In this section, we offer some brief answers to some of the most common questions about God, Jesus, the Bible, who Christians are and what they believe. More in-depth explorations of these and other big issues can be found courtesy of our friends over at bethinking.org.
Why did Jesus die?
This is one of the most important questions anyone could ever ask (though you might want to get a few other ones straight before you’re ready to ask this one). There are two main answers: for us and for God. The Bible teaches that all humans have turned away from God. We have made other things more important than God, like money, power, popularity, family, sex and fame. Our priorities affect our behaviour. Therefore, we do, say and think things that we shouldn’t (‘commission’) and we fail to do, say and think things that we should (‘omission’). This is what the Bible calls ‘sin’: making other things more important than God and acting accordingly. God, as the fully perfect creator and ruler of the universe, has the right to declare the punishment for this treason: separation from God, death and hell. It’s what all humans deserve. But he’s also provided a way for us to escape this punishment. The Bible says, ‘Christ [Jesus] also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God’ (1 Peter 3:18). Jesus -- the ‘righteous’ one, who was God himself in human form and never did wrong nor failed to do right -- died in the place of unrighteous (sinful) people, so that their separation from God could be ended. Jesus is the one human in history who never deserved to be separated from God or to suffer death and hell. But he suffered these things on the cross. That’s how he died for us: he took our sin, so that we could have the opportunity to be right with God and not suffer hell, but instead have joy and life forever (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus’ death also proved that God had not been irresponsible in leaving some sins unpunished (Romans 3:23-26): that’s how he died for God, by vindicating that God is perfect and right.
If that's true, what do I do about it?
It’s actually very simple: believe (John 3:16). Believe it’s true that you have done wrong and deserve separation from God, death and hell (John 3:18). Believe that Jesus, the Son of God, was punished in your place. Believe that his death and resurrection mean that you can be right with God. Believe that you need his power to help you turn away from making other things more important than God, to live as a new person who loves to make God look great out of thankfulness for the fact that God is great and proved this by sending Jesus! Believing these things is what makes you a Christian. And God tells us that Christians shouldn’t be lone rangers, but be involved in communities of people who love Jesus, called churches (Hebrews 10:24-25). So get involved: join a church and join CU!
Why was Jesus born four years early?
Maths. A bloke in the 6th century called Dionysius was inventing the calendar, so it would be easy to work out what year it is. He decided that he’d divide the calendar into ‘bc’ (‘before Christ’) and ‘ad’ (‘anno Domini’, ‘year of the Lord’). Except he got his calculations wrong, and so so the zero year was set four years too early. By the time they realised, it was all too late. How embarrassing. (Actually, scholars disagree about the exact year that Jesus was born. They don’t, however, disagree that he was born, which is the main point.)
What is baptism?
Christians differ over this one. Basically, these days, it’s an initiation into the worldwide Christian family. When Jesus was baptised by John the Baptiser, it meant he was immersed in the River Jordan to demonstrate the start of his three-year ministry. You can check the story out in Matthew 3:13-17.
What was Jesus' main message?
According to the biographies of Jesus in the Bible, he started his preaching ministry (at about the age of thirty) with a statement (‘the kingdom of heaven is here’[1], [2], [3], [4]) and an instruction (‘repent and believe the good news’[1], [2]). At the same time, he started telling people, ‘follow me’[1], [2], [3], [4], [5]. The statement was a big one. A kingdom without a king is not much of a kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is where God himself -- the king -- lives. By saying, ‘the kingdom of heaven is here’, Jesus was proclaiming, ‘the king has arrived!’. In other words, Jesus was saying that he is God. He demands a reaction to this news: repent, believe and follow. The word in Greek translated repent literally means change your way of thinking. Jesus was calling his hearers to admit that they were not in a fit state to meet the king of the universe, because their way of thinking was wrong (see immediately below for more on this). Therefore he was calling them to turn from their way of thinking and embrace God’s, and in doing so to believe the good news that Jesus is God. It was and still is pretty controversial stuff, and Jesus was ultimately crucified for this claim.
