All You Need is Jesus?

Often Christians will say “all you need is Jesus”, or “ all that a person needs is Jesus”. What does this mean exactly? Unfortunately, many people view this as a prayer and church attendance, possibly treating people better, maybe abandoning some vices, believing that there is a deity who had a son that did something for them, and it ends there. What are “good” works and righteousness? What really saves a person from the impending wrath of Yahweh that He promises to deliver to the Earth? Peter addresses the people celebrating Shavuot, the feast of weeks, which in Greek was called Pentecost, for the counting of fifty days from the feast of first fruits.

Act 2:14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words.
Act 2:15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.
Act 2:16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
Act 2:17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;
Act 2:18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
Act 2:19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
Act 2:20 the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
Act 2:21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

It is always good to read the text directly where it is being quoted. Here are the passages Peter is quoting in Joel:

Joe 2:28 And it will happen afterward thus: I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your elders will dream dreams; your young men shall see visions.
Joe 2:29 And also on the male slaves and on the female slaves, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
Joe 2:30 And I will set wonders in the heavens, and on earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.
Joe 2:31 The sun will be changed to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of Yahweh.
Joe 2:32 And it will happen—everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh will be rescued, because on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as Yahweh said, and among the survivors whom Yahweh is calling.

What Peter is quoting, actually says that everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh will be rescued from the wrath Yahweh pours out on the Earth. Peter continues, explaining the role of Jesus:

Act 2:22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—
Act 2:23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
Act 2:24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
Act 2:25 For David says concerning him, “‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
Act 2:26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope.
Act 2:27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.
Act 2:28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
Act 2:29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
Act 2:30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne,
Act 2:31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
Act 2:32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.
Act 2:33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
Act 2:34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,
Act 2:35 until I make your enemies your footstool.”’
Act 2:36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Act 2:37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Act 2:38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Act 2:39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

Peter says God has made Him, speaking of Jesus, both Lord and Christ. The word Lord, back in verse 21, was used quoting Joel 2:32, for Yahweh. Yahweh is an approximate representation of the four Hebrew letters, יהוה, the name of the God of Israel, Abraham and Isaac. Let’s see if the same Greek word is used in verse 21 for Lord as in verse 36.

Act 2:21 And G2532  it shall come to pass, G2071  that whosoever G3956 G3739 G302  shall call on G1941  the G3588  name G3686  of the Lord G2962 shall be saved. G4982

Act 2:36 Therefore G3767  let all G3956  the house G3624  of Israel G2474  know G1097  assuredly, G806  that G3754  God G2316  hath made G4160  that same G5126  Jesus, G2424  whom G3739  ye G5210  have crucified, G4717  both G2532 Lord G2962 and G2532  Christ. G5547

It is the same Greek word G2962. This means Jesus has supreme authority as Lord (Kurios), and is the Messiah or Christ. Does this mean Jesus, whose name originally was Yeshua or Yahshua in Hebrew, meaning the salvation of Yah, usurped the power of Yahweh?

G2962
κύριος
kurios
Thayer Definition:
1) he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord
1a) the possessor and disposer of a thing
1a1) the owner; one who has control of the person, the master
1a2) in the state: the sovereign, prince, chief, the Roman emperor
1b) is a title of honour expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants greet their master
1c) this title is given to: God, the Messiah

Here is what Jesus has to say about this:

Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Mat 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Mat 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We are digressing from the original question, “All you need is Jesus?”, to lay down some frame work. According to Peter and Jesus, all power and authority has been handed over to Jesus from the Father. Paul tells us more:

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
1Co 15:24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
1Co 15:25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
1Co 15:27 For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him.
1Co 15:28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

Paul seems to be quoting Psalms 8:6 here:

Psa 8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you set in place—
Psa 8:4 what is a human being that you think of him? and a child of humankind that you care for him?
Psa 8:5 And you made him a little lower than heavenly beings, and with glory and with majesty you crowned him.
Psa 8:6 You make him over the works of your hands; all things you have placed under his feet:
Psa 8:7 sheep and cattle, all of them, and also the wild animals of the field,
Psa 8:8 the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, everything that passes along the paths of seas.
Psa 8:9 Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all of the earth!

The writer of Hebrews quotes the same verses regarding Jesus:

Heb 2:6 It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?
Heb 2:7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor,
Heb 2:8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
Heb 2:9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Hopefully we have established who Jesus is with all of these verses. The Father has put all things subject to Him for a time until all the enemies have been conquered. At that time, He hands things back to the Father. First Corinthians 15:28: “When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.”

Another verse in Revelation says the following:

Rev 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
Rev 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

There are many verses that show the authority that Jesus, or Yeshua, has been given. He says that He will share it with us as His Father shared with him if we repent.

Rev 3:19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
Rev 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Rev 3:21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

If we look back at what Peter was saying in Acts, he also indicates there are things we must do “to have Jesus”.

