Defending Jesus: His Existence and Essence – Part 2

In Part 1 of this series, we began looking at Jesus. We briefly discussed what most people know about Him. We looked a little bit at what the Bible says about Him and what He says about Himself. Now let’s start looking at what He did when He came down to Earth as a man.

Jesus Came to Earth as a Human

The Bible believer understands that Jesus was born of a virgin and that this is significant to understanding salvation. Not so with the skeptic because since he cannot deny that a man named Jesus lived on Earth according to historical records, he must reject the concept that Jesus is God (Bere 136).

Jesus was born of a virgin named Mary. This is fulfilment of prophecy, and it tells of the supernatural (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; John 1:14; Philippians 2:5-7; Luke 1:35; Hebrews 10:5). Jesus grew up to be a man and when He was about thirty years old, He was baptized by His cousin (John the Baptist) which began His Earthly ministry. This was in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar according to Luke 3:1. He ministered on Earth for about 3 ½ years. Although the Bible does not specifically tell us how long Jesus ministered on Earth, we can look at some key Bible passages, especially in the Gospel of John, that talk of at least three Passovers (John 2:13; 5:1; 6:4). Other historians such as Eusebius and Irenaeus also say that the ministry lasted slightly over three years. Finally, archaeological findings from the construction of the Herodian Temple support this time frame as well. The table below illustrates a suggested time line of Christ’s ministry. (Bere 145).

Suggested Timeline of Christ’s Earthly Ministry

Even though He lived as a human, when Jesus was on Earth, He never sinned (1 Peter 2:21-22; Hebrews 4:14-15; 2Corithians 5:20-21; 1 John 3:1-5). During His time on Earth, Jesus hungered, thirsted, got tired, suffered sadness, He prayed to His Almighty Father, He worked, and He learned, just like we do (Matthew 4:2; John 19:28; Mark 6:31; Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 1:35; John 5:17, 36; Matthew 13:54-55; Mark 6:6; Hebrews 5:8; Philippians 2:8; Luke 2:52). In addition to these humanly things, Jesus was tempted by Satan, just as we are. He always answered Satan with Scripture and never gave into that temptation. Oh! That we could always follow His example in that.

Jesus’ reason for coming to Earth was to sacrifice Himself as the Perfect Lamb of God to replace the old covenant sacrificial system because animal sacrifices were not adequate for permanent atonement (Hebrews 10:1-8).  He willingly stepped down from glory because His Father, Almighty God, sent Him for this important mission. In this mission we see an incredible mingling of the God-man that Jesus is. He was fully man and lived as a human on Earth just as we do, but He is fully God as well, perfect in all ways and able to eradicate the sin that pollutes mankind. He gave His life, a sacrifice on the cross, as our substitute (2 Corinthians 5:21). He stepped in and cancelled the sin debt for everyone who believes He did it for them personally – that sin debt is death (Romans 6:23). I like how Cambron puts it in his “Bible Doctrines” book:

Jesus was and is perfect (Hebrews 5:9-10), and as discussed previously, He was without sin, so He did not need to die and pay a sin debt. But as God would have it, Jesus lived on Earth and shared good news with all that He saw. And as it came close to the end of His mission, He shared His divinity with the people as well. This was the reason the authorities used to get rid of Him – He claimed to be God (John 1:14; 8:58; 10:18, 30; 19:7).

Jesus was crucified and buried, according to the Scriptures (Matthew 27:32-66). But that is not the end of His Story, because since He is God, He had victory over death and rose from the dead 3 days after He was buried in the tomb. We know this because there were witnesses to His death and witnesses to His resurrected presence as well.

Jesus Rose from the Dead and Appeared to People on Earth

There was no doubt that Jesus was dead after the crucifixion. There were eye witnesses to His public execution as recorded by non-Christian writers such as Josephus, Tacitus, Lucian, and Pliny. History is also recorded in John 19:25; Luke 22:54 and Mark 15:40. In addition, the Bible records several spectacular events in Matthew 27. There was three hours of darkness and an earthquake so powerful that it broke rocks into pieces. The graves were opened, and dead bodies were raised; those bodies went into the holy city and appeared to many. And the curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom!

As part of the ministry of Christ, the resurrection event marks a new phase in His mission for all believers. We might think of this event as the first step to His return to the Father in glory. This was pivotal in His position as our Advocate, Mediator and Intercessor as He is seated on the throne in Heaven on the right hand of the Father. As a point of doctrine, The Resurrection of Christ is a key, crucial topic in Christianity. In fact, A well-known Theologian, John Walvoord, in his book “Christ Our Lord”, wrote:

From the standpoint of an apologetic for Christian theology, belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God stands or falls with the question of His bodily resurrection

It is the theme of all preaching by the Apostles in the Book of Acts as well as the letters that Paul wrote to the Churches in the first century (Bere 157).

Unlike any other resurrection that we see in the Scriptures, the resurrection of Jesus was a bodily resurrection. Jesus rose from the dead never to die again and He rose of His own power. His claims would be useless if He did not rise from the dead as He predicted. Jesus interacted with people after His resurrection. We see this recorded in God’s word:

In Part 3 of this series, we will look at some more things about Jesus after His Resurrection, and His return to the Father as well as the promise of His return.

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Pamela Rose Williams, Founder of Christianity Every Day, is a wife, mother, and grandmother. She and her husband, Dr. Michael L. Williams have served in Christian ministry since 2001. She has Master of Ministry in Biblical Counseling and Bachelor’s in Christian Education degrees. Most of her time is spent as a professional editor and writer, working with many Christian authors and artists. She also uses her extensive experience in information technology providing Christ-centered teaching tools and resources for people all over the world. To learn more about Pamela visit her About page.

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