WHO'S JESUS?

A Teaching by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome

There are three questions that every human being who has ever encountered the name of Jesus must eventually answer — not for the sake of religion, but for the sake of their own life. Who is Jesus? What did He come to do? And is He relevant today? These questions are not abstract theological puzzles. They are the most practical questions a person can ask, because the answers determine how you live, what you believe about yourself, and what you have the right to expect from God. Christianity, properly understood, is not a religion — it is a relationship. Not a reaching toward a God who may or may not be listening, but a living, personal connection with a God who chose to come near, to give Himself, and to make us His own.

WHO IS JESUS?

The first and most foundational answer the apostle Paul gives us is found in his letter to the Romans. Writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he sets out the identity of Jesus with precision:

Romans 1:3–4  “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.”

Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He did not merely claim this title — He proved it. The resurrection from the dead was the divine declaration, the seal of heaven upon His identity. No prophet, no philosopher, no religious teacher in the history of the world has ever been raised from the dead by the power of God as a vindication of who they claimed to be. Jesus was. And because He was raised, we know with absolute certainty: He is the Son of God.

Second, He is the Saviour of the world. The apostle John writes:

John 3:16  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

This verse, known the world over, is not merely a beautiful sentiment. It is a sovereign declaration — a divine law — that anyone who believes in Jesus Christ is separated from perishing. It does not say that those who believe might not perish, or that God hopes they will not perish. It says they should not perish. The word carries the force of divine decree. And the apostle confirms it again in his first epistle:

1 John 4:14  “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.”

Third, Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth. This is His own declaration, made after His resurrection, in words that no other being in the universe has ever spoken — or could speak:

Matthew 28:18–19  “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

All authority. Not some. Not a portion. All authority in heaven — every angelic rank, every spiritual domain — and all authority in the earth. No founder of a religion, no philosopher, no emperor has ever made such a claim with any basis in truth. Jesus made it, and the resurrection confirmed it. He is Lord. And it is on the basis of that absolute authority that He sends His people into all the earth to proclaim His name. We go not in our own name or our own strength, but under the mandate of the One who holds all authority in heaven and on earth.

To know who Jesus is, therefore, is to be released from shame. There is nothing to apologise for in His name. There is no ground for timidity. The Son of God, the Saviour of the world, the Lord of heaven and earth — this is who we serve and in whom we believe. Be bold about Him.

WHAT DID JESUS COME TO DO?

Jesus was not primarily a teacher, though He taught with incomparable authority. He was not a prophet, though the prophets spoke of Him for centuries before His birth. He was not a martyr — and this distinction matters enormously. A martyr is someone who dies for what he believes, who stakes his life for a conviction. Jesus did not die for what He believed. He died for us. He did not lose His life — He gave it up, freely, as a sacrifice. He was not a victim. He was a volunteer.

What, then, did He come to do? He came to accomplish three things that no religious system, no moral reformation, no human effort of any kind could accomplish.

First, He came to take away our sins. The prophet-messenger John the Baptist, standing by the Jordan River, saw Jesus approaching and made the declaration that echoes through all of history:

John 1:29  “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

This is the irreducible problem of every human life: sin. Not merely the particular acts of wrongdoing that mark any life, but the condition itself — the moral debt that separates man from God. No religion has an adequate answer to this problem. Good works cannot outweigh evil any more than a single drop of poison in a clean drum of water can be neutralised by adding more clean water. The contamination remains. No matter how good a life one lives, it cannot undo what has been done, cannot cleanse what is impure, cannot settle the account.

Jesus came to settle the account entirely. He took our place of punishment. He bore the full condemnation that our sins deserved, and in exchange gave us His place of righteousness. He was not guilty, yet He was condemned. We were guilty, yet we go free. This is the transaction of the cross — the most momentous exchange in the history of the universe. And the Bible says that anyone who believes this, anyone who receives what Jesus did on the cross as something done personally for them, receives the full benefit of it. Your guilt is gone. Your condemnation is lifted. The debt is paid in full.

