WE KNOW
JESUS CHRIST IS GOD
BECAUSE...
He Was Born Of A Virgin:
The entrance of Jesus Christ into this world was
a very uncommon, unusual and unique one. Jesus was not conceived as every other
son of Adam was conceived. The prophet had predicted that he would be A root out of a dry ground, (Isaiah 53:2).
This seems to be a prediction of his virgin birth. That same prophet also
foretold that Messiah would be born of a virgin, and that He would be called Immanuel,
(
God is the author of life: It is in Him that we
live, and have our being, (Acts
He Performed Miracles:
The Jewish teacher, Nicodemus, recognized that
the miracles which were performed by Jesus pointed out the fact that He was no
ordinary man. He said: No man can do these miracles that thou doest, except
God be with him, John 3:2. Actually, however, it was more than just a
matter of God being with Jesus. It was more a matter of God being in
Jesus Christ; of Jesus being God manifest in the flesh!
He turned water into wine at the marriage feast
of
He raised the dead on more than one occasion.
And yet, we know that only God controls the issues of death and life.
Jesus walked upon the waters of a stormy sea. He
also on another occasion, spoke those same stormy
waters to sleep, and they obeyed His voice immediately. By doing this, He
manifested His power over the elements of wind and water.
The natural forces of the laws of nature did not
have any control or hold upon Him. He ruled them and went beyond their control.
By doing, this He showed that He controlled them as God, that they did not
control Him as mere man. He walked upon the water, stilled the wind and sea,
raised the dead, and gave sight to the blind. He multiplied bread and fish in
His hands, and He caused water to become wine. None of these things could have
happened just by slight‑of‑the‑hand movement of a magician or
charlatan. The fact that Jesus controlled nature is evident in the exclamation
of the apostles after Jesus hushed the sea to sleep: What manner of man is this,
that even the wind and the sea obey him? (Mark
HE WAS
DIFFERENT FROM MEN -
HE HAD A DIFFERENT EFFECT UPON MEN:
The influence of Jesus was such that men would
be willing to die for Him ‑ and they did! Jesus affirmed that if men were
not for Him they were against Him. There was no middle‑of‑the‑road
type around Him. People either rallied to His side or stood against Him and His
message. There have been other great men in history, but people do not think of
Jesus just as a great man who lived. They think of Him as THE great man who
lived!
Napoleon Bonoparte was
to say years later of Jesus: I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no
mere man. Between him and every other person in the world there is no possible
comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on
what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force.
Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men
would die for him.
There have been those, who like a Jim Jones,
have rallied people around them willing to follow them to the end of the world,
but their lives and their influence ran their courses. Great influential
leaders have come and gone from the scene through the years, but the influence
of Jesus Christ on the lives of men has not waned through the years even though
He Himself has not been on the scene for almost two thousand years now! In
fact, there are more followers of Jesus Christ today than there ever has been!
Right now there are millions molding their lives by His Word. People are
experiencing severe deprivations in life in order to follow Him, and they are
doing it gladly and willingly.
Jesus Was Without Sin:
No man since Adam could ever have attributed to
him that which is said of Jesus Christ: Who knew no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. Paul stated in Romans 5:12: Wherefore, as by one man
sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men,
for all have sinned. It was also Paul who stated, All
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. But such a statement does
not apply to Jesus Christ. He is the rare exception!
No mortal could ever boast that he had no sin.
Jesus could because He was more than man. He was God! John the apostle wrote:
And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
Shakespeare has been acclaimed as a great
writer, yet not any of his writings had such influence upon men as the words of
Jesus Christ. Men are still dying for what He said!
The soldiers came back empty‑handed when
sent to get Him, and proclaimed to their leaders: Never man spake
like this man.
People stood or sat for hours as He taught them
words never heard before by mortal man. They had listened to the rabbis in the
synagogues on the sabbath
days as they expounded on the Word of God, but none of them could keep people
spellbound like the Teacher from
Death could never hold Him. He foretold that
upon dying He would raise Himself again in three days. This showed the
authenticity to His claims of being God. The Jews asked Him for a sign to show
them that what He was saying and doing was in fact of God. His reply is found
in John 2:19: Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in
three days I will raise it up.
No other human being had ever vanquished the
power of death's grip upon them. He not only conquered death, he also brought
others from their graves when he resurrected! The record declares in Matthew
27:52,53: And the graves were opened; and many
bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his
resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
He stated to John on the Isle of Patmos, Revelation 1:18: I {am} he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore,
Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
He showed Himself alive, Luke records, (Acts
1:3): by many infallible proofs, for forty days. The disciples were so
convinced that He had indeed conquered death that they returned to
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:17: And if
Christ be not raised, your faith {is} vain; ye are yet in your sins. The
fact that He brought Himself forth from the grave victorious over death and the
grave, emphasizes that He indeed is God manifest in the flesh. Paul informs us
in Acts 26:8: Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God
should raise the dead? Paul wrote that it was God who raised Jesus from the
dead. Yet Jesus plainly stated in John 2:19 that He would raise Himself. When
we realize both verses are referring to the same One, we realize there is no
trouble with either statement.
