Much has been said about how to come to Jesus today. In this article I would like to take a look at how Abraham came to God and compare it with how we come to God and Jesus today.
We come to Jesus by grace through faith made. This is made possible by sacrificial atonement. Jesus is our sacrifice. According to Jewish tradition Abraham's parents were idol worshippers. In fact, his parents may have even been builders of idols. How did Abraham, from such a background come to know God? Did he study the subject of idols vs. God in depth and come to this conclusion? I don't think so.
We read in Genesis 12:1 "The LORD had said to Abraham, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you." We see here that God came to Abraham. It had to be through divine inspiration that Abraham took up his goods and left. The key point here is that God first came to Abraham through divine inspiration and revelation. God did not have to do this. There is no record of exceedingly great accomplishments made by Abraham earlier in his life. And even if there were, it would not be enough to earn salvation.
Now let's jump over to the Brit Chadasha (New Testament). In Ephesians 2:8 we are told by the apostle Paul that "It is by grace that you have been saved, through faith––and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God."
It is the same today. How do we come to a relationship with Jesus? God comes to us first with grace. We have a choice to make, yes we do. And so did Abraham, but the faith required to make that right choice is the gift of God.
A classic case of a person coming to Jesus after Jesus crucifixion is that of the apostle Paul, as relayed in Acts 9. Paul was a violent persecutor of Christians when Jesus came to him and struck him blind. Paul was not searching for Christ.
One more interesting thought on this subject is from Matthew 16:15-18:
But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."
Jesus is asking Peter who he thinks Christ is. To which Peter responds that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Christ responds to Peter by telling him that man has not revealed this to him, by God the Father. And that he is Peter, and upon this rock Christ will build His church.
The phrase "this rock" that Christ will build his church upon has most often been thought of as referring to Peter. This may be true but I would like to also pose an alternative. It seems to me that Jesus may be referring to the fact that "this was not revealed to you by man, but by the Father in heaven" as the rock. The fact is that we do not come to Christ, He comes to us. This solid, hard fact could be what Jesus is referring to by the expression "this rock".
How did we as flesh and blood come to Christ? Through grace, God and Jesus came to us first. We are partners with Christ, we have choices to make, but God initiated the relationship. The right choices that we make through faith are a product of the relationship we have with Him, which was started by faith.
For more information regarding the Hebraic Roots of Christianity check out Thomas Thorne's new book titled "The Wonder and Majesty of God's Festivals and Holy Days: The Master Plan Revealed." It's a wonderful, eye-opening experience.
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