This is why people who have genuinely received Jesus Christ carry a remarkable confidence. They have found out something that the world does not know: God is not angry with them. God is not waiting to punish them. God wants them. He loves them. And the punishment that their sins deserved was laid on Jesus so that it need never fall on them again.

Second, Jesus came to give us eternal life. Not eventually, not at death, not as a deferred reward waiting on the other side of the grave — but now. The words of Jesus in John chapter 10 are unmistakable:

John 10:10  “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

Eternal life is not a concept of duration — it is a quality of life. It is the God-kind of life, the very nature and life of God imparted into the human spirit. Just as there is animal life, plant life, and human life — each with its own quality and capacity — there is the God-kind of life, which operates by an entirely different order of reality. When a person receives Jesus Christ as Lord, that life enters them. The nature of God takes up residence in the human spirit. And that life carries with it the properties of God Himself: it is indestructible, disease-resistant, abundant, and overflowing.

This is why a God who loves His children would never want them sick, poor, and suffering. What parent would? The very life He has given us is a life of abundance — for the spirit, for the soul, for the body. God wants His children well. He wants them sound. He wants them prosperous. The world has been deceived into thinking that suffering is godly, that poverty is humble, that sickness is patient endurance. The Word of God says otherwise. Jesus came that we might have life — and have it to the full.

Third, Jesus came to make us sons of God. He was Himself the Son of God when He came. He did not come merely to forgive us and leave us as forgiven sinners. He came to change our nature entirely — to bring us into the family of God, to make us participants in the divine nature. The apostle John stands in wonder at this:

Mark 16:17–18  “And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

Beloved, now are we the sons of God. Not after death. Not in some future dispensation. Now. This is what Jesus accomplished: He brought many sons to glory. Religion offers the hope that one day, if you have been good enough, you will perhaps reach God. The gospel of Jesus Christ declares that God has already reached you, has given you His name, has placed His life in you, and calls you His own right now. That is the difference between religion and relationship. Religion is past. Reality has come.

HOW RELEVANT IS JESUS TODAY?

The question of relevance answers itself the moment you understand who Jesus is and what He came to do. If He is the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, and the Lord of all authority in heaven and earth, then He is not merely relevant — He is indispensable. Every human problem — sin, sickness, bondage, fear, purposelessness — finds its answer in Him. And He Himself declared the practical signs that would follow those who believe in Him:

Mark 16:17–18  “And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

These signs shall follow them that believe. Not the ordained, not the specially designated, not the professionally religious — them that believe. Whoever you are, whatever your background, whatever condition you came in with: if you believe, these signs are for you. Devils shall be cast out. The sick shall recover. Even deadly things that enter the body shall have no power over the one who stands in the name of Jesus Christ.

The name of Jesus is not a historical artefact. It is not a word from the past that held power in another era. It is a living, active authority — the authority of the One who holds all power in heaven and earth — available to every believer who calls upon it in faith. This is the gospel: not a promise that God will one day, perhaps, intervene — but the assurance that He has already intervened, fully and finally, in the person of Jesus Christ, and that the benefits of that intervention are available now, today, to anyone who will believe.

The world looks at suffering and asks: where is God? The answer is: He sent His Son. And His Son sends His people — anointed, equipped, and emboldened by the Holy Spirit — to carry this message to every person who has not yet heard it. God wants you well. God wants you sound. God wants you free. And the power to make it so is in the name of Jesus Christ.

Who is Jesus? He is the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, the Lord of heaven and earth. What did He come to do? He came to take away our sins, to give us eternal life, and to make us sons of God. Is He relevant today? More than ever. Every sign He promised still follows those who believe. Every name of disease, every chain of bondage, every weight of sin — all of it must bow to the name that holds all authority in heaven and in earth. His name is Jesus. And you will never be the same again for having known Him.