Without Him

How different our world would be without Jesus!

If Jesus hadn't come to earth, we'd never have heard of the Lord's Prayer, the Golden Rule, or the story of the good Samaritan. We wouldn't know the one who said, "I am the light of the world," "I am the good shepherd," or "I am the way and the truth and the life." We wouldn't know that "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

According to a recent study by missionary researcher David Barrett, more than 65,000 books about Jesus have been written worldwide and an average of four more are published each day. Besides these, much of the world's great literature wouldn't exist without Jesus. And concert halls and galleries would not be graced by some of the greatest music and works of art of all time, created to honor Christ.

Countless lives would have remained unchanged if Christ hadn't come to earth. Lazarus would have stayed in the grave. Tormented by the devil, a man known as Legion would have continued to terrorize the region where he lived. A carpenter named Joseph and his wife Mary would have lived and died without fanfare in an obscure village called Nazareth. None of us would have heard of fishermen known as James, John, Peter, and Andrew. Matthew would have served out his term as an unpopular tax collector. Saul of Tarsus would have remained a legalistic Pharisee instead of being transformed into the apostle Paul, the incomparable expositor of God's grace.

Even the calendar would be different. Holidays would be stripped of any spiritual meaning (if they existed at all). If no virgin birth occurred in Bethlehem, there'd be no Christmas to honor the Giver of the greatest gift. And if Jesus hadn't died on the cross for us? No Good Fridays—or Mondays, Tuesdays, or any other good days, for we would be weighed down by sin and a guilty conscience with no help in sight.

Without the Lord Jesus, no Christians would gather for worship on Sunday because they are devoted to "the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer" (Acts 2:42). There would be no church-sponsored hospitals, youth groups, schools, or nursing homes. Worse, if Jesus didn't rise from the dead, we would have no hope. No guarantee of life after death. No logical reason to comfort anyone who grieves.

But the Bible confirms that Jesus did come to earth. In fact, he chose to come. "I have authority to lay my life down and authority to take it up again," he said. But there were other reasons why he had to come. Old Testament prophecies required it. Jesus told his disciples, "Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms" (Luke 24:44). God's love required it. Our Savior doesn't force himself upon anyone, but he wants all of us "to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). And our salvation required it. Only by accepting the one who died for us can we have "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).

What would it be like without Jesus? We'd be "without hope and without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12). But about 2,000 years ago, God intervened in dramatic fashion. He visited our planet in person, and nothing has been quite the same since.

What difference has he made in your life? Why try to live without him?