Act 2:37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Act 2:38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Act 2:39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

“Having Jesus” is more than saying a prayer, going to church and carrying on with life. Repentance means being sorry for transgressing the things Yahweh said not to do, and then with the help of the Holy Spirit, not doing them any more. Repentance is also doing the things Yahweh said to do as well as what not to do. The writers of the New Testament do a good job of repeating all the instructions that Yahweh gave us in the law and prophets. Jesus exemplified them for us, as well as the apostles. Here are some examples of New Testament writers explaining or showing us how to live a righteous life pleasing to Yahweh:

Act 15:16 “‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it,
Act 15:17 that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things
Act 15:18 known from of old.’
Act 15:19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God,
Act 15:20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.
Act 15:21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”

People from the nations, unfamiliar with the ways of Yahweh, are given the instructions to abstain from sexual immorality, things polluted from idols and from eating blood. These were the typical practices of their religions with temple prostitution, eating blood and idolatry. This is not to say if we stop doing those things we are done. Verse 21 implies these people will learn Yahweh’s ways in the “synagogues every Sabbath”. Here are some more New Testament instructions:

Gal 5:17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
Gal 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,
Gal 5:20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
Gal 5:21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Gal 5:23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Gal 5:24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Gal 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

As Paul states in the letter to the Romans 7:14, “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin”. So, when we repent and have the Spirit, we will not do these works of the flesh, which are explained in Yahweh’s laws. The law is written “on our hearts and in our mind”. The writer of Hebrews quotes Jeremiah:

Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Paul gives us some more examples of what not “having Jesus” involves.

Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
Rom 1:19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
Rom 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Rom 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Rom 1:22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Rom 1:24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
Rom 1:25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Rom 1:26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
Rom 1:27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Rom 1:28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
Rom 1:29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,
Rom 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
Rom 1:31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
Rom 1:32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

A person can easily find all theses attributes that we should not take part in, or as verse 32 indicates, should not even show approval, in the law of Yahweh. A portion of one of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians shows us we are not even to eat with such people. The clarification here is that these people he is speaking of are in the church, not in the world.

1Co 5:9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—
1Co 5:10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.
1Co 5:11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.

For those who claim Jesus did away with the Father’s law, how are these verses explained? No association with idolatrous things, sexual immorality, etc. Don’t even eat with such a person! What does that say about what type of people we should be? Some words from Peter:

2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
2Pe 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.
2Pe 3:11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,
2Pe 3:12 waiting 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!
2Pe 3:13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Jesus gives us a similar word in John’s revelation:

Rev 22:12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.
Rev 22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
Rev 22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.
Rev 22:15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

We could quote the New Testament verse after verse, showing what it looks like to “have Jesus”. It is all the same as what pleases Yahweh in the law and prophets, so why not look there as well? Yahweh would not hand all power and authority over to a lawless, idolatrous, sexually immoral Messiah. Jesus did not come to abolish the law. He came to show how to walk it out in our lives completely, or fulfill it. Jesus did not come to create a new religion called Christianity, with the inclusion of Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman mythology.

Mat 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Mat 5:18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Mat 5:19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Church leadership today is similar to the Pharisees in Jesus’ day who taught their traditions as the law of Yahweh, and neglected the actual law of God. Profaning the Sabbaths, idolatrous behaviours, sexual immorality, greed and much more are not only accepted in the church, but celebrated. What is the Greek word, Strong’s G4137, for what is translated “fulfilled”? It has to be the opposite of “abolish”.

G4137
πληρόω
plēroō
Thayer Definition:
1) to make full, to fill up, i.e. to fill to the full
1a) to cause to abound, to furnish or supply liberally
1a1) I abound, I am liberally supplied
2) to render full, i.e. to complete
2a) to fill to the top: so that nothing shall be wanting to full measure, fill to the brim
2b) to consummate: a number
2b1) to make complete in every particular, to render perfect
2b2) to carry through to the end, to accomplish, carry out, (some undertaking)
2c) to carry into effect, bring to realisation, realise
2c1) of matters of duty: to perform, execute
2c2) of sayings, promises, prophecies, to bring to pass, ratify, accomplish

A person who is said to “have Jesus” for several years, should understand all of this. The Holy Spirit of Truth should reveal the truth of scripture to everyone who is seeking it. It is our job to obey, and as we pursue righteousness, the Spirit will guide and reveal truth to us. You can try on your own to be a nice person, quit smoking, watch your language or whatever else you think a Christian should be, but as Paul states, “ the law is spiritual”, so it can only be understood and followed through the Spirit. Anything else is futile works that will be burned up.

Isa 64:5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?
Isa 64:6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

John the Baptist came preaching the commandments as was prophesied in the book of Malichi:

Mal 4:4 “Remember the instruction of my servant Moses, which I commanded him at Horeb to all Israel, the rules and regulations.
Mal 4:5 Look! I am going to send to you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of Yahweh!
Mal 4:6 And he will bring back the hearts of the fathers to the sons, and the hearts of the sons to their fathers, so that I will not come and strike the land with a ban.”

Over the two thousand years since John the Baptist, the words have been twisted into a new Babylonian mystery religion. Christianity has taken on the traditions of many foreign religions.

Mat 3:1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,
Mat 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Mat 3:3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”
Mat 3:4 Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Mat 3:5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him,
Mat 3:6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
Mat 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Mat 3:8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
Mat 3:9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.
Mat 3:10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Mat 3:11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Mat 3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Therefore; repent, be baptized, seek Yahweh’s ways commanded at Mount Horeb, and read your Bible, asking the Spirit of Truth to show you!