When I read the verse, the room seemed to fill with light. No one had to explain to me that I was in the presence of God. I just knew. No one had to explain to me that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. I just knew. There was no question of making a decision to believe in Him. I just did.
Much earlier when Jesus walked this earth, He did many things that demonstrated who He is, but most of the people around Him didn’t get it. Like I had been, they were spiritually dead and blind to the truth about Him and to the realities of the kingdom of God. However, not all of them were clueless.
Jesus said to them (the twelve disciples), “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 16:15–17)Christianity is a revealed belief system. This means that being a Christian depends on revelations from God and on His work of regenerating dead spirits so that His truth and His Person can be known and experienced. This is spelled out in the Bible and demonstrated in the lives of those who believe.
Each Christian has different experiences regarding salvation though. Not everyone who believes in Jesus has an initial revelation as dramatic as the experience of the Apostle Paul. He was on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians when confronted by the living Christ.
As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9:3–6)Saul obeyed and the God who had given him new life, a new heart, and eyes to see, ears to hear, also gave him a new name and a job to do. Saul became Paul, an evangelist, disciple-maker and church planter, a pillar in the early church.
Both his experience and mine prove that which is set forth in the Bible. No one can see, much less enter, the kingdom of God unless God does something to us. We are spiritually blind and dead to the things of God. Sin does that. Only God can undo it, and in the undoing, we are saved.
I’m so painfully aware of those who claim to be Christian yet they have never experienced this incredible miracle of regeneration and new life. In their own strength, they do good things and are pleased with their own efforts. In thinking that God is pleased also, they have missed the experience of new life and the wonder of His grace and power. They praise their own goodness and miss seeing the glory of Jesus Christ.
Because the Father has revealed His Son to me, I’ve no desire to claim that my “good deeds” will satisfy God or earn me a place in His kingdom. Compared to His grace and the power of Christ to change lives, anything I do falls far short and is not even fit for such a comparison.
Can a person ask that God reveals Himself to them? Jeremiah 29:13 says, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” However, in John 6:44 Jesus also says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him. . . .”
We need to seek and respond, but it is God who reveals Himself and changes lives. Salvation is a God thing and those who know Him also know the identity of His Son and have an incredible and God-initiated relationship with Him.
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