Finding Jesus, The Way - Part One

Jesus, The Way
Finding Jesus, The Way - Part One

In this series, I have attempted to present Jesus as The Way to many blessings; indeed, He is the source of every spiritual blessing that God has to offer - Ep 1:3 "Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the spiritual blessings that Christ has brought us from heaven!" But how can we be sure that we have found the true Jesus and are truly His disciples...? Jesus made it clear that simply believing in Him does not constitute true discipleship - Jn 8:31 "Jesus told the people who had faith in him, "If you keep on obeying what I have said, you truly are my disciples." How can we be sure that we are not actually following some caricature. A misrepresentation of Jesus, presented to us in error by others? By those sincerely mistaken themselves (such as our parents, preachers, churches)? To be sure that we have truly found Jesus, The Way, we must begin with the only reliable source of information about Him: The Bible!

Surprising as it may be to some, a good place to start is with the Old Testament. It contains many things about Jesus although completed hundreds of years before He came. As stated by Jesus on at least two occasions - Lk 24:27 "Jesus told the people who had faith in him, "If you keep on obeying what I have said, you truly are my disciples.", 44-48 "Jesus said to them, "While I was still with you, I told you that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Books of the Prophets, and in the Psalms had to happen." Then he helped them understand the Scriptures. He told them: The Scriptures say that the Messiah must suffer, then three days later he will rise from death. They also say that all people of every nation must be told in my name to turn to God, in order to be forgiven. So beginning in Jerusalem, you must tell everything that has happened." It imparts wisdom that leads to salvation in Jesus - 2 Ti 3:14-15 "Keep on being faithful to what you were taught and to what you believed. After all, you know who taught you these things. Since childhood, you have known the Holy Scriptures that are able to make you wise enough to have faith in Christ Jesus and be saved."

In the Old Testament we see Jesus through the eyes of prophecy. For example, from Isaiah we can learn things regarding:
The birth of Jesus - Isa 7:14 "But the LORD will still give you proof. A virgin is pregnant; she will have a son and will name him Immanuel."
The suffering of Jesus - Isa 53:4-6 "He suffered and endured great pain for us, but we thought his suffering was punishment from God. He was wounded and crushed because of our sins; by taking our punishment, he made us completely well. All of us were like sheep that had wandered off. We had each gone our own way, but the LORD gave him the punishment we deserved."
The sovereignty of Jesus - Isa 9:6-7 "He suffered and endured great pain for us, but we thought his suffering was punishment from God. He was wounded and crushed because of our sins; by taking our punishment, he made us completely well. All of us were like sheep that had wandered off. We had each gone our own way, but the LORD gave him the punishment we deserved."
Many more prophecies could be taken just from Isaiah alone (one reason why he is commonly called "The Messianic Prophet"). Other prophets have much to say about Jesus. It has been estimated there are more than 300 prophecies about Jesus in the O.T.! So we should read the Old Testament in our efforts to find the true Jesus! But as important as it is in helping us to find Jesus, it’s purpose was predictive, to prepare people for Jesus (Ga 3:24-25 "In fact, the Law was our teacher. It was supposed to teach us until we had faith and were acceptable to God. But once a person has learned to have faith, there is no more need to have the Law as a teacher.").

Therefore, to find Jesus more fully, we must also come to the gospels. There are four accounts of His life. Matthew emphasizes the "teachings" of Jesus (especially in regards to the kingdom). Mark features the "miracles" of Jesus, showing His power. Luke underscores the "humanity" of Jesus (without detracting from His divinity). John stresses the "divinity" of Jesus (without detracting from His humanity). The goal as expressed by John: to create faith - Jn 20:30-31 "Jesus worked many other miracles for his disciples, and not all of them are written in this book. But these are written so that you will put your faith in Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. If you have faith in him, you will have true life." The goal is to see Jesus through the eyes of fulfillment, as they carefully document how He fulfilled prophecy.

No one can know Jesus without reading these gospels carefully. We may often be surprised to find out how different the real Jesus is and what He actually taught, from the one imagined by many! For example, many feel that they are going to heaven when they die. Jesus taught that most will not - Mt 7:13-14 "Go in through the narrow gate. The gate to destruction is wide, and the road that leads there is easy to follow. A lot of people go through that gate. But the gate to life is very narrow. The road that leads there is so hard to follow that only a few people find it."
Many will be surprised at the Judgment Day - Mt 7:21-23 "Not everyone who calls me their Lord will get into the kingdom of heaven. Only the ones who obey my Father in heaven will get in. On the day of judgment many will call me their Lord. They will say, "We preached in your name, and in your name we forced out demons and worked many miracles." But I will tell them, "I will have nothing to do with you! Get out of my sight, you evil people!"’ Contrary to the "simple believism" many think is what is involved in following Jesus the real Jesus taught self-denial - Lk 9:23-25 "Then Jesus said to all the people: If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross each day and follow me. If you want to save your life, you will destroy it. But if you give up your life for me, you will save it. What will you gain, if you own the whole world but destroy yourself or waste your life?"

The real Jesus expected disciples to "observe all things" - Mt 28:18-20 "Jesus came to them and said: I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth! Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world." Does this sound like the "Jesus" proclaimed by many today? By reading the gospels, then, we come much closer to finding Jesus. But Jesus did not reveal the complete truth while on earth (Jn 16:12-14 "I have much more to say to you, but right now it would be more than you could understand. The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. The Spirit doesn't speak on his own. He will tell you only what he has heard from me, and he will let you know what is going to happen. The Spirit will bring glory to me by taking my message and telling it to you.")! He left it up to the Holy Spirit to complete the work of
guiding the apostles into all the truth. Therefore, to truly find Jesus and what His Will is for us today, we must also turn to the rest of the books of the New Testament which we will do in part two of this lesson.