Reference: John 1:6-12
Do you know what most people would say ifthey were asked the question just exactly who the man Christ Jesus is? I wouldsay that there would be quite a few different answers to this question thatabsolutely would not fit the description that the Bible would back up. The mostcommon answer to the question would be that many would say that Jesus was agood man and was the Son of God, and that he was born of the virgin Mary. Manywould say that Christ is the one that everybody recognizes at what is calledthe Christmas holiday.
Others would say that Christ was the onethat came to earth and died on a cross for the sins of the entire world. Wouldyou believe it my friend that all of these descriptions that people give of whoChrist is does in no way prove that they truly know who he actually is?
If you will notice very carefully andexamine closely all the varied descriptions that people give of Christ, youwill find out that all of them pertain to him as being in the flesh as either ababe in a manger or a man hanging on a cross or a good man that went arounddoing good deeds by healing all manner of sickness and diseases etc. All thesedescriptions that people give will prove without a doubt that they only knowhim in the realm of the natural and not in the realm of the spiritual.
The apostle Paul made a very astoundingstatement found written in II Corinthians5:16 which says, "Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh:yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know wehim no more."
Now according to this statement, Paul wastelling us that he did not know Christ no more after the flesh meaning ofcourse that he did not refer back to him in the sense of him being just alittle baby in the manger or being just a man that died on the cross. Sincemost people today will describe Christ as being a man of flesh and celebratehis supposedly birth date in the month of December, this in reality proves thatthey only are mentally aware of him being a historical being in times past.
They can only give a mental description ofhim that the letter of the word has stated, but they cannot truly describe himas he really is in his redemptive work of salvation to the total man consistingof body, soul, and spirit. If you will go to the average church today all thatyou can hear of things concerning Christ is things only about him.
The Bible not only says things aboutChrist, but it also reveals him making him a living reality in the life of thetrue believer. The denominational churches cannot teach and preach the realityof Christ to their converts simply because they don't know him in this realm oflife. They only proclaim the letter of the words written and do not proclaimthe revelation of the word revealed in the gospel. The apostle John tells usthat Christ was in the world, but the world knew him not. What this simplymeans is that the world knew him not in the sense of him being more than just aman in the flesh claiming to be the Son of God. The world today still has amental knowledge of what the Bible says in reguards to Christ as being the Sonof God and was born of the virgin Mary, but they absolutely don't know him forwhat and who he truly is, which can only be known in the life that he actuallygives.
There is a great difference in knowingthat Christ is the Son of God and that he died for the sins of all mankind andknowing him in a more personal way in the life that he gives to those who aretruly converted and born again. Just listen to how the world in general willconfess to know Christ as Lord and Saviour and eagerly celebrate what they callhis birthday on December the 25th and also celebrate what is called Easter inthe month of April.
Yes, the world can recognize Christ inwhat the Bible says, but the life they manifest easily proves that they don'ttruly know him like they confess to. Christ is certainly no longer a littlebabe lying in a manger nor is he a man yet hanging on a cross nor is he yetlying in a grave of a hewn out rock like most people think today. To look uponChrist as being all this will without a doubt prove that you don't know him inthe power of his resurrection if you're not experiencing the life that he cameto give.
The Bible tells us that he came to give uslife and that more abundantly. This life is the very same life that hemanifested while living on this earth in the form of a man. If you want to knowwhat kind of life he lived then all you have to do is read the Bible and findout. The Bible plainly reveals that in Christ was no sin and no guile found inhis mouth. Just how many confessing christians today can fit this description?How many of today's confessing christians will accept exactly what the Biblereveals on the subject of sin in the life of the truly born again children ofGod as stated in I John 3:8-10? The Bible reveals the fact that strait is the gate andnarrow is the way that leads to life eternal and few there be that findit. Now does this confessing christian world today walk in the strait andnarrow way that the Bible reveals? Jesus said that wide is the gate and broadis the the way that leads to destruction and he also said that many (notfew) would go in thereat.
The only way to truly know Christ is tohave the determination of wanting to know nothing but him. Paul said that hecounted all things but dung so that he could know Christ in the power of hisresurrection. To really know Christ can only be done by desiring the word ofGod more than anything else. Christ can only be made known to us and revealedin us through and by the revelation of the truth revealed in the gospel.
Only those who truly seek God and obey hisword will find him. To find him you absolutely must seek for him with allyour heart. This can only be done by deep rooted love for the word of God,because God is the Word. If you don't love the word of God then you don't loveGod and you will never truly know who he is.
The average persons description of Christtoday is an abomination in the eyes of God. Most people think that Jesus is aninety pound weakling going around kissing babies and being host to pinkelephant sales and chili soup suppers etc. Everybody is saying sweet Jesus makinghim a sissified feminist, but Christ was the only true man manifesting the truecharacter of what a man actually should be.
Just look at all the so-called Hollywoodtype of evangelists that this world is so filled with today. They're nothingbut perverted and deceived children of the devil blinded to the fact that Satanhas snared them through his cunning craftiness of causing man to walk after hisown lusts thinking that God is leading them by his Spirit. This world will endup just like Sodom and Gomorrah just like Jesus said it would. This world'scondition will get worse and not better....