New Jerusalem

Christianity is often described as ‘the religion based on (or founded by) the person and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.’ Others who know a bit more might say that Jesus came and brought a reformation to Judaism, returning it to its roots – much like the Buddha reformed Hinduism, or Mohammed rescued true religion from its distortion by Christians and Jews.

The Bible, specifically the New Testament, does not present Jesus or Christianity in either of these ways. Jesus is not a breakaway or reformer; and Christianity is neither a new religion (that is, new if you lived 2000 years ago!), nor another version of Judaism. Jesus is not merely another prophet, nor even a final prophet. He does not add an extra bit to or take away the bad bits of Judaism to make it complete.

The Bible presents Jesus Christ as the fulfilment of all that has come before him. A repeated statement that occurs through the Gospels is, ‘so that the scripture might be fulfilled…’ After his resurrection Jesus did a number of Bible Studies with his disciples (Luke 24:17, 44-45) showing them that everything that had happened to him was what the Scriptures had already spoken of.

This does not mean that Jesus simply went around trying to do what the Old Testament predicted the Messiah would do, to make sure he fitted the criteria. What Jesus means by these statements is that the reason the Old Testament says these things is because the Father’s plan, from the very beginning, was that he would come. The Bible is simply the unfolding revelation of this plan as God works it out by directing history to just the right point in time for the plan to be fulfilled.

Some people may ask the question, ‘(When) will the world end, and how will it happen?’, but the answer is not  a ‘when’ or ‘how’ or ‘what’ but ‘Who.’:

‘…by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.’ (Colossians 1:16-18 ESV)

And so in Revelation Jesus himself states: ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.’ (Revelation 22:13 ESV). All the ‘threads’ that were started in the beginning find their culmination in Jesus Christ. For example:

• In the beginning God created everything by his Word (Genesis 1:1-3), and John tells us that that Word was the Son who became flesh and lived among us as Jesus (John 1:1, 14)
• God made human beings ‘in his image’ (Genesis 1:26), and that ultimately means being like Jesus, God’s son (Romans 8:29)
• He made humanity to rule over creation (Genesis 1:28), and Jesus the God-Man is appointed king of Kings (Philippians 2:9-10)
• He gave marriage to humanity (Genesis 2:24) which was to be a picture of Jesus’ relationship with his people (Ephesians 5:31-32)
• The curse that comes on creation because of sin (Genesis 3:18, 4:11) is borne and ended by Jesus in his death (Galatians 3:13)
• The promise of a saviour, a descendant of Eve, who would destroy the work of the Devil (Genesis 3:16) is kept in Jesus’ conquering of the grave (Hebrews 2:14)

This is just a start. All of the multiple threads running through the Bible and history are shown to ultimately all reach a singular destination: Jesus Christ.

East Asian folklore has the image of a ‘red thread of destiny’ in which people joined by this red thread are destined by the gods to meet and impact one another’s lives. The one true God has woven a Red Thread through human history, and in all things has been overseeing the destiny of the world to reach its goal in Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:10).

The Bible’s story show us how all of the themes that emerge in the Bible converge in the person of Jesus. This means that to be in sync with God and His purposes for the world we need to be people who are in sync with Jesus. There is no one else who reveals God to us, fulfills God’s promises to us, reconciles us to God, and is able to take the world or us to the destiny God has for us.