Claims of Jesus Who was Jesus? Easy to talk to people about any other historical person without any problems. Attitudes change quickly when you mention Jesus. a. No one made claims for himself like Jesus. b. No one has had claims made about him like Jesus. Many have tried to say Jesus was a good moral teacher or a prophet from God on the same level as Moses, Mohammed and others. One idea gaining in popularity today is that Jesus achieved the "Christ-consciousness" and if we follow his example, we too can achieve this "Christ-consciousness" and realize that we too are God. If we seriously consider the claims Jesus made for himself, we can see that these options are not possible. Either Jesus is God in the flesh, the Creator, Savior and Judge of all mankind for all times or he is the greatest deceiver that ever lived. There is no middle ground. When we try to understand anyone, one place to start is what they themselves say. a. Hitler - Mein Kampf. b. Marx and Lenin both wrote about what they were up to. c. Today, many in the West are ignoring what Gorbachev is saying. JESUS MADE CLAIMS LIKE NO OTHER PERSON IN HISTORY. We must decide if we are going to accept His claims as true, or reject Him as the great est liar or totally insane. There is no middle ground. "MY FATHER" - JOHN 5:17-18 Jesus said "My Father", not "Our Father". For Americans in the 20th century, this does not sound unusual, but Jesus was speaking to Jews in the First century so they would understand. The Jews would not say "My Father" referring to God unless they qualified it with "in heaven". Jesus did not do this. By saying "My Father", He claimed to have a special relationship with God unique to Him alone. There was no attempt to correct any misunderstanding on the Jews part. They knew what He meant, but they did not believe Him. The work He claimed to do was work like no other person has ever claimed. (John 5:21) ALL SHOULD HONOR HIM AS THEY HONOR GOD John 5:23-24 Context: The Jews were wanting to kill Him because He was claiming to be equal to God. They considered Him to be guilty of blasphemy. He does not try to correct any misunderstanding of His words. Instead, He claims that He is to be honored as the Father is honored. Instead of calming the Jews down, this would be similar to pouring gasoline on a fire. HE IS THE JUDGE OF ALL MANKIND - John 5:22, 26-29 Who else has claimed to be the final judged of mankind? Is this claim true or not? If it is false, Jesus is the greatest liar or completely crazy. If this claim is true, we must follow every word He said. Matthew 25:31-33 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. The Jews would not misunderstand what Jesus was claiming for himself. They had read Isaiah many times: Isaiah 33:22 For Jehovah is our judge, Jehovah is our lawgiver, Jehovah is our king; he will save us. THE SCRIPTURES TESTIFIED OF HIM - John 5:39 He claimed that He was the fulfillment of O.T. prophecies of the coming Messiah. What was prophesied of concerning the Messiah? A. KING Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. Isaiah 33:22 For Jehovah is our judge, Jehovah is our lawgiver, Jehovah is our king; he will save us. B. MIGHTY GOD Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Jeremiah 32:18 who shows lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompenses the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them; the great, the mighty God, Jehovah of hosts is his name; C. EVERLASTING Micah 5:2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be ruler in Israel,Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Isaiah 40:28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his under standing. HE WILL RAISE FROM THE DEAD ALL WHO OBEY HIM - John 6:40, 44, 54 What sane man in all of history has ever made claims like this? HE IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD - John 8:12 What would the Jews think of this claim? Prophecy of the times of the Messiah: Isaiah 60:19-20 The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but Jehovah will be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for Jehovah will be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. TO KNOW JESUS IS TO KNOW GOD - John 8:19 John 14:8-9 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, `Show us the Father'? "I AM" - JOHN 8:58-59 This was a clear reference to the time when Jehovah appeared to Moses at the burning bush. The Jews would not misunderstand the significance of these words. There was no attempt on the part of Jesus to correct any misunderstanding when they tried to stone Him. Exodus 3:13-14 Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, `What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, `I AM has sent me to you.'" JESUS ACCEPTED WORSHIP - John 9:35-38 A. JESUS TAUGHT THAT ONLY GOD IS TO BE WORSHIPPED: Matthew 4:10 Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, `You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.' B. YET HE ACCEPTED WORSHIP FROM OTHERS: Matthew 14:33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshipped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God." Matthew 28:9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!" And