Jesus had a very interesting life. In fact He was the most influential man to ever walk the Earth. His Life has impacted nearly every part of human life for Christian and non-Christian alike. We have Holidays made in honor of Him that even non-believers observe. The very calendar that we mark our years by is based on His Life. B.C. being Before Christ and A.D. being Anno Domini which is Latin for
“In the year of our Lord”. So His Life has impacted the world in such a way that nearly every human on the planet has been affected by it.
But who was Jesus really? Was He just a man? Was He simply just a righteous prophet of God as the muslims say? Was He the first being created by God as the Jehovah’s Witnesses claim? Or Is He something more?
Looking back on Jesus Life we can see that before He was even born He was different, and His parents (His mother Mary and His adoptive earthly father Joseph) knew that there would be something special about Him. We are given accounts in Matthew 1 and Luke 1 of how angels came and visited Joseph and Mary to proclaim that Jesus birth would be coming and that it would be a supernatural conception of the Holy Spirit. Even before His Birth we see Jesus’ Heavenly origins and His Divine power as the angel tells Joseph in Matthew 1:21 that Jesus will “save his people from their sins” and then a few verses later Matthew tells us that Jesus is a fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy of one called Immanuel which means “God with us”. So Jesus was foretold to literally be “God with us” or God dwelling among us as in John 1:14.
Jesus as a young child was much different than any other child. While most children at the age of 12 would be out playing with their friends we are told in Luke 2 He was in the synagogue learning from the teachers there. And when His parents asked Him why He had stayed behind in the synagogue He replied that He must be about His Father’s Business. So even at a young age it was apparent that He was here to do the work of God.
At the beginning of Jesus Ministry we are told in Matthew 3:13-17 He went to John the Baptist to be baptized. This Baptism marked the beginning of His Earthly Ministry and it was here that all the world first saw who Jesus was. When Jesus was baptized the Spirit of God came down from heaven like a dove and shined light around Him, and the Father spoke saying “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Throughout Christ’s earthly ministry He did some amazing things and made some equally amazing claims that no mere man would be able to do or honestly claim.
John 8:57-59 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by/ In verse 58 of this chapter Jesus makes a very bold claim. He says “before Abraham was, I am.” And it is right after He makes this claim that the Jews took up stones to stone Him. The reason they took up stones was because they recognized the claim He was making. He was taking for Himself the Divine name I AM. It is the name that God told Moses in Exodus 3. So here Jesus was making the claim to be the I AM of the Old Testament. Here He was telling the Jews that He is God.
In John 10:30 Jesus tells the Jews “I and my Father are One.” Immediately after Him saying this they take up stones to stone Him. And in Verse 33 they explain why they are taking up stones when they say “For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” So here is another instance that the Jews recognized that Jesus was claiming that He Himself was in fact God.
Now anyone could go around making claims to be God. It’s one thing to make a claim, but it’s another thing to provide proof to back that Claim up and that’s just what Jesus did.
In John 2 we are told a story of how there was a wedding in Galilee that Jesus and His Disciples attended. During this wedding there was a problem however as the wine had ran out. So Jesus tells them to fill up their waterpots and then He proceeds to turn the water into wine. This is the first miracle of Jesus ministry and It’s very fitting as such as here we see Jesus displaying the Creative power of God. The first thing God is listed as doing in Scripture is Creating. And the First Miracle Jesus performs uses that same Creative Ability. He creates wine.
In John 6:5-13 we are given another account of Jesus using this same Creative Power. Here there was a great crowd of 5000 men who had gathered with Jesus after seeing His Miracles. We are told that this was the time that they had the Passover feast but the only food they had was 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish that a young boy had brought. Jesus takes this food and distributes it out so that it is enough to feed all the people that had gathered. He used His Creative Power to make enough food for all the people there.
Jesus also displayed Power over sickness during His Earthly Ministry. We are given many examples in Scripture of Him healing such as : John 9:7 Jesus Heals a blind man , Mark 2 Jesus heals a paralyzed man, and in Mark 1 we see Him heal a man of leprosy.
Jesus even had the power to raise the dead back to life as we see with the story of Lazarus in John 11 and in Luke 7 and Mark 5.
Jesus had the power to forgive sins while on Earth as well as we see in Mark 2 where He not only heals the paralyzed man but also forgives Him of his sins and in Luke 23:43 where a condemned thief hangs on a cross next to Jesus and Jesus forgives Him and tells Him He will be in paradise with Jesus.
Jesus not only displayed power over the lives of others but over His own life as He Himself was raised from the dead. In John 10:17-18 Jesus claims to have power to lay His Life down and to take it up again. And this claim is proven true when He is raised from the dead after His Crucifixion.
So we can see from Jesus claims and from His Miracles that prove those claims that He was more than just a man. Jesus is the Word made flesh. He is God Almighty in the flesh. Fully God and yet fully a man. This is one of the hardest concepts for us to comprehend as humans because with our limited understanding this would seem impossible. It doesn’t seem logical to the human mind that Jesus could be both God and man. But it’s not important that we are able to fully comprehend God. After all He has told us in Isaiah 55:9 that His thoughts and ways are higher than our own. But what is important is that we accept by faith who Jesus is. It’s important that we accept that His Word says that He is God, He is the Word made flesh, the Creator of Life and Savior of His People. In 2 Corinthians 11 Paul talks of those who would preach “another Jesus” and in verse 13-15 He calls them false apostles, deceitful workers, and ministers of Satan. Even Jesus warned of false Christ’s who would rise up in the last days. And I believe this can include false religions or false beliefs in a false Christ. There are many cults in the world today that claim to believe in Jesus Christ yet the most important aspect of His Existence they deny. You have groups like Islam, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormon Church, and even Traditional Judaism among many others, all deny that Jesus is who He said He was : The Son of God, The I AM, One with the Father.
We need to realize that Jesus is Exactly Who He claimed to be. He is the Son of God. He is God in the flesh. And it is that Jesus that brings salvation to those who Trust in Him. It is not the Jesus of Islam, or the Jesus of Jehovah’s Witnesses, or the Jesus of the Mormon Church, none of the false Christ’s can bring salvation. Only the True Jesus, the Jesus of Scripture who is God almighty in the flesh can bring salvation to those who trust in Him.
So let us examine our own beliefs today and let us ask ourselves “ Do we really believe what the Bible teaches? Do we base our beliefs about Christ on our own understanding or do we accept by faith what the Bible says to be True?” and let us always turn to Scripture for answers on what to believe and let us always accept by faith that what it says is True. That Jesus is the Son of God, He did come to the earth as a man to be our Savior, but most importantly He is God Almighty in the flesh.
