;)
It was the bold apostle Peter who volunteered his opinion that Jesus was the Messiah, the son of the living God. He was a prophet like Elijah, but not just a prophet. He was a teacher like John, but not just a teacher. In fact, he was waiting to become a priest and king as well.
In short, Jesus is the answer. Okay, so what was the problem, you might wonder. The problem was and is sin, which all eventually commit and which none can successfully overcome on his own.
The very first sin ever committed by Adam and Eve occasioned the very prophecy about the incarnation of God the son in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. God cursed the serpent for tempting the couple and then promised that Eve's seed would bruise his head even as the tempter bruised his heel. This prophecy was fulfilled on the cross where Jesus's heel was bruised even as he dealt a major blow to the devil's power through the sting of death and the disease of sin.
Sins continued to mount through the Old Testament and generations of people came and went knowing that they needed something to help them overcome. Prophets foretold the coming of a Messiah who would be their deliverer, but many who heard them assumed that the deliverance was from national bondage, not slavery to sin. They underestimated the power and impact the Messiah would have.
Finally, Jesus was born in a body prepared for him by God but through the miraculous conception of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1). He taught a gospel of the kingdom of God that ignored national woes and promised deliverance from the tyranny of sin (Matthew 4:17, John 8:32). The devil figured like many men that Jesus would physically assume a throne and destroy his power and so he had Jesus killed. Only upon the Lord's miraculous resurrection from the tomb three days later did it become apparent that his death was the atoning work and his kingdom was spiritual.
Jesus ascended back into Heaven where he lives to make intercession for his brethren–those who confess faith in him, put him on in baptism and strive to walk by faith each day. Jesus is the way, truth and life and no one comes to the Father except by him (John 14:6). There is no other name given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). Sooner or later, everyone will have to make a decision about Jesus.
Jesus had provided the means by which all men might approach God and receive His forgiveness. Jesus said He was “the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Through Jesus, we can receive the gift of God, eternal life. The way to God today is still through Jesus and the way to Him is still by belief, repentance, confession and baptism (Romans 6:1-6, Galatians 3:27, Acts 2:38).
