Who is Jesus? The Titles of Jesus from John Ch.1 - A Dose of Encouragement

Who is Jesus?

Today I thought I would have a short study looking at the titles we find for Jesus in just one chapter of 

the Bible.

That chapter is in the Gospel of John in the

New Testament

 

Let's Look at the Gospel of John chapter 1

The first 2 verses tell us that Jesus is 

The Eternal Word

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

and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God."

Verse 3 tells us that Jesus is 

The Creator

"All things were made through Him, 

and without Him nothing was made that was made."

Verse 4 tells us that Jesus is 

The Life

"In Him was life," 

"and the life was the light of men."

Verses 4 & 5 tell us that Jesus is 

The Light

"and the life was the light of men.

And the light shines in the darkness, 

and the darkness did not comprehend it."

Now lets look at verses 6 - 9 

 

we read here how there was to be no confusion that John the Baptist was this light - no Jesus is

The True Light

Then in verse 10 

we read again of Jesus as The Creator

Verses 12 & 13 tell us that Jesus is 

The Adopter of Believers into the Family of God 

"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God,

to those who believe in His name:

who were born, not of blood,

nor of the will of the flesh,

nor of the will of man,

but of God."

Verses 14 - 18  

Verse 14 again tells us that Jesus is The Word

Verses 14 and 18 both point us to Jesus as The Only Begotten Son

Going further on in this chapter we hear from John the Baptist who declares that Jesus is    The Lamb of God

John chapter 1 verse 29

   "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him,              and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who             takes away the sin of the world!"

John the Baptist also spoke of Jesus in verse 34

where he said

   "And I have seen and testified that this is

the Son of God"

 

So John also called Him The Son of God

We also read of John again calling Him The Lamb of God in verse 36

 "And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, 

"Behold the Lamb of God""

Verses 40 - 42  

The next day we find the first disciples Andrew and Peter being chosen.  

Andrew met Jesus and then told his brother Simon (Peter) that Jesus is The Messiah (Christ)

and then he brought him to Jesus.

One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 

He first found his own brother Simon, 

and said to him, 

“We have found the Messiah” 

(which is translated, the Christ). 

And he brought him to Jesus.

A few verses later in verse 49 we read of Nathaniel having the revelation of Jesus as the Son of God and The King of Israel when he met Him

Nathanael answered and said to Him, 

“Rabbi, You are the Son of God! 

You are the King of Israel!”

The Last Title we read in this chapter is spoken by Jesus himself in verse 51 in response to Nathaniel

And He said to him, 

“Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Who is Jesus? - Summary

We can see here the 17 times where 

Jesus was given a descriptive title

in the first chapter of the Gospel of John.

Jesus Is:

The Eternal Word

The Creator

The Life

The Light

The True Light

The Creator

The Adopter of Believers into the Family of God

The Word

The Only Begotten Son

The Only Begotten Son

The Lamb of God

The Son of God

The Lamb of God

The Messiah (Christ)

The Son of God

The King of Israel

The Son of Man

Throughout this passage we see 

11 individual Titles for Jesus

The Word

The Creator

The Life

The Light

The Adopter of Believers

The Only Begotten Son

The Lamb of God

The Son of God

The Messiah

The King of Israel

The Son of Man

8 Titles were spoken by 

the Disciple John

the author of this Gospel

The Eternal Word

The Creator

The Life

The Light

The True Light

The Word

The Adopter of Believers

The Only Begotten Son

 2 Titles were spoken by

John the Baptist

The Lamb of God

The Son of God

1 Title was spoken by Andrew

The Messiah

2 Titles were spoken by Nathaniel

The Son of God 

The King of Israel

AND

1 Title was spoken by Jesus

The Son of Man

All the Titles in order as proclaimed by

The Disciple John

John the Baptist

Andrew

Nathaniel

JESUS

The Eternal Word (v1-2)

The Creator (v3)

The Life (v4)

The Light (v4-5)

The True Light (v9)

The Creator (v10)

The Adopter of Believers (v12-13)

The Word (v14)

The Only Begotten Son (v14)

The Only Begotten Son (v18)

The Lamb of God (v29)

The Son of God (v34)

The Lamb of God (v36)

The Messiah (v41)

The Son of God (v49)

The King of Israel (v49)

The Son of Man (v51)

The Gospel of Luke - Chapters 14 - 15

What do we read about in the fourteenth & fifteenth chapters of Luke's Gospel?
What do we learn from Luke?


What is the main focus?
Is it important to know the words from this chapter?

I am continuing to write my thoughts on the Gospel of Luke. 

If you missed The Overview or any of the chapters please click  HERE  for a list of them all.

