Living the Christian Life Magazine

Who are You?

“Who are You” – Continuing our studies in John’s Gospel

concerning the life of the Son of God

 So they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, what have I been saying to you from the beginning? I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.”  They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father.  So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He (John 8:25-28) NIV

The two disciples on the Emmaus Road met up with a person unrecognised to them as they are discussing the events that had taken place earlier. That person was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ; they were perplexed about events that had taken place. All their hopes and dreams had been shattered, they looked for a leader who would deliver them from their bondage.

Although they had known the Lord Jesus yet they could not comprehend the death and resurrection of the Lord, although he had forewarned them of what would happen yet they could not believe. They were disappointed in him; this was the reason of their sadness.

In Jesus of Nazareth their hopes were that he would redeem Israel, they recognised him as a prophet mighty in word and deed. Many leaders throughout history have come and gone and some have left their mark, some for good others for bad. But when look at the credentials of the Jesus of Nazareth; we have to ask a number of important questions

Who was he?  Was he a misguided person who somehow got it wrong, rubbed up too many people the wrong way, came into conflict with the hierarchy of the church or was he a martyr for the cause, which somehow his name might live on? He made some very strong statements, which eventually brought him in conflict and ultimately caused his untimely death or was it.

Jesus makes a remarkable statement to the two on that road, Luke 24 verse 26 “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory” And beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded unto them, in all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself.

Later on when speaking with the rest of his disciples Jesus again in verse 44 He says. “These are the words which I spoke unto, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me”. And he said unto them. Thus it is written, and it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third day

These words are vitally important in determining all that has been declared about the Jesus of Nazareth. Who He was and why he came. If he was not whom he said he was then, it has perpetrated the biggest con of all times

Paul in the New Testament says. -  “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are all men most miserable. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain, ye are yet in your sins” (1Cor 15:14-19)

In determining the credentials of the Man from Galilee, let us look at the Scriptures. What Jesus was saying to the two on the Emmaus road, was that in each division of the Old Testament there were prophecies concerning Him. . You cannot go far in any part of Scripture without meeting something that has reference to Christ. Some prophesy, some promise, some prayer, some type. For he is the true treasure hid in the field of the Old Testament. The golden thread of Gospel grace runs through the whole web of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

Jesus is God: in Him the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily and it is because of this that He is able to light and guide the generations of mankind. The life has ever been the Light of Men. To deny or to believe, degrades the character of Christ, but also leaves us face to face with an unsolvable problem of how to account for his influence upon the world.

The Church in the New Testament was born and survived the most intense persecution imaginable. In two thousand years His influence has guided generations, and transformed lives. More Christians have been killed for their faith than any other faith, willing to die than to deny their faith in the Saviour of mankind, and yet the Church of Jesus marches on

Who are You?