.

That’s 2 billion people. Roughly a third of the world’s total population. A majority by certain standards.

My question to you this day is this: what does it mean to be a believer in Jesus Christ?

Of course, this question would be meaningless if the person to whom it is addressed does not know WHO Jesus Christ is.

It seems highly implausible that anyone in the world today would not have heard of Jesus Christ. After all, there are 2 billion of His followers scattered all over the world.

At the very least, the name itself would be familiar, even to the most ardent of non-believers.

So perhaps my question should be revised as follows:

Who in world is Jesus Christ?

It seems only logical that the person to whom you should address this question to is someone like me: one who professes to believe in Him. A “Christian.” For that is what a believer in Christ is called, ever since the movement began not too long after His death. (The term was first used in Antioch, which is now part of modern Turkey, according to the Book of Acts, 11:26.)

So WHO is He?

My first answer will be in the form of another question: How do we know who anyone is?

When someone new is introduced to me, the very first thing I get to know about that person is his name. A conversation about that person would then ensue. Kind of like the following:

“Hello, my name is John.”

Pleased to meet you John.

“Pleased to meet you too!”

So John, what do you do for a living?

“Well, I’m kind of an eccentric by my people’s standards. (And my people are already considered to be an eccentric bunch). My birth was foretold by an angel. See my dad’s a priest in the order of Aaron from the tribe of the Levites. They’re the caretakers of the Temple of God, where we store this thing called the Ark, which contains relics from our past. It’s a history of our people really. But more importantly, our priests talk to our God for our people. They intercede for them and offer up their prayers. Apparently, our people are so stubborn that we need an intermediary to even come close to our God, who is so righteous that His mere presence obliterates unrighteousness (that usually means someone gets burned to a crisp). So our God set down rules for us to follow so that we don’t get burned to a crisp, because our God wants to be with us, and we want to be with our God.”

Uh, okay John. So what does that make you? Are you a priest too?

“Well, not quite. I’m a bit different from a full-time Levitical priest. Besides, not all of the Levitical priests are good guys (even though they’re supposed to be). Some of them are bad. I mean REALLY bad. You know, in the inside. I’m kind of surprised really that they are not burned to a crisp outright for even setting foot in the Temple of our God. I guess our God got tired of burning our people to a crisp. Anyway, that’s supposed to be the reason why I’m born. See, I’m supposed to be part of God’s plan to set things right for my people, so that nobody will get burned to a crisp anymore. I’m supposed to ‘make straight the paths of the Lord’, which is what one of our prophets foretold. Actually, I’m a prophet myself.”

So you predict the future?

“Well, kind of. Its not really some mystical thing. Its simple really. I just look at what’s currently happening, and make a prediction based on that.”

That sounds kind of simple. I mean, I can do that too.

“Yes! Actually you can! We all can! But for some reason, my people can’t. It has something to do with their being blind to the truth. You see, you CAN’T predict what’s going to happen if you can’t see the truth. Maybe its because a lot of my people have become bad. You know, bad in the inside. And I suppose NOBODY wants to admit that they’re bad. So they tell themselves that they’re good, even though in reality, they’re bad. That’s why they can’t predict the future. That’s why they need prophets like me to tell them where to go.”

That’s interesting. So where ARE your people headed?

“Somewhere really, REALLY bad. Unless they open their eyes to how bad they really are and then change their ways. But see, they can’t do this alone. They need someone to show them that they’re bad. And the only way you can know what is bad, is to know what is good.”

Sounds reasonable enough. So I take it that YOU will be the one to show them what is good?

“Oh no. No, no, NO! I am DEFINITELY NOT that person. I’m flattered that you would think so, but I’m not. I’m not even worthy to tie His sandals (which get kind of REALLY dirty out here in the desert), let alone be mistaken for Him.”

So, who is He? Who is this Guy who is supposed to show your people how to be good?

“Why, there He is right now! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!”

Lamb of God? What’s that?

“Oh, well, I told you that the Levitical priests are supposed to intercede for our people right? Well, part of that is to make atonement (or payment) for their ‘sins’, that is, the bad things they have done. We do this through sacrifices, usually a lamb. That lamb is supposed to be the best of the flock. The priest then slaughters the lamb, and sprinkles its blood on the altar in the Temple and over the people.”

How barbaric! Blood over the people? Isn’t that gory?

“Actually, yes, it is. It’s VERY gory. But this is part of the rules our God laid down for us, and which we have been following for many centuries. Anyway, the blood is supposed to remind you how terrible the price is for doing bad things. Nobody wants to see blood. Its horrible! (not to mention the stains are a pain to remove).”

So what does that have to do with that Guy you just pointed to a moment ago?

“Oh Him? Well, He IS our Lamb! The Last Lamb we are to sacrifice to our God. After Him, we don’t need to sacrifice any more lambs.”

What? So you’re going to KILL Him?