Is that the Christian message?
Basically, yes. The whole Christian message is the whole Bible (in fact, Jesus said that all the Bible is about him). So it helps to see what came before and after Jesus to get the whole message. Here it is in a nutshell:
- There is one God who created the whole universe and everything in it. [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]
- God made humans and game them many of his characteristics (his 'image'), with dignity and value and purpose. [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]
- The purpose of human life was the enjoy God forever (we call this 'worship'). [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9]
- We chose to rebel against this brilliant plan (this rebellion is what we call ‘sin’), thinking we know better than God and treating ourselves as gods by foolishly elevating our thinking above his. [1], [2], [3], [4]
- The punishment for this is death and hell (more on why hell isn’t unjust below).
- God lovingly stepped into human history as a man named Yeshua or Jesus: the Christ. [1], [2], [3], [4]
- The arrival of the Christ (or Messiah) had been prophesied in great detail over the previous centuries, and Jesus affirmed that it was him they were talking about. [A much fuller explanation of this point can be found on video here.]
- Jesus was fully God and fully man, by his own open admission. [1], [2], [3]
- If you haven’t already, you can check out the facts about Jesus’ life on the ‘Who was Jesus’ page.
- At the cross, Jesus willingly reversed the substitution that all humans had made, making themselves gods. Jesus substituted himself for sinners, taking upon himself the punishment of those who would trust in him (death and the intensity of hell’s torment). [1]
- That means if you believe in Jesus as God, he died in your place and for your sin. [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11]
- Jesus was very definitely dead, but on the third day (a Sunday) he came back to life as he had predicted, showing that he, as God, had power over death, sin and hell. [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10]
- In the time before he went up into heaven, he commissioned his followers to go to every people group of the world (including Manchester), empowered by his Spirit, to tell them the astonishingly good news that there is a God who passionately and relentlessly pursues us with his love so that we might be saved from hell. [1], [2]
- Today, Jesus is in his rightful place as king of heaven and earth, ruling over all cultures, philosophies, races and periods of time. That includes you, and anyone else you could think of. [1], [2]
- The command is the same today: repent and believe. Don’t try to be good so God will approve of you. You can never be good enough. Just turn from your sin and believe that Jesus, as God, took the punishment on the cross. Then you can enjoy God forever. The alternative? Still the same: death and hell.
- Turn to Jesus, today!
What did Jesus' death involve?
Jesus was crucified: it is from this punishment that we get the word excruciating. It hurt. In fact, it was perhaps the most painful method of torturing and killing ever invented. In 500 bc, the Persians invented and carried out the first kinds of crucifixion and the practice was taken on by the Romans until the 330s ad when the emperor Constantine abolished it (though instances of crucifixion as a punishment have recently been recorded in Sudan and Yemen by Amnesty International). Greek philosophers like Cicero, who lived during the period in which crucifixion was practised, described the practice as being too barbarous even to be pondered or spoken of. Crucifixion is no small deal. Let’s not pass over what Jesus went through.
Before Jesus was crucified he was scourged: stripped, with hands shackled above his head, and whipped with straps of leather tipped with metal balls (to tenderise the flesh) and bone hooks (to rip the flesh from the victim). He was repeatedly flogged and went into bloody shock and agony, and all this followed a sleepless night of deeply-anguished prayer, a series of false trials and beating from a mob. He was marred beyond human recognition. A crown of large thorns was mockingly placed upon his head and was then made to carry his rough-hewn timber cross-bar, probably one that had already been used to kill other men, across the open wounds on his scourged back. He collapsed under the strain. Nails were then driven through some of his body’s most complex nerve centres, probably causing him to spasm involuntarily. As he was hoisted there, bleeding, sweating and suffering, his enemies in front of his eyes, his ears filled with mocking, he cried, ‘Father, forgive them.’ All of Jesus’ words from the cross were of love, grace and mercy. After a few hours, the Bible says, he gave up his spirit.
What's the significance of the ripped temple curtain?
