Who is Jesus?
Jesus is the most remarkable man who ever lived. He is the centrepiece of our civilisation. After all, we call what happened before him ‘BC’ and what happened after him ‘AD’. Jesus was and is the Son of God. Some people think he is just a ‘good religious teacher’. However, that suggestion does not fit with the facts.
His Claims
Jesus claimed to be the unique Son of God – on an equal footing with God. He assumed the authority to forgive sins. He said that one day he would judge the world and that what would matter then would be how we had responded to him in this life. The famous writer C. S. Lewis pointed out that: ‘A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.’ He would either be insane or else he would be ‘the Devil of Hell’. ‘You must make your choice,’ he writes. Either Jesus was, and is, the Son of God or else he was insane or evil but, C. S. Lewis goes on, ‘let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.’
His character
Many people who do not profess to be Christians regard Jesus as the supreme example of a selfless life. The Russian novelist Dostoevsky, himself a Christian, said, ‘I believe there is no one lovelier, deeper, more sympathetic and more perfect than Jesus. I say to myself, with jealous love, that not only is there no one else like him but there could never be anyone like him.’
As far as his teaching is concerned, there seems to be general agreement that it is the purest and best ever to have fallen from human lips.
To C. S. Lewis it seemed clear that he could neither have been insane or evil and thus he concludes, ‘however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that he was and is God.’
His conquest of death
The evidence for the physical resurrection is very strong indeed. When the disciples went to the tomb they found that the grave clothes had collapsed and that Jesus’ body was absent. In the next six weeks he was seen by over 500 people. The disciples’ lives were transformed and the Christian Church was born, and then grew at a dynamic rate.
A former Lord Chief Justice of England, Lord Darling, said of the resurrection: ‘In its favour as living truth there exists such overwhelming evidence, positive and negative, factual and circumstantial, that no intelligent jury in the world could fail to bring in a verdict that the resurrection story is true.’ The only satisfactory explanation for these facts is that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead and thus confirms that he was, and is, the Son of God.*
want to find out more?
Now you may well have many more questions such as: Why did he come? Why did he die? Why do we need him? Or perhaps, how and why should we pray? If you want to find out more, why not come to any of our services or join our next Alpha Course. We would love to hear from you.