Is Jesus the Christ?

Yesterday we identified the Christ with the Son of God, and learned that when we say "Jesus Christ", we already said a lot: that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah), the (only begotten) Son of the living God, the eternal Word that became flesh, and with regard to his office, the Prophet, the High Priest, and the King! Today, we will study the Scriptures and show that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

If Jesus is the Son of God, it is thus necessarily true that he is not the son of Joseph in reality, and Jesus was found not to admit Joseph as his real father in the Scriptures. And the Scriptures clearly show that Jesus is conceived from the Holy Ghost, provably of a virgin (Matthew 1:18-25; Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:26-38). And we know that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one (so the Holy Ghost is one of the living God, which is *crucial* to identify Jesus with the Son of God). Keep this in mind, Jesus must be sinless to redeem us from our sin, which was with us even when we were conceived in our mothers' womb (Psalm 51:5, 58:3) . If Jesus were conceived like all of us, how could he ever redeem any of us? But thanks be to God, for Jesus is the most precious Lamb of God (John 1:35-37), even His only begotten Son, prepared by God for us, the sinners!

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16, KJV)

Glory to God on the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:14). The Sonship of Jesus is again testified at his baptism by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22, John 1:29-34), after which Jesus started his mission -- in a sense, the Baptism is somewhat like an inauguration ceremony for Jesus. The disciples confess Jesus as the Christ, both before and after the death of Jesus, there are too many verses to cite here, let me just give you a few: Andrew, Simon Peter's brother (John 1:41), Nathanael (John 1:49), and Peter (Matthew 16:16); and among the women that serves Jesus and his disciples: Martha (John 11:27). Those are before the death of Jesus, and after the death and resurrection of Jesus, there are two many to cite. And Jesus himself also testified this truth (John 4:25-26, John 9:35-38, John 10:22-38), and for this very truth he was even condemned to death (Matthew 26:62-68), besides all of the miracles he performed. At the Transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9), this is again testified (Peter later in his 2nd epistle also mentioned this in 1:16-18). Then the death of Jesus is in itself a testimony that he is the Son of God -- for that, even the Roman soldiers there said (Matthew 27:54): Truly this is the Son of God! And finally, the resurrection! Yes, the resurrection is the ultimate, and most powerful proof that Jesus is the Christ (Romans 1:3-4), and like the testimony of John the Baptist, the death and resurrection are also recorded in all of the four Gospels, testified by all these different disciples.

In fact, I have left out so many other important evidences, such as the genealogy, the betrayal, the burial, and the numerous other fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies, which will explode this blog. And so we confidently say that very tiny bit of Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God! Next time, we will study the three office titles of Jesus Christ, and his mission from his Father in heaven.