John 1:1-3 <\/strong>“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”<\/em><\/p>\n Men have been debating and looking for the historical Jesus<\/strong> for centuries.<\/strong>\u00a0 He is confoundingly hard to find.\u00a0 There were no such thing as “birth certificates” or written records of most ordinary things.\u00a0 The Jewish Priests and scribes kept very detailed records of genealogies of families and tribes in the temple at Jerusalem, but they were destroyed when the temple was burnt and pillaged by the Romans in 70AD.\u00a0 Records kept by the Romans themselves lack mention of the comings and goings of ordinary people.\u00a0 A wandering rabbi ministering to the Jews was of little interest to them.\u00a0 Even his death at their hands would hold little reason for more than a cursory mention.\u00a0 Pontis Pilate was quite proficient in crucifying the Jews for almost any reason.<\/p>\n Yet the actions and activities of the horrible Pilates, Herods and Caesars of his time are all too well documented.\u00a0 Annas and Ciaphas along with many of the scholars, scribes and priests of the time are very well documented.\u00a0 But the ordinary Josephs and Marys and Simons and Andrews who lived their lives and fished, farmed, built and bought and sold were just not worth the paper and ink.<\/p>\n Jesus was very much in many ways one of the “ordinary” people.<\/strong>\u00a0 The son of a carpenter and an ordinary Jewish girl, both from very large families of ordinary folk.\u00a0 He lived most of his life laboring and fellowshipping with the people in a very small village far to the north of the “big city” Jerusalem.\u00a0 Very few people saw him as “special”, and those people generally kept that knowledge to themselves until after his death.\u00a0 Even during the 3 years of his ministry, with all of the miracles and teachings, his cousin John the Baptist was better known than he was.\u00a0 He seldom strayed far from Galilee, Samaria and Judah in all of his travels.\u00a0 Jesus didn’t “found a religion” like Buddha or Mohammad.\u00a0 He wasn’t a “great leader” like Moses.\u00a0 He didn’t fight great battles like David or Joshua (who he was named after FYI).<\/p>\n However, a record was written of him, his life, his death and his resurrection in the “Gospels”.\u00a0 Four short books at the beginning of the “New Testament” of the Christian Bible.\u00a0 Such a record that is as “historical” as any of his contemporaries could write.<\/p>\n It’s not “who” Jesus was from a historical perspective that makes him special.\u00a0 It’s who, what and why he is from a spiritual point of view.<\/p>\n 1. Jesus is a man.<\/strong>\u00a0 A very normal human being, that sweated, bled and labored among other ordinary men.\u00a0 He walked everywhere, got tired, got irritable, got angry, felt sadness, felt happiness, laughed and cried and slept and ate and lived his life as an ordinary man.\u00a0 Even though his mother was a virgin until after he was born, he still came out of a woman just as every other man who was ever born.\u00a0 He lived his childhood, and was subject to his father and mother, grew to adulthood, and ultimately died, just like every other human being.<\/p>\n 2. Jesus is the son of God. <\/strong>In that, it is very important to note: his mother Mary was a virgin until after he was born.\u00a0 There is little that is known specifically about Jesus’ earthly parents, except Mary was a very young girl, barely an adult.\u00a0 She grew up and lived in a very restrictive time for women.\u00a0 It is likely she never socialized or even talked to men or boys other than very close relatives\u00a0\u00a0 Joseph was probably older, already established and successful at his business.\u00a0 As was the custom of the time, the marriage was arranged by their families, and Joseph likely as not hadn’t even met Mary, or else just knew her in passing, but was likely very well known to her parents.<\/p>\n According to Luke (1:26-38), the angel Gabriel was sent from God to Mary, to tell her that she would become pregnant and bare a child, and name him Jesus.\u00a0 That night, God Himself came to her, and created a child within her, not through sex, but with His power. Though there is little in the Gospels about Jesus’ days as a child, he knew who his father was.\u00a0 Because when he was 12 he went “missing” in Jerusalem (Luke 2:40-51).\u00a0 When they found him at the temple confounding all of the smart, educated and scholarly people there, he told his parents: “How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”<\/p>\n God Himself testified that Jesus was His son when he was baptized by John at the river Jordan:\u00a0 (Matthew 3:13-17) “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”<\/p>\n 3. Jesus is alive.