"See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken."(Isaiah 28:16)
"The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." (Matthew 21:42)
"This Jesus is 'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.'" (Acts 4:11)
Have you heard of Jesus, called the Christ? Are you aware of Christians worshiping this Person, Jesus? What is a cornerstone, anyway, and why is Jesus called that by the writer of Acts in the Bible? I have included this page here to explain why Jesus is so significant, and why we can't be saved unless we accept Him.
Today, most born-again Christians believe and teach that Jesus told the truth, that unless we believe He is who He said He is, and accept that He died on a cross to give His life for us, then miraculously rose from the dead, we cannot go to heaven. That accepting Jesus is a prerequisite. That without Him, we will be eternally separated from God. There are other people who believe in an after-life - they may even believe in a God of some form. But when it comes to accepting that Jesus is alive, equal to God, and the only way to God, they baulk. They don't see why they should have to believe in Jesus. So I hope what I share explains this.
So, was Jesus actually a real person who lived on earth? Yes. The Bible includes eye witness accounts by several people, people who were really close to Him, and some who were just around at the time. There are also secular mentions made by the Roman historian and senator, Tacitus, and also Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian.
Jesus made some big claims during His time on earth, including,
"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life - no one comes to the Father [God] except by Me." (John 14:6)
"I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever." (John 6:49-51)
Wow. Imagine how we would react if someone made that kind of claim today! Actually, some individuals have done, and have ultimately been found to be fake. The claims of Jesus were so big, and so preposterous in the eyes of some, that even some of the followers of Jesus stopped following Him at that time. The teachers of the law in the country where He lived, Israel, were offended by Him for a lot of the time.
But what if He was telling the truth all along? Assuming for a moment that He was, why did He come when He did; what was the purpose of God coming in the form of a man, and why did He let Himself be killed if He was God? And if He is equal to God, with all that entails, why is the earth in the state it's in?
Let's consider this.
We all like to be loved. We like to be treated nicely; deep down most of us know that it's a good thing to be kind. If everyone on the earth was always kind, what a different place it would be. We know that when we are kind and loving to others, it builds them up and makes them feel happy. If we really stopped and thought about it, most of us would like to know for sure there is a perfectly loving place with perfectly loving beings, where people are happy forever, and live forever together.
The Bible says God is Light, and He is love. It says He is compassionate and kind, slow to anger. It says there is no darkness in Him and He cannot be tempted by evil. It also says that at the time He created the earth, things were good (my paraphrase). The people He initially created, Adam and Eve, were perfect in form and they, too, had no evil - at first. They saw God with their own eyes; the Bible says God liked to come and walk in the garden. They conversed with God as the "normal", plus the angels, and there is some indication that they may have been able to converse with the other creatures. It was perfect, loving, kind, beautiful communion. There was no death.
So what happened? And if there is a heaven, why mightn't everyone just go there?
For those who haven't heard of the story of the "fall of mankind", here's basically what happened. God told Adam and Eve they could eat whatever they liked, except for the fruit of just one tree. There was another tree present also, called the Tree of Life. God told them that if they ate off the forbidden tree, it would result in their death. You see, God wanted people to love Him by choice. Not force. He still does.
They did okay for a while. But at some point, a creature spoke to them, suggesting if they ate it they would become like God, and wouldn't die. Here's the thing - they were already like God! He had made them in His image and they were in perfect spiritual enlightenment and communion! Here's where the story becomes tragic. They made a choice to disobey. Their downfall was disobedience. They chose to take a step away from a wonderful, loving Father who had never harmed them, towards something - or someone - else. Instantly, it affected their minds. They experienced fear. For the first time, ever. They began thinking carnally - about what they looked like, what they should do to fix themselves, and sadly, they were afraid to face God. Not that He had stopped loving them for a minute - but fear entered them and they no longer perceived Him as He was.
