Who Is Jesus?

The Beginning of the Greatest She will have a Son, and you are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. Matthew 1:21 (NLT). The birth of Jesus, more than 2,000 years ago in the town of Bethlehem, was the miracle of all miracles (Matthew 1:18–2:12; Luke 1:26–2:7). For 400 years, the prophets were silent, Middle Eastern empires rose and fell, and the tiny nation of Israel suffered under powers like Greece and Rome. People all over the world, but most especially the Jews, had been eagerly awaiting the Messiah. The Messiah’s coming would change the entire history of the world. Then something historic happened. A baby named Jesus was born and a fresh new beginning came about on earth. With the arrival of Jesus, the eternal God came down to earth and appeared in this world as His Son, Jesus (John 1:1, 2, 14; John 20:28). In the person of Jesus, God physically entered our human world. However, Jesus existed long before His birth in Bethlehem or even the creation of the world. Both preexistent and divine, Jesus’ preexistence is affirmed in both the Old Testament (Isaiah 9:6–7; Micah 5:2) and the New Testament (John 1:1–2; Philippians 2:6–11; see also Colossians 1:15–20; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:1–3; Revelation 1:4, 8). Jesus was not simply another human prophet. Indeed, He was present with God, the Father, from the very beginning, and He is the One through whom the universe was created (Colossians 1:15–20). As the Son of God, Jesus inherently shares the nature of God, the Father. Nonetheless, although eternal, Jesus entered human history as a baby in Bethlehem. Born between 6 BC and 4 BC, the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke both tell of the birth of Jesus. Matthew and Luke both state clearly that Jesus had a divine Father and a virgin mother named Mary (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:27). Without a human father and without any sexual relationship involved, Jesus was conceived through a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit (Genesis 3:15; Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:34–35; Galatians 4:4–5). Jesus’ virgin birth was a supernatural work of God inside the human womb of Mary. Thus, in both His birth and conception in the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ birth was holy and pure (Luke 1:35). The virgin birth of Jesus means He did not inherit human sin (Romans 5). Therefore, Jesus is not just a man. Jesus was a God–Man, God’s Christ (Matthew 26:63–64; Mark 14:61–62), and the Son of God (Matthew 16:15–16; Mark 1:1; Luke 22:70, 71; John 8:24). Mary was the virgin mother of Jesus; a young girl from Nazareth, she was betrothed (engaged) to Joseph, a local carpenter. Jewish custom in that day recognized a state called “betrothal,” which fell somewhere between our modern day engagement and marriage. A betrothal was more binding than an engagement, since betrothals could only be broken with an act of divorce. If a betrothed woman became pregnant, she was regarded as an adulteress (Matthew 1:18–20). Before the marriage took place, an angel announced to both Joseph and Mary that Mary would become pregnant by the power of God’s Spirit and that she would give birth to the Son of God, also called the Messiah (Matthew 1:20–21; Luke 1:26–33). God chose Mary to bring his Son, the Savior, into the world. Humbly submitting herself to God’s will, Mary responded to this extraordinary message in simple faith. For all Christians, Mary is a model of humble and obedient submission to God’s will (Luke 1:38, 46–55). The virgin birth of Jesus is important because, as God’s Son, Jesus had to be free from the sinful nature passed on to humankind by Adam in Genesis 3. The birth of Jesus to woman proves He was a human; but as the Son of God, Jesus was born without human sin. Thus, Jesus is both fully human and fully divine. Jesus was a sinless human. In Jesus, God and man became one unique person—fully God and fully man. Furthermore, the virgin birth of Jesus fulfills Isaiah 7:14. Jesus was to be called Immanuel as predicted by the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 7:14). The name Immanuel means “God is with us,” and Jesus indeed symbolized God’s presence and protection. Therefore, Jesus is God in the flesh; thus, God was literally “with us” in Jesus. Jesus is the incarnate (in the flesh) Son of God (Matthew 1:23; see also Revelation 12:5). With Jesus’ arrival on earth, the heavenly angels announced His arrival to the world (Luke 2:8–14), the shepherds came with wonder (Luke 2:9–20), and the Magi (Wise Men) brought gifts (Matthew 2:1–12); but the jealous King (Herod) attempted to kill Him (Matthew 2:13–18). To avoid an early death, Jesus’ stepfather (Joseph) took Jesus to escape King Herod’s jealous rage against the Baby Jesus. Both Matthew and Luke provide genealogies of Jesus (Matthew 1:1–17; Luke 3:23–38). The genealogy of Jesus found in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 1:1–17) goes all the way back to Abraham and it emphasizes Jesus’ Jewish heritage from King David through Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation (Genesis 12:1–3). Jesus’ genealogy from Matthew confirms Him as a true heir to the throne of King David (2 Samuel 7:16). The genealogy in Luke goes back to Adam, the father of all human kind (Luke 3:23–38). The Gospel of Luke reveals God’s intended plan to send Jesus as the Savior for all people (Luke 4:24–27) affected by Adam and Eve’s sin. Adam and Eve’s sin affected all people everywhere (Genesis 3). Yet, Luke reveals God’s plan to bring salvation through Jesus for all people of every race, age, and class. Jesus’ earthly story begins with Nazareth in Galilee. Nazareth, a small town in northern Palestine, was the family home of Jesus’ earthly parents, Joseph and Mary (Luke 1:26–27). Joseph was a carpenter from Nazareth. However, he and Mary returned to their ancestral city of Bethlehem in Judea just before Jesus’ birth (1 Samuel 17:12, 58; 1 Samuel 20:6; Luke 2:1–7). The Old Testament prophecies predicted that the Messiah would be born from King David’s royal line (Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 33:15; Ezekiel 37:24; Hosea 3:5). Indeed, Joseph and Mary were both descendants of King David. Bethlehem was a tiny village in Judea, five miles south of Jerusalem, where Micah 5:2 predicted that the Messiah would be born (Luke 2:4–7). Right before the birth, Joseph took Mary to Bethlehem to register for an official Roman census (Luke 2:1); and then, as predicted by Old Testament prophecy, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the city of David (Micah 5:2; Luke 1:32–33; Luke 2:4, 11). Jesus was born in a stable because no other lodging was available (Luke 2:1–7) and His mother, Mary, laid Him in a manger, which was a feeding trough for animals (Luke 2:7). Sometime later, Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt to save the child from Herod’s massacre of young boys in the Bethlehem area (Matthew 2:13–18). When they returned, Jesus’ family resettled in Nazareth to live (Matthew 2:19–23). After Jesus’ birth, Mary apparently gave birth to several other sons and daughters (Matthew 13:55–56; Mark 6:3). Both the Old Testament and the first century world hoped for the coming of the Messiah. The Jews had long anticipated a Messiah from King David’s line that would reestablish reign in righteousness and justice in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 7:11–16; Isaiah 9:6–7; Isaiah 11:1–5; Jeremiah 23:5–6; Jeremiah 33:15–16; Ezekiel 37:24–25). The Jews believed that the Messiah (also called the “Anointed One” or “Christ”) would come as a Divine Warrior like King David, rescue them from Roman oppression, and establish a new earthly Kingdom. As their Jewish King, the Messiah would rule the world with justice (Isaiah 9:6–7). Nonetheless, Jesus’ first coming to earth was not to fulfill the Jewish expectations of a Divine Warrior. Many Jews had overlooked the Old Testament prophecies that also predicted a Messiah as a humble, Suffering Servant (Isaiah). Ultimately rejected and killed, this Suffering Servant came to earth to die for the sins of all humankind.