Necessities of the Faith – (things that must be)

Some twelve years had passed since the first Christmas – and the family travelled from Nazareth to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. It is here that the first recorded words of the Lord Jesus  remind us  of the  great purpose of His coming –  “that I must be about my Father’s business?” ¹.

Eighteen further years pass –  He is baptized at the Jordan.  It was a baptism like no other.  Others baptised there, made confession of their sins – but  Jesus was sinless and – there was testimony from Heaven itself, that here was God’s Son commencing His public ministry. Returning to Galilee in the north.  He testifies²  “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God …… that is why I was sent”.  The message not only called men to repent but to believe and to follow. An inner change was required to become part of God’s kingdom.  As the Lord Jesus said to  Nicodemus, a religious leader of the Jews – “Ye must be born again”.³. 

He also explained to that leader that sins attracted  God’s judgement and that He Himself would bear that penalty. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, must the Son of man be lifted up:”⁴. As One Who was sinless, He and He only could bear the sin of others. As the Good Shepherd  “He would give His life for the sheep”.  It was, and is, the supreme act of love towards such as ourselves.- indeed it was why He came – and what He said would happen.   “And He began to teach …that the Son of man must suffer….be rejected   ….. be killed, and after three days rise again” ⁵.  It did happen – at Calvary – there “He died for our sins, was buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. ⁶.

Becoming a Christian is not secured by being part of a family culture – nor by means of some religious ceremony. It involves awareness of the need for forgiveness, of a turning away from that we know to wrong – and then a personal acceptance of Jesus as Lord.

There is no other way  – “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none another name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”⁷.

It is the forming of a new relationship – with  One Who is alive – the beginning of a new life in companionship with Him.  We have this promise of the final spoken words of the Lord Jesus at His return to Heaven at the Ascension8.

     “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

¹ Luke 2⁴⁹; ²Luke 4⁴³; ³John 3⁷; ⁴John 3^14,15; ⁵Mark 8³¹; ⁶1 Cor 15^3,4; ⁷Acts 4¹²; ⁸Matt 28²⁰