IS JESUS GOD?

MEMORY VERSE: But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Mark 14:61-62

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Samuel 21-25

Most people believe the story of Jesus. They believe that He was a good man. According to Acts 10:38, He went about doing good. Not only that, He was caring and compassionate. They also believed that He was a great teacher. Actually His teaching is the foundation of the entire civilization in the West. Many of the laws in UK, USA, etc, were originally based on His teachings. Many believe He had the power to ‘change the unchangeable’ and ‘reverse the irreversible’ like we saw in the case of Lazarus. When it comes to the subject of whether He is God or not, some disagree calling Him an ordinary prophet, some honestly confess that they don’t know, some even say, ‘Jesus never claimed to be God,’ and so on. It is true that Jesus did not go around saying the words, ‘I am God.’ Yet, when one looks at all He taught and claimed, there is little doubt that He was conscious of being a man whose identity was God.

One of the fascinating things about Jesus is that so much of His teaching was centered on Himself. For instance He said ‘if you want to have a relationship with God, come to Me’ (John 14:6). In John 6:35, He said ‘if you are hungry come to Me, the bread of life.' To those walking in darkness, depression, despair, He said ‘I am the light of the world’ (John 8:12). To those burdened by worries, anxieties, fears, and guilt, He said, ‘come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will you give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28). He said to receive Him was to receive God (Matthew 10:40), to welcome Him was to welcome God (Mark 9:37) and to have seen Him was to have seen God (John 14:9). Asides His teachings, He also said a number of things which, although not direct claims to be God, show that He regarded Himself as being in the same position as God. Jesus’ claim to be able to forgive sins is one of them. For instance, on one occasion He said to a man who was paralyzed, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven’ (Mark 2:5). The reaction of the religious leaders was, ‘why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ Jesus went on to prove that He did have the authority to forgive sins by healing the paralyzed man. We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toe and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. The sin that led to that man’s paralysis was a sin against God and only ‘God’ would have been able to forgive that sin. There are also other indirect claims for example He claimed that He would one day judge the world (Matthew 25:31-32). Asides His teachings and His indirect claims that He is God, let us look at one of His direct claims. When the question was put to Him, ‘ Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?’ Jesus said, “I am..” Mark 14:61-62 says,“But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” The high priest tore his clothes on hearing this. ‘Why do we need any more witnesses?’ he asked. As a result of the assertion Jesus made about Himself, He was condemned to death. A claim tantamount to a claim to be God was blasphemy in Jews eyes, worthy of death.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: There are three logical possibilities to His claims to be the unique Son of God; God made flesh. If the claims were untrue, either He knew they were untrue – in which case He was an imposter, and evil one at that. That is the first possibility. Or He did not know- in which case He was deluded. This is the second possibility. The third possibility is that the claims were true. When one looks at the teachings of Jesus Christ, His works, His character, His fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy and His resurrection, One will appreciate the fact that He was neither a con man nor a deluded fellow. He is God!

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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world for Jesus.