Why Jesus is God
In a world of confusion it is good to think about the solid reasons we know Jesus is God, the Savior of the World.
ONE
Jesus was the only person ever pre-announced for centuries
If God were coming to earth, wouldn’t be nice to have a little heads up – some advance notice. No other person was preannounced for centuries; not Zoroaster, Buddha, Confuscious or Mohammed. Jesus Christ is the only person in human history to be preannounced.
· People were waiting for Jesus
· People had been hearing about the Christ for centuries
Quite a few details were known about Him before he came like:
How he would be born: Isaiah 7 tells us he’ll be born of a virgin. Where he’ll be born: Micah 5:2 says in Bethlehem. How he’ll die: Isaiah 52–53 says he’ll die an innocent death, to atone for the sins of many; that he’ll be whipped beforehand, and that people are going to cast lots for his clothes. What the geo-political situation will be at the time: There are two visions in the book of Daniel, one of beasts (Daniel 2) and one of metals (Daniel 7), and in each one he foretells the following progression of empires: Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. In the time of Rome (which is in both visions characterized by Iron), a great stone will fill the earth (the stone which the builders rejected), and one “like the Son of Man” will come and be given everlasting glory and dominion. • When that will happen? Daniel prophecies that this will occur 490 years after the people are sent back from Babylon to restore the temple (Daniel 9:24–27). And guess who lived about 500 years after Daniel? Jesus.
The first clue that Jesus is God is that He was preannounced for centuries before. And only He fits the description.
TWO
We believe Jesus is God because He said He was.
Jesus said: “Before Abraham was, I AM” (giving himself the Divine Name God gave to Moses “I AM”) This is the main reason the Jewish leaders wanted to Jesus put to death: “He made himself God’s equal.” John 5:18
Some people say Jesus was a good moral leader but not God. Well, if He said He was God and He is not, then he is either a liar or a lunatic and neither of those make for good moral leaders. He is either God or evil or crazy.
C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity writes: “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…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.
THREE
We believe Jesus is God because He demonstrated His power over everything
Jesus heals all the sick brought to him. Jesus has power over physical illness.
Then Jesus gets in a boat with his disciples and falls asleep while a violent storm breaks out, about to sink their tiny ship. They woke him and said to him, 'Master, do you not care? We are going down!' And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Quiet now! Be calm!' And the wind dropped, and all was calm again. Jesus has power over the forces of nature
When they reached the country of the Gerasenes on the other side of the Sea, and no sooner had he left the boat than a man possessed by a legion of demons confronts Jesus. Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and fell at his feet and shouted at the top of his voice, 'What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? Swear by God you will not torture me!' For Jesus had been saying to him, 'Come out of the man, unclean spirit'. So Jesus drove the demons into the herd of pigs who rushed down the steep cliffs and were drown. Jesus has power over the forces of hell
Immediately Jarius approaches Jesus: My little daughter is dying. Jesus heads to his house but they stop him saying – it’s no use, she is dead. But Jesus went into the place where the child lay. And taking her by the hand he said to her, 'Little girl, I say to you, arise'. The little girl got up at once and began to walk about. At this they were overcome with astonishment. Jesus has power even over death.
Jesus has power over sickness, power over the forces of nature, power over the forces of hell, even power over death. Who is this man? He is God. His Miracles bear witness that he is the Son of God. He is the one to whom we can surrender all that we cannot control. Jesus, I surrender to you. Take care of Everything.
FOUR
The Resurrection of Jesus is the definitive proof that He is God.
Prior to everyone on the planet having an I-phone ready to record, the only verification of any historical event were the eyewitness accounts. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul recounts the many eyewitnesses of the Resurrection of Jesus from dead.
“Well then, in the first place, I taught you what I had been taught myself, namely that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; and that he was raised to life on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared first to Cephas and secondly to the Twelve. Next he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died; -then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles; -and last of all he appeared to me too;
FIVE
Jesus died and rose from the dead so that He could offer the same possibility to us - if we choose to believe and live according to the will of God.
On arriving, Jesus found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days already… Martha said to Jesus, 'If you had been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you'. 'Your brother' said Jesus to her 'will rise again.' Martha said, 'I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day'. Jesus said: 'I am the resurrection. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?' 'Yes, Lord,' she said 'I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.'
When he had said this, he cried in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, here! Come out!' The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with bands of stuff and a cloth round his face. Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him, let him go free'.