Who is Jesus?

Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:27-29)

Jesus asked that question “who do you say that I am?” to His disciples and it’s a question that every one of us must answer for ourselves. For your redemption, it matters not who I say Jesus is, it only matters who you say that Jesus is.

Prior to Jesus, followers of God would atone for their sins by sacrificing an animal to God as blood was required to atone for their sins (Lev 4:20). Sin is death and must be atoned by life through blood (Lev 17:11). This is a seemingly grotesque practice and is the result of sin and rejection of God and His commandments. However, it does provide a vivid display of how evil sin is–it literally brings death into the world. When we sin, we are bringing death into the world and either we will suffer that death, or an atoning sacrifice will be used as a remission of our sins. As sins continued to be committed, sacrifices continued as the debt had to be atoned for (Lev 4-6). Sacrificing of animals is only a temporary covering of sins and foreshadowed an eternal, perfect and final sacrifice that would be provided by God Himself (Isa 53:5-12).

God, through the prophet Isaiah, tells humanity that He will redeem humanity by sending a servant who will bear our iniquities, transgression and sins and through the suffering of this servant we will be healed (Isa 52:3; 13; 53:5). When the Jews of old sacrificed animals only their present sin was temporarily laid on the sacrifice; God is telling humanity that He will send a servant and lay all of humanities transgression, iniquity, sin, debt and death on His servant (Isa 53:6). This is God’s sacrifice to humanity that will be sufficient to forgive every sin, committed by every person at any time for eternity (Isa 53:10). Throughout the entire Old Testament God is constantly reminding and hinting of the coming of this servant that God will send as a final sacrifice for our sins.

In many scriptures, through many prophets, judges, kings and servants of God prophecy of God’s servant and our messiah/savior is revealed. It is revealed that the messiah will be born of a virgin, (Isa 7:14) be rejected by His own people, (Psa 69:8) would be a prophet, (Deu 18:15) would be declared the Son of God, (Psa 2:7) would b e a Nazarene, (Isa 11:1) would be betrayed, (Zec 11:12-13) falsely accused (Psa 35:11), be pierced in His hands and feet (Psa 22:16), soldiers would gamble for His garments (Psa 22:18), bones would not be broken (Exo 12:46), forsaken by God (Psa 22:1), resurrected from the dead (Psa 16:10), ascend to heaven (Psa 24:7) and would be sacrificed for sin (Isa 53:5-12). These are just a few of the 300+ prophecies that were written about the Messiah by the Old Testament writers. All of these prophecies were written between hundred and thousands of years prior to Jesus by multiple different authors who, in most cases, never met one another. Check out the chart below detailing less than a quarter of the prophecy written and fulfilled about the Messiah:

*Chart by:https://www.thoughtco.com/prophecies-of-jesus-fulfilled-700159

Now, who is Jesus?  Jesus is eternal and already existed in heaven before His physical manifestation (John 17:5). He manifested physically as a human through divine conception and birth of the virgin Mary (Matthew 1:20).  Jesus was given the name Immanuel, which literally translates to “God with us” (Mat 1:22-23). Jesus is God with us and since God is perfect, so is Jesus as God and Jesus are One (John 10:30). Jesus gathered 12 disciples and they followed Him nearly everywhere He went, watching, learning and imitating His actions. Jesus spoke and acted with authority, He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, ears to the deaf, cast out demons and even brought people back from the dead (John 11:43-33). Jesus performed miracles, changed lives and preached what it meant to be a follower of the Word. While doing this Jesus fulfilled over 300 plus prophecies written about Him hundreds to thousands of years before His appearance, every single one of them He fulfilled perfectly. Most of these prophecies were out of the control for an impostor to fulfill. For instance, one cannot control their place of birth (born in Bethlehem), the actions of others (He was betrayed, falsely accused, hated without cause and pierced in His hands and feet), nor could anyone perform miracles or resurrect themselves if they were acting alone as a man. Sure, one could fulfill a few of these prophecies, but no one but the true messiah sent by God could fulfill them all.

*For a comprehensive historical breakdown of Jesus and the resurrection watch the following video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCk-7KHFSaQ&t=23s

Continue reading the next part “How Can I Be Saved?” by clicking here!