Mystery Man: Jesus Christ

'Mystery man' is a term in our society that refers to a man who has no identify. There is a recent story in the news coming out of Sydney, Australia, about an Asian mystery man who left $1,000,000 at a restaurant. A mystery man whose body washed ashore in New Jersey was finally laid to rest because no one was able to identify him. Who was the mystery man on the grassy knoll during the assassination of John F. Kennedy? There is always a gossip story being floated about a 'mystery man' in the life of some female celebrity.


One of the most mysterious figures in the history of the world was Jesus Christ. The lyrics of a song in a popular film created in 1973 asked the question, "Jesus Christ, Superstar, do you think you're what they say you are?" It was an expression from a generation asking about the true identity of the mystery man known as The Messiah, The Christ.

To those who are the redeemed children of the living God, Jesus is not a mystery man. His own know who he is. My sons knows me as their father. They know my faults, my disposition, my strengths and weaknesses. Likewise, we who are Christ-followers know him well. "His sheep will follow him because they know his voice." (John 10:4) Jesus said clearly, "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—" (John 10:14)

How can you know the mystery man of the Bible? Seek out those who lived with him. Whom did his friends and family say he was? Who did Jesus say he was?.

Jesus said: "I and the father are one." (John 10:30) Jesus didn't mince any words. He boldly revealed who he was even though he knew it would stir up enough hatred to put him to death. "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. "Philip approached Jesus and asked, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus replied, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don't know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?" (John 14) Jesus declared himself to be the divine Son of God.

John the Baptist said: "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29) John revealed Christ to be the innocent substitute who would die in our place, bearing the sins of mankind on his shoulders. If we confess our sins and believe he has purchased our salvation with his own shed blood we can be saved.

In verse 34 John the Baptist gives testimony of this mystery man who had appeared in Judea: "I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” John is not alone in this testimony.

The Demons said: "If you are the Son of God…." (Matt. 4:3) and again in the book of Mark, "Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God." (3:11)

Andrew said: to his brother, Simon, "We have found the Messiah" (John 1:41) Jesus was the Christ.

Nathaniel said: "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." (John 1:49)

Jesus also said: "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man."

Who is this mystery man the world has so much difficulty comprehending? He is the divine Son of God. He is the Lamb of God, the Messiah, the Rabbi or teacher, the King of Israel.

Mary, mother of Jesus: came with her sons, step-brothers to Jesus, and knelt before him and worshipped him. (Matthew 20:20)

The mystery man of the Bible, Jesus Christ, is the very Son of God. If the witness of these is not yet convincing then let us consider yet another witness.

God the Father said: "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:17)

The question of who Jesus is was also being asked in the days of C.S. Lewis. He addressed it in Mere Christianity: “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at 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 with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

A Dream Restored: A Veggie Tale

I was at work the other day when a colleague asked me about my five year old son. “How is Kameron doing?”
“He’s doing great. Thanks for asking” I replied.
“So he is a Veggie Tale fan?” she asked.
“Yes, he is. How did you know?” I was surprised.
“You’ve been humming Veggie Tale tunes all morning.”

I’ve heard every Veggie Tale tune that has ever been composed. Over the last few years I’ve done a lot of talking to tomatoes and waltzing with potatoes. In the early 2000’s Veggie Tales sold over 50 million videos. They were especially popular among college students as Veggie Tales climbed into the top ten videos watched on college campuses.

Our short conversation spurred me to investigate the success of Veggie Tales. I was astonished by what I learned. The founder of Veggie Tales is a man named Phil Vischer. He made his first animated video when he was only nine years old. He honed in on his natural ability to tell stories through film and he committed his life to children's ministry through multimedia. He made his first children’s video in 1993 and it went viral. By 2000 Vischer was CEO of one of the largest video production companies in the United States. Big Idea employed over 300 people.
Phil Vischer was living out his dream. Life couldn’t be better. Success had come so easy and it tasted so sweet.

