People can be confused by religion. One person says this and another person says that. And then there’s outer space—are there other living beings in our universe that we are not aware of? I’ve run into this before and trying to witness can feel daunting with so many questions and changing of subjects. The confusion and the questions, however, are satisfied in Jesus Christ. He brings clarity to religion and the cosmos.

Jesus Brings Clarity to Religion

It happened at Jacob’s well. Jesus was weary from about a forty-mile journey and sat by this well at high noon to eventually speak with a Samaritan woman. The conversation began with Jesus asking for a drink of water and then transitioning the conversation into living water. He said (John 4:10), “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” One of the major tenets of religion is finding life, whether now and/or the afterlife. Jesus brings clarity to life now and for eternity in speaking with this woman.

In speaking of living water, Jesus reveals where true life, both now and forever, is found. In the Old Testament God is spoken of as the fountain of living waters (Jer. 2:13; 17:13), who pours out water on the thirsty (Isaiah 44:3), who gives life from the watery wells of salvation (Isaiah 12:3), and guides by springs of water (Isaiah 49:10). These images declare God as the giver of a life that flows refreshingly from the Holy Spirit. And Jesus as the giver of living water connects Himself as the mediator of God’s present and eternal life. D. A. Carson says, “[T]he water is the satisfying eternal life mediated by the Spirit that only Jesus, the Messiah and Saviour of the world, can provide.”¹ Thus, Jesus brings clarity to where true life is found—now and forever.

The Samaritan women saw that Jesus was some kind of prophet and brought up the confusion of where God was to be worshiped. Our father’s worshiped on this mountain and you Jews say that Jerusalem is the necessary place. Jesus points out the Samaritan’s ignorance. They do not know the God they worship and are doing it in the wrong designated place, since they have rejected the writings and the prophets. The Jews know who they worship, for they have His revelation and salvation comes out of the revelation given first to the Jews.

Jesus then brought clarity to the worship of God through His salvation hour (His death-resurrection-exaltation). Instead of a place, worship is in spirit and truth, which most likely means through the Holy Spirit and the truth revealed in Jesus. DA Carson describes “in spirit and truth” as “essentially God-centered made possible by the gift of the Holy Spirit, and in personal knowledge of and conformity to God’s Word-made-flesh.”

This interaction turns out to be eternally clarifying. Jesus makes renewed life and true worship of God a reality (for all nations). It is through Jesus that God, life, salvation, and true worship are clarified—to name only a few.

Let us not be confused about the things of God; He has spoken to us by His Son (Heb. 1:1–2). Let us not be confused about the questions other people have but point them to the one who brings clarity to true faith and religion.

Jesus Brings Clarity to the Cosmos

Conversations may turn to the cosmos accompanied by a lot of what if questions. What if there are other beings out there? What if there are other gods out there and we just don’t know them yet? What if there are many more dimensions that we haven’t discovered yet. These questions can make us feel tangled in mental knots, but they don’t have to.

We are given knowledge about the cosmos in God’s word and they are connected to Jesus Himself, particularly His Lordship and second coming. Whatever else God may have out in the universe He created (Gen. 1:1), we know who rules the universe and what will happen in the future. Paul reveals (in Eph. 1:20–22) that Jesus was raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly places FAR ABOVE all rule and power and authority. Whatever else is out there is clearly under Jesus’ control and power.

Regarding Jesus second coming Peter says (2 Peter 3:10), “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.” He continues with our response to this by saying,

“¹¹Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, ¹²waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! ¹³But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

God will change the entire scope of existence when Jesus returns. Clearly, the Lord rules the cosmos and what He says goes.

Jesus brings clarity to the cosmos as He is Lord over it all and with His second coming there will be new heavens and a new earth. The what if questions about the cosmos are unnecessary for believers to get tripped up on, for they do not change the truth revealed to us about Jesus. It would seem these questions can be designed to make us doubt the truth and centrality of Jesus in our faith. Nevertheless, God’s Word speaks concerning the cosmos and the things we need to know about. And it is quite simple. God made the cosmos, rules the cosmos, and will make a new cosmos in which He dwells with His people forever. Whatever else God may have in the cosmos doesn’t negate what He has told us about the life, death, resurrection, and second coming of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

As you live you can rest assured in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. And as you witness you can bring conversations back to Him knowing that, although you don’t know all the what if questions of the cosmos, you do know the ruler of the cosmos and can trust Him for fellowship with God and everlasting life. Whatever else there may be in God’s universe, doesn’t negate the Gospel of His Son.

Sources

Carson, D. A. The Gospel according to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991.

Kruse, Colin G. John: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 4, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003.