Hebrews 12:2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”
After 9/11 everyone was talking about God. I was thrilled to hear that God’s name was being invoked other then used in swearing. I would see different groups of people gathering together in public forums and they would be talking about God. I was thrilled that God was back in the public forum. However, I soon noticed that on the same platform talking about God were Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, etc. I then began to wonder what God they were talking about.
Never once did I hear the Name of Jesus. As a matter of fact it seems that people hate the Name of Jesus. When God is talked about people are somewhat civil, but mention the Name of Jesus and they get angry.
This brings us to a very important question when thinking about reformation and that is: who is Jesus? One of the big hang-ups that we have when witnessing to Muslims is what we mean by calling Jesus the Son of God. For the Muslim this is blasphemous because they think we are saying that God had an immoral affair with Mary and through it a son was born called Jesus.
What does Scripture say? Several things that I would like to mention that are important in this case. First, we know that John calls Jesus the “Word of God.” (John 1:1) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” To speak a word it takes breath. Some who work with our Muslims friends say that what they mean by calling Jesus the Son of God is that He is the Breath of God.
However, we are told in Hebrews 1:3 “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.” This means that He is the precise image of God. If we could take a photograph of God it would be Jesus. If we want to know what God is like then we can look at Jesus. If we want to know what God would do then we can look at what Jesus did. So, like the writer of the book of Hebrews says: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”
Another aspect that we need to look at regarding Jesus is found in John’s gospel. When Jesus was being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus asked the soldiers “Who is it you want?” (John 18:4) They replied “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus replied: “I AM.” With that divine utterance they fell down backwards.
What happened? What were the dynamics involved here. When the soldiers came to Jesus to arrest Him they were asking for Jesus, but when Jesus answered them He reverted back to His Old Testament name “I AM.” When He uttered that truth – they fell down backwards.
What we see coming out is that the Name of God is I AM, but He does business down here on earth as Jesus His Son. Who is Jesus? He is God, the Creator, upholder of all things and by Him all things exist, says the Word of God.
Is it not humbling to think that this God became a man, dwelt among us and tasted death for all men. The Author of life tasting death, the Ruler and Sustainer of all things coming into this world as a little baby needing the care and nourishment of an earthly mother.
This is our God; this is our Savior Jesus Christ. He deserves all of our worship as we “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” In Matthew 16 Jesus asks His disciple who people say that He is, and they answered Him saying, “One of the prophets.” Basically this is what we hear today, but then Jesus asked these 12 disciples of His, who had been with Him for almost 3 years, who they thought He was. Peter’s bold declaration was: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:16
Reformation brings us back to the realization of who Jesus truly is.