they came and held Him by the feet and worshipped Him. To teach that only God can be worshipped and then accept worship from others can only mean that Jesus was a hypocrite or God. There is no middle ground. C. ATTITUDE OF OTHERS WHEN WORSHIP WAS OFFERED TO THEM: Acts 10:25-26 As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, "Stand up; I myself am also a man." (Peter did not have the same attitude as the Pope) When John began to worship an Angel: Revelation 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." HE IS EQUAL WITH GOD - John 10:30-33 "One" is from "hen" = one essence, nature. The Pharisees understood what He meant but they refused to consider if His claims were true. They were going to stone Him to death according to the penalty for blasphemy in the Law of Moses (Lev 24:16) HE HAD THE SAME GLORY AS THE FATHER - JOHN 17:1, 5 YET: Isaiah 42:8 I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another... Isaiah 48:11 For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; for how should My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another. HE HAD THE AUTHORITY TO CHANGE THE LAW OF GOD "I SAY UNTO YOU..." Matthew 5:20, 22, 26, 28 etc. Jesus spoke as one having all authority. He claimed the right to make or change laws. No other person in the Bible did this. Moses and the prophets claimed "Thus says the Lord" or something similar. It was not their words, but the Lord's. Jesus was different. He claimed to have the authority to make rules that all others must live by. How would the Jews react to this? Isaiah 33:22 For Jehovah is our judge, Jehovah is our lawgiver, Jehovah is our king; he will save us. He even claimed: Mark 13:31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. John 12:48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him - the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. What other man ever made claims like these concerning the words he spoke? HE WAS ABLE TO FORGIVE SINS - Mark 2:3-7 Context shows one purpose for His miracles. We can forgive sins done against us, but only God can forgive sins against Him. Jesus claims to be able to do just that. The Jews properly understood that only God can forgive sins. What they did not understand was that Jesus is God. Isaiah 43:25 I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not re member your sins. HE IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH, THE LIFE AND THE ONLY WAY TO THE FA THER John 14:6 I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me. When he spoke these words, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintoism and Confucianism had been around for hundreds of years. He did not say He knew the way, truth, and life, nor did he teach that he merely taught them. He claimed that He is the way, truth and life. JESUS IDENTIFIES HIMSELF WITH JEHOVAH - Matthew 13:14-15 Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." And He said, "Go, and tell this people: `Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed. HE IS THE FIRST AND LAST - Rev 1:17, 2:8 Isaiah 44:6 Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: "I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God". Revelation 1:17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, say ing to me, "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last". Revelation 2:8 And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, "These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life": William Biederwolf A man who can read the New Testament and not see that Christ claims to be more than a man, can look all over the sky at high noon on a cloudless day and not see the sun. C.S. Lewis 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 a God." That is the on 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 luna tic - 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 you 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 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. 1. An honest person would not make the claims he made if they were not true. 2. A liar would not come up with the moral teachings of Jesus. Why would a fraud go to Jerusalem, knowing he would be killed? 3. A crazy person would not be in complete control of himself in every situation as Jesus was. The Sermon on the Mount is not the words of a crazy man. His enemies (Highly educated and intelligent) continually tried to trap this carpenter from Nazareth with trick questions but he always escaped their traps and ended up trap ping and exposing His persecutors. He finally infuriated them so much that they had him crucified. John 19:6-7 Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him. The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God." They were well aware of what He claimed. Now, twenty centuries later, many try to say that Jesus never made these claims. If He did not, why did the Jews crucify Him? Most trials are over what people have done. Jesus was put on trial for who He claimed to be. Was Jesus a liar? Was he a crazy man? If neither of these, then who was He? Only alternative left: He was exactly who He claimed to be. bWayne Wells wayneliz@twave.net http://users.twave.net/ncc