Clay Center, Kansas – Who is Jesus to you? According to a State of Theology religious survey of Americans, 167 million do not believe Jesus was God, but a great teacher. There are also 119 million that deny the physical bodily resurrection of Christ.
What do world religions say about Jesus? Judaism denies He was the Messiah, that He rose from the dead or had power to forgive sins. Islam believes Jesus was a prophet, that He never died, ascended to heaven and will come again…to revive Islam. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe Jesus was created as Michael the Archangel, deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus and that He has already returned in 1914. The one area all world religions deny about Jesus (except Christianity) is His deity, that He was the one true God in human form.
What did the people of Jesus’ day say about Him? After the announcement of Jesus’ coming birth and His arrival, Mary and Joseph, His earthly parents, must have wondered to themselves, “Who is this child?” When John the Baptist heard the things Jesus was doing, he sent his disciples to ask who He was. When Jesus’ own disciples saw Him calm the raging seas with His spoken word, they wondered, “Who is He?” Jesus once said to His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” (Mark 8:28-29)
Who is Jesus? C.S. Lewis once wrote about this, “I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.”
Who do you say Jesus is? Have you made your choice? Let us look at the Bible, our main source for answering the question.
First, the works of Jesus. History records how He rose the dead, gave sight to the blind, made the lame walk, cured diseases, walked on the stormy seas and calmed its waters, cast out demons, forgave sins, miraculously supplied food to thousands of people and more.
Why did Jesus’ do these incredible wonders? He said, “The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me.” (John 10:24) They all reveal that Jesus is the divine Son of God.
Second, the nature of Jesus. It is written that He was the “Holy and Righteous One” (Acts 3:14), the “Author of life” (Ac. 3:15), how there is “salvation in no one else” (Ac. 4:12), how one day Jesus will “be judge of the living and the dead” (Ac. 10:43) and how He is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3).
Third, the cross of Jesus. The suffering, death, burial and resurrection of Christ reveal best who He is. The Scriptures say, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17)
The cross shows that Jesus came to sacrifice Himself for us that we might be free from our sins, know God and live new lives.
A prayer for you – Lord God, I bring my questions about Jesus before you, and may I know more of His works, nature and the cross, that I would follow Him. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Clint Decker is President of Great Awakenings. Please share your comment at cdecker@greatawakenings.org and follow his blog at clintdecker.blogspot.com.
