Who is Jesus Christ?

A great deal is known about Jesus Christ, both from historical sources and from the bible, which speaks about Him extensively.  The newer part of the bible (usually called the New Testament) begins with His life story, told from four different perspectives while, surprisingly, the older part (or Old Testament), which was written more than 700 years before He was born, has many references to His future coming and his role in making a way for mankind to have a restored relationship with God.

Jesus claimed to be sent from God and He confirmed that by the many miracles that He did. Both the bible and the experience of the many people who follow Him (more than a billion worldwide at present) confirm that He is the Son of God, who came to Earth from God and returned to Him after He had completed His mission.

Jesus ... said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:30 NLT).  The word that the Gospel uses here also means "accomplished; completed; a debt has been discharged" - Jesus was not crying out in despair, but in triumph at completing His mission - in that very moment before His death!

The mission of Jesus Christ, which was completed on the cross when He shouted; “It is finished”, has several parts, including:

  1. To be God’s messenger, telling the world the good news that God wants a relationship with every one of us personally and individually;
  2. To take the punishment for each one of us ignoring and disobeying God throughout our lives so that anyone who chooses to accept Him can be born again, with a new, spiritual life – a complete new start – cleaned and forgiven from everything that has gone before;
  3. To show us that death is not the end.  When evil people executed Jesus on a cross, He died, as was clearly testified by the Roman soldiers in charge of His crucifixion.  However, on the third day God brought Him back to life, where He was seen by literally hundreds of people;
  4. To demonstrate that there is a way for mankind to get to Heaven – because after rising from the dead, Jesus did not die again but was taken up into Heaven in full view of some of His disciples;
  5. To bring freedom from the power of sin to everyone who will allow Him to be part of their lives;
  6. To lead those who will follow Him to enjoy a fuller life as they serve Him.

Impossible as it may sound, there is overwhelming evidence, and millions of people who will testify, that Jesus was, and still is, the Son of God.  He longs to welcome everyone who will accept Him into the Church family – not into a religion, which He hated – but into a new life and a spiritual relationship with God.

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT)