Men and women of our day is just as less challenged to answer the same question, a question upon which hangs the very meaning of life itself.

Who is this man whose influence has cast itself profound implication across the last nineteen centuries?

The only Jesus we may know is the one whose story is written in the New Testament by His close companions and disciples. This is the "historical Jesus." We must accept or reject the Jesus of the New Testament.

The best way to get an answer to the question, "Who is Jesus?" is to let Jesus speak for Himself. When the Samaritan woman assured Jesus that she knew when the Christ (Messiah) came He would declare all things, He replied, "I that speak unto thee am he" (John 4:25-26). To His disciples just before His ascension, He said, "These are my words which I spoke unto you, while I was with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets and the psalms concerning me . . . Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer, and rise again the third day" (Luke 24:44,46).

Whatever we may think of it, Jesus clearly claimed to be the promised Christ of all the Old Testament

Several hundred years before the birth of Jesus, Isaiah declared that the Christ would be descended from Jesse and David (11:1-9; 9:6-7; John 7:42) and be born of a virgin (7:14; Matthew 1:18-23). At the same time the prophet Micah spoke of Bethlehem as His birthplace (5:2; Matthew 2:3-6) . Yet, in spite of His human birth, Isaiah spoke of Him as "the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father" (9:6-7); and Micah said His goings forth were "from everlasting" (5:2).

More than four hundred years before His conception the prophet Zechariah spoke of His entrance into Jerusalem riding on an ass (9:9-10). Isaiah chronicled His suffering and death for the sins of the world long before they occurred and spoke beforehand of His burial with a rich man (53:1-9). David revealed the details of the crucifixion fully one thousand years before it transpired (Psalm 22:1 18), and prophesied of the resurrection that would follow (Psalm 16:9-10; Acts 2:25-32). A scheming deceiver might have contrived to seemingly fulfill some of the Messianic prophecies, but, however shrewd, no man has control of the circumstances of his birth and death.

Isaiah 7:14: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Matthew 1:22-23: All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel'--which means, 'God with us.'

Micah 5:2: But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.

Matthew 2:1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 31:15: This is what the Lord says: 'A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.'

Matthew 2:16-18: When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 'A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.'

Hosea 11:1: When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

Matthew 2:14-15 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'Out of Egypt I called my son.'

Isaiah 9:6-7: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

Genesis 22:17-18 [Spoken to Abraham]: I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

Psalm 72:17: May his name endure forever; may it continue as long as the sun. All nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed.

According to the law of permutation (each additional detail included in any prediction lessens the probability of its being fulfilled in the exact order in which these details are given), the odds of just 10 prophecies coming true in the order in which they were given by chance or coincidence are 1 in 3,628,800. No mere man could make such claims, unless He is either, a Liar or a Lunatic? If we reject Jesus as God's Son we are compelled to place Him in one of these categories. We are left to decide if we are willing to attribute to insanity or wicked deception the finest hour of human history.

"A Lunatic?"

But what does the Bible tell us.