Who is Jesus?
When building a church—or a life—the foundation matters. The Bible makes clear that Jesus Christ alone is the true foundation. Anything built on another foundation will not stand. This truth is central to the mission of Saraland Church: We are building a Jesus-centric, Spirit-filled church for all people.
The opening weeks of this vision focus on the most important question: Who is Jesus? If we get Jesus wrong, we get everything wrong.
Romans 10:9 ESV
⁹ because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Jesus is Lord. He is the cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20) and the foundation upon which all else must be built (1 Corinthians 3:11). Many people claim to believe in Jesus, but the crucial question is: is it the Jesus of the Bible? Scripture warns against false gods and false images of Christ—what could be called “little j jesus”—figments of imagination or culture that cannot save.
1 Corinthians 8:6 ESV
⁶ yet for us there is **one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
Deuteronomy 6:4 ESV
⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Psalm 115:4–8 ESV
⁴ Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
⁵ They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.
⁶ They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.
⁷ They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.
⁸ Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.
Only the true Jesus—the Jesus revealed in Scripture—has the power to save, heal, and transform. The Bible presents seven essential truths about who He is.
1. Jesus Is Fully God
Colossians 1:15–19 ESV
¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. ¹⁷ And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. ¹⁹ For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.
Jesus was and is God in the flesh—before, during, and after His earthly life. While He voluntarily restrained His divine privileges, He never ceased to be fully God. This truth ties directly to the doctrine of the Trinity: God eternally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each fully God, yet one God.
2. Jesus Is Fully Human
1 John 4:2 ESV
² By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.
1 Timothy 2:5 ESV
⁵ For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:3–4 ESV
³ For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Hebrews 1:3 ESV
³ He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
Jesus was not a symbolic projection. He lived as a real man—eating, drinking, working, and sleeping. His death was a real price paid for sin. From the earliest days of the church, false teachers denied His humanity, but Scripture insists He truly came in the flesh to represent us perfectly before the Father.
3. Jesus Lived a Sinless Life
Hebrews 4:15 ESV
¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
1 John 4:10 ESV
¹⁰ In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
This truth is essential to the gospel. If Jesus had sinned, His death could not have atoned for ours. A recent survey revealed that less than half of Americans believe Jesus was sinless, yet Scripture is clear: He was utterly holy, pure, and perfect. His sinlessness ensures salvation for all who believe.
4. Jesus Died on the Cross
Philippians 2:8 ESV
⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
1 Peter 2:24 ESV
²⁴ He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
His death was the full payment required for sin. By His wounds, forgiveness and healing are secured.
5. Jesus Rose from the Dead
Romans 6:5–6 ESV
⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
The cross obtained salvation for us; the resurrection delivers it to us. Because Jesus lives, believers can experience freedom, healing, and eternal life. His resurrection is also the authority upon which Christianity stands.
6. Jesus Will Come Again
Hebrews 9:28 ESV
²⁸ so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Titus 2:13 ESV
¹³ waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 ESV
¹⁶ For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
His return is certain, even though the day and hour are unknown. It is the blessed hope of the church.
7. Jesus Will Judge All People
Revelation 20:11–15 ESV
¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. ¹³ And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. ¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. ¹⁵ And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Every person will stand before Christ. Those whose names are found in the Lamb’s Book of Life will live with Him forever. Those not found in the book will be cast into the lake of fire.
This is why the mission of the church matters. With hundreds of thousands in our region yet to know Him, we are building a Jesus-centric, Spirit-filled church for all people. There is a heaven to gain and a hell to avoid—and we want to make it as difficult as possible for anyone in our community to miss the real Jesus.
