:: Transcript - "Who Is Jesus Christ?"

Date: Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Speaker: Duraisamy Sureshkumar (USA)
Key Text: John 1:1-3, 14

I want to thank the Lord for traveling mercies. The Lord is so merciful that He brought all of you safely here. And also we want to thank the Lord for giving protection to our families who are left behind.

This morning, we want to consider a very important question of life: Who is Jesus Christ? When this question is personalized, it becomes the most important question. One will be able to answer, who is Jesus Christ to you? Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

As we just read in the key text (1 John 5:11), we are told that if we have the Son in our life, we can know that we have eternal life. The opposite, if we do not have Him, there is no hope, no eternal life. Jesus is the only way for us to live, and live a life abundantly. Here on this earth, we are to receive life eternal, in fellowship and in worshipping Him together.

In the Gospel of John chapters 7 and 8, we find several ways in which Jesus proclaimed he is God. His birth, His life, His message, His miracles, His death, His resurrection and the empty tomb. It all revealed that He is God.

He was wholly God and He was wholly man, 100 percent God and 100 percent man. This mystery we cannot understand but it is true.

Jesus stated His purpose in John 20:31, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”

And the very name of Jesus is full of life, life giving power and life eternal.

John, in this chapter, deals with the nature and the person of Jesus Christ. God, in the book of John, establishes the Diety of Christ and who Jesus is.

The apostle establishes in the title who Jesus Christ is. In the very beginning of his writing (John chapter 1), Jesus is called the Word. In verse 29 he is the lamb of God. In verse 41, He is the Messiah. In verse 49, He is son of God and king of Israel. And verse 42 of chapter 4, He is the Savior of the world. In verse 6 of chapter 20 and verse 28 He is Lord and He is God. He establishes the Diety of Jesus, who He is for us and who He is in our life.

The apostle further establishes the deity of Jesus Christ by recording ten times that Jesus specifically referred to Himself as “I AM.” That He Himself says that He is God. “I AM that I AM” is only the title of Jehovah God Himself. (In John 6:35, 8:12 and 10:7, 9, 10, 14; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1, 5). This gives us a very clear understanding without a shadow of doubt that He is God, 100 percent God. Jesus Christ was God before the world began. “In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). Here we find He is God.

There is no stronger statement that Christ is God. In the beginning—this means beginning of time and beginning of eternity and of the world. At the beginning of time Jesus was. He is the word. The word logos in Greek is in reference to truth. The one word has a dual meaning—it refers to truth, and it is a revelation and wisdom of God. It is the complete understanding of what God is. He is Truth; He is the revelation of the wisdom of God. He is the Word in person, with the wisdom of God, and He is God. You cannot separate Jesus Christ from truth. He is truth and life. “I am the truth, and I am the life.” Jesus is truth and life is one and the same. “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

The verse stated the Word was God. The logos was God. There is not an article before this. In Greek grammar that indicates “God” is a predicate. The question raised is not “Who is God?” but who the Word is, because the Word is the subject. The sentence says “The Word was God.” This is an emphatic statement: Whoever is the Word is God. So the Word is God.

John 1:14 says, “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory.” My brethren, this is only in reference to Jesus Christ. In verse 18, further the apostle makes a very clear point that although “No man hath seen God,” Himself who is spirit, Jesus is God incarnate in human form.

In John 1:2 there is a repetition of the same thing, that Jesus was with God.

“Christ is the pre-existent, self-existent Son of God.... In speaking of His pre-existence, Christ carries the mind back through dateless ages. He assures us that there never was a time when He was not in close fellowship with the eternal God. He to whose voice the Jews were then listening had been with God as one brought up with Him.” (Signs of the Times, August 29, 1900, par. 13).

“The Lord Jesus is the embodiment of the glory of the Godhead. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. God has revealed himself to men; he stopped to take upon him our nature, and in his Son we see the glory of the divine attributes.” (Signs of the Times, December 12, 1895, par. 4)

Jesus Christ is the revelation and the divine attribute. He is the embodiment of the glory of the Godhead.

John 1:3 says that “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Jesus Christ is the Creator and without Him nothing was made. Without Him we cannot exist.

The verb “was made” means “came into being.” It literally means it came into being out of nothing. Today more than 80% of all scientists who made some inventions are still alive. In our generation there are many inventions. But all of those scientists need some ingredients. Nobody can make something out of nothing. But God made something out of nothing. Nobody could do this. “Created” means it came into being out of nothing.

We find that Christ is the creator. Hebrews 1:3, 10 proclaims that Jesus is the Creator. “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” “And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands.”

My brethren, here the entire majesty of creation is the work of our Lord and Saviour. And the re-creation is another wonderful thing, that he re-created you and me. We can be happy about it. He is the Creator, he is the Recreator. He provides life for us today.

Colossians 1:15-17 says, “15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”

There is nothing on this earth that came into existence by itself, whether it is throne or dominion, or principality or power.

Another point to consider is, Jesus Christ is God and thus He is our Creator and Recreator. Apart from Jesus Christ not one thing came into existence. He is the life and light of men. “In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). The light came from Jesus that we might be able to reflect Him in our life.

There are two ways to shine in the world, as it says “Let your light so shine before men” (Matthew 5:16). You can be a light to shine or a mirror to reflect. We can be a candle or a mirror. But we are told to “let your light shine.” “In Him was life,” and the life was light unto the world.

The life is not in matter but in God. People try to infuse and defuse and clone and try to make life one way or another. But life is not in matter. It is in God. When He breathed then man became a living soul. If we accept Him into our life, we could be able to reflect Him. Let the people see Christ in our life, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” This is one thing that we should understand.

This delegation we have here, brethren, should not be just a meeting but a solemn assembly. God’s people are gathered here. Let this place be a place of invocation of the Holy Spirit. Let us feel the presence of Jesus Christ in our midst. Let this moment be a moment where we will be uplifting our Savior. This is not uplifting man or his ability, his talent, but uplifting our Saviour, who is the Creator, who is the lifegiver, who is the truth. He lives in you.

This should be a living church. If we have Christ in us, we have the Life. “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” If you know Jesus Christ you have the life—life eternal. It is both in you as an individual and also as a church.

Apart from Jesus, there is no life. If the presence of Jesus is not felt here there is no life. Let us invoke the presence of the Holy Spirit. Our mighty Savior is moving among us, every moment that we will spend, that this occasion will be a holy occasion, this gathering will be a holy convocation. This will not be just an organization meeting, but it is a part of an organization of life-giving, life-receiving, life-shining, life-reflecting.

This is my prayer for this morning. A-men.