Christ

The world is filled with many claims, and sometimes it is hard to tell truth from error. So how are we to assess the claims of Jesus? The Gospels give you the evidence that you need to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. They invite you to come and see. And as you take an honest look at the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, you will be able to respond to Him with faith.

Suppose you are in an unfamiliar city and you have lost your cell phone. You need to get to a place you have never been before, and you don’t know how to get there. There are two ways in which you might proceed.

First, you could ask for directions. Someone might tell you that you need to catch the number 29 bus, get off at the second stop past the old cement works, take the third street on the left, go over the bridge, across the field, through the underpass, and then it’s on your right.

A second approach would be to take a taxi. You would ask the driver to take you to your destination, and you would get in.

Now suppose, in the first case, that just after you get on the bus, the man who gave you the instructions has a heart attack and dies. This sad event will not hinder your journey because you already have the instructions.

But suppose you are in the taxi, and just as you are going past the old cement works, the driver has a heart attack and dies. Now you are completely stuck. You do not know the way to your destination, and the person you trusted is unable to take you there.

The heart of Christianity lies not in a set of instructions, but in the ability of Jesus to take us to heaven. It is not the teaching of the New Testament that will save you; it is Jesus Christ who will save you. Christianity stands or falls with the ability of Jesus to do what He promised.

Jesus tells us that He can bring us to the Father, and when, like the taxi driver, He invites us to “get in,” we face a decision: Am I ready to stake my destiny on Him?

You Are the Jury

The Gospel of John was written “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).

Imagine that you are on a jury in a court of law. The apostle John wants to present you with certain evidence, and when he is finished, he will be looking for you to give a verdict.

John is not trying to intimidate you, nor is he playing on your emotions. He is presenting you with the evidence that he has seen and heard as a direct witness of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. All he asks is that you hear the evidence. “Come and see” (John 1:46).

Jesus Is the Christ

If you were asked to summarize the core of the Christian faith in one sentence, what would you say? John boils the essence of the faith down to just four words: “Jesus is the Christ” (20:31). So it is important for us to know what the name Christ means. We know that our Lord was given the birth name of Jesus, so why do we call Him Jesus Christ?

Our English word Christ comes from the Greek word Christos, which means “Messiah” or “Anointed One.” Christ is a title referring to the promised one, who would be anointed by God. And a quick review of the people who were anointed in the Old Testament will help us to understand its significance.

Throughout the Bible story, God reveals Himself so that we may know Him, He reconciles us to Himself so that we come to Him, and He rules over the world so that His purposes may be fulfilled. In the Old Testament, certain people were “anointed” as a sign that God would use them in one of these ways—they were prophets, priests, and kings.

As the Old Testament story progressed, there was a growing expectation that one day God would send an anointed one par excellence into the world. But since God’s anointed one could be a prophet, priest, or king, it is easy to understand how different expectations developed regarding the Messiah. Some thought He would be a prophet, calling people to righteousness. Others were looking for a priest who would restore authentic worship. And others were convinced that the Messiah would be a freedom fighter who would lead a political uprising and deliver God’s people from the oppression of the Roman Empire.

But when Jesus Christ came into the world, He fulfilled not one, but all the Old Testament offices. God the Father said to His Son, “You go and be their prophet. You go and be their priest. You go and be their king.” Jesus Christ is God’s anointed one, and John lays out the evidence to show us that He is the one who reveals the truth of God, reconciles men and women to God, and triumphs over the enemies of God.

Examine the Evidence

John sets out the evidence that Jesus is the Christ. He is the prophet who knows the secrets of every heart and life. He knew the hidden truth about a Samaritan woman. Having met with Jesus, she said to her friends, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did” (John 4:29). But Jesus is more than a prophet. When the woman said, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called the Christ)” (4:25), Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he” (4:26).

Jesus is the priest who lays down His life as a sacrifice for our sins. John the Baptist identified Jesus as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (1:29). But Jesus is more than a priest. When Andrew, one of John’s disciples, began to follow Jesus, he told his brother Peter, “‘We have found the Messiah’ (which means Christ)” (1:41).

Jesus is the king who delivers us from our enemies. One day He came to the tomb of Lazarus, who had died four days earlier. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25), and He asked the dead man’s sister if she believed this. “Yes, Lord,” she said, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world” (11:27). Jesus “cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out’” (11:43). And Lazarus “who had died came out” (11:44). Jesus is the king who can deliver us from the tyranny of death and hell.

When we know that Jesus is prophet, priest, and king, we will understand what it means to have faith in Him. So believing in Jesus means that we trust what He says as prophet and take His Word as truth. It means that we trust Him as priest to bring us into the presence of God. It means that we submit ourselves to Him as king, to live under His authority and rule.

Abundant Life

When you believe that Jesus is the Christ, your life will be completely different. By believing you will have “life in his name” (20:31). Jesus spoke about an abundant life that He alone can give: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (10:10). What does that mean?

At the beginning of the Bible story, Adam and Eve enjoyed a life free from fear and frustration. They pursued meaningful work in beautiful surroundings. But most of all, they enjoyed the presence and companionship of God who walked with them in the garden. They had abundant life, but they lost it. And we have never known what they enjoyed.

Jesus came to deliver us from this fallen world with all its disease, danger, disasters, and death, and to bring us into an abundant life that begins now and will continue forever. It is by believing in Jesus that we have this life in His name.

Something Magnificent

Some time ago, Karen and I had the opportunity of hearing the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with a guest soloist. They were playing Tchaikovsky, and it was magnificent.

The soloist played as if his bow would set his violin on fire, and at the end, the audience rose in a standing ovation. It was irresistible. The applause went on and on, and when it would not subside, the soloist raised his violin and treated us to an encore. That brought the house down.

When we went out for the intermission, our spirits were raised high, and the audience was buzzing with delight. But in the foyer an old man seemed upset by the encore. As we walked by, I heard him say, “I’ve been coming here for thirty years, and I have never seen that before. I don’t like it,” he said. “I can’t see any reason for it!”

I had to restrain myself. Here was a man who had been in the presence of something magnificent, which had lifted hundreds of other people around him, and he saw nothing out of the ordinary. What was wrong with the man?

As we have journeyed through the Gospels, we have been in the presence of something truly magnificent. We have seen the breathtaking sweep of God’s plan in which the Son of God took our flesh, faced our enemy, laid down His life as a sacrifice, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven—so that we may be brought into everlasting life through faith in His name.

Nothing would be more tragic than for someone to be confronted with the claims of Christ and the offer of the gospel and to go away as if he or she had not heard anything out of the ordinary. The Gospels were written “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (20:31).

Opened

The name Christ means “Messiah,” or “Anointed One.” In the Old Testament, God anointed prophets, priests, and kings to advance His purposes in the world. They pointed forward to One who would fulfill what they could only illustrate.

The Gospels give us the evidence that Jesus is the Christ and show us how He uniquely fulfills the ancient roles of prophet, priest, and king. The centerpiece of history is that God took human flesh in the person of Jesus, and it is through Him that all the promises of God are fulfilled.