Did it Really Happen—What Jesus Says

One cannot claim he has faith in a man and yet doubt that man's veracity. Our only choice is to believe what a man says or disbelieve it. Such is the case with Jesus. We either believe in Jesus as a man whose word can be trusted or disbelieve him, consider his word as unreliable; it is either one or the other. If his word is at times unreliable, you never know when to believe him and when not to. He cannot be fully trusted.

This article comes as a result of a sermon I heard in which the preacher made the comment that with many people today, everything in the Bible is seen as figurative or symbolic and thus not to be taken at face value. To be specific, everything that seems incredible, the miraculous, is simply the use of figurative speech to make a spiritual point; thus, when scripture is looked at in this way, one does not have to deal with the supernatural in the affairs of men for the simple reason that the supernatural never happened.

Viewing scripture this way presents some very real problems for many of the things people wish to deny Jesus declared to be factual. The problem then becomes, do you believe Jesus or do you think he lied or, at the very least, was mistaken. I thought it would be good to compile a list of some of the things Jesus spoke of in such a way as to confirm their reality.

The listing was compiled by starting in Matthew and just taking events in the order in which I found them in a red-letter edition of the New Testament. Thus, the reason we start with Sodom and Gomorrah is that it was the first confirmation I came to of an Old Testament miraculous event as I ran my finger up and down the pages of Matthew, then Mark, Luke, and John in order, seeking passages where Jesus confirmed Old Testament miracles—Matt. 10:15. I quote the Luke passage, for it is more in-depth than Matthew, but I will include what Matthew quotes Jesus saying as well.

(1) Jesus confirms Sodom and Gomorrah and what happened there, saying, "Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all." (Luke 17:28-29 NKJV) "Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!" (Matt. 10:15 NKJV) The words Jesus spoke confirm what the Old Testament had to say about Sodom and Gomorrah. Did Jesus lie? Can one believe the Bible account of Sodom and Gomorrah?

The Bible says, "the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord." (Gen. 13:13 NKJV) In Gen. 18:20, Gomorrah is included with Sodom as a place whose "sin is very grievous." (Gen 18:20 NKJV) In Gen. 19:5, we see the nature of their sin. Two angels came to Lot (Gen. 19:1), but their appearance was that of men (Gen. 19:5). The men of Sodom came to Lot and insisted that he "bring them out to us that we may know them carnally." (Gen. 19:5 NKJV) They were engaged in homosexuality, men with men engaging in unseemly sexual acts.

One cannot be an advocate of gay marriage and be a faithful Christian, not if he or she believes the Bible. In 1 Cor. 6:9-10, in the New Testament, not the old, Paul, speaking by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives a list of those who "will not inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 6:9 NKJV) and says "do not be deceived" (1 Cor. 6:9 NKJV) about it. In that list, we find "homosexuals" and "sodomites." (1 Cor. 6:9 NKJV)

Did Jesus lie about Sodom and Gomorrah? Do you believe what he said?

(2) Jesus confirms the story of, as he calls him, "the prophet Jonah." (Matt. 12:39 NKJV) "But He answered and said to them, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.'" (Matt. 12:39-40 NKJV)

Many people do not believe the story of Jonah, but Jesus says it happened. They think that a man could not survive in the belly of a giant fish for three days and nights, but the reason they reject it is that they discount the supernatural. They think scientifically that such a thing could not happen. My answer to that would be, of course not. Clearly, it is a supernatural event out of the norm, but the biblical text tells us as much.

This was no ordinary fish for the Bible says, "the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah." (Jonah 1:17 NKJV) God made this giant fish for a specific purpose, put it in a specific location at just the right time, to do a specific task (swallow Jonah), and designed him in such a way that a man could survive inside him. Jesus said this happened. Did Jesus lie? Do you believe him?

Can we believe in Jesus, a supernatural being having no earthly father, and then say supernatural events have never happened, that miracles are just fairy tales? If the miraculous is always to be rejected, then who can believe in the virgin birth of Christ and/or his resurrection? How can we believe in our own resurrection if we do not believe in the miraculous?

