Who Do You Think Jesus Is?

2006-08-28

Several years ago I had a teacher in college that related this story while he was in the Holy Land. I will paraphrase the gist of this story from memory the best that I can, since it relates to our story everyday. My professor was in a conversation with a gentleman from Israel, and he asked him what he thought of Christianity. The Jewish gentleman stated, “When I think of Christianity, I think of the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, and gas chambers in Germany.”

My professor replied, “Will you do me a favor? Never think of me as a Christian ever again.”

The gentleman replied, “As what then should I think of you?”

The professor said, “As a believer!”

The gentleman replied, “A believer in what?”

My professor exclaimed, “I was hoping you would ask me that!”

So from there, the professor told the gentleman about Jesus. He explained that all people everywhere have sinned, or missed God’s perfect standard. He told him about how Jesus came into the world and suffered and died as payment-in-full for all of humankind’s sins, and then rose from the dead. From there, he explained that whoever trusts in Jesus will have eternal life and share in His resurrection.

This period of history we live in is designated for all people everywhere to have an encounter with Jesus and conclude who He is. I heard of a book once that discusses how people have three choices to conclude about who Jesus is: liar, lunatic, or Lord.

Jesus stated that no one can be saved and go to heaven apart from trusting in Him, just as He said in John 14:6. Two choices, He either was telling the truth, or He was a liar. Maybe He was just insane, thinking He was telling the truth when He was really nuts. He said that He would die, and then be raised from the dead. The Bible records the history of this event, and that hundreds of people saw Him alive after He arose from the dead. Fact or fiction?

The answer as to who Jesus is lies in two major areas (though perhaps there are many more). One is the ancient past, and one is the result of Jesus’ resurrection. First, I say the ancient past because Jesus was prophetically introduced in the Old Testament on hundreds of occasions. For example, Isaiah stated that a virgin woman would give birth to a son (Isaiah 7:14). In Genesis, the very first book of the Bible, God promised to Adam and Eve that the seed of a woman (not of a man, which is a peculiarity) would deliver a fatal blow to the devil, though He would be wounded by the devil (Genesis 3:15). There are countless examples like these to which I could turn.

The second reason I say is the result of Jesus’ resurrection. Uneducated fisherman, former prostitutes, and a miscellaneous ragtag group of others that were considered His disciples turned the entire world upside-down. They spoke with authority by the Holy Spirit, and people were converted in masses. In the first three hundred years following Jesus’ resurrection, Christians were a heavily persecuted group. Nonetheless, they radically changed the world without violence, without malice, but lived in basic obedience to preach the simple message: Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead, and that by trusting Him we can be saved. Because of them, there are churches on almost every street in America today.

An objective look at these facts shows that Jesus is exactly who He says He is. How could He fulfill hundreds of prophecies by accident? Even if He were a con artist, how could He even scheme to do all that the Bible said He would? And also, how could this group of outcasts change the world unless God’s power was behind it?

This dilemma was something I faced several years ago... I went from hardly knowing who Jesus is at fifteen, and by eighteen, after years of struggle of seeking the meaning of life and my role in it, I was very ready to accept Jesus. For me it was not a matter of facts. My story is more experienced-based and also based on selfishness. What can Jesus do for me? But it came down to the reality that it is not about me, but that I was created by God for His purposes, and so it is with all of humankind. We were made by Him for His purposes.

One thing that the Jewish gentleman was confused about was who Jesus is. People often blame awful things that people do in the name of Jesus on Jesus Himself. Jesus never condoned the Crusades, the Inquisitions or the torture chambers in Germany. Yet at the same time, I have spoken with many people who hate Jesus because they saw the phony Christian who is a hypocrite or the impersonal minister who preaches to his parishioners to behave better. But it is not about them. Neither is about things you have done in life, good or bad. It is about Jesus.

You have to make this call. Is Jesus a liar or a lunatic, or is He Lord? Everybody must make that choice at sometime, and it might as well be today. There is no time like the present. The facts speak clearly, but sometimes that is not enough. But if you are willing, Jesus Christ will give you the reason to trust in Him alone, if you are looking for one. Once you trust in Him, you can be for certain: you have eternal life now and forever, and will go to heaven.