How relevant is Jesus today?

Let me ask you a question.  If you had available to you the constant advice of the smartest man alive, wouldn't you be in contact with him asking him all the time what you should do in every situation?  Yes! This is common sense.  But you have something even greater than this available to you.  You have the God of every universe who knows so much more than you could comprehend who actually wants to have a relationship with you.  What a great honor!  How is it possible that the God of everything would possibly want to have a relationship with YOU?  Wake up and smell the roses!  He is the Father of humanity.  He loves his creation.  The fall of man was never his intention.  He created humans to be in harmony with him and all of creation and to not have to be exposed to sin and death.  But he had to give humans that choice of the knowledge of good and evil, because otherwise he would not really be loving us if he didn't give us free will.  Because he is so just, so wise there is no way he could make us and not offer us that option.  When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil it put into action the fall of mankind into sin and sickness and death that is still in action to this day.  Even though this happened and God KNEW it would happen, it was NEVER his intention to have us separated from him.  It broke his heart to be separated from man, his own creation.  But because he is just and loving this HAD to happen.  The choice remains to this day, to come back to your maker's arms where we are safe.

In the Old Testament, God told Israel what they needed to do to be able to please him, lead a righteous life and be forgiven of their sins.  This included offering sacrifices of unblemished animals like lambs, as well as many other practices.  He also told Israel of a coming Messiah that would come and save them and redeem Israel.  Many prophesied of the coming of the Messiah.

When he finally came his name was Jesus.  He came with authority, radical teaching and did multitudes of incredible miracles.  Even so, he was rejected by most of his own people.  They simply could not believe he was the Messiah.  The religious leaders of that day were very offended by Jesus because he exposed them for who they really were.  They may have been considered holy by everyone else, but Jesus could see their hearts which were self-important and hypocritical.  They simply could not deal with someone telling them they were wrong.  They made claims that Jesus had a demon and ultimately saw to it that Jesus was crucified.  Being crucified was the most vile and horrible means of putting a criminal to death back in that day.  It was an utter disgrace to die on a cross.  Jesus the Messiah was not recognized as the Messiah when he came.  Not only not realized for who he truly was, he was punished for being who he was.  He was completely without sin.  This story is so incredible because what seems like the greatest tragedy in all of history, actually turned out to be the greatest victory.  This was all part of the plan of God.  He actually planned for his own son Jesus to die on the cross.  While that seems incomprehensible to us, to sacrifice a child, that is proof of the vastness of God's love for us.   Jesus represented the sacrificial lamb for Israel.  Jesus was without blemish, without sin.  Perhaps the most amazing part of this story is the fact that after Jesus died he rose from the grave and came back to life.  He essentially conquered the grave.  Death could not keep him.  He rose from the grave after 3 days.  The disciples and other believers were depressed and confused when Jesus died.  That must have been a hard couple of days for them.  They believed and knew Jesus was the Messiah.  They placed all their faith in him.  When he died they were confused.  They probably thought it was over.  They may have doubted that he was the Messiah.  But then the most amazing thing happened, he came back to life.  He spent forty days with them before he finally ascended to heaven.  He appeared to the disciples multiple times, and to over 500 believers at once.  

The Apostle Paul said:

1 Corinthians 15:3-8

"For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas (Peter), then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time."

The Bible says when he first appeared to two of the disciples walking on the road to Emmaus, they didn't recognize him, because their eyes were restrained.  Jesus talked with them as they walked, revealing prophesies in the Bible to them concerning him.  They invited him in to eat with them, not knowing that this was in fact Jesus.  When Jesus broke the bread their eyes were then opened and they saw it was Jesus. At first they were frightened and terrified, thinking he was a spirit, but Jesus showed them and let thme touch the nail marks in his hands and feet as proof. Jesus was alive and in the flesh.  He had the scars to prove it.  How overjoyed and surprised they must have been at that moment! 

Talking about Jesus:

Luke 24:32

And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

I love that description of their hearts burning within them as Jesus talked and they had no idea it was him! Imagine how good you would feel if someone you loved that died actually came back to life to comfort you and tell you it was all going to be okay.  This is what Jesus did.  What a savior!  Far from being distant and too good for us he was and still is constantly concerned with our physical needs and wants to comfort us in our every circumstance.  He goes out of his way for us at every second, every minute, of every day.  Look what he has done.  He gave his life for us.  If that’s not enough proof to show how much he cares, I don’t know what is.  He understands what it feels like to go through this life.  He has been there!  And not only has he felt every emotion that we feel, he felt many more that we will NEVER feel.  The things he went through are a testament to the sheer vastness of his love for mankind which is not even measurable.  

Let me ask you, how could you know this and not respond?  How could you continue your life knowing this and not letting it change you?  The very first believers were forever changed.  Many of them willingly gave up their lives and were martyred for their faith.  This is the same Jesus available to us today that was with them back then.  His power and love have not changed and never will.  The difference is they actually saw Jesus firsthand.  Today we have to go by faith of what the Bible says. 

Thomas the disciple wasn't present when Jesus appeared to all the others and couldn't believe what the others told him about Jesus being alive and back from the dead.  That's why he's known as "doubting Thomas".  

When Jesus finally appeared when Thomas was present:

John 20:29

Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

If you do your research you will find that the Bible is extremely historically accurate.  Jesus actually lived and died and lived again!  So how is this relevant to us today?  It's the most relevant thing to your life that you could ever discover.  Jesus has the same power to change people’s lives today as he did back then.  But don’t just take my word for it.  Put your trust in him.  Turn your life over to him and watch what happens.  You will be changed for the better eternally.  

At the end of the gospel of John there is this beautiful part which is one of my favorite verses in the whole bible:

John 21:25

 ^"And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen."