We had a lot of trick-or-treaters at our house this year. Several were so well dressed in their costumes that I did not initially recognize them even though I knew them from our neighborhood. It was only when I looked more closely beyond the costumes and makeup that I realized that I knew them.
As I thought about this, I began to wonder how many people in our communities don’t yet recognize and believe in Jesus Christ as the only Savior from sin, death and the power of the devil. Because Jesus has now ascended into heaven, He is not literally walking around so that we can see Him like His first disciples did.
Though we can’t see Jesus with our physical eyes, we hear about Him through His holy word, the Bible. There we hear about:
- the promise by the angel to Mary, his mother, about how she would conceive and give birth to a son even though she was a virgin—“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35, ESV)
- who Jesus is—“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11, ESV)
- why Jesus came—“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21, ESV)
- who Jesus came to save—“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10, ESV)
- Jesus healing people—“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—he said to the man who was paralyzed—‘I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.’ And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God.” (Luke 5:24-25, ESV)
- Jesus dying—“Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’ And having said this he breathed his last.” (Luke 23:46, ESV)
- Jesus rising from the dead—“And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” (Luke 24:5-7, ESV)
- Jesus showing Himself to others after rising from the dead—“Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (John 20:27-28, ESV)
There are so many other passages from the Bible that I could have included. These are sufficient. They remind us that Jesus is more than only a man. He is also truly and fully God with the power to heal people, to forgive sins, and to conquer death.
Sadly, so many people back then, even when they saw Jesus with their own eyes, wrongly concluded that He was only a human being. Sadly, many people today, even when they hear these truths about Jesus from God’s own word, wrongly conclude the same. Their human reason rejects what their eyes cannot see and their hands cannot touch. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:36, ESV)
The Holy Spirit, who is also truly God, has graciously enabled us to recognize Jesus and believe in Him as our Savior based on what we hear in the Bible. “…no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3, ESV) For most of us, the Holy Spirit called us to faith in Jesus through the good news about Him as it was connected with the water in our Baptism. Through that Sacrament, the Holy Spirit graciously gave us the benefits of Jesus’ work at the cross and empty tomb to forgive our sins and give us life that conquers death. In our Baptism, the Spirit also brought us out of the spiritual blindness that we were born with and enabled us to recognize and believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and have life in His name. See John 20:31.
We are entering the Advent season of the church year in which we prepare to remember and celebrate Jesus’ first coming as a baby in Bethlehem. We prepare not just with hanging of lights and trimming of trees, but through the feeding of our faith in worship with God’s holy word and the Sacrament of the Altar. As we do so, the Spirit enables us to continue to watchfully await Jesus’ return in glory on the last day. Until that time when He comes again, I pray that you and I will always continue to recognize and believe in Jesus as the only Savior and to remember His ongoing love and care for us and the certain hope and comfort He gives to us with the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life with Him in His heavenly home.
God’s continued blessings to you!
In Christ, our Savior,
Pastor Rathjen
John 1:29, ESV: “The next day he (John the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’”
Download Full Copy: Labors of Love: December 2015 - January 2016