<\/strong>\u00a0 Because of the jealousy of the scribes and Pharisees, the political\/religious opposition by the Sadducees and Herodians, and the “kill them all and let the gods sort them out” attitude of the Romans. especially Pilate, Jesus was brought before the High Priest and condemned to death.\u00a0 Pilate would have released him, but feared causing a riot by doing so, so he “washed his hands” and sent Jesus away to die.<\/p>\n First he was “scourged” and beaten nearly to death by his Roman captors (Mark 15:15-21).\u00a0 Then a man named Simon was forced to carry the heavy wooden beam he would be crucified on.\u00a0 Nailed to that beam, he was hoisted up, and hung there for hours while he was cursed and reviled by many of the people who had followed him.\u00a0 He died quicker than most, and they didn’t even have to break his legs to end it (Mark 15:22-47).<\/p>\n A rich man that was one of his followers donated a stone “sepulcher” or tomb for his remains (John 19:38).\u00a0 He was quickly washed, shrouded and laid in this tomb by his family and friends.\u00a0 The tomb was sealed and the Sanhedrin (religious council of the Jews) put a guard on it.\u00a0 The next day his followers found the tomb empty, unsealed, and the guards gone.\u00a0 Some of his followers saw an angel that told them Jesus was risen from the dead (Mark 16:1-7).<\/p>\n Later he appeared before his followers, solid, breathing and eating.\u00a0 He stuck around for 40 days talking to them, teaching them and preforming miracles just as he did before he was crucified.\u00a0 At the end of the 40 days, he was taken up into the sky, which was witnessed at the time by hundreds of people (Luke 24:1-53).<\/p>\n 4. Jesus is the Jewish Messiah.<\/strong> Through all of the history of the Hebrew people, in the Torah (first 5 books of the Old Testament Bible), and in the writings of the prophets, especially Isaiah and Ezekiel, there is a recurring prophesy of a man\/king\/prophet who would come to establish an eternal kingdom.\u00a0 Who would take away all of the sins of the people making the blood sacrifice unnecessary.\u00a0 Who would “fulfill” the law, and raise the up the Hebrews to become eternal priests to lead the gentile people.\u00a0 While there are many modern Jewish scholars who discount this interpretation of the scriptures, this was a prevailing view among the Essenes and Pharisees at the time of Jesus. Jesus was proclaiming a spiritual kingdom, not an earthly one. “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. ” (Mat. 4:17).\u00a0 He did not agree with the doctrines of the Pharisees: “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. ” (Mat 5:20).\u00a0 He considered the “religious establishment” to be hypocrites and criticized them as such: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” (Mat. 23:13-29 and Luke 11:44).\u00a0 Though many came to him and followed him (John 4:1-21), mostly in secret.<\/p>\n Jesus disciples knew him as that Messiah: “And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Mat. 16:15-20)\u00a0 Jesus himself proclaimed it: “Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.” (John 4:25-26).\u00a0 The people knew who he was: “Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.” (John 7:28).<\/p>\n 5. Jesus is God. <\/strong> Not just the “son of God”, Jesus is the earthly manifestation of The Creator of the Universe (John 1:1-14).\u00a0\u00a0 When God revealed Himself to Moses, He told him “I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” (Exodus 3:14).\u00a0 All through his ministry Jesus continually told his followers, and all that would hear him that “I Am”.<\/p>\n Through the writings of the Apostles, and the Gospels, the miracles that were done, and the Revelations of his disciple John, we as Christians believe and know that God the Creator of the Universe came to this earth to be born, live and die as an ordinary human.\u00a0 Specifically to suffer horribly at the hands of his own creations to take on the sins of this world, and die taking the punishment for sin onto himself.\u00a0 He rose from the dead to give proof of resurrection and redemption and ascended back alive to heaven.<\/p>\n That is who Jesus Christ is.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An explanation from a Christian perspective John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Men have been debating and … Continue reading Who is Jesus Christ?<\/span>
\nJoseph was probably very disappointed, hurt and confused by this.\u00a0 He probably knew Mary wouldn’t have become pregnant except because something horrible like rape or incest happened, which is why he was of a mind to simply step away from the situation and not make matters worse for the girl or her family.\u00a0 But because of a vision God gave him, he decided to put aside his fears and marry her anyway.<\/p>\n
\nBut the Pharisees were looking for an earthly “king” that would overthrow the Romans, and reestablish the Davidian line in the kingdom of Israel.<\/p>\n