To the Community Called Albany Park (Chicago)
I address my comments to the community called Albany Park in Chicago. Albany Park is a place of many cultures, many Christian expressions, and many religions that are not Christian. And I imagine there are many in AP who want nothing to do with religion, as well as others who once walked with God and do not walk with Him any longer.
In all of this mix, the identity of the One called Jesus of Nazareth has been confused. My desire is to bring to AP's attention once more, what God Himself says about His Son.
I have been facilitating recently a small group at my home church that emphasizes personal evangelism. The course we are following is called "Becoming a Contagious Christian". From the Contagious Christian CD comes an interview of a number of people who are asked simply, "Who is Jesus?" The answers range from the absolutely true to the absolutely outrageous. Here they are. Maybe your own answer is one of them.
"Jesus is God."
"Savior of the Christian faith."
"He died in Israel."
"He is one of the gods."
"Palestinian Jew living around the year 0-30."
"A religious leader."
"I think He was just a person that was really smart and wanted to make the world a better place or something."
"He's a topic that I don't want to discuss."
"Savior of the world."
"The man who's gonna lead us into the promised land in the next life."
"A higher power above all things that no one can understand."
"Jesus is a rabbi that was in the first century."
"I believe Jesus was a prophet trying to create a new branch of Judaism, and I believe that they took what His preachings were and later on made it into something which I don't believe it was at all intended to be. I don't think Jesus ever called Himself the Son of God."
"Probably He's a mythological figure that actually lived and I think we've developed His persona over the years."
"Possible fictional, possibly real person."
"My understanding is that He was a historical figure who played prominently in a whole lot of stuff."
"Jesus is a historical character."
"I'm sure He existed and was a great guy and stuff."
"He was a very enlightened and spiritual being, and I think He came to earth to teach us a few things."
"I kinda believe in my heart that He was probably the world's greatest prophet we ever had, you know, someone to learn from His lessons and kinda change the shape of mankind. There's no denyin' that. Big historical figure."
"Very holy man who lived a long time ago."
"Man who walks around in a robe. And sandals. Long hair. He looks like my uncle, actually."
"Can I say I'm not sure, I don't know? The guy in the Bible, I guess."
"Is that a trick question?"
"Jesus is the Son of God."
"Some people believe He's the Son of God. I don't."
"That's a good question, and I don't think I have an answer, Who Jesus is."
How about you? Do you have an answer? Let me suggest some answers, that come from the pages of the Christian Bible.
1. He is the Son of God.
Did Jesus ever call Himself the Son of God?
The narratives about Jesus certainly did. Matthew 1:23, for example. Matthew believed that the birth of Jesus was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy 700 years before, that a virgin would give birth to a Son Who would be "God-with-us", or as we say, Emmanuel. Sounds like Son of God to me.
Luke follows up with an even clearer i.d. An angel appears to Mary and simply declares that the child being conceived in her womb is to be called the "Son of the Highest." Later that conception is said to be by the Holy Spirit.
When God's Spirit creates a seed inside of a woman, that seed is Divine. Jesus is the Son of God.
But what about Jesus Himself? Did He ever say He was that Son? It is true that it was not a constant theme of His teaching. But it is far from the truth that He never made the claim.
Look at Matthew 22:41 ff. It is Jesus vs. the Pharisees, in a rivalry that lasted His entire ministry.
Jesus asks them, "Whose Son is the Messiah?"
" David's," they replied.
"David's? But look at what David said:
'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand...' "
David calls the Messiah "Lord." So how could the Messiah also be the son of David?
The obvious solution to the riddle is to find a person in history who was descended from David (David's "son" or descendant) but also was born of God.
Jesus is that person. His line is described in Matthew and Luke, proof that He was from David's family. His miraculous birth is recorded in prophecy and in the famous Christmas narrative... "a virgin will conceive and bear a Son..."
Matthew 26 makes it even plainer. He is on trial. Jesus is asked by the ruling Jewish court, if He is the Messiah, the Son of God (see how these two terms, "Son of God" and "Messiah" come together again?). Without blinking He admits that He is as they say, and He is immediately condemned to death for blasphemy.
Jesus was crucified because he claimed to be the Son of God! Let no one today say that he never claimed it! That's why He was crucified!
There's no question about the record of Scripture. Jesus is the Son of the living God, and He claimed to be such.
2. He is God the Son
Here is where we lose a lot of people. Many are willing to mouth the words, "Son of God", in reference to Jesus. But most don't comprehend that what your Father is, you are. My children are human. God's Son is Divine. He can only give birth to Divinity.
I was adopted into the family of God, and filled with God's Spirit, but I am not God. But my Big Brother Jesus is God, because His real Father, not adoptive Parent, is God Almighty.
As you see by the image on page 1, Jesus is called many things in the Bible, things like Creator, I AM, Mighty God, Lord of Lords, the Rock, the Savior, The Forgiver, the Judge, the King, the Shepherd, the Sun, the Light, the First & Last, the Redeemer. And He is all these things, and more, so much more.
