Author Archives: Neil

#findingtheway – Did Jesus really die?

The New Testament part of the Bible contains several letters which were written to explain certain things about what Christians believe. In one letter written to emphasise the importance of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we read:

“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.” (1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 3)

The writer of this letter, Paul, introduces his subject by pointing out that he is passing on information that he has been given, in other words not his own ideas but things he has been told to say. This begs the question ‘Who gave him this information?’ Christians believe that the subject matter came from God, for they believe that the Bible is inspired by God.
Looking at the content of the lines quoted above, we discover that Christ died and was buried. So is there evidence for this? Here’s a summary of contemporary historical accounts in the first four books of the New Testament, Matthew (chapter 27), Mark (chapter 15), Luke (chapter 23) and John (chapter 19).
Jesus was heard to cry out with a loud voice and ‘yielded up His spirit’, an expression that means He voluntarily and in complete control laid down His own life.
There were witnesses:

  • the centurion, and those with him, who were guarding Jesus
  • many women
  • the Jews did not want the bodies of Jesus or of the two criminals who were crucified with Him to remain on the crosses on the Sabbath, so they asked Pilate to arrange for their legs to be broken. When they came to Jesus they saw that He was already dead
  • a rich man called Joseph went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate, who had presided at the trial of Jesus, took time to confirm that Jesus was really dead before releasing His body. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his new tomb which he had cut out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb. A man called Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, according to the burial custom of the Jews
  • two women, both called Mary, were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

The evidence is overwhelming: Jesus really did die and, as we shall see tomorrow, rose again. These are indisputable historical facts and they have vital significance for each of us.

#findingtheway – Who is Jesus?

At the heart of every Christian’s faith is Jesus Christ. To His followers He is everything. Others however use His name carelessly as an expletive. Some might assert He was a good man but no more than that. Some might see Him as a religious leader and some see Him merely as a figure from history.

This controversy is not a new phenomenon and Jesus Himself was aware of it. Here’s what He asked His disciples:

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” (Matthew chapter 16 verse 13)

And the answer reported by the disciples shows how contemporary opinion was divided:

So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” (verse 14)

The biblical record is however clear: when Jesus asks the question

“But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (verse 15)

So what is the evidence? What does the Bible say about who Jesus is?

Just before His birth the message that was given to Mary, His mother, was clear:

“. . . that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke chapter 1 verse 35)

At the time of His birth the message announced by angels was:

“For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke chapter 2 verse 11)

What did God say about who Jesus is? In a miraculous event three of the disciples were allowed to see Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah. Carried away by the thrill of the moment Peter wanted to make tabernacles, or tents, for them, then God spoke:

“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Matthew chapter 17 verse 5)

And what claims did Jesus Himself make?

In the 4th book of the New Testament, John, there are seven statements made by Jesus all beginning with ‘I am.’ Perhaps the best known is:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John chapter 14 verse 6)

Now it might not be immediately obvious that in these statements Jesus is claiming to be God: in the Old Testament ‘I am’ is a title of God1. The Jews understood His claim:

Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. (John chapter 5 verse 18)

The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.” (John chapter 10 verse 33)

For us today the question must be answered: do we accept the record of the Bible and the claims of Jesus Himself that He is God, Lord and Saviour or do we reject His claims totally? There is no half measure. Here’s how the writer CS Lewis puts it:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. . . . You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”2

1Exodus chapter 3 verse 14

2 CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

#findingtheway – Is the Bible reliable?

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If you’ve ever had a discussion or even an argument with a Christian you’ve probably noticed that they constantly base what they say on what the Bible says.

‘Fair enough,’ you may say, ‘all well and good if the Bible is reliable.’

But is it? Why are Christians so convinced that they can rely on what the Bible says?

There are many things that bring Christians to that conclusion but let’s look at just one.

