Jan
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Jesus Who?
Filed Under Defending Christianity | Leave a Comment
Thomas Jaytee
There are many people named Jesus out there claiming to be the Jesus of the scriptures. But to know who the real Jesus is, we have to research the scriptures to find out as much as we can. If you don’t believe the scriptures are the inerrant word of God then this article may not be of much help to you. But if you do, you’ll find this little research exercise quite helpful.
From Genesis to Revelation, there is one central character that is emphasized, the Messiah – the Son of God – Jesus. There are hundreds of scriptures that describe the character and nature of Jesus but in this article, we will only focus on just a few scriptures that really separate the real Jesus of scripture from the imposters. We will use the New International Version which is a good modern day translation.
His Divine Nature
Was Jesus just a good teacher or was he who he said he was, the Son of the living God. Well in order to be God’s only begotten Son; he would have to have the same nature as his father. That nature is deity. We all have the same nature as our fathers. We are humans. Jesus on the other hand did not have a human father. His father is God, making him equal in nature to his father. Mary was only the mother of the humanity of Jesus, because Jesus existed before Mary was even born. Let’s look at that a little closer.
In the gospel of John, chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 we read “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God”. Now who was this “Word”? Well all we have to do is read further into the same chapter to verse 14. “And the Word was made flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”. There is no doubt that these scriptures are speaking of Jesus Christ. So from these scriptures we learn that Jesus was in the beginning with God and that he was God.
Creator of All Things
In that same chapter at verse 3 we read “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made”. In Colossians 1: 15-17 we read “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together”. The word “firstborn” here means “preeminent” or “coming before” as explained in verse 17. In Genesis 1:26 it says “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground””. Notice God said “Let us”. Now who was in the beginning with God? We have already learned it was Jesus. The Holy Spirit was there also, but that’s another subject.
His Virgin Birth
Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-38 describe in great detail how the virgin Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit. So Jesus doesn’t have a human father. Joseph was his stepfather. Joseph and Mary came together only after Jesus was born. Matthew 12:46, Luke 8:19, Mark 3:31, Matthew 13:55, Matthew 13:56, John 7:1-10, Acts 1:14, and Galatians 1:19 all verify that after Jesus was born, he had brothers named James, Joseph, Simon, Judas and some sisters whose names and number are unknown. The virgin birth makes Jesus truly the unique Son of the living God.
His Death and Resurrection
It’s a historical fact that Jesus was crucified. It’s also a historical fact that the Romans were expects at crucifixion. They knew how to torture a person to the limits. They also knew when a crucified person was dead. If after a certain time, the crucified person was not dead, they broke the legs of that person so that they could no longer hold themselves up. By pushing up with their legs, crucified victims kept most of their weight off of their arms thus making it easier to breath. By having their legs broken, death was hastened due to suffocation.
When they came to Jesus, the soldiers saw that he was already dead. But just to make sure, one of the soldiers thrust a spear into the upper torso of Jesus. Blood and water came out which was a sure sign that death had indeed occurred. He was then buried in a rich man’s tomb and he rose from the dead after three days and three nights. His resurrection took place without the stone being removed because they had to remove the stone to discover that the body of Jesus was not there. Later on Jesus appeared to over 500 people; eye witnesses if you will. He talked and ate with them. He even let them handle him because some thought he was a ghost. Then after comforting them, he ascended into heaven. And we are told that just as he went up into heaven he will in the same manor return to earth to take his kingdom. Matthew 27-28, Mark 15-16, Luke 23-24 and John 19-21 go into great detail about the crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of the real Jesus of scripture.
The Savior
Since God is the Father of Jesus, that makes Jesus co equal with the father and makes him a sinless man, without spot or wrinkle. That makes him the perfect Lamb of God to take upon himself the sin of the world. If he were just human, he would have a sin nature like ours and could not pay the price for our sins or his own sins. But since God is his father, that makes him sinless, fully God and fully man. Colossians 2:9 says “For in Christ all the fullness of Deity lives in bodily form”. Jesus is God’s gift to the world. Because God is just, he has to punish sins and because He loves us so much, he laid that punishment on His Only Begotten, One and Only unique Son so that we could escape that wrath. Even though this salvation is a free gift to us, God paid a terrible price. All we have to do is believe that Jesus paid the price for our sins and that God raised Him from the dead, defeating death, so that we also may rise to everlasting life to be with him forever. If you believe and receive him as your savior, he will then give you the power to turn away from your sins.
This has only been a brief examination into the uniqueness of the real Jesus. There are many exhaustive studies out there. If you need more help, ask God to help you and do more research. God says “Seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened”.