Now let's look at the Fourteenth Chapter of Luke.

Today we are dividing this chapter into 4 sections

Healing in a Pharisee's House on the Sabbath v. 1-6:

Jesus was at a meal in the home of a Pharisee and we are told straight away in verse 1 that 

"they watched Him closely"

Jesus saw a man who was ill and asked what may seem to us like a simple question however with the rules the Pharisees had it was not so simple.

His question was in verse 3

“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

                 The answer was in verse 4

SILENCE

His action was immediate in verse 4

“He took him and healed him, and let him go.”

He then spoke to them in verse 5

“Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?”

                            The result was in verse 6

SILENCE

It is indeed a serious thing to make laws into something they are not meant to be.

God has always intended good through His Laws to the people He created, not legalistic attitudes.

Exaltation & Humility v. 7-14:

Jesus then used the place and situation He was in to teach a parable. 

Normally I think the main focus people take from this parable about guests at a wedding feast is the fact of Jesus talking to the guests coming and choosing good places to sit and then being asked to move because a more honoured guest has arrived.  They have esteemed themselves to great. 

It is better for us not to think so highly about ourselves and leave it to the host to recognise our worth.

Which leads us to the well known  verse 11

But then there is the other fact that is not mentioned so often in the next section  verses 12 - 14 where Jesus talks to the host of the meal about who he invites.

We as hosts are not to invite people who will honour us in return but we should be reaching out to help others who may need more help or friendship and not expect anything in return.

I leads to the idea of rewards and we must not look for a reward on earth as we are told in 
 verse 14

“And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

We must not forget this second part and end up having ulterior motives for our actions.

The Parable of the Great supper  v. 15-24:

One of the guests in this Pharisee's house makes a statement in verse 15

“Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

Which is when Jesus tells the parable of the Great Supper.

Briefly:
A man plans a great feast and invites many people but when the feast is ready they all have excuses for not attending.
When the man hears this he says in verse 21

‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’

Which is very similar to verse 13 from the previous talk of humility and exaltation.

But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. 

So we see what we should be doing is what God would do.

God has a blessing for all His creation but not all the people will accept it.
And
He will not keep a place for us if we keep saying no because there are other things more important to us.

Leaving All to Follow Christ  v. 25-35:

It is not surprising that the previous parable leads into this next section of verses.
There Jesus had been talking to a limited number of people in a house but now here we see how He talks in a similar vein to crowds who follow Him.

Jesus knows that people follow Him about and will listen to His teachings

BUT

Do they really mean to follow Him faithfully and keep His teachings?

People have different reasons for being in a crowd of followers but here we see that each person must know how much they are willing to give up - when or if it is needed - to be a true follower of Christ.

Extreme examples are given but to take just one of them it is not meant that as Christians we leave our families who depend on us and do not offer comfort, companionship, love or help because in God's Word we know we are taught to love and care for others.

It is pointing out that in the end we cannot let other factors keep us from our true walk with God, or draw us away from the faith.   We must instead not jump into something we do not firmly believe because we will not finish the race like Paul talks about in  2 Timothy 4 v 7-8

Not to be mistaken for the thought of

"I won't be able to keep this salvation"

But more like the lesson we are taught in the parable of the sower - with all the distractions and hindrances and attacks of the devil.

Because we do not have to keep our Salvation - Jesus is the One who does all the keeping and He is well able to do that.

Now let's look at the Fifteenth Chapter of Luke.

Today we are dividing this chapter into 3 sections.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep  v. 1-7:

Can you imagine Jesus saying these words from verse 6 ?

‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’

Well we should be able to imagine this because this is how He felt when He brought us into His Kingdom.

The Parable of the Lost Coin  v. 8-10:

Can you imagine Jesus saying these words from verse 9 ?

‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’

Well we should be able to imagine this because this is how He felt when He brought us into His Kingdom.


Yes these two portions of Scripture are parables Jesus told but they were told to express the love and joy He and all of Heaven feel for each person that accepts His gift of Salvation.




The Parable of the Lost Son  v. 11-32:


The son left the father and went his own way, just as we (all people have sinned against God and gone our own way)


Brings to my thoughts  Romans 3 v 23

The father never forgot about his son and waited looking out for him all the time (God wants everyone to be saved)


Brings to my thoughts  John 3 v 16

When the son returns home the father has a special meal for him, clothes for him, shoes and a ring, gifts to show him how important he was to his father and how he was part of the family.


Brings to my thoughts  Romans 6 v 23

Because to the father the son was dead until he came home  verse 24

for this my son was dead and is alive again; 

he was lost and is found

You can find more posts on the chapters of Luke  HERE