There are many issues in the Christian faith that seem to divide believers. Some believe that miracles ended with the first century church, others believe they exist today. Some believe that you can only read from certain versions of the Bible, others believe any version is okay. There seem to be many different beliefs as to how this world ends and we move on to heaven. The list of differences goes on and on.
However you may view some of these things, as a Christian, there is one foundational belief that we must all maintain:
Jesus was born into this world to die on a cross to take away our sin. He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.
Even with this very basic truth, some argument comes up as to the fine details about exactly how everything happened. I’m not too concerned about the fine details (in this blog series).
Over the next several days, I am going to release a new blog post every day. I have found some Christian songs that portray an “Easter message”. These songs are not the typical ones that you might hear at church, but they are ones that speak to me, hopefully, they will speak to you, too. I wanted to have a music video for each song that I used. Unfortunately, I could not find a video for each song. The videos I did find were often not “official” videos put out by the artist. However, I used what I could.
I’ll start it off with Larry Norman’s “The Outlaw”. The lyrics are at the bottom of this post.
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
“But you,” He asked them, “who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” (Matt. 16:13-16 HCSB)
We often see Jesus pose a thought provoking question to His disciples. It seems innocent at first. “Who do the people say that I am?” He just wants them to repeat back to Him what they have heard other people saying. It is interesting. The answers are various. Some people think that He is John the Baptist. That is kind of weird. John baptized Jesus. The two were seen together. They corresponded with each other. John preached about Jesus and even called Him the messiah. Now, people think that Jesus is John! Other people think that He is Elijah, or Jeremiah, or another one of the prophets of old having returned in a human body. It is interesting that people are ready to believe that, but they were not ready to accept that He was the messiah that was prophesied about!
Then, Jesus turns His question a little more personal. He asks, “Who do you say that I am?” Simon quickly answers, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!”
This story tells us what some people thought concerning Jesus. However, there were still many other beliefs about who Jesus was. In Matthew 12, Jesus healed a man who was demon possessed, blind and mute. When He did, the crowd was amazed, and began wondering if He could be the messiah. “Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, ‘This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.’” (Matt. 12:24 NKJV). In John 5, 10 and 19, the Jews referred to Jesus as a criminal.
Today, many people have differing views of who Jesus is. If we are going to be Bible believing Christians, then we need to understand that Jesus is:
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- The Son of God (Matt. 3:17)
- Is God (John 1:1, 14)
It’s a matter of faith. Each of us must choose if we are going to believe the Bible and follow the savior. Each of us must answer a simple question:
Who do you say He is?
“The Outlaw”
By Larry Norman
Some say He was an outlaw, that He roamed across the land,
With a band of unschooled ruffians and few old fishermen,
No one knew just where He came from, or exactly what He’d done,
But they said it must be something bad that kept Him on the run.
Some say He was a poet, that He’d stand upon the hill
That His voice could calm an angry crowd or make the waves stand still,
That He spoke in many parables that few could understand,
But the people sat for hours just to listen to this man.
Some say He was a sorcerer, a man of mystery,
He could walk upon the water, He could make a blind man see,
That He conjured wine at weddings and did tricks with fish and bread,
That He talked of being born again and raised people from the dead.
Some say a politician, who spoke of being free,
He was followed by the masses on the shores of Galilee,
He spoke out against corruption and He bowed to no decree,
And they feared His strength and power so they nailed Him to a tree.
Some say He was the Son of God, a man above all men,
That He came to be a servant and to set us free from sin,
And that’s who I believe He was cause that’s who I believe,
And I think we should get ready cause it’s time for us to leave
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