There are many people named Jesus out there claiming to be the Jesus of the scriptures. But to know who the real Jesus is, we have to research the scriptures to find out as much as we can. If you don’t believe the scriptures are the inerrant word of God then this article may not be of much help to you. But if you do, you’ll find this little research exercise quite helpful.
From Genesis to Revelation, there is one central character that is emphasized, the Messiah – the Son of God – Jesus. There are hundreds of scriptures that describe the character and nature of Jesus but in this article, we will only focus on just a few scriptures that really separate the real Jesus of scripture from the imposters. We will use the New International Version which is a good modern day translation.
His Divine Nature
Was Jesus just a good teacher or was he who he said he was, the Son of the living God. Well in order to be God’s only begotten Son; he would have to have the same nature as his father. That nature is deity. We all have the same nature as our fathers. We are humans. Jesus on the other hand did not have a human father. His father is God, making him equal in nature to his father. Mary was only the mother of the humanity of Jesus, because Jesus existed before Mary was even born. Let’s look at that a little closer.
In the gospel of John, chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 we read “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God”. Now who was this “Word”? Well all we have to do is read further into the same chapter to verse 14. “And the Word was made flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”. There is no doubt that these scriptures are speaking of Jesus Christ. So from these scriptures we learn that Jesus was in the beginning with God and that he was God.
Creator of All Things
In that same chapter at verse 3 we read “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made”. In Colossians 1: 15-17 we read “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together”. The word “firstborn” here means “preeminent” or “coming before” as explained in verse 17. In Genesis 1:26 it says “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground””. Notice God said “Let us”. Now who was in the beginning with God? We have already learned it was Jesus. The Holy Spirit was there also, but that’s another subject.
His Virgin Birth
Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-38 describe in great detail how the virgin Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit. So Jesus doesn’t have a human father. Joseph was his stepfather. Joseph and Mary came together only after Jesus was born. Matthew 12:46, Luke 8:19, Mark 3:31, Matthew 13:55, Matthew 13:56, John 7:1-10, Acts 1:14, and Galatians 1:19 all verify that after Jesus was born, he had brothers named James, Joseph, Simon, Judas and some sisters whose names and number are unknown. The virgin birth makes Jesus truly the unique Son of the living God.
His Death and Resurrection
It’s a historical fact that Jesus was crucified. It’s also a historical fact that the Romans were expects at crucifixion. They knew how to torture a person to the limits. They also knew when a crucified person was dead. If after a certain time, the crucified person was not dead, they broke the legs of that person so that they could no longer hold themselves up. By pushing up with their legs, crucified victims kept most of their weight off of their arms thus making it easier to breath. By having their legs broken, death was hastened due to suffocation.
When they came to Jesus, the soldiers saw that he was already dead. But just to make sure, one of the soldiers thrust a spear into the upper torso of Jesus. Blood and water came out which was a sure sign that death had indeed occurred. He was then buried in a rich man’s tomb and he rose from the dead after three days and three nights. His resurrection took place without the stone being removed because they had to remove the stone to discover that the body of Jesus was not there. Later on Jesus appeared to over 500 people; eye witnesses if you will. He talked and ate with them. He even let them handle him because some thought he was a ghost. Then after comforting them, he ascended into heaven. And we are told that just as he went up into heaven he will in the same manor return to earth to take his kingdom. Matthew 27-28, Mark 15-16, Luke 23-24 and John 19-21 go into great detail about the crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of the real Jesus of scripture.
The Savior
Since God is the Father of Jesus, that makes Jesus co equal with the father and makes him a sinless man, without spot or wrinkle. That makes him the perfect Lamb of God to take upon himself the sin of the world. If he were just human, he would have a sin nature like ours and could not pay the price for our sins or his own sins. But since God is his father, that makes him sinless, fully God and fully man. Colossians 2:9 says “For in Christ all the fullness of Deity lives in bodily form”. Jesus is God’s gift to the world. Because God is just, he has to punish sins and because He loves us so much, he laid that punishment on His Only Begotten, One and Only unique Son so that we could escape that wrath. Even though this salvation is a free gift to us, God paid a terrible price. All we have to do is believe that Jesus paid the price for our sins and that God raised Him from the dead, defeating death, so that we also may rise to everlasting life to be with him forever. If you believe and receive him as your savior, he will then give you the power to turn away from your sins.
This has only been a brief examination into the uniqueness of the real Jesus. There are many exhaustive studies out there. If you need more help, ask God to help you and do more research. God says “Seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened”.