Who Is Jesus?

Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”  They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  “But what about you?” he asked.  “Who do you say I am?”  Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  (Matthew 16:13-16) 

The question of the identity of Jesus is still being asked in one form or another in contemporary society as people wrestle with their own spiritual identity.  Is Jesus a man to be admired, a myth to be disputed, a mystery to be explored or the Messiah to be followed? 

Such a thought provoking question demands a thoughtful response... 


Response #1 - Revelation 

Within the pages of Scripture we have a written record of a man named Jesus who is revealed to be so much more than simply a historical figure who once walked the earth. God’s ‘self-revelation’ through the “witness of the New Testament” brings us “face to face with Christ in his wholeness as God and man” (Torrance, 2008: 3) and confronts us with His redemptive plan of reconciliation for humankind through the life of Jesus.

His birth was supernatural as He was born to a virgin mother, which was foretold by the prophets (Isaiah 7:14) and announced by an angel (Luke 1:28-37).

His being was unique as He was “truly and properly man and truly and properly God” (The Salvation Army, 1998: 37), that is, God taking on the form of a human being and living among us (John 1:14).  This unique characteristic of Jesus was affirmed by the Apostle Paul who is on record as writing, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9).

His name is powerful:  Jesus means ‘Saviour’ (Matthew 1:21, Luke 1:31-32) and Christ means ‘Immanuel’, that is, “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23).  The power of Jesus’ name is declared by God Himself, who “exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

His life was extraordinary as Jesus cast out demons (Luke 4:31-36), healed the sick (Luke 5:12-26), raised the dead (Luke 7:11-17), calmed the storm (Luke 8:22-25), fed the multitudes (Luke 9:10-17), interpreted the times (Luke 12:54-59), liberated the oppressed (Luke 13:10-17), announced the coming of the kingdom of God (Luke 17:20-35), and presented Himself as the King of kings (Luke 19:28-40).

His death and resurrection are transforming - “It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed…Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:10-12). 


Response #2 - Evidence 

Within the pages of other historical and religious writings we also find Jesus presented as a man who is like none other; a man to be honoured and revered!  The evidence found in a variety of sources can reasonably lead us to the same conclusion of the Roman centurion witnessing Jesus crucifixion, “Surely he was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54).

Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus (born A.D. 52-54) referenced the influence and death of Jesus:  “Hence to suppress the rumor, he falsely charged with the guilt, and punished with the most exquisite tortures, the persons commonly called Christians, who were hated for their enormities.  Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius: but the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time broke out again, not only through Judea, where the mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also” (McDowell, 1990: 82, quoting from Annals XV. 44). 

Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (born A.D. 37) recorded:  “Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure.  He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles.  He was the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him” (McDowell, 1990: 82, quoting from Antiquities XVIII. 33).

The prophet Muhammad revealed in the Quran, “When the angels said, 'O Mary, ALLAH gives thee glad tidings of a son through a word from HIM; his name shall be the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, honoured in this world and in the next, and of those who are granted nearness to God;” He also recalled, “Remember when God said, ‘O Jesus! Verily I will cause thee to die, and will take thee up to Myself and deliver thee from those who believe not; and I will place those who follow thee above those who believe not, until the Day of Resurrection” (Quran  Surah 3:38-48). 


Response #3 - Experience 

Within the pages of my own life story I can speak of encounters with God through Jesus Christ that transcend rational explanation and reasoned arguments into the realms of faith.  But don’t be mistaken to think that the realm of faith is a baseless ideology!  Jesus puts flesh on my faith, providing a living expression of God who is spirit, so that what is unseen can be seen and known by those who put their faith in Jesus Christ (1 John 4).

As a child I received a vision of Jesus which was a profound encounter with God that transitioned me from my parent’s faith to a personal faith.  This was the beginning of a faith journey that took on form as I explored the life of Jesus through the pages of Scripture and sought to emulate His character and integrate His teaching.

As a man, Jesus inspires me.  Just like other heroes of the faith because of their impact on humanity.  For example:  St. Francis of Assisi - his vow of poverty and life of service, John Wesley - his life of holiness, William Wilberforce - his abolition of slavery, Henry Venn - his missionary strategy, Oscar Romero - his liberation theology.

As God in human form, Jesus transforms me.  His Spirit lives within me; changing my heart to care about what breaks God’s heart, renewing my mind to conform to God’s likeness, and empowering my life to pursue God’s calling.  No other person in the past or present has had that level of influence or impact on my life.

