Paul Wong
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the Only True God, and
Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (Jn. 17:3)
From our Lord’s Prayer we understand that we must know the One True God and Jesus Christ to have eternal life. This is the initial step towards salvation.
Most people have heard about the One True God but have not seen Him, so how do they get to know Him?
“No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in
the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” (Jn. 1:18)
Jesus
Christ and the Father are
One
We can know the One True God and Jesus Christ at the same time. Here is what
the Lord spoke to Philip:
“If you had known Me, you would have known the Father also; and from now on
you know Him and have seen Him.’ Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show
us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have
I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen
Me has seen the Father, so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Do
you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that
I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.”
(Jn. 14:7-11)
This relationship shows the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father are one and the same True God. He declared: “I
and My Father are One.” (Jn. 10:30)
Baptism
of the Holy Spirit
Many Christians came to know the One True God when they believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Some Gentiles became believers when they received the Holy Spirit. Cornelius
and his household were baptized with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues when they heard Peter’s gospel of salvation.
(Acts 10:34-48) That is the only recorded event in the Bible where people received
the Holy Spirit before their water baptism. This happened only because God wanted the Jewish Christians to know that He also
wanted the Gentiles to be saved. This is the turning point in the Early Apostolic Church. God can also give the Holy Spirit
to anyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. (Jn. 7:37-39; Gal. 3:14)
Knowing
the One True God
through
the Gospel
Here is the normal process for a person to be saved.
“For whoever calls upon the name of the LORD shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And
how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the
feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” (Rom.
10:13-15)
In His Great Commission to the Church our Lord Jesus Christ said, “. . . . Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. He who believes and is baptized will be save; but he who does not believe
will be condemned.” (Mk. 16:15-16)
Knowing
the One True God
through
Christian Love
Preaching the gospel is absolutely essential for truth-seekers to know the One True God and Jesus Christ. When they attend church services other factors affect their continued interest in seeking the One True
God and Jesus Christ. It is the church members’ Christian love towards
them.
“No one has seen God at any time. If
we love one another God abides in us, and His love in us. By this we know that
we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we
have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever
confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God
has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in
him.” (1 Jn. 4:12-16)
Our Lord Jesus Christ declared: “A
new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn. 13:34-35) Having Christian love
is a clear evidence to show others who are the true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is one of the reasons why non-denominational
congregations and ministries that demonstrate Christian love are the most blessed by the One True God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Knowing the One True God
through the Holy Bible
Another important way to know the One True God and Jesus Christ is through the Holy Bible.
But some are not sure whether or not the Bible is the only book to follow since there are other religious books in
the world, and every religion claims theirs to be the best one.
There are several reasons why Christians believe the Holy Bible is the only book that is the Word of God.
What makes the Holy Bible so unique is the unity of thought throughout its pages.
Unlike books of other religions that were written by a single person over a short period of time, the author of the
Holy Bible is the One True God Himself who dictates His words to more than forty different writers over a period of about
1,500 years.
You may not think this is amazing but let me give you an illustration. If
you ask ten different persons in a room to write an essay on “life”, you will get ten different viewpoints. Now when you compare this situation with the Holy Bible you have to agree it is truly
the word of God.
There is complete unity and harmony of thought throughout the sixty-six books (39 OT and 27 NT) that were written by men
of different backgrounds, in different places and in different epochs (periods of time).
The first five books called the Torah were written by Moses in Hebrew in the wilderness. The last book Revelation was written in Greek by the apostle John while he was exiled in the island of Patmos. Besides these two writers there are others who wrote about hundreds of controversial
subjects and yet they do not contradict each other. The Bible is an incredible book.
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for
every good work.” (2 Tim.
3:16-17)
The main theme of the Bible is the One True God’s coming to this earth in the form of flesh as the Lord Jesus Christ
to save mankind from sin and eternal damnation, and to bring the saved ones with Him to heaven. You can read about God’s plan of salvation from cover to cover.
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself testified that He is the main theme of the entire Bible.
“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and
these are they which testify of Me.” (Jn. 5:39)
Knowing
the One True God
through
Bible Prophecies
The Holy Bible is the book of prophecies.
We also have the prophetic word made more sure, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place,
until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first,
that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of
God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Pet. 1:19-21)
Here is a very strong statement on the inspiration of Scripture. It is an
affirmation that the Old Testament prophets wrote God’s messages. This
places the apostles and prophets in the New Testament in the same category, because they also proclaim God’s truth. “Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” means that Scripture did not come from the creative work of the prophets’ own invention or interpretation. God inspired the writers, so their message is authentic and reliable.
The Bible itself gives the purpose of prophecy. “Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I
am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.” (Isa. 46:9-10)
“I have declared the former things from the beginning; they went forth from
My mouth, and I caused them to hear it. Suddenly I did them, and they came to
pass.” (Isa. 48:3)
The New Testament spoke of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, “which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures.”
