Look at this headline from an American news magazine. It questions, "Who Was Jesus?" And

the answer given in the magazine is all wrong!

Was Jesus who He said He was - the Son of God - or was He an imposter as this article

implies?

The message Jesus brought from the Father lays a claim on your life today. It is the

most important message you can hear. Listen carefully because your eternal life depends

on it.

Join us on Beyond Today as we seek the true answer to the critical question: "Who Is Jesus?"

[Announcer] Join our host, Darris McNeely and his guests, as they help you understand

your future on Beyond Today!

[Darris] The Newsweek article is headlined "The Myths of Jesus." How's that for a starter?

It goes on to mention a recent text that says Jesus had a wife. Now this is an old story,

there's nothing really new there. It is easily disproved by serious and honest scholarship.

Jesus Christ was not married, and there is no historical record - in the Bible or out

- that He was.

But then the subhead here in this article goes on to raise the question, "But what do

we really know about the historical truth of the early life of Jesus? Even the gospels

disagree."

That line of questioning is demonic and it's meant to mislead you. It is meant to destroy

your faith.

This type of dialogue reminds me of what I read in the book of Genesis when the serpent

tempted Eve with a negative style of questioning. Let's read it:

"Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had

made. And he said to the woman, 'Has God indeed said, "You shall not eat of every tree of

the garden?"'"

Right here Satan posed a negative in what was really a positive matter. God had earlier

said, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil you shall not eat..."

The way God put it was positive and inviting with clear teaching of what tree to avoid.

All trees but one were good - the positive was first, with emphasis. Satan's way is to

cast doubt by subtle wording. Satan's way is to rip away faith and belief in God or

anything God says. That is why you see a relentless attack against the Bible and the true teaching

of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

This article in Newsweek is typical of countless others that rip and tear at the fabric of

faith - faith in Him as Creator, faith in His Word that reveals the glorious purpose

for human life, and belief in Jesus Christ as the way and the means that you can enter

the spiritual family of God.

God has been taken out of public discussion and is not admitted. The Bible is not respected.

It's not revered as the Holy Word of God - the basis for all moral and ethical law. It is

not admitted into polite discussion today, but this is the root of our most horrific

social problems manifested by the violence of shootings, and bombings and strife in our

schools and public gathering places, in all parts of today's world.

Articles like this are crafted by intelligent people who are caught up in a world that does

not want to admit a knowledge of God or acknowledge that God has any authority or claim on human

life. They are unwitting pawns in the hands of a master deceiver - Satan the devil. Are

you deceived along with the rest?

It's interesting. This magazine - Newsweek, it's going out of print. It's a victim of

the changing digital publishing world. In the future, it will be a digital magazine

and whether or not it will survive that form is yet to be seen. That's very interesting.

You see the Bible and the New Testament that records the truths of Jesus' life, it's been

in print for nearly two thousand years - and the printing presses still churn out new editions

of the Book.

The Bible claims to be the Word of God. The life and the teachings, death and resurrection

of Jesus Christ is the central feature of the Bible. The truth of Christ's statements

are critical to our salvation. We must have confidence that the story is valid. On this

our eternal life depends.

Now consider the reliability of the New Testament texts that have come down to us from the ancient

world of the first century. It is recognized by many scholars that the Gospel accounts

can be relied upon to be accurate in the critical details of Christ's life. You see the accounts

agree in the areas of Christ's mission, His teaching, His death and His resurrection.

You can build a solid foundation of faith by reading with confidence the Four Gospels:

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Jesus Christ is not a mythical figure.

What I am giving you on this program is really a fresh perspective on the Jesus that you've

always heard about but never completely understood. Let's see what Jesus Christ said and let's

look at something little understood or realized about the nature of Christ - and who He really

is.

Jesus Christ came as a herald, announcing the Kingdom of God. He expressed by teaching

and example the power of the world to come. Those who heard and witnessed what He did

for that three and a half year ministry of His, they were amazed. They were captivated

by what they experienced. No other teacher, leader or popular figure - no matter how charismatic

- had expressed the Kingdom of God the way Jesus did. And they had seen many men try.

Notice what Mark's account says: "Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee,

preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the

kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel'" (Mark 1:9-11, Mark 1:14-15).

You see, first century Judea was a world looking for a Messiah. They yearned for the "good

old days" and they were willing to listen to anyone who offered hope of freedom. When

Christ came along He found a willing audience ready to listen. Willing to listen but not

always ready to commit to His teaching and to do what He taught.

And that is the real test of Jesus, the Son of God. Will we, will you, do what He said?

Will we listen to His message with open ears and fresh eyes? Will we trade in the old understanding

for a fresh perspective on the life and the teachings of Jesus?

Christ came with a message that required a person to change their life and He found an

audience of people who were hungry for something better, something new. But when they heard

that they must make a change they often drew back. The message they heard was too hard.

It required them to actually change their lives.

