One of the biggest fears of someone becoming a Christian in some parts of Africa is that they will be persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. But believing that God came down in the body of a man is a central teaching and belief in Christianity.
The fact that Jesus is God is a well-known truth among those who read the Bible and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Here are a few quotes from the Bible to show that Jesus is God. In the first example we will read how God is the Word and that the Word became a human being and lived among people on earth. It is found in the Gospel of John chapter 1:
“In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.
So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory.”
In the second example we read that it is necessary to believe the Jesus is God in order to be a Christian. This is found in a letter written by John to the church. John writes to us as Christians to explain to us that our belief in God and His salvation through Jesus Christ is not something that the world will accept. The world will not even accept that God is love; the world will not accept that we must love our enemies; the world will not accept that we should help all people and forgive all people of the sins they have committed, including people who are not from our clans. This is what John says to explain that Jesus is God and that to be a Christian means to believe that God came down to earth in the body of a man.
Here is a part of the letter from John teaching us that Jesus is God:
“Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.
But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.” – 1 John 4
Jesus was wonderful when He walked the earth
Jesus walked upon this earth and was the most amazing human being who ever lived. He was both God and man at the same time. Jesus healed everyone who came to Him asking Him for healing; Jesus raised people from the dead; Jesus taught people how to live good lives for God; Jesus fed thousands of people by creating food of out nothing; Jesus walked on the water; Jesus stood up against the religious leaders who were taking advantage of the people by taking too much of their money; Jesus took our sins upon Himself to the cross and died for our sins.
Jesus took men who were lost in their sins and gave them His Spirit so that they could live lives for God that were pleasing to God; God healed a woman who was sick for over 12 years; Jesus healed a man who was not able to walk for 38 years; Jesus defeated the devil even though the devil tempted Jesus in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights during which time Jesus did not eat or drink anything.
Jesus loved his mother and told his friend and student John to take care of his mother after He would die on the cross; Jesus prayed for his followers and for us; Jesus rose from the dead and is praying for us in heaven right now; Jesus speaks to us today and continues to perform wonderful miracles in our midst.
But the world doesn’t like God; the world is against God and all the God stands for.
The world hates the good
When Jesus was carrying His cross and going to His death He told the people:
“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me. They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin. Anyone who hates me also hates my Father. If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my Father. This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures: ‘They hated me without cause.”– John 15:18-25
Basically, the world hates God and everything God stands for. There is a spirit at work in the world that is anti-God Spirit, a spirit that hates God. And people who belong to the world and worship the things of this world have that evil spirit inside of them. People who worship idols, or worship money and power, or who are homosexuals – are all worshipping the devil and belong to his Satanic kingdom. The people of this world hate God, and if they hate God, they hate Christians because Christians believe in God.
Respect human beings
If you do not respect human beings and do not care for the lives of human beings, then you do not love God. If you love God you will love human beings and respect them. People who hate Christians hate God: if people hate Christians then they hate the God who created Christians. You cannot love God and hate people.
“God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.
If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.”
It is a very sad truth that the very God who gives you peace and forgiveness of sins is the same God who is hated by the world: and if you believe in God then there will be some people in this world who will hate you.
You have a choice to make
You have a choice to make: are you going to choose to suffer with Christ who gives you eternal life, or are you going to deny Him to keep your life here on earth but then lose the eternal life that God wants to give you.
Jesus said: “If you hold onto your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.”
You cannot live according to the way the world wants you to live and also live the way God wants you to live. The two kingdoms are like black and white – they are opposites. The Kingdom of God and of Jesus Christ is the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of this world and of Satan is the Kingdom of Darkness.
I pray that you choose to follow Jesus not matter what the cost – and there will be a cost. In order to be Jesus’ disciple you have to be ready to face the trouble, persecutions, and hard times that will come from those who are of this world and hate God.
Jesus said:
“I have spoken of these matters in figures of speech, but soon I will stop speaking figuratively and will tell you plainly all about the Father. Then you will ask in my name. I’m not saying I will ask the Father on your behalf, for the Father himself loves you dearly because you love me and believe that I came from God. Yes, I came from the Father into the world, and now I will leave the world and return to the Father.”
Then his disciples said, “At last you are speaking plainly and not figuratively. Now we understand that you know everything, and there’s no need to question you. From this we believe that you came from God.”
Jesus asked, “Do you finally believe? But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”