Who Is This Jesus?
By Dr. Robert Fieldhouse, Disciples Path Ministry – St. Augustine, Fla
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In the Gospels, Jesus says, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” (Mat. 10:37, NKJV) Of paramount importance is the fact that He did not say, unless you love my teaching more than your mother and father, or unless you love God, or something like that. Jesus said you must love Him more than the most fantastic goods in the world, or you are not worthy of Him. Let's take a moment to reflect on that. Who could say that sanely except the one who is Himself the highest good? In not-so-many words, Jesus tells us a simple fact in plain words. That is, you are with Me, or you are against me. He leaves the choice up to each individual. Consider the following: Muhammad, to his infinite credit, never claimed to be God. Muhammad said I'm a messenger. I received a message from God. Moses, to his infinite credit, never claimed to be Divine. Moses had received the Law from God and gave it to the people. The Buddha, to his infinite credit, never claimed to be Divine. What he said was I found a way. Then there's Jesus, who doesn't say I found a way. He says, "I Am The Way." He doesn't say; I found the truth; let me tell you about it. He says, "I Am The Truth."
So, who is this man that essentially the whole world knows by name? He is, without a doubt, the most incredible man that ever walked the face of the Earth. We can't go anywhere in the world without running across this Jesus of Nazareth. None of us can get away from Him. He is everywhere we turn. There are Biblical and non-Biblical historical accounts written about Jesus of Nazareth. You can't even hide from Him. We know for a fact that He was a “man.” But think about this one fact. He lived some 33 years and never committed a sin! He challenged anyone to come forward and identify a sin He had ever committed. No one ever could. He was challenged by every temptation other humans face, but He never surrendered to sin. How can that possibly happen? The most logical answer is that He claimed, and was, God's unique, only begotten, incarnate Son. In fact, He claimed pre-existence. The Scripture says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (Jn. 1:1) Before time ever began, He existed. He claimed eternal existence.
I believe that was more than enough reason for all those who were in power to hate this man and hate Him enough to do what they could to do away with Him, and of course, they finally did kill Him. He said I Am God. Now we must ask ourselves, was He? Was He who He claimed to be? If you can genuinely answer that He is who He claimed to be, I believe your answer came from God Himself. If you accept, without any doubt, that Jesus is God, God incarnate (meaning God made flesh), congratulations! You have all the foundation you need to have a conscious personal relationship with Christ Jesus! If you believe you have too much sin or too much baggage ever to have a relationship with Him, you are wrong. No other man, teacher, or prophet ever claimed what He did. He is the only one to claim He can and will forgive sin. In ancient times and during Jesus' life, there was no shortage of people, magicians, soothsayers, and self-proclaimed prophets. They could, we learn from historical and Biblical texts, perform a variety of so-called miracles. The better magicians of today can still fascinate us with their talent of polished trickery. Today, as in ancient times, no one claims to be able to forgive sin. Yet Jesus of Nazareth did make that claim.
Remember, as you study, that in dealing with history, all sorts of things are possible, but not all possible things are probable. For instance, is it likely that all the things we read about Jesus were made up by various people and spread around within twenty years of His death? There were still eyewitnesses alive who could and would have refuted false teachings and or claims made up about Jesus. At some point in one's study of Jesus, most wonder if Jesus thought He, Himself, was God, and if He did, why didn't He just come right out and make that claim from the beginning of His ministry? I can only speculate on the answer based primarily on my theological beliefs. Briefly stated, Jesus shared many truths in private with His disciples that He didn't, as a rule, share with the general public. In the time of Jesus' ministry, it would have been counterproductive for Him to claim from the beginning to be God.
For one thing, the claim would have been seen as outright blasphemy, which, according to Leviticus 24:16, is punishable by death. The Jews of His day only knew of God the Father. They did not know of the Trinity (God the Father, the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit). Besides that, the Jews already had an idea of what the Messiah would look and act like. The word Messiah, or Mashiach, in Hebrew, is used interchangeably with the word Christ or Christos from the Greek, all meaning anointed. So, to be the Christ or Messiah is to be "the anointed one of God." The anointing with sacred oil emphasized that God Himself had ordained a person and given him authority to act as His representative. Jesus, in His wisdom, knew the best angle to approach the people He ministered to.
Borrowing and paraphrasing from the author James Merritt: Every year at Christmastime, the world looks back two thousand years to the birth of a baby known as Jesus of Nazareth. But in the Old Testament (OT), people looked forward to the same event for more than four thousand years on the other side of that birth. The birth of Christ Jesus was no accident. It was not the result of chance but of choice. In a future lesson, you will learn that because of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, you were not born by chance but by choice – the choice of God, our Heavenly Father.
An exhaustive discussion of the Biblical and historical account of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is beyond the scope of this short narrative. I don't make a habit of recommending books for people to read; however, if you want to read about Jesus and arm yourself with verifiable, historical facts authored by recognized scholars on the topic, I would direct you to two books I still go to — The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel and 52 Weeks With Jesus by James Merritt.
So, in conclusion, who is this Jesus? For us to continue to build on our new foundation, we must be able to claim as well as genuinely believe the following honestly:
. The man Jesus of Nazareth existed. That claim is proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, by Biblical eyewitnesses and non-Biblical historians.
. The birth, ministry, or mission, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, as foretold some four thousand years before He walked among us, are
well documented from reliable sources.
. Jesus of Nazareth is God incarnate.
. Jesus of Nazareth was both man and God. As man, He experienced first-hand all the trials, temptations, and resulting sins that befall man.
. Though tempted by man's sins, Jesus of Nazareth never succumbed to them. No one was ever able to identify even one time He sinned.
. He knew from when His ministry began that His time with us would be short. He carefully chose specific disciples to carry on His mission after His death.
. We are not left alone. He speaks to us through the Gospels.
. Jesus of Nazareth, as verified through the genealogy provided for us in the Bible, proves we are all related to Him in one way or another. For that reason alone, we should, with all our heart, soul, and mind, want to have a conscious personal relationship with Him!
Resources: Billy Graham, Fr. Robert Barron, Daniel Maritz, Lois Tverberg, James Merritt, Lee Strobel, The Holy Bible, NKJV.
Disciples Path Ministry – St. Augustine, Florida –