That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:1-3

Empirical Evidence

The above passage contains a special rebuke for me because for years I never noticed its empirical emphasis. I missed John’s primary point that he and the other disciples had had a sensory experience of Jesus and that John was trying to convince us that Jesus is real, not just a story. Life had become flesh; the Creator had become the created; the Eternal had become mortal. John wasn’t promoting that a really cool guy had been born; he was proclaiming that God had become a man and had dwelt among us (John 1:14).

Jesus isn’t just the figurehead of a philosophical or religious movement because of His amazing, insightful teaching: God revealed Himself as a man and then He conquered death. There’s something to be said for that achievement! He actually lived, died, and then bodily rose from the grave. Match that! What Jesus did had been anticipated by the prophets—He was expected—and when He arrived, He proved that God—the Word of Life, the ever-existing creator—does exist. Pay attention!

Historical Foundation of Christianity

However, early in my Christian walk I didn’t fully understand how important the historical foundation of Christianity was. For example, when I worked in Marina del Rey in Southern California just after high school, I had many conversations about Christianity with my boss’ father, but he always had that pitying “What a stupid, naive kid” attitude toward me as he blew smoke in my face. He made it clear he didn’t believe in a God—in any spiritual thing whatsoever. He told me that he would only believe what he could touch. He wasn’t going to be fooled by silly superstitions and unconfirmed ideas. He was empirical, a man of science, a man of practicality and of the here and now.

I wish I had understood the above passage better then, because what I said to him at the time was that God is spirit and He can’t be touched, but nevertheless He is real. True, but not the complete answer.

Trust and Verify

What I’ve come to realize and accept since then is that we humans do have a need to verify what we have been told. My boss’s dad wanted proof and that is fine with God. Yes, God is spirit and nobody has seen God (John 1:18), but He doesn’t expect us to believe in Him without any corroborating evidence.

For example, when the angels appeared to the shepherds, they were at first afraid. But after listening they followed directions and as a result,

“The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”

Luke 2:20

The empirical evidence matched the angelic revelation and that is how it should be, because God doesn’t make claims He is unwilling to back up, and we shouldn’t believe claims that are not backed up. They believed and then it was proven. In fact, God eagerly wants to confirm His existence to us, and He supports all of His claims.

If our attitude is to go where the evidence leads, then our only direction can be toward God.

God Has Made Himself Known

Essentially, we have as much information as we need to make a decision. The testimony of those who were there is reliable, and they were faithful to pass on the message. God is concerned for our subjective need for truth and he is concerned about our objective need for proof, and He doesn’t expect us to trust Him without cause. Faith, far from being blind, is the courage to believe the evidence and the reports of those who were there. God may Himself be unseen, but He has made Himself known through creation, the nation of Israel, and Jesus.

Indeed, I have come to fully accept that faith grows best when planted in the soil of proof. I have faith—complete confidence—that my parents love me because they have proven it. Likewise, God has given us every reason to trust Him and to be confident that He exists and that He loves us, and yet some people still don’t trust Him. I’m not promoting a “faith because…” mentality, but rather the idea that the kind of faith the Bible is talking about isn’t the same as believing in fairies or in Santa Claus. God isn’t real because I believe in Him, nor does He obscure Himself just to test me. He isn’t weakened by my unbelief and he isn’t strengthened by it. God exists. He is the great I Am. He has expressed Himself in creation, and the evidence is overwhelming. And yet some people refuse to believe the evidence and they live their lives in darkness. They have willfully blinded themselves. But the light is all around us, overwhelming us, infusing us with His glory. We need to believe what actually is instead of running away. Believe in Jehovah—there is no doubt that He exists. And when you believe, the universe opens up: you see the universe for what it really means—it points to the Creator.

Jesus is the Evidence

And that is why what I should have said to my boss’ dad all those years ago was “God became flesh in order to prove that the invisible God exists and to show us what He is like.” As Jesus put it, “He who has seen Me, has seen the Father” (John 14:9b).

God wants people to have confidence that He is not a fantasy. He wants us to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He loves us and that His word is true. Therefore what I should have told my boss’s father is: “Jesus is the empirical evidence you are looking for.”

To us a savior has been born, Christ the Lord. Don’t miss the miracle!

********************************************

Order Now!

You can find instructions to get a free eBook on my website at www.500yearjourney.com. Or, if you like, you can order a signed book.

However, I also believe in supporting local bookstores. Both Eighth Day Books and Watermark Books here in Wichita, KS have copies that can be ordered online, so please check them out! It would be cool if you were to ask your favorite local bookstore to make copies available. Thank you!

Otherwise, you can order copies on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Shop, Sandman Books, Walmart, and Books-A-Million. If you are in the UK you can order from Eden. 

I also have books available for GROUP STUDIES at churches or community groups. If your church library would like to carry copies, please contact me directly at contact@coreypiper.com. We’ll work out the cost and details together. Thank you!

Rejoice in the Lord!