PAST COLUMN #9

From the West Meadow
By Pastor Wesley Higgins

If you were to ask someone, “What is the world’s oldest religion?”, he or she would probably respond by naming some type of earth religion, or worship of every living thing. Certainly very few would ever name Christianity as the world’s oldest religion...but it is. Let me explain.

Even though the name “Christian” was used first less than 2000 years ago (Acts 11:26), in actuality the Bible traces it back to the beginning of time. Christianity is the religion of the Bible. It is the religion of one hope, one Lord, one faith, one God and Father of us all (Ephesians 4:4-6). It is the religion God taught to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God told them of the coming of a messiah (Genesis 3:15). Eve so believed in the messiah’s coming redemption that when she bore her first son, she thought he was the messiah; calling him Cain, she said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord” (Gen 4:1).

Christianity isn’t just rooted in the Old Testament, it is the religion of the Old Testament. Adam and Eve were promised the Messiah; Abraham was promised that his seed would be the Messiah (compare Gen 22:18 with Galations 3:16-18); Moses promised a new and better Prophet, who was the Messiah, Jesus (John 6:19). King David was promised a Son who would rule forever (II Samuel 7:12-19). That Son was born to Mary and was named “...Jesus. He...will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign...forever, and of His Kingdom there will be no end“ (Luke 1:31-33).

As the Apostle John explains: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us...” (John 1:1,14)

Jesus declares Himself to be “...the Beginning and the End...who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)

Don’t make the mistake of trying to separate the Old and New Testaments–they are together the word of God. Also, don’t make the mistake of trying to separate the religion of the Bible into old and new–it can’t be done. There is but one true religion. It is the religion as old as time itself. It is the Christian religion–the religion of God.

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