Who is Jesus? There aren’t enough words in any language to describe Him. There aren’t enough writers, enough poets, enough composers to begin to describe who He is or how wonderful He is or the many, many facets of His life, His death, His ministry.
All attempts to define Him will fall short of Who He is, for how can the finite explain the infinite? How can mortality explain immortality? How can man describe the God who created him?
But He is the One we all need.
All men find in Him their true north, their center.
He is what we all want to be; He is all we can be.
He was high and lifted up, and He was meek and lowly.
He is the Christ of theological study, and He is known in the crush and press of life.
He is the greatest of personalities in the annals of recorded history, yet He keeps company with the outcast and downtrodden.
He is the Christ of the ages and the Christ of today.
Wise men seek Him, minstrels sing about Him, artists depict Him, teachers explain Him, scholars study Him, poets frame Him in a song.
He is as eternal as the ages and as contemporary as today.
He is the Sweetest of the sweet and the Fairest of the fair.
Who is Jesus?
He created the oceans, streams, lakes and rivers, yet He said “I Thirst.”
He created the sun, moon, and stars, yet He said “I am the light of the world.”
He is the Creator of worlds, but able to receive little children to Himself.
He spoke the world into existence, but before His accusers He opened not His mouth.
Who is Jesus?
He inhabited the ivory palaces, but was born in a barn.
He was warmed on that cold night by the misty breath of cattle and oxen.
His crib was an animals’ feeding trough.
Wise men came from afar bearing HIm gifts, but humble shepherds came from a nearby field with nothing in their hands.
Who is Jesus?
He grew up as a Root out of Dry Ground, but He is worshipped and adored by countless millions.
He fasted alone in the desert, yet fed thousands with a few loaves and some small fishes.
He called to men and they left everything to follow Him.
He never went beyond the confines of His country, yet He is known around the globe.
He claimed to be God, and lived among men as one of them.
He condemned sin in the flesh, yet welcomed the wandering son back home.
He preached on the mountain and prayed in the garden.
He accepted those who others had cast out. He touched and healed those who others had called unclean.
He spoke of simple things – the fowls of the air, the lilies of the field, a grain of mustard seed.
He railed at the hypocrites, the money changers, and the self-righteous, but had only words of comfort for a self-acknowledged sinner on a cross.
He spoke of His Kingdom and said it is come.
He fed multitudes. He walked on water. He raised the dead.
His pulpit was a mountain, a field, a boat.
Wise men paid Him homage, religious men scorned Him, ordinary men followed Him.
He was baptized in water, straitened in suffering, bathed in blood.
He spoke against sin and evil, yet He was called a glutton and a winebibber.
He condemned pharisaical righteousness yet wrote in the sand and saved an adulteress from those who would stone her.
He prepared a place for all men, but He had nowhere to lay His head.
It was never recorded that He was sick, or worried, or scared, or hopeless, or fearful, or thoughtless, or rude. Yet His love inspired hate, His miracles evoked malice, His healings elicited hatred.
Who is Jesus?
He traded a robe of glory for swaddling clothes. He traded the seamless robe for the purple robe of mockery. He traded a crown of glory for a crown of thorns. He traded majesty and divinity for scorn and mockery. He traded a throne for a cross.
He was betrayed by one of His disciples, forsaken by the rest.
He carried His own cross. He gave His back to the smiters. He opened His hands to receive the nails. No man took His life – He willingly laid it down.
He was transfigured on the mountain, disfigured on the cross.
He called Zacchaeus down from a tree, but would not Himself come down from the tree where they nailed Him.
He was a Carpenter who built a bridge with a hammer and three nails.
He healed sickness and forgave sins, but took all our sin on sickness upon Himself on the tree.
He did not free Himself from death on the cross, but broke the bands of death when He rose from the dead.
He was rejected that we might be accepted. He was bound that we might be free. He was oppressed that we might be set at liberty. He was afflicted that we might be comforted. He was despised that we might be loved. He was bruised that we might be made whole. He was put to grief that we might be brought in.
Who is Jesus?
He cheated death of its power by rising from the dead.
He left empty the manger, the cross and the tomb. He lives forever to fill the hearts and souls of those who will receive Him.
You can point to His tomb but not to His body, for He’s no longer there.
Death could not keep Him, the grave could not hold Him, darkness could not claim Him.
The empty tomb continues to give hope to those without hope. The risen Christ at God’s right hand continues to be the Friend of those who have no friends.
Who is Jesus?
He was the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Son of David.
He is the Way, the Truth, the Life.
He is the First and the Last, the complete revelation of God.
He is the Good Shepherd and the Lamb of God.
He is the Rock of Ages and the Stone That The Builders Rejected.
He is the Wonderful Counselor, the Prince of Peace, the Altogether Lovely One.
He was the King of kings, yet He fellowshipped with sinners.
He was a Prophet, a Priest, a King; a Shepherd, a Teacher, a Healer.
He was the King of the Jews. Today He is the monarch of millions.
He is the Vine, the Branch, a Root out of Dry Ground – the Tree of Life.
He is the magnificent, the wonderful, the ineffable Son of God.
He is the High and Holy One, the Avenger of Wrongs, the Way, Truth and Life.
He is the One at God’s right hand.
He is the King of angels and the Servant of all.
He is very God of very God, but so much like you and me.
He is Living Water, He is the Bread of Life.
His love is better than the finest of wines. He is honey in the rock.
He wrote no books, but He is the Author and Finisher of our faith.
He never led an army, but He is the Captain of the Lord’s Host and a Man of War.
He never built a building, but He makes His home in the souls of men.
He never asked a dime, but He is the riches of glory of God.
Who is Jesus?
He was poor but He made many rich. He became weak that we might be strong. He died that men might live. He lives that men might not die. He lives forever that we might follow in His train.
He confounds wise men but is known and loved by little children.
His is the only name among religious figures that men use as a curse, but millions whisper that name lovingly, adoringly every day.
His name is cursed by men every day, but no unkind word ever left His lips.
Other great men have amassed fortunes, founded global enterprises, governed countries, commanded armies. He did none of these things. He came, He lived, He died, He rose from the dead.
Other religious leaders left a series of steps, of things to do, of teachings to follow. He did none of those things. He was His own message.
He is as strong as an oak tree and as tender as a mother’s love.
He is studied about in seminaries, but ordinary men and women in villages and hamlets across the globe talk with Him on a daily basis.
He claimed to be the Son of God and the Savior of the World, but He left no written record, no compilation of what should be believed and done. Instead, He left His entire enterprise in the shaky hands of a few stumbling, bumbling men who were more adept at fishing and tax collecting than they were at running a religion. It had to be thus, for His impact is in His Person, not in a creed. Those men, later filled and empowered from on high, were accurate to present His cause as Himself and not a set of beliefs or steps to take to a fuller life. His message, His proposal, His Kingdom, were just that – Himself. “I am the Way, I am the Truth, I am the Life.”
Who is Jesus?
Only He can tell the honor of His name. Open wide your heart and listen. He will share with you the glories of His Person and the Wonders of His Love.
