This past Sunday, our pastor held a workshop to explore what the world thinks about Jesus. It was interesting to say the least.
What got me is where some of these people got their ideas about who Jesus was. Some had dreams or supposed divine inspiration, some interpreted the written word a little differently, some of it was passed down from generation to generation, and some were based on their own ideas.
Then we got into some other religions and what they think about salvation. In just about all of them, it required a different kind of sacrifice compared to what God asked through Jesus Christ. In most of them, we had to take care of our sin ourselves. In other words, their god was not going to help at all. A good number of them believed in multiple gods and some believed in reincarnation.
As I said it was very interesting, but I was not able to stay to the end when they were going to talk about who Jesus really was. So lets look at what the Bible says about Jesus.
- Jesus is God yet Jesus was the Son of God
- Jesus was born Jewish
- Jesus probably had brown eyes and dark hair
- Jesus probably had short hair
- Jesus had a beard
- Jesus was probably of average height and build
- Jesus was probably very strong
- Jesus was warm and compassionate
- Jesus’s appearance did not stand out
- He is the way, the truth, and the life
- He died for our sins on the cross and was resurrected on the third day
- He was there in the beginning when the world was created
- Jesus is unchanged and will never change
- Jesus is the great healer
- Jesus will return
- Jesus was born of a virgin
- Jesus was God made into flesh
- Jesus suffered the same temptations as us, but never sinned
- Jesus did not come to condemn the world
- Jesus is a great teacher
- Jesus is the messiah
- Jesus is the only way to salvation
The list could go on, but I think this paints a very clear image of who Jesus was. Of course you can deny that He existed or that He was the Son of God or that He was born of a virgin, etc. However, instead of absolutely denying Him, do some research as one Lawyer (Simon Greenleaf) did. This Lawyer converted from Atheism to Christianity based on his own research. Will you rise to the challenge and try to find out who Jesus really was?