| Who is Jesus ?
If you asked this question to people on the street most people would
probably say something along the lines of "A good man ; a great moral
teacher and outstanding religious leader." Interestingly many people would
react strongly against the thought that Jesus is Lord and God.
CS Lewis famously pointed out how untenable this view on Jesus is :
"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would
not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level of
a man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil or Hell.
You must make a choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God ; or else
a madman or something worse. You can shut him up as 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 with any patronising nonsense about his being a
great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."
So what did Jesus claim about Himself ?
One day Jesus addressed a large crowd with these words : "I am the
bread of life. He will never go hungry and he who believes in me will
never be thirsty." As we read the rest of Jesus speech we see that Jesus
is claiming to be able to give people satisfaction in life rather than to
feed them physically.
Jesus said "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never
walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12)
He is saying that if we follow Him, we'll know the meaning of life. If
we don't then we'll remain in the dark and never know the meaning of life.
Mark records an incident when a paralysed man was brought to Jesus by
four friends. When Jesus saw the man he said "Son, your sins are forgiven"
(Mark 2 :1-7).Those who heard the words accused Him of blaspheming, saying
that only God can forgive sins. They were right in acknowledging that only
God can forgive sins, but wrong in failing to see that Jesus was God in
their midst. We can all forgive individuals who offend against us, but
only God can forgive offending against God (sin). If Jesus is not God then
His claim here would indeed be blasphemous.
- The giver of eternal life : the Resurrection and the life
On a number of occasions Jesus claimed to be able to give eternal life
to people. For example in John 11:26 Jesus spoke these words to a bereaved
woman "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will
live, even though he dies ; and whoever lives and believes in me will
never die." Elsewhere He spoke these words about His followers : "I give
them eternal life and they shall never perish ; no-one can snatch them out
of my hands" (John 10 : 28)
- The judge of the world
He claims that He alone will judge all
humanity on the day of judgement. He says He will separate people into two
groups, and the basis of the division is their attitude to Him, and it
will be forever. To one group He will say : "Come you who are blessed by
my Father ; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the
creation of the world" (Matthew 25:41). But to the others He will say ;
"Depart from me you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared
for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25 :41)
- Lord and God
On a number of occasions Jesus explicitly claimed to be
divine. The all important question he put to His followers was "Who do you
say I am ?". When Peter answered "You are the Christ, the Son of the
living God" (Matthew 16:15-16) Jesus commended him : "Blessed are you
Simon, son of Jonah for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my
Father in heaven".. We are told that the "Jews tried all the harder to
kill Him ; not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling
God His own father, making himself equal with God" (John 5:23)
Many people have claimed to be divine. A few years ago an ex-professional
footballer and sports presenter David Icke claimed to be the Son of God.
No-one believed him. One of the reasons we didn't believe him was his
character didn't match his claim.
So what about the character of Jesus - do they match His claims ?
- Peter and John were two of His disciples right from the start. They
lived with Him, moved around the countryside with Him, ate with Him. In
John 8 :46 Jesus challenged His enemies with this : "Can any of you prove
me guilty of sin ?". He was met by silence even though He was speaking to
people who would have loved to point out a flaw in His character. "In Him
no sin is found" (1 John 3:5). Peter said this of Jesus : "He committed no
sin and no deceit was found in His mouth" (1 Peter 2 : 22)
- Jesus character reflected His claim. There is not a single piece of
evidence which shows Him deceiving, lying, manipulating, or exploiting.
Indeed as we read accounts of His life we are bowled over by His kindness,
compassion, generosity and love for others. He is so others-centred. So
unconcerned about himself.
His character is not the only credential that backs up Jesus' claim.
There are His amazing deeds to consider. He did things that only God can do.
Here are a few of the many examples :
- Feeding of the five thousand from 5 loaves and two fish (John 6:1-15)
- Restoring the sight to the blind (John 9)
- Healing the paralysed man (Mark 2 ; 1-12)
- Raising the dead (John 11 ; 1-44)
- His resurrection (John 20)
Who is Jesus ?
He's the Son of God ; the Saviour of mankind ; the only way back into a
relationship with God ; He took our punishment as a substitute to death on
the cross at Calvary ; He defeated death and rose from the grave after 3
days ; He ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father ;
He will come again in triumph to judge the living and the dead. He is Lord
and God.
Given this, the wisest thing we can ever do is give our lives to Him, and
the most foolish thing we can ever do is to continue to ignore Him.
Who do you say He is ?
What are you going to do ?
|