The Harshness of Christ and His Teachings
With fist-pounding arrogance many of us have been told, “If you don’t believe in Christ, you are going to hell,” or some similar statement. There are many professing Christians who sometimes use their biblical knowledge for their own egos. It makes them feel superior to those who do not share their views.
The truth is, however, that despite the abuse of this knowledge, this really is what the Bible teaches – just not in an abusive way. To be sure, the message of Christ can be offensive because it essentially confronts us with our imperfections and tells us that we either need to be saved from our imperfections or suffer separation from God, with this idea of separation being yet another source of offense, because it assumes that we need God from the beginning.
But we all need to make up our minds about the teachings of Christ, who was certainly one of the most profound historical figures of recorded time. So by way of reminder to some and perhaps as introduction to others I would like to touch briefly on the historical significance of Christ’s exclusive message that so many find offensive.
In Acts 10, we find ourselves in the beginnings of the Christian Church. Cornelius, a Roman citizen by birth, had just believed in Christ. This posed significant implications for Judaism, which taught that only the Jews were eligible to be God’s people and that non-Jews were unclean. (See Acts 10:28) With this in mind, it is important to pay close attention to Peter’s response to Cornelius’ new faith:
…God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power… And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. Acts 10:38-43
To further understand the significance of this statement, remember that over 4,000 years of related events occurred leading to this point in biblical history. There had been many wars, the assassination of kings, the exiling of Israel (twice), and the fulfilling of many Messianic prophecies. All these plus many other events had led up to the coming of Christ, who came to establish a new covenant different from what the Jews were accustomed.
So what happened to Cornelius was part of the fulfillment of promises made by God throughout thousands of years beforehand, and these were promises of a Messiah who would come and save people from their sins. In fact many in those times past looked forward to the Messiah’s coming. In John 8:56, Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” Peter also wrote, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.”
These verses must be considered carefully. It is immensely important to realize that Abraham, the prophets, and many others waited thousands of years for salvation through the Messiah to come. To give some perspective, most of us consider a marriage engagement period of six months or even a year to be an eternity. Sellers of antiques wait at least fifty years for yesterday’s junk to become today’s treasure. The people of China waited over two thousand years for the Great Wall to be completed. But these events are nothing compared to the four thousand years of waiting for the promised Messiah. The gravity of these Messianic promises is unimaginable.
To further understand the weight of these Messianic expectations, remember the prophecy that God spoke through Isaiah hundreds of years before Christ,
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)
And in speaking of His plan to bring salvation to the whole world, God also said through Isaiah,
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6)
What is meant by this “light for the nations”? It speaks of the coming of Christ and the message of salvation to the whole world through Him. After waiting thousands of years, the fulfilling of this and many other promises erupted into the worldwide explosion of the gospel recorded in the events of Acts. Starting with the apostles, the gospel would be preached to the Jews, who largely rejected it, and then received by the Gentiles, in fulfillment of Isaiah 49:6. Notice what Paul says in Acts 13:47 and the response of the Gentiles: “For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”
This is astounding. This event, which Isaiah had prophesied about some eight hundred years earlier, was now becoming a reality. And what was this reality? Salvation through Buddhism? Islam? Hinduism? Not at all. God precisely culminated these historical events to bring about salvation through Christ alone. Remember the words of Peter, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” We must understand this. There is no other name under heaven that can save us accept Christ.
To conclude with Cornelius, remember that God revealed Christ to Cornelius through the appearance of an angel, a vision, and the sign of the Holy Spirit. Cornelius needed Christ, otherwise God would not have gone to such great lengths to reveal Christ to him. If other religions or faiths were acceptable paths to Christ for Cornelius, then 4,000 years of Messianic promises and prophecies were irrelevant, as was God’s grand presentation of Christ. The Christian message is that Cornelius, along with all other people on this earth, need a redeemer for the forgiveness of their sins so that they may have a right standing before God. They need salvation, and that salvation comes only through the name and person of Jesus Christ. This is the core teaching of Christianity. No fist-pounding arrogance required.
Photo by Piotr Pawel
