(Act 9) When Saul was persecuting Christians, he was on the road to Damascus and the blinding light came and he fell down. The first question Saul asked was, “Who are you, Lord?” Who is Jesus? Why can we not escape him? Why is He in our conscience, in our minds? Is He just a revolutionary hero? Why is He something more? He only lived 33 years. Never had no formal education, yet two thousand years later an entire generation is talking about Jesus Christ. Some say He was a mad man. Was He? Others say He was a revolutionary. Was He a revolutionary? In the sense, He change man’s lives, He was. But He never led a revolution against Roman. Or was Jesus an establishment man? Jesus Christ is not the establishment Christ. He’s building another kingdom. He’s building an eternal kingdom. And then there were people who said He was an evil man. What was He? Jesus Christ who are you? Who is Jesus? We can’t escape Him. We try to run from Him but there He is. He keeps popping up everywhere. Our greatest philosophers write about Him. Our greatest historians write about Him. Our greatest poems and plays are about Him. You go anywhere in the Soviet Union and you see imagines, and art, much of the music has to do with Jesus. They cant escape him.
We know some things about him. We know He was a man. Jesus was completely human. He was representative of man because the Bible says he was identified, He was numbered with the transgressors. We know that He was hungry, we know He got thirsty, we know He got tired. We know He had the joy of friendship. We know He wept at the tomb of a dead loved one. We know He had all the characteristics of a man. Very interestingly the bible says He never committed sin. There isn’t a trail or a testing, or temptation that Jesus has not been through before you. He resisted and overcame it all. He was a man, just like you. But He was more than that. He claims to be the Unique, Only, Begotten, Incarnate Son of God. He claimed pre-existence.
The scripture say, (John 1:1) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God.” Before time began, He existed. (John 8:58) “Before Abraham was, I Am.” I Am in eternal existence. No wonder they got angry, no wonder they wanted to throw some stones at Him, no wonder they eventually crucified Him. He stood, and said, I AM GOD.
Was He? Was He who He claimed to be? The Son of The Living God. Jesus Christ claimed to be the Son of The Living God. He has always existed. From Everlasting to Everlasting (Isaiah 9:6) He is God, the bible say and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The Word of God, the Eternal God, became flesh, the person of Jesus Christ, lived like a man among us. He was not just another great man; HE WAS GOD IN FLESH.
The ethics that He taught never a man has spoken like that. In the 10 commandments, thou shall not commit adultery but I tell you if you even look at a women with lust you already commit it. He said, Moses said thou shall not murder but I tell you if you have hate in your heart against your brother without cause you are already guilty. He lifted man’s ethics to the highest claim and demanded that we live that kind of life. He Himself lived that kind of life. How do you explain Jesus? Jesus Christ, are you what you say you are?
They only they brought 3 charges against him to crucify.
This Man loves sinners
He healed on the Sabbeth day
He claimed to be the Son of God
When persecution happened, they first took of His clothes. Then they took long leather Thong with steel pellets on the end of it and beat Him across the back until He hardly stood up. Then they put a crown of thorns on His head and His face was bleeding. They laughed at Him, they spit on Him. They mocked him. With one snap of his fingers 72,000 angels had already drawn their swords, ready to come to His rescue and wipe the planet and universe out of its existence. But Jesus said no. To the end was I born. And He dragged and lifted and hauled that cross.
When we went on the crossed they nailed his hands and said, “Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:24) On the cross Jesus said, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Luke 23:34). Then he said, “It is finished and took His last breath. (Luke 23:46)
Was He The Son of God? Look at His authority. He came to them saying, “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18) He forgave sin and no prophet ever did that. Look at his death. Did any man die like Jesus? The lighting flashed, the thunder roared, the earth began to shake (Matthew 27:51, 54). Even the soldiers confessed this must be the Son of God.
He meant your plan for salvation is now finished. God can now forgive you of all of you sins because Jesus had finished Gods plan for your salvation. God knows you by name. He knows the hair on your head numbered. God looks upon you as if you’re the only person in the whole universe. He see’s you and you alone. On that cross Jesus Christ had the capacity to think of you and He loved you enough to stay on the cross. Was there ever such love as that? When He could of been rescued and token back to heaven and sit on His thrown, but He said ‘no, I’m doing this for the joy before me.’ He saw that He would be raised from the dead, He saw the gathering in the generations to come in his name that would make up his body. He saw the day when we will reign with him in his kingdom, forever.
