Interesting Facts About Jesus By Godwin Goziem Jireh

Here are 10 interesting facts about Jesus hidden in the pages of the Bible.
1. The Birth of Jesus

While reporting of the miraculous conception and virgin birth of Jesus, the Gospel of Matthew alludes to this miracle as a fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14. Jesus’ birth led to the division of history into two: Before Christ (B.C) and Anno Domini, meaning “in the year of the Lord” (A.D).

However, it is widely believed that Christ was born earlier than 4 B.C, the date Herod, the wicked ruler who played an active part in Christ’s birth story (Matthew 2), died. But some scholars also hold the view that since the census mentioned in Luke 2:2 probably occurred about 6 B.C., the Lord Jesus was probably born between 6 and 4 B.C.

Although Jesus’ birthday is globally celebrated on December 25 each year, the Bible does not mention His exact birthday. Different scholars have suggested the birth of Christ sometime in winter or early spring. Celebrating His birth at Christmas has come to stay because the date offers an alternative to many pagan festivals happening at this time.

2. The Magi at Jesus' Birth

The Bible does not tell us how many wise men visited newborn King Jesus, though we often see Christmas crèches with three wise men. Perhaps it is because the Magi came to worship Him with three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:11).

3. The Name of Jesus

Jesus, a common first-century name, is the English transliteration of the Greek name Iesus, derived from the Hebrew name Yeshuah, meaning "Yahweh/Jehovah saves" or "Yahweh/Jehovah is salvation." It is the same name as Joshua, but especially given by God's angel to reveal the mission of the Divine Child (Matthew 1:18-21; Luke 1:28–33)


Christ is not Jesus’ surname, but it is a title derived from the Greek term Christos, meaning “anointed one.” It refers to the promised Messiah in the Old Testament. Several other appellative and metaphorical titles for Jesus are seen in the Bible. Examples: Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1:8; 22:13); Author and Perfecter of Faith (Hebrews 12:2); Beginning of the Creation of God (Revelation 3:14); Captain of Salvation (Hebrews 2:10); Creator of all things (John 1:3, 10; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:2); Firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1:18); Great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14 ); Image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4; Hebrews 1:3); King (Luke 1:33; Revelation 17:14; 19:16); Lamb of God (John 1:29, 36); Last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45 , 47); Light of the World (John 8:12 ); Lord (Matthew 22:14, 43); Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5); Prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15; Luke 24:19);Redeemer (Isaiah 59:20; Titus 2:14); Saviour (Luke 2:11; John 4:42; Acts 5:31); Son of David (Matthew 9:27; 21:9); Son of God (Matthew 3:17; Luke 1:35; Colossians 1:15; 1 John 5:20); Son of Man (Matthew 8:20; John 1:51; Acts 7:56); The Way, Truth and Life (John 14:6); The Word (John 1:1, 14).

4. The Four Images of Jesus

In correspondence to the faces of the cherubim in visions recorded in Ezekiel 1:10; 10:15; 41:19; Revelation 4:7, Jesus is seen to be symbolically represented in the Gospel of Matthew as a man, in Mark as an eagle; in Luke as an ox, and in John as a lion.

A close examination of the four Gospels will show that they focus on different aspects of Jesus' identity.

Matthew emphasises that Jesus is the Son of David, the promised Messiah (Matthew 1:1; see Psalm 89:29, 36; 103:11; Acts 2:30); thus presenting Jesus as a humble man (see 1 Corinthians 15:45; 1 Timothy 2:5).

Mark asserts that Jesus is the Son of God (Mark 1:1; see Psalm 2:4, 11-12; Proverbs 30:4; Daniel 3:25; thus portraying Jesus as a swift eagle (see Exodus 4:22; 19:4; compare Psalm 68:18; Ephesians 4:8; 1 Timothy 1:13).

Luke teaches that Jesus is the suffering Savior (Luke 19:10; see 9:44, 56; 24:44-48); thus typifying Jesus as a sacrificial ox (Exodus 20:24; Isaiah 53:7-10).

John reveals that Jesus is God (John 1:1-3, 14; 20:28); thus symbolizing Jesus as a bold lion (Revelation 5:5; compare Proverbs 30:30)

5. Family Members of Jesus

Jesus had half-siblings (Matthew 12:46-47; 13:55–56; Luke 8:19, Mark 3:31). John the Baptist was Jesus’ second cousin, since Mary the earthly mother of Jesus and Elisabeth the mother of John were cousins (Luke 1:36).

