Who is Jesus…. to you?

The question of Jesus’s identity has been a great source of contention in the religious world, some say he’s a prophet, some say he’s ‘a god’, others say a man, some say he’s an angel and some believe him to be God Almighty. But more important than who people say he is, is the question he asked of his disciples:

He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

Matthew 16:15 KJV

One may say, what difference does it make what we believe of Christ? It makes a difference! What you and I as individuals believe/receive as the answer to the question of who he is to us, is critically important. How important? It’s literally the difference between Life and death. Whether we live or die in eternity hinges on this. If you think I’m over selling it, then here’s how Jesus expressed it:

I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

John 8:24 KJV

For us to live, we must believe that Jesus is “I am he”. Therefore, the question of Jesus’s identity, specifically, who is he TO YOU?, is the most important question any of us will ever have to answer. So what does he mean when he says: “I am he”? Let’s search the scriptures, as he said (John 5:39) and find out.

I am he

1. I am he is the one true God & only Saviour

Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. [11] I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. [12] I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.

Isaiah 43:10-12 KJV

I am he is God, and he declares “beside me there is no Saviour”, which he echos in Hosea:

Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.

Hosea 13:4 KJV

Therefore, Jesus being identified as our Saviour 17 times in the New Testament, demonstrates clearly that he is God our Saviour.

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

2 Peter 3:18 KJV

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Titus 2:13 KJV

Titus declaration of Jesus to be both God and Saviour is inescapably linking him to be the only God and Saviour spoken of in the old testament. The very God who promised to come and save us:

Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.

Isaiah 35:4 KJV

As promised, our God and Saviour did come to save us, when he manifested in flesh:

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

1 Timothy 3:16 KJV

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:11 KJV

2. I am he can foretell events

Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.

mIsaiah 41:4 KJV

God alone can foretell events. He advises us that this is one of the ways we can identify when a message comes from him, because only he can do so.

When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

Deuteronomy 18:22 KJV

Jesus authenticated himself as “I am he” by telling the disciples in advance what was going to come to past:

Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.

John 13:19 KJV

He even told them his reason for making known to them future events before they came to past, it wasn’t to validate himself as a prophet, but rather, so the disciples may believe that he is “I am he”. 

Remember, he said that if we all don’t believe that he is “I am he”, we all will die in our sins. Therefore, he wanted them (and us) to believe in him:

And whosoever liveth and believeth in me (Jesus) shall never die. Believest thou this?

John 11:26 KJV

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

John 14:1 KJV

So he was doing and saying things that only “I am he” (God) could do, like tell the future, so that we all would believe. The only reason he could say to us to believe in him, the same way we believe in God, is because he is the one true God manifest in flesh. 

3. None can stand against “I am he”

Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?

Isaiah 43:13 KJV

The work that God speaks of above is the work of redemption/salvation. To get us into his hand, he had to first do the “work” of the redemption, to get us out of the hand of the enemy:

Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;

Psalm 107:2 KJV

What does it mean to redeem? 

To redeem means: to purchase or buy back or to pay a ransom.

So how did God redeem his people from the hand of the enemy? He didn’t use money, he bought us with blood: 

Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; [19] But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

1 Peter 1:18-19 KJV

God’s blood:

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

Acts 20:28 KJV

The Spirit of God cannot bleed, but the body he manifested in can and since the body is his, the blood shed by that body is his i.e. it’s God’s blood. So by his blood, the church was purchased/redeemed from the hand/power of the enemy and are now in his hands:

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. [29] My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. [30] I and my Father are one.

John 10:28-30 KJV

To be in the hand of Jesus is to be in the hand of the one true LORD and God. He plucked us out of the hand of death by the redeeming/purchasing power of his blood and now, we are safe in his hand as spoken by Isaiah when he said:

Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?

Isaiah 43:13 KJV

4. I am he is the author and finisher of our faith

Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.

Isaiah 41:4 KJV

Jesus is the author and finisher of our faiths:

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2 KJV

5. I am he is the first and the last

Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.

Isaiah 48:12 KJV

Jesus is the first and the last:

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: [18] I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Revelation 1:17-18 KJV

6. I am he is our sustainer and deliverer.

And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you : I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

Isaiah 46:4 KJV

Jesus is the deliverer:

Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, [4] Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:

Galatians 1:3-4 KJV

Jesus is our sustainer:

And he (Jesus) is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Colossians 1:17 KJV

Based on the above, it’s clear that “I am he” is a title of God. Therefore, Jesus’s statement that we will die in our sins unless we believe that he is “I am he”, is a call to recognize him as God our Saviour, as his name indicates. Believing that he is ‘a god’ or just a man, or just an angel or just a prophet, does not rise to the level of recognition he calls for. God will not give his glory to anyone. 

I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

Isaiah 42:8 KJV

The level of recognition Jesus calls for, by asking us to believe and receive him as I am he, is a level to which, those who attain it, will follow Thomas’s lead, when he declared this to Jesus:

And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

John 20:28 KJV

Now you maybe wondering, since he is God, why is he called the Son of God? Even Peter, in responding to the very question of “who do you say that I am” said:

And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Matthew 16:16 KJV

So how could he be God and yet be called God’s son? This will be addressed in the next article titled – Jesus Son of the Living God (coming soon). As this article comes to a close, I encourage you to ask yourself the question:

Who is Jesus to you? If your answer does not believe or receive him to be “I am he”, then I would encourage you to carefully examine the faith you hold to, and search the scriptures, as Christ instructed us to (John 5:39), for this purpose:

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

1 Thessalonians 5:21 KJV