Jesus, The Son of God
Introduction
A drunk man who smelled like beer sat down on a subway seat next to a priest.
The man’s tie was stained, his face was plastered with red lipstick, and a half empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket.
He opened his newspaper and began reading. After a few minutes the man turned to the priest and asked,
“Say, Father, what causes arthritis?”
“My Son, it’s caused by loose living, being with cheap women, too much alcohol and a contempt for your fellow man.”
"Well, I’ll be!" the drunk muttered, returning to his paper.
The priest, thinking about what he had said, nudged the man and apologized.
"I’m very sorry. I didn’t mean to come on so strong. How long have you had arthritis?"
"I don’t have it, Father. I was just reading here that the Pope does."
Just like this priest, too often we can make assumptions about people that can be completely wrong.
What is worse though, is that too often we can make assumptions about God that can be completely wrong.
• Many are making false assumptions today about Jesus
• They will say he was a good teacher, a historical figure, an important person in history
Out in society today, especially with the high readership of the Book “DaVinci Code”, people are making false assumptions about Jesus
We have been doing a series on Jesus and today we want to look at the topic – Jesus, the Son of God
Jesus is more than a good teacher or a moral person or a great prophet. Jesus claimed to be God and is God
• You can’t ignore that.
• You can’t dance around that.
• You have to deal with that.
Let’s look at why you can’t ignore, disregard or minimize Jesus being the Son of God.
1. Jesus claimed it
Let’s just look at His words and let them speak for themselves.
1. “And they all said, “Are You the Son of God then?” and He said to them “Yes, I am” (Luke 22:70)
This is the reason they crucified Jesus – His claim to be the Son of God. They couldn’t find anything else that He did wrong.
2. “Truly, truly, I say to you before Abraham was born, I am.” (John 8:58)
3. “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30)
The Jews knew what he was saying – vs. 33 they were going to stone Him and the reason they gave was: “for blasphemy; and because You being a man make Yourself out to be God.”
Think of these statements, of their power.
Think of someone making these statements.
Jesus is not claiming to be divine or one of the “gods” as Roman emperors did.
He is claiming to be God himself
Not a good teacher, not showing us a way, but boldly saying “I am God”
You can’t skirt around Jesus making these claims. They were boldly made.
If you think those claims are false, then you are left with:
• either he made a deliberate misrepresentation and is a deceiver or and foolish for giving his life for a lie.
• Or worse – he didn’t know those claims were false so he was deluded and a mental case
If they are true – then you have to some to Him as Lord. There is no ignoring that Jesus claimed to be God
C.S. Lewis said,
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that 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 the Devil of Hell. . . let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about him being a great human teacher. He did not leave that option open to us. He did not intend to.”
Michael Green, in his book "Man Alive" says,
“Jesus made the most shattering claims in the course of His teaching. There is no parallel to them in any of the world’s religions. And it simply will not do to neglect them, as is commonly done by agnostic writers. Yet, if you account them as part of the authentic record about Jesus that has come down to us, then at once, the cozy picture of Jesus as merely a good man and a great teacher disintegrates.”
Not only did He claim it, others at his time did as well.
2. His Contemporaries Claimed It
Peter -- “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matt 16:16
Thomas -- “My Lord and my God” John 20:20
John - “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” John 1:1
Paul - “Immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’” Acts 9:20
Stephen - “I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” Acts 7:56
All of these men were martyrs for maintaining that Jesus was the Son of God and had risen from the dead
If it were a carefully crafted lie – you would expect at least one defection.
The basic drive within us is self-preservation is too strong.
One would break to preserve themselves and disclaim Him if it meant their life was spared.
Every one of His disciples, close followers gave their life rather than deny the fact that He is the Son of God and had risen from the dead.
This is strong and compelling evidence of the fact of His deity.
Not only did his followers claim his deity, but ones closest to Him historically claimed it as well
Church fathers
Clement of Alexandria in 190 AD:
“When [John] says: ’What was from the beginning [1 John 1:1],’ he touches upon the generation without beginning of the Son, who is co-equal with the Father. ’Was,’ therefore, is indicative of an eternity without a beginning, just as the Word Himself, that is the Son, being one with the Father in regard to equality of substance, is eternal and uncreated. That the word always existed is signified by the saying: ’In the beginning was the Word’ [John 1:1].”
Theophilus in AD 160:
“For the divine writing itself teaches us that Adam said that he had heard the voice but what else is this voice but the word of God, who is also his Son.”
Iranaeus 190 AD
"For with Him were always present the Word and Wisdom, the Son and the Spirit, by whom and in whom, freely and spontaneously, He made all things, to whom also He speaks, saying, ’Let us make man after our image and likeness’".( Against Heresies, 4:10)
The Church fathers affirmed the deity of Christ, His being of the same substance as the Father and also His active role in creation.
