Jesus the Jew
Jesus was born in Bethlehem into Judaism at 4BC. Jesus was then brought up in the ways of the ancient order of things (the Old Testament) named, circumcised and redeemed on the 8th day according to the law of Moses. Each year Jesus and His family traveled to the temple for the Festival of the Passover, once when He was 12, He stayed back in the Temple Courts to ask questions and answer the teachers of the Law (Luke 2:41).
According to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, she could tell in her first interaction with Jesus that he was a Jew. “The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans).” Josephus, a Jewish Historian, wrote about Jesus in 93 AD in the Antiquities of the Jews, He says this, “About this time came Jesus, a wise man, if indeed it is appropriate to call him a man. For he was a performer of paradoxical feats, a teacher of people who accept the unusual with pleasure, and he won over many of the Jews and also many Greeks.” Jesus is also mentioned by Mara bar Sarapion, a Syrian Stoic in ~73AD. Again He is mentioned in the Jewish Talmud between 70-200AD, and by Suetonius, a Roman Historian in 120AD along with many other historians. Jesus is not a folktale or a legend. He was and is a real man in history that walked this Earth in Israel between 4BC and 29AD!
Jesus the Prophet
During the short conversation with Jesus at the well, the Samaritan woman realized, Jesus was no ordinary man. “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet” John 4:19
Of course, this was no new information, as Moses spoke about a Jew that would be the prophet God Himself raises up: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.” Deuteronomy 18:18-19. The crowds also saw Jesus as the Prophet, “The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” Matthew 21:11. <b?Acts 3:17-23 the Apostles help us understand that Jesus is this prophet! And the most compelling is Jesus taught the people with authority and claimed to be the prophet (Mark 1:22, Matthew 13:57)!
Jesus the Messiah
“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing.” Daniel 9:25-26. According to the Prophet Daniel, the Anointed One (the Messiah) would come in sixty-nine ‘sevens, from the call to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. It is recorded by Prophet Ezra 7:12-26 that Artaxerxes I (Longimanus) gave this decree in the seventh year of his reign at 457BC. A Prophets ‘seven’ is to be seven years (Genesis 41:29), so the Messiah would come in 483 years (7×69) from 457BC. Interesting, Jesus is born during Herods last year alive (4BC) and begins his ministry when he is in his 30’s (Luke 3:23). That would mean Jesus is talking with the Samaritan woman at 26AD, “The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” John 4:25-26. Exactly 483 years after the “word [went] out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem” Jesus claims to be the Messiah!
Jesus the High Priest
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” Hebrews 4:15
“Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was. In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.” And he says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 5:1-10
“Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” Hebrews 7:27
Jesus was appointed by God to be our High Priest. ‘Priest’ can be translated as one who offers sacrifice to God as well as a bridge builder. Since Jesus is the Messiah, He is the ultimate sacrifice and builds a bridge between God and a lost world; He is the High Priest of all mankind! Consider what the prophet Isaiah said in chapter 53 about the sacrifice God would give for the sins of the world, along with the Acts 8:26-39 claiming Jesus is the fulfillment of the “Suffering Servant!”
Jesus the Son of God the Lord of Lords and Kings of Kings
“Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.” Luke 4:41
“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” Acts 2:22-24
Jesus said that He would be flogged and killed but then rise from the dead on the third day (Mark 10:33-34), this He did by the power of God, as Jesus physically rose from the dead! Jesus is not a liar when He said He is the Son of God (John 19:7), He is the Son of Man mentioned in Daniel, He is the Messiah, the Anointed One, He is the High Priest, He is the Son of God! Jesus is not a liar, everything He said has come true. He is not a lunatic, He is the greatest moral teacher to ever live. Jesus is Lord! He is the Son of God and all authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Him (Matthew 28:18-20)!
Now what are we to do? We fight to fulfill Jesus’ Great Commision to evangelize the world in our generation! This means that every Christian needs to be a Disciple the way Jesus teaches. That EVERY Disciple is a Disciple maker, and EVERY Disciple is focused on seeking and saving the lost. We cannot pay a preacher to perform our Christianity, We must preach that Jesus is the Son of God (Acts 9:20), we must be apart of a worldwide movement bent on conquest to see this wold evangelized in our generation! Remember the words Paul shares with Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:12-16.
“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.” To God be the Glory!
Love,
Coltin L Rohn