On one occasion Christ's teaching was so difficult to accept that many left Him. It says, "Therefore

many of His disciples, when they heard this, [they] said, "This is a hard saying; who can

understand it?"... [and] From that time many of His disciples went back and walked [no

more] with Him..."

Many could not understand Christ's teaching then and many more cannot fully appreciate

Christ's message today.

When Christ turned to Peter and asked if he too would be leaving, Peter said, "Lord, to

whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. ... [and] we have come to believe and

know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

His teaching is no less challenging for us today. But you can know Him and He can change

your life. He is not a myth and He is not to be argued over, with or about. He is to

be obeyed and worshipped. Our free study aid that we're offering on this program, Jesus

Christ: The Real Story is really the perfect tool to help you understand who Jesus is.

And later in this program I'm going to explain more about this free booklet. In its pages

you can learn much more about the Jesus that you may only partially understand.

What if I told you that this Jesus of Nazareth that you read about in the New Testament is

also the God you read about in the Old Testament? You know He told the Pharisees at one point,

"before Abraham was, I AM."

Now why is this important? It's important because a lot of people jump the track in

Bible understanding by looking at Jesus as a kinder, gentler form of God. Much different

from the one that they read about in the Old Testament. They see the image of God in the

Old Testament as a sterner, harsher more judgmental God - one who ordered the extermination of

men, women and children at the hands of Joshua and the Israelite armies.

People for centuries have read the Old Testament stories and they've raised questions about

God that create the same kind of unbelief that we see in the questions raised about

Jesus in an article like this. People today cannot reconcile the image of Christ in the

Gospels with the image of God in the Old Testament. Yet, the God we read about in the Old and

in the New is the same!

That's right. Think about that. The God who ordered Joshua and the Israelites to wipe

out whole villages of people - including all the men, women and children - that God is

the same One who was born of a virgin, took children in His arms to bless, and healed

those bent over with infirmities of life.

How could all this be? Probably, the question is: Why must it be this way? That is the better

question. Let's examine why.

You have to understand the two images, from the Old and from the New, to really grasp

the complete picture - the true picture of God, both the Father and the Son - but especially

the real truth of who Jesus is. You cannot fully understand who Jesus is till you get

this.

In the book of Joshua, we read of the famous city of Jericho and its destruction at the

hand of Joshua. Joshua says to his armies... "Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord

to destruction, it and all who are in it" (Joshua 6:17).

You read the account and it shows no one was to be spared.

Going on, "Then the people went up into the city...and...utterly destroyed all that was

in the city, both man and woman, young and old...with the edge of the sword" (verse 20-21).

This is the story throughout this part of the Bible. Men, women and children were killed

and their lands taken over by this invading Israelite army. They did this in the name

of God and religion and the story goes on and only gets worse.

Israel, under God's instruction - remember the same God who became Jesus Christ - practiced

what today we would call genocide upon a native people and they took by cruel force their

lands and their homes. This story is where people really get mad and upset with the story

of God in the Bible. "How," they ask, "could God do this?"

And this has caused so many throughout time to doubt and to question belief in God. As

people today suffer in war or natural catastrophe the same questions are raised: How can a just

God allow such suffering? If He is all powerful why doesn't He prevent it?

These are good questions, but they are incomplete. They are asked without understanding. The

truth is that raw, unbridled, sinful human nature had its consequences in the life of

these nations, tribes and the peoples of biblical history.

So who is Jesus, really?

And here is what you need to understand.

The same God that we read about in the Old Testament is Jesus Christ in the New Testament,

walking and teaching among the people of Judea. Notice these scriptures:

"Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all [of] our fathers were

under the cloud, [and] all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the

cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink.

For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ" (1

Corinthians 10:1-4).

The Bible reveals that before He became human in the form of Jesus, this Being was known

as the Word. Notice what the apostle John wrote:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was

in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing

was made that was made" (John 1:1-3).

These two passages, and there are more, clearly reveal an astounding truth that opens the

way for us to understand not only who Jesus is but why He and the Father chose to operate

in the universe as they do.

The picture we have of Christ teaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God, healing the

sick who are brought to Him out of deep compassion that He felt, and feeding up to five thousand

people on a Galilean hillside - this Jesus is not at odds with the image of His actions

in telling Joshua to kill sinful people and take their lands.

Jesus looked on the people that He walked among and He wept. He saw they were like sheep

without a shepherd. Their problem was the spiritual darkness upon all peoples at all

times including our own modern world. Jesus came as the light that shone in the darkness

but no man could understand it.

It says, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in

the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it" (John 1:4-5).

He knew the answer to death and suffering was in His life. A life that would be sacrificed

for the sins of mankind. Here is the point: Jesus Christ as God in the flesh chose to

put Himself through the same experience, only worse, that He put a woman and an infant through

in Jericho and in Jerusalem. He was beaten and crucified on a stake in the most hideous

and painful death a human could conceive. He suffered as no man ever suffered. And in

this act He experienced, in the flesh as a human, what every human being feels. As we

read in the book of Hebrews, He learned obedience. He experienced pain and suffering in the flesh.