Faith On Solid Ground

1 John 1:3

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

The world does not hesitate to attack the truth of Christianity by producing unsupported claims that are often presented flippantly online. I saw a video today where one speaker asserted that there were 20 other people during Jesus' lifetime who also claimed to be the Messiah. He did not offer any documentation of this claim but seemed to pull it out of thin air in an attempt to discredit those who believe the Bible. The insinuation was that the Jesus we worship was no different than all the other wannabe messiahs walking around Judea during the first century so there is no reason to believe that Jesus of Nazareth was who He claimed to be.

To me, that makes the life of Jesus even more remarkable and believable. In a Jewish culture that was founded on well documented history and prophecy, among a people who were very particular about what teaching they believed to be divine, His followers not only recognized that He was God but they suffered martyrdom for Him. First, they believed that He was the one who fulfilled all of the prophecies from the Old Testament about the Messiah. Don't forget, these believers were taught from birth about God's promises to the people of Israel. They were schooled in the Scriptures. They would not willingly die for something they did not believe was true, especially when they were challenged by the leading Hebrew scholars of their day who opposed Jesus.

Secondly, they believed He was the true Messiah because He was the only one who was crucified (as He and the prophets foretold), buried, then resurrected from the dead…they saw all of this with their own eyes and watched Him ascend into the clouds. This evidence separates Jesus of Nazareth from all the rest. Our faith is built on centuries of prophecy that came true and a life verified by eyewitnesses who died defending this belief.

Historians today all agree that these early followers were convinced of who Jesus was and that He rose from the dead. If someone asks why you believe Jesus is God, you can say that the written records by people who walked with Him and recorded His words are as reliable as those describing any person in history. Our faith is not blind, it is on solid ground.