Have you ever wondered who Jesus really was? I mean really wondered who He was as a person who lived and walked on this earth? It's a pretty wild topic when you stop and think about it. Here is the Son of the living God-alive and dwelling with man. What a thought!

Then comes the question of what was He like? What kinds of things did He do or say? What kind of a person was He? In order to answer some of those questions I believe that we have to reprocess the information we have come to accept about Him.

In November of 2002, I had the opportunity to visit the land of Israel for a couple of weeks. On one of the days we were standing on one of the most famous historical spots. From where we stood you could look down and take a breathtaking view of Jerusalem. It was from this place, or one like it, the Scriptures tell us in Matthew 9:36 that Jesus was moved with compassion for the people of Jerusalem. From that spot as you look to the right you could see the ancient Jewish burial sites and the tombs of some of Israel's greatest kings and Old Testament legends.

As you look to the centre your eyes behold the Old City of David and the Kidron Valley where Jesus and His disciples walked numerous times. To the far and upper right you can see the Mount of Olives where Jesus will step foot when He returns, and you can see where the Temple used to stand. To the upper left you see the splendor of the Old City of Jerusalem. You stand there mesmerized as you gaze upon its massive walls. It was truly breathtaking. I felt like I could live in that moment forever.

Then I turned to a friend who was near me and told Him that I had just made a remarkable discovery. By the look on my face and the largeness of my eyes, he knew that whatever it was, it was big. He was wondering about what incredible thought or revelation did I just have that was going to change our lives and our world? I said to him, "Jesus was a Jew," and when I said it I grabbed my own mouth and covered it. I couldn't believe what I had just said. Then he looked at me with the same look of bewilderment I had just had and he said, "He was, wasn't He!"

Only moments later did I realize the full impact that statement had on me. Jesus wasn't from Montana, nor was He a Canadian-He was a Jew.

That realization has forever impacted the way I see Jesus, and the way in which I now perceive the Gospels. During the rest of the trip in Israel I kept looking around at people and the land and buildings and it became more and more powerful. This is where Jesus lived and died, where He rose from the dead and it is the land and people to which He will return.

Out of that realization also came a deep desire from within my spirit-I would make it my purpose in this life to discover the historical Jesus who lived and taught in the Land of Israel. What were people like in general during that historical period? What were their thoughts like, what was going on in the then-known world? How was it affecting Israel and what kind of Messiah where they expecting as well?

Used by permission: First Century Foundations by Joseph F. Amaral, Almond Publications 2005 .