Help with an “Identity Crisis”
There is an identity crisis that is much greater than a personal one – one with eternal consequences and the very key to an abundant life!
Resolution in 12 or Fewer Words
For over 2,000 years, One figure in history has been embraced and worshipped by millions and misidentified by millions more. In the Brit Chadasha (New Testament) book of Hebrews, with fewer than a dozen words, we find the key to identify this figure.
Jesus the Messiah is the same yesterday and today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
In 11 words the Holy Spirit encompasses the nature of our triune God in this amazing statement about Jesus. Before expanding on this, read these words from the Psalmist:
In time of old You founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. Even they will perish, but You endure; All of them will wear out like a garment; like clothing You will change them and they will pass away. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end. The children of Your servants will continue, and their descendants will be established before You.”[1]
The Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), with these words about Jesus the Messiah, sums up Scripture from Genesis (“In the beginning, God created the heavens…”[2] “Let us make man in our image…”[3]) to John’s gospel, (“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…”[4]) through Revelation, where we read:
…and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood – and He made us into a kingdom, priests to His God and Father – to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So, it is to be. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”[5]
Isaiah identifies Him too
The prophet Isaiah, six centuries before Revelation was written, identifies the LORD God as the First and the Last, the Redeemer of Israel, the Holy One![6]
This brief description of Jesus identifies Him, setting the table for the remaining verses. It is as if the inspired writer just cannot help but once again point the Hebrews to just how glorious Jesus is, forever! Just as Daniel wrote:
I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a son of man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, honor, and a kingdom, so that all the peoples, nations, and populations of all languages might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.[7]
Do you have an “identity crisis” concerning who Jesus truly is and how you may have life eternal and an abundant life now through faith? For the gospel of Messiah is the power of God for salvation, to all who believe, “to the Jew first and also the Gentiles.”[8]
Written by Jeff, Life in Messiah staff
(1) How would you describe your spiritual identity? “In Messiah” or without Him?
(2) Vanessa grew up in a Messianic Jewish home, but she struggled with her identity. Check out her video testimonial.
(3) Unsure of your standing before God? Contact us at questions@insearchofshalom.com.
Endnotes:
[1] Psalm 102:25-28
[2] Genesis 1:1.
[3] Genesis 1:26.
[4] John 1:1.
[5] Revelation 1:5-8.
[6] Isaiah 41:4; Isaiah 48:12.
[7] Daniel 7:13-14.
[8] Romans 1:16.