There is no more important question found anywhere in Scripture than the question of "Who is Jesus Christ"? That simple, yet profound question is found in Matthew 16:13-28. Jesus Christ had decided that the time was right to confront His own followers with the single most important issue that they would ever face. Jesus had already spent much time with them teaching  and making some very bold claims about His own authority and His real identity. Now, the time had come for them to either believe or to reject His teaching for themselves.

In Matthew 16:13, when Jesus and his disciples had come to Caesarea Philippi, He decided to confront them with the one question they were not expecting. He asked, "Who does everyone say that I am?" The disciples unlikely response proved to be very enlightening. According to their answer, evidently there was mass confusion regarding who Jesus Christ really was. Rather than saying that everyone believes you are Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, they said simply that people really do not know who you are. Some think you are Elijah, some Jeremiah, some thought He may be just one of the other prophets. Interestingly, everyone basically thought that He was one of these men who evidently had returned from the grave. The confession of the disciples was that people really did not know for certain.

After listening to this for several minutes, without hesitation, Jesus brought the discussion to a more personal level. The text indicates that He shifted the question directly to them by saying, "But who do 'You' say that I am?" Rather than concerning Himself with what "They" thought ( other people), He now wanted to know what His own disciples thought; the very ones who had walked with Him side by side for almost two years, the very ones who had seen many of His miracles, the very ones that had been called, taught, and nurtured by Him. Is it remotely possible that even His own disciples did not know who He really was? Fortunately for everyone there on that eventful day, one of the disciples, Simon Peter, spoke up and boldly declared, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God".

Amazingly, almost two thousand years later, there is still mass confusion in our society concerning "Who is Jesus Christ?" Let's get more personal and bring the question closer to home by asking our readers the same question today. "Who is Jesus Christ?" Your answer to that question will be eternally significant. In fact, your response to that simple question will determine not only your values and lifestyle, but your eternal destiny as well. To correctly answer this question, take a few minutes to consider what the Bible has to say about Him.

JESUS CHRIST IS GOD: Today, when people are confronted with the basic question of "Who is Jesus Christ", they love to confine and limit who He is by saying that they believed He was a good man who actually lived at some time on the earth, that He was a good, moral person, and a good teacher who was possibly sent by God. For some reason, many, if not most people have a problem believing and confessing that He in fact was and is God! People today, as they did two thousand years ago simply do not understand that Jesus Christ claimed to be God when He lived on the earth. It seems that people will allow Him to be anything that He wants to be except God. According to scripture, John 5:18 and John 10:33 states that even His enemies had to acknowledge that He in fact was God. That is the reason they tried to stone Him and eventually have Him crucified.

C.S. Lewis observed, "You can shut Him up as a fool, you can spit on Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." If we are to believe the Bible, we must say that He is God!

JESUS CHRIST IS GOD'S ONLY WAY TO HEAVEN
Have you ever heard a person say that it really doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere? Well, it is possible for a person to be sincerely wrong, and that could be eternally fatal. While we may be wrong about many things in life that would carry little or no consequence, you simply cannot afford to be wrong about God's way of salvation - God's way of getting us to heaven to enjoy an eternal relationship with Him.

While many today might naturally assume there are many ways to God and that all religions are equally true and will ultimately get us to the same place, Jesus was very narrow minded when it came to this subject. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one can come to the Father but through me" ( John 14:6). He didn't claim to be just one of several ways to God, or one of many ways to God; He claimed to be the only way to God.

JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY SAVIOR
According to Scripture, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). That means that all of us were born in sin with a sinful nature. We did not become sinners because we committed one or more sins at some time in our lives, but we continually sin because we are sinners by nature and by choice. Sin places us in danger of eternal punishment (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

Furthermore, we are incapable of changing our sinful condition on our own. Jeremiah said, "Can an Ethiopian change his skin, or can a leopard change its spots? Neither can you who are accustomed to doing evil" (Jeremiah 13:23).

That doesn't mean that we are incapable of doing good things; but what it does mean is that we are totally and completely incapable of pleasing God on our own. Paul said it like this, "There is none righteous, no not one; there is none that understands, there is none that seek God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one" (Romans 3:10-12).

Jesus Christ alone has the power to forgive, transform, and deliver us from the power and penalty of sin. Luke said, "There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men men, by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

Think about It! Although God's justice demands death because of sin, His love provided a Savior who willingly paid the penalty for sinners. "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" (John 3:16).

JESUS CHRIST IS LORD OF ALL
The Bible says, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved" (Roman 19:9). When we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of our lives, it means that we willingly submit to His authority in all things. When you obey Him, you are acknowledging His Lordship over your life. That doesn't mean your obedience will always be perfect, but it does mean that you desire to always obey Him in every area of your life. "... for you are not your own; you have been bought with a price; therefore, glorify God..." ( 1 Corinthians 6:19,20).

JESUS CHRIST IS JUDGE
There is coming a day when everyone who has rejected Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior will stand before Him as their Judge. What a fearful thought! Consider these sobering verses of Scripture: "God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead" (Acts 17:30-31). "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power"
(2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).

WHAT WILL YOUR RESPONSE BE TO JESUS CHRIST
The Bible clearly states that Jesus Christ is God, Savior, the only way of salvation, Lord, and Judge. In light of these truths, who do you say Jesus Christ really is? That is the ultimate inescapable question that all of us must answer. We encourage you right now to repent and believe the gospel now, and embrace Him as Lord and Savior of your life.