Who was Jesus?
Written by: James
Proof Read by: Sara
Verses provided by: Gini AKA Virginia AKA Agent Double Nose.
Isaiah 53 (Amplified Bible)
Isaiah 53
1WHO HAS believed (trusted in, relied upon, and clung to) our message [of that which was revealed to us]? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been disclosed?(A)
2For [the Servant of God] grew up before Him like a tender plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He has no form or comeliness [royal, kingly pomp], that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.
3He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness; and like One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him.
4Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy].(B)
5But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.
6All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has made to light upon Him the guilt and iniquity of us all.(C)
7He was oppressed, [yet when] He was afflicted, He was submissive and opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.
8By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who among them considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living [stricken to His death] for the transgression of my [Isaiah's] people, to whom the stroke was due?
9And they assigned Him a grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.(D)
10Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief and made Him sick. When You and He make His life an offering for sin [and He has risen from the dead, in time to come], He shall see His [spiritual] offspring, He shall prolong His days, and the will and pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
11He shall see [the fruit] of the travail of His soul and be satisfied; by His knowledge of Himself [which He possesses and imparts to others] shall My [uncompromisingly] righteous One, My Servant, justify many and make many righteous (upright and in right standing with God), for He shall bear their iniquities and their guilt [with the consequences, says the Lord].
12Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great [kings and rulers], and He shall divide the spoil with the mighty, because He poured out His life unto death, and [He let Himself] be regarded as a criminal and be numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore [and took away] the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors (the rebellious).(E)
Hello, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus! Woah! It’s almost Christmas! I’m excited! I know, I’m what….just about sixteen…but I still get excited about it! Who doesn’t love presents, whether giving them or receiving them? Don’t lie. I can’t wait! *head explodes*
Any dang way, what’s with the title here? Don’t we know who Jesus was? You know, some of us really don’t know Jesus that well. Some people believe that Jesus was a sinner who had sexual relations with Mary Magdalene just before He was put to death. Some say that He was a con artist just trying to get people’s money. Ok, so in other words, some say Jesus was a bad guy. Let’s step up one level. Some people believe Jesus was only a man, but that He was a REALLY good man. Some say that He was only a prophet. Some say that He was an angelic creature who wasn’t God. Some say Jesus was a clown! Ok, nobody thinks that thing…at least I certainly hope nobody thinks that. Let’s take another step. Some say Jesus wants us to hate and kill those who don’t believe. Some say Jesus only loved whites. Some say Jesus came to judge us. Some say Jesus wished family members to fight each other. Over the centuries since our Savior died for us and was raised from the dead, some pretty freaked up warped ideas and down right wrong ideas have sprung up about Jesus. But who was Jesus really? What is He to us?
Ok, this has been really pressed on my heart lately. Why is it important that we get Jesus right? Why do people keep shying away from what Jesus really is? WHO IS JESUS ANYWAY?!
He IS our savior…
Romans 3:22-24 (Amplified Bible)
22Namely, the righteousness of God which comes by believing with personal trust and confident reliance on Jesus Christ (the Messiah). [And it is meant] for all who believe. For there is no distinction,
23Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory [a]which God bestows and receives.
24[All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus,
Titus 3:5-6 (Amplified Bible)
5He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but because of His own pity and mercy, by [the] cleansing [bath] of the new birth (regeneration) and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
6Which He poured out [so] richly upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Jesus Christ is our savior. He isn’t a guy who did this little something and then was written down in a history book for people to read about when they get bored. He IS and ALWAYS WILL BE our savior. He wasn’t just killed in a brutal way for nothing. In Isaiah, God told us He’d send someone to die for our sins. He’d be beaten, maimed, and killed for our sins. While doing this, He’d stay quiet. His mouth never screamed out in pain. He remained silent. This servant would have never sinned once, and He’d be perfect. His name would be Immanuel, which would mean, “God is with us”. Guess what? Jesus IS Immanuel. He was the one who was perfect and died silently in a very brutal way for our sins, then, after three days of pain, He was ressurected and was raised to Heaven. He IS our savior. Trusting in Jesus that He is the one who died for us takes away your debt with God. God will accept you and you will have a relationship with Him! YAY! I’d say it’s a time for celebration, don’t you think?
He IS our deliverer…
2 Corinthians 3:17 (Amplified Bible)
17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom).(A)
This has more than one meaning. Jesus is our deliverer from sin. He will take away our sin if we trust in Him and the Father. But! He’s also our deliverer from hell. I don’t just mean the place that wicked people go to, but our own little personal hells we each go through. Please, if you can, remember a time in your life where you were in a personal hell that you couldn’t escape. Life was dragging you down and you just needed someone, SOMETHING, ANYTHING to save you from it. Then what happens? Jesus comes into your life and though things didn’t get better right away, after you learned what God wants you to do, you were delivered from your hell and things went right from then on, except for the occasional down side. Don’t think Jesus is going to make you go through hell more than needed for you to learn what God wants you to know. Jesus WILL deliver you from your hell!
