As I settled in to write this column, sitting down before yet another blank page on my computer screen, I began to think about the question of what the world would look like if Jesus Christ had never come to live among us and die for us.  I should have known that a hypothetical like this one was just too big.  Soon I was chasing rabbits as a welcome distraction.

The first was what to call Him.  Jesus was and is a common name.  How to distinguish Him?  Christ was not a surname, but a title.  It designated the bearer as God’s Anointed One, the Jewish Messiah.  Combining the two, Jesus (meaning “The Lord saves” or “The Lord is salvation”) plus Messiah, was less like a proper name and more like a job description.

Calling Jesus “the Jewish Messiah” or “the Jew’s Messiah” associates Him with the tribe of Judah, located in ancient times in the southern kingdom of Judea (from whence comes the descriptor “Jew” or “Jewish”).  Yet, Jesus came for all, including Gentiles.

Jesus “of Nazareth” might do, except that Nazareth was in northern Israel, and in any case, while Jesus grew up there, people tend to forget that He was actually born in Bethlehem and spent part of His childhood in Egypt…

Clearly this column was spinning out of control.  Time to focus!  Or so I thought, until new challenges again distracted me from the central theme of what the world would look like if Jesus Christ had never come.  Suppose, for example, that God had decided not to send His Son to give His life for the world—would God have allowed it to continue?  What would be the point?  For that matter, if the world is doomed, why create it in the first place?

God clearly considered this question, since the Bible refers to Jesus as, “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8).

What does this mean?  It means that God, Creator of heaven and earth, foresaw sin, the fall of humanity, and mankind’s helplessness to save himself from death and hell.  God foresaw the need for a fully qualified sacrifice to take man’s place in judgment and punishment.  He foresaw the absolute necessity of sending His own Son to provide that perfect sacrifice—foresaw the cross, foresaw Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, foresaw the Church, foresaw it all BEFORE He made the world.  God knew that to create the world would entail the suffering and death of His own precious Son.  God made the world anyway, and in so doing, signed off on Jesus’ death.  In a very real sense, when God went through with creation, Jesus was destined to die.

Jesus was willing to submit to His Father’s plan.  The Prophet Isaiah, writing centuries before Jesus was born said of Him, “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11).  “Shall be satisfied” means that Jesus would consider it all worthwhile.

In the tenth chapter of the gospel that bears his name, the Apostle John quotes Jesus Himself as saying, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.  No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.  I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.  This commandment have I received of my Father” (John 10:17-18).

Jesus went into suffering and death on our behalf with both eyes open.  It was not an unfortunate accident or a snap decision.  He had been on board since the earth’s foundations were laid.  It was the Father’s will, and it was Jesus’ free and unbegrudging choice.  Such was the extravagant love and grace God prepared to lavish upon people before any people existed.

But I digress.  The question was, “what the world would look like if Jesus Christ had never come?”  My active imagination began spinning out an ever-lengthening list of blessings or benefits that the world would forfeit in that eventuality.  Then it dawned on me.  I was overthinking.  According to Jesus (and He would surely know), terrible times are on their way:

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:11-12).

In other words, the human race is on a glide path to self-destruction and unless God intervenes, we will certainly reach that destination.  If God does not stop the music early, pull the plug and pack it in, there will BE no world at all.  Thanks to God’s compassion and mercy however, He will pump the brakes before all life on this planet is completely destroyed.

As I stared down the short barrel of that one, I had one final epiphany.  I don’t need to be able to describe what the world would look like if Jesus Christ had never come.  I don’t have to.  Anyone whose heart does not belong to Him today can tell us that.  Because, in their world, he hasn’t come.

For them, there’s no Mediator between them and God.  There’s no Advocate with the Father.  There’s no Great High Priest who lives forever to make intercession for them.  There’s no Good Shepherd of their souls and no conduit for blessing.  There is no Wonderful Counsellor, no Great Physician, no Friend of Sinners.  There’s no Light of the World, no Head of the Church, no Messiah, No King of Kings, no Lord of Lords, no Prince of Peace.  For them, there is no Holy One, no Way, no Truth and no Life.   Saddest of all, there is no Lamb of God, no unblemished sacrifice to take away their sin—they have no Savior and no hope of escaping God’s wrath.  They are missing Jesus, and with Him, the meaning and purpose of life.

The unfathomable love of Christ, the power to live victoriously, the lasting joy and deep contentment found only in His presence—”the abundant life” as He called it—are pleasures He longs for all to experience.  Those who belong to Christ, know what I’m talking about, and join me in praying for those who haven’t yet answered His knock.  If you are one of them, and have grown weary of living your life in a world in which Jesus Christ never came, now is the time to invite him in.  Here’s how.

HOW TO BE SAVED:

• Admit to God that you are a sinner (that you have not kept His moral law to perfection; in your thoughts, words, and actions you have done what His law forbids and have failed to do what His love demands).  This is seeing yourself from God’s point of view and agreeing that He is right about you.  Be as specific as you can.
• Believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and that God raised Him from the dead.
• Sincerely repent (turn away) from your sins, asking God to forgive you and to use His power to help you resist temptation, no matter how strong the pull of sin may be, at first.
• Acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of your life.  Invite Him to move into your heart and take up residence there, so that He can change you from the inside out.
• Trust His promise to save you and give you a new spiritual birth and a new nature (thoughts, desires, priorities, hopes, dreams, and character).

SOME KEY TRUTHS:

• “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  (Romans 3:23)
• “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.”  (Romans 3:10)
• “For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23)
• “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)
• “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:8)
• “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”  (I Corinthians 15:3,4)
• “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12)
• “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him…”  (Revelation 3:20)
• “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  (Romans 10:13)
• “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”  (Romans 10:9-10)
• “Verily, verily, I say unto you; He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life; and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”  (John 5:24)
• “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, ye might have life through his name.”  (John 20:31) 
• “These things I have written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”  (I John 5:13)