Even if evolution were true, would that not also be just as much mind-boggling as the Bible's creation account? Both are beyond the realm of human reason and understanding, both incomprehensible by the human mind. Evolution is a mathematical impossibility and thus would be just as much a miracle as anything the Bible speaks of. Evolution has life evolving from non-living matter. If true, is that not a miracle? Both the evolutionist and the creationist believe in miracles, but one will admit as much while the other refuses to acknowledge it.

(3) Jesus confirms man's creation and Adam and Eve. “And He answered and said to them, 'Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning "made them male and female," and said, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh"?'" (Matt. 19:4-5 NKJV) Thus man was a creation of God and did not evolve. There was a beginning, and at that time human beings, male and female, were created by God.

Please note Jesus says you can read about this, "have you not read." (Matt. 19:4 NKJV) Thus, Jesus confirms the account given in Genesis of the creation.

Jesus further confirms the account of Adam and Eve as being real people and not mythological when he confirms the life and death of Abel. Since Abel was the son of Adam and Eve, if there is no Adam and no Eve, then there is no Abel. "Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar." (Matt. 23:34-35 NKJV) Jesus says Abel died a righteous man; thus, Abel did indeed live, the son of Adam and Eve.

If Adam and Eve were mythological instead of living human beings, the question arises how about Abel? Was Abel also mythological? At what point in time do we move in the biblical account from mythological beings to actual living human beings? Jesus teaches that there was no mythology to it.

(4) Jesus confirms the flood account. "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." (Matt. 24:37-39 NKJV) Jesus says there was a flood, a man named Noah, and an ark. Who was taken away in the flood? Jesus says "took them all away" thus it was a universal flood. God said to Noah, "the end of all flesh has come before me." (Gen. 6:13 NKJV) Those who want a local flood only have to deal with these passages. Was Jesus a liar? Were only a part of them, a part of all flesh, taken away? Do you believe Jesus told the truth?

(5) Jesus confirms the burning bush incident. "But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB'?" (Mark 12:26 NKJV) This was the bush that burned with fire but was not consumed (Exodus 3:2-3). A bush that burns with fire and yet is not consumed is a miracle. Jesus is saying the passage is legitimate and is putting his stamp of approval on the account being a matter of factual history.

(6) Jesus confirms the miraculous feeding of the widow in Zarephath and her son in 1 Kings 17 for approximately 3 years and 6 months. When Elijah met her she had but barely enough food for that single day for herself and son (see 1 Kings 17:12) but Elijah speaks to her word from the Lord, "The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth." (1 Kings 17:14 NKJV) That ended up being nearly 3 years and 6 months (see Luke 4:25).

Here is what Jesus said about that, confirming it as a real event, "But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow." (Luke 4:25-26 NKJV)

(7) Jesus confirms the miraculous healing from leprosy of Naaman. "And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." (Luke 4:27 NKJV) You remember Naaman was told by the prophet Elisha to dip 7 times in the river Jordan (1 Kings 5:10) and he would be cleansed. After hesitating, he finally did so and was cleansed. We have Jesus here confirming another Old Testament miracle.

(8) Jesus confirms Lot's wife being turned into a pillar of salt. He says, "Remember Lot's wife." (Luke 17:32 NKJV) What is to remember about her if she did not turn into a pillar of salt upon disobeying God (Gen. 19:17, 29)? That is the very thing we are to remember lest we too disobey.

I ask do you believe what Jesus taught? Do you believe the things he said about the events I have listed above? If you doubt them, you question Jesus' veracity. How can you believe Jesus is Lord and Savior and yet doubt his word, for to doubt his word is to doubt him? If Jesus is prone to fairy tales, then how do you know what to believe or think?

Why would we expect God to be held in rein by science, by naturalistic processes, when God, by definition, is outside and above the natural world, for he is the one who, if he does exist (I do not doubt that he does), created it all? He who created nature is not bound by what he created. The creation does not reign over the creator. The creator has not created a thing more powerful than himself, a thing he cannot intervene in and change to suit his purposes.

If you or I build a house, do we not have the power to take that house and remodel it? Why then cannot God intervene miraculously in the affairs of nature and of mankind, of which he created both, to suit his own purposes? Why does supernatural intervention surprise us to the point that we deny that it can happen? We deny miracles?

