There’s really no debate that Jesus was one of the most important people in all of history, but there are two ways to look at that. On the one hand, his life, death, and resurrection definitely started one of the world’s largest and most influential religions. Even those who do not claim to be Jesus’ followers are aware of that.
But the other way to look at his life makes him even more significant. Because what he claimed, and what his earliest followers claimed, was that his life, death and especially his resurrection meant that he was the Son of God, and that he had somehow opened the doors of heaven for all of us, not just the Jews, but also all of the nations, so that we could be free from both sin and death. If what they claimed is true, then yes, that’s incredibly significant, much more so than just starting a big religious institution.
So what did happen? What was the story of his life, and how did it make such a radical change in his rag-tag group of followers? Let’s take a look at what the Bible says about Jesus’ life, and what his earliest followers said about him.