Saturday, January 28, 2012

Who is Jesus The Christ?

Hebrews 1:3 "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;"

First of all let’s clear up one gross mistake that may people have about Jesus the Christ, His name is not Jesus Christ, His name is Jesus and He is The Christ. It is very important to understand this because the two names carry two different but equally important meanings. The name Jesus was not an uncommon name in those days and neither is it today. In fact we will find many in Mexico who name their children Jesus. But God went on to call His name “Emmanuel” which comes from the Hebrew word (immânû'êl) which means “…which being interpreted is, God with us.” Matthew 1:23 Now we turn our attention to the gospel of John which tells us that this same Jesus was also called “the Word” "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1 So John tells us that the word was not only in the beginning of creation with God but that this word was in fact God. In verse 14 of John 1 we see “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…” in the person of Jesus the Christ. This would certainly have separated this Jesus from all others. Secondly we call Him Christ but in reality He is “The Christ” which means – anointed – and while it does mean to – smear with oil it also means - to consecrate to an office or religious service – Jesus was the anointed on of God to be the Saviour of mankind. Acts 10:38 “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” Not only was God with him but He himself was God. Therefore the title Christ tells us that He was anointed of God to save us from our sins. "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:21. This made Him very special because while He was a man He was no ordinary man.

“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person…” while Adam was created in the image of God Jesus The Christ was born with the brightness of Gods glory unlike Adam. This means that He was Divine in nature because He was “…the express image of God himself in nature. This means His nature was the express image of God. Adam was created with attributes like unto God but lost them in the fall. The words express image means and exact copy or He was just like God in every way in nature. Jesus described it this way to Philip - John 14:9 - 10 "Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? (10.) Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works."

“…and upholding all things by the word of his power…” That is He had the power of word just as God did in creation when He spoke the earth and the heavens in to existence. Jesus the Christ had this very same power of words which we see an example of in John 11:43 “And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth." Jesus could have done any thing he had chosen just by the speaking of His voice.
“…when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;" Did they kill Him; no, He gave His life for our sins. He chose to die for our sins and afterword the Christ set down on Gods right hand. 1 John 3:5 “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.” What a wonderful Saviour and God we indeed have and His name is Jesus and He is the Christ.