Jesus Christ has given me a new identity as a child of God who is created in His image to live in relationship with the Creator according to His pattern and purpose.  Reciprocating this relationship has become the primary purpose of my life so that others “would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us” (Acts 17:27).

While you can debate historical evidence or deny biblical truth concerning the divinity of Jesus Christ, no argument could cause me to doubt the transforming impact His story has had on my story. 


Summary of Responses 

The question 'Who Is Jesus?' presents us with a question of identity which defines the way we see Jesus and interact with Him.  If Jesus is just a man to be admired, then He would be little more than an inspiration.  If Jesus is a myth to be disputed, then He is a controversy to be avoided.  If Jesus is an unresolved mystery, then God can never really be known.  If Jesus is Messiah, as I’ve sought to establish through three different responses, then He is the Saviour who reconciles us to right relationship with God.

A response based on revelation begins with Scripture as the foundation for a revelation of Jesus Christ.  The evidence for the identity of Jesus is formed by what is presented through God’s self-revelation in the prophets, gospels and other writings contained in the Word of God and interpreted through a Christian worldview.

A response based on evidence looks to other factual sources to provide written evidence for the existence and uniqueness of Jesus as a man who made an indelible mark on history.  When these accounts are consistent with the biblical representation of Jesus, they contribute to the argument of Christian claims about Him, even if the evidence is interpreted differently through other worldviews.

A response based on experience provides a faith perspective that may not be justified rationally, rather presents a relational actual encounter with the truth being argued. While this position is driven more from a platform of faith than fact, a person’s experience of Jesus Christ is as real and tangible as any empirical evidence.

The ‘revelation’ and ‘evidence’ responses presents truth about Jesus that appeal to the religious and rational person, however, the ‘experience’ response presents truth about Jesus that makes a relational connection with a wider audience.  I believe all responses help to form a solid case for the identity of Jesus Christ, but to be able to connect His story with our story through an encounter with Jesus moves our audience beyond the rational where they are informed about Jesus into the relational where they can be transformed by Jesus.

Song writer Scott Dyer penned the following lyrics that capture this conclusion:  

You ask me how I know that God is real and why it is that I believe

Is there some truth that I’d reveal that might convince you to concede

And can I prove it.  Can I quantify it?

And where’s the evidence of Christ in a world that’s in decay

And can I prove He really died and that the stone was rolled away

Cause you’re not quite convinced you’d really buy it.

Well I could tell you of the prophecies that Jesus has fulfilled

And I could talk of archaeology and the proof that it’s revealed

But the greatest evidence that I could give you is the change He’s made in me.

“Amazing Grace how sweet the sound” may seem a tired old cliché

“I once was lost but now I’m found” might sound simplistic now a days

But that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

He took my hardened heart of stone and put a heart of flesh in me

He gave me peace I’d never known and a soul that’s full and free

And it’s a miracle that God could do it.

Well I could speak about eyewitnesses to the resurrected Christ

And I could preach of how those followers believed enough to give their lives

But the greatest evidence that I could give you is the change He’s made in me.

And I could tell you how the love of God has turned a sceptic into saint

And I could talk of how historians back up the Bible’s claims

But the greatest evidence that I could give you is the change He’s made in me.

After my investigation I concluded it would take more faith

For me to hold onto my unbelief

But even with this revelation by far the strongest evidence I’ve seen

Is what Christ has done in me.

I wanna tell you how the love of God turned this sceptic into saint

And how His mercy and His sacrifice washed away my guilty stain

But the greatest evidence that I could give you is the change He’s made in me. 

Words and Music by Scott Dyer

© 2001 Ever Devoted Music (ASCAP)

Head v's Heart Knowledge

I never grow tired of reading about John Wesley's conversion experience.  He was a remarkable man from Christian history who had a profound influence on his contemporaries, which lead to the establishment of the Methodist Church and inspired emerging movements like The Salvation Army in the 19th century.  

As much as there is to learn from the success of Wesley's life and ministry, there is as much to learn from his 17 year struggle with the assurance of salvation.  Wesley believed in and preached all the right things when it came to the gospel, but his head knowledge did not translate into a heart knowledge until his dramatic conversion experience at Aldersgate Street on May 24th 1738.

Prior to this experience, we read of the following encounter in Wesley's journals with August Spangenberg, a Moravian leader, while engaging in an unsuccessful mission to Georgia, a new colony in North America.  While in Georgia, Spangenberg asked Wesley the following questions:

"Do you know Jesus Christ?"
I paused and said, "I know he is the Saviour of the world."
"True," he replied, "but do you know He has saved you?"
I answered, "I hope he has died to save me."
He only added, "Do you know yourself?"
I said, "I do."
But I fear they were vain words. (Wesley's Journal, 8)

Wesley clearly had a head knowledge of the salvation of Jesus Christ, but he was tormented by a lack of personal experience of what he knew to be true.  So much so, that when he returned to England after a failed mission to America, he wrote, "I went to America to convert the Indians, but Oh, who shall convert me?...I have a fair summer religion.  I can talk well...while no danger is near, but let death look me in the face and my spirit is troubled."