James, Joses, Simon, and Judas are named as His brothers. His sisters are only mentioned, but not named. It is believed that they all became Christians after the death and resurrection of Jesus (compare Acts 1:14). According to history, one of them, James, later became the head of the church in Jerusalem.

6. The Appearance of Jesus

Based on the prophetic description of Christ in Isaiah 53:2, it is likely that He was just a normal human being with no special appeal. His betrayer Judas had to kiss Him to help the authorities identify Him (Matthew 26:48) Even after His resurrection, Mary Magdalene mistook Him for the gardener (John 20:14-15). Although nothing in His appearance was extraordinary, His teachings and actions were supernatural.

7. Food Habits of Jesus

The prophet Isaiah predicted that the Holy Child Jesus would eat butter and honey (Isaiah 7:14-15). As an adult, Jesus ate bread (Matthew 26:26) and clean meats (Luke 22:15). After His resurrection, Jesus ate broiled fish and honeycomb (Luke 24:42-43). Therefore, we submit that Jesus ate normal food and was never a vegan, but He once fasted 40 days and 40 nights (Matthew 4:1-2).

Interestingly, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, meaning “house of bread,” in fulfillment of prophecy (Micah 5:2) and He addressed Himself as the “Bread of Life” (John 6:35, 48, 51). The multiplication of 5 loaves of bread by Jesus to feed 5,000 men is the only miracle recorded in all the four Gospels (Matthew 14:14-21; 16:9; Mark 6:34-44; 8:19; Luke 9:11-17; John 6:5-14).

8. Communication Skills of Jesus

Jesus spoke multiple languages- Aramaic the main language spoken by Jews in first-century Palestine, Hebrew the native language, Greek the lingua franca at that time, and possibly, Latin the language spoken by the Romans (Matthew 8:5-13; 27:11-14).

Moreover, Jesus was a witty and eloquent speaker who employed parables so as to make His teachings have a direct and enduring impact on the audience.

9: The Anointment of Jesus

To execute His messianic ministry as a Prophet, Priest and King, Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38); thus He is called the Christ, "the Anointed One" (Matthew 1:16; 16:20; 27:17; Luke 2:11, 26; 9:20; 23:2; John 1:41).

Before the death of Jesus, Mary of Bethany anointed Him with a strong fragrance (Luke 7:37-38; John 11:2) such that He remained fragrant as a victorious king when He rose from the dead (compare Psalm 45:1-8).

10. The Duration of Jesus' Ministry

The earthly ministry of Jesus was quite brief but very exciting and eventful. Jesus Film Project notes:

John’s gospel tells us that Jesus attended at least three Passover feasts during His ministry. There’s one mentioned in John 2:13, another in 6:4, and then the one occurring during the time of his crucifixion:

"When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, 'What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?' But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him" (John 11:55–57).

This means that His ministry lasted at least two years, but there may have been more Passover celebrations that go unmentioned. We do know that many time-consuming things would have happened before they got to their first Passover:

His ministry took him all over Judea.
He was baptized by John.
He fasted (40 days) and was tempted in the wilderness.
He called His disciples.
He started His preaching ministry.
He made a trip to Capernaum with His family and disciples.

All of these things would have added up to multiple months worth of ministry—and we can’t forget the 40 days between the time Christ was resurrected and when He ascended.

In the end, scholars believe Jesus’ ministry only lasted about 3.5 years—an unbelievably short amount of time to change the world.

King Of Kings And Lord Of Lords by Godwin Goziem Jireh

The most common definition of the word king is: "A chief ruler; a sovereign; one invested with supreme authority over a nation, country, or tribe, usually by hereditary succession; a monarch; a prince." The word is applied to human rulers as well as to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, God. According to Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical, “The concept of the kingship of God is regarded by many scholars as so basic to biblical revelation that it is viewed as an organizing theme for all of Scripture.”

To enable us to have a thorough understanding of what the phrase "the King of Kings" means in the Bible, we will have to examine several scriptural references to king and kingship. But this excerpted response to What does it mean that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords? not only saves us the time to do so but also answers the question excellently well:

The phrase king of kings is used in Scripture six times. Once, the title is applied to God the Father (1 Timothy 6:15), and twice to the Lord Jesus (Revelation 17:14; 19:16). The other three (Ezra 7:12; Ezekiel 26:7; Daniel 2:37) refer to either Artaxerxes or Nebuchadnezzar, kings who used the phrase to express their absolute sovereignty over their respective realms (Persia and Babylon). The phrase lord of lords is used by itself in Scripture twice and refers to God the Father (Deuteronomy 10:17; Psalm 136:3).