And did you notice as I was going through that list, that these names given to Jesus in the Bible are the same names that belong to the Father, the one we call "God" or "Jehovah" or "Yahweh"? Jesus is Creator, but God the Father is Creator. Jesus calls Himself the "I Am", but so does Yahweh. Jesus is Mighty God, Lord of Lords, and so is the Father. Jesus is the Rock, the Savior, the Forgiver, and all these things are said of God the Father.
Now, If the Father and the Son wear the same titles, what does that tell you?
Here's one for you. Seven hundred years before Jesus came to Earth, the prophet Isaiah saw Him and wrote down what he saw. You will hear this verse quoted a lot around Christmas time.
"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given."
But the verse does not end there! It goes on to say this "...and the government shall be upon His shoulder."
What government? The government of the whole world. This is the Messiah that every good Jew was called to believe in. But when He came, they crucified Him!
Isaiah goes on to say: "His Name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God..."
What? The Messiah is going to be God? The Jewish prophet said it to the Jewish people seven hundred years before it happened.
Then Isaiah said that this Messiah would be called "Everlasting Father..."
The coming Son is somehow going to be one with the Father. And that is exactly what Jesus said to the people of His day: "I and My Father are one!" "He that has seen Me has seen the Father!"
I submit to you that there is only one thing we can believe about this Jesus: He is God Almighty. He is to be worshiped and praised. There is no other Name given among men whereby we must be saved!
Consider with me three chapters of your Bible,
John 14-15-16
Read these three chapters, then see if you can answer these questions. Remember, these were Jesus' last words to His followers before He died. Very important!
1. John 14:1, "...believe in God, believe also in Me..."
Why would Jesus ask people to believe in Him if He is not God?
Those who do believe in Him will be saved. Those who do not will be damned. We who are spreading the Gospel message in our age do not ask people to believe in us. But Jesus asked the people of His day to believe, not just in God, but in Himself.
2. John 14:6, "No one comes to the Father except through Me." Why do I have to go through Jesus if He is not God? Why can't I go directly to the Father? Is Jesus somehow connected to the Father?
3. John 14:7-11, "If you would have known Me, you would have known My Father...He who has seen Me has seen My Father...Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me."
Were the Father and the Son directly related and inseparable?
Fascinating question, don't you think? Those disciples who looked on the face of Jesus were seeing God. That's what Jesus said. Not only that, Jesus claimed to be somehow "in" God, and God "in" Him. This was spoken before the Holy Spirit was given out to believers.
We speak of Jesus living in us today. But in the day when Jesus spoke this to His disciples it was not a common concept. How could a person be in God, and God in Him? Unless He was God, perhaps...
4. John 14:13, "Whatever you ask the Father in My name, that I will do."
Should not that read, "that will My Father do"? We pray to the Father, but Jesus does the answering? Are they one?
5. John 14:17, "The Spirit of truth lives with you (present tense) and will be in you (future tense)."
Who was with the disciples when He said this? Who is with all His true disciples to this day?" Are they the same Person?
Do you understand the question? Jesus was with the disciples for 3 years. The Holy Spirit was and is in His disciples today. Jesus said that the Spirit of Truth lives with you (present tense) and will be in you (future tense). Is Jesus saying here that He is one with the Spirit of God?
6. John 14:23, "If anyone loves Me...My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him."
If Jesus is not God, how can He come to every believer with the Father?
"We"? He's talking about His Father and Himself. We. Together, Jesus says, My Father and I will come to you and live there! What an incredible statement!
We know that Christians today are filled with the Holy Spirit. But Jesus says that He and His Father will be joining that Spirit in living with believers.
In other words, you cannot separate the Father from the Son or the Son from the Spirit or the Father from the Spirit. They are One. Christians are often accused of having three gods. Not at all. One God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three in One.
7. John 15:10, " If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love."
Aren't we supposed to keep God's commandments? If Jesus is not God, why is He giving separate commandments and His special love to those who obey them?
This Jesus spoke with such authority. He doesn't mention here the ten commandments, but seems to imply that if we do what He says to do, He will love us.
He doesn't mention the love of the Father, but one gets the impression that to be loved of Jesus is to be loved of the Father. And that's the truth!
8. John 15:23, "He who hates Me hates My Father also."
To hate one is to hate the other. Does that not mean they are the same?
If Jesus and the Father are one, then to hate One would be to hate the Other. If they are two separate beings, this statement does not make sense. To hate one person does not imply that you hate another person.
Many would say in our day that they love God but don't care for Jesus. Jesus Himself says that is not true, because Jesus and the Father are connected in a way we cannot understand.
9. John 15:26, "The Helper... I will send to you from the Father...the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father..." Which is it? Jesus sends the Spirit or the Spirit comes from the Father? Or both, at the same time, because the Father, and the Son, as well as the Spirit, are the One God?
Here the water gets very cloudy! Jesus says He will send the Holy Spirit from the Father. He goes on to add that that Spirit comes out from the Father, seemingly, on His own. That is, the Father is sending out the Spirit and so the Spirit goes wherever the Father wants Him to go.
