Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem. He became a Jewish rabbi who traveled around Israel and discipled twelve men. He was the Jewish Messiah. He is the Son of God. He died on the cross for our sins, and sets us free from our shame, guilt, and bondage. He was resurrected from the dead, and He ascended into heaven. Someday He will return and take us to heaven with Him.
His primary characteristics are *love, grace, and mercy towards the people He created, therefore His primary purpose is to save them from their sins, and He will go to any length to do so. In fact, He did do so by dying for them, and then defeating death.
*[Of course, love looks different to different people, depending on their definition of love.]
During our lifetime of following Him, He will mold us into the person He wants us to be, becoming more like Him every day. He lives inside of us and will help us become better spouses, better parents, and better people in general. He will provide for our needs and He will bless us when we give money to the church when we can't afford it, and in ways which we do not always understand. He might heal us of an illness or disability, or set us free from the bondage of a sin or an addiction. He loves us and even cares about the little things in our lives, such as our golf game and the car that we drive. He wants nothing but the best for us because we are God’s children.
I think that pretty much sums up our basic understanding of who Jesus is. Some of that is true, but it does not provide the complete picture of who Jesus is. There is much more about Him that must be known and understood by believers for their own personal relationship with Him, and in order to provide unbelievers with an accurate picture of who He is and why He came.
Below are some additional thoughts I have about who Jesus is. Not everyone will agree with me, but that's okay, I do not expect or require them to. These are the current conclusions I have made after reading the Bible and contemplating the meaning of the passages every day for about 18 years now. Perhaps not as long as some, but I still consider myself to be qualified. Plus, I enjoy sharing what I'm learning, especially when it differs from the popular views of mainstream, American Christianity.
Not because I want to be divisive, but because I want to show people who are interested that there are alternative views which they may have never heard or considered, and because, as many of you already know because I have stated it many times, I personally think American Christianity greatly differs from God's idea of what it means to follow Jesus and to be the church.
With that being said, I think a lot of what is taught by seminaries and passed down to their students is Biblically inaccurate. I have said it before and I'll say it again, there are over 40,000 denominations, and not one of them has it 100% correct. A United Methodist seminary's theology is going to look much different than an Independent Baptist's.
I do not claim to be 100% correct either, but I have changed my beliefs throughout the years because I believe I was wrong, and I am willing to change my current beliefs if I am wrong. My ultimate goal is to please God and to know Him more, therefore if I'm wrong about something that I believe about Him, I am always willing to change my beliefs so that I can please Him and know Him better.
I have met with Mormon missionaries on several occasions. They always encourage their potential converts to pray and ask God if the Book of Mormon is true. They believe that if you ask this to God, He will give you an answer by giving you "a burning in your bosom", which means an emotional experience. According to them, if you happen to experience this, then God has answered your prayer and has shown you that the Book of Mormon is true.
When they asked me to pray this prayer during my latest meetings with them, I suggested that we all pray their prayer request, and also pray that God would reveal anything to us about Him that is not true. I doubt that they prayed that prayer, but I did. I did not experience any burning in my bosom, but was more certain than ever that Mormonism and their prophet & founder are deceivers. It saddens me that so many good people in their religion are deceived.
But just as importantly, since I prayed that prayer, some of the things about God and Christianity that I believed or was on the fence about, have changed and/or I have learned and now hold definite views on. God has answered this prayer, because I truly want to know the truth about Him, and I think it is very important to Him that we have an accurate understanding of who He is.
But enough about that. Hopefully you will find this helpful in your understanding of Jesus and your knowledge of God, and I hope it will in some way, equip you for ministry.
The Word
Writing about Jesus, the apostle John said,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:1-14
Before Jesus came to earth as the Jewish Messiah and the Savior of the world, He dwelt with God and He was God. He was the Word. He was with God in the beginning - He has always been. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made.
Though we understand Jesus in the Gospels as having a beginning by being born to a mother and father, and as being Jewish and living in a Jewish culture, He is God and therefore He has always been. He is not of a specific race, ethnicity, or nationality. God is Spirit (John 4:24). There is no Jew or Greek because all are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).
God can do anything, and He can certainly appear as a human being. We are given glimpses of God visiting His people throughout the Bible. This is probably the Word, the preincarnate Christ. This is called a "theophany". In these instances, He is not Jewish, but He is often described as "the LORD", "a man", "the Son of God", etc (Genesis 18; Genesis 14:18-20; Hebrews 7:1-4; Genesis 32:22-32; Joshua 5:13-15; Daniel 3:24-25, etc).
We do not know if He was called Jesus prior to coming to earth. An angel instructed Joseph to name Mary's baby, Yeshua in Hebrew, which is Isous in Greek, which is what the New Testament is written in. It is translated Jesus in English. All of these names have the same meaning, "God of salvation", because "He will save His people from their sins." Jesus is the name given by God to the Word who became flesh, the human baby who was born to Mary.
Luke tells its readers that the incarnate Jesus would be called the Son of God. Jesus is God's only begotten Son who was begotten when the Holy Spirit came upon Mary. God is the Father of the Word who became flesh. He is the Father of Mary's firstborn child. Prior to the Word becoming flesh, Jesus is not referred to as the Son of God in the Bible, other than when King Darius saw a fourth person in the fiery furnace, he described Him as looking like, "the Son of God", which I'm only assuming is prophetic language about the Christ who would come hundreds of years later (Daniel 3:24-25).
