Everyone has had the experience of hearing someone’s voice on the phone, then seeing the person and “putting a face with a name.” In a similar way, Jesus’ disciples had already read in Deuteronomy 6:5 that God required them to love God before self and others. But when Jesus came as God in the flesh, they could put a face with a name.
Before the appearance of Jesus Christ, the disciples knew from the teaching of Moses in Exodus 33:20 that no one can see God and live. How then could a person follow the commandment to love a God they could not see? Only by faith in the invisible God and by obedience to His commandment was it possible to love God. But when Jesus came, he gave them the revelation of God as a person.
God Reveals Himself Through Prophecies of Messiah
The Bible reveals that God has always wanted to reveal Himself to the people He created. In every book of the Bible, God speaks to people. He speaks to people including Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Job, and all the prophets. But with the arrival of Jesus into history, God gives Himself as a person.
Many Old Testament prophecies point to Jesus as the coming Messiah. Micah 5:2 promises that the ruler of Israel will come from Bethlehem. Isaiah 7:14 says a virgin shall conceive. Isaiah 53:3 describes how people would despise and reject him. Isaiah 53:7 describes how he would be “led as a lamb to the slaughter.” And in Luke 4:18 and 19, Jesus tells the priests in the temple that he has come to fulfill Isaiah 61:1.
In Christ, God Becomes a Person to Love
In the New Testament, God reveals Himself as the God of the Old Testament, but now in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Sprit. People can now love God “in spirit and in truth,” according to John 4:24, and believe you have seen the Father when you have seen Jesus, according to John 14:9. There is not only a God to believe in and obey, but, in Christ, one who can be seen and touched.
Loving the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind becomes easier when you have a person to relate to. Jesus, God’s Son, came into history as a person and the Holy Spirit came, as recorded in Acts chapter 2, as a spirit to reveal Jesus and the Father to the heart, soul and mind of mankind.
Loving the Lord With All Heart, Soul and Mind Easier Since Jesus Came
In the Old Testament, God gave the commandment to love God with all the heart, soul and might, according to Deuteronomy 6:5. However, Exodus 33:20 says no one can see God and live. So people had to love God by faith and obedience, without seeing Him. However, since Jesus Christ came into the world, as the Son of God to reveal the Father to mankind, God gave Himself to mankind as a Person to love.
Sources:
Strong, James. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, Compact Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1983.
The New King James Version of the Bible (The New Open Bible, Large Print Edition). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1982.
Carolyn Cogswell - Carolyn Cogswell has written for publication in newspapers in southeast Missouri, southeast and northeast Kansas and is working on a ...