Those who doubt generally do not want to believe. They do not search for God. They are running from faith because they do not want to believe, for belief would mean being bound by God and his commandments, which limit our freedom to do as we please, and I add, as we all know, we are all inclined to do what we want to, to do what pleases us. It is our human nature.

Even among religious people in Christendom, many have doubts about various passages in the Bible, but why? I think the root of the matter is that doubt allows us the freedom to build our own unique version of Christianity to suit ourselves. If we cannot trust the Bible completely, then we get to build the Bible (the doctrines and commandments) that most pleases us. It allows one to have a smorgasbord religion where one can pick and choose rather than just take what God has served up. We like the meal we would prepare better than the one God has prepared. It is a liberal brand of Christianity, but by design to meet a purpose—to live life the way we desire. 

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Psalm 8:3-4—"What is Man That You Are Mindful of Him?"

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him?" (Psalm 8:3-4 NKJV)

Here we have one of the toughest questions in life to answer, what is man?  Then the follow-up, that you, God, are mindful of him.  There was a time when you and I did not exist.  Birth is like a person who has been in a deep dreamless sleep and suddenly he is awakened.  We are thrust into the world; we have no choice in the matter.  How did we get here?  Why are we here?  What is it we are supposed to do or be?  All is a mystery but at that early stage of life, at birth, we are spared from having to think of such things.

We enter the world naked, helpless, in poverty, having no knowledge or understanding, and unless someone has pity upon us and shows us mercy and gives us care and assistance we cannot live but briefly.  Someone must care for us. 

Man comes into the world a frail creature made of flesh and blood and in a body that is destined for only a limited number of years of life on earth at best.  “The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” (Psalm 90:10 NKJV)   Man can no more prevent his death than he could have prevented his birth.  This is the story of human life but the question remains, what is it all about; what is life about? 

God made man out of dust (Gen. 2:7).  In speaking to Adam, after the fall, God says to him, "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return." (Gen 3:19 NKJV)  David, the Psalmist, says, "For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust." (Psalm 103:14 NKJV)

Yet, God gave to man a spirit, not just a body.  "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness."  (Gen. 1:26 NKJV)  "So God created man in his own image; in the image of God he created him." (Gen 1:27 NKJV)  Jesus said, "God is Spirit." (John 4:24 NKJV)  So man has a spirit in the image of God, or like God, but enclosed in a frame of dust.    

In the Psalm at hand, Psalm 8:3-4, David the Psalmist in thinking about man and his frailty could look up into the heavens and stand amazed, awestruck, at what his eyes beheld.  Comparatively few people living in America today live in an area where they can get a clear view of the heavens on a cloudless, moonless, night.  City lights, smog, and just the atmosphere itself obscures what is in the heavens to be seen but when you do get a chance to see the sky on a perfectly clear night it leaves you speechless.  What do you say when you look up and see millions to billions of stars?

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork.  Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.   There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.  Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." (Psalm 19:1-4 NKJV)

What you see is what God meant for you to see—the glory of God declared.  The New American Standard Bible (1977) starts Psalm 19 verse 1 as follows:  "The heavens are telling of the glory of God."

On a perfectly clear night when you look up into the night sky how many stars do you see?  Here is a report from a website called ESA Space Science:

"Stars are not scattered randomly through space, they are gathered together into vast groups known as galaxies. The Sun belongs to a galaxy called the Milky Way. Astronomers estimate there are about 100 thousand million stars in the Milky Way alone. Outside that, there are millions upon millions of other galaxies also!"

From a site called wiki.answers.com I got this answer when looking for the number of stars that exist:

"The newest estimates gained by the Hubble space telescope places the estimate of 500 billion Galaxies each with about 300 billion stars for each galaxy."

And yet the Psalmist said of God, their creator, "He counts the number of the stars; he calls them all by name." (Psalm 147:4 NKJV)

David could look up into the night sky and see the stars so vast in number as to overwhelm the mind.  It is more than the human mind can take in and comprehend and we are left awe-struck.  Figuratively speaking it brought David to his knees by its magnificence and the glory and might it portrayed—the glory and might of God.  What was, what is, man to such a God?  God is God Almighty truly and beyond doubt!

