W ho is J esus ?
will come again someday to judge the sin of the world and to establish an eternity of righteousness. One Solitary Life. This famous but anonymous piece summarizes the importance of Jesus and His great impact on our world in the last two thousand years: He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in still another village, where he worked in a carpenter’s shop until he was thirty. Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a house. He did not go to college. He never visited a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things one usually associates with greatness. He had no credentials but himself. He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Nineteen centuries [and now, nearly twenty] I have come and gone, and today he remains the central figure of the human race, and the leader of mankind’s progress. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this planet so much as that one solitary life.
This is an amazing tribute. It seems overstated, to claim that one person could have a greater impact on this world than the combined armies, navies, parliaments, and kings of history. Yet, I believe that when the truth about Jesus is known and understood this statement is altogether appropriate and true.
Speed Bump! Slow down long enough to be sure you’ve gotten the main points of this chapter.
Q1. What do you mean when you say “Jesus”? A1. Jesus of Nazareth is the divine Son of God, the second member of the Trinity, and the Savior of humankind. Q2. Why believe Jesus was God? A2. We believe Jesus was God because the Scriptures declare Him to be God, and His words and works prove Him to be God. 23
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