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    Jesus Christ: The Real Story
    Jesus Christ: The Real Story
    Jesus Christ: The Real Story
    Ebook183 pages2 hours

    Jesus Christ: The Real Story

    By United Church of God

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    About this ebook

    What is the real story? Can the true picture of Jesus emerge after 2,000 years of differing views? Who should we believe as we try to find it?

    To know the real Jesus would include the fact that what He really taught, and what He really did, is essential for eternal life. Praying to His Father, Jesus said, "This is eternal life: to know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3, Revised English Bible, emphasis added throughout).

    Did Jesus do what the records show? Was He—is He—really who He claimed to be? Can it be proved historically? Or are we left to simply accept it on blind faith?

    And then perhaps the most important question: Does it really matter?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLulu.com
    Release dateAug 20, 2010
    ISBN9780557621606
    Jesus Christ: The Real Story
    Author

    United Church of God

    The mission of the United Church of God is to proclaim to the world the little-understood gospel taught by Jesus Christ—the good news of the coming Kingdom of God—and to prepare a people for that Kingdom. This message not only offers great hope for all of humanity, but encompasses the purpose of human existence—why we are here and where our world is headed.

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      Book preview

      Jesus Christ - United Church of God

      Jesus Christ: The Real Story

      Introduction

      Who was Jesus? Few will dispute that a man named Jesus lived 2,000 years ago and that He was a great teacher who impacted the world from His time forward.

      He made a claim that was breathtaking in its audacity—that He was the very Son of God. For much of His lifetime He commanded only a small following, people who believed that claim and considered Him their promised Deliverer and King. Many others later came to believe that He was the Son of God as a result of the testimony of those followers.

      Yet during His time the religious authorities rejected Him as the Son of God. Many of His statements were so contrary to their teachings and traditions that they opposed Him and eventually succeeded in having Him put to death.

      Likewise, the local Roman authorities also saw Him as a threat and became complicit in His execution, being the ones who actually carried it out. The religions of His day opposed the growth of His teachings and used unlawful and violent means to try to destroy the Church He founded. The government of Rome also came to vigorously persecute the followers of this Jewish teacher from Galilee.

      Controversy about Jesus continues

      Today Jesus remains a controversial figure. The record of Jesus' life as recorded in the Gospel accounts has come into question in many ways. For example, the Gospel writers presented the miracles of Jesus as supernatural. Today, however, many rationalize them away as a normal function of nature misunderstood at the time, or they simply dismiss them altogether as fables.

      Yet another and more modern reconstruction of the true Jesus appears in books and movies about His life. For example, most people have come to accept a popular likeness of Jesus far different from the way He really looked 2,000 years ago. These portrayals give an inaccurate picture of Christ's humanity. Such movies as The Last Temptation of Christ and the stage play Jesus Christ Superstar, along with countless television productions, have left a lasting impression on our minds and in the process distorted, as we will see, the true historical Jesus.

      Of course, one can easily point to variations in the beliefs and practices of those who've claimed to be Jesus' followers down through the centuries and rightfully ask the questions, Who is the real Jesus, anyway? And why should I want to follow Him?

      Certainly if you take His statements as recorded by His first-century disciples literally, and then you consider all that has happened since, you may well perceive that most of those who have professed to follow Jesus over the centuries actually haven't—and the same is true today.

      Yet you might conclude that this is only to be expected—that Jesus taught nice but impractical ideas, things that can't really work in the real world. Then again, perhaps the old saying, the trouble with Christianity is that it has never been tried, has a lot of truth to it. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, Jesus I like, but I don't know about His followers.

      Discovering the real Jesus

      What is the real story? Can the true picture of Jesus emerge after 2,000 years of differing views? Who should we believe as we try to find it?

      To know the real Jesus would include the fact that what He really taught, and what He really did, is essential for eternal life. Praying to His Father, Jesus said, "This is eternal life: to know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3, Revised English Bible, emphasis added throughout).

      Did Jesus do what the records show? Was He—is He—really who He claimed to be? Can it be proved historically? Or are we left to simply accept it on blind faith?

      And then perhaps the most important question: Does it really matter?

      Let's put it this way: If the story of Jesus is a myth, if the reported events of His life along with His claims and teachings are the fabrication of a small group of conspirators, then it certainly doesn't matter. We are then left to devise the meaning of human life from our own imaginations.

      But if Jesus Christ is who He says He was—the Son of God who came to earth to live as a human being, who died at the hands of fellow human beings and who was raised from the dead three days and three nights later—then that changes everything.

      For this one single event—God living and dying as a man—then becomes the most amazing event in the entire history of humanity.

      It puts all of us in a situation that requires our full attention—because it leaves us ultimately accountable for how we choose to respond.

      Can we know? This booklet seeks to address and answer the major questions that intelligent, reasoning people naturally ask in trying to understand Jesus Christ—the real story.

      Who—and What—Was Jesus Christ?

      The Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate, faced a difficult situation when Jesus was brought before him. Apprehensively, he attempted to dismiss the picture that was emerging in front of him. When Pilate heard the accusation, it struck fear into his heart. He has claimed to be the Son of God (John 19:7, NRSV).

      Pilate's next question betrayed his fear that he was not dealing with an ordinary man. He had just been given a message from his wife, who received a warning in a dream not to have anything to do with this innocent man (Matthew 27:19). Pilate himself knew that Jesus had been delivered to him because the chief priests were jealous of and despised Him (verse 18). Yet Pilate couldn't avoid his date with destiny.

      He next asked Jesus, Where are You from? (John 19:9). Pilate already knew He was Galilean. But what geographical area this Jewish teacher came from was not the question. Where are you really from is what Pilate wanted to know. Jesus was silent. His claim to be the Son of God had already answered this question. But Pilate did not have the courage to deal with this answer.