Not only did Jesus claim his deity, others claimed it as well and worshiped Him as God
3. The Bible Claims it
“A man who can read the New Testament and not see that Christ claims more than a man can look all over the sky at high noon on a cloudless day and not see the sun” William Biederwolf,
Rom. 9:5 “Christ who is God over all, forever praised.”
Titus 2:13 “Our God and Savior”
Coll. 2:9 “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form”
Phil 2:10 – “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
Rev – presents Him as the King of Kings the Lord of Lords the supreme ruler and sovereign of all who will one day rule and reign over all the earth.
He is called in the New Testament the Creator, the Maker and sustainer of all things.
Look at his many names in the Bible they testify of His greatness, they testify of His uniqueness, they testify of His divinity, testify that He is the Son of God
• Our Advocate to the Father
• The Ancient of Days
• The Author and Finisher of our Faith
• The Bread of Life
• The Bright Morning Star
• The Chief Corner Stone
• Christ, the Chosen
• Christ, the King
• Christ, the Lord
• The Commander of the Heavenly Hosts
• The Counselor
• The Desire of all nations
• The Door
• The Firstborn from the dead
• The First and the Last
• Friend of sinners
• God with us
• Great High priest
• The Good Shepherd
• The Holy One
• The Head of all
• Hope & Glory
• I am
• Image of God
• Judge of the Living and the dead
• King of glory
• King of kings
• The Lord of Lords
• The Lamb of God
• The Light of the world
• The Lord God Almighty
• and Lord of all
• Man of Sorrows
• The Messiah
• Mighty God
• The Physician
• Priest
• Prophet
• Prince of Life
• Redeemer
• The Rock
• The Ruler over the Kings of the Earth
• The Resurrection and the Life
• Savior
• Shepherd
• Son of Man
• Son of God
• Sun of Righteousness
• Teacher
• True Vine
• Truth
• Unspeakable Gift
• The Way
• Word
He is all of these and more
• All of these still don’t fully describe this God-man Jesus
• All of these fall short of explaining Him
Billy Sunday in a sermon said:
“There are two hundred and fifty-six names given in the Bible for the Lord Jesus Christ, and I suppose this was because He was infinitely beyond all that any one name could express.”
When we see this, all we can do is what Thomas the apostle did. – fall on our knees and profess, “My Lord and My God.”
Let’s look at one more thing that claims His deity
4. Fulfilled Prophecies Claim it
Fulfilled Prophecies claim it His deity in a powerful and scientific way
The Bible is God’s word.
God wrote it through the agency of men who were inspired and directed by the Holy Spirit
Since it is from God, it can accurately predict things that will happen years or centuries before they occur
There are roughly 332 distinct predictions in the Old Testament concerning the coming Messiah by different prophets and holy men given over a span of about 2000 years
The Old Testament was completed in about 450 B.C., or about 450 years before Jesus was born.
Guess what? ALL 332 are fulfilled in Jesus.
These prophecies range from the manner of His birth, the place, of His birth, to how and who he would die with.
Some have said Jesus just read the prophecies and then followed them.
Maybe that would work with some of them, but what about the ones concerning His birth?
What about the ones concerning His death?
“Could you please hang me next to a couple of thieves and please do not break my legs?”
Silly isn’t it.
In his book, Science Speaks, Peter Stoner applies the modern science of probability to just eight prophecies regarding Jesus. He says,
"The chance that any man might have fulfilled all eight prophecies is one in 10 to the 17th. That would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000." (one hundred quadrillion)…
OKAY – that’s a big number… let’s try to get our mind around it…
10 to the 17th power in silver dollars would cover the entire state of Texas 2 feet deep
• If we marked one coin and then blindfolded a guy and told Him he had one chance to picked the marked coin
• That is the same odds as any 8 prophecies come true in the life of one man… (unless something supernatural was going on).
Do you know what the odds are of 48 prophecies coming true in the life of one man? --- 1 in 10 to the 157th power.
That’s an even bigger number… a number with 157 zeros behind it.
Do you know how big that number is?
Let me put it this way there are less atoms in the universe than that number
and it takes about a million atoms to equal the width of one human hair
AND - lets say we take one of these atoms – spray paint pink or something…
What do you think the odds are of someone in a spaceship (even given as much time as they wanted) reaching out from their space craft and picking out that one atom on the first try…
Same odds of someone fulfilling 48 prophecies by chance…
Statistically, it is impossible for one person to just “happen” to fulfill that many prophecies concerning themselves
Mathematics is the most precise of all sciences
So if mathematically the fulfilled prophecies testify that Jesus Christ is the Son of God – that is logical. compelling and tremendously convincing.
There is one more thing that loudly testifies that Jesus is the Son of God
5. The Resurrection Claims It
Jesus defeating death and rising from the dead is the strongest claim to His deity
Movie Clip – Passion of the Christ, last scene
Of all miracles associated with the life of Jesus, this miracle stands head & shoulders above the rest.
