The “world” here means the whole world, all creation, but most importantly, humanity; Jesus came to redeem not just the people but the whole world. When He comes again, our present world will be destroyed and the new redeemed world will roll in. There will be a new heaven and a new earth. (Revelation 1:1) God loves you and me so great that He sent His only begotten Son to be THE way back to Him (God). The holy sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is the only holy sacrifice through which man can go through to be reconciled with God. It atones for the rebellion and sin that Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, began in the Garden of Eden, by listening to the deception of the serpent. It also atones for our own sins and the sins of all generations, for all time. It was a once, and for all, sacrifice.
Now the word “believes” has to be understood from the perspective of the culture where the Bible was written. Although the New Testament was written in Koine Greek, the lingua franca of the Judeau-Christian world at the time of the crucifixion of Jesus, the writers were coming from the Jewish culture and they were writing it with the perspective of the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament on the coming Savior, and the Old Testament was from the Jewish culture and written in Hebrew, their own native language. In the Hebrew culture, “believing” doesn’t only mean mental assent, or agreeing to an idea, or being able to say “amen” to an idea. It means “acting” on the idea. The Old Testament talks of Abraham believing God when He said that through his son Isaac he will be the father of many nations. So, even when God told him to sacrifice Isaac, he still believed that God would still fulfill His promise to him, that he would be the father of many nations through Isaac, because he believed God would raise Isaac from the dead. So, immediately the next morning he brought Isaac to where God directed him, Mt. Moriah, and was about to kill Isaac on the altar of sacrifice but an angel stopped him. Abraham passed the test of God. For this reason he is considered the father of all who believe (Romans 4:11). In the same way, the same is expected of us. When we say “amen” to Jesus being the Savior of the world, what does that look like? What action/s is God asking me to do to show my faith to Him? Only my action/s will show to God whether I truly believe. Abraham is considered the forerunner of Faith for his act of faith which the Bible says, was reckoned or credited to him as righteousness. The righteous shall live by faith. We are saved by faith. But our lives have to show that faith. Do I really believe in Jesus? Do I really believe what the Bible says? What is God asking me to do to show that belief? What is it He is asking me to lay on the altar of sacrifice?
______________________________
Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible, Bible App by YouVersion.com
________________________________
Art courtesy of YouVersion Bible app. I am using the Bible App by YouVersion.com for my daily devotion. Download it now for your mobile device. https://j794q.app.goo.gl/nd4yPrGj7Hbhy9Kk8
_________________________________