The Bible is really a collection of 66 books written by 40 authors from 3 continents over a period of almost 2000 years1. It is divided into 2 main parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament. Christians lay great emphasis on the fact that such a collection from many sources forms one complete work. This work is internally totally consistent.

Let’s take one example of this. The following lines are quoted from the 3rd book of the New Testament, Luke, and are part of an account of a conversation between Jesus and two others:

Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. ( Luke chapter 24 verse 25 ff, NKJV)

Here Jesus refers to ‘all the Scriptures’, indicating that the books of the Bible were to be seen as a united work. He refers to the individual components of ‘Moses and all the Prophets.’

A close look at books written by Moses might take us to the first book of the Old Testament, Genesis. In chapter 22 we can read an account of a man called Abraham who was willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac, in obedience to God’s command to do just that. (God stepped in at the last minute to stop that sacrifice.) Christians assert that this incident is a picture of something that happened centuries later. It’s recorded in the New Testament: God Himself gave His Son, Jesus Christ, as the sacrifice for sins on a cross. Christians believe that this is one example of how the Old and New Testaments hang together, a view endorsed by Jesus Christ Himself in the lines quoted above from Luke.

The reference made by Jesus to ‘the Prophets’ is even clearer. We could take two Old Testament prophets as examples.

The prophet Isaiah wrote these words hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus Christ:

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. (Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14)

In the first book of the New Testament, Matthew, we read in the context of the birth of Jesus Christ and His virgin mother Mary:

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Matthew chapter 1 verse 23)

And Micah likewise long before the event wrote:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.” (Micah chapter 5 verse 2)

In the second book of the New Testament, Luke, we read the historical record:

Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke chapter 2 verse 4)

There are 3 questions: did Isaiah and Micah, writing hundreds of years before the event, have the ability to stage-manage the historical record of the birth of Jesus; was Mary to stage-manage the circumstances of His birth or were Isaiah and Micah true prophets? Christians believe that the only logical conclusion is that Isaiah and Micah were true prophets and that prophecy confirms the reliability of the Bible.

1https://answersingenesis.org/the-word-of-god/3-unity-of-the-bible/

Cries from the cross… today you will be with Me in Paradise

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And (Jesus) said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43) 

In this account in the Bible, we can read about three men who were crucified. Two criminals were being punished for their own crimes and the Lord Jesus was being punished for the sins of mankind (He Himself was actually innocent.)

The second thief was in awe of Christ – an innocent Man who willingly allowed the soldiers to crucify Him, and did so without a single word of hate against them or the thief who blasphemed Him. What kind of person can do that?

In fairness to this thief, he is very honest and frank about his own situation. He basically says, “Look at how much an innocent man from Heaven is suffering – how much more is God going to punish me, since I am actually guilty of crimes and actually deserve punishment!”

The thief was clearly in fear of God and was in complete agreement with God that he was guilty of sin and therefore deserving of death. It is unlikely that the thief knew the ins and outs of salvation and how Christ’s death is the key to providing it, but he was at least willing to tell Christ what he did know to be true: “I am guilty of sin and I place You (Christ) in charge of my soul when we reach eternity, because You are a righteous Man.”

The Lord Jesus’ wonderful reply was as simple as it was true – “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.”

God saves anyone who reaches out to Him in honesty and in faith.

Pilate said… I am innocent of the blood of this just person

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In this series we’re considering the statements made by Pilate, the judge at the trial of the Lord Jesus. Pilate probably didn’t intend his words to be profound, but they are!

We hope you find them interesting and thought-provoking.

