The Identity of Jesus

Chances are you know a lot of facts about Jesus and might have memorized Bible verses describing Him. But do you really know him? If someone asked you, “Who is Jesus, and what did He do?” could you answer? Or what about this one: “Why do you follow Him?”

Many of us know the sweet lyrics to the hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”:

What a friend we have in Jesus

All our sins and griefs to bear

And what a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer.[i]

What does it mean that Jesus is our friend? How do we view Him as an authority, a king, but also someone who comes alongside and meets us where we are? This tension is what made Jesus’ statement in John 15:15 so powerful: He doesn’t think of us as servants but as friends.

Jesus’ friendship is a comforting reality, but he’s not a yes-man kind of friend. He’s not going to let us make Him small. He is, after all, the Alpha and the Omega . . . the Beginning and the End (Revelation 22:13). He is the image of the invisible God, and the firstborn over all creation (Colossians 1:15). The fact Jesus calls us friends is not a statement about us and our worthiness but a statement about Him and His grace.

And that brings us to the main point: we can’t effectively trust Jesus and walk with Him if we don’t know who He is. You might know He lived, died, and rose again. But do you know what He said about His deity? What does it mean that He is both God and man? (That’s a little crazy if we’re being honest!) How about His death on the cross—how exactly does that “save” us? And where did He go after that? What’s He doing “on high” with God?

This week I’ll endeavor to give you a high-level overview of the who, what, and why of the theology of Christ. This includes prophecies about Him, as well as His preexistence, humanity, deity, death, and resurrection.

Respond

Describe Jesus as if writing a letter to a friend who is about to meet Him for the first time. What would you say about Him?

[i] “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” Joseph Medlicott Scriven (1855), hymnary.org