Jesus welcomed the people, taught them about the Kingdom of God and healed those in need. Luke 9:11

Seeds of the Kingdom

Knowing who Jesus is

by Margaret Southey

15 September 2009

« Previous Day | Next Day »

Jesus…asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets’. ‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’

We live in a world that’s in rebellion against Jesus Christ. It’s hard to credit how people can reject so fervently the One with such love for us that He gave His life so that we, as sinners, could be reconciled to God and escape eternal damnation.

Sometimes the rebellion is open and confrontational, such as the ban on Christian prayers and teaching in many state schools around the world. Sometimes, however, the rebellion takes on a more subtle character. It can be a seductive attempt to sidetrack people from the true Jesus to ‘another Jesus’ (2 Corinthians 11:14). There are many religious organisations that use Jesus’ name but they aren’t worshipping the person of Jesus Christ revealed by Scripture as the Son of the living God. They try to give credibility to their beliefs and also to hoodwink immature Christians into believing that it’s alright to worship anyone who goes by the name of Jesus. The ‘other Jesus’ is sometimes presented as a good man who was a teacher, messenger, prophet or leader. But Jesus Christ stated emphatically that He was God when He said, I and the Father are one (John 10:30).

When we’re face to face with Jesus Christ and He asks us who we say He is, we need to be able to say with conviction ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ So how do we identify a counterfeit Jesus? When we know the true Jesus well we’ll be able to identify a fraud. We need to have a close enough relationship with Jesus to know deep in our spirits that:

• He is the eternal God in human form
• He became incarnate through the miraculous conception of the virgin Mary
• He lived a sinless life
• He atoned for our sins when He died on the cross
• He rose from the dead and ascended to sit at the right hand of God the Father
• He will come back to judge the world

We may need to spend time searching the Scriptures to find the verses that back up these truths. It’s good to have them at hand when challenged.

Prayer: Lord Jesus I want to know You so well that when I come face to face with You, I will have no doubt who You are. Please help me to develop a close and abiding relationship with You so that I won’t be duped by any fraud. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Margaret Southey is a wife, mother and grandmother. She has had a career in education. Her passion is to understand the truth of God’s Word and to share it with others. She is part of the ministry and teaching team of Ellel, Africa.

 

Sign Up Now

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship. Provided full acknowledgement is made to Seeds of the Kingdom as the source, you are also welcome to use it in a non-commercial way and reproduce it in magazines or other Christian websites. The copyright for any commercial use of the material remains with Ellel Ministries International.

In Book 7 we see how all the teaching of Books 1-6 together help us focus on how God wants heal each one of us on our Journey to Freedom. In a very practical way we look at the main areas of life where people most need healing and see how, through healing,...
In this revised and updated edition Ruth seeks to ...
This book explains God’s response to man’s sin...
Book 5 focuses on all the different healings that Jesus carried out and on the different healing principles we can learn from the things that Jesus said and did when healing and delivering people. We see how Jesus seamlessly blended inner healing, physical...
It is vital that we know God as He really is, know ourselves as we really are and understand the strategies of the enemy to undermine the faith of believers. Ground-breaking teaching that equips the saints to live the Christian life in relationship with...
This extraordinary, and often miraculous, story shows how God uses the different strands of a person’s life to prepare them for their God-given destiny. Peter Horrobin’s personal account of how God envisioned him through the remains of a crashed car,...
Good foundations are critical for both buildings and our Christian lives. Many Christians have spent little time ensuring that their lives are truly built on the rock of truth. So, this first volume in the series establishes a solid foundation on which...
The heart of Book 4 is, simply, Jesus. We look at the prophecies about the coming Messiah, Jesus’s early life, His temptations, the beginnings of His ministry and the call and commissioning of His disciples. Then we learn deep lessons from the final...
Freemasonry in your direct family bloodline or by ...
All the Gospels culminate in the amazing accounts of Jesus’s death and resurrection. We look stage by stage at all that Jesus did for us on the cross and examine just what His sacrifice means for us today. The Great Commission, the life of the early...