In Revelation 19:16 Jesus is given the full title “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 17:14 switches it: “Lord of lords and King of kings”). The title indicates someone who has the power to exercise absolute dominion over all His realm. In the case of the Lord Jesus, the realm is all of creation. In John’s vision, Jesus is returning to judge the world and establish His earthly kingdom, as He predicted in Mark 13:26.

When Jesus is called “King of kings and Lord of lords,” it means that, in the end, all other rulers will be conquered or abolished, and He alone will reign supreme as King and Lord of all the earth. There is no power, no king, and no lord who can oppose Him and win. There are myriad references to this absolute rule of Jesus and His preeminence over other rulers throughout Scripture. To mention just a few, Isaiah 40:23–24 says that the Lord brings “princes to nothing” and makes earth’s rulers “emptiness.” The mere breath of the Lord will “carry them off like stubble.” Daniel’s vision of the son of man in Daniel 7:13–14 is of one whom he calls “the Ancient of Days” whose everlasting dominion is over all people, nations and languages. In the New Testament, we get a better view of the One these passages refer to. The writer of Hebrews speaks of the Lord Jesus: “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” (Hebrews 1:3). The next verse speaks of Jesus being “much superior” to the angels. Clearly, His rule over creation is absolute.

Paul makes the point that Jesus was humbled in His earthly ministry and that His humiliation will result in glorification. In Philippians 2:5–11, Paul discusses the extent to which Jesus went to atone for sinners; Jesus’ perfect obedience is the reason that “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (vv. 9–11). The Suffering Servant becomes the King of kings (see Isaiah 53:10–12).

Finally, in the book of Revelation we see the Kingship of Jesus made manifest. In chapter 5, the Lamb (Jesus) is the only one in all creation found worthy to open the scroll containing the judgments of God (vv. 2–5). In chapter 11, we hear voices in heaven proclaiming that the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of Christ and that He will reign forever and ever (v. 15). In chapter 12, we read that the authority of Christ is what causes Satan to be thrown down to earth (vv. 9–10). In Revelation 17:12–14, the Lamb conquers all those arrayed against Him, and John stresses that He conquers because He is King of kings and Lord of lords. Finally, in chapter 19, we read of Jesus’ triumphant coming to strike the nations and tread the winepress of the wrath of God, having the authority to do so because He is King of kings and Lord of lords (vv. 11–16).

Fundamentally, the idea of Jesus being King of kings and Lord of lords means that there is no higher authority. His reign over all things is absolute and inviolable. God raised Him from the dead and placed Him over all things, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:21–23).

Renewed In The Spirit

"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." (cf. Prov.23:7).
"Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life," (cf Prov. 4:23).  

We are not just spirits but souls, minds, wills, and emotive elements--we are complex creatures, not so easily analyzed!   We are musical, rational, contemplative, planning,  religious, and humorous creatures, unlike the animal kingdom.  We are complicated individuals that defy the principles of the animal kingdom because we are hard-wired to work, be creative, and worship--to have a purpose in life, fulfilled with meaning, and having a destiny in God.  Apart from God, we would have no meaning or dignity in life  Thus, our worth as humans is extrinsic and not intrinsic, not inherit but only because we are formed in God's image.

We are not animals who are merely seeking pleasure and avoiding pain while spending their purpose being in heat.  Have you ever observed an animal building a chapel? They are oblivious to the spiritual world and what really matters in life. We seek fulfillment that only God can make us complete in. We are incomplete apart from our destiny to know God.  But the downside of being in God's image is that we are capable of sin and moral behavior and accountability and have capitalized on that freedom by sinning and rebelling against God to show our autonomy and independent spirit. We don't naturally believe in God but are people of unbelief, skepticism, sarcasm, and doubt.  We don't want to even believe in God apart from an act of grace to soften and quicken our souls.

