WHO IS JESUS CHRIST? This is a most important question. It is one that Jesus Himself put to His disciples on one occasion; "Who do men say that I am?" He asked them. They offered a variety of answers, but only one proved to be right. "Some say that your are a prophet," was one of the suggestions; "Some say that you are John the Baptist come back from the dead," was another. "But who do YOU say that I am?" the Lord pressed them. And it was only when Simon Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," that the Lord pronounced that to be the right answer that He was looking for in His question.

Now, "the Christ" simply means the Anointed One, or the appointed One. So when the Bible speaks of our Lord Jesus as being "the Christ," then it is pointing us to the fact that He is the One whom God appointed to come into this world for a certain purpose. That purpose, of course, was to save men and women from their sins, and only Jesus can do this, because He is the only One appointed for that task.

Simon Peter also said that Jesus was the "Christ, the Son of the living God." He wasn't only god's appointed One, then, He was also God's son who had come to this earth. Indeed, if we read our Bibles aright, we will see that He was not only the Son of God, but He was, in reality, God the Son. He was God the Son who had "become man" for that purpose of saving men and women from their sin. While He lived in this world, then, He was obedient to everything that God the Father in heaven had appointed Him to do. He would often say, "I do always those things that please Him," or, "I came…..to do the will of Him that sent me."

When we think of WHO Jesus is, then, we should think of Him as the Son of God Who "humbled Himself" and came into this world of ours as a man for God's appointed purpose; and that brings a second question: -

WHAT DID JESUS DO? We have already mentioned this; He came to save men and women from their sins. The Bible puts it like this - "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." He came to save sinners; He came to save men and women from their sins.

The important thing to ask is. "How did He do this? How did he save men and women from their sins?" And the short answer to that is in two parts: first of all, how He lived in the world, and secondly, how He died on the Cross.

When Christ lived in this world for that given period of time, He lived "perfectly" in the world. Even His enemies had to admit that they found "no fault" in Him. The Bible says that He was "holy", "harmless", and "undefiled", and that He was "separate from sinners". What Christ did in His life in this world was this - He kept the whole of the Law of God (the Ten Commandments) perfectly. That was something that none of us could ever do, or can ever do. What we needed therefore, was One to do it for us - a Substitute who would keep God's law for us. That's what Jesus was appointed to do, and that's what He did in His life in this world.

The other part of what He did, then, seems very strange in the light of that, for, of course, He finally died on the Cross! That must seem very strange indeed. If He lived the life of a perfect man, why should He die the death of a criminal at the end - for that was what the death of the Cross was? There is only one way to answer that question: not only was Jesus appointed to LIVE for us, as our substitute before His Father in heaven, but He was also appointed to DIE for us, as our substitute, as well.

It is of the utmost importance to realise that our failure to keep God's Law carried with it tremendous consequences. Failure to keep God's law is what the Bible simply calls SIN. And that same Bible says, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Not simply with a temporal, physical death, but with an eternal, spiritual death, as well. That's why the Bible says, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Because we have failed to keep God's law in our life, then we will be called to realise God's judgment after our death - and that, in an eternal "death"; and eternal severance from God for ever.

When Christ died on the Cross, then, He was BEARING that judgment of eternal death for all those who would believe on His name. He had LIVED for them before God in a way that they could never live; keeping the whole Law of God on their behalf. At the end, He then DIED for them, as though He had broken every part of that Law of God from beginning to end. On both counts, then, Christ acted as a substitute, He was righteous for those who could never be righteous themselves, and He was punished for those who merit only the punishment of God on account of their sin. That was what He was appointed to do, and what He did when He came into this world of ours.

The important question to ask, of course, in the light of that is, - What does all that mean to me, and how does that all apply to me? The answer to that is what the Bible calls the Gospel - or, receiving the Gospel. When a person believes with their heart that Christ has, indeed, given Himself for them in the way described, then that person is "saved". It is by "believing" that Christ lived for us, and died for us, that we know God's salvation in Christ to our souls. That's why the Bible simply states it - "They that believe shall be saved, and they that believe not shall be dammed." Christ died that we might live; and that brings us to a third question:

WHERE IS JESUS NOW? When we place a lot of emphasis on the DEATH of Christ, there is always the possibility that some people will imagine that He is still dead! This, of course, is not the case; far from it. Following on from Christ's death on the Cross, and burial in the tomb came Christ's Resurrection from the dead, and there is no fact more important than that.

In the Resurrection of Christ from the tomb, God was declaring His "approval" of all that Christ had done as the One who had been appointed to bring salvation to men and women. Christ had, indeed, lived a perfect life, and He had died a "penal" death - He had borne the penalty of men and women's sins. Once He had done that, then His mission into this world to save sinners was complete. All that remained was for God to "raise him from the dead", and "receive him back into the glories of heaven again". This He did; and now Christ is "at the right hand of the majesty of God on high".

There is no more blessed thought to anyone who truly believes in Christ as their Saviour than the realisation that their Saviour is alive for evermore. It assures their own eternal life in Him. As Christ Himself put it, "Because I live, ye shall live also." Or, in those well-known words that He spoke, just before He went tot the Cross - "Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid; ye believe in God, believe also in me…. I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also". That, of course, brings us to the fourth question: -

WHAT WILL JESUS CHRIST DO NEXT? To those that He addressed in those preceding words as those who "believe" in Him, He says He will "come again" and receive them unto Himself. That is certainly one of the things that Christ will do next. He is coming back to this world once again, and when he does so, He will receive to Himself all those who believe in His name. But that is not all that He will do; and the "other side" of His coming back to this world again is very sobering, indeed, for anyone who does not believe in His name. The Bible puts it very plainly and very solemnly: -

"The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and they shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation."

Those words are very plain, are they not? They were spoken by Christ Himself, and they cannot be doubted in any way. Remember, He lived a perfect life, and certainly, He never lied in anything that He said. We should ponder that true word of His.

TO CONCLUDE: if this same Jesus put that same question to you this day that He put to those disciples many years ago - "Whom do you say that I am?" Would you be gladly able to answer - "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God."? We trust so.