      Accepting the real answer would have made all the difference. The apostle Paul said that none of the rulers of this world knew who Jesus was, where He came from and His purpose for coming, for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:8).

      Pilate could not face this issue. He knew what was right in this instance, but he feared losing power. He feared Caesar's reaction if it were reported that he did not deal with someone who posed a threat to Roman control in the region (John 19:12). He feared a popular uprising if he did not agree to the Jewish leaders' political demands. He also feared Jesus, because he was not quite sure with whom he was dealing.

      Avoiding a difficult choice

      In the end political expediency won out. The stage was set to both indict all mankind of guilt and make provision for their forgiveness. Pilate gave the order for Jesus to be crucified. The reality was denied, left for all to confront at a later time.

      Most of us tend to ignore unpleasant realities and make choices that we think are beneficial to us. Confronted with evidence as to who Jesus really was, would you face a reality that is too difficult for you to accept? Deep down, maybe we intuitively realize it would change life as we know it. So perhaps it's better, we reason, not to look into this matter too deeply to leave ourselves an out. That's the route Pilate took.

      But this is where we have to begin. Who, really, was Jesus of Nazareth? Where did He really come from? If we understand that, it explains everything He did and said.

      Most see Jesus as a teacher, a wise man, a Jewish sage who died an unjust and horrible death and founded a great religion.

      Is there more to it than that? One of the most controversial topics is the true identity of Jesus Christ—and at the same time it is perhaps the most crucial. It lies at the heart of the Christian faith. What this entails is the understanding that Jesus was not simply an extraordinary human being, but that Jesus was actually God in human flesh.

      But if He was God in the flesh, how was He God? This is the part that is often neglected in many explanations—and, as a result, many have difficulty grasping how this could be.

      Jesus certainly regarded Himself as much more than only a man, prophet or teacher.

      Some say that Jesus made no claims to be God. Some scholars even insist that, years later, leaders of the Christian Church concocted and edited into the record the titles Jesus used, the miracles and His claims and actions that showed He believed He was God. In other words, the argument is that the record has been fabricated and the Jesus portrayed in the New Testament is a legend, a theological product of the early Church.

      However, this is historically impossible for several reasons—not the least of which is that immediately after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Church grew explosively based on the conviction that He was God. There was no time for a legend to develop around exaggerated claims of who Jesus might be.

      Peter immediately preached that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead and that He was indeed the Christ and Lord and equated Him with God (Acts 2:27, 34-35). The disciples and the Church knew who Jesus was, as the powerful growth of the Church shows.

      The fact of the matter, staggering though it is, is that Jesus of Nazareth was God in the flesh. This fact, which we will further explore, is what makes Christianity unique and authoritative. If Jesus was not God, then the Christian faith doesn't differ in kind from other religions. If Jesus was not God, those in the early Christian Church would have had no basis for their beliefs—beliefs that, in the words of their enemies, turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6).

      Jesus, the I AM

      Perhaps the boldest claim Jesus made about His identity was the statement, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58). Translated into English, His statement may appear or sound confusing. But in the Aramaic or Hebrew language in which He spoke, He was making a claim that immediately led the people to try to stone Him for blasphemy.

      What was going on here? Jesus was revealing His identity as the actual One whom the Jews knew as God in the Old Testament. He was saying in one breath that He existed before Abraham and that He was the same Being as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

      Anciently when the great God first revealed Himself to Moses in Exodus 3:13-14, Moses asked Him what His name was. I AM WHO I AM, was the awesome reply. "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

      Jesus clearly claimed to be this same Being—the I AM of Exodus 3:14, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (verse 15).

      I AM is related to the personal name for God in the Old Testament, the Hebrew name YHWH. When this name appears in our English Bibles, it is commonly rendered using small capital letters as LORD. It is transliterated as Jehovah in some Bible versions.

      When Jesus made this startling statement, the Jews knew exactly what He meant. They picked up stones to kill Him because they thought He was guilty of blasphemy.

      I AM and the related YHWH are the names of God that infer absolute timeless self-existence. Although impossible to translate accurately and directly into English, YHWH conveys meanings of The Eternal One, The One Who Always Exists or The One Who Was, Is and Always Will Be. These distinctions can apply only to God, whose existence is eternal and everlasting.

      In Isaiah 42:8 this same Being says, "I am the LORD [YHWH], that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images. A few chapters later He says: Thus says the LORD [YHWH], the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: 'I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God" (Isaiah 44:6).

      To the Jews, there was no mistaking who Jesus claimed to be. He said He was the One the nation of Israel understood to be the one true God. By Jesus making claim to the name I AM, He was saying that He was the God whom the Hebrews knew as YHWH. This name was considered so holy that a devout Jew would not pronounce it. This was a special name for God that can only refer to the one true God.

      Dr. Norman Geisler, in his book Christian Apologetics, concludes: In view of the fact that the Jehovah of the Jewish Old Testament would not give his name, honor, or glory to another, it is little wonder that the words and deeds of Jesus of Nazareth drew stones and cries of 'blasphemy' from first-century Jews. The very things that the Jehovah of the Old Testament claimed for himself Jesus of Nazareth also claimed (2002, p. 331).

      Jesus identified with YHWH

      Dr. Geisler goes on to list some of the ways Jesus equated Himself with YHWH of the Old Testament. Let's notice some of these.

      Jesus said of Himself, I am the good shepherd (John 10:11). David, in the first verse of the famous 23rd Psalm, declared that "The LORD [YHWH] is my shepherd." Jesus claimed to be judge of all men and nations (John 5:22, 27). Yet Joel 3:12 says the LORD [YHWH] will sit to judge all ...nations.

      Jesus said, I am the light of the world

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