Can we come to know God through diligent study and effort? The Bible says we cannot because our minds are blind to the truth of God and by nature our hearts rebel against Him. Old Testament Scriptures spoke of a Prophet who would reveal God to His people, and Alistair Begg explains that Jesus came as the great Prophet Who would inform our minds and transform our hearts. The prophetic ministry of Christ continues today as His Word is preached and as believers share the Gospel with others.
1Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
5For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”?
Or again,
“I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son”?
6And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God's angels worship him.”
7Of the angels he says,
“He makes his angels winds,
and his ministers a flame of fire.”
8But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
9You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”
10And,
“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
11they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment,
12like a robe you will roll them up,
like a garment they will be changed.1
But you are the same,
and your years will have no end.”
Who is Jesus? Can ordinary people understand His identity, or do you need a seminary education? In Jesus 101, Alistair Begg emphasizes that the search for the real Jesus must always lead us to the Scriptures. Only in the Bible do we meet the Man Who is God, the living Word Who is Prophet, Priest, and King; only there do we learn of the Lamb sacrificed to bring salvation to a lost and dying world, the majestic Ruler of a kingdom that will last for all eternity. When we have a solid biblical grasp of who the Savior is, and of what He accomplished on our behalf in His life and atoning death, our hearts are filled with awe and adoration at the mention of His name, “Jesus.”