Who Is Jesus Series

Introduction

Welcome back to week three of our foundation series with the Bible engagement project. Week 1 we talked about the authority and inspiration of the Bible. And throughout our entire series we'll be going back to the Bible to understand these core tenants of our faith.

Last week, We talked about the one true God that we served and his existence as three persons and one God. We reviewed that all members of the godhead are important, and each plays a specific role with the others. And all parts of the godhead have been around since the very beginning as we discovered in Genesis 1.

This week we're going to look at who Jesus is… in fact, this very question was asked by Jesus to the disciples in Matthew chapter 16 while they were travelling in the region of Cesária Philippi if you have your bibles today please open them to Matthew 16 and we're going to start reading in verse 13.

Matthew 16:13-17

Let's start with the same question that Jesus asked the disciples, who do people say that I am?

Muslims: Quaran

The Quaran holds Jesus in high esteem recognizing him as a significant prophet and messenger of God. He is considered al Massi meaning the anointed 1 the same thing that we come back to and hold him as the Christ which also means anointed 1.

The Quran even affirms the virgin birth of Jesus by a woman named Mary and it emphasizes the miraculous nature of his birth comparing it to even the creation of Adam without a father or mother.

The Quaran mentions various miracles that Jesus had done that coincide with the miracles of the Bible and while there are so many similarities that the Quaran holds to that Muslims believe.

The Quaran specifically denies the deity of Jesus…

Buddhism

Buddhism generally views Jesus as a historical figure who may have achieved a high level of enlightenment, someone who has vowed to achieve enlightenment but delays its helping others. There's no specific doctrine about Jesus in core Buddhist teaching but generally Buddhists see him as somebody highly revered and maintained that he was a historical figure, but he was not the Buddha and certainly not God.

Hinduism

In Hinduism, Jesus is generally reviewed with respect, often as a spiritual teacher or a manifestation of the divine. Typically, many Hindus see Jesus as a great spiritual leader similar to figures like Buddha or Krishna. His teachings are viewed as valuable and relevant to spiritual practice.

Some Hindus particularly those with Christian backgrounds or interfaith dialogue considered Jesus as an avatar a manifestation of the divine while others see him as a Yogi, someone who has realized God like consciousness and while they might see him as a manifestation of the divine they do not worship him as a God and do not see him as deity.

Krishna

in Krishna, Jesus is often viewed as a representative of Krishna comma a son of god and the spirit master, they have high reverence for Jesus and again see him as an avatar a special manifestation of Krishna.

In short nobody denies the existence of the historical figure of Jesus but aside from Christianity all deny his deity.

What do we believe?

Body

Foundation 3: WE BELIEVE in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, in His personal future return to the earth in power and glory to rule a thousand years (Matthew 1:23; John 1:1; Philippians 2:9–11).

Christ being “Deity” simply means that the Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God.

The Bible clearly establishes the deity of Jesus and if you're going to believe in his miracles or his divine nature or you're going to be a person that follows his teaching then you must also believe in his deity.

There are several things in the Bible that clarify Jesus was truly deity, and a member of the triune God.

John 1:1-5, 10-18

1. His Eternal Nature

John 1:1 clearly states in the beginning the word already existed the word was with God and the word was God he existed in the beginning with God. Last week we talked about how Jesus was part of creation and that everything was made through him as we see in verse 3. We're going to talk a moment about his virgin birth but that was not the beginning of Jesus simply his human body.

Throughout the Old Testament we see Jesus appearing in various forms. Prior to him becoming flesh in stepping into history the eternal word of God, Jesus the existence of the revealer of God is seen throughout the Old Testament that many theologians call either Theophanes, divine appearances or Christophanies in his preexistent state as still a member of the godhead he is work throughout time is the revealer of the will of God.