Who Is Jesus?

Jesus said,

“All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is, except the Father, and who the Father is, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son desires to reveal him.” (Luke 10:22)

As we read the New Testament Scriptures, we get powerful glimpses (such as in the above passage) providing us with understanding as to who exactly Jesus is. In the above passage, we have been given some “big clues,” and if we read other passages, we will be able to tie it all together, to finally get an accurate picture of who Jesus really is.

In this article, I will show you what the Scriptures teach concerning Jesus, and I will take it from many irrefutable passages. Let us first start by examining each part of the above quote. From there, it will branch off into other passages of Scripture. In the above passage, Jesus says, “All things have been delivered to me by my Father.” This begs the question, “Who is the Father?” Jesus also mentions “the Son” in the above passage. Who is the Son? Many passages of Scripture tell us that the “Father” is God.

Jesus said,

“If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is our God” (see John 8:54).

It should be evident that if Jesus talks about “my Father,” then he himself must be “the Son.” Another passage brings this out, in which the apostle John writes,

“Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.” (2 John 1:3)

Many other passages also mention God the Father (e.g. Acts 2:33, Romans 1:7, and 1 Peter 1:2). We know that John also wrote,

“We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20)

Did you notice in the above passage that John said that Jesus is “the true God, and eternal life”?

Jesus is God?

How could Jesus be God, and the Father also be God? Does not the Bible teach that there is only one God? In fact, when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he started by saying,

“The greatest is, ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one” (see Mark 12:29).

Jesus affirmed that there was only one God. How then could the Bible say that Jesus is God? For in 1 John 5:20 above, it says that Jesus is “the true God.” In yet another passage, some of the Jews wanted to stone Jesus. Jesus responded,

“I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?” (See John 10:32)

The Jews answered,

“We do not stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God” (see John 10:33).

Notice how the Jews understood that Jesus was making himself out to be God. He didn’t even need to say the words, “I am God.” He merely needed to act like it.

Later, however, we read the words of Jesus:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)

And yes, that was indeed Jesus speaking. He called himself, “the Lord God,” as well as, “the Almighty.” Can we be sure? Yes, absolutely! All you have to do is compare that to Revelation 22:13:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

And then verse 16:

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify these things to you for the assemblies. I am the root and the offspring of David; the Bright and Morning Star.”

It does not take a lot of research to discover that Jesus referred to himself as God. Again, Jesus acted like God, inasmuch as he forgave a man his sins. The religious Jews did not like that! They said, of Jesus,

“Why does this man speak blasphemies like that? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7)

When Jesus died on the cross, there was a great earthquake. Because of this and other events, a Roman centurion responded, saying,

“Truly this was the Son of God” (see Matthew 27:54).

Jesus referred to himself not only as the Son of God (for example, in Luke 10:22 and John 8:54, quoted previously), but also as the “Son of Man.” For example, Jesus said,

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)

This is undoubtedly a reference to a passage in the book of Daniel, in which Daniel the prophet had a vision of one like a “son of man” coming with the clouds.

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14)

Who is this “son of man”? He certainly has a lot of authority.

Jesus himself said,

“All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth” (see Matthew 28:18).

His authority is also described in the book of Isaiah.

“For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

Jesus was indeed born as a child, and it was a miraculous conception, in fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14:

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

Yet, he has always existed. The Bible says he has existed from everlasting (see Micah 5:2).

Because of this, Jesus could say,

“Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.” (See John 8:58.)

What does this term “I AM” mean? This is the same term that God used when speaking with Moses in the Old Testament, at the burning bush (see Exodus 3:14).

The Bible says that Yahweh God stood before Abraham as a man and talked with him (see Genesis 18:1). Who was this man? About 2000 years later, after Jesus had been born of a virgin, he said that he met Abraham in person, and that Abraham had rejoiced to see him (see John 8:56).

When Jesus said that he existed before Abraham was even born, the Jews knew exactly what Jesus was claiming. He was claiming to be God. For this reason, they picked up stones to stone him (see John 8:59).

The term “Son of God” was clearly understood by the Jews to mean that Jesus was God’s chosen Messiah, the one specially anointed of God as God’s only unique special messenger, promised long ago in the ancient Scriptures. Some people confuse this to mean that God gave birth to a son. But no, Jesus has always existed (see Micah 5:2).

This prophecy concerning a “Messiah” (Hebrew) or “Christ” (Greek) goes all the way back to the third chapter of the book of Genesis. This is the chapter in which God himself (called “Yahweh”) stood before the woman (Eve), and said to her,

“What have you done?” (Genesis 3:13a)

Eve responded,

“The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (Genesis 3:13b).

