What happened before Jesus

[John Hill]

I was just listening to a Podcast about Jesus being 'the way, the truth and the light'. It also covered him being the answer to people feeling empty.
I'm curious as to what people did before Jesus came to Earth in Physical form. Was he still the way the truth and the light or was there something else?

 

[Ken Rank]

I was just listening to a Podcast about Jesus being 'the way, the truth and the light'. It also covered him being the answer to people feeling empty.
I'm curious as to what people did before Jesus came to Earth in Physical form. Was he still the way the truth and the light or was there something else?

They lived looking toward the coming of Messiah, we live looking back. Regardless of which side of the timeline, we're looking at the same guy.

 

[timothyu]

I was just listening to a Podcast about Jesus being 'the way, the truth and the light'. It also covered him being the answer to people feeling empty.
I'm curious as to what people did before Jesus came to Earth in Physical form. Was he still the way the truth and the light or was there something else?

If you understand why He came, to teach and fulfil the Gospel of the Kingdom, then you will realize that with no Kingdom prior, there was no other option. That is what made it Good News (gospel)

 

[timothyu]

They lived looking toward the coming of Messiah, we live looking back. Regardless of which side of the timeline, we're looking at the same guy.

Agreed. They were just looking for a different kind of Messiah. One with a hat saying make Judah great again.

 

[John Hill]

Hi guys. Thanks for your responses so far.
I'm actually struggling with two things:

1. That I still feel like I haven't really discovered my purpose in this lifetime.
2. That Jesus somehow is the answer to me discovering my purpose and feeling fulfilled.

 

[St_Worm2]

Hi @John Hill, first off, WELCOME TO CF

As to your question, yes, Jesus is the Messiah (our only Savior), both for those who lived before His Incarnation/Resurrection (who looked forward in faith to His day), and for the rest of us who lived afterwards, who look back in faith instead to all that He did on our behalf as a man to save us.

The OT has quite a few prophesies concerning Him, just FYI, beginning in the 3rd Chapter of Genesis. Here are three of them .. Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 53:5-6.

Yours and His,
David
p.s. - here are two verses, the one you posited above from Jesus Himself, and the second, which is pretty similar, is St. Peter talking to the rulers and elders of Israel about Jesus.

John 14
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."

Acts of the Apostles 4
12 "There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”​

.

 

[timothyu]

Hi guys. Thanks for your responses so far.
I'm actually struggling with two things:

1. That I still feel like I haven't really discovered my purpose in this lifetime.
2. That Jesus somehow is the answer to me discovering my purpose and feeling fulfilled.

Your purpose is to shake off your animal (flesh) nature and nurture your spirit, the side God gave you to make you in His own image. God gave us a choice from beginning to end of Bible, His way or man's way but not both.

Jesus told us to put the will of God first before man's (spirit before flesh) and His will was love neighbour as self, the opposite of self serving man.

You want fulfilment, follow scripture and what Jesus, not theology taught. One shows the will of God, the other has been manipulated to serve the will of man. You can't go wrong with the words of Jesus.

 

[JackRT]

Saint Augustine (in his Retractiones) wrote --- The very thing which is now called the Christian religion existed among the ancients also, nor was it wanting from the inception of the human race until the coming of Christ in the flesh, at which point the true religion, which was already in existence, began to be called Christian.

Celsus, a 2nd century pagan apologist, in speaking of Christianity wrote "Are our [pagan] beliefs to be accounted myths and theirs [Christians] believed? What reasons do the Christians give for the distinctiveness of their beliefs? In truth, there is nothing at all unusual about what the Christians believe."

 

[timothyu]

In truth, there is nothing at all unusual about what the Christians believe."

Umm... man believes in putting the desires of self first, gain at the expense of others. Self justification of all deeds by the redefining of good and evil at will. God and the Kingdom are all about loving neighbour as self, the polar opposite of man''s self determined will.

So I would say a system totally opposite to the world of man is a rather unusual belief.

