Bible Studies

WHICH GOD?

by Luella Campbell
12/10/14
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WHICH GOD?

"We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the people - the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you." Colossians 1:3-6a.

Some religions claim that we all believe in and worship the same God but just in different ways. Is this correct? How can we be sure we are worshipping the true God?

Paul gives us a simple test to check whether we are worshipping the one true God or the creation of human imagination. Apart from the Bible, where we learn the nature and ways of God through revelation, we have an infallible way of knowing that we are believing in and following the ways of the God who is who He is and will do what He said He will do. We must be sure of the truth if we stake our lives on what He says and what He has promised.

Our God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the great dividing line between the truth and the lies that are spoken about Him by people who refuse to believe in Him. The Apostle John stated it like this:

"Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist - denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also." 1 John 2:22, 23.

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognise the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world." 1 John 4:1-3.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit cannot be separated. If someone tells you that they believe in God but reject Jesus as the Son of God, no matter what he may claim, he is lying because the Father and Son are one. We cannot know God apart from the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is God in the flesh. He told Philip that whoever has seen Him has seen the Father (John 14:9). Jesus is the exact reflection of the Father and His purpose was to reveal the Father so that we might believe in Him and return to Him.

Without Jesus we will never be able to go home to the Father because Jesus is the only way (John 14:6). It is a lie to believe that all religions will take us to God. Although it sounds like and has been branded as hate speech and intolerant to claim that Jesus is the only true God, He said it and He is the only way.

Imagine taking a journey from your home town to the capital city of your country. You go to the train station, buy a ticket to that city and then look for the platform from which your train will leave. How confusing it would be if there was a notice on every platform saying that this train will take you to your chosen destination. You choose a platform, climb on the train and settle in, believing that you will arrive at the city of your choice only to find, when the train stops, that you have gone in the wrong direction.

Believing that every god will take you to heaven is as foolish as believing that every train will take you to the capital city and yet that is what people believe. But how can we know that Jesus is the way to the Father? We have to examine His track record to see whether He was telling the truth about other things. How did he prove that He was not a liar?

People make all kinds of promises. Gods are also said to make promises to their followers. How do you know they are telling the truth? There was one promise Jesus made that no one else has ever dared to make: He said He would be put to death by the religious leaders but, after three days He would rise again. He raised dead people to life but how could He raise Himself and in a body that could never die again? He came back to life because the Holy Spirit resurrected Him by His power.

If Jesus did that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can be sure that He will do everything else He promised to do because He is the Son of God. What more do we need to know to believe that God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and that He is the one and only true God in three Persons?

Acknowledgement SCRIPTURE TAKEN FROM THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.