Also
Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. (John 14:1 NKJV)
There are little words with important meanings in the Scripture. For example, in Romans 5:8, there is a “but” that catches my attention. “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. “That little word but contrasts man’s thinking with God’s thinking and for that I am thankful.
But our word for today is "also." I believe that that word represents a real problem in society today. Many people believe in God since only a fool would believe that all that exists happened by chance. So they believe in a God, but do they believe in or trust the Lord Jesus? Do they believe He is the ever existing one that came into the world so that we might know who God is and so that we might have a redeemer? Believing in God is a start, but to be right with God we must ALSO believe in the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus is what the Bible is all about
In the Old Testament we see Him as Creator. We further see Him revealed as the personal covenant God of Israel. In Exodus 3, the impersonal God of Genesis became the personal God of the nation of Israel. There were those in Genesis that had come to understand that God was personal. Jacob found that out when he wrestled with God. When Jacob saw the ladder reaching to heaven, it seems that he was still in the “if” part of his journey. When he wrestled with God, his name got changed and his walk was changed, and God blessed him. This was all while he was alone with God. I believe this was the time of his "also."
While the name Jehovah or the ever existing One is used throughout Genesis, it is because Moses wrote the history after meeting God on the back side of the desert in Exodus 3. I am not convinced that God had become personal and real in
Moses life until he met God at 80 years of age. He obviously believed in God but I am not sure that he really believed in Jehovah who is the per-incarnate Lord Jesus.
It does Matter
Many people seem to think that it doesn’t matter what “god” you believe in as long as you believe in God. But the Lord says it does matter. He tells us in John 8:24, "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” The word "He" has been supplied by the translators but I believe that confuses the issue. The thought is that if you believe not that “I am” you will die in you sins. The Lord claims to be the one that Moses met on the back side of the desert. He claims to be the one who created the universe. He claims to be the One “who is and who was and who is to come (Revelation 1:8).” He is God made known in the flesh. Believing in God is good but will never save. Believing in the Lord Jesus will. He is the great "I AM."
Please heed the admonition to believe ALSO in me. There are not many Gods, only One who has been revealed to us by the incarnation of the Lord Jesus. He is the only one who can save. He is the only one who has always existed. We can’t do away with Him by not believing in Him since He will always exist. But we can be saved by that word "ALSO."
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of January 6, 2019