The Jews understood the claim that was made by
Jesus in John 10:30 as being a claim of being Deity Himself. This is why they
sought to stone Him. He had astounded them by stating: I and my Father are
one. There was no doubt by the Jews who heard this statement as to what
claim Jesus was making. As they took up stones to stone Him to death for
blasphemy, Jesus asked them for what good work they were stoning Him. Their
reply was that it was not for any work He had done, but for blasphemy, since
He, being a man, was making Himself to be God.
Jesus applied the great Jehovistic
term I AM to Himself. This again brought about
the wrath of the Jews to where they sought again to stone Him. He stated: I
said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not
that I am, ye shall die in your sins. John 8:24. In fact, three times in
this chapter Jesus refers to Himself as I AM, (verses
24, 28, 58).
Only God could say: I am Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is,
and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty, Revelation 1:8.
The claims made by Jesus would have been foolish
indeed if He were anything but God.
The Apostles all agreed that Jesus was God
manifest in the flesh.
JOHN: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father,) full of grace and truth,(1:1,14).
PAUL: One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God
and Father of all, who {is} above all, and through all, and in you all.
(Ephesians 4:5,6). For by him were all things
created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether {they be} thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all
things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by
him all things consist, Colossians 1:16,17.
For in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is
the head of all principality and power, Colossians 2:9,10.
JUDE: To the only wise God our Saviour, {be}
glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen, (vs.25).
The man Christ Jesus was the image of the
invisible God. God being a Spirit (John 4:24), could not show Himself to man. For no man hath seen God at any time, (John 1:18).
But Jesus, the fleshly tabernacle in which God dwelt, manifested the Father
unto the world. So Jesus could say to Philip: he that hath seen me hath seen
the Father (John 14:9). He could make this claim because He was the
manifestation of the Father. He was the body through which the Father
manifested Himself to His creation. Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 3:16: And
without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the
flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,
believed on in the world, received up into glory.
The One John saw sitting upon the throne of
glory in Revelation was not a spirit. It was the glorified Jesus in whom the
Spirit dwelt. When we get to heaven, we shall never see a spirit, but we shall
see Jesus. And when we see Jesus, we shall see God, for God was in Christ.
Post‑Apostolic writers spoke of Jesus on
this wise:
Ignatius, 100 a.d. The unbelieving say that God became man in appearance only;
that he did not really take unto him a body; that he died in appearance; and
not in very deed suffer. These men, therefore, are not less unbelievers than
they who crucified him. But as for me, I do not place my hopes in One who died for me in appearance, but in reality. For what
is false is quite abhorrent to the truth. Mary did truly conceive a body which
had God in it.
Noetus, 150 a.d., The Son and the Father are the same. He was justly
styled Father. And when it pleased Him to undergo generation...He Himself
became His own Son, not another. The Father and Son...and one and the same
substance; not one individual produced from a different one, but Himself from
Himself.
Irenaeus, 182 a.d., Besides this being, there is
no other God; otherwise he would not be termed...God.
Cyprian, 225 a.d., The world was made by him. Who can shrink from declaring
without hesitation that he is God? It is evident that all things were made by
Christ. Since all things were made by him...He is justly God...Scriptures
announces that Christ as God as much as it announces as man. Why then should we
hesitate to say what the scripture does not shrink from declaring? Why should
men hesitate to call Christ God, when he is declared to be God by scriptures?
Callistus, 230 a.d., The Logos Himself is Son and Himself is Father. The
Father is not one person and the Son another, but he is one and the same. I
will not confess belief in two Gods, Father and Son, but in One, for the father
was IN the Son.
Gregory, 240 a.d., Some attempt to subvert our Lord Jesus Christ by saying that
he was not God incarnated. God incarnated in the flesh...mastered the power of
death and even destroyed death...It is the true God...that has appeared
incarnate. Perfect One with the genuine and divine
perfection. And there are not two persons...God the Word is not one person, and
the man Jesus another person, but the same one who was made One
with flesh by Mary. And it is the true God that was manifest in the flesh.
Lactantius, 300 a.d., You shall call his name God
with us, for he was with us on the earth. And when he assumed flesh, he was God
in man and man in God. God took upon him flesh, that becoming a Mediator
between God and man, he might lead man to God.
Forgotten Books of Eden; Adam, dying, speaking
to Seth and Eve; Preserve this gold, this incense, and the myrrh, that God gave
us...then after a long time, the Word...made man shall come. Kings shall take
them, and shall offer to Him, gold in token of His being King; Incense in token
of his being God of heaven and earth, and myrrh, in token of his passion.