Many people have asked, “Just who is Jesus Christ?” A cover of Life magazine once featured a painting representing Jesus with three words superimposed across it: “WHO WAS HE?” That’s the wrong question. They should ask, “WHO IS HE?” The world will never answer the sin question until it answers the Son question: Who is Jesus?
Only a handful of people have changed the course of human history. Among them, one name stands above all others: Jesus Christ. No other person has attracted such attention, devotion, criticism, adoration, and opposition. He lived in the flesh about 2,000 years ago in the small country of Israel, yet His birthday divides history’s timeline into “B.C.” and “A.D.” He had no formal education, yet thousands of schools, colleges, hospitals, and orphanages have been built in the name of Jesus Christ.
Noted historian Kenneth Scott Latourette said, “Jesus has had more effect on the history of mankind than any other ‘man’ who ever existed. Nobody has had the influence Jesus Christ of Nazareth has had.”
“Who is Jesus?” To answer, we go to the divinely inspired Word of God.
Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:6-7)
Supernatural Son
The infinite became an infant, fulfilling Isaiah 7:14, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son...”
Do you find it hard to believe Jesus was born of a virgin? You’re not alone. The first to struggle with it was Mary herself. “How can this be?” The angel answered, “For with God nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1:37). If you admit God created the first man out of nothing, don’t you think God could bring a baby into this world through a virgin?
If He was not born of a virgin, He was a son of Adam, inherited Adam’s sin nature, and was not the sinless Son of God. If Jesus were a sinner, He could be nobody’s Savior, and you have no hope of salvation.
Sinless Son
Not one time did Jesus ever transgress the Father’s will. “I always do those things that please Him” (John 8:29). Satan unleashed all the artillery of Hell against the Lord Jesus Christ but never once got Him to sin.
Sovereign Son
When Philippians 2:6 says “to be equal with God,” it’s important to understand Jesus is not only the Son of God, but He is also God the Son, God in the flesh (Hebrews 1:8). God Himself calls the Lord Jesus, “God,” and through the prophet Isaiah, He said, “…the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father...” (Isaiah 9:6). Jesus purposefully referred to Himself as “I AM,” (John 8:58), the Jews’ most sacred name for the self-existent Almighty God, claiming co-equal and co-eternal status with the Father.
Jesus is Almighty God in human flesh. If you take away the deity of Jesus Christ, Christianity collapses like a house of cards. You don’t just tip the hat to Jesus Christ; you bow the knee.
Sacrificial Son
God, the Shepherd of the church, came to Earth in the Person of Jesus, “manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16), and purchased us with His own blood (Acts 20:28).
Surviving Son
Death and the grave could not hold Him. He rose from the dead because He is Lord over both life and death (John 10:18). He’s not somewhere in a tomb but actively involved in our lives: “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
Why Christmas? To make Calvary possible. “For the Son of Man [God in human flesh] has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
Who is Jesus? The supernatural, sinless, sovereign, sacrificial, surviving Son of God.
Friend, you have a date with deity. One day you will meet the inescapable Lord Jesus Christ.
