We are using the book of Luke to provide a summary and overview of the storyline of Jesus’ life. The animated videos will help you understand the big picture. After this we will then drill into key parts of his life, miracles and teaching giving you a deeper perspective on this man who is the center of human history.

"I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history."

—H.G. Wells

Jesus became the most dominant figure in human history because there has never been a human being quite like him. As we survey His life in more detail you will see that He was unique in every way. His teaching, His miracles, His consistency was unlike anyone else who ever lived.

“It was reserved for Christianity to present to the world an ideal character which through all the changes of eighteen centuries has inspired the hearts of men with an impassioned love; has shown itself capable of acting on all ages, nations, temperaments and conditions; has been not only the highest pattern of virtue, but the strongest incentive to its practice, and has exerted so deep an influence, that it may be truly said, that the simple record of three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and to soften mankind, than all the disquisitions of philosophers and all the exhortations of moralists.”

—Augustus to Charlemagne

This man who claimed that His teaching came directly from God must be evaluated based on His life. Was He telling the truth or was He an imposter?

How, in the name of logic, common sense, and experience, could an imposter—that is a deceitful, selfish, depraved man—have invented, and consistently maintained from the beginning to end, the purest and noblest character known in history with the most perfect air of truth and reality? How could he have conceived and successfully carried out a plan of unparalleled beneficence, moral magnitude, and sublimity, and sacrificed his own life for it, in the face of the strongest prejudices of his people and age?

—Philip Schaff (Historian)

Was Jesus a malicious deceiver?

There is simply no evidence that Jesus did not think He was telling the truth. He taught with a sense of great personal authority; everyone, even those who did not believe Him, noticed that. He presented a consistent picture of God, Himself and others. When liars elaborate or answer the same kinds of questions repeatedly, they are easily caught in inconsistencies. There is in Jesus a unity of teaching: the stories, the clever sayings, the constant compassion for people, the obvious wisdom of His teaching, the ethical depth of both His teaching and His character. No fault could be found in Him. At His trial, His accusers contradicted themselves, but Jesus stood at His trial with the same integrity as He did on city streets.

—James Sire

Or perhaps Jesus was a lunatic that simply was physiologically disturbed and really believed He was the Messiah?

The most telling reason for Jesus’ not being a liar is that if He was lying, He was lying about the most important issues of life: how to please God, how to inherit eternal life, how to be blessed, how to live well among both your friends and your enemies. If He was lying, He would be selling a salvation He knew to be fake. In fact, He would be no better than the worst religious huckster we know of today, no better than Baghwan Shree Rajaneesh or Jim Jones or David Koresh. No one can call the Jesus of the Gospels that kind of bad man. It fits with none of the evidence whatsoever…. [Critics argue] Maybe Jesus was right about a lot of things… but wrong about who He was…. The problem here is that this kind of delusion is no small matter. This is a delusion about ultimate concerns…. The fact is that religious megalomania is usually accompanied by paranoia—a fear of those outside one’s own fold—an anti-social behavior… [However] Jesus gave every appearance of being a psychologically normal person who so surprised people with what He did and said that it took a long time to figure out who He really was.

—James Sire

Years before Jesus was born the prophet Zechariah foretold that the Messiah would come in a most unexpected way.

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O Daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you; He is [uncompromisingly] just and having salvation [triumphant and victorious], patient, meek, lowly, and riding on a donkey, upon a colt, the foal of a donkey. [Mat_21:5; Joh_12:14-15]

(Zechariah 9:9 AMPC)