Then we read this very important passage —the first recorded prophecy in Scripture concerning God’s Messiah who would one day come to the earth— in which Yahweh God said to Eve,

“I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

The amplified Bible helps us to understand this even better:

“And I will put enmity (open hostility) between you and the woman, and between your seed (offspring) and her Seed; He shall [fatally] bruise your head, And you shall [only] bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3:15, AMP)

In this case, the “head” refers to the authority (the “head”) of Satan. Jesus would crush his authority when he died on the cross. It was a legal act that he performed. He removed the debt of sin that was against us, for all who believe (see John 1:12 and Colossians 2:13-15). Indeed, Jesus paid for our sins on the cross (see Romans 5:8 and John 10:18).

One question that really needs an answer is, “Who said those words to Eve recorded in Genesis 3:15?” Let us go back to Genesis 3:8, and find out. We know it was “Yahweh God” because Genesis 3:14 says so. But who is Yahweh God? This is where things get very interesting.

It was actually a man who stood before Eve, and told her those words. He is called Yahweh God in Genesis 3:8:

“They heard Yahweh God’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden.” (Genesis 3:8)

Who is this “Yahweh God” who walked as a man in the garden of Eden? Back in the Old Testament, Jacob (the patriarch, later named Israel), wrestled with a man. It was not an ordinary man that Jacob wrestled with. This man said to him,

“Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed” (see Genesis 32:28).

A few verses later, Jacob said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (see Genesis 32:30).

How could Jacob have seen God? Did not God say to Moses,

“You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live” (see Exodus 33:20)?

And in the New Testament, the apostle John writes,

“No one has seen God at any time” (see John 1:18).

Yet earlier, we read of Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, that in one encounter on the mountain,

“They saw the God of Israel” (see Exodus 24:9-11).

Is there not a contradiction here?

There is no contradiction when we understand who “God” is in Exodus 33:20 and John 1:18. This is God the Father and not God the Son. Yet who is “God” in Genesis 32:30 and Exodus 24:9-11? This is God the Son and not God the Father. Jesus plainly stated that it is the Father that we cannot see:

“Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father” (see John 6:46).

He also said,

“He who has seen me has seen the Father” (see John 14:9).

In another passage, the Bible says, Jesus,

“is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance” (see Hebrews 1:3).

In another passage, it says Jesus is the Creator himself (see Colossians 1:16-18). And again, in John 1:1-3, it says that Jesus created all things.

Can God the Father and God the Son be found in the same passage in the Old Testament? Indeed. Simply read Daniel 7:13-14 (quoted previously). God the Father is the “ancient of days”. God the Son is “one like a son of man.” And what about Psalm 110, which Jesus quoted in the New Testament (see Luke 20:41-44)? It has both God the Father and God the Son. Again in Psalm 2, we see both God the Father and God the Son. And in Proverbs 30, it says,

“Who has ascended up into heaven, and descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has bound the waters in his garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name, if you know?” (Proverbs 30:4)

Here we see both the Father and the Son once again. In fact, there are many passages in which Jesus “shows up” in the Old Testament. Jesus was in the fiery furnace with Daniel’s three friends who refused to bow to an idol (see Daniel 3:25). In another passage, Jesus ascended in a flame as the “angel of the Lord” — and the one who saw it declared he had seen God (see Judges 13:20-22).

Concerning the people of Israel, we read,

“Yahweh went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, that they might go by day and by night.” (Exodus 13:21)

This is the angel who led them to the promised land, in which God declared,

“my name is in him” (see Exodus 23:20-23).

Earlier, this same angel had disclosed himself to Abraham as being Yahweh (see Genesis 22:11-12,15-18). The angel was indeed God himself. In the New Testament, he is fully disclosed as being Jesus:

“they [Israel] drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4).

In Zechariah the prophet, God says,

“they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn” (see Zechariah 12:10).

One day, this same Messiah, who was “despised and rejected by men” (see Isaiah 53:3), who is indeed the hope of the whole world (see John 4:42, 1 Timothy 4:10), will indeed return as the Judge of the whole earth (see Genesis 18:25) and the Judge of the living and the dead (see 2 Timothy 4:1). His name is Jesus.

How can this be, since God is one? The Hebrew word for God is “Elohim”, and it refers to more than one within one. God is indeed one, as Jesus said, but he has revealed himself in three distinct persons, namely Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Are you ready for him? As the Scripture declares, Jesus will indeed establish his government on the earth when he returns in the glory of his Father (see Mark 8:28, Isaiah 9:6, Daniel 7:13-14). And he has promised eternal life to all those who will follow him.

Jesus said,

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)

“Today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (see Hebrews 4:7).

Instead, soften your heart, because,

“now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation” (see 2 Corinthians 6:2)