When God came for His daily walk later in the day, they were nowhere to be seen. He already knew what they had done, of course, but He still gave them a chance to come of their own volition. He called them, and they came. When He asked what was going on, it all came out. Then the blame game started - they had never thought of doing such a thing before; after all, they hadn't done anything wrong that had to be blamed on someone! But suddenly the desire to point the finger came naturally.
God addressed the situation. He explained what the consequences of their action would be - and not only for them, but also for the devilish creature who turned them against Him. (That being is another story, but this page is for Jesus). Death was indeed part of it, but it was actually kinder for God to allow them to die of their humanness. If they had been allowed to live forever in their new carnal state, it would be a miserable eternity indeed. Instead, their human lives began to very slowly decay, and ultimately they died. God evicted them from the beautiful garden to prevent them from eating of the other tree, the Tree of Life, so that they could not live forever. That tree obviously had some very powerful qualities! He placed an angel with a flaming sword at the entrance to keep everyone out. All humans born since have been born into that same carnal state.
But that wasn't the end of the story! Over time, as humanity became darker and darker in their thinking, their minds became closed to the higher, holy spiritual realm so most of them couldn't even see it, although it was still there (still is). For hundreds of years, some people could still discern God and the angels, while others lost the ability completely. Then unbelief set in, and the very knowledge of the existence of God became eroded. Meanwhile, people were becoming more and more hateful, violent and cruel to one another. This culminated in what is known as Noah's Flood, as God regretted having made people, because they had become so very evil. The Bible refers to the people having only evil thoughts all the time! (Genesis 6:5) Many people in this day and age are still kind towards others, so just think how very evil it must have been, and what a scary earth to live on! In fact, Jesus has said that when He returns, it will be in a time that is like the days of Noah. Sounds pretty awful!
But God had a plan to save His human family. True love lets people decide for themselves, warning them of pros and cons of their choices, and He had done that. How much He must have hoped they would choose loyalty to love, justice and goodness - which is Him personified. Over the thousands of years that humans have lived, there have continued to be people who desired to know righteousness, to be free of the evil of this world. So God had already prepared a way - a Person! And that is Why Jesus.
Because people's minds were now so darkened and full of unbelief, not even believing in a spiritual realm at all, let alone God or angels (fallen or otherwise), the best way to get them to know Him again was to come as one of them. Meet them on their own terms, so to speak. So He did a miraculous thing. He came as a baby with no earthly father, instead, the Holy Spirit of God caused a young woman to become pregnant. Not a hard thing for a God who created the universe! But an astounding thing in the eyes of humans. This very event was prophesied hundreds of years before it happened.
To get through to mankind, God came as a man, the man called Jesus, also known as the Word. The Bible says The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. As Jesus grew, He was careful to only take instruction from His real heavenly Father, God, knowing that the human mind was corrupted. His mother was chosen for her character, as someone who loved God already and desired to live a holy life for Him.
Violence could not be the way to overthrow evil. Violence was part of evil. So God asked Jesus to do the opposite. Even Jesus had choices. Instead of overpowering by force, Jesus was to do good to everyone, then when they ultimately turned against Him, out of jealousy and misplaced hate, He needed to allow them to kill Him - as the ultimate atoning sacrifice. Because true justice means evil has to be dealt with. Every other human has evil within - every single one needed to bear the consequences, which the Bible says is death. So one perfect human was needed to give His life for all the rest. Jesus, knowing this was part of the plan to save humanity from evil, obeyed God. During His life on earth, He did many miracles, doing good all over the place. He was kind, loving, truthful, just, even addressing those who were trying to twist the truth about God. Finally, the prophecies of old came to pass - He was handed over to the authorities of the time by jealous individuals, and killed on a cross. Completely undeserved! As He died, He said, "It is finished!" He had faced justice on behalf of every other human being that had lived or ever would live!
