Who is Jesus Christ?
By calling ourselves Christians, we proclaim not only that we believe in God, but also that we put our trust in His Son Jesus Christ as our Savior from the penalty of sin. We know Christ is the Savior. Christ is the King! But that's not all He is.
This Bible study series goes through selected texts in the book of Hebrews. With Christmas as the backdrop, this study reviews some amazing answers to the question of who Christ is.
Christ Is God's Final Word
God spoke in the Old Testament times through the prophets. No one prophet gave us all of God's revelation. Each spoke the truth but did not reveal the whole picture. The Jews believed that when Messiah came, He would reveal God's complete and final truth. Even the Samaritans knew this:
"The [Samaritan] woman [by the well] said to Him [Jesus], 'I know that Messiah is coming' (who is called Christ). 'When He comes, He will tell us all things'" (John 4:25).
That is what Jesus did. When God sent His Son to earth, He provided the answer to every human question and the solution to every human need. As God's final word, Jesus told us all we need to know to be rightly related to God.
Jesus is God's complete self-revelation. Who is Jesus? In the first three verses of the book of Hebrews, we see that Jesus is the heir of all things, the Creator of the universe, the brightness of God's glory, the image of God's person, the sustainer of all things, the sacrifice for our sins, and the highly exalted One (Hebrews 1:1-3).
Christ Is Greater Than Angels
The writer of the book of Hebrews camps for a bit on the idea of Jesus as the exalted One, telling us that Jesus is superior. There is a tendency among professing Christians to overlook the glory and greatness of the One who entered human history on the first Christmas day. They talk about God but they don't talk about Jesus. The book of Hebrews shows us that Christ is superior, even over the angels. That becomes the theme for the remainder of Hebrews 1.
Of course, before Jesus came to earth, He was superior to angels. But when He came as a babe in the manger, He was made lower than the angels. That, however, was not a permanent state for Him. Jesus now has a superior position over the angels. We know that for five reasons, revealed in seven Old Testament quotations from Hebrews expounded in this Bible study.
What should our response be? Hebrews 2:1 tells us to pay attention. In other words, "Listen up. This is important. This can make a difference in your life." Hebrews 2:3 asks, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" How shall we who have the word given through God's Son escape God's judgment if we neglect that salvation? That is one of the most important questions we will ever face, whether we profess to be Christians or not.
Christ in Flesh and Blood (Incarnation)
Go back now and consider that when Jesus came to earth, He gave up His position of exaltation and became lower than the angels. Why would He do that? Why was the incarnation necessary?
The third lesson in this series tells us why the most high God took upon Himself flesh and blood? No single section of Scripture answers that as completely as Hebrews 2:5-18. It contains five reasons for the incarnation of Christ, including these three:
Jesus became a man to assure our destiny. What is man's destiny? If you don't know, be sure to read or listen to the third lesson, "Flesh and Blood."
Jesus became a man to defeat Satan and render him powerless. Prior to Jesus' death on the cross, Satan could remind God of man's sins and the penalty for sin, which was eternal death. But when Jesus died to pay the penalty for man's sins then rose again to rule even over death, the grounds for Satan's accusations were removed and his power over death was made ineffective.
Jesus became a man to be our High Priest. This lesson reviews the function of the Jewish high priest and shows how Christ fulfills that role once for all. Many benefits come from that, so be sure to read or listen to the lesson to see what they are!