Sin separates imperfect people from the perfect God. The curtain in the temple, as with many parts of is architecture, represented the fact that imperfect (i.e. all) humans could not approach God. It was believed that God’s presence dwelt in the inner sanctuary of the temple, and a huge, thick curtain separated people from this sanctuary. As Jesus died, this curtain was supernaturally rent into two from top to bottom, signifying that Jesus’ death -- having taken the punishment for the sin that separates God from his people -- enables us to approach God again. (This event is recorded by contemporaneous secular historians.)
Couldn’t the prophecies about Jesus have applied to anyone?
Taken as a whole body, it is difficult to see how these prophecies could have applied to anyone else. Some of them very clearly speak of moments in Jesus’ life, but, you might say, moments like that have happened to other people. And you would be right in most cases. To take each prophecy individually, you might find that some other person in human history could claim to have fulfilled the prophecy (though not in all cases... who else’s mum was a virgin?). But no other person in human history can rightly claim to have fulfilled every Messiah-related prophecy in the Old Testament. For example, in Malachi 3:1, it is prophesied that ‘the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple’. The temple all Old Testament writings refer to is in Jerusalem, and was destroyed in ad 70. So anyone born after ad 70, and anyone before then who never entered the temple in Jerusalem, is ruled out. In Micah 5:2, it is announced that the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem; in Psalm 22:18, that on his death people would gamble for his clothing; in Exodus 12:46 and Psalm 34:20, that none of his bones would be broken; in Isaiah 53:9 that he would be buried in a rich man’s tomb... these are just a few examples of things a human cannot manipulate, yet which we see Jesus fulfilling. There are many more. Only Jesus fulfils all the prophecies of the Old Testament.
Why did God plan it all?
The short answer is: for his glory. God planned the creation of the world, man’s rebellion against him, Jesus’ life death and resurrection, heaven and hell... so that people would appreciate and praise him. Sound a bit megalomaniac? Arrogant? Outrageous? Actually, to cause us to worship him is the most loving thing God can do, because to see and really appreciate Jesus brings more joy than anything else in the universe. Think of the satisfaction that you get from appreciating a glorious sunset, or appreciating another person whom you love to spend time with. Those moments bring great joy, as does telling other people about them. But even sunsets and people we love have flaws. Sunsets only last a few minutes. Other people sooner or later annoy us, because they’re imperfect. God, though, is infinitely perfect and glorious -- like a sunset, but better. Like a great friend, but better. So appreciating him brings infinite joy: infinite in magnitude, infinite in eternity. God planned it all: for his glory, which is for our joy, because he loves us.
Why does God allow suffering?
This is a huge issue, and there is a whole section on this question over at bethinking.org. On the below video, Oxford professor of Mathematics John Lennox argues that the ultimate question about suffering is this: in this ragged universe (where there are some good and some very bad things), is there enough evidence to trust God for the ragged bits? Give him a hearing on this Australian creation...
Hell: that's a bit extreme, isn't it?
If you were to go and look out of the nearest window now, would you be shocked to see somebody cutting a worm in half? Probably a little perplexed, but most of us wouldn’t be too bothered. What if you went back to the window and someone was cutting a cat in half? That’s likely to be more shocking. You might well call the RSPCA and the police. You go back a third time and they are cutting a baby in half. That’s repulsive! And wrong! We would all share the same sort of repulsion and horror to see that. In each of those three situations, the same act is being performed, but the atrocity of the act is decided by the value of the one being acted against. God is infinitely valuable, infinitely good and infinitely holy. Therefore, any rebellion we make against him -- our rightful king -- is infinitely atrocious. It makes sense that the punishment should be eternal. That’s really hard to take, and really hard to say. The Bible says that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, either. That’s why there is a way out: his name is Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (ESV)
Romans 3:23-26
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (ESV)
John 3:18
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (ESV)
Hebrews 10:24-25
24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (ESV)
Matthew 3:13-17
The Baptism of Jesus
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, [1] and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, [2] with whom I am well pleased.” (ESV)
Matthew 4:17
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (ESV)
Mark 1:14-15
Jesus Begins His Ministry
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (ESV)
Luke 4:18-21
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (ESV)
Luke 4:42-43
Jesus Preaches in Synagogues
42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, 43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” (ESV)
Matthew 4:17
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (ESV)
Mark 1:14-15
Jesus Begins His Ministry
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (ESV)
Matthew 4:18-19
Jesus Calls the First Disciples
18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (ESV)
Mark 1:16-17
Jesus Calls the First Disciples
16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” (ESV)
Luke 5:9-11
9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (ESV)
John 1:35-39
Jesus Calls the First Disciples
35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. [1] (ESV)
Footnotes
[1] 1:39 That is, about 4 p.m.
