The answer to this simple question consisting of only three words could fill hundreds, if not thousands, of books. At the end of John’s gospel he wrote, “And there are also many other things THAT JESUS DID, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen” (John 21:24). We are limited in space, so we will give a few facts about His birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Before we begin, it is vital to know that before Jesus was born, He was the eternal Son of God. We learn this in John 1:1 & 14, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” He was and is God, yet in grace He became a true human being, and from that point on He was “God manifest in the flesh” (see 1^st Timothy 3:16).

1) His BIRTH: “Now the BIRTH of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit…But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins’” (Matthew 1:18, 20-21). “Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.’ Then Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I do not know a man?’ And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God’” (Luke 1:31-35). This is the marvelous truth of His Incarnation, where He would become “God manifest in the flesh.” He was “the Son of the Highest” (the Son of God) but also “the son of David” (a true Man who would become a KING). And His name would be “JESUS” for He would die in order to become the “SAVIOR of the world” (see John 4:42; 1^st John 4:9-10, 14).

2) His LIFE: We must read through all four Gospels to trace His LIFE from the manger to the cross. We have one account of His life at the age of 12 (Luke 2:41-51) and there we learn that He “must be about His Father’s business” (verse 49). At the age of 30 He began His public ministry (Luke 3:23) where He presented Himself to the nation of Israel as their Messiah but they rejected Him (Luke 4:14-29 and John 1:11). From that point on He spoke of His impending death and resurrection (Matthew 16:21) and taught that by His death God would offer salvation and eternal life to the whole world and those who believe would indeed be saved and have eternal life (John 3:14:16; 10:9-28).

3) His DEATH: Jesus’ crucifixion and death are found in Matthew 27:1-50; Mark 15:1-37; Luke 23:1-46; and John 19:1-30. Though wicked men crucified Him, He actually “laid down His own life voluntarily” (John 10:17-18) as a “sacrifice for sin” (Isaiah 53:5-6, 10; 1^st Peter 3:18; Hebrews 10:1-11). We saw earlier that He was called JESUS because He would “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Again, the sinner who believes in Him as their Savior IS SAVED (John 1:12; 3:16-18).

4) His RESURRECTION: See Matthew 28:1-6; Mark 16:1-6; Luke 24:1-8 and John 20:1-18. Jesus had said He would “rise from the dead in three days” (John 2:19-22). God raised His Son from the dead because He was satisfied with the work He had accomplished for the salvation of sinners (Romans 4:24-25). The Apostle Paul preached that His resurrection on the third day was “according to the scriptures” (1^st Corinthians 15:1-4 with Psalm 16:10). His resurrection is the guarantee of the believer’s resurrection at the Rapture (1^st Corinthians 15:20-23, 50-55 and 1^st Thessalonians 4:13-18).

5) His ASCENSION: 40 days after His resurrection Jesus ascended to heaven (Acts 1:1-9) where He now sits “on the right hand of God” (Ephesians 1:19-20; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2 and 1^st Peter 3;22). He is there as the believer’s High Priest (Hebrews 2:17-18; 4:14-16; 7:24-27) and Advocate (1^st John 2:1). Soon He is coming for us to take us home to heaven (John 14:2-3). It will be the same Jesus we have come to know through the Word of God. We know that JESUS will never change, for we read in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” Praise be to God for His Son, our Savior, JESUS!  (DO)  (567.3)