He IS our Lord…
Titus 3:5-6 (Amplified Bible)
5He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but because of His own pity and mercy, by [the] cleansing [bath] of the new birth (regeneration) and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
6Which He poured out [so] richly upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Jesus wasn’t just there to save us from our sins. He is our Lord also. He was, IS our boss. No, He wouldn’t fire you if you made a mistake, but He is still our Lord. So, since He is our Lord, what does that mean? He told us to love all people. He told us to trust in Him and to be saved by your faith. He told us to try and flee sin. If we loved Him, we’d do these things, correct? Of course, there’s always room for mistakes. A good man falls 7 times, but God always picks him back up. Jesus is our Lord. Let’s listen to Him! King of Kings is correct. Jesus is exactly that.
He IS God’s Son…
John 3:16 (Amplified Bible)
16For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten ([a]unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.
Matthew 3:16-17 (Amplified Bible)
16And when Jesus was baptized, He went up at once out of the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he [John] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him.
17And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is My Son, My Beloved, in Whom I delight!(A)
John 10:36 (Amplified Bible)
36[If that is true] do you say of the One Whom the Father consecrated and dedicated and set apart for Himself and sent into the world, You are blaspheming, because I said, I am the Son of God?
Luke 1:35 (Amplified Bible)
35Then the angel said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you [like a shining cloud]; and so the holy (pure, sinless) Thing (Offspring) which shall be born of you will be called the Son of God.(A)
Jesus was born of a virgin named Mary. An angel told her that God was going to impregnate her using the Holy Spirit. Mary said that if this is all destined to happen, let it happen, and poof, she was pregnant with Jesus. The Holy Spirit is God’s Spirit. God had made a human being with His very soul. In that sense, Jesus was the Son of God. He was the one who knew God since the beginning, since His soul is God’s soul. When Jesus was baptized by John, clouds opened and God said to everyone, “This is my Son, whom I love.” Now, I guess you could all say that we are all God’s sons and daughters, but Jesus was God’s son in a different way. He was the one directly made by the Holy Spirit, and His soul was the Holy Spirit. He was the one destined to die for our sins. God was pleased with Him, His Son.
He IS God…
· Jesus wasn’t just God’s son. He WAS GOD. He was Yahweh. He was Jehovah. He WAS GOD. In John 1:1, it says, “In the Beginning there was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Wait, there’s more. John 10:30 “For the Father and I are one.” And there’s still more.
John 14:8-11 (Amplified Bible)
8Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father [cause us to see the Father--that is all we ask]; then we shall be satisfied.
9Jesus replied, Have I been with all of you for so long a time, and do you not recognize and know Me yet, Philip? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say then, Show us the Father?
10Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? What I am telling you I do not say on My own authority and of My own accord; but the Father Who lives continually in Me does the ([a]His) works (His own miracles, deeds of power).
11Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the sake of the [very] works themselves. [If you cannot trust Me, at least let these works that I do in My Father's name convince you.]
·
One of Jesus apostles had asked Jesus if they could physically see the Lord. Jesus said there was no need, because they had seen the Father because they have seen Jesus. That verse has been interpreted a few ways, like they know God because they’ve seen Jesus. But as far as I’m concerned, Jesus had already said they know the Father because they know Jesus in the verse just before it (“If you know me, you know the Father”). That apostle had asked to see God physically. Jesus said they already have. There’s still more! John 8:58 "'I tell you the truth', Jesus answered, 'before Abraham was born, I am[13]!'" That parallels what God had said to Moses. God is I Am. Jesus is I Am. John 20:28: “Thomas said to him, 'My Lord and my God!'” Here the Apostle, Thomas, openly proclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” Who else would he call God besides God?
Later on in the New Testament, many of Jesus Apostles said that Jesus was God.
Philippians 2:5-6 "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God,"
Collissians 2:9 "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form"
Titus 2:13 "while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ."
Hebrews 1:8 "But about the Son he [God] says: "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom."
1 John 5:20 "We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life."
Revelations 1:17-18 "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades." This is seen as significant when viewed with Isaiah 44:6: "This is what the LORD says - Israel's King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God."
Once again, God said that He was Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. You see, if Jesus weren’t God, He wouldn’t be Alpha and Omega. He wouldn’t have been the beginning, because only God was the Beginning.
Jesus wasn’t just God’s Son. He was God. Jesus did THOUSANDS of miracles, ranging from simply healing a crippled person, to walking on water, to raising the dead (No, NOT LIKE A ZOMBIE YOU CRAZY!).You may be asking, how the heck is that possible? How come Jesus is separate from God the Father (Yahweh or whatever you want to call Him), and still be God? The answer is simple. God can DO ANYTHING. It is said that only God can save us.
Jesaha 43:11: I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.
That’s further proof. God can do ANYTHING. Anything. Even things that may seem unreasonable.