I sense that Wesley's struggle is not all that unique for many Christians today.  There are many who have a "fair summer religion" that offers little comfort when confronted by the storms of life and the brokenness of this world.  One could seek more knowledge of the faith they profess or alternatively knowledge from another faith tradition, but neither will suffice. 

Wesley was transformed by an experience that gave him assurance and peace while listening to someone preach from Martin Luther's commentary on Roman's, taking what Wesley knew in his head and integrating it into his heart.  This was his moving conversion experience at Aldersgate Street:

"About a quarter before nine, while he (Luther) was describing the change which God works in heart through faith in Christ, I felt my strangely warmed.  I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."

When head meets heart, knowledge becomes experience.  It becomes a life transforming 'aha' moment when what you know to be true in theory becomes a living reality within your life!  Christianity is not so much a religious expression of ideas, but a relational experience of the incarnation - that is, a relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, who lived among us in the flesh and left His Spirit as a continued living presence in our lives.

The Human Face Of Asylum Seekers

There are some things in life that cannot be truly known unless experienced.  We may seek to understand the world we live in by a variety of sources of information, but when we listen to people's stories and experiences we gain a perspective of life that you cannot really get from a secondhand report.  

This was brought home to me last night listening to the courageous story of a Sudanese refugee who had escaped the war of Sudan as a child and spent 12 years in a refugee camp in Kenya before a complicated journey that enabled her to settle in Australia.  As she spoke into the challenge for Australians in understanding the plight of asylum seekers and refugees, she made the most gracious statement I think I have heard in recent political and social discussion about this issue.  Haluel said, "I don't blame Australians because you will never feel something you have never experienced."  

This profoundly humble statement put a different colour skin on the prayer of St. Francis, "O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love."  Despite the pain of her own journey, Haluel had the humility to recognise how difficult it is for people who have not traveled her pathway to feel the depth of desperation that compels vulnerable people to make a dangerous journey towards the hope of a better life.  

It is my sincere prayer that all Australians would reciprocate this humility by listening more to the stories and experiences of others when considering the challenge for asylum seekers and refugees, than the politically motivated rhetoric that is dehumanising this humanitarian issue.

The CROSS Road at Emmaus

On the road to Emmaus the disciples faced the CROSS Road between knowledge and experience when they encountered the resurrected Christ.

Jesus challenged their unbelief...

"Jesus said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” (Luke 24:25-26)

Jesus opened their eyes through their encounter with Him...

"Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”  (Luke 24:31-32)

 

The transition between the revelation of the prophets and the reality of Jesus is a CROSS Road of belief where what we know becomes real!

It is that movement from head to heart, theory to reality, knowledge to experience.  You may call it that 'aha' moment of faith.  A moment when faith and life intersect.  

When was your 'aha' moment of faith?  When did your knowledge of God become an experience of God?

Are you still wandering down the CROSS Road of faith wrestling with unbelief?  Or is your 'heart burning within' because of a divine encounter?  Has God's revelation become your reality?

Jesus of History, Christ of Faith

Who is Jesus? How do you know Him?  

Where do you begin when you try to introduce Jesus to others?

History provides us with one pathway towards an understand of who Jesus was.  Through the eyewitness accounts of Jesus life by the gospel writers we learn about His birth, ministry, where He went, what He said and how He lived His life.  The historical Jesus reveals selective and interpretive facts and events from the perspective of those who journeyed with Him.  This is a reflective discovery of past events, but is that all there is to knowing the person Jesus?

On the other hand...

Faith provides us with another pathway towards an experience of who Jesus is.  Through an encounter with Christ, the anointed One of God, we gain a revelation of the living God who transcends history through the continuing presence of the Spirit of Christ who lives within us through faith.  The Christ of faith invites a response to not just who Jesus was in history but through who Jesus is today.  A knowledge of the Jesus of history is not enough on its own.  It lays the foundation for a transforming encounter with the Christ of faith.

To have an experiential knowledge of God that is life changing, there must be a connection between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith.  "What is important is what happens now! It is not who 'was' Jesus, but who 'is' Jesus and who you can become through Him, now." (David McGregor)