2002.01.D.18 Who Is Jesus? Created by James3 on 8/8/2019 6:56:18 PM Who Is Jesus?
And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, "Whom do men say that I am?" (Mark 8:27)
For centuries, theologians have debated over the identity of Jesus Christ. Many say he was just a man. Others have said that he was a prophet sent from God, no different than any other prophet, shaman, or guru. Many in the denominal world of Christendom say that he is God the Son, or the second person in the Trinity. A few have even ventured to say that he was the brother of Lucifer, or the devil. But in order to know the real identity of Jesus Christ, we need to read what the Bible says about him.
First of all, the name "Jesus" literally means "Jehovah is salvation". The name "Christ" means "anointed one". So, in essence, the name Jesus Christ means "Jehovah, thru the anointed one, is become our salvation". In the gospel of Matthew chapter one, an angel appeared to Joseph, the virgin Mary's espoused husband. During the discourse the angel told him "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us". Angels are God's messengers, so by this we know that God chose this name, not Joseph or Mary. He wanted us to know that this man Jesus was, in fact, God manifested in the flesh. Jesus asked his disciples "Whom to men say that I am?" Mark 8:28-29 says, "And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets. And he saith unto them, "But whom say ye that I am?" And Peter answereth and saith unto him, "Thou art the Christ." Matthew 16:16 reads it in this wise, "And Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." What was Peter saying? Peter was stating Jesus to be the promised Messiah. "And Jesus answered and said unto him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Some churches teach that Peter was this rock, but that is not what the scripture is saying. The "rock" represents the revealed truth that Peter had been given. It is upon this revealed truth that the church of the living God has been built.
In the beginning, man lived in the Garden of Eden and everything was perfect. Since everything was perfect, there was no death. That is, until the day came that Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was the day that sin was born into the world, and death came to mankind. But there was also a promise given by God in Genesis 3:15 (while speaking to the serpent), "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." This was the first prophecy of the coming Messiah, or Jesus Christ. The heel of Jesus was bruised at the cross, but the head of the serpent has been bruised forever!
So, why would God have to robe himself in flesh and come to this earth? The answer is quite simple, really. To die. I John 3:8 says, "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." This could only be accomplished by death. Since God is a spirit and cannot die, then he had to make himself a body of flesh in which to carry out this mission of love.
Why death? To know the answer to this question, we must understand what significance death has to an individual. Scripture says that "the life of the flesh is in the blood" (Lev. 17:11). Where there is no blood, there is no life. In order for sins to be atoned for, blood must be shed. But not just any blood - it had to be blood from a spotless lamb. The Israelites had explicit instructions given to them by God in order to slay the perfect sacrifice. But even then, it did not take away man's nature to sin. God searched high and low for someone to atone for the sin of mankind but, alas, there was none. Every man born on the face of the earth had sin, even the most righteous. There was an obvious barrier between God and man that needed to be bridged. That bridge became Jesus Christ.
Since God was the only pure one without sin, he chose to make himself into a man so that he could be that spotless lamb. He shed his blood on Calvary so that we could, once again, be freed from sin. God did not send someone else to do his work - he came himself. He "himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses" (Matt. 8:17). "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (II Cor. 5:21).
Jesus came in his father's name - JESUS IS JEHOVAH!
[MAKERATING]
The comment feature is locked by administrator.
Return