Jesus -- Who He Really Is!

I'm convinced that people who don't follow Jesus Christ with their whole hearts or people who even ignore, reject, or totally run from God, just don't understand who he really is. If you'll give me a minute and keep on reading, I'll introduce you.

Many people have false impressions of God -- that he's distant, angry, judgmental, hateful, aloof, impersonal, powerless, vindictive, or narrow-minded. Others think that God is whatever we humans make him (or her!). Nothing could be farther from the Truth. God has revealed himself to us very specifically in a Book and in the flesh. He is loving, personal, close, slow to anger, accepting, and available. The Creator of everything that is, who lives somewhere called "heaven" that we couldn't possibly see or reach from here, decided to come to earth, become a man, taste humanity, show himself to us. He was born in a little town, and his Jewish mother named him Yeshua, Hebrew for "Salvation" -- in English, "Jesus."

Who is Jesus? He has been called many things: teacher, brother, friend, wine-bibber, blasphemer, Lord, healer, son of man, son of God. He is God in the flesh. He is God's face. He ruffled the feathers of the "religious," and he reached out to prostitutes, lepers, paralyzed, crooked tax-collectors, lowly fishermen, and little children. Yet he is also fully human. He lived a human life, filled with human emotions and human struggles, but with the character of God. He never once messed up. He stayed pure in every

circumstance. None of us can say that. We are fully human, yes, but far from divine. We swear at our spouses, we lie to our bosses, we make selfish decisions. All of us, if we're honest, can admit that at least once in our lives we have done something that could be called a "sin."

Now God is NOT on a throne somewhere with a holy zapper, looking for people he can strike with lightning to punish them for their sins. He is NOT against you; he is FOR you. The LAST THING ON EARTH he wants to do is punish you for your sins. But, as most of us intrinsically know, sins do require a punishment. If a little boy hits his sister, he needs to be punished somehow. The punishment for human sin... is death.

Whoah, whoah, whoah, Jerome. You said God wasn't going to zap me, now you're saying I deserve to die?!! Yes. We all, as sinners, deserve to die. The very first humans Adam and Eve chose to go against what God told them (a.k.a. sin), and b/c of that, they brought evil and death into the world. The good part is coming, so stick with me, but please think on this. You, me, all of us, have sinned against a holy God. This is not a pretty or politically correct concept. We have chosen our own evil way (selfishness, pride, lust, unkindness, bitterness, deceit, etc.) instead of God's good way (selflessness, humility, love, kindness, forgiveness, truth, etc.). According to God's laws of the universe, we must be punished. The punishment is eternal (forever) separation from God in a very real place called hell.

But the GOOD NEWS, the wonderful, beautiful, life-saving news is... that JESUS came. God didn't want to punish us. He didn't want to live forever without us. He didn't want a single person that he created and loves to go to hell. He provided a way for our sins to be punished (b/c he is justice) without US having to endure punishment (b/c he is mercy and love). He decided to take our punishment for us. He would die our death. He would make the ultimate sacrifice and put all of our sins on himself, in the person of Jesus Christ. So God allowed his son, his flesh, himself to be murdered by evil men, to be crucified on a cross. To save us. Who is Jesus? The Savior. And three days after his death, he became the Risen Lord. Jesus, the man, did something only the all-powerful God could do. He beat death. He came back to life after three days of being in the grave. He beat death for you and me. The power that rose Jesus from the dead is available to cleanse us from our sins, to forgive us, to heal us.

So the deal is done. The payment has been made. The plans have been made for you to have an AWESOME relationship with the one true God. But one element remains: faith. You must believe. Believing is your part of the equation. God will not force his payment or plans on you. He wants you to choose him with your own free will. "As many as receive him, to them he gave the power to become sons of God." (John 1:9) Receiving is the power that makes this all possible in your life. Many know that Jesus died, many even believe it academically or historically. But will you RECEIVE this payment, this act of love, from Almighty God?

Will you drop your pride and admit that you are a sinner and cannot reach God alone? Will you believe that God loved you so much that he made a way in the death of his flesh and blood Jesus Christ? Will you call out to him with a simple prayer of faith: "God, I am a sinner. I can never reach you no matter how hard I try. Thank you for loving me and for allowing your son to die for me. I believe in him and receive him now to forgive me and take control of my life, so that I may have a relationship with you."

If you just now received the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time, you have opened the door to a new life. Jesus called it an "abundant life." The devil will come against you to say that nothing happened, or that this can't be true, etc. Just like you can speak to God at any time; when negative thoughts come, you can speak to the devil and tell him to leave you alone in the name of Jesus. The next steps in your "new life" as a believer and follower of Jesus, is to find a Bible and start reading it on a daily basis. The books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John are a good place to start. The Bible is God's Word, and it is his way of speaking to you and telling you the truth. Also, please find a church where you can meet other believers who can help encourage you in your new faith. My wife and I attend Baruch Hashem Synagogue here in Dallas, a really neat place for Jewish and non-Jewish believers to worship together with an emphasis on the Jewish identity of Jesus and the Jewish history of our faith, but there are many good churches. Keep praying and visiting different ones until you find the one that brings peace to your heart.

I'd love to talk with you more about this topic. Feel free to contact me! If you would like to know more about my purpose and vision for acting and how you can support it, click here.

There is SO MUCH to say about who the Lord really is. Many many books have been written on this topic. But at the simplest level: He is good. Knowing everything he has done and wants to do for you, I do not know how you could purposefully choose not to love him back.

Jesus answered, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." -John 14:6