To Those Who Believe, HE is Precious

In my cellphone contact list, I have the names and numbers of those whom I regularly have contact with, family and friends, businesses and business acquaintances. These names and numbers show up on my phone when I receive calls from them, or I am calling them.  The person I am happily married to is listed as my precious wife, and when she calls it flashes on my phone, Your precious wife is calling.

The term precious is used as an adjective to describe someone or something of great value, that which is priceless, that which brings great joy and delight, even that which we see as essential to our happiness and wellbeing. In the world, everything from babies to metals and memories are described as precious.  The Bible uses it to describe someone who is greatly beloved, who is preeminent in our affections and desires, and that is who my wife is to me (1 Peter 2:4-6) (Matthew 3:16-17).  I love her dearly and deeply, above all else in this world.  She is my greatest joy and delight in this world.

However, there is one who transcends this world, one who must be infinitely more precious to me than my wife or anything else in all of creation or else I am an idolator who will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 10:37-39) (1 Corinthians 6:9).  And that one is the person of Jesus Christ, God the Son, the eternal King of Glory, my Savior and my Lord (Psalm 24:9-10) (Acts 2:36).

Jesus is the one who gave me my wife as a gift, as an expression and extension of His goodness and love (Proverbs 18:22).  More importantly however, He is the one who loved me and gave His life for me that I might receive the gift of eternal life, the glorious life with God for which man was created and lost due to sin (Galatians 2:20) (Romans 6:23).

Jesus reveals to us in John 3:16, that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, (Jesus) that those who believe in Him, would not perish (in Hell), but have eternal life.  He further notes that those who do not believe remain condemned (John 3:18). The Apostle Paul, in answer to the Philippian jailer’s most important question of what he must do to be saved from God’s judgement, informs him that He must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:29-31).  The Apostle John tells us that those who believe on Jesus’ name, His name representing the totality of who He has revealed Himself to be as both God and man, are declared to be the true children of God (John 1:12). And Jesus, in giving what is referred to as the great commission in Mark 16:16, proclaims that as the disciples go forth to proclaim the good news of who Jesus is and what He has accomplished on behalf of sinful men and women to save them from the judgement of God and grant them the gift of eternal life, that it is those who believe who will be saved, and those who do not who will remain under the just judgement of God for their sins, destined to be consigned to Hell at their death.   

Now, despite these promises, the Bible reveals that there are many who will proclaim they believe in Jesus, who even call him Lord and do good works in His name, who will not be saved (Matthew 7:21-23).  Jesus calls out the phony “believers” of His day in Matthew 15:7-8, whose hearts and affections He judges to be far from Him.  We are told in James 2:19 that the demons believe in Jesus, and in Mark 1:23-24, that demons were the first to identify Him as the Son or Holy One of God during His earthly ministry.  And yet it is certain that their “belief” does not exclude them from being ultimately condemned to Hell (Matthew 25:41).

So, we need to answer two questions in regard to these exceeding great promises to condemned sinners, of salvation from God’s judgement and inclusion in God’s eternal family.  First, what does it mean to believe and second, what is the evidence that we do believe. I will address the latter first.

The evidence that we believe in Jesus in a way that results in eternal life is clearly and succinctly stated in 1 Peter 2:7, … to you who believe, He is precious, meaning that we have come to know Jesus to be more valuable to us than anything in creation, such that He becomes the desire of our heart and the delight of our soul, wherein knowing, loving and being loved by Him becomes more important than anything else in our life (Psalm 73:23-26) (Luke 10:25-28).

Puritan writer James Smith in a brief article written in 1861 titled “Christ is Precious” notes that only those who perceive their desperate need for Jesus, for all He is in the infinite perfections of His being and all He has provided in His saving work, will find Him to be precious.  He writes:

“They need to be saved, and only Christ can save them.
They need to be happy, and only Jesus can make them happy.
They need His blood to cleanse them from sin and procure their pardon.
They need His righteousness to clothe their souls and justify them before God.
They need His Spirit to sanctify their nature and make them fit for Heaven.
They need His intercession to secure them from evil and procure for them good things.
They need His fullness of grace, to supply all their needs from earth to Heaven.”

We come to know Jesus as precious through what the Bible refers to as the new birth or being born again in which God the Holy Spirit supernaturally grants us spiritual life (1 Peter 1:3) (Ephesians 2:1-5). He opens our spiritual eyes to see, by faith, through the written word of God, that there is a glorious Kingdom of God/Kingdom of Heaven to desire inclusion in.  More importantly, He enables us to see the glory of its King, King Jesus, such that He becomes of such great value to us that we would give or do anything necessary to be a subject of this infinitely glorious King (John 3:1-8) (2 Corinthians 4:6) (Psalm 24:7-10) (Matthew 13:44-46).

The good news is that this King himself, through His sinless life, sacrificial death on the cross and miraculous resurrection, has done everything necessary to bring us into His Kingdom as His beloved and willing subjects.  And it is those who believe this and repent of their sin, their life of rebellion against this King, and who willingly submit to Him as Lord, the ruler of their lives, who will receive the gift of life with Him in His eternal Kingdom, not just as beloved subjects, but as joint heirs and rulers of that Kingdom with Him forever. (Mark 1:14-15) (Colossians 2:10) (Romans 10:9-11) (James 2:5) (Revelation 5:8-10).

Thus, to those who believe this– He is precious.  How can He be anything less??

Grace and Peace x