John 1:43
Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” (ESV)
Genesis 1:1
The Creation of the World
1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (ESV)
John 1:1-3
The Word Became Flesh
1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (ESV)
Hebrews 11:3
3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (ESV)
Revelation 4:11
11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.” (ESV)
Genesis 1:26-27
26 Then God said, “Let us make man [1] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. (ESV)
Footnotes
[1] 1:26 The Hebrew word for man (adam) is the generic term for mankind and becomes the proper name Adam
Genesis 2:7
7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. (ESV)
Genesis 9:6
6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image. (ESV)
Romans 8:29
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (ESV)
James 3:9
9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. (ESV)
Psalm 16:11
11 You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (ESV)
Psalm 37:4
4 Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart. (ESV)
Nehemiah 8:10
10 Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (ESV)
John 15:11
11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (ESV)
Psalm 144:15
15 Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall!
Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord! (ESV)
Luke 2:10
10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. (ESV)
Philippians 4:4
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. (ESV)
Revelation 21:3-4
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place [1] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, [2] and God himself will be with them as their God. [3] 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (ESV)
Ecclesiastes 7:29
29 See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes. (ESV)
Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (ESV)
Romans 5:12
Death in Adam, Life in Christ
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— (ESV)
Genesis 3:12-15
12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring [1] and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.” (ESV)
Footnotes
[1] 3:15 Hebrew seed; so throughout Genesis
John 1:14
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (ESV)
Colossians 1:15
The Preeminence of Christ
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (ESV)
Colossians 1:19
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, (ESV)
Philippians 2:5-9
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, [1] 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, [2] being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, (ESV)
Mark 14:62
62 And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” (ESV)
John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (ESV)
John 8:58
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (ESV)
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (ESV)
1 Corinthians 15:3
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, (ESV)
Isaiah 53:6
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. (ESV)
John 1:29
Behold, the Lamb of God
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (ESV)
Romans 3:25
25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (ESV)
Romans 5:8
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (ESV)
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (ESV)
Hebrews 2:17
17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. (ESV)
Hebrews 9:28
28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (ESV)
1 Peter 2:24
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (ESV)
1 John 4:10
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (ESV)
1 Corinthians 15:3-7
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. (ESV)
1 Corinthians 15:13-20
13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope [1] in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (ESV)
Footnotes
[1] 15:19 Or we have hoped
Matthew 12:38-40
The Sign of Jonah
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (ESV)
Mark 9:31
31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” (ESV)
Mark 10:33-34
33 saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. 34 And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.” (ESV)
John 2:18-22
18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. (ESV)
Acts 2:32
32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. (ESV)
Acts 3:15
15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. (ESV)
Acts 10:41
41 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. (ESV)
Acts 13:31
31 and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. (ESV)
Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in [1] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (ESV)
Footnotes
[1] 28:19 Or into
Acts 1:8
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (ESV)
Revelation 19:11-16
The Rider on a White Horse
11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in [1] blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. (ESV)
Footnotes
[1] 19:13 Some manuscripts sprinkled with
Revelation 5:9-10
9 And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.” (ESV)
Malachi 3:1
3:1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. (ESV)
Psalm 22:18
18 they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots. (ESV)
Exodus 12:46
46 It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. (ESV)
Psalm 34:20
20 He keeps all his bones;
not one of them is broken. (ESV)
Isaiah 53:9
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth. (ESV)
