Who is Jesus?

Over the last few weeks we’ve seen that truth about reality is knowable, it is true that God exists (which implies the possibility of miracles, since if there is a God who can act there can be acts of God), and the Bible is copied accurately and is historically trustworthy. That brings us to Jesus, perhaps the most controversial figure of all time. If the Bible is trustworthy, as we saw last week that it is, then we can trust what it says about Jesus. And the Bible says that Jesus claimed to be God, the second Person of the Trinity, in human flesh.

Jesus Himself believed He was God, and He said so many times. For example, In John 8:58 He said He was the “I am” of the Old Testament book of Exodus. This was the special name of God given to Moses at the burning bush. His audience understood His meaning and picked up stones to kill Him for making Himself out to be God. He also claimed for Himself names and titles that were used for God alone in the Old Testament (ex. Good Shepherd, Redeemer, Bride Groom). His disciples also used titles for Jesus that showed they believed He was God. In fact, when Thomas saw the resurrected Jesus he said, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Jesus also forgave sins (which God alone could do), said His words had as much authority as God’s from the Old Testament, said to honor Him just as we honor the Father, and accepted worship from others on numerous occasions.

Jesus not only claimed to be God, but He proved to be God through fulfilled prophecies and miracles. If we briefly look to the Old Testament and the prophecies about Jesus, we see that the odds of just eight of the sixty or so prophecies about Jesus coming true by chance in any one man are 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. Not only that, but Jesus also healed the sick, cast out demons, and raised the dead. He also lived a sinless life as attested to by His closest followers (1 Peter 1:19). Most importantly, Jesus was physically resurrected after being dead for three days. His resurrection is one of the most verifiable events of ancient history and the basis for orthodox Christian belief (1 Corinthians 15).

As Pastor Michael said this past Sunday, Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord of the universe. He can’t be a good moral teacher if His claims about Himself were not true. But if we follow the evidence where it leads, we see that Jesus is indeed God. He's not just a good moral teacher as many believe. He's not Michael the Archangel as Jehovah's Witnesses believe. He's not our spirit brother as Mormons believe. He's not just a great prophet as Muslims believe. And He's not our way-shower to enlightenment as many New Agers believe. As Col. 2:9 says, "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form...." I'll close with the words of C.S. Lewis. Speaking of Jesus, he said, “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 up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

For His glory,
Adam Tucker