Who is Jesus?

A friend of mine posted this as their status this week on FaceBook:

"Who do YOU say Jesus is?"

It's an interesting question. If you've been joining us on Wednesday nights over the past couple months, you know that we have been going through the Gospel of John, and in John's own words: "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are 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 20:30-31 ESV)

So as we've studied this book of the Bible, we have seen how purposely the author shows us who Jesus said He was. This last week as we looked primarily at chapters 18 & 19, we saw that Jesus proclaimed to be King.

But not the kind of king the Jews thought He was going to be. And not the kind of king Pilate and the Roman government thought He was going to be. But the kind of King that God had promised since the beginning of time.

A King of authority. A King for all eternity. A King of a spiritual realm that will never pass away. And a King who doesn't need His subjects approval to maintain His power or reign.

He is King no matter what!

And yet He wants us to respond to Him - to who He is...because He wants us to experience the joy and freedom of His kingdom.

Interestingly enough the morning after our study, I was reading Acts 13, and my jaw just about hit the floor. Even though I hadn't looked at this Scripture or even thought about it while preparing Wednesday's message, Paul's words to the people of Antioch almost exactly paralleled what I shared the night before. Even down to referencing many of the same Old Testament scriptures.

And the people Paul was speaking to responded with joy and excitement and humility. And they asked him to come back the next week and share so they could bring their friends and family.

They responded to who Jesus was.

After receiving responses on her FaceBook status, my friend posted here response:

"[Jesus is] God's only son, the only sinless person who took on the sins of the world so that those who confess Him as Lord of their lives would be saved and set free from the bondage of sin from that moment for all eternity. That's my Jesus & He wants to be yours too! Don't wait! Would you stay in jail if someone opened the door & took your place?"

How are you going to respond?