“WHO IS THIS MAN CALLED JESUS?

People, when confronted by Jesus Christ, have always asked in startled bewilderment, “Who is this man called Jesus?”

The blind man, sent by Jesus to the pool of Siloam to be healed, afterward wondered, “Who is he…?” (John 9:36.) The throngs at the Passover Feast asked upon Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem to be crucified, “..Who is this?”. (Matthew 21:9-11.)  Saul of Tarsus, the leader of the opposition to Jesus, crossed the Arabian desert at noontime to persecute Christians in Damascus. When Jesus, from heaven, called Saul by name, Saul exclaimed in wonder, “Who are you, Lord?” (Acts 26:15.)

I was invited in Bangkok, Thailand by a Buddhist monk named Prasawandat to visit his temple. Two Thai brothers in Jesus and I were received with courtesy by him the following day. After a few words of conversation, Prasawandat inquired, “Who is this man called Jesus?” From secular historians, Old Testament prophets, and the New Testament apostle eye-witnesses, we declared the message of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.  The apostle Matthew begins his inspired gospel of Jesus – and the New Testament writings, with just eight words in his Greek manuscript. Translated into English for us, Matthew writes, “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1.) In the 25 verses in Matthew 1, four significant truthsabout the identity of Jesus are declared.

1.      JESUS, THE MAN OF HUMANITY AND HISTORY.

Beginning with Abraham the Father of the Jewish race (Genesis 12:1ff.), the genealogy of Jesus is traced to David, to the exile in Babylon, to the birth of the Christ. (Matthew 1:1-17.) The gospel writer Luke was a physician, well acquainted with careful research and detail. He begins his gospel explaining how “…I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning…most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” (Luke 1:1-4.) Matthew traces Jesus’ ancestry from Abraham through the lineage of Abraham, Judah, and David, to “…Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.” (Matthew 1:14.) Luke adds the complementary genealogy of Jesus through the lineage of Mary, writing, “…He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph…” tracing Jesus’ fleshly ancestors all the way back to “…Adam, the son of God”. (Luke 3:21-37.) Jesus has roots in humanity, as the names of his fleshly ancestors are thus listed.

The Holy Spirit through Paul the apostle writes to the Roman saints of Jesus, “…who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 1:1-4.)  Paul urged young Timothy, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David…” (2 Timothy 2:8.)

Secular historians agree in affirming the historical reality of Jesus. H.G. Wells, in his Outline of

History, p. 497, observes, “About Jesus we have to write not theology, but history. Almost our only  sources about the personality of Jesus are derived from the four gospels, all of which were certainly in existence a few decades after his death…all four agree in giving us a picture of a very definite personality…In spite of miraculous and incredible additions, one is obliged to say, ‘Here was a man. This part of the tale could not have been invented.’” (Dr. Wells was not a believer in the Deity of Jesus, TK)

Dr. Will Durant, philosopher and historian, with his wife, Ariel, invested ten years in writing an

eleven volume Story of Civilization. Their work was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1968, and the

Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977. In Vol. 3, Caesar and Christ, Durant concluded, “No one

reading these scenes can doubt the reality of the figure behind them. That a few simple men should in one generation have invented so powerful and appealing a personality, so lofty an ethic and so inspiring a vision of human brotherhood would be a miracle far more incredible than any recorded in the gospels…A denial of the existence of Jesus seems never to have occurred even to the bitterest Gentile or Jewish opponent of Christianity….”(p. 557.)

Jesus was a man-child, born of a woman (Galatians 4:4), a child of History and Humanity. George MacDonald wrote in his couplet, You Can Say That Again:

“They were all looking for a king to slay their foes and lift them high;

Thou cam’st a little baby thing, that made a woman cry.”

2.      JESUS, THE MAN OF PROPHECY.

Fifteen times in his gospel Matthew speaks of an Old Testament prophecy that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Approximately 200 such prophecies, written hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth, are recorded in the Bible, such as the one recorded in Matthew 1:22: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ – which means, ‘God with us’.” (Written by the prophet Isaiah 750 years before the birth of Jesus of Mary.) In his book, Science Speaks (Moody Press,1963), Peter Stoner describes the inescapable conclusion to which his study of Old Testament prophesies led him. Stoner was not a theologian. He was a mathematician devoted to the study of mathematical probability – the same science used by insurance companies in compiling their actuarial tables which leads to their rates for a policy, and their expected profit from it.

Stoner studied 48 of 60 major prophecies pointing to the coming, and the character, of the

future Messiah. He then narrowed his focus to just eight – 1) Genesis 3:15/Matthew 1:20 & Galatians 4:4; 2) Isaiah 40:3/Matthew 3:1-3 & Luke 1:17; 3) Zechariah 9:9/Matthew 21:6-11 & Luke 19:35-37; 4) Psalm 41:9 & 22:16/Matthew 10:4; 26:49, 50 & Luke 23:33; 5) Zechariah 11:12/Matthew 26:15 & 27:3; 6) Zechariah 11:13/Matthew 27:5; Zechariah 11:13/Matthew 27:7; 7) Isaiah 53:7/Matthew 27:12-19; 8) Psalm 22:16 & Isaiah 53:12/Luke 23:33 & Matthew 27:38. From this study Stoner wrote, “…we find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is …1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.” In order to help us comprehend this staggering probability, Stoner illustrates it by supposing that “we take 100,000,000,000,000,000 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one.

What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom. (Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, Campus Crusade for Christ Int’l, 1972, p.175.)

