Who Is Jesus?

Jesus was born into a Jewish family 2,000 years ago. He grew up in the small town of Nazareth in Israel. When He was about thirty, and for three years, He began speaking a unique message and performing unusual deeds throughout the region. Today, the followers of Jesus represent the largest religion in the world.

Over the years, people have regarded Him as a Palestinian peasant, prophet, enlightened avatar, Son of God, swear word, object of worship, superstar, demon, guru, wonderful man! From these diverse perspectives, Jesus has been loved and hated, deified and demonized, worshipped and spat upon.

Who's right? What are the facts? Whatever your perspective, at least one thing is certain: Jesus has endured. In the words of Dr. James Allan Francis:

"Twenty wide centuries have come and gone, and today he's the centerpiece of the human race-the leader of the column of progress.... All the armies that have ever marched, ... all the kings that have ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as has that one solitary life."

There is no difficulty recognizing the historical reality of the man Jesus of Nazareth. Research scholar Dr. Edwin Yamauchi sets the record straight on this: "From time to time some people have tried to deny the existence of Jesus, but this is really a lost cause… There is overwhelming evidence that Jesus did exist…"

The difficulty for some, though, is that the only detailed biographies of Jesus are the biblical Gospels of the New Testament from nearly 2,000 years ago. Are these documents an authentic and historically reliable record of the words and deeds of Jesus? Did Jesus claim to be God? If so, why should we believe Him? And if the facts should reveal His claim is true, then what?

In the following pages, we will seek to discover the truth about Jesus-and His significance for each of us-by looking into:

• The Historical Records
• The Eyewitness Evidence, and
• The Value of Discover