Who is Jesus? As you begin, or continue on, your Christian journey, knowing and examining Jesus’ life is essential to your growth.
So, introductions are in order!
The Gospel of Matthew emphasizes that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s will as revealed in the Old Testament. He is the Head of the Church, the “Son of David”, a “king”, and the Messiah. In a more personal sense, the Gospel of Luke presents Jesus as the divine-human savior who shows deep and abiding compassion for those in need. The book illustrates that although Jesus is first and foremost God, He also came to earth as a baby in a manger to re-establish a relationship with mankind.
He felt and experienced what you and I feel and experience each and every day. Pain, temptation, mortal frailty—he took all of that on, and then ultimately experienced physical death in order to take away our sins and give us the gift of eternal life.
It is true that we deserved to die on that Cross, but He came to take away that punishment. What an amazing gift of love that Jesus died for the sins He did not commit!
There is an old song that says,
“He paid a debt He did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay, I needed someone to wash my sins away.”
This is what He did for you and me. In view of God’s great mercy how could we not want to give Him our very life and all that we have?
· John 1:18 “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”
And you get to know HIM. The same One who healed the blinded eyes, unstopped the deaf ears, raised the dead, and healed the leper. This same Jesus wants to know and talk to you too, and provide you peace in this life.
· Colossians 1:19-20 “For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.”
Exercise: Write a prayer to Jesus, thanking him for all he has done for you.