And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
Luke 1:35
Paul said that Christ (King) Jesus is in the form of God, and is equal with God. He humbled Himself and His reputation by taking the form of a bondservant (slave) by coming to earth as a man. While on earth, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, which was a humiliating death for a human being, let alone the God of Salvation.
Because of Jesus's obedience, God highly exalted Him, giving Him the name above every name, so that at the name of Jesus at the judgment, every knee shall bow, of those who are in heaven, of those who are on the earth, and of those who are in hades or hell, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, for God's glory.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:5-11
Jesus said that He and God the Father are one:
“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
John 17:9-11, 20-23
The Word Became Flesh
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Have you ever thought about why Jesus came at the time that He did? He was sent by God to call His people Israel to repentance (Matthew 4:17; Matthew 10:5-8) because they had turned away from Him and were not producing the fruits of justice and righteousness (Matthew 21:34; Isaiah 5:7). That is why He came when He did as a Jewish man (Matthew 21:37). He was the King of the Jews who came to His own, but His own did not receive Him.
Because the Jews did not repent, but instead rejected Him as their King (John 20:14-22) and killed Him, God said that He was going to take the kingdom of God from them and give it to a nation who will bear the fruits of it (Matthew 21:43). Those who did receive Him by believing in His name, He gave the authority to become children of God. They have faith like Abraham's and are the numerous descendants who were promised to Abraham and his Seed, Christ (Galatians 3:7-9, 16). They are the recipients of the everlasting covenant made by God to His people (Genesis 17:19; Hebrews 8:7-13). They are the royal priesthood of God's holy nation, His own special people, and Jesus is the King (1 Peter 3:9; John 18:36-37).
Other Purposes & Attributes of Jesus
Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed King. He is the King of the eternal kingdom that God promised would come through David's lineage (2 Samuel 7:12-14), and the people of His kingdom are those promised to Him by God during the Abrahamic covenant (Galatians 3:16).
Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. He is not subject to anyone or anything, He is King (Matthew 28:18; I Peter 3:21-22).
Under the old covenant, God instituted priests to mediate between man and Himself. Jesus is the High Priest and Mediator of the new covenant (Hebrews 4:14-5:11).
Jesus's blood is the seal of the new covenant (Matthew 26:28). The old covenant is obsolete (Hebrews 8:13).
Jesus is the temple (John 2:19; Revelation 21:22).
Paul gives five gifts given for equipping the saints for ministry (Ephesians 4:11). Jesus had all five while on earth:
• Apostle (Hebrews 3:1); Prophet (Matthew 13:57); Teacher (Matthew 23:8-10); Evangelist (Luke 19:10); Pastor (John 10:11).
Jesus is the fulfillment of the law (Matthew 5:17).
Jesus came to establish the kingdom of God, and His kingdom is not future but is present today (Matthew 6:10; Matthew 12:28; Mark 1:14-15; John 18:36).
Jesus is the King of God's kingdom and His subjects are those who have faith like Abraham's (John 18:36-37; Galatians 3:7-9).
Because the people of His kingdom have faith like Abraham's, people who were once Christians but leave their faith, are no longer Christians and have lost their salvation and their inheritance of the kingdom because they have abandoned Christ (John 6:60-71). A Christian is defined as a follower of Jesus. If someone abandons Jesus and is no longer following Him, He is no longer a Christian, and therefore does not obtain the promises of God (Acts 11:26).
The promises God made to Abraham, He also made to Jesus (Galatians 3:16).
Both would be blessed and both would multiply and become as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sand on the seashore. Both would possess the gates of their enemies.
Through Christ, all the nations of the earth will be blessed because Abraham obeyed God.
The Christ (the anointed King) would come through the lineage of Abraham and his son Isaac. That was the purpose of God choosing Abraham and his descendants. The everlasting covenant is through the Christ, Jesus (Genesis 17:18-21).
Jesus bound Satan when He was on the earth in order to plunder his house (Mark 3:23-27; Matthew 12:28-29). Satan was on a rampage when Jesus came. Jesus cast out demons, healed, and preached the gospel of the kingdom.
Jesus came to give life - a more abundant life - to those who are saved by entering the sheepfold through Him (John 10:10).
There is probably much more, but these are some of the things that give us further understanding of who Jesus is and why He came. He came for His people who look to Him as their God. They are His people and He is their God.
It is not primarily about our own salvation or personal relationship with Jesus or what He can do for us. It is about being His people and therefore obeying everything He commanded and glorifying Him in everything we do. If we love Him, we will obey Him.
Just as He was a slave and a servant who denied Himself and took up His cross, so should we be, because a servant is not greater than His master. We have been commissioned by our King to carry out an assignment that is impossible without one another. The longer we wait, the more people die without knowing Him, and the longer it will be until He returns. To God, this is the priority above our personal salvation and relationship with Him. He wants us to know Him so that we can share what we know about Him with people who do not know Him. What good is a lamp that is hidden under the bed?
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