When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather [that] a tumult was rising, he took water and washed [his] hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see [to it].” (Matthew 27:24)

Investigating the ‘Jesus of Nazareth case’, Pilate had become convinced that the man on trial was entirely innocent of any charges. As the official representative of Roman justice his duty was clear: he should immediately have acquitted the Lord Jesus Christ. But he knew that the Jewish religious leaders had an ingrained hatred of this Man and were stirring up the Jerusalem crowds, vastly inflated by the influx of worshippers for the Passover feast, into a dangerously explosive fury. And the last thing he wanted was another riot to tarnish his already unsavoury reputation. More, the shrewd Jewish leaders had accused Pilate of treachery against Caesar himself, if he let Jesus of Nazareth go free (John 19:12). That was the final blow. With a craven disregard for justice and right, he publicly washed his hands of the matter. He dared to claim innocence for himself, whereas in reality the Lord Jesus was the truly innocent One, not only guiltless of anything calling for the death penalty but also completely free from all stain of sin. He alone is the just Man who did what was right before God and avoided everything that was wrong. The Bible is clear in its diagnosis of mankind as a whole: all have fallen short of God’s perfect standard and deserve the ultimate punishment (Rom 3:23; 6:23). And here is the great marvel. The One who didn’t deserve to die offered Himself in the place of those whose sins cry out for judgment. Christ died ‘the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God’ (1 Peter 3:18).

Pilate said… What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?

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In this series we’re considering the statements made by Pilate, the judge at the trial of the Lord Jesus. Pilate probably didn’t intend his words to be profound, but they are!

We hope you find them interesting and thought-provoking.

Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” [They] all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!” (Matthew 27:22)

Reading the terse biblical narrative of the trial of the Lord Jesus it becomes increasingly evident that Pilate, the official Roman Governor of the troublesome province of Judaea, was trying to wriggle out of making a judicial decision about this disturbing prisoner. No fool, he knew that the charges against Him were wholly trumped up by religious men envious of His spotless character (Matt 27:18). His wife had pleaded with him to have ‘nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him’ (Matt 27:19). As he interrogated Christ, he must have begun uneasily to feel that the roles of judge and prisoner had unaccountably been reversed, and that this quiet, dignified Man was assessing him. Custom permitted him to release one criminal in honour of the Jewish Passover feast and Pilate gladly grasped the opportunity of letting the people decide in favour of an obviously innocent Man. However, to his astonishment, the crowd opted for a notorious terrorist and murderer called Barabbas. Try as he might, Pilate could not shuffle off his personal responsibility in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ. And neither can we. There is no point asking others what we should do with Jesus: the life-changing decision to trust Him as Saviour and surrender to Him as Lord rests with us alone. The world of Jews and Gentiles rejected Him, nailing Him to a cross; but God has raised Him from the dead and exalted Him to the highest throne in the universe. It makes sense to side with God about the Lord Jesus Christ!

Pilate said… Where are you from?

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In this series we’re considering the statements made by Pilate, the judge at the trial of the Lord Jesus. Pilate probably didn’t intend his words to be profound, but they are!

We hope you find them interesting and thought-provoking.

[Pilate] went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. ( John 19:9)

Where are you from? This is a question we often ask someone we have just met and are trying to make conversation with. The answer is often of little consequence to us, but when Pilate asked the Lord Jesus the same question, he asked it in fear and in great eagerness to learn the answer.

The reason for this is that, not only did Pilate not know where Jesus was from, he didn’t really understand who Jesus was at all. He was therefore quizzing Him in order to try to make sense of this Jesus of Nazareth – a Man who claimed to be the Son of God!

When Jesus didn’t answer Pilate’s question, Pilate declared his legal authority over Christ in a vain attempt to either impress or scare Him into revealing his origin. This demonstrates even further that Pilate doesn’t know who he is speaking to – Jesus is in fact from a place which gives Him more authority over earth than Pilate can even imagine – Heaven. It is a place that is so wonderful that we, like Pilate, cannot fully appreciate it.

If Jesus came from this wonderful place called Heaven, then what was He doing down here on earth?

He came down here as a human being, lived a completely sinless life, allowed Himself to be crucified, rose from the dead and then ascended back to Heaven. He did this so that He could provide any one of us with a fulfilling life on earth, and eternal life in Heaven – no matter where we are from. All an individual has to do is put their faith in Him.