Have the heavens man can see failed in telling the story of the glory of God?  No!  "For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." (Rom. 1:20 NKJV)

Paul by inspiration in this passage teaches that man knows there is a God which does not mean, however, that he is willing to admit it or accept it.  There are reasons for not accepting the fact that your child is causing problems in school, or that your spouse is cheating on you, or that your smoking may well lead to cancer, or a hundred other things.  Likewise, there are many reasons people have for not wanting to believe in God and thus not allowing themselves to do so despite clear evidence of his existence.  There is enough evidence that God has shown to man to prove his existence that God said, "They are without excuse." (Rom. 1:20 NKJV)

So what is a man to such an astounding God?  Human reasoning might well conclude that to such a mighty God we would be nothing, no more than the equivalent of a mite on a leaf, but that is not God's view of the matter.  Man is the object of God's love.  This was the thing David was puzzling over.  How can such a great and mighty God care about something as lowly as a man?  It is a thing we may never understand but we must come to believe and accept it and what a wonderful thing it is whether it is understood or not.

God's love for his creation was such that even before creation he determined that man would have eternal life.  "In hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began." (Titus 1:2 NKJV)  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world." (Eph. 1:3-4 NKJV)

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16 NKJV)  It is true that eternal life, in the sense of awareness, can be found both in heaven and hell but, "The Lord…is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV)  God wants us with him in heaven where "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." (Rev. 21:4 NKJV) 

In John 17 Jesus prays.  He starts out praying, so it seems, for the apostles but then he says in verse 20, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word." (John 17:20 NKJV)  Jesus goes on in prayer, "Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me; for you loved me before the foundation of the world." (John 17:24 NKJV)  God's desire is that all men be with him in heaven and live there with him throughout eternity.  God "desires all men to be saved." (1 Tim. 2:4 NKJV)

Jesus was sent into the world not to condemn the world but to save the world (John 12:47).  Jesus is off now preparing a place for God's faithful children (John 14:2-3).  What we learn from all of this is that God created man, God loves man, and God's intent or desire is that all men be saved and join with him in heaven for eternity.  Who can understand or explain the love of God for man? 

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 8:38-39 NKJV)

Man was made to love and be loved by God, created a spiritual being in a body of flesh with the plan being to transform at the proper time into a heavenly body.  "And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man." (1 Cor. 15:49 NKJV)

That is the future that God has decreed for those of his human creation who choose of their own free will to follow God and obey his commands by faith.  Not only did God create us but he has also told us why.  There are certain things he wants out of us.  This may not be an exhaustive list but it comes close to being a good summary.

God wants man's love.  "'And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'  This is the first commandment." (Mark 12:30 NKJV)

God also wants man to love his fellow man.  "'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Mark 12: 31 NKJV)

This love God desires of man demands obedience to God.  "If you love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15 NKJV)  "'He who does not love me does not keep my words.'" (John 14:24 NKJV)

God wants man to have faith in him.  "But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him." (Heb. 11:6 NKJV)

God desires man's worship.  "'But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth; for the father is seeking such to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.'" (John 4:23-24 NKJV)  Note the phrase "the father is seeking such to worship him" thus God desires that of man.  "'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only you shall serve.'" (Matt. 4:10 NKJV) 

God desires that man glorify him in both body and spirit.  "For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Cor. 6:20 NKJV)  The great sin of the Gentiles that Paul talks about in Romans 1 was that "although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful." (Rom. 1:21 NKJV)

To glorify God demands that man treat God as God which means, among other things, reverence, thanksgiving, and giving praise to his name.  It demands a holy and reverent life of faithful obedience from a humble and a thankful heart.  It has to be from the heart.  It must be that my heart drives me to it.

Perhaps we could add to this list but I think for the most part everything that God desires of us could be put in one or the other of the above categories I have listed.  God wants our love, our faith, our obedience, our worship, and our reverence or respect.  He wants to be treated like God and honored as such.

What is man that God is mindful of him?  Man is the creation of God's love and because of that love, God is mindful of him.  If God has loved us so much should we not reciprocate that love?  Does not our heart drive us to do so?  I hope we never harden our hearts against the love of God for that would be cruelty against one who cares for us.  In reference to God’s children the scripture declares “he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7 NKJV)  “He himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” (Heb. 13:5 NKJV)  God is not willing that any perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).  Who could be so cruel as to harden his heart against such a God, our God?

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