Which Jesus?

We often hear people say, "I believe in Jesus" or "You need Jesus in your life." Christians will, correctly, proclaim, "Jesus is the only way to Heaven." However, does anybody ever ask the question, "Which Jesus?" Depending on who you ask, you will get many different answers. Answers like:

• Jesus is not God, but He was a man who lived a perfect life. That before He lived on earth He was Michael, the archangel.
• God the Father exalted Jesus to be His Son, thus provoking Lucifer's jealousy and a war in heaven. 
• Jesus was not God, not the Son of God and not crucified or resurrected. 
• Jesus is either an extremist false messiah or a good, but martyred Jewish rabbi.
• Jesus is just an enlightened teacher, but not God.
• Jesus is a teacher or guru and is a son of God like others.
• Jesus is not uniquely God, didn't suffer and couldn't suffer for people's sins.

These are just a few of the beliefs floating around out there about Jesus Christ. But, how many people know the true Jesus in order to navigate through all of these false messages? The only way to know what the truth is about Jesus is to not only know Him as your God and Savior, but to know what His Word says about Him. 

So when others say, "Jesus was not God," you can say, Jesus said, "I and the Father are one (John 10:30)."  When others say, "Jesus was created by God," you can say, Jesus said, "Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began (John 17:5)." When others say, "Jesus is not the only son of God, " you can say, Jesus said, "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)." When others say, "Jesus was a great prophet, but not God, " you can say, "'In His defense, Jesus said to them, 'My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.' For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God (John 5:17-18)." The key to all of this is to build your thinking from the Bible and what it says about who Jesus is. 

Therefore, you will know the answer to the question, "Which Jesus?" 

Jesus is God, the second person of the Trinity (John 1:1). As God the Son, he has always existed and was never created (Isaiah 9:6). He is fully God and fully man (John 1:14). As the second person of the Trinity, He is coequal with God the Father and the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 9:6). In becoming man, he was begotten through the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary (Matthew 1:23). Jesus is the only way to the Father, salvation, and eternal life (John 14:6). He died on a cross according to God's plan, as the full sacrifice and payment for our sins (Acts 2:23). He rose from the dead on the third day (Matthew 12:40). For the next 40 days He was seen by more than 500 eye-witnesses (Acts 1:3). His wounds were touched and he ate meals (John 20:28). He physically ascended to heaven (Acts 1:9). Jesus will come again visibly and physically at the end of the world to establish God's kingdom and judge the world  (Acts 1:11).

That's "which Jesus". My God and Savior!