It was done! The ultimate plan! Being a holy, perfect person, son of the living God, death could not hold Him! Death had no ties to Him! After His Spirit left his human body, He entered the spiritual realm of the dead. The devilish creatures (which had existed all the way along and still do) thought they had Him! But at the very perfect moment, through the power and authority of God, He overcame the lot of them by His light - light like lightning - lighting up the darkness of the abode of the dead. He spoke to the spirits of dead people there, and then ascended out of there, taking many of them with Him, and returned to the earth's surface as the resurrected Christ. Here, the people who had loved Him and followed Him, got to see Him again and were filled with joy. So they believed, finally and fully, that He was who He said He was.
He stayed with them a while, before rising up into the sky in front of them to go to the heavenly realm - which is very much there although our human minds don't perceive it usually. Then things began to happen! People who had followed Him, like His disciples, were also filled with the Holy Spirit of God! They began seeing miracles take place in the name of Jesus (although that had also started happening while He was still living on the earth), and people's lives began to get transformed when they acknowledged Jesus as the Christ and accepted Him.
People of the earth, this has not stopped yet, even to the present time. For the last two thousand years, people have acknowledged that Jesus is Lord, have put their faith and trust in Him, and many wonderful things have happened. People have been set free from evil, from demons, from addictions. People have been healed, physically and emotionally! There are many, many testimonies of this online now, so I won't say a lot more about that here, but I do encourage you to seek out the testimonies of those whose lives have been touched as they came to know the living Jesus Christ. (There are a few links on the Others' Stories page on this site.)
And the most awesome news of all? Jesus said this earth is not the desired end for us. He is preparing a REALLY AWESOME place for humans, where we will no longer be made of carnal flesh, but of something else - we will have a new body that cannot die. Evil will have no place in that realm. Which is why people need to make their choice here! Because if people prefer to choose evil, they will have to live with the consequence of that choice, which means going to a realm of separation from God. He doesn't want them to do this, but they will be allowed their choice. Since God is love, and light, truth, mercy, justice and righteousness, to be eternally separated from God means being in a realm that has none of that! No love, no light, no truth, no mercy, no justice, no righteousness. Instead there will be pain, terror, cruelty. People will be there because that was their preferred choice rather than accepting the offer of life Jesus has given them. Can you see earth heading that way even now, as humanity turns away from truth and justice? But it hasn't got as bad yet as it will do. Jesus said perilous times will come when people have got so bad to one another that God had to cut the time short because otherwise no one would survive it.
As someone who chose to receive Jesus, I can tell you that I have seen the other realm many times. It is as real as this screen I am looking at. I've experienced the love, mercy, kindness and generosity of God! I have a lot more answers to prayer to put on this website. I really want to encourage all who read this to open your hearts and mind to Jesus, to ask Him to come into your life to show you He is indeed real and lives. He came to give you life forever after this comparatively, short, faulty, human life - all you have to do is accept Him for who He is and what He did for you - He longs for you to give Him an invitation to your life! He will send His Holy Spirit to help and you'll be in for a new spiritual journey!
Father God, I pray for all those who read this page and website. I thank You that each one is precious to You, that You want all to be part of a gigantic eternal family, where no evil or perplexity exists. Please help each one in whatever experience of life they are in right now. I pray they will find Jesus, to know Him as a real Person as I and many millions of others already do. Bless the people of the earth, Lord! May they come to accept the wonderful gift of love that You gave.
On a final note - the precious cornerstone? A cornerstone was a stone at the base of a building, joining walls, that when fitted correctly, provided the strong, stable point around which the rest was constructed, to make a firm foundation. During Jesus's time on earth, the religious leaders and teachers of the time, who thought they knew all about God, were blinded to the fact that God sent Jesus right amongst them. They were jealous and offended, even when they saw Him heal people. So they rejected Him, stumbled over Him, so to speak, and ultimately were instrumental in having Him put to death - which was done as part of the eternal plan by which even they could be saved.
Hallelujah! May God bless all who read this page.