CSI: Easter 2 of 5 in series
Who is Jesus of Nazareth?
INTRODUCTION
Last week we examined the evidence surrounding Easter. We looked at 1. Biblical Evidence 2. Historical Evidence and 3. Medical Evidence. We considered the different "theories" concerning Jesus’ death and resurrection 1. The Stolen Body Theory 2. The Swoon Theory and 3. The Vision Hypothesis. We also heard from some of the witnesses to the resurrection.
Today in our on going investigation regarding the validity of the resurrection we are going to try to learn more about the object of our investigation. Who was this man Jesus of Nazareth? What claims have been made about Jesus? Is Jesus really the Son of God?
MAIN BODY
I. Man’s Claims about Jesus.
A. "Jesus never claimed to be God" he was just a Good Moral Teacher
1. Gandhi’s The Message of Jesus Christ
2. It was more than I could believe that Jesus was the only incarnate son of God, and that only he who believed in him would have everlasting life. If God could have sons, all of us were his sons. If Jesus was like God, or God Himself, then all men were like God and could be God Himself. . . I could accept Jesus as a martyr, an embodiment of sacrifice, and a divine teacher, but not as the most perfect man ever born. His death on the cross was a great example to the world, but that there was anything like a mysterious or miraculous virtue in it, my heart could not accept (p. 12)
B. "Jesus is a Myth"
1. Some claim Jesus never actually existed in History.
(a) Not many accept this theory today, not even atheistic historians.
(b) "It would require much exotic calculation to deny that the single most powerful figure—not merely in these two millenniums but in all of human history—has been Jesus of Nazareth… A serious argument can be made that no one else’s life has proved remotely as powerful and enduring as that of Jesus." (Man of the Millennium. Time Magazine, Dec. 6, 1999).
2. Others claim Jesus did exist but his followers made him out to be more than he actually was.
(a) Jesus was good but His followers created the myth that he was God.
(b) Jesus’ teaching was good but his disciples said he was God.
(c) Jesus did good things but his disciples said he did miracles.
(d) Jesus died but his disciples said he rose from the dead.
(e) Jesus wasn’t a liar, Lord or lunatic – He was a legend.
II. Bible Claims about Jesus
A. The New Testament makes Bold claims about Jesus
1. Matthew 16:13—17
2. John 1:1—3, 14
B. Jesus’ Claims about Himself
1. Matthew 26:59—64
2. John 6:35—40
C. The number of references in the New Testament that point to Jesus as the Son of God are numerous.
1. Under the category of Jesus, Son of God there are 140 references.
2. All these verses are either Jesus or someone else proclaiming him as the Son of God.
III. Scrutinizing the Evidence
A. The claim of Jesus as just a Good Moral Teacher fails under scrutiny.
1. A man cannot be a good moral teacher and a liar at the same time.
2. "I am trying to prevent anyone from 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 be either 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 a 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 him being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, pp. 55—56)
B. The claim of Jesus as a Myth fails to logic.
1. All the authors of the NT make the claim that Jesus was who he said he was, The Son of God.
(a) Either they are correct or the bible is a well-orchestrated fraud written purposely to deceive.
(b) The authors leave us no other choice!
(i) 2 Peter 1:16—18
(ii) 1 Corinthians 15:14—15
2. Either the NT with all it’s claims about Jesus is a "Book of Truth" or it is a "Book of Lies."
C. The Bible’s claim of Jesus as the Son of God stand firm under examination.
1. Much of the NT writings about Jesus are the fulfillment of OT prophesies concerning the Messiah.
2. Jesus matched every prediction leaving us His one of a kind divine DNA
3. In his book Evidence That Demands A Verdict, Josh McDowell says that the Old Testament contains over 300 references to the Messiah that were fulfilled in Jesus. He asks what chance Jesus had, or any other man, of fulfilling these prophesies. He refers to the work of the mathematician, Peter Stoner, who calculated the mathematical odds of fulfilling just 8 of the 300 prophesies: "We find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophesies is one in 1017 . That would be one in 100,000,000,000,000,000."
4. Stoner illustrates this by supposing that we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say, "This is the right one."
5. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophesies and having them all come true in any one man.
An open-minded look at the evidence points to only one Answer. It is the same answer proclaimed by a lowly Roman centurion some 2,000 years ago. "Surely this man was the Son of God!"
Mitchell Skelton, Minister—Midway church of Christ
http://www.TheLordsWay.com/Midway
Point A including sub—points from "Jesus is the Son of God – True or False?" by Brian Mavis
Point B including sub—points from ibid.
Nave’s Topical Bible
Points (a) and (b) from "The Identity of Jesus" by Mark Copeland
"Jesus is the Son of God – True of False?" by Brian Mavis
ibid.
