I, pastor Shinya, selected some key verses of the Bible written bellow according to my faith and knowledge The sentences continued are my explanations and meditation.
1.In the beginning God created the heavens. Gen.1:1
2. With men it is impossible, but not with God; Mark10:27
3. For all have sinned and fall short of,Rom. 3:23-26
4. For God so loved the world that He gave,John 3:16
5. This is eternal life, that they may know you, John 17:3
6.Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life.John 11:25
7. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, 2Cor 13:13
1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1:1-5
These verses tells us that God of the Bible is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and everything in them. and that we mankind are the works by the hands of God. As the products by the hands of men betray the existence and wisdom of the man who made them, so the cosmos and the mankind living in there reveal the existence, wisdom, power and greatness of its creator.
The Word written above in John 1:1 stands for Christ the Son of God, as John 1:14 says " The Word became flesh and lived among us". So long as everything were made through Christ and the Life of Christ is the light of men, men can not live as true men if they neglect Christ.
2. With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible. Mark10:27
It goes without saying that God the Creator of the heavens and the earth is almighty God, so that God can do the things which men can not do. Some Christian Churches say that miracles did happen in the time of Bible age, but they do not do now in the modern times. It is the same with saying that the God in the Bible time does not exist now and He died
But "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever"(Heb 13:8). And "the Lord God lives"(1K 17:1). The Lord lives who put apart the Red Sea and gave Israelites the bread from heaven in the desert for 40 years Jesus Christ lives now who turned water into wine and made alive Lazarus who had been dead for 4 days. The Lord is doing miracles now through the churches all over the world who believe in the Almighty God.
As our Lord resurrected from the dead after 3 days in accordance with his three times foretelling, so he is able to make alive our dead spirits in sin (Eph 2:5) and to turn our minus life into plus one.
3. For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God has passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Rom. 3:23-26
As the result of the sin and fall of Adam created as the first man and the representative of mankind, all men became native sinners. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23) which is not only bodily death, but spiritual death, that is, the judgment in Hell after death.
In order to save us from sin and its judgment, Jesus Christ the Son of God was sent from heaven and shed his holy sinless blood on the cross and resurrected from the dead into the imperishable body after three days. This is the work of redemption by our Lord Jesus. Every one who believes in Jesus is forgiven his sins and is given eternal life.
"Being justified" (in the verse above) means to be forgiven sins in the presence of God and to be regarded as sinless and righteous one like Jesus. It is the promise of God that everybody is justified by the faith in Jesus Christ.
4. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. John 3:16
This verse expresses the essence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It shows that it is by the will of God the Father of Christ and not by the will of Christ alone that the Son of God came to this world. And it expresses that the cross of Jesus is the place where the love of God and his righteousness cross each other. Where is the righteousness of God who hate sins betrayed in this verse? It is betrayed in the phrase "may not perish". It means that everyone who does not believe in Jesus will be judged and perish. The righteousness of God who hates disbelief and sins judge and condemn those who do not believe Him. The love of God is displayed on the cross where He gave the life of His only beloved Son to save us from eternal destruction of Hell and to give eternal life.
5. This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. John 17:3
This verse tells us that eternal life is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. To know as the biblical word is not to know intellectually or to have some knowledge. It means to experience with all his heart and mind and strength as well as what to know means when Gen 4:1 tells us, "Adam knew Eve". Accordingly eternal life is to know God and Christ by means of our spirit and mind and body keeping a good company with God and Christ.
The Bible describes the state of the mind of the believers who knew God and his Christ, that is, who have the eternal life, as follows.
"Although have not seen Him, you love Him;and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1Pet 1:8,9
It is the Holy Spirit who makes us believers taste the life and salvation. He goes out of God and is sent from Christ and lives in us believers eternally.
6. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.". John 11:25
Jesus said to them, "No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father." John 10:18
These two verses are not the sayings which an ordinary man can speak. Every readers of the Bible have to choose between the two beliefs: the one is the saying of the Jews who said at the time hearing Jesus talked these words, "He has a demon and is out of his mind.", and the other is the belief of all believers and the testimony of the Bible, that is, Jesus is the God who became a man.
Jesus proved the truth of his prophecy that He is the incarnated God by his voluntary death (Lk 23:46; Mk 15:44) and by the resurrection from the dead after three days exactly as he prophesied three times (John 20:19-29).
7. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. 2Cor 13:13
Go therefore and make disciples of all nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. Matt. 28:19,20
God of the Bible is the triune God, that is, only one God who has three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The mode of existence like the triune God is not found anywhere except God of the Bible. If a man tries to understand intellectually the doctrine of triune God, then he will be either mentally deranged or become a heresy putting a new interpretation on it. If God is a creator of us humankind, and we are the work of His Hand, it is quite natural that God has mysteries which we can not fathom. This doctrine of triune God can be understood not by head intellectually, but by heart spiritually, that is, by believing.
16 April 2006 Published
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