“Well, yes. That too was foretold by our prophets.”

But WHY!?

“Because He needs to show my people that it is a good thing to die for others. Even for those who are bad. That’s part of being good. There are a whole lot of other good things that He will do as well. My people are not going to like Him very much though. Because His goodness will make their badness stand out for everyone to see. That’s why they’re going to kill Him.”

But, but that’s TERRIBLE!

“Yes. It is. But there is no other way to wake my people up to the truth. There is no other way to make them see how bad they’ve become. But don’t worry, He will not die forever.”

I’m sorry, you said “not die forever?” So He’s immortal?

“In a way yes. Goodness cannot die. Because goodness is a part of our God. And our God IS immortal.”

Wait, so are you telling me that HE is your God?

“I’m sorry, I have to go, I’m being summoned to the dungeons by that guy with the big sword. Something about a request by the daughter of the King’s wife (whom He illegally married by the way because she used to be the wife of his brother. And that’s just one of the MANY bad things my people have been doing.) It was nice talking to you!”

Wait! Wait! I want to know more about this Lamb of God!

“Ask one of His disciples! The people who follow Him!”

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Of course, we could know more about a person by reading about him/her. Reading about something is a lot easier because the words don’t change as the story is told. And you can read and absorb the information at your own pace.

Which is probably why they’ve come up with the Bible. Because people can get tired telling stories, especially LONG ones that span thousands of years. Not to mention that people’s memories are not too long. They can forget things. Important things.

And Jesus’ story supposedly began since the beginning of time, and is continuing up to the present. It would take lifetimes to document everything about Him.

But we don’t need to know everything there is to know about Him. We just need to know the important things, like who He says he is, what He believed in, what He did with those beliefs, and where He went.

The answers to these questions are recorded in the Bible. And that Bible has been passed down for millennia. Meticulously copied and reproduced throughout the ages. Of course, being human, the copying and the reproducing are all subject to human errors. But the underlying message of the Bible stays the same:

There IS a God. That God is Good. He wants to be with us. But He can’t because we’ve been Bad. So He lets go of His divinity for a moment, so that He can be as close to us as possible. He stays with us just long enough to show us how bad we’ve become. And He does this by showing us what it means to be truly good. And in the ultimate act of goodness, He sacrificed Himself so that we could start afresh with our lives and finally be with Him.

That’s the underlying message of the Bible. According to the timeline of events recorded in the Bible, this has been going on since God created humankind.

God’s plan for humankind’s salvation is an ongoing story. He may have gone back to His heavenly throne, but His message for mankind remains:

“Be Good. Love me because I’m good. And love each other because I created you to be good.”

Over two thousand years after His death as a human, we have a new priesthood of believers. A new order of intercessors for God. 2 billion of them.

Just what exactly are these people doing? Are all of them doing what they’re supposed to be doing? Are they bringing the people closer to God?

Or are they doing the opposite?

Are they being like the Pharisees and the Saducees and the rest of the priests that comprise the old Levitical Order?

The Apostle Matthew records Jesus as having rebuked the Levitical orders so badly, they responded by arranging for His murder. Jesus’ rebuke has been titled the “Seven Woes”.

The underlying message of the rebuke is unmistakable:

You are NOT doing your job!

How are they not doing their job? By not setting the proper example for the people to follow.

"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. - (Matthew 23:2-3 NIV)

You’ve heard of the smoker parent who wanted his own son to stop smoking? He told his son in between puffs of smoke: “Son, don’t smoke. Its bad for you.”

The son answers, “Yeah, right dad.” And picks up a cigarette from his dad’s pocket, and uses his dad’s lit cigarette to light it.

That’s exactly what a “Christian” is doing when he/she preaches to a non-believer and does not take care to practice what he/she preaches.

Jesus warns:

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. - (Matthew 7:1-5 NIV)

And some Christians wonder why there are still non-believers in the world.

Christian missionaries who go out into the world to teach the Word of God would do well to remember the Messiah’s words:

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. - (Matthew 23:15 NIV)

I am not writing this from a third point of view. Truth, any truth, is double-edged. The words I use to cut others can be used to cut me back. That’s the whole point of truth.

Which is why truth is so reliable. ANYONE can use it.

But who will use it on him/herself? How many will the Messiah find on earth who used His message to cleanse him/herself for His return?

Let me conclude this lengthy entry with the words of the Apostle Peter:

But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment. Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, He will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth He has promised, a world filled with God's righteousness. And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in His sight. And remember, our Lord's patience gives people time to be saved… - (2 Peter 3:10-15 NLT)

To my brothers and sisters in the faith I exhort:

Make straight the paths to the Lord. Do not hinder anyone from entering the Kingdom of God, for His Kingdom belongs to all who live by the truth.

For the right to rule that Kingdom is His, and His alone, forever.

Soli Deo Gloria.

May God bless you all this coming long weekend!