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THE TRUE IDENTITY OF JESUS CHRIST
In the scriptures,
three of the Gospel accounts that teach what Jesus said and did while
He was on this earth, reveal a very important question that Jesus
asked His disciples. In Matthew 16:1-4 Jesus had been severely
rebuking the religious Pharisees and Sadducees who tempted Him to show
them a sign from heaven. His answer to them was, "A wicked and
adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign shall be given
except the sign of the prophet Jonah! "
After saying that, Jesus walked away from them
and warned His disciples to beware of the false teachings of those
religious rulers. Then He asked the twelve, "Whom do men say that I,
the Son of Man, am? They answered, "Some say you are John the Baptist
or one of the prophets such as Elijah or Jeremiah. Then Jesus asked,
"But whom do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the
Christ ... the Son of the living God!"
(Matthew 16:f6) By calling Jesus "the Christ", Peter was identifying
Him as THE ANOINTED. |
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Jesus was pleased with Peter's answer and said to
him, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonas, for flesh and blood has
not revealed this to you but My Father in heaven has done so. I say to
you that you are Peter ("petros" in the original Greek language,
meaning "a little stone"), and upon this rock I will build My church,
and the gates of hell' shall not prevail against it!" (Matthew
16:13-18) Jesus did not mean that His church would be built upon Peter
as some teach, but upon what Peter SAID about Him He will build His
church. Jesus is THE ROCK ("Petros") who is the very cornerstone of
the church. In Acts 4: 11 Peter himself declares this truth and tells
us that faith alone in Christ alone is the ONLY means of salvation.
He states that fact again in his first epistle ... 1 Peter 2: 1-8.
The apostle Paul
refers to Jesus as the chief cornerstone of the church in Ephesians
2:20. In 1 Corinthians 10:4, his first letter to the local church at
Corinth, Paul explains the significance of the words of Moses as
recorded in Exodus 17:6 when Moses used a ROCK as a teaching tool to
teach the Children of Israel that their Messiah would be smitten ... a
reference to the cross on which Jesus would die many years later.
The personal name
given to our Lord's humanity was JESUS, which means "Saviour." The
angel Gabriel announced to Mary that the child that would be conceived
in her womb by God the Holy Spirit was to be named Jesus. (Luke 2:21)
In the Greek language of the New Testament, CHRIST means "The
Anointed." In the Hebrew language of the Old Testament, the word for
The 'Anointed is "MESSIAH." Peter's brother Andrew had been a disciple
of John the Baptist, and when Jesus came to John for baptism, to
identify Himself with the Father's plan for His life, . Andrew heard
John announce to the crowd, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" (John 1:2-9)
Andrew was there that day, and when he heard John's words he
understood that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Then Andrew found his
brother Simon Peter and said to him, "We have found the Messiah!"
(John 1:35-41)
In Mark 8:27-30,
we find the same question being asked by Jesus as we noted in Matthew
16:13-16, and Mark tells us Peter's response was, "You are the
Christ!" Luke recorded Peter's answer as, "You are the Christ of God!"
(Luke 9: 18- 21 ) We must understand that each of the men who wrote
about the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ was inspired by
God the Holy Spirit, but because each man had his own personality, he
was free to express the events he witnessed in his own words.
Many times, Jesus
proved to those who believed in Him, as well as to numerous
unbelievers, the fact that He is truly God and Man in one Person. One
of those instances took place after the Jews had been celebrating the
Feast of Tabernacles, and Jesus was in a crowd, teaching those Jews
who believed in Him that if they would follow Him and continue to
learn and apply the Word of God they would know the truth, and the
truth would set them free.
Some Pharisees in
the crowd had been listening to what Jesus said, and they challenged
Him saying, "How can you say we can be set free if we follow you? We
are Abraham's seed and we were never in bondage to any man!" After
Jesus explained that they were in bondage to their sinful natures, He
said to them, "I 'know you are the descendants of Abraham, but you do
not the works of Abraham." They answered back, "God is our Father … we
aren't illegitimate children!" Jesus replied, "If God were your
father, you would not be trying to kill me, and you would know that My
Father has sent Me here. You are of your father the devil who has been
a liar from the very beginning, and you act accordingly! I tell you
that if any man observes My words and follows Me, he shall never see
death!"
They retorted,
"Now we know you are of the devil, because Abraham and all our
prophets of old have died, so how can you say that if a man will keep
your words he shall never die? Just whom do you think you are?" Jesus
replied, "My Father, whom you claim to be your God, is the One who
honors Me. You do not know Him, but I know Him. If I should say I do
not know Him, I would be a liar like you. As for Abraham, he rejoiced
and was glad when he looked forward to Me being here on earth at this
particular time."
Sarcastically they
again retorted back, "You aren't even 50 years old ... how can you say
you have seen Abraham?" Jesus replied, "Truly, truly I tell you that
before Abraham existed, I AM!" (those two words are in the perfect
tense in the Greek language which are "ego emi", meaning perfect
existence ... the Lord Jesus Christ is telling them that He existed in
eternity past) Those religious men knew Jesus was claiming to be
DEITY, because they were familiar with Exodus 3:13,14 where Moses
asked the Lord for His name so he could tell the Children of Israel
who had commissioned him to be the one to lead them out of Egyptian
slavery, and that God's answer was: "I AM THAT I AM. You shall say to
the Children of Israel that I AM sent you. " Then they picked up
stones to throw at Him, but He hid Himself from their eyes and
disappeared through their midst. (details are found in John 8:31-58)
The scriptures
reveal the identity of Jesus, the Christ. The gospel of John presents
Him to us as ETERNAL GOD: “The Word existed in eternity past, and the
Word was God (God the Father), and the Word (God the Son) was GOD."
John 1:1
John 1:3 tells us
that the Son of God is the creator of all things in the universe. The
apostle Paul also states this truth in his letter to the Colossians:
"All things were created by Him and for Him." (Colossians 1:16) John
1:4 says, "In Him is eternal life, and the life is the light of men.
His light shines in darkness, but those living in unbelief cannot see
that light."
The Word became
flesh, and He lived among men. John says "we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father … full of grace and
truth." (John 1:12) In Revelation 19:13, His name is called THE WORD
OF GOD.
As believers in
the Lord Jesus Christ, how important is it for us to know, believe and
apply the Word of God? Because it is the very thinking of Christ. (1
Corinthians 2:16) We must learn to be able to look at every situation
in life the way He does. If we truly desire to know Him better and
grow up spiritually so that our lives will glorify our Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ, we must make daily Bible study our number one
priority as we travel along the narrow road that leads to eternal
life.
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