Who you think Jesus is has a profound effect on:
- How you live
- What you value
- How you behave day to day
Defining Jesus has been the cause of centuries of wars and political debate.
When we seek to define Him by our own understandings, we run the risk of making Jesus into our own image of Him.
Sit with that for a moment.
When We Get It Wrong
We wouldn’t be the first to misunderstand Jesus.
In fact, many people who encountered Him firsthand got it wrong.
There were those who believed the Messiah would be a militant leader, someone who would overthrow oppressive governments and restore political power to Israel. Judas himself seemed to expect this kind of kingdom.
They weren’t wrong that Jesus was the Messiah.
But they were wrong about how He would save.
Jesus didn’t come to conquer Rome.
He came to conquer sin and death.
Even Peter, one of Jesus’ closest followers, struggled to understand this.
At one point, Jesus said to him:
“Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
— Matthew 16:23
Listening to Who Jesus Says He Is
Jesus often referred to Himself as the Son of Man, a title rooted in prophecy from Daniel:
“As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal, it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.”
— Daniel 7:13–14
This reveals something powerful about His identity:
- He is fully human
- He is fully divine
- He holds authority over a kingdom that will never end
A Different Kind of Kingdom
“His kingdom will never be destroyed.”
Did you catch that?
What the Israelites understood about the coming Messiah didn’t match their expectations of the Jesus they were experiencing in real time.
It is understandable that an oppressed people undergoing brutal occupation would hope their oppressors would be annihilated.
But here’s the thing, what most people missed about Jesus because of their expectations, He made up for by sticking to His mission.
For Jesus, it was never about defeating and establishing an earthly empire.
It was about establishing God’s eternal Kingdom, on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Not our understanding of government, might, and power, but His original creation where death and sin did not exist.
Restoring Eden.
Only Jesus could experience and conquer death as the Son of Man, so that we would not have to pay the price for our own sins.
He is the only one who could defeat death and be resurrected from it.
Because of Him, through our belief in Him, we can now all experience that resurrection power.
So… Who Is Jesus to You?
Like Jesus told Peter on that day in Gethsemane:
“Put away your sword.”
“Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and He would send them instantly? But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?
…But this is all happening to fulfill the words of the prophets as recorded in the Scriptures.”
— Matthew 26:53–54, 56
Jesus knew His mission.
He knew His identity.
And He trusted His Father enough to stay the course for our sakes.
The question is…
Who is Jesus to you?
This season, weigh your image of Christ against His truth and identity.
Are they the same?