 

[JackRT]

Umm... man believes in putting the desires of self first, gain at the expense of others. Self justification of all deeds by the redefining of good and evil at will. God and the Kingdom are all about loving neighbour as self, the polar opposite of man''s self determined will.

So I would say a system totally opposite to the world of man is a rather unusual belief.

Was that a response to my post?

 

[timothyu]

Was that a response to my post?

Yes hence the quote
JackRT said: ↑
In truth, there is nothing at all unusual about what the Christians believe."

 

[d taylor]

Yes Adam is given eternal life just like any believer today. Adam knew the preincarnate God and trusted in Him for eternal life. The Bible gives out a little information at a time, in the Old Testament through the prophets of God and prophecies about who the Messiah would actually be.

 

[JackRT]

Yes hence the quote
JackRT said: ↑
In truth, there is nothing at all unusual about what the Christians believe."

Yes, I was quoting Celsus but your reply seems to have nothing to do with it.

 

[timothyu]

Yes, I was quoting Celsus but your reply seems to have nothing to do with.

Your will be done

 

[JackRT]

Your will be done

No, God's will be done.

 

[St_Worm2]

Hi guys. Thanks for your responses so far.
I'm actually struggling with two things:

1. That I still feel like I haven't really discovered my purpose in this lifetime.
2. That Jesus somehow is the answer to me discovering my purpose and feeling fulfilled.

Hi John, for a Christian anyway, I believe this concise definition of the meaning/purpose of life is an excellent one and a good place to start (this is Q & A #1 from the Westminster Shorter Catechism).

Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God,[1] and to enjoy Him forever.[2]​

There is this to consider from the Bible as well. When the people asked, "what shall we do so that we may work the works of God?" (IOW, what is God's purpose for us so that we can do it)

John 6
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”​

I'm sure that you are looking for a more specific purpose/what the will of God is for your life than the general one that I just posited, and we can talk more about that if you'd like to, but in the meantime I'd like to ask you a couple of questions, and if you don't mind, here they are:

1) When (and why) did you come to the conclusion that you did, that Jesus is the answer to finding your purpose in life/to being fulfilled? (BTW, I agree with you that He is, & so very much more )

2) Do you have a pretty good understanding of why He needed to come here, why all of us need Him as our Messiah/Savior?​

Thanks!

--David

 

[timothyu]

No, God's will be done.

I believe that is what I said when i posted

'man believes in putting the desires of self first, gain at the expense of others. Self justification of all deeds by the redefining of good and evil at will. God and the Kingdom are all about loving neighbour as self, the polar opposite of man''s self determined will. '

 

[ladodgers6]

Umm... man believes in putting the desires of self first, gain at the expense of others. Self justification of all deeds by the redefining of good and evil at will. God and the Kingdom are all about loving neighbour as self, the polar opposite of man''s self determined will.

So I would say a system totally opposite to the world of man is a rather unusual belief.

So are you saying it's an subjective outlook, and not an objective Gospel?

 

[ladodgers6]

Saint Augustine (in his Retractiones) wrote --- The very thing which is now called the Christian religion existed among the ancients also, nor was it wanting from the inception of the human race until the coming of Christ in the flesh, at which point the true religion, which was already in existence, began to be called Christian.

Celsus, a 2nd century pagan apologist, in speaking of Christianity wrote "Are our [pagan] beliefs to be accounted myths and theirs [Christians] believed? What reasons do the Christians give for the distinctiveness of their beliefs? In truth, there is nothing at all unusual about what the Christians believe."

Believe in what and why is the question. I see you are a scientist. Read the Hidden Face of God by Gerald Schroeder, then we discuss it.

 

[timothyu]

So are you saying it's an subjective outlook, and not an objective Gospel?

Hardly. How can it be subjective when everything Jesus taught and represented was the Gospel of the Kingdom which stressed God's will vs man's, documented in the Bible from start to finish. The only Gospel in scripture. Objective as you can get.