Isaiah 45:15
A God Who Hides
15 Truly you are a God who has been hiding himself, the God and Savior of Israel.
Isaiah 59:2
Sin Separates Us from God
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
John 1:1-14
Jesus Dwelt Among Us
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
2 Peter 1:12-21
St. Peter an Eyewitness to His Majesty
12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.
16 We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
19 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
1 Peter 2:22
Jesus Was Sinless
22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
Mark 6:30-44
Jesus Fees the Five Thousand
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
37 But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”
They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”
38 “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”
When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”
39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.
Mark 8:1-8
Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand
1 During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 2 “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”
4 His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”
5 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.
“Seven,” they replied.
6 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. 7 They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. 8 The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
Matthew 16:13-20
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 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. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Matthew 8:28-34
28 When Jesus arrived at the other side of the lake in the area of the Gadarene people, two men who had demons in them met him. These men lived in the burial caves and were so dangerous that people could not use the road by those caves. 29 They shouted, “What do you want with us, Son of God? Did you come here to torture us before the right time?”
30 Near that place there was a large herd of pigs feeding. 31 The demons begged Jesus, “If you make us leave these men, please send us into that herd of pigs.”
32 Jesus said to them, “Go!” So the demons left the men and went into the pigs. Then the whole herd rushed down the hill into the lake and were drowned. 33 The herdsmen ran away and went into town, where they told about all of this and what had happened to the men who had demons. 34 Then the whole town went out to see Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their area.
Acts 17:1-4
Paul Preaches that Jesus is the Messiah
1 Paul and Silas traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue.2 Paul went into the synagogue as he always did, and on each Sabbath day for three weeks, he talked with his fellow Jews about the Scriptures. 3 He explained and proved that the Christ must die and then rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus I am telling you about is the Christ.” 4 Some of them were convinced and joined Paul and Silas, along with many of the Greeks who worshiped God and many of the important women.
1 Corinthians 15:1-8
Five Hundred People See Jesus After His Death
1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
I believe that the point needs to be made that Jesus was seen...Jesus was clearly seen...He was written about by the four authors of the gospels...And He was written about who never met Him, like Saul while He was alive, although Saul did see Him on the road to Damascus...So these authors and many people clearly saw Jesus on earth...
It often seems to me that God is one who likes to hide...God chooses the way He is seen...God could at anytime be seen by everyone in the world at the same time and leave no doubt that God is The God, and our God...God could put a thought or His thought in our minds and then all would believe in Him...And these things and miracles would be easy for God to do...If He did this kind of miracle, there would be very few atheists and non-believers in the world...He chooses to hide for His reasons, which are not clearly told to us in the Bible...God has chosen not to be an Obvious God...The most often reason we are given is free will...And free will is very important in relationships of LOVE...And that LOVE allows things to happen without control of the one and the ones that He LOVES...But the Bible does not go into any detail about free will...
I used the words that it seems that God likes to hide...Maybe because it is man's nature to sin that our sinful nature keeps God from being seen a lot by us or to be near His Presence...Sin keeps us separated from God, yet there were men that God chose to spread His ideas, teachings, and word...And these men saw God and were less separated than I feel from Him (or it would seem to me that these men were close to God)...I say this in the context of Moses and the Prophets never seemed to question that God existed or that He was near them, as they authored their books inspired by Him and they felt and saw Him...
There is One Man who sees God very clearly...And as we read the four gospels, the One who is completely centered Himself and His life around God, is His Son...Jesus life is focused on His Father...And Jesus always seems to have His Father near Him...But Jesus is sinless, so this helps Him to be closer to God and to see God clearly, very clearly...As we read through the four gospels, we can read and almost feel this special relationship Jesus has with His Father...
Jesus was on earth and was clearly seen and seen by many -not just by a few or handful of people...He was even clearly seen after His death by five hundred people...Yet, He was not clearly seen, and is still today not clearly seen...There were people who did not know who He was or is...Jesus' Disciple John makes this clear that Jesus came in the flesh and dwelt among us...Jesus lived and taught the men and women of His time...And His lessons are timeless and He existed and was seen...Peter, another disciple, says he was an eyewitness to His Majesty...And besides His Twelve Disciples, many thousands of men and women saw Him and listened to Him teach...We know this because at one time He fed four thousand and at another time He fed five thousand men...And this was just two times where we read about large crowds seeing Him...After He healed two men who had demons, the whole town went out to see Jesus...And the town begged Him to leave their area -they did not want Him to stay...So many, many people clearly saw Him and clearly heard Him...But He really did not tell us repeatedly who He was and is...He never was One who boasted of Himself or talk a lot about Himself...He wants us to come to our conclusion of who He is...But He does clearly ask us the question of who do people say that I AM...So we must make a decision of who we think He is...And I do believe that most people, if not all people have an idea, maybe only an inkling of an idea of who they think He is...But it is not done in an obvious way, but in a gentle and subtle way...
Jesus was so clearly seen both before His death and after His death that it makes it hard for people to say He never existed (or does not exist because believers believe in His resurrection -and He still is alive this very day)...Even the credible Jewish historian Josephus in his writings tell us that Jesus is the Christ, but that still does not make everyone believe that He still did exist...
With all the evidence and the number of people that clearly saw Him, one can conclude that He did exist...But let us say that you do believe that He existed and is not a Historical Figure...Then you have to believe that the men who authored the four gospels and New Testament about Jesus being the Messiah are lies and were liars...So you either believe the New Testament is true and wrote by sacred and men of God, or you believe that all the authors of the New Testament are liars...If you are a non-believer and do not believe that Jesus is our Messiah and is and was the One to come, then the New Testament is a bunch of lies, by a group of different and lying men, who just got it all wrong about Him...And the authors are Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, the author of Hebrews, and Jude and James, both of who are Jesus' brothers do not really know Who they were writing about (but you do)...So all of the authors wrote of fiction, if you do not believe what they wrote...If one believes that the New Testament is fiction, then what these authors wrote are lies and exaggerations of a mere Man, who is not unique or the Christ...And if you are a non-believer, then you believe these authors were somehow fooled by Jesus, including two of His own brothers...
For one to believe in Jesus, one has to believe that the four gospels are true...They four authors of the four gospels are the beginning of our faith in Jesus, and the search for Truth...As Peter wrote, they are our eyewitness to His Majesty...The four gospels are very much, the foundation of belief in Jesus...If we did not have the four gospels, what do we really know about Him?...How do we get to know Him?...Without these writings, we only have oral tradition if they were never written to start our search towards faith...If all we have is nature and our knowledge, thoughts, and feelings about God and Jesus, without the gospels, how strong is our faith?...It is very possible much, if not most, or even all, of our faith hinges on the assumption that the four gospels are accurate with regards to what Jesus said and what He taught...If one does not believe that the truth is written about Jesus in the four gospels, then Jesus cannot be clearly seen or maybe even seen at all...