Jesus Christ is the most unique person of all time. He has changed the course of history. Even our date indicates that He lived on this earth about 2,000 years ago.
Much is said about Jesus. He would have been a leader, or a prophet, or a good man. From Jesus you can see how God looks at people. But Jesus was not only a man, He is also the Son of God.
Why is Jesus so important?
Sin has created a barrier between God and people. We cannot remove that barrier. We cannot come to God by our own strength. Our good intentions will not get us there either. Not even with our religious activities.
However, in order to live with God forever, this barrier must be removed. God has such an aversion to sin that He will not and cannot tolerate its existence. Yet God wants to love people. To solve this problem, which is to save man from sin, man's debt to God must be satisfied in a way that does justice to His deity. This can only be done by someone who has never done sin and who is willing to bear the full burden of sin so that man comes to terms with God again.
Because no man can do this, Jesus offered himself to do this for us. Jesus means 'savior' or 'redeemer'. This is proof that God loves us. That He cares about our fate. He didn't just come to show us who God is, or to bring us His teachings. He came to redeem us, and that meant giving His own life to save us.
What kind of person was Jesus?
Jesus was fully human. He was born of a human mother. He grew up in a family and as a young man he was a carpenter in a small village. When he was thirty, he began to teach others. He gathered some friends around him. For three years He went around like this, He healed, He taught the people and took care of those in need. He got along well with people of all ranks and positions. His life was dedicated to serving and helping other people. He didn't show an ounce of selfishness, jealousy or unkindness. He showed true love at all times.
He also knew what it was like to cry with intense grief and to be abandoned by friends. He was rejected by others and treated unjustly. He suffered terrible pains when he was mercilessly slept and nailed to the cross - the cruelest way the Romans put someone to death. Even Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who tried Him, had to admit that he could not discover anything wrong in Him.
Jesus was a perfect man in every way. AsHis followers saw and heard more of Him, they slowly but surely came to realize that He was more than a great man or a great prophet. In fact, He was the Messiah promised by God and the Son of God who came among men as a man.
What did Jesus teach?
Jesus came to show us who God is. By the way He interacted and spoke with people, paying attention to their needs, and healing their illnesses, He was indeed showing who God is. Moreover, He brought a doctrine that has been considered the highest moral standard throughout the centuries.
Jesus also said the most amazing things about himself. He asked others to be humble, lived a humble and selfless life himself, but at the same time said that He was God himself. "He who has seen me has seen the Father, and "I and the Father are one." He said that He could forgive sin and that He was the only way to God: "No one comes to the Father through me." He promised peace to all who came to Him.
- To know Him was to know God.
- To see him was to see God.
- To trust him was to trust God.
- To honor him was to honor God.
- To hate him was to hate God.
Either these breathtaking statements are true, or Jesus was a liar, a con artist, a deceiver. But from His perfect life and his remarkable teachings, it appears that He was the most impressive man who ever lived.
What good is Jesus to me?
Oh,can Jesus, who lived some two thousand years ago, redeem me from my sin here and now?
God's character is just and loving. Those two character traits are like the two sides of one coin. Because He is righteous, God rightly condemns us for our sins. Evil must be punished. But because He is also love, He longs for people to come to terms with Him. It is as if God comes into conflict withhimself: He must be just and yet forgive guilty people.
When Jesus died on the cross, God's righteousness and His love were met in a unique and perfect way. Sin was punished. And His love gave us His Son to die in our place. Jesus bore the death penalty that was due to us sinners. That's how much God loves you and me. There was no other way to redeem us from our sins.
Jesus paidthe tremendous debt of our sins once and for all. Theway naar God was open again. Forgiveness of all our sins is offered to us by this, for nothing.
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
There was no doubt about it – Jesus was dead. When the Romans executed someone, they ensured that the convict actually died. One of the soldiers stuck a spear in the heart of Jesus to make sure he was indeed dead.
There was no doubt about that – Jesus was even buried. Then a huge stone was laid in front of the entrance and a soldier had to keep watch. Everyone knew it: Jesus was dead.
However, on the third day after thecrucifixion, both his followers and the Romans came to the appalling discovery that the body had disappeared. The death robes were still there, but the tomb itself was empty. There was no doubt aboutit;all those involved knew in which tomb Jesus had been laid, every mistake was excluded. God had raised Jesus from the dead.
There is no other explanation for the many appearances of Jesus. For forty days He appeared to His friends, usually in bright daylight and in different places—in a room, on a road, on the shore of the lake. Sometimes He appeared to one person, sometimes to groups of two or three people, sometimes to all the disciples at once, sometimes to larger groups of up to five hundred people.
These apparitions cannot simply be dismissed as hallucinations. He met them, talked to them, and even ate with them. They could see and touch Him. They did not see a spirit but the same Jesus they had seen die on the cross. The scars of that terrible execution could still be seen on his hands, his feet and his side. Sin and death were conquered. That is why the Christian faith spread so widely and quickly. That is why millions of people from all backgrounds, countries and cultures worship Jesus as Lord. He is alive and they know it from their own experience.