1. Is Jesus God? (1)

Who Was This Jesus?

Who was Jesus? This is likely one of the most frequently asked questions in all history. By far He has the highest name recognition throughout the world. Fully one-third of the world’s peoples call themselves Christian, that is about 2.2 billion people. Islam (another 1.3 or so billion people) recognizes Him as the second greatest prophet after Mohammed. Of the remaining 3.2 billion people (roughly half the world’s population), most have heard of Him and/or know about Him. 

His résumé probably wouldn’t have been impressive. After all, there is not much to say about His earthly life. He was born of Jewish parents in Bethlehem , a small town south of Jerusalem , while the territory was under Roman occupation. His parents moved north to Nazareth , where He grew up; hence He came commonly known as Jesus of Nazareth. His father was a carpenter, so Jesus likely learned that trade in His early years. At around thirty years of age He began a public ministry. He chose a dozen disciples to mentor and worked out of Capernaum on the coast of the Sea of Galilee . He traveled and taught throughout Galilee, occasionally moving among neighboring Gentiles and Samaritans with occasional trips south to Jerusalem . His unconventional teachings startled many; with this and an occasional miracle a following began to take shape. His reception grew so strong that it caught the eye of established leaders of the Jewish faith.  Many of them were offended by Jesus and even felt threatened.  They soon decided to do away with Him. Working their contacts with the Roman rulers, they had Him arrested, and after a hastily arranged mock trial, He was executed by crucifixion. 

That’s it. Here the story of Jesus of Nazareth should have ended, hardly worth mentioning a footnote in history.

Unlike any other, His death was not the end, it was only the beginning. We are now discussing Him not merely because of His life, but because of His death. Christianity exists only because of what happened once Jesus died. Three days after His death, His disciples and many others began to claim He had returned to life from the dead. His grave was empty, the body gone, and numerous appearances were averred by different groups, at different locations, amid different circumstances.

As a result of this, followers began to proclaim that He was the Christ, or the Messiah. They claimed His resurrection validated the message of forgiveness of sin through His sacrifice. Initially they proclaimed this gospel in Jerusalem , the same city where He was put to death. The movement, known also as “the Way”(Acts 9:1, 19:9), grew rapidly.  Only a short time later the faith spread outside the country, soon reaching Rome and the outskirts of its vast empire.