Sunday, January 19, 2014

The Person of Jesus -2

Who is Jesus?
I know there are different ideas out there about who Jesus really is. This is why you should be careful to research every information available to you. Different people from different cultures and geographical location seem to have different views about who Jesus really is. Even the Jews had issues with Jesus when he revealed his identity them. To know who Jesus really is is to know who you really are in him. If your knowledge of him is inaccurate, you will never experience the real Jesus of Nazareth. Your mind cannot comprehend him but your spirit can. So, open up your spirit for a change. And I pray the Holy Spirit will help you understand the person of Jesus.

Many around the world think he is a prophet, some think he is a religious leader and others think he is a martyr. He is non of the above. Jesus himself clearly revealed his identity to the people of his day but he got in trouble for it many times. People in his day had huge problems believing who he said he was and the story is the same for a lot of people today. One time according to the bible, he went to his home town and the bible has it that Jesus could not do any mighty work but only healed a few sick people (Mark 6:1-6).  

I believe Jesus came to bless them but they saw him as a man. They said " ...is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him" (Mark 6:3). His own people saw him as a mere man even though they acknowledged he spoke with Wisdom and did mighty works (Mark 6:2) but their unbelief short-circuited the power of God in their midst.  Jesus certainly came to bless them but they could not receive because of their unbelief. To some, Jesus appeared to be powerless here but the bible stated clearly unbelief was their problem. That was why he went about teaching them the Word in the villages.

What others call him don't matter right now. Who is he to you? Peter in John 6:69 referred to Jesus as the Christ and the Son of the Living God. The prophets of old way before Peter showed up referred to him as "everlasting Father and The Mighty God" (Isaiah 9:6). What about Jesus? What did he say about himself? One time he told the Jews, "before Abraham was I AM"(John 8:58). This verse of scripture is awesome but to many, a stumbling block. Many have misunderstood this part of scripture. Some think Jesus made a grammatical error and others think the interpreters made the error.  They think the verse should have read "I WAS" instead of "I AM". No, it's was not an error neither by Jesus nor the interpreters. He knew exactly what he was saying and the Jews knew exactly what he meant. The following verse (59) shows the Jews understood him clearly. They wanted to stone him because the statement implied he is co-equal with God and they could not swallow it but it's the simple truth.

The bible holds a clear and accurate documentation of who Jesus really is. Jesus said to Philip one time, "...he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.." ( John 14:9). Awesome words! He didn't say when you come to me I will show you the Father, but seeing me is as good as seeing the father. No one ever spoke like Jesus. He is letting us know he is co-equal with God. I know men don't like to hear this but it's the truth. Jesus is the Son of The living God. He is the Word of God made flesh. No one has seen God but he is the express image of the Father ( Hebrews 1:3 & Colossians 1:15)   If you understand this, you will understand who you really are in him. Watch out for part 3.

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