Was Jesus a "Nice" Person?

The answer is that billions of human beings have a completely distorted idea as to who the real Jesus Christ was, how He actually lived His life here on earth and what He truly taught! An in-correct understanding of all these questions will definitely affect your part in eternal life.

Think!

The vast majority of mainstream Protestants and Catholics have a completely unbiblical concept of how Jesus of Nazareth looked and acted, and what He would really do in many, many situations. This affects their entire attitude toward Christianity and toward their relationship with God Himself.

The key, of course, is whether we human beings will actually believe the Bible. For the real Jesus would not be widely accepted in modern Christianity or in "nice" society today. He did not teach that "all religions are equal," or that we will "go to heaven" as our reward if only we will "be nice" to one another. The true Jesus Christ of the Bible cried out, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).

If you are honest with yourself, you will have to admit that this Jesus Christ of the Bible would be rejected if He were to appear in the flesh today. How would our modern ministers and other leaders react to Jesus' statement to the Syro-Phoenician woman who asked for healing for her daughter? Jesus said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs" (Matthew 15:26).

Wow! How would that "politically incorrect" statement come across in a meeting of the "Ministerial Alliance"?

Please understand. Jesus deeply loved all peoples. But He was not coming with a message that "everybody is saved right here and now." God has a Plan through which most people will have their one opportunity for salvation at the Great White Throne Judgment. In today's age, people of all kinds are being called as "firstfruits"—but only a very few. Most of the people hearing Christ's message then—and even today—are hearing it only as a "witness."

So, when dealing with the Samaritan woman, Jesus forcefully stated, "You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22). How dare Jesus make such a "prejudicial" statement? But He did! For God did indeed give His primary revelation, at first, to the Israelitish people who were first given the "oracles of God," as the Apostle Paul acknowledged in Romans 3:1–2. Indeed, Jesus' faithful "bond slave," the Apostle Paul, told the Gentile Christians at Ephesus, "Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:11–12). "Having no hope and without God in the world"? That is exactly what God told these Gentiles who did not know or understand the true God of Israel.

Paul reminded the young evangelist Timothy "that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:15–16).

When Timothy was a child, the "Holy Scriptures" he knew were the Old Testament scriptures. Most of the New Testament books did not yet exist! Paul says that these Old Testament scriptures are "able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." Paul saw no conflict between Old Testament scripture and Christian faith and practice, and confirmed that all Scripture (including the Old Testament) is profitable for doctrine and for instruction in righteousness. These are not the words of someone teaching that God's Old Testament laws have been done away!

The Apostle Paul instructed Christians to "Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1). The Apostle John observed, "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked" (1 John 2:6).

These two, like all the Apostles, knew that Jesus Christ came to set the perfect example, and that Christians ought to follow His example, strengthened by the Holy Spirit. This was the commonplace understanding in the Apostle Paul's day, as Christianity spread across the Roman Empire.

For Jesus Christ was a circumcised Jew (Luke 2:21–22; Hebrews 7:14). It was Jesus' "custom" to keep the seventh-day Sabbath—right along with the other Jews (Luke 4:16). Far from abrogating God's Sabbath, Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for "man"—not just the Jews, and that He was "Lord" of the Sabbath. So the Sabbath is, in fact, the true "Lord's Day" as far as a day of rest and worship is concerned!

So, if you could somehow "look in on" true Christianity during the first century ad, what would you see? You would see a group of dedicated believers in Jesus as the promised Messiah. You would see a community of believers to whom the God of Israel, the God of Creation, was real. For these people would not just talk about the person of Jesus Christ. They would do what He commanded.

Do you now begin to understand that the true Christ of the Bible was absolutely "different" from the weak-looking "Sunday School Jesus" presented to most churchgoers today? Again, was Jesus not being "nice" when He told the religious leaders of His day, "Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city" (Matthew 23:33–34).

The truth is that Jesus Christ powerfully proclaimed the one true God. He powerfully proclaimed the one way that God intended. He did not endorse or consider in any way as "equal" all the other pagan religions of the world—past, present or future. He stated very clearly, "I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them" (John 10:7–8).

So, if you are willing to obey Jesus' command, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God" (Luke 4:4), then you will have to recognize that those who try to be "saved" or attain eternal life by following anyone else except the true Christ of the Bible are simply "out of line." For God has and is now using no one else as the true revelator of God except Jesus Christ. That true Jesus Christ of the Bible will soon come back to this earth as King of kings and Lord of lords—ruling the nations on this earth—not up in heaven! You need to realize that "He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron" (Revelation 19:15).

Why would Jesus use a "rod of iron"? Because, as the entire Bible indicates, God has allowed Satan the Devil to deceive all nations. In Revelation, the Apostle John writes about a final "spirit war" when the Devil will finally be cast down here for the last time: "So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him" (Revelation 12:9). Since people have been so massively deceived, hundreds of millions will literally fight Christ when He comes again as King of kings (Revelation 17:14).

The true Jesus Christ of the Bible really will "need" to use overwhelming force to convince people that He is the Son of God! People will need to be "shaken" in order to be willing to finally obey the true God of the Bible and do what He says.

Otherwise, they would continue their philosophizing, arguing and setting up their own standards of what they think is "nice" or "politically correct." For your good, my friends, please learn to study and believe the literal words of your Bible and begin to "seek" the true God of the Bible, the true God of creation. God is real. You and I need to "get real" as the end of this age comes upon us.