John 5:39
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are
they which testify of me.”
Jesus Is the Desire of All Nations
Haggai 2:7~“And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.”
All men in all nations know they will die. Before they die, they endure pain and suffering of all kinds. They must work hard to even survive for the few years of life. Their hopes and dreams are seldom realized, and death takes everything away.
They dream of a Fountain of Youth or Nirvana. They know life is hopeless, because the best of them still suffer and die like animals. Solomon summarized his observations about life’s hopelessness this way: All is vanity and vexation of spirit.
All nations seek relief from hopelessness every way imaginable. They invent gods and idols to give them hope. They practice witchcraft. They resort to drunkenness or drugs to reduce the pain. They pursue pleasure after pleasure to stop the pain.
There is only one cure for man’s hopeless condition and future – and that remedy and savior of man is a gift from the Creator God, the LORD Jehovah of the Bible. Though man chose death and hopelessness in Eden, God promised a solution.
God promised He would send a Man to destroy death and the curses on men and the universe that were the result of sin. He promised this Man would give eternal life and recreate the universe for the everlasting pleasure of the children of God.
The prophecy above by Haggai was given about 400 B.C. In it, God told Haggai to tell the Jews that the Man would visit the temple they were rebuilding, and His new religion would turn the world upside down with the good news of salvation.
The Jews were discouraged. Their rebuilding project was very inferior to the glory and grandeur of Solomon’s temple that Nebuchadnezzar had razed in 526 B.C. But God encouraged them that His Man visiting their temple would make it far greater.
Who was this Man? Jesus of Nazareth, God’s Son. When did He visit the second temple? Many times during his life. Did He bring hope and salvation? Yes, indeed! His death tore the temple veil from top to bottom to fully open the way to God.
The news of this Man and His achievements, including rising from the dead, was carried through the earth by His apostles and the men they ordained. Christianity exploded as a new religion with hope, joy, truth, and wisdom never heard before.
The Desire of all Nations came 2000 years ago. He is the perfect answer for pain, suffering, hopelessness, and death. His religion turned the world upside down. His truth changed nations. He will change our life, if we only will believe and obey Him.
Jesus Christ
The most important doctrine and Person of the Christian religion is Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul chose to know nothing else in His preaching than Jesus Christ crucified (
I Cor 2:2). He chose to glory in nothing else in life but the cross of Jesus Christ (
Gal 6:14). It was Christ’s love for Paul that drove him to be the most diligent of the apostles (
II Cor 5:14-15). Do you know the Christ of Paul? He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and He is coming soon to burn up this earth and all that is in it and to judge all men and angels with eternal authority. But He is the loving Apostle, Brother, Friend, High Priest, Intercessor, and Saviour for all those who love Him and obey Him. As fully God and fully man, He should be loved and served like no other. He has no peers of any kind. Do we know Him and love him?
Who is Jesus Christ?
John 8:24~“I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”
Jesus is the most important man in human history. BC and AD dates prove His importance. Christianity is by far the world’s largest religion.
The Bible, which is the Christian holy book about Him, is by far the most published book in history.
Jesus was a Jew. He was born in Bethlehem of Judea and raised in Nazareth of Galilee. He was circumcised the eighth day and kept Moses’ Law His whole life. He worshipped God in the Jews’ second temple before the Romans destroyed it.
The Jewish scriptures foretold of Him from the Garden of Eden to the prophecy of Malachi. He was to be their Messiah – their God-sent Deliverer and King. He would be fully God and fully man, born of a virgin, to rule the universe for God.
God told Satan in the Garden of Eden that an eventual Son of Eve would destroy him. God told Abraham that his Son would be a blessing to all nations of the earth. God told David that this Son would be among His descendants and King forever.
The prophet Isaiah told how this coming virgin-born Son would die for the sins of His people to save them from the punishment they deserve in the lake of fire. It is this death of Jesus on a Roman cross that the New Testament tells of from beginning to end.
After being killed, Jesus rose from the dead, was seen by over 500 eyewitnesses, and ascended into heaven where He rules at God’s right hand – the most glorious Man ever.
He lives to guarantee eternal life to each of those God assigned to Him.
He will return to earth soon to raise all dead bodies. His people will be declared to be righteous; they will inherit heaven and a new universe. All other persons – the wicked that sin daily and promote evolution, etc. – will be destroyed in the lake of fire
which is the second death.
What should we do after hearing about Jesus? Repent of our sins and beg Him for mercy. Believe that Jesus is God’s beloved Son and commit to live for Him for the rest of our life. Find a disciple of Christ, and be baptized into his religion/faith.
