Alpha Session 1 - Who is Jesus?

Who is Jesus?

Historical Facts about Jesus

These are facts that everyone agrees on, historians, not just Christians.

1. We know he was a Jewish Man born in Bethlehem about 2000 years ago.
2. Famous as great teacher and miracle worker
3. He was crucified by the Roman Authorities.
4. His followers believed He was the Son of God and he rose from the dead and he took the good news throughout the world.

Jesus was fully Human

Jesus was fully human. He had a body, emotions and experiences just like ours.

• Jesus was tempted in the desert.
• He was hungry after 40 days.
• He was angry when people were doing evil things in the name of God.
• He was sad and cried when his friend died.

Let’s look at What he said about himself

1. “I AM” the bread of life: People are hungry for significance.’ Jesus said: “I am the bread of life.” In other words, `If you want that spiritual hunger satisfied, come to me.
2. “I AM” the light of the world: Many people are depressed, disillusioned, in despair—they’re in a dark place. Jesus said: “I’m the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
3. “I AM” the resurrection and the life: Mother Teresa was asked before she died: `Are you at all afraid of dying?’ And she said, `How can I be? Dying is going home to God. I've never been afraid. No, on the contrary,’ she said, `I'm really looking forward to it!’
4. “I AM” the truth: The world has been confused. We think if we have the latest phone and the best clothes, we’ll be happy. But when we get it, strangely…we’re still empty. Jesus said: “I'm the truth. I’m what will satisfy”
5. He claimed to be able to forgive sins (Mark 2:5).
6. He claimed to be Son of God (Mark 14:61).

Let’s think…

1. A good man | 2. Tell the truth | 3. God

6. A mad man | 5. Disillusioned | 4. Not God

9. A bad man | 8. Lies | 7. Not God

• If Jesus was a good man, a good teacher as everyone says he was
• then he would tell the truth
• If he told the truth and he said he was God, then he must be God.

• If Jesus is not God,
• One possibility is that he could’ve really believed he was God, so he was disillusioned
• That makes him a mad man.

• Now, if Jesus is not God, there’s another explanation.
• He lied about being God, just to be popular,
• If he lied to be popular, then he was not a good man or good teacher but a bad man
• then, he couldn’t have been a good teacher or a good man, because he was a bad man

He was either a Con Man, Mad Man, or the one and only God.
So, why do Christians believe that Jesus was not a mad man or a con man but the one and only God man?

Well, we look at some evidence

1. Well, the first area we cant look at: what did he teach? His teachings formed the foundation of Western Civilization. Many of our laws were originally based on the teaching of Jesus. We're making progress in every field of science and technology—but no one’s ever improved on the moral teaching of Jesus. They're the greatest words ever spoken. They're the kind of words you'd expect God to speak.
2. Then what about his lifestyle—what about the things that he did. Miracles: Healed the sick, women with haemorrhage, fever, leprosy, made the lame walk again, gave sight to the blind. And this guy was simply a carpenter by profession.
3. His Character: He was kind, compassionate, welcomed those rejected by society, treated them with respect. Look at Jesus’ courage. When he was being tortured, he said: “Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing.” Could such a person really be evil or mad?
4. Fulfilment of Old Testament Prophecies: He fulfilled over 300 prophecies. Maybe you think he was a kind of conman who went to read all these prophecies and he thought, `Right, I’m going to go through all these and I’m going to fulfil them in my life.’ …. It would be really difficult! Because firstly, there were so many prophecies, and secondly, he had no control over many of these things—there were prophecies about how he would die and even about the place of his birth – he couldn’t have controlled that!
5. His Resurrection: How do we know the resurrection really happened?

• His absence from the tomb
• He appeared to many people at different times – Some people say it was hallucinations. It is highly unlikely that even two people would have the same hallucination. Jesus appeared 11 times, once to 500 people. 500 people cannot possibly have the same hallucination at the same time!
• The immediate effect – here was a group of disciples who were discouraged, depressed, fearful, hiding—and something occurred that totally changed them such that they went around telling everybody – it’s a phenomenon, the way the church grew
• Christian experience through the years. Millions of people down the ages have experienced the risen Jesus Christ. And it’s people of every ethnicity, continent, nationality, every economic, social, intellectual background, from all walks of life. They have this common experience of the risen Jesus

Few of those who are famous now will be remembered next year, let alone next century. 2000 years after Jesus lived not millions, but billions of people follow him.