Jesus Christ

This lesson will examine the person of Jesus Christ who is the reason for our faith. There are many theories about Jesus:

• He was an ancient Jewish rabbi.
• He was just a prophet of some kind.
• He was a ghost or spirit.

Some have even said that He was some kind of alien being from another planet or some kind of advanced life form.

I am sure the speculation will continue and more opinions and theories will eventually be developed. For Christians, however, the only source for information about Jesus, His life, ministry, teachings - is the Bible. So this chapter should really be entitled, "What does the Bible say about Jesus?" This is the best way to discover who Jesus is because only the Bible contains eyewitness accounts of His life recorded and preserved for us to read even to this day.

The Bible's Central Theme

In the previous chapter I explained how the Bible was written, how it was organized, and why Christians believe that it comes from God. In this chapter we will discuss the major theme of the Bible.

The entire Bible is about Jesus

He is the main point of all the books of the Bible. The different parts explain different things about Him and His interaction with us.

1. The Old Testament is really the story about the creation of the world and how God prepared for His coming by the forming of the Jewish nation. It contains all the events that set a human and historical stage for His eventual appearance as a man in this world. It tells this story through the eyes and words of Jewish prophets, leaders, and kings.
2. The four gospels are the eyewitness accounts of His life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven. Again, the story recorded and preserved by men who were with Him for years and who knew Him intimately.
3. The rest of the New Testament, written by other Apostles and their disciples, shows how His followers established the Christian church according to His instructions. In addition to this there are teachings to help followers/disciples live their Christian lives in every generation and environment.

We could go anywhere in the Bible to find out about Jesus concerning:

• The promise of His coming
• The preparation for His appearance
• The circumstances of His miraculous birth
• The content of His teachings
• The details of His death and resurrection
• The people who knew Him personally and spread His teachings throughout the world

I do not think we would have the time in a single chapter to do all this. What we can do, however, is to focus on what the Bible says about who Jesus is. This is actually the most important question about Jesus Christ and we will see what three individuals, mentioned in the Bible, say about Jesus.

Who is Jesus?

Now remember we are asking the question, "Who is Jesus?" according to the Bible, not just what we think or feel or learned from a book or movie or teacher of some kind. Since most of the direct and eyewitness accounts about Him are in the New Testament portion of the Bible, let us go there to learn about Him. Thousands of people saw and heard Jesus speak, teach, and even do miracles. There is no doubt of His existence because historians of that era write about Him and His ministry.

Josephus Flavius, who was a Jewish historian, wrote about this period. He was not a follower of Jesus but mentions Him and Christianity in general in his history books. History (not the Bible) writes that Jesus was a Jewish man born into a humble family who lived in Israel approximately 2,000 years ago. He began His ministry by claiming that He was the Jewish Messiah or Savior and was eventually arrested and executed by the Roman government at the insistence of the Jewish leaders who accused Him of causing civil unrest by His teaching. Eventually His followers established the Christian church based on His teachings. This is what history books teach about the facts of His life.

Witness of the Apostles

There were others, however, who actually followed Jesus as His special disciples and they too recorded their accounts of His life. It is from these writers, whose records form the New Testament, that we can establish a much more comprehensive picture of who Jesus really was. For the sake of our study we will examine three of these men's writings and descriptions of Jesus.

1. Peter

Peter was a fisherman by trade and along with his brother Andrew, had a family business. He was the first "Apostle" called by Jesus to follow Him on a full time basis. He was to hear all of Jesus' teachings, witness His miracles, and later on be a leader in establishing the church and finally die as a martyr in Rome claiming to the very end that what he heard and saw was true.

During Jesus' ministry, Jesus asked the Apostles (including Peter), based on what they saw Him say and do, who did they think He was? And Peter answered without hesitation, "You are the Messiah the son of the Living God." (Matthew 16:16) So the Bible says that even while Jesus was alive Peter believed and declared Him to be the divine Son of God.

Later on, after Jesus was executed, Peter describes the things that he saw with his own eyes as he rebukes the Jews for their hard hearts and disbelief.

¹⁴But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.
- Acts 3:14-15

Now there is much written about Peter in the New Testament and Peter himself writes two of the books or epistles contained in this part of the Bible, but just these two passages summarize well what Peter thought about Jesus based on what he experienced:

• That Jesus was the Christ/Messiah/Savior promised in the Old Testament. In other words, Jesus was the one sent by God to save mankind.
• Peter also concluded that Jesus was divine, based on what he heard Jesus say and saw Him do.
• Finally, Peter saw Jesus executed by Roman soldiers and then saw Him after God raised Him from the dead.

As I said before, Peter never changed or denied this witness, even when he was threatened, imprisoned, and finally sent to his death for saying these things. So when we want to know who Jesus is, the Bible through Peter's words says that He is the Son of God, the Savior, and He is resurrected from the dead.

2. Thomas

Another Apostle we know less about was Thomas, he is the one often referred to as "doubting Thomas" because he wanted proof of Jesus' resurrection before he would believe. What he says about Jesus is interesting because of this very fact: he demanded proof before he would continue to believe.

