The gospels clearly show Jesus claiming to be God in direct and indirect ways. Below are two examples of this:
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered, “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah. No
person taught you that. My Father in Heaven showed you who I am. (Matthew 16:16-17, ICB)
22 The people there were amazed at his
teaching. He did not teach like their teachers of the law. He taught like a
person who had authority. 23 While He was in the synagogue, a
man was there who had an evil spirit in him. The man shouted, 24 “Jesus
of Nazareth! What do you want with us? Did you come to destroy us? I know who
you are—God’s Holy One!”25 Jesus said strongly, “Be quiet! Come out of the man!” 26 The evil spirit made the man shake violently. Then the spirit gave a loud cry and came out of him. (Mark 1:22-26, ICB)
How do we know Jesus is who He claims to be?
1.
We
know Him by His speech.
68 Simon Peter answered Jesus, “Lord, who would we go to? You
have the words that give eternal life. 69 We believe in you. We
know that you are the Holy One from God.” (John 6:68-69, ICB)
2.
We
know Him by His actions.
36 So why do you say that I speak against God because I said,
‘I am God’s Son’? I am the one God chose and sent into the world. 37 If
I don’t do what my Father does, then don’t believe me. 38 But
if I do what my Father does, even though you don’t believe in me, believe what
I do. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in
the Father.”
(John 10:36-38,
ICB)
3.
We
know Him by His character.
39 The army officer that
was standing there before the cross saw what happened when Jesus died. The
officer said, “This man really was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39, ICB)
The facts prove that Jesus is God. What
miracle do you need Him to perform in your life today?
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the
really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus
as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God. That is the
one thing we must not say. 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 with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he
would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and
is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. 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 with any patronizing nonsense
about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did
not intend to.”
(C.S. Lewis)[i]
[i] Inspired by the sermon “360 Jesus: Lord Jesus”
(installment one) Sunday March 24, 2019, Pastor Dave
Jansen, CenterPoint Gahanna Church Gahanna, OH.
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