Was Jesus really who he said he was?

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1There are a few different theories out there about who Jesus was—a good teacher, a random middle-eastern bloke, some kind of supernatural preacher . . .

Probably the most popular theory is that Jesus was just a good guy trying to do the right thing. The problem is, when we look at what he actually said, there is no way he can be simply a ‘good’ person.

Imagine a maths teacher telling his class “2+2=6”. Now, he can’t be a good teacher! He’s either ‘in charge’ of the whole of maths in the universe, so can change to rules. Or he’s trying to trick his class. Or he’s making a really bad mistake. This is the same choice we are faced with when it comes to Jesus, but with much higher stakes.

Jesus said something much more controversial than “2+2=6”. He called himself God! What? How would you react if some bloke told you he was God? You definitely wouldn’t say he was good. Mad, maybe—but not good!

Because Jesus clearly said he was God, we are left with three choices about him. He’s either:

  • A liar who deliberately tried to trick people into following him.
  • A loony who needed to be put in a padded cell.
  • God himself who we need to pay attention to!

The thing is, Jesus wasn’t just all talk. He backed up his claim by healing people, controlling the weather and bringing dead people back to life! Jesus showed he really is in charge of our world and everything in it, including life and death.

He even told his followers that he would die and come back to life after three days . . . and that’s exactly what happened! He was put to death on a cross (we remember that at Easter on Good Friday) and he walked out of his grave three days later. There’s loads of eye-witness evidence to show that it’s true. Only God can do that!

So we can’t just ignore him. We need to read about him in the Bible and make our own decision—do we believe Jesus is God or not? If he really is God, it changes everything; we need to pay attention to what he said and did while he was on earth.

— Chris, an Our Daily Bread reader

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