• He knew Jesus and, like the other Apostles, had lived and worked with Jesus for 3 years.
• He saw the miracles, heard the teachings and witnessed Jesus die on the cross.
• He was convinced Jesus was dead, so brutal and final was His execution at the hands of the Roman soldiers.
• When the other Apostles reported that they had seen Jesus resurrected and alive again, Thomas was skeptical and refused to believe.

In the gospel of John we read about Jesus' confrontation with Thomas to believe.

²⁴But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."
²⁶After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." ²⁷Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing." ²⁸Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"
- John 20:24-28

Note what this exchange teaches us about Jesus:

1. Thomas believes that Jesus is actually risen from the dead.
2. Thomas acknowledges that Jesus is God, not just a prophet or teacher or holy man.
3. The Apostle demonstrates that Jesus is worthy of not only belief, but worship as well.
4. Thomas, in calling Jesus Lord, indicates that Jesus has authority over him.

Once again, a short passage, but one where the Bible sets forth important facts about who Jesus is: divine, object of belief and worship, Lord over us. People are free to choose whether they believe this or not but the fact remains that this is what the Bible teaches about Jesus.

3. Paul

Perhaps no one, other than Jesus Himself, articulates in more detail the character or person of Jesus Christ than Paul the Apostle. Paul was a Jew and an early persecutor of the Christian church. As a Pharisee he was part of the ruling class in the Jewish society of Jesus' day. He was a religious zealot for Judaism who had obtained a mandate from the ruling council of Jewish leaders to wage a campaign of persecution against Christians in order to discourage their growth. In recounting his own experience Paul describes the meeting with Jesus Christ that changed his life.

¹"Brethren and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you." ²And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he said,

³"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. ⁴I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, ⁵as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify. From them I also received letters to the brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.

⁶"But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, ⁷and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?' ⁸And I answered, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said to me, 'I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.' ⁹And those who were with me saw the light, to be sure, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. ¹⁰And I said, 'What shall I do, Lord?' And the Lord said to me, 'Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.' ¹¹But since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus.

¹²"A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, ¹³came to me, and standing near said to me, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight!' And at that very time I looked up at him. ¹⁴And he said, 'The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth. ¹⁵For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.'
- Acts 22:1-16

And thus began the conversion and mission of one of the most prolific of Jesus' Apostles. We know both from history and the Bible that Paul went on to preach and establish the Christian religion throughout the Roman Empire. He was eventually imprisoned by the Emperor Nero and executed in Rome in 67 AD on account of his role as a Christian leader.

Paul, the adversary of the church, the one who initially denied who Jesus was, ended up giving his life for his faith in Christ. In his writings we have a very dynamic description of Jesus and His exalted position.

¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. ¹⁸He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
- Colossians 1:15-18

Note what Paul specifically says about who Jesus is:

1. Visible image of God - When you see Jesus you're looking at God.
2. Existed before Creation - He exists before time, like God.
3. Supreme over Creation - He has the authority of God.
4. He is the agent of Creation - Everything in the material and spiritual world was created by and for Him.
5. He is Eternal - Another quality of God.
6. He is the head of the church - Jesus is the only leader of the church in heaven and on earth. He does not share this with any other person.
7. He leads those who will resurrect - Another way of saying He is eternal by saying He leads in the future – He is already there.

These things are not the only things Paul says about Jesus, but we can see from these that Paul was proclaiming Jesus as the divine Son of God based on his own experiences and knowledge of Christ and His teachings. So, we have reviewed three of the eyewitnesses who described and explained in the Bible who they believed Jesus to be.

The Testimony of Jesus

This leaves us with one last person to examine and that is Jesus Himself. Our description of Jesus would be incomplete if we did not examine at least a few things that Jesus said about His true identity. Here are three things He said about Himself to three individuals:

1. The Samaritan Woman

In a conversation with a woman while travelling Jesus answers her question about who is the true Messiah.

²⁵The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us." ²⁶Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
- John 4:25-26

Jesus describes Himself as the savior spoken of by the Jews.

2. Peter the Apostle

We have looked at Peter's declaration earlier in this chapter but this time let us focus on Jesus' response to what Peter says.

¹⁵He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" ¹⁶Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." ¹⁷And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
- Matthew 16:15-17

Note that Jesus confirms what Peter says about Him and even goes on to reveal how Peter has come to this realization.

3. To the Apostles

After His resurrection and appearance to over 500 disciples, Jesus gives His Apostles (and future disciples) their mission.

¹⁸And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
- Matthew 28:18-20

Note that in this passage Jesus claims exclusive divine authority over all. These are only a few of the things that are recorded concerning Jesus, but from these we see some of the things the Bible teaches about Him:

1. A true historical figure
2. The Jewish Messiah
3. The Son of God
4. The Lord God Himself
5. Resurrected from the dead
6. An eternal being
7. The agent of Creation
8. The head of the church
9. The supreme authority in heaven and earth

I could go on and on about what the Bible actually says concerning Jesus but I will close this chapter with a quote from the gospel of John who faced the similar dilemma of trying to list all the things he actually heard and saw Jesus do. Faced with the mountain of information before him John writes in the 20th and 21st chapters of his gospel record:

³⁰Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
- John 20:30-31

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they *were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself *would not contain the books that *would be written.
- John 21:25