But Jesus says, I'll send you that Spirit. How can both Jesus and the Father send the same Spirit? Unless they work in perfect unity...
10. John 16:14, "He [the Spirit] will glorify Me."
But shouldn't the Spirit glorify God? So Jesus is God?
To God be the glory, right? Only God should receive all glory and praise for all that has been done and all that He is. We agree. But Jesus says that the Spirit of God is going to glorify Jesus. Such blasphemy! Unless, Jesus is God.
11. John 16:15, "All things that the Father has are mine."
What an outstanding, nearly outrageous, thing for someone to say... unless He is God.
Everything owned by the Father is mine, says Jesus. We, the Father and I, are co-owners of the universe. Who would dare make such a claim but a member of the Family called God?
In only 3 chapters, in a handful of verses, we have discovered the truth about Who Jesus is. I challenge you to read and study all the other verses at the end of this booklet. If your heart is open to God, you will be convinced that Jesus is God and that God's true witnesses agree that Jesus is God.
3. He is the Son of Man.
Jesus is one of us. He is not a spirit being. He is a man. He understands man perfectly, as man's creator, and as man. He was tempted like we are. He experienced pain and pleasure as we do. He knows what human life is about.
Jesus humbled Himself to become like us to show us how to live. Jesus did not take advantage of His being God. He was so good at this humility that many missed the fact that He is God. But He laid privilege aside.
Every miracle He worked, He worked as a man filled with the Holy Ghost. Everyone He healed, everyone He raised from the dead, everyone from whom He cast a demon, was set free by the Spirit-filled man Jesus, Who knew how to stay in touch with His Father. And we can do the same things He did! He said we would do even greater things!
But He is not just a son of man. He is the Son of Man. He is Earth's favorite Son, though many reject Him and hate Him. They hate him because they have discovered that Jesus has earned the right to rule them and the whole world, and they don't want to be ruled by Him or anyone.
But the Bible says that one day every knee will bow to King Jesus. He's coming back, this man Jesus, empowered and glorified by the Father, and He will take over this planet. This planet was made for man to enjoy. But there is so much sin and destruction and pain all around us that it's not always a fun place.
Jesus, the man Jesus, will fix all that when He comes. Evil will not be allowed when Jesus is in charge.
Just think. No abortion clinics where babies can be tortured and killed. No bars where people drink themselves to an early death. No porn houses where women are degraded before the eyes of men, and later treated like animals. No one allowed to twist the truth of Who Jesus is.
Because Jesus, the man-God Jesus, will be here in person. No lies will be told about Him then.
He is the Son of Man, Earth's favorite Son, and he's coming back to rule.
4. He is the Savior of the world.
He is God, He is man. Now people want to know, why did He come here? What's Christmas and Easter all about?
The fact is, we are a rebel planet. The One Who created the Earth laid down specific regulations for its caretakers. All those regulations have been broken repeatedly.
The Creator could either wipe everyone out and start over, as He did in the days of Noah, justly, by the way, or He could find a way to save at least some, through the process of forgiveness and redemption.
Someone could come and pay the price, the price of blood. Someone could die in your place, take the death that you deserved, bear the shame that you caused the Father.
This Someone would have to love you a whole lot. He'd have to be a perfect sacrifice, for the Father only accepts perfect sacrifices. And after He died, since He is perfect and God, God would have to find a way to raise Him from the dead, and defeat not only sin, but death.
It would have to be the very Son of God, Jesus Himself. This plan was thought out before the world began. God knew we would blow it. But God knew that if forgiveness were offered, some would accept it.
God has the very names of those accepting people recorded in Heaven. They are the ones who hear the good news of Jesus, are touched deeply by it, accept Him, are baptized, are filled with His Spirit.
It is good news, you know. You sinned and deserved to die and be judged forever. You do not deserve Heaven, none of you!
And Jesus did not deserve the Cross at Calvary. He died in your place because he loved you. Can you hear His voice today?
5. He can be your Savior today.
The Bible says that all are sinners and that sin produces death.
The Bible says that whoever calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved from sin and eternal death.
The Bible says that if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus has been raised from the dead, we will be saved.
The Bible says that he who believes and is baptized will be saved, but that he who does not believe will be damned.
Can you hear God's Voice calling you to Himself? That simply means, do you desire to know Him and live with Him forever?
If so, tell Him you agree with Him that you have done many bad things, and that you are sorry for those things.
Thank Him for the opportunity you now have to believe in this Jesus Who was crucified for your sins, but also raised for your salvation.
Ask Jesus to forgive you, cleanse you, save you.
He'll do it. And you'll never be the same.
If you want more information, contact us. We can have a Bible study in your home or wherever you like. Jesus is looking for students. The Bible calls students "disciples." Come and learn about Jesus. Come and learn from Jesus, for he is alive today, and has many things he wants to share with you.
Call 847-852-6873, or email at diakonos3@gmail.com.
