As far back as I can remember a picture of Jesus has hung in my parents house. When I was little it hung above an archway that led from our living room to the dining room. Later, after we moved to the house where my parents still live, it hung in the dining room. Right now, as I write this, it is still hanging in their dining room.
So, I have always known that Jesus is Jesus but it wasn’t until I was well into adulthood that I finally asked the question, “Who is Jesus?” I had no idea just how powerful of a question that is.
Jesus is so much more than a few paragraphs can capture so to briefly answer the question, I want to look a two verses from the Bible. One has to do with his birth, and one with his death.
Matthew 4:20 reads:
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.
In this verse Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father (although not biological) is instructed to take Mary as his wife even though he found out that Mary is pregnant and Joseph knows, as surely as anyone can know, that he is not the father. The Angel is informing him that the baby that inside Mary is from the Holy Spirit and that the baby will be a boy and that he should be named Jesus. The Holy Spirit is one of the three parts of the Triune God, therefore Jesus is the son of God.
One of the most famous verses in the Bible is John 3:16. I remember seeing this in the stands when watching football on T.V. and having no idea what it meant.
