Last week we examined the most fundamental of all Christian beliefs, the fact that we believe in God. We share that belief with almost all religions around the world. Even people who haven’t attended church in years or have any discernable practice of any faith say, “I believe God exists.”

The next logical questions are, “Who is God? What does God want from those who believe he exists?” These are important questions because how we answer them makes all the difference in the world.

Christianity’s picture of God is found in Jesus Christ. When we look at Jesus Christ, we say that this is the clearest picture we can possibly find of what God is really like and what God wants from his creation. So, why do we believe what we believe about Jesus?

The 27 books written by 9 different authors in the New Testament offer us a host of pictures of who Jesus is. There are some definite consistencies, but there also a wide variety of pictures of who this man is. Jesus is pictures as the counselor, healer, redeemer, intercessor, Savior, and teacher. He is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He is the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the servant of the people and the King of kings. He is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. He is the Lord of Lords. He is the one who rides on a white stallion and has a robe that’s been dipped in blood. He is the cornerstone and the head of the church. He is the Word made flesh. He is Emmanuel, “God with us.” For Simon Peter, he is the Messiah, the son of the living God.

Every one of these descriptions of Jesus as expressed in the New Testament help us understand what Christians claim about Jesus.

But there is one central truth that Christianity holds above all else. It is that God in his wisdom and his desire to be known and to know humanity became one of us in Jesus Christ. This is the great truth of the Christian faith. Jesus wasn’t merely a prophet or teacher.