New Life eBulletin 03.04.09

Peace with God through Christ - A Testimony

By David Krause

Paul declares in Romans chapter 5, "1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:1-2 NIV) Isaiah in chapter 53 prophesied that the Messiah would take the judgment that we all deserved upon himself: "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6 TNIV) Yeshua the Messiah, Jesus Christ, fulfilled this prophecy, as he declares in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Paul describes this supreme gift of God's love in Romans 5: "6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." (Romans 5:6-11 NIV)

God has great patience with us, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to turn and come to him: "9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9 TNIV) God's love and desire for people to be reconciled to him is so great that he sent his own Son to give his life for every person who will receive this sacrifice by faith. Jesus declares, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6 TNIV) This claim by Jesus is hard for many to receive. Yet if there had been any other way for people to be reconciled with God, he would not have sent his Son to make this supreme sacrifice for all who believe.

This is my testimony of how I came to believe and receive these strong claims of Yeshua the Messiah, Jesus Christ. I have always believed in God as the Creator of the universe and of every person in it. I heard the Gospel at a young age at a Methodist Sunday School, and I cannot remember ever doubting that Jesus was raised from the dead. As a teenager, I attended a Bible teaching church and at age 16 went forward at a large Billy Graham meeting to make a commitment to follow Jesus. However, at that time I did not surrender to him as Lord or begin to love and serve him wholeheartedly.

One day my father noticed a book I had borrowed from the church library critically analyzing the theory of evolution. One chapter described how flowers require bees for distribution of pollen and the bees need the flowers for food, and asked how they could have gradually evolved in the light of this relationship? Upset by the theme of the book he warned, "If you reject the theory of evolution, you will be setting your mind back two centuries."

Not wanting to "set my mind back two centuries", I decided to accept the theory of evolution on authority without further question. This was a wrong turn, because as Psalm 118:8 declares, "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man." Since I still believed that God was the Creator, I began to consider that God might have directed the process of evolution culminating in the appearance of human beings. This unbiblical view fits well with certain Eastern teachings, and I become increasingly involved with Eastern philosophies and religions.

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