Always remember. Jesus wasn’t just God’s Son, His only Begotten Son, but God Himself. You maybe now be asking, what about the verses where Jesus says the Father is greater than He? I honestly don’t have an answer for that. I’m guessing He said that because He was God is human form. But, as always, we’ll have to find out later.
Jesus IS our teacher…
Jesus said that the only teacher was the Father in Heaven. And since Jesus is God, He was our teacher. Heck, He taught us SO much we can hardly list it all. Jesus taught us a great many things. He taught us love, compassion, humbleness, meekness, forgiveness, and many other things like that. He taught us how we could all be with the Father, which is through Him. He told us how to release our hatred through God. He taught us life. He guided us to God. We, a fallen people, didn’t deserve this. Not a single person hasn’t sinned. I am a sinner in a half! I don’t deserve God. We don’t deserve God. But you know what? That doesn’t matter. God loves us. Jesus taught us that. Jesus taught us that we are to love the Lord our God more than anything else, and then to love all people with all our hearts. Yup, He was our teacher, all right.
Jesus IS love….
Ephesians 3:17-19 (Amplified Bible)
17May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,
18That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];
19[That you may really come] to know [practically, [a]through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] [c]unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and [d]become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself!
It is written that God isn’t only the creator of love, but love itself. God is made of the stuff. You know what that means? So is Jesus. Jesus love is limitless. It stretches out far beyond the universe. That love consumes all. Everyone. Nadda person is left out. As I’ve mentioned PLENTY of times in sermons, some people have said that Jesus hates a certain group of people. Some have said that Jesus hates non-Christians, like Muslims and various others, or that Jesus only loves white people, leaving all the rest to rot and die, or that He loves only men, and stupid untrue stuff like that. Jesus loves us all. Everyone. EVERYONE. The crippled, the stupid, the foolish, the ugly, the sinful (which is all of us) the non-believer, the sick, the lame, the hateful, the anything. Jesus doesn’t see anything like skin color or nationality, or gender or religion. God made us all, God loves us all equally. And as said, God’s love is limitless, stretching beyond the universe. In Jesus there is no difference between Greek nor Jew, Male or Female, Slave nor Free. We are all the same to Him.
Jesus IS the Way….
John 14:6 (Amplified Bible)
6Jesus said to him, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me.
The way to what? Why, to salvation, to freedom from sin, to God, to a loving life, to peace for all, to LIFE. He is the way and only He is the way. Nothing else saves us from our sins, and nothing else brings us to the Father. Only Him. He has promised us that He is the way. He is the way.
Jesus IS the Truth….
John 14:6 (Amplified Bible)
6Jesus said to him, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me.
Jesus promised us that He is THE truth, not a truth. About a month ago I went to a concert at my church. Before the concert began, a person came on stage and said what I’m about to say. He said that Jesus isn’t a truth. He is the Truth. That’s why even now, after many centuries, we still speak of God and Jesus. People have been trying to say that such and such is the truth and such and such is the truth, but really, they were only kidding themselves. Jesus is the Truth. Through and through.
Jesus IS our Friend….
John 15:12-16 (Amplified Bible)
12This is My commandment: that you love one another [just] as I have loved you.
13No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends.
14You are My friends if you keep on doing the things which I command you to do.
15I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. [I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him.]
16You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you [I have planted you], that you might go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit may be lasting [that it may remain, abide], so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name [as [a]presenting all that I AM], He may give it to you.
Think about this for a second. You’re friends with God! You’re friends with the Truth. You’re friends with the Holy One. Holy crap! Isn’t that awesome! You’re not just a thing that God looks at and goes, “Well, I love you, but I really don’t want to have any form of relationship with you….so….yeah…..I’m gonna go.” You’re His friend! You’re best buds with the Almighty! What does that mean? Well, you can do anything with God that you would do with a friend….except the sinful stuff. Yup! You can talk to Him about anything. Your struggles, your current feelings, your awesome day at the movies. You name it, you can talk to Him about it. Heck, you could play Halo with Him. Don’t hesitate. Jesus is your friend, and because of that, God is your friend. You’re friends with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Why? Because Jesus said He is.
Jesus IS God’s Word, which is the Truth.
Hahaha….this kinda makes me laugh. Jesus is the Word (word!). He is the Word in the flesh.
John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and lived among us.We saw His glory-The Glory that is only of the Son and the Father-And He was full of Grace and Truth” You could kinda think of it this way. Jesus is the message in human form. The message was that God the Father was going to save His people, which is all of us. What Jesus said/says is what God has said. And since God has said it, it is the Truth, as Jesus promised.
So, all in all, what is Jesus?
Jesus is everything. Jesus is God. Jesus is God’s Son. Jesus is Love. Jesus is the Way, Jesus Is the Truth. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Jesus is the King of Kings, Jesus is the Lord. Jesus is Immanuel, which means, “God is with Us.” Jesus IS.
Of course, don’t take my word for it. My words are only human words. God’s Word is Eternal and true. Please, if you don’t know Jesus, get to know Him now!
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