Jesus confronted the unbelieving Jews, saying, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you

think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you

refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39, 40.) After his resurrection Jesus reminded his apostles, “…’How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself…This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms’ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures…”(Luke 24:25-27, 44, 45.)

Indeed, Jesus was the Man of Prophecy, prophecies written hundreds of years before his birth.

3.      JESUS, THE MAN OF DEITY.

Matthew records the struggle of Joseph upon learning that his betrothed Mary was pregnant. He knew that it was not his child that she was carrying . “Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.” (Matthew 1: 19.) “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. 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.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ – which means, ‘God with us.’”(vs. 20-23)

Luke writes of Mary’s surprise at the angel’s message to her. “…God sent the angel Gabriel to

Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.’ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.’ ‘How will this be,’Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God…for nothing is impossible with God.’”(Luke 1:26-35.) God’s angel having spoken to both Mary and to Joseph, Matthew concludes, “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.” (Matthew 1:24, 25.)

The critical question for all men of all time is, “Whose Son is Jesus?” Mary knew. Joseph knew.

Jesus knew. (Cf. Luke 2:41-50.) Even the demons confessed Him to be the “Son of God” (Matthew 8:28ff.) But “…even his own brothers did not believe in him”. (John 7:5.) Were we there in that time, would we have believed? When Jesus had healed a lame man He was criticized for performing this miracle on a Sabbath. (John 5:1-15.) “So because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working;.’ For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.” (John 5:16-18.)  This was the question posed to his apostles, seeking to prepare them for his imminent crucifixion. “…he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?...who do you say I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’”(Matthew 16:13-16.) It is upon this rock, this truth, that Jesus promised “…I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”(v. 18.)  When the storm of opposition led by Judas, the traitor, by the elders of the Jews, chief priests and scribes, along with a mob, seized Jesus they sought false witnesses to accuse him of treason against  Caesar. Failing to establish their charges, “..the high priest said to him, ‘I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God; ‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied. ‘But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’” The high priest charged Jesus with blasphemy, asked for a verdict, and “...’He is worthy of death’, they answered.”(Matthew 26:63-66.)

As Jesus hung between heaven and earth on the cross for six agonizing hours, He “…saw his mother there, …he said to his mother, ‘Dear woman, here is your son’…”(John 19:26.) In his poignant words Jesus declared that both his mother, and He, her Son, knew that God was his Father. The apostle Paul would write to the Roman saints that Jesus, “…through the Sprit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 1:1-4.) Jesus, the Man of Deity, fully human, fully God.

4.      JESUS, THE SAVIOR OF LOST SINNERS.

God’s angel revealed to Joseph that his betrothed virgin, Mary, nevertheless pregnant by God’s Spirit and power, “…will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name of Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”(Matthew 1:20, 21.) “Jesus…is a transliteration of the Heb. ‘Joshua’, meaning ‘Jehovah is salvation,’ i.e. ‘…” (W.E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Fleming H. Revell Company, II, 274.) “Jesus” – the Name given by his Father to his “one and only Son”, the Savior of lost sinners.  

The Holy Spirit rehearsed to the Philippian saints how Jesus, “…being in very nature God…being found in appearance as a man…humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”Philippians 2:5-11.)  Paul wrote to Timothy, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.”(1 Timothy 1:15.) He continued, “…This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men…”(2:3-6.) To the Corinthians the apostle said, “We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us that in him we might become the righteousness of God.:”(2 Corinthians 5:20, 21.)

To the Romans Paul declared, “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. The righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies the man who has faith in Jesus.”(Romans 3:21-26.) He calls to their minds, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized unto Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”(Romans 6:3-7.)

This is the message Christ Jesus commissioned his apostles to preach in every nation, in all the

world, to every creature. (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16: 15, 16; Luke 24:44-47.) Thereby “…people from among all the Gentiles” were called “to the obedience that comes by faith.” (Romans 1:6.)  Thousands heard the message of Jesus the first time the apostles declared it – in the very city where He had been crucified just fifty days earlier. About 3,000 gladly accepted God’s offer of forgiveness through penitent faith in Jesus, and were baptized upon the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. They received the gift of the Holy Spirit, and were by the Lord added together in his church (Acts 2:1-47.)  The message was always the same in its essentials. (Cf. Acts 8:1-13, 26-39; 9:1-20; 10:1-48; 11:19-26; 16:11-15, 16-34; 18:1-8; 19:1-12.) Jesus, God’s Son, atoned for our sins. We must accept God’s grace “in the obedience of faith”. Jesus said it simply, and powerfully, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”(Mark 16:16)

Jesus’ gospel is indeed “good news”. Though all are sinners, condemned by God’s righteous law and guilty before Him, “… God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him.”(Romans 5:8, 9.)

God’s saved church is urged to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18; 1:5-11; “…to build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.” Learning Who “this man Jesus” truly is – the only Saving Name (Acts 4:11-12), the only Way to the Father (John 14:6), and the only Mediator “between God and men (1 Timothy 2:5) only in Jesus can anyone find a reason for hope in this life, and into life eternal. (Hebrews 6:16-20.)

No person is good enough not to need God’s saving grace and power in Jesus, nor is any too wicked to be beyond Jesus’ grace and power to save. JESUS – THE MAN OF HISTORY AND HUMANITY, THE MAN OF PROIPHECY, THE MAN OF DEITY, and THE SAVIOR OF LOST MEN. This is WHO this man Jesus is. “…the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8.)

Have you made your hope sure by trusting in Jesus as God’s Son, and walking in obedience to his truth?

Ted Kell

Brownwood, Texas