Knowing the facts about Christ is not the same as loving him intimately.
During the 19th century, liberal theologians began a search to rediscover the historical Jesus. They were intent on determining the true personality of a Jesus who existed 2,000 years earlier. Leading this pursuit was Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning philosopher, theologian and medical missionary.
The fruit of his work was disclosed in his highly acclaimed book The Quest of the Historical Jesus, which was released in 1906–the same year the Azusa Street Revival lit the world on fire.
After exhaustive research, Schweitzer concluded that Jesus was a mysterious, power-hungry ruler who arrogantly considered Himself the Son of Man. Titles such as Messiah, Son of Man and Son of God, Schweitzer said, were merely “historical parables,” and Jesus’ claims of divinity were not based on reality. Schweitzer wrote, “We can find no designation that expresses what He is for us.”
In Schweitzer’s opinion, Jesus had nothing in common with contemporary society, but He could be known through individual experience. For Schweitzer that meant running a hospital in Africa. Although he helped a great deal of people and was truly sincere–Schweitzer was sincerely wrong.
He sought the Jesus of 2,000 years ago rather than the Jesus of today. The tools of his research were human intellect, the scientific method and subjective experience rather than Scripture, prayer and meditation.
You Can Know Jesus Through the Bible How important is it to rediscover the Jesus of the Bible? I venture to say it means everything. However, revelation–which doesn’t come from human intellect or scientific method–is at the core of who Jesus is. Revelation is the process God uses to show the beauty and power of Jesus in your life through the Word of God.
When you know the Jesus of the Bible, you daily fall more and more in love with Him. Jesus doesn’t want you following Him out of cold, rigid, legalistic obedience as if He were an impersonal taskmaster or an exacting judge. He wants you to obey Him because you love Him and delight in pleasing Him!
Yes, He is a monarch and righteous ruler, but He is foremost a loving Lord who laid down His life for you and continues to pray for you every day before the Father (see Heb. 7:25). In fact, He desires to relate to you as a Bridegroom with His bride. Jesus wants you captivated, fascinated and exhilarated by a true revelation of Him, by truly “knowing” Him.
To know Jesus, you must begin with the Bible. The Bible was written to introduce you to a Person–Jesus. By wholeheartedly believing in Him, you can share eternity with Him. In the closing words of his Gospel, John wrote, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31, NIV).
For many Christians, believing in Jesus the Son of God is much easier than believing in Jesus the Son of Man–a real, live person. Without forfeiting any of His divinity, Jesus came to Earth and clothed Himself with human skin.
But after His resurrection, Jesus didn’t stop being a man. Jesus did not temporarily become a man (the incarnation) for a season and then return to heaven, dissolve His humanity and “go back to being only God.” The eternal, uncreated, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent second Person of the Trinity became a man and will remain a man forever!
Relating to a personal God who is a literal Person is so much easier than relating to some “beatific vision” or “ethereal presence.” Unfortunately, a great deal of religious training not only distorts the personality of Jesus but also ignores His humanity in attempting to emphasize His divinity. We need both! By building a friendship with the man Christ Jesus, you build a relationship with Jesus, the Son of God.
An Interesting Romance During the 1870s two unbelievers sat on a railroad train discussing the life of Christ. Both were skeptical attorneys: one a writer, the other a famous agnostic. “I think an interesting romance could be written about Him,” the writer commented. His friend replied, “And you are just the man to write it. Tear down the prevailing sentiment about His divinity and paint Him as a man.”
The writer, former Civil War general Lewis Wallace, accepted his friend’s challenge. Yet the challenge didn’t come from an unknown agnostic attorney. It came from a noted opponent of Christianity, Robert Ingersoll, whose scurrilous attacks on biblical belief commanded up to $3,500 for one lecture–a hefty sum in those days.
In the process of constructing the history of Christ, Wallace found himself facing the greatest life ever lived on Earth. The more he studied the Bible, the more he was convinced. He fell in love with the compassionate Savior.
His heart was so captivated that one day he felt compelled to cry, “Truly this was the Son of God.” He finished the book, and it eventually became the all-time classic Ben-Hur.
