JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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It is ironic that only 50 years after the death of Voltaire the Geneva Bible Society used
his press and house to produce stacks of Bibles.
Changed Lives
What transformed the scared, frightened band of disciples into flaming evangelists?
These peasants, shepherds, fishermen, and tax-collectors betrayed and denied their Master and
then failed Him miserably as they were ready to throw away everything to flee in despair to
Galilee. Yet suddenly they were changed overnight into a society of missionaries who "turned
the world upside down" (Ac 17:6). What made the difference? Their belief in the resurrection of
the Carpenter of Nazareth.
What made these former cowards (Jesus first found them hiding behind closed doors)
willing to daily risk their lives as they proclaimed the message of salvation? Why did they
undergo hardship, persecution, pressure, and martyrdom? According to Josephus, the firstcentury
Jewish historian, James, Jesus' brother, died a martyr's death because of his faith in his
brother. This was so even though he was an unbeliever and opposed his brother Jesus during
Jesus' life. Why such a revolutionary change? What was it that caused this Jew to suddenly
believe that his brother was the Messiah, the Son of God? What made him willing to die for such
a belief? The most reasonable explanation is the Easter story. Because this crucified Carpenter
rose from the dead on the third day He was able to appear to James and to 500 other
eyewitnesses (1 Co 15:5-8).
What made a promising young Pharisee renounce his adherence to Jewish distinctives?
This adherence had given him the confidence that God approved of him (Php 3:4-6). Only
factors which would have caused Saul of Tarsus to follow the Carpenter of Nazareth can be
found in his motives and circumstances before his conversion. But since there must be an
appropriate cause or set of causes to explain Paul's spearheading the Gentile missionary
endeavors of Christianity, it is most reasonable to honor the explanation Paul himself gave for
the change. What led to that change, says Paul, was that the risen Jesus, whose followers he had
been relentlessly persecuting, appeared to him as one possessing the power of the supreme deity
and commissioned him to be His apostle, His spokesman on earth (Ro 1:5-7; 15:15ff.; Gal 1:15-
17; Eph 3:2ff.; 1 Th 2:13-16).
Changed lives is yet another evidence that the Bible is inspired by God Himself. Just as
the early followers of Jesus were transformed by their faith in Him as the crucified and risen
Lord, so followers throughout the centuries since have been changed as they have put their faith
in the Jesus presented in Holy Scripture.
The dramatic influence for good in the lives of millions of those who have put their trust
in the Bible as God's Word is an attested fact of history. Scores of those who have been moral
wrecks, victims of alcohol, drugs, immorality and crime have been marvelously redeemed
through the power of the Word of God. Their changed lives attest to the truthfulness of the claim
of Scripture itself: