Who is the historical Jesus Christ?

                    WHO IS JESUS CHRIST?

This is an important question and depending upon who you ask you will get a variety of answers. Jesus himself asked his
disciples this question,

Matt 16:13-17 "Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He began asking His disciples, saying, "Who do
people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or
one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" And Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and
blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." (NAS)

Jesus is the Christ the Son of God. This is quite a claim and it is reasonable for some one to ask why should I believe such a
claim? In today's world even the term Son of God means different things to different people. So what makes Jesus any different
than other religious leaders or other deities that people worship? Is there any evidence to validate such a claim? This will be
the focal point of this study..

Unlike some so called deities that people worship in the world today, Jesus is not a myth, but he is a historical
person. Flavius Josephus was a Jewish Historian during the period of (AD 37-c.100) His works are the principal source for
the history of the Jews from the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes (BC 17-63) to the fall of Masada in AD 73.

There is a very interesting statement regarding Jesus recorded in "The Works of Josephus," Book 18 chapter 3, #63&64
(Oak Harbor, WA: LRS, Inc.) 1996.

"Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works--a
teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles.
He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross,
those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets
had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are
not extinct at this day.

This is only one of many proofs that could be quoted to verify Jesus was indeed a real person in history. This quote also verifies
parts of the gospel story. We are not talking of some myth or fairy tale, but of historical facts.

Some people would ask, "couldn't Jesus have just been a good man and a great teacher and nothing more?"
Jesus himself did not allow room for this view. Jesus claimed to be from heaven and he was the only way in which mankind
could come to God the Father, Jn.3:13, Jn.14:6. A good man or a great teacher would not make such claims if he did not
believe them to be true. If he made these claims knowing they were false then he would not be a good man or a great teacher,
but rather he would be a liar. On the other hand, if Jesus believed these claims to be true and they were not, that would make
him a crazy person. Usually people that say Jesus was merely a good man or a teacher are not willing to call Jesus either a liar
or a crazy person. They simply have not thought this out very far. Jesus had to be either a liar, a crazy person, or the Son of
God. He simply did not leave room in his teachings to be labeled only a great man or a teacher. He himself claimed to be much
more!

Unlike other religious leaders Jesus was told about in some detail in prophecy before he was born.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient manuscripts that were discovered in 1948. They are proof that the Old Testament books
date back before Jesus was born. This means they could not have been written afterwards to merely make it look as though
Jesus fulfilled these prophecies. The Dead Sea Scrolls contain a portion of every book in the Old Testament with the exception
of Ester.

Some people don't think that the stories about Jesus in the New Testament are true. However there are other historical records
besides the Bible that provide evidence that Jesus was in fact a real person. I would like to point out that the stories concerning
Jesus in the New Testament were being circulated in the same area where Jesus lived and traveled. It was here that the church
was established and grew. This took place in the same time frame among the same people that knew Jesus before he was
crucified. If the events that are recorded in the New Testament were manufactured or highly exaggerated, the church growth
should have been nearly impossible. Even as we see in the book of Acts the people that lived there in that era and objected to
Christianity did not deny that Jesus taught and did these things recorded in the New Testament letters. The Jews considered
the teachings blasphemous or ludicrous and commanded the disciples to be quiet. However they acknowledged that Jesus did
in fact teach such things and perform what the people considered miracles.

In a court of law when the hostile witness agrees with the defense it is considered a fact. In other words lets say there is a
murder trial. The prosecuting attorney said that David murdered Albert. The defense gets up and says David did indeed kill
Albert, but it was an accident. Since both sides agree that David killed Albert, this would be considered a fact, and it would not
be called into question. Since the actual events regarding Jesus' ministry and crucifixion are not disputed by those opposed to
Christianity in that time frame, the events themselves should be considered fact.

Following are some prophecies concerning Jesus Christ in the Old Testament before he was born and the fulfillment by him in
the New Testament. You can find this and other prophecies that Jesus fulfilled in greater detail in Josh McDowell's book
Evidence that Demands a Verdict. This book also supplies an abundance of evidence for the reliability of the Bible. Keep in
mind I am only mentioning a few of the prophecies concerning the Messiah that were fulfilled in Jesus. Fritz Ridenour in the
book "Who says?" declares that there are some 333 prophecies concerning the Messiah which are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
(Scripture is from the NASB)

1. BORN OF A VIRGIN.
PROPHECY      Isa 7:14
"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name
Immanuel.
FULFILLMENT     Matt 1:18-25   (see also LK.1:26-35)
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together
she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace
her, desired to put her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a
dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of
the Holy Spirit. "And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.
"Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "Behold, the virgin shall
be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which translated means, "God with us. "And
Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took her as his wife, and kept her a virgin
until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.

(Jesus was literally God with us Jn.1:1&14 and the name Jesus means "Jehovah is salvation," i. e., "is the Savior,".)

2. MESSIAH TRACED TO ABRAHAM. This had to be through David, Jesse, Judah, Jacob and Isaac to fulfill prophecy.
PROPHECY     Gen 22:18     (see also Gen. 12:2-3)
The context here is the Lord talking to Abraham, "And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you
have obeyed My voice."
FULFILLMENT     Matt 1:1     (see also Gal.3:16)
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

(To fulfill this Jesus had to be from the bloodline of this one man. I have not been able to find that anybody from Jesus time
period tried to argue that he was born of the wrong blood line. That is interesting considering these letters which are now our
New Testament openly declared and traced the blood line of Jesus back to Abraham. As many people have seen in the Bible
a persons lineage was important to them.)

He was also to be born through Isaac Gen.21:12, this is shown fulfilled Lk.3:23-34 & Mt.1:2-16. Since Abraham had
2 sons Isaac and Ishmael. God at this point cut off 1/2 of the lineage of Abraham.

The Messiah also had to come through the line of Jacob Num.24:17, Gen.35:10-12. We can see this fulfilled in
Lk.3:23-24 & 1:33, Mt.1:2. Isaac had two sons Jacob and Esau so God here eliminates 1/2 of the line of Isaac.

The Messiah was to come from the tribe of Judah Gen.49:10, Mic.5:2 the fulfillment of this can be seen in Lk.3:23-33,
Mt.1:2, Heb.7:14.

The 12 tribes of the Hebrew nation developed from Jacob's 12 sons. God here cut off 11/12 of the tribes of Israel.

The Messiah was to come through Jesse Is.11:1&10. We can see this fulfilled in Lk.3:23-32, Mt.1:6-16

The Messiah was to come through David Jer.23:5, 2 Sam.7:12-16, Ps.132:11. The fulfillment of this can be seen in
Lk.3:23-31, Mt.1:1; 9:27;15:22, Acts 13:22-23, Rev.22:16.

Jesse had at least 8 sons (see 1 Sam 16:10,11) God now cuts off all of these except David.

It should be clear that the odds are definitely stacking up against somebody fulfilling this by being born through the correct
lineage. Remember this is something that cannot be fulfilled on purpose it takes the divine act of God to accomplish this.

3. BORN IN BETHLEHEM
PROPHECY      Micah 5:2
"But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for me to be ruler in
Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity."
FULFILLMENT     Matt 2:1 (see also Jn.7:42, Mt.2:4-8, Lk.2:4-7)(His days are from eternity Col.1:17) Now after Jesus was
born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem,
Not only does a person have no control over through what family they are born, they have no control of where they were born at.
The Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem not Jerusalem or anywhere else to fulfill prophecy. Where he was born was not
disputed in Jesus' day.

4. PRESENTED WITH GIFTS
PROPHECY      Isa 60:6     (see also Ps.72:10)
"A multitude of camels will cover you, the young camels of Midian and ephah; all those from Sheba will come; they will bring
gold and frankincense, and will bear good news of the praises of the LORD.
FULFILLMENT     Matt 2:1-11
1       Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in
Jerusalem, ......................................................
11 And they came into the house and saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell down and worshipped Him; and
opening their treasures they presented to Him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.
A person has no control over what gifts someone may bring them as a child. i.e.. it is not very likely that Jesus could have
manipulated the situation so that the magi would travel a distance to give him these gifts.

5. HIS ZEAL FOR THE HOUSE OF GOD
PROPHECY     Ps 69:9
For zeal for Thy house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach Thee have fallen on me.
FULFILLMENT     John 2:15-17
And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the
coins of the moneychangers, and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, "Take these things
away; stop making My Father's house a house of merchandise." His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Thy
house will consume me."

6.   PROCEEDED BY MESSENGER
PROPHECY     Isa 40:3
A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
FULFILLMENT     Matt 3:1-2     (see also Mt.3:3-11, 11:10, Jn.1:23, Lk.1:17)
Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."