But note that we must come to a change of heart to be renewed in our spirits. This is by regeneration. If we could come to faith in God apart from it, it's not necessary and we don't need God--we just have a flesh wound in our nature, not a permanent defect from our Fall in Adam whereby we are in solidarity with Adam and cannot not sin; i.e, being incapable of not sinning.  Yes, that means all we can do naturally apart from grace is to sin!  Sin separates us from God and He will not even hear us apart from repentance and faith.  Not what must be pointed out is that we think with our hearts and with our minds--not to go by emotions alone apart from reasoning.  We alone are capable of spiritual thoughts and to think on the divine level, contemplating the Almighty and the eternal nature of God--God has put this eternity into our hearts, to wonder of the afterlife.

This means we can be renewed in our thinking or get our thinking straightened out both spiritually and intellectually.  We can become enlightened and informed; i.e.,, we can become illuminated with insight and educated.  Everything isn't a matter of proper facts and data, but of knowing God.  The goal is to know God and apply this knowledge.  To have this mind which was in Christ! What we fixate our thought life on makes all the difference and we have a volition that can decide this ourselves--we are all culpable to control our own thought life and not let it be controlled by our worst impulses or lower nature and instincts.

We must realize to focus our minds on Christ and dwell on spiritual things that are productive and positive influences for good. We must be responsible that the kind of input we give our brains influences our behavior and conduct.  Thoughts are the souls of the act!  And we must note that we reap what we sow,  we must guard our thoughts in Christ to get aligned with His will. We are all a lost opportunity away from throwing away our lives and wasting our brains, a terrible thing to exploit or misuse--no one has the right to live life without purpose or goals.  As they say in tech language, GIGO or garbage in equals garbage out. What we can expect is only as good as the exposure we get from the divine and the influences they have.

Ultimately, the end result depends upon cultivating the fruit of the Spirit, for we are incapable of cleaning up our act and self-reformation, of saving ourselves.  We are morally degenerate and this can be proved by experience.   We cannot deny our own reality. We all need an enabler to live a fruitful life in the Spirit and that Enabler is Christ, our Advocate, Comforter, and Counselor.  He is on our side and finds a way to come to our rescue as our Savior. We can only guard the spirit of our minds in Christ and say no to the flesh before we can say yes to Him.   We must not live in denial and stop thinking we alone can produce good works apart from God; our righteousness then is God's gift to us, not our gift to God.  It is a known fact that the nature we feed is the one that will predominate in our demeanor, behavior, and disposition. To sow to the flesh yields the fruits of the flesh!  That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Only walking in the Spirit is the way to defeat the powers and weaknesses of the flesh, to walk in the inclinations of the flesh is evil. Thus, we are responsible to feed our minds with that which is good and pure and of good report, anything virtuous that no one can deny being a positive influence or force for good.  But remember, our God is not just a force or influence, but a Person to know, not even a creed to believe--we must put this faith into practice and turn our creeds into deeds because the faith we have is the faith we show!  The reality of faith is not the profession of it and we all start by the shaping of our minds into Christ's image being converted to the Way of the Spirit or to be wholly devoted and focused on Christ, not self-absorbed.

We all can even become optimists and say that it's not all that bad, but the point is not that we are not bad as we can be but as bad off as can be and need supernatural intervention from God, a miracle to change our nature of degeneration.  Let us, therefore, have our thoughts fixated on Christ and renewed in His image, and this can only happen by an act of God, we have no power to just turn over a new leaf, make a New Year's resolution, or an AA pledge that is going to change our minds.  We must be changed from the inside out. This is the divine formula: worry about nothing, pray about anything, and thank about everything.  Nothing is too small nor too big for God's heart and attention--it's all small stuff to Him.

The key to spirituality is to feed our spiritual nature, to put off the flesh, the old man, with its natural desires that war against the Spirit, and get to know our God more clearly [which is the sign of the believer and the goal of our salvation], to be able to follow Him more closely and to love Him more dearly as Richard of Chichester put it. Yes, we all have an ethic worth living out and fulfilling--to follow Christ, its essence.  We must have faith not one we can live with, but one we will die for.  This is how we bring Christ to the world by our witness and life that is the salt and light for a troubled world.

As a result, we will become new people renewed after the image of Christ, but also with a new lease on life to share this new experience in Christ. Then we will be able to recite with Paul:  To live is Christ, to die is gain.  We know of the goodness of Christ because we have tasted of Him: "Taste and see that the LORD is good,"(cf. 1 Pet. 2:2; Psalm 34:8) and we can know the proof of the pudding is in the eating and no one can persuade us otherwise.  To love Christ, then is to be preoccupied with Him who has priority and ownership over our lives.  Soli Deo Gloria!