Who Is This Jesus Anyway?

Who is this Jesus anyway and why should it matter to me?

You’ve likely heard the name of Jesus before. Perhaps you’ve heard it spoken with reverence, or uttered as an expression of frustration and anger.

Whichever way you’ve heard it, the name seems to invoke pretty strong emotions, some loving, others not so. Interestingly, it’s been the same right from the beginning and that is because Jesus was a considered divisive figure during his time on earth and it’s no different today. A bit like Marmite, love him or hate him, but you cannot ignore that he’s real.

Few dispute that Jesus was a real person. He is not only mentioned in Christian religious texts, but he is also included in other historic texts too (like in the works of Josephus). The discussions get more lively when talk comes over who he was – his identity.

Jesus walked the earth around 2000 years ago in what is considered today as Isreal and Palestine. He was a Jewish carpenter who turned preacher and caused a revolution in the Jewish synagogues. Why the revolution? Because he proclaimed that he was God.

OK, so now you’re thinking this is crazy. He was crazy. Scrap his teaching. This guys was nuts. Why did they not just lock him up? Because there was so much more to his claims than just the words he spoke.

Jesus Did Some Pretty Amazing Things.

Jesus did not merely talk a load of self important talk and expect to be praised. Instead wherever he went, lives around him changed. People who were sick and disabled became well. He challenged the customs of the time and highlighted its major social inequalities. His teachings were not a popularity show with his name in flashing lights, instead he taught the opposite. He actively sought solitude rather than trying to find the next fame opportunity. He taught about humility, love, honour and respect for others. He also clearly stated to those around him that he would be killed for his teachings. And He was killed. Jesus was crucified by the Romans in governance at the time at the instigation of the religious leaders of the time. Today, crucifixion is still considered one of the most painful and barbaric ways to die.

Why Was Jesus’ Death So Important?

The death Jesus spoke about is really important because he taught that it was his death that was to pay for all the mistakes and wrongs of humanity. That means all my mistakes, all your mistakes, all the mistakes of the generations before us and the ones yet to come. Everyone and everything. Mind blowing, right?

Christian’s believe that our mistakes and wrongs separate us from God. It started way back at the beginning of the Bible with Adam and Eve’s act of disobedience to the loving and protective rules God set. Ever since that first act of disobedience, humankind’s disobedience has just gotten worse. But God, in his love and grace made a way for us to be reunited with him through Jesus.

How was this possible? How can one man wipe clean the total weight of all the bad stuff humankind has ever done? The simple (but by no means easy) and profound way that Jesus did. He willingly went to the cross to make the way between humanity and God clear once again. Jesus was God in flesh. Totally human yet totally God, eternal and yet mortal. His death brought an end to the eternal penalties we are due for our wrongs by paying their price both on earth and in heaven. It’s why he was both God and man, because by being God and man he was both mortal and immortal at the same time.

But it didn’t stop there. Because Jesus is both God and human, death could not hold him. His immortality broke free from death and raised him back to life. And it is this act of resurrection that finally broke the power of sin in the world.

Why Would Jesus Do This For You And Me?

So why would God go to all this trouble for you and me? Because it was never God’s desire to be separated from us. He never desired Adam and Eve to make that first act of disobedience. But he loves us enough to give us free will to choose his love and his ways. He loves you and me so dearly and deeply that he literally went through death to get us back and to find a way for you to be reunited with him.

And All This Matters Because…?

Why does this matter to me? Because, like that marmite we mentioned earlier, his life, death and resurrection lead you to a choice. Do you love him, or hate him?

Do you choose to accept his identity as a loving God who wants to be reunited with you, or do you reject him as a madman?

It’s Your Choice

But it’s only through accepting who he is and his gift of new life that separates you from your past wrongs. He won’t force you. It’s your choice. Just like Adam and Eve in the beginning, you get to choose life or death.

Want To Choose Jesus? Take The Next Step.

Find out more about how to choose Jesus here…

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