(Rom. 1:1-4)
There are over three hundred prophecies concerning the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. Prophecies such as His
place of birth, how he would die, His rejection by the nation of Israel,
and so on. All these prophecies were made hundreds of years before Jesus ever came to earth. Because of the accuracy of the
prophecies, many skeptics have believed that they must have been written after 70 A.D. -- after the birth and death of Jesus,
and the destruction of Jerusalem. They have thereby tried
to deny that they are even prophecies.
However, in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. These scrolls contained the book
of Isaiah and other prophetic books. When dated, they were found to be written from 120 to 100 B.C., well before Jesus was
born. It would have been an incredible accomplishment for Jesus to have fulfilled all three hundred prophecies. Some say these
prophecies were fulfilled by chance, but the odds for this would be exceptionally large. It would take more faith to believe
in that chance happening than in the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is the One True God and these prophecies are divinely
inspired.
Messianic
Prophecies help
to know the One
True God
Some think it is unnecessary to learn biblical prophecies to know the One True God.
That may be so because God uses various ways to get people to know Him, however, our Lord Jesus Christ placed great
emphasis on the fulfillment of prophecies concerning Himself as a way for His disciples to know Him. Jesus actually rebuked the two friends who were traveling to Emmaus for not believing the Old Testament
prophecies. “Then He said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?’ And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures
the things concerning Himself.” (Lk. 24:25-27)
In the Book of Acts we see the apostles and the Early Church spoke about the fulfillment of biblical prophecies to convince people to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. On the Day of Pentecost the apostle Peter preached the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ
were fulfilled prophecies from the Old Testament prophets. (Acts 2:22-36) This resulted in the conversion of three thousand
people on that day. Peter also explained the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecies.
(Acts 2:16-21) Philip preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Ethiopian eunuch by explaining the fulfillment of Isaiah’s
prophecies. The eunuch believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Philip baptized him when they came to a place where
there was water. (Acts 8:26-40)
There are two characteristics of the Remnant Church of God. They “keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
(Rev. 12:17) The Bible states: “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
(Rev. 19:10) True ministers of God
have the spirit of prophecy.
Know
the One True God
through
Miracles and Healings
The testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ is a written or verbal statement that confirms the Lord is working with them. (Jn.
8:17)
“And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and
confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.” (Mk. 16:20)
“God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders with various miracles
and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?” (Heb. 2:4)
“Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring
how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles.” (Acts 15:12)
How
my family came to
know
the One True God
Let me share with you my testimony on how our family came to know the One True God and the Lord Jesus Christ. When I was a one year old baby I had diptheria and was on the brink of death. My parents were unbelievers and the only Christian in our family was my maternal grandmother. She told my mother to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. My
mother said, “I do not know Jesus, but if He can heal my son then I will believe in Him.” My grandmother brought me to the church where she and a group of Indian Christians prayed for the healing
of my sickness. The Lord Jesus Christ healed me.
Praise and thank God. My mother and several of our relatives who saw this
miraculous healing believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and were baptized into Him. I
am the living evidence of the One True God’s healing power that brought many people to know Him and the Lord Jesus Christ. HalleluYah!
Miracle
in India brought many souls
to
know the One True God
Here is another testimony how the Lord Jesus Christ saved many souls through a mighty miracle. In 1969 I was with a missionary team sent by the Lord Jesus Christ to South India. While we were on the flight from Singapore
to Madras the Indian preacher Pammal James requested Deacon
John Chin and I to pray for the rain in his country. There was no rain for two
and half years. We prayed in one accord.
On the second evening of our arrival in Madras we preached in a school soccer field in Pammal Settlement, which is an
amnesty village set up by the Indian government for social misfits such as ex-convicts, criminals, robbers, thieves, prostitutes,
pimps, etc. Many Christian missionaries have preached here but did not have good
results. On the first evening of our open-air gospel service there was no response
except for the healing of one little girl who had a high fever. After the healing
she praised God “HalleluYah!.”
The following morning Brother Abraham came to our hotel and banged on the door.
He was very excited and told us to go back to Pammal Settlement. He said
after we left that area it began to rain. Everyone in the village said we had
brought the rain. On our way back to Pammal Settlement we passed two other villages. The people told us it did not rain in their villages.
When we arrived in Pammal Settlement the villagers showed us the rain water they had collected from the previous evening’s
rain.
On the second night of our gospel meeting there was a bigger crowd than before, and their response was tremendous. Many people accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and repented of their sins. After midnight our Indian co-workers brought out their kerosene lamps and looked for
a baptismal site. They found a depressed hole on a previously dried out river
bed that was filled with the rain water. We baptized sixty nine (69) souls in
that “Living Water” that was miraculously provided by God.
I can still remember one Indian brother who was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke with tongues as soon as he emerged
from the water. This Christian was “born of water and the Spirit” at the same time. I have also witnessed several Christians having this same
experience in other countries as well. God is truly great!
May God bless you
A
sermon based on this article was preached by Paul Wong
to
a congregation in Houston, Texas
on July 3, 2004.
For comments please write first to:
arkpw@sbcglobal.net
