Carla had attended her church’s youth group when young, so she knew about the life and teachings of Jesus. She also knew the high regard in which her youth group leaders held Jesus. Carla even considered herself a believer in Jesus, having joined other youths in giving her life to Christ. But she realized when she turned forty that she hadn’t in any demonstrable way followed through with her commitment to Christ. Indeed, she didn’t feel close to Christ in the way that she remembered some of her youth leaders, who would have been the age she was now, expressing their relationship with Christ. And Carla was realizing at the same time that she was missing him, even though she couldn’t point to any moment when she really left him. So, Carla vowed to renew her commitment to Christ, sensing that he was once again calling her and maybe, too, that he had something new and special to share with her.
Unity
For many, believing in God is one thing, while believing in Christ is another thing, even though Christians recognize God in Christ and Christ as God. And that may be the first and most significant answer to why believe in Jesus: Jesus and his Father God are one. As Christ himself answered the disciples when they asked to see his Father, you see the Father when you see his Son. You’re looking straight at God when you see Christ, the Son of God. Those of us who follow Christ see God when we see Christ. God made us in his image, and God then took on human image in the person of Jesus Christ. You need not and should not imagine God as a vapor or conceive of him as a shapeless force. God is instead an entity or being, and a being who, while still fully divine, has taken on human nature and form in the person of Jesus Christ. Believe in Christ because he is God.
Trinity
Until one recognizes the two persons of the godhead, both Father and Son, as one, or indeed all three persons of the godhead counting the Spirit as one, you may stumble at belief in God’s Son Jesus Christ. A critical thing to recognize is that God’s communal nature, three co-equal persons in one, isn’t an accident. Nor is it a convenient explanation to extend divinity to Jesus Christ. Nor is it, as it is too often characterized, an inconvenient theological construct and difficult problem better left alone. That God holds a relationship of communal love within himself explains the source of love, the nature of love, and why God is love. God communes within himself among his three co-equal persons, while also extending his loving self to us. You should believe in Jesus Christ as the divine Son, person, and expression of God the Father himself. To do so is not only to embrace God but also to join in his inherent communion of love. To commune means to dwell and share most deeply in love. When you acknowledge and embrace Jesus Christ as God’s Son, you dwell and share in God’s love.
Rescue
Another reason to embrace Jesus as God’s fully human and fully divine Son is that in doing so, we find our only rescue. Many know the construct of Jesus Christ taking the sin of the world to the cross, in his great sacrificial act of redemption. Some don’t know that the name Jesus, from the Hebrew Yeshua, means Yahweh is salvation or God saves. Jesus himself spoke of the necessity of our being born again, not just corrected, gussied up, and burnished, but made anew. And in the same moment, correcting the religious leader and Sanhedrin member Nicodemus, Jesus said that his Father sent him into the world for that purpose, not to condemn it for its corruption but to save the world through him, as he took his throne upon the cross. Jesus added at the same moment that all who believe in him will have his eternal life. If you do not sense a need for rescue through Jesus, then you may be forgetting about your otherwise certain end. You may also be overlooking your distortion. If you want to see the nature and depth of your distortion, let Jesus help you. If you want to give up your corruption but find that you cannot, let Jesus help you with that, too. And if you want eternal life, entrust your life to Jesus.
Baptism
Baptism is a closely related reason to embrace Jesus. Baptism represents and physically embodies what the above paragraph just expressed. The public immersion of our old body below the water expresses the denial and death of our corrupted self, while the raising up of the new body above the water to receive his Spirit in breath expresses our new life in Jesus Christ. When you dirty yourself, you wash. Yet you cannot wash often or thoroughly enough to remove the stain of guilt. Only a new birth in the Spirit of Christ will do to remove all guilt. Rebirth in Christ frees one of the cycles of temptation, sin, and guilt, in which each one of those problems continually feeds the next in a downward spiral. We need not to simply reform while still carrying the weight of guilt but instead to start over fresh. Rebirth in Christ, marked by ritual baptism, gives us that powerfully fresh start.
