Not everyone in Jesus’ day thought He was Who He claimed to be, and it’s the same today. Many thought then that He was nothing more than a nobody, and many feel the same today. Many thought He was an evil man, and many feel the same today. Many thought He was irrelevant to the times, and many feel the same today. Many were unaffected by His words, and many feel His words are meaningless today. In His time on earth Jesus was thought of as nothing more than…….
- A lowly carpenter – (Mark 6:3)
- The son of Joseph – (John 6:42)
- A sinner – (John 9:24)
- An illegitimate child – (John 8:41)
- A devil – (Matthew 12:24)
- A mad man – (John 10:20)
- A fool and the object of contempt and scorn – (Matthew 27:38-43)
- Average – even His brothers had harsh things to say about Jesus – (John 7:3-5)
- If they said these things about Jesus then, what are they saying about Him now?
Here is what a few people in our are saying about Jesus today…..
- The Jehovah’s Witnesses – “Michael the Archangel is no other than the only begotten Son of God, now Jesus Christ.” (New Heavens and New Earth, pp, 30-31)
- The Mormons – “…Jesus, our elder brother was begotten in the flesh by the same character that was in the garden of Eden, and who is our father in Heaven.” (Journal of Discourses; Vol. 1, pp. 50-51.) “…that Lucifer the son of the morning is our elder brother, and the brother of Jesus.” (Apostle B. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, pp. 163-164.) “Jesus was married at Cana of Galilee and had many wives, including Mary and Martha, he also had man children.” (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, pp. 345-346; Vol. 2, pp. 79-82; Vol. 4, pp. 259-260; The Seer, p. 172). Jesus was the first baby born to God in Heaven, when God, in a physical body, had sexual intercourse with Mary, His Own daughter. He is the spirit brother of Lucifer
- Islam – “Jesus was no more than a mortal whom Allah favored and made and example to the Israelites. They are unbelievers who say God is Messiah, Mary’s son.” (Sura 43:59) Jesus was a prophet, but He was not crucified on a cross. He will return, but He is not God
- The Hindu – Jesus is just one of millions of gods
- The Jewish Talmud – Jewish writings that detail how Jews are to live their lives, has the following things to say about Jesus. “She who was the descendant of princes and governors played the harlot with carpenters.” (Sanhedrin, 106a) “Miriam (Mary) the hairdresser had sexual relations with many men.”, (Shabbeth 104b) “Jesus was executed because He practiced Sorcery”, (Sanhedrin 43a) “Jesus is in Hell being boiled in hot excrement.” (Giffin 57a) The Jewish Encyclopedia pictures Jesus as “blind in one eye and lame in one foot”
All people and groups have ideas about Jesus but many they are not biblical ideas founded and based in the words of God…..
- C.S. Lewis once said, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg – or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.”
Here is the ultimate question asked by the WORD (Jesus Christ Himself) to His disciples, and now to you…..”Who do you say I am? Your answer determines you eternal destiny.