Strangely, he began to get occasional emails from an unknown woman saying, “Congratulations on your success but be careful of your pride.” He paid little notice and soon it became evident that there was a Grinch in the works and all was not well in Whoville. The company began to teeter and holding it together was like trying to carry a pound of jell-o with no container. The cracks began to widen and the company was finally thrust into bankruptcy after losing a lawsuit filed by Lyrick Studios. A jury in Texas decided Lyrick deserved $11 million in damages because Big Idea violated a verbal contract.

So, what do you do when your dream dies? What do you do next after your dream vaporizes right before your eyes? What does it mean when God seems to bless your efforts and breathe life into your dream only to let it crumble to dust?

In 2009, at an Echo Conference in Dallas, Phil Vischer told his story. Mustering all his story telling skills together, Phil shared the biblical account of the Shunemite Woman (2 Kings 4:8-37):

Elisha, the great prophet of old traveled from city to city preaching truth and revealing the nature of God to any who would listen. He often traveled through a town called Shunem. A wealthy woman lived there and provided him room and board when he came through. Elisha was very grateful and asked her one day what he might do to repay her for her hospitality. She said she was well cared for by her family and had need of nothing.

Later, Elisha asked his servant, Gehazi, “What might we do for this kind woman?” Gehazi said, “She has no children. Her husband is an old man.” So, Elisha called for the woman and said to her, “By this time next year you will have a son.” “Oh, man of God,” she responded, “Don’t play with my emotions like that. Don’t get my hopes up.” A year later she had a son, just as Elisha had said she would.

One day when her son was older and working in his father’s fields, he suddenly cried out, “My head hurts! My head hurts!” His father instructed one of the servants to carry him to the house. The Shunemite woman sent a servant on a dash for Elisha and she followed as quickly as she could.

But her son died. He was everything to her. He was her miracle. He was the meaning in her life. He was her hope for the future. He was her dream. Why would God give her a dream and then take it away?

She finally caught up with Elisha and after hearing her distress Elisha sent Gehazi to minister to the child. But the Shunemite woman would not leave Elisha, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I won’t go home unless you go with me.” So she and Elisha returned together.

When Elisha arrived he went in to where the boy lay. What he did for the boy sounds a lot like the modern treatment of mouth to mouth resuscitation. The boy was revived and reunited with his mother.

When it seems God has taken a dream away from you, turn to him. Notice the Shunemite woman would not leave Elisha. In her time of sorrow, she wanted to be as close to God as possible. She didn’t call for her husband. She didn’t call for the town doctor. She called for the man of God.

We must be careful when claiming ownership of our dreams and our ministry. When the dream becomes too much ours and not enough God’s we have a serious problem. Our dream, our ministry, our occupation can become an idol. Sometimes God asks us to let go. If we cling to our dream instead of clinging to Him then he reveals to us our idol. We can worship our own efforts and our own works rather than truly worship the God we love.

Phil Vischer put is this way, “If God gives you dream and breathes life into it, and then it dies, it could be that God wants to show you what’s more important to you… Him or the dream.”
C.S. Lewis once said, “He who has God plus many things has no more than he who has God alone.”

The Shunemite Woman’s dream was resurrected. Phil Vischer’s dream was also resurrected. He now runs a company called Jelly Labs he founded in 2005. The loss of his dream changed Phil Visher’s perspective on life and ministry. “The most important thing in our lives … is not the work that we can do for God, the most important thing is to make God the most important thing.”

When God takes something from us he always wants to replace it with something better. Sometimes he wants to do a work within us. He wants to replace pride with humility, self-sufficiency with faith in Him. Vischer said, “I realized at Big Ideas I was a big studdly barracuda," but now he humbly admits that at Jellyfish Labs he is a “spineless, brainless, bag of goo. I get my form, my purpose only when I am suspended in the current of God’s will. So, let go of ego. Let go of outcomes and put your plans in God’s hands and let Him direct your steps.”

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”


Kevin Probst - Is a teacher of Apologetics and History at Calvary Christian School and Associate Pastor of Crosspointe Nazarene Church church in Columbus, Georgia.