Finding Jesus in the Bible…So We Can Follow Him in Life
Bible Reading Plans
- Plan One: New Testament Only
- Plan Two: New Testament + Psalms
- Plan Three: New Testament + History
- Plan Four: The Entire Bible – Year 1 of 3, Year 2 of 3, Year 3 of 3
Don’t know which plan? Go to A Christ-Centered Bible Reading Plan: Quick Start.
Extras
Verse of the Day, Audio Capsule, and Video Minute
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Christ Is God
Chapter 1 – What Does “Christ Is God” Mean?
To say “Christ is God” means many things. First and foremost, it means God once walked the earth as one of us. That is, He became a human being…and lived in our midst. In other words, Jesus was God in the flesh.
God experienced His life on earth as we do – not as a supreme being would. He was subject to the same temptations we are.
It makes sense to capitalize Christ’s pronouns – He, His, Him – because He’s God. But it also makes sense to leave them lower case – he, his, him – because he really did live a human life. If you see His pronouns capitalized, think about how great He is as God. If you see his pronouns uncapitalized, think about his humanity – and how much hardship he had to endure.
When God lived His human life, He was known as Jesus of Nazareth. The “of Nazareth” part was important because “Jesus” was a common name for Jewish boys back then. This Jew lived a life of good works and good words – a combination beyond that of any other human life ever recorded. Yet He was killed by His enemies before He reached His mid-30s. After He rose from the dead, He became more widely known as Jesus Christ.
He was God…who became a man…and then God again. Forever. Included in my meaning when I say “Forever” is that living a human life is not something He is ever going to need to do again.)
The Bible gives us many details about God’s U-shaped journey from heaven to earth and back. The purpose of this book is to help you find in the Bible as many details about this journey as you can. The more of these details you learn, the greater will be your appreciation of His dogged determination to be a father to us.
(By the way, I don’t want you to take my word for anything in this book. Instead, the purpose of the book is to show you where in the Bible the answers to our questions can be found.)
God’s purpose in becoming a man for a time was that we might know Him better. By getting to know the man Jesus, we get better insight into the nature of God. Human beings aren’t easy to figure out, but they’re easier to figure out than figuring out God. After all, we can see human beings…but we can’t see God.
To sum up: “Christ is God” means first and foremost that Jesus explains God. Therefore, the more we know and understand Jesus, the more we know and understand God.
But this is just the beginning of getting to know what “Christ is God” means. The next step is to make sure you and I are on the same page about what those three individual words mean.
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