WHO IS JESUS?

HIS NAME IS JESUS.

Who is Jesus? This might be a question you have asked or maybe it is one that you think you know the answer to. In the gospel according to Luke, we begin to get a glimpse at who Jesus was and what God's original plan was all along. The first description we get from the angel Gabriel is "Son of the Most High God". Can you imagine being the Son of God? Those are some pretty large shoes to fill. Luckily, Jesus filled them perfectly, since He is also God. We know this as the Christmas story where the birth of Jesus is laid out. Mary talks to the angel who tells her she is pregnant, even though she is a virgin. Joseph plans on divorcing her but an angel convinces him to stay with Mary. They travel to Bethlehem where Jesus is born in a stable and laid in a manger. Shepherds and wise men come to see the Messiah that had been prophesied about long ago. However, this is only the beginning of the story of Jesus and why He came to this earth. He came to save the whole world and establish His kingdom here on the Earth forever. The cool thing is that you get to be a part of that kingdom if you want to. He died for your sins and rose again, having paid the price for your sins in full. All you must do is believe in Him, and trust that He is your Savior.

"You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end."

-Luke 1:31-33 NIV

All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount. ”Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

-Luke 19: 7-8 NIV

FRIEND OF SINNERS.

Jesus is a friend of sinners. You might have heard this before, but what does it mean? Some people might say that Christians are the most judgmental people they know. How could Jesus be a friend of sinners if Christians aren't friends of sinners? Well, if we look to the Bible we can see that this was a true statement. We have the story of Zacchaeus, a Jewish tax collector who seemed to abuse his power to get himself rich. Yet, Jesus saw him and wanted to have dinner with him and offer salvation. Look in the book of John and we have the woman at the well. A woman who had five husbands and was with a man who was not her husband. Jesus still offered her "living water", even though He knew about her husbands (John 4:1-42). In the book of Mark, we see Jesus call Levi, who was also a tax collector, to be one of His disciples. Here we get an incredible statement from Jesus. "On hearing this, Jesus said to them, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'" (Mark 2:17). He has not come to call the righteous but sinners.

This is good news for us because Paul points out that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). If all of us are sinners, then Jesus came for all of us. He came to save the whole world. He did this by dying on the cross and rising again. Through this act, He has offered salvation to all those who would believe in Him.

KING OF THE UNIVERSE.

Palm Sunday is the day celebrating Jesus's entry into Jerusalem. This was no normal entry though. He came riding in on a donkey with people shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!" and waving palm branches and laying down their cloaks before him. This was no normal entry, this was a party, a celebration. Why though?

If you know a little bit about the Christian faith, you know that Palm Sunday is just a few days before Jesus is crucified. So, why the celebration? The thing is, the people following Jesus did not know that. They thought this was their long awaited King, their Messiah. They thought Jesus was going to save them from the Romans and establish Israel as God's chosen nation and deliver them from their oppression. The problem was that Jesus did not come to Jerusalem to do that. He came to save people from their oppression. However, He came to save the whole world from the oppression of sin. His plan was so much bigger than delivering the Jews from the Romans. He came to defeat the real enemy, Satan.

Jesus coming to Jerusalem was God's plan to defeat sin and death. This plan is woven all throughout the bible. From the fall of man to the Resurrection, this was always the plan. He is the King of the Universe.

"When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

'Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!'

'Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!'' "

-Luke 19: 37-38 NIV

"When he had received the drink, Jesus said, 'It is finished.' With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."

-John 19:30 (NIV)

IT IS FINISHED.

When looking at the story of Jesus, we see that He was a man who spoke with authority, taught with wisdom, was a friend of sinners, healed the sick and broken, and was loved by many. Yet, the same people who claimed He was king on Palm Sunday, would be the same people to yell “Crucify Him” on Friday. He very quickly was not the king that the people wanted. He was condemned even though he had done no wrong. He was the spotless lamb.

You see, all have sinned and fallen short (Romans 3:23). We all have messed up and done things we shouldn’t have done. Even if you are a good person and think that you do all the right things, sin has a place in your heart. That is, until you accept Jesus as your personal Savior. It is finished, Jesus has done what He came to the world to do what He set out to do, which was to save the whole world from sin and death. His sacrifice paid for my sins, your sins, and the rest of the world's sins. All we must do to receive this salvation is to believe in Jesus. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NIV). This is the good news, that we were all once destined for death, but Jesus has offered us a way out. Jesus took the debt we owed and paid for it on the cross! All we must do is believe!

If you want to follow Jesus or don't know how to pray the salvation prayer, we would love for you to contact us. If you're not quite ready to make that decision we would still encourage you to talk to us. It is finished, and we rejoice!