Communion
Communion is another closely related reason to embrace Jesus Christ. You’ve just seen that God communes within himself among his three co-equal persons, while offering us the life of his Son Jesus to join in that communion. At the Last Supper before his crucifixion, Jesus Christ gave his disciples the ritual of communion to remember his loving and uniting sacrifice. The bread of communion represents the body Christ gave for us on the cross. The wine of communion represents the blood he poured out for us from the cross. We unite ourselves with Christ when we accept communion while remembering his great sacrifice. Don’t miss your opportunity to unite with him in such a precious ceremony.
Miracles
The miracles of Jesus Christ are another reason to believe in him. If Jesus had only been an itinerant Jewish teacher, even a profound one at that, and had not performed miracles and risen from the dead as he said he would, we might have a significantly harder time accepting his claim to be God. And that is the way that many regard Jesus, as a profound teacher, perhaps also a prophet, but nothing more. The miracles that Jesus did, especially his raising of his friend Lazarus from the dead after three days, convinced those who saw the miracles that Jesus was indeed from God. As Jesus himself pointed out, his miracles also showed that he was the Messiah whom the scriptures said would perform such miracles. If Jesus had not performed the miracles the scriptures foretold, then Jesus would not have shown himself to be the foretold Messiah. The miracles that Jesus did also showed his authority over death, disease, and disability, and even over the natural world. Jesus, though, gave one other reason for his miracles, which was to show the redeemed, restored, and whole nature of his coming kingdom, into which he invites us. Believe in the one who ushers in that paradise kingdom.
Crucifixion
Another reason to trust in Jesus Christ has to do with his suffering. On earth, we suffer. A divine being alone might have no compassion for our circumstances. Yet Christ, divine yet also fully human, knows the full extent of our hardships. He not only suffered the pain of torture and a gruesome death but also the distress of his betrayal, unjust trial, undeserved condemnation, and brutal abandonment. We can identify with the suffering Christ. His suffering also shows that he identifies with us. He is unquestionably our brother, as the sufferer of the worst of the human condition and mistreatment. Yet he voluntarily persevered through his unjust rejection, torture, and death for us. Christ is the friend and rescuer who died for us.
Resurrection
We also believe in Christ because of his long-foretold escape from death in bodily resurrection. Mere teachers, even preachers and prophets, do not rise from the dead. Only the Son of God could conquer death. When Christ rose from his tomb after three days, he fulfilled the Hebrew Bible’s ancient prophecies of the Jewish Messiah who would usher in God’s kingdom. God’s kingdom is not an earthly realm of pain, sorrow, and death but a heavenly realm come to earth that ends the curse of death. Jesus Christ conquered death and opened the doors to the heavenly kingdom not only for Jews but for all those who would welcome his invitation. Believe in Christ because he offers you eternal life in his glorious kingdom, not out of your merit but out of his love and your willingness to accept it. Believe in Christ because he offers you a gift that costs you nothing but your confession of your need for it, when the gift he offers cost him everything including his life.
Reflection
Who do you believe Jesus Christ is? If you believe that he is only a profound teacher and perhaps a prophet, then what do you make of his claim that he is instead the Son of God? Can Christ be both profound and a crazed deceiver? Have you accepted Christ’s offer of eternal life? Would your baptism and rebirth in Christ help you get over guilt, temptation, and addiction? Would you welcome ritual communion with Christ? Do Christ’s miracles help you see him as God, accept him as the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies, and recognize the nature of his coming kingdom? Do you know of any mythic or historical figures predating or postdating the historical Christ, who echoed their suffering as our redemption? Does Christ’s suffering make him a more compassionate figure for you? Have you accepted the historical fact of his resurrection? If not, how might it change you if you did? Would you look forward to eternal life?
Key Points
Jesus Christ is God’s Son, in whom we see and know the Father.
God has a communal nature, three co-equal loving persons in one.
Embrace Christ’s sacrificial work on the cross, for his eternal life.
Accept baptism for rebirth as a new person in Christ.
Participate in communion to receive the body and blood of Christ.
The miracles of Jesus Christ are another reason to believe in him.
Jesus knows the worst of our suffering, having endured crucifixion.
Christ’s resurrection leaves no doubt for those who believe in him.