WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT......... JESUS CHRIST?.......

What do you know about your Saviour?

Introduction

The question "What do you know about Jesus" is meant to excite and spur you into seeking a higher and deeper knowledge of Christ. This write-up cannot adequately describe the Son of the Living God, neither can it describe what He did while on earth about 2000 years ago.

The mystery of Christ is not open to everyone and it will remain so till He comes back to take His saints home.  This is because the bible says in inn John 10:29 said no man can come to Him except His Father sent them to Him.  None can know Jesus except the one that God sent to Jesus, likewise, no man can know God except Jesus reveal God to such a man.  This is probably why Jesus said He and His Father are one.

His pre-creation history

What do you know about Jesus Christ, let start from the book of John in the Bible, which started with a revealing story of Jesus, being the Word of God that was with God at the beginning of creation?  It states:

 " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was at the beginning with God.  All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.  He was the light, the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.  He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 

The Word was with God until God decided to redeem man from the fall at the Garden of Eden.  When man fell and got separated from God, who created a man for fellowship became lonely again and thought of how to reconcile man to Himself.  God chooses Abraham, His friend whom He found for Himself and tested and found faithful.  God decided to redeem man through the lineage of Abraham and so God made Abraham, father of many nations, even though he was a man without a man child to replace him.

A descendant of Abraham in the flesh

At the fullness of time, God blessed Abraham with a son Isaac and continued to call Abraham, the father of many nations. Man cannot understand God, neither can a man comprehend the works of God.  The blessings of Abraham which God pronounced on Him was later to fall on Isaac and he became the beloved of the Lord and lived a successful life on earth.  At old age, at the very discretion of the Almighty God, his son Jacob was chosen by God instead of the firstborn Esaw to carry the blessing of Abraham.

So, God announced His decision to pick Jacob instead of Esaw and told their mother Rebekah, while they were in the womb of Rebekah.  With time the mantle of blessing rested upon Jacob and from Jacob, to his children the 12 sons of Jacob became the tribes of Israel.  During the famine, God had prepared an escape for them through Pharaoh's Egypt, when He sent Joseph the last son of Jacob ahead of them all to prepare the land of Egypt and Goshen for the people of Israel.  Joseph was sold into slavery into Egypt and became the Prime Minister in the land of Egypt before the Famine became unbearable.

Eventually, the children of Israel entered Egypt when Joseph was the prime minister of Egypt and with time, Joseph sent for his father Jacob to join him in Egypt and the children together with their father Israel to start a 430 years of slavery in the land of Egypt as God had announced to Abraham when he was asking for the son Isaac.

When the blessings of Abraham fell on the children of Israel, God wanted to use the children of Israel to reconcile the entire world to Himself.  But the people were not ready or even understood God's plan for them and why God chose them as His own race among all the people of the world.  They had fought so much war and could not understand, let alone comprehend the reconciliation of the entire world to God saw they were not ready and decided to come down to earth Himself in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ and to lead the gospel of reconciliation of mankind to Himself.

He was given to the World in Ransom

It was in this state that a child of the Holy Ghost was sent to the world in an uncommon method that will never replay on earth again forever. In Luke 1:26-35, the bible says, He was not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  

" And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.  And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.   And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.  And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.

He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:  and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there shall be no end.

Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?  And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God".

He was the Word that was with God at creation

Jesus, who is the main theme of the bible and the gospel of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven, came unto his own, the world  He created and his own received him not, because they knew Him not.  But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

This account of the pre-incarnation history and work of Christ is one that helps us understand that Jesus Christ is not just an ordinary child born by Mary of the Carpenter husband Joseph.  Jesus was with God the Father as Word in the beginning and God used Him to create everything that was created.  He was with God and He was God.

He came to die for the Sins of man

Jesus Christ came to the earth to die for the sins of man and by so doing make eternal provision for the reconciliation of Man to God, especially those people that believe in his name. The birth of Christ was not ordinary, it was the birth of the most unique person, the incarnation of God Himself for the deliverance of man. The Word became flesh for man to be reconciled back to God.

If you don't know the mystery of Jesus Christ and what He came to for, it will be difficult for such a person to understand the gospel and key-into it fully for the salvation of his soul and for eternity in Christ.  No other person has ever attracted such attention, devotion, criticism, adoration, and opposition as Jesus Christ. He is the focal point of all theological discussions. He lived in the flesh about 2,000 years ago in Israel, yet the history of events on earth is divided by his birthday into years before Christ "B.C" and “A.D.”

Jesus Himself asked His disciples who people say he is, and whom they think He is.  For the people, they see him as another Prophet, which is not the case, some saw Him as another Elijah and that explained why it was difficult for his people to accept Him.  Many did not know about His virgin birth, neither the prophesy that came before His birth.  Few that heard of these prophesies and angelic announcements did not believe it, so you have people who never understood the unique presence of God in their midst due to unbelief.

The Door to Salvation

For the disciples, Peter did not allow them to speak for too long, when he told Christ that He was the Christ, the Son of the Living God...and Jesus replied and told Peter that flesh and blood did not tell him what he spoke, but His Father in Heaven, which agrees with what Christ had told them that nobody can come to Him except His Father sent them to Him.

Jesus Christ is the door to the sheep house which cannot be ignored.  In  John 10:7-14, it says:

" I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.  All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.  I am the door: by me, if any man enters in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

Without Christ, there is no salvation for anyone.  there is no other name given under the sun through which man can be saved.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.

He explains Himself

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.  But he that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.  The hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep.  I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

He continued to tell the children of Israel that He and His Father are one and no one believed Him.  He says in John 10:27-30 "  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.

Jesus was described in Philippians 2:6 as the Son of God, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. Phil 2:6-7.

 And, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient.  He was the obedient Son of God. Not one time did Jesus ever transgress the Father’s will. He said, “I do always those things that please Him” (John 8:29). God the Father said of Him,

The Beloved of the Lord

“This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17)

Who, although He existed in the form and unchanging essence of God [as One with Him, possessing the fullness of all the divine attributes—the entire nature of deity], did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped or asserted [as if He did not already possess it, or was afraid of losing it];

He is God in the flesh. It’s important to understand Jesus is not only the Son of God, but He is God the Son. Jesus Is the Sacrificial Son of God

But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 

Jesus became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. This one, Jesus Christ, the sovereign, sinless, the supernatural Son of God, born of a virgin, was totally, completely obedient. Not only the Son of God but God the Son.

He was born a King:

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,  Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.  And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.

And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,  And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come to a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.  Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.   When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.  And when they came into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

He raised the disciples 

In Matt 10, He raised an evangelistic team of disciples.  "And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;  Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;

Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.  These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  

And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.  Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give". 

He empowered them and commissioned them

He gave His disciples power and after His resurrection, he commissioned them to go into the world and preach the gospel: 

"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.  And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover".  Mark 16:15-20

He returned to the Father

So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God.  And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

FIRE...