“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)

Pilate said… What is truth?

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In this series we’re considering the statements made by Pilate, the judge at the trial of the Lord Jesus. Pilate probably didn’t intend his words to be profound, but they are!

We hope you find them interesting and thought-provoking.

Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” (John 18:38)

What is truth? It’s a question that most people have asked themselves at some time or another. Some would even suggest (with astonishing certainty) that there is no such thing as truth; rather that there is nothing more than our individual perception or interpretation of the things we encounter.

We don’t know exactly why Pilate asked, “What is truth?” but he doesn’t wait for an answer. Perhaps he wasn’t interested in the answer. Perhaps he didn’t want to face up to the reality of the answer. Perhaps he didn’t realise that the answer stood before him in the judgement hall that day. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

He is the truth – He didn’t just say truthful things. He is the originator and embodiment of all that is true.

He is the life – the Bible teaches that because of our sin, we are spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1), but we can be “born again” and know new life through trusting Christ for salvation (John 3:1-21)

He is the way – there is only one way to know God, that is through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. There are no other ways to God.

We have a choice. We can walk away, like Pilate did. Or we can receive Christ as Saviour and can be one of those who are ” of the truth” and “hear (His) voice.” (John 18:37)

Pilate said… What evil has He done?

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In this series we’re considering the statements made by Pilate, the judge at the trial of the Lord Jesus. Pilate probably didn’t intend his words to be profound, but they are!

We hope you find them interesting and thought-provoking.

Then the governor said, “Why, what evil has He done?” (Matthew 27:23)

This is one of the questions that Pontius Pilate asked the baying Jerusalem mob who were demanding that Jesus be put to death. The crowd wanted Him crucified and yet Pilate could find no crime with which He could charge Him. In fact, Pilate said “I find no fault in Him at all” (John 18:38). Not only could he not find anything worthy of death in the Man who stood before him but he could find no trace of wrongdoing whatsoever. This was because this Man was no ordinary man but the Son of God: He was sinless. Pilate knew that Jesus’ enemies “had handed Him over because of envy” (Matthew 27:18) because He showed them up for what they were, sinners, through the way He lived His perfect life. They wanted rid of Him because He showed them that they were not good enough for God on their own merits. Nothing has changed over the past 2,000 years or so since this event took place. Each of us too constantly misses God’s mark of absolute perfection. The Bible tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) but it also tells us that “there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5-6). Jesus was crucified to take God’s judgement for sin, so that we can be forgiven if we put our trust in Him. The apostle Paul wrote “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God through Him”. We can be made right with God if we trust in Christ. Do you accept He died for you?

Pilate said… Behold the Man!

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In this series we’re considering the statements made by Pilate, the judge at the trial of the Lord Jesus. Pilate probably didn’t intend his words to be profound, but they are!

We hope you find them interesting and thought-provoking.

Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!” (John 19:5)

The words and actions of the Roman judge at the trial of the Lord Jesus are interesting: by the time he uttered the famous words ‘Behold the Man’ he had already tried to get out of passing judgment: “You take Him and judge Him” (John 18:31) and he had declared publicly the innocence of the Lord Jesus “I find no fault in Him.”(John 19:4)

We might try to guess what was in Pilate’s mind as he uttered these words “Behold the Man.” One reasonable conclusion would be that it was a last ditch attempt to elicit the compassion of those who had brought the Lord Jesus before him by appealing to their humanity and inviting them to see another human being on whom they might take pity. If that was Pilate’s intention it was in vain for there was no pity given to the Lord by His accusers.

The truth is that the Lord Jesus was no ordinary other human being. He was indeed a Man, a true, real Man with flesh and blood and emotions; He is also God: “God was manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16) and He is singled out in the Bible as being exceptional in that “in Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5) This is the very quality that gave Him the unique qualification to complete His journey to Calvary, to suffer, bleed and die there and take the punishment due to us for our sins – “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3)