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Show Us Jesus

Who is Jesus? Muslims acknowledge him as a prophet. Hindus and Buddhists regard him as a holy man and divine model. Secular humanists respect him as a moral teacher. But is this all Jesus is?

Truly, what separates Christianity from every other religious system or way of life is what it says about Jesus. There is no more important question than this: who do we say Jesus is? Fortunately, we have the words of the man himself and those of his earliest followers, so we don’t have to look any further than the Bible to find our answer. 

Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” (Matt. 16:16). And he did not just become God’s Son when he was born; he was and is eternally so! He was God’s Son before he was human: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth,” (John 1:1, 14). As the eternal Son of God, Jesus shows us what the Father is like: “The Son is the image of the invisible God,” and he is “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being,” (Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3). To see Jesus is to see the Father (John 14:9). Jesus is Lord just because of who he is — the Son of God. 

But He is also Lord because of what he has done. Eternally existent as the Son, he partnered with God the Father in creation: “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth,” and “All things have been created through him and for him,” (Colossians 1:16). Not only was he God’s instrument of creation, but he became like a created one himself. He assumed human flesh and became a man. He identified with humanity in life, and then stood in proxy for humanity in death, being slain like a lamb on a Roman execution cross. The eternal Son of God died like a criminal. Why did Jesus endure such dishonor? It was because “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many,” (Mark 10:45). He endured the cross and died to destroy our sin, identify with our suffering, and redeem us from death unto a glorious, abundant, and eternal life knowing the Father and Jesus Christ, the sent one (John 17:3). 

Jesus died for us, yet it was not possible for him to stay dead (Acts 2:24). In power and glory, he rose! After his resurrection and before his ascension back to heaven, Jesus told his disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” (Matt. 28:18). The one who made heaven and earth now asserts full control over what he created by his word and recovered by his blood. 

Who else could be lord of all when Jesus is creator of all? Who else could be savior when Jesus shed his own blood for the sin of the world?  Who else could be the ruler of the kings of the earth when the only begotten Son of God became human? There is only one worthy: it’s Jesus! Can you see him?

May the ancient creed of the early Church become our most earnest cry: JESUS IS LORD. The more we behold him, the more we will become like him. And the more like him we become, the more we can be used by God to show Jesus to the world.

Listen to the song wherever you find music!