Just Who Is This Jesus?

This is the most important question that you’ll ever consider in this life.

Option 1: Just a good moral teacher?

We will let the former skeptic C.S. Lewis answer this one.

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say.

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.  Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You must make your choice. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit on Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.

But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great moral teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
(C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book 2, Chapter 3, The Shocking Alternative)

Option 2: A Liar?

Speaking on the question “Was Jesus a liar?” historian Philip Schaff responded by saying,

“How, in the name of logic, common sense, and experience, could an impostor … have invented, and consistently maintained from the beginning to end, the purest and noblest character known in history with the most perfect air of truth and reality?”
(As quoted in From a Ready Defence by Josh McDowell)

Option 3: A Lunatic?

Speaking on the question “Was Jesus a lunatic?” historian Philip Schaff responded by saying,

“Is such an intellect – clear as the sky, bracing as the mountain air, sharp and penetrating as a sword, thoroughly healthy and vigorous, always  ready and always self-possessed – liable to a radical and most serious delusion concerning His own character and mission? Preposterous imagination!”
(As quoted in From a Ready Defence by Josh McDowell)

Option 4: Our Lord, God and Saviour!

Without a doubt, Jesus was a real historical person.

“The persons commonly called Christians … Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea for the reign of Tiberius …” (Cornelius Tacitus, Roman historian, 112 A.D.)

All the evidence ‘screams out’ that the historical Jesus of Nazareth is our Lord, God and Saviour! We have a free will and we can either accept Jesus as our God, our Lord and our Saviour or we can reject Him.

The Bible clearly states that Jesus is equal to and is God Himself, who came to earth to rescue us from our sins.

“In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word (Jesus) was with God, and the Word (Jesus) was God” (John 1:1).

Jesus says; “If anyone has seen me, they have seen the Father” (John 14.9).

“But about the Son (Jesus) he (God) says, “Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever” Hebrews 1:8). (This verse shows us God the Father referring to His Son (Jesus) as God.)

“Thomas said to him (Jesus), ‘My Lord and my God!'” (John 20:28)

Giving Jesus complete control

If a person chooses not to accept Jesus as their Saviour and Lord, they are effectively choosing to be separated from God while they are on earth. God will respect their choice and this separation will continue after they die. Hell is the place the Bible says is reserved for those who do not receive forgiveness and where they will be eternally separated from God. To have eternal life and go to heaven after you die you need to accept God’s free gift of salvation before you die.

Having your sins washed away

If you want to turn from your old life … your old ways … from the things you know are not right and turn towards God and give Him the control of your life receiving forgiveness and eternal life, the following prayer may help you. These words are not a magical formula but they may help you focus on what God requires from you. God knows what is going on in your heart.

“Lord Jesus Christ

Forgive me for the things I have done wrong in my life.

Help me to turn from everything, which I know is wrong.

Forgive me for not making you the centre of my life.

I believe you died for my sins when you died on the cross.

I believe you rose from the dead.

I open my heart to you … come in and wash me clean from my sins …

Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen.”

Living the Christian life is an exciting, challenging journey in which the aim is to transform you to become more and more like Jesus.

Martin Luther King Jr. captivated the essence of the Christian life when he said:
“I may not yet be the man I should be or the man, with Christ’s help, I someday will be – but thank God I’m not the man I used to be!”