“Christ on the Road to Emmaus“, National Gallery of Art (Washington D.C.), painted by an unknown American artist, in the 18th century.
In our second week of Class 100, we tackled one of the most controversial figures to ever walk the planet: Jesus Christ.
If we were to ask twenty people on the street who Jesus Christ was we would likely get 20 different answers. We might hear that he was a good teacher, a prophet, a carpenter, a great rabbi, or even Messiah, Son of God.
The answer to this question is a critical one, as Jesus Christ is the object of our whole faith. If Jesus Christ is not Messiah, if Jesus Christ is not the Son of the living God, if Jesus Christ isn’t raised from the dead, then we, as Christians, are great fools.
The great problem that many have with Jesus Christ are his claims. He claimed to be God, to forgive sins, to have worked a great many miracles, and He accepted the worship of his followers. To the first century Jews, this was blasphemy!
As C.S. Lewis writes: “You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
As we concluded our class, Pastor Steve Eriksson ended with a most important question: “Who is Jesus to you?”
Next week we move to the topic of “The Assurance of Salvation”. How can we know, for certain, that we are saved and going to heaven?
Audio from today’s class:
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Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is my Lord and Savior and I walk today because of Him.
What a great lesson. I’m sorry I wasn’t there in person.