WHO IS JESUS?

 Most of us picture Jesus as the little baby in the manger with His mother Mary and His father Joseph at His side.  A lot of Christians have the nativity scene sitting out at Christmas and so we should. Indeed Jesus was born to a virgin girl, and lived in Nazareth, and His earthly father was a carpenter.

Then we see Jesus as a child of twelve, who stayed behind when his family went to Bethlehem to pay their taxes.  When asked what He was doing in the temple, He answered, “I am about My Father’s business”. 

When He grew up and started His ministry, the people in Nazareth said, “Is this not the carpenter’s Son?  Is not His mother called Mary?  And His brother James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?  And His sisters are they not all with us?  Where then did this Man get all these things? So they were offended at Him.”   (Matt. 13:55-57)

They did not realize who this man Jesus really was.  Many people today do not know either.  Many believe He was a teacher or healer or prophet and certainly He was all of these, but so much more.

The Bible says in Corinthians 1:15-18 “He is the image of the Invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.  All things were created through Him and for Him.  And He is before all things and in Him all things consist.  And He is the Head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead that in all things He may have preeminence.”  We see here that Jesus created all things.  You probably wonder how Jesus created all things when He came to be in the New Testament.  But actually He has been from the beginning as stated in John 1:1—“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”  And on down in verse 14 it states—“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  This clearly refers to Jesus.

Jesus is the Word who was with God and created everything. 

In the Old Testament there is a prophecy about the birth of Jesus and it reveals who He is.  “For unto us a Child is born;  Unto us a Son is given;  And the government will be upon His shoulder.  And His name will be called Wonderful, Councilor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,  Prince of Peace.”  So Jesus is the Mighty God and Everlasting Father.  This is a mystery as it says in 1 Timothy 3:16 “ And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:  God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.” 

There is the Trinity (that is one God in three persons),  God the Father,  God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  This is seen in 1 John 5:7 “For there are three that bare witness in heaven;  the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit and these three are one.”  

Jesus said that He was the Bread of Life that came down from heaven (John 6:48).  And in John 10:30 He says—“I and the Father are one”.

In John 14:6&7—“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

So if Jesus is the Mighty God and Everlasting Father then why did He die on the cross?  He shed His own blood so we could be saved.  It had to be Holy blood.  In Rev. 1:5  it reads “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.”  So when we accept Him and repent, He washes our sins away with His own blood. 

It is hard to comprehend how much He loves us.

In Revelation it tell us how John saw Jesus in a vision.  It is quite awesome.  “I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lamp stands.  One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.  His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow and His eyes like a flame of fire;  His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters;  He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun, shining in it’s strength.”  Jesus the baby of Christmas is no longer a baby, but the Almighty God who is coming back soon. 

We must be ready and watching for Him. 

Jesus says in Revelation 22:12 “And behold I am coming quickly and My reward is with me to give everyone according to his work.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”  Amen.  Even so come Lord Jesus.