Of all the miracles, this one testifies above them all that Jesus is God.
“Jesus was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead.” (Rom. 1:4)
No religion had such a beginning.
No religion ever claimed this.
No one has ever done this one!
The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the forever distinguishing mark of Christianity.
Hank Hanegraff who heads up CRI (Christian Research Inst.) wrote this:
“The Resurrection is not merely important to the historic Christian faith —without it there would be no Christianity. It elevates Christianity above all other world religions. Through the Resurrection Christ demonstrated that He does not stand in a line of peers with Abraham, Buddha, Confucius, or Muhammad. Jesus Christ is utterly unique. He had the power not only to lay down His life, but also to take it up again.”
The evidence for the Resurrection is abundant enough for a person to believe beyond a reasonable doubt
Good scholarly works have been written on this subject, I suggest you read them:
o Case for Easter – Lee Stroble
o Evidence That Demands a Verdict – Josh McDowell.
But I would like to bring Three things to mind today.
Three things stand out as evidence to the reality of Christ’s resurrection:
1. The Empty Tomb
To publicly proclaim that Jesus had been raised from the dead while His body remained inside a sealed tomb would have been the height of folly.
Surely the Jewish leaders or the Roman Gov. would have produced the Body of Jesus and exposed the whole affair as a farce.
They never did. The tomb was empty. The tomb is still empty.
It was sealed and made secure by the highest authority of the land – the Roman Gov.
Men under the penalty of death were ordered to seal and watch the tomb.
He arose! --- No human, earthly or religious power could hold the Prince of Life.
J.N.D. Anderson, the professor of Oriental Laws and Director of the Institute of Advanced Legal studies at the University of London states:
“The church was founded on the resurrection and disproving it would have destroyed the whole Christian movement. However, instead of any such disproof, throughout the first century, Christians were threatened, beaten, flogged and killed because of their faith. It would have been much simpler to have silenced them by producing Jesus’ body, but this was never done”
Here is a letter written to a local advice column
Dear Advice man,
Our preacher said on Easter that Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed Him back to health. What do you think?
Signed, “Bewildered”
Dear Bewildered,
Beat your preacher with a cat-of-nine-tails with 39 heavy strokes, nail him to a cross, hang him in the sun for 6 hours, run a spear through his heart, embalm him, put him in airless tomb for 36 hours and see what happens.
Sincerely, Advice Man.
2. Eyewitness Testimony
We have on record at least 10 separate appearances of Christ after his death and burial which are presented as a fact.
These post-resurrection appearances of Christ were not limited to a few emotional followers a short time after His execution.
Jesus appeared to many, including 500 at one time over a period of 40 days.
The witnesses were intelligent, responsible people who were all under the sentence of death for maintaining what they witnessed
One could say, “Well, it was a conspiracy.”
I maintain that the people who were witnesses died for their belief and witness that Jesus was resurrected
If it were untrue, knowingly untrue, at least one would have cracked.
Self-preservation is too strong a drive for people to die for a deliberate lie
Charles Colson, the former counsel of President Nixon, convicted conspirator in the Watergate scandal, writes that the Watergate cover up convinced him that Jesus rose from the dead. He said,
“There were only 8 or 10 of us in the inner circle around the president who really knew what was going on. All we had to do was stonewall for a couple of months and the Watergate scandal would be over. We had all the power and prestige of the presidency at our fingertips and if the truth broke there would be embarrassment and perhaps a prison sentence. There was no grave danger – our lives were not threatened, but we could not hold the conspiracy together for more than 2 weeks. We could not contain the lie. Once prosecution was possible, the natural instincts of self preservation was so overwhelming that the conspirators one by one deserted their leaders. They caved in and they stood in line at the prosecutors office to escape jail.
Colson concludes: “I know that the disciples could not perpetuate a lie like the resurrection because it was not just their reputations that were at stake, their lives were in danger. They had no clout, they had nothing to gain by the lie and yet everyone of them stood fast in the conviction that Jesus was alive. Take it from the one who had first hand how vulnerable a cover up is. Nothing less than a witness as awesome as the resurrected Christ could have caused those men to maintain to their dying whispers that Jesus is alive and He is Lord!”
One more thing to add – there were hostile witnesses as well!
There were the Romans – who were hostile to Jesus and the Christians.
They didn’t want anyone claiming to be King or Messiah.
With all their governmental authority and ability, they would produce the dead body of Jesus
They didn’t
As Paul argued his faith in front of Festus and other governors and kings, he declared Jesus to be the Son of God through the resurrection from the dead and said “I am sure these things have not escaped your notice”
The fact of the resurrection was not disputed.
The Jewish leaders really wanted to disclaim Christianity. They never produced the dead body of Jesus
J.N.D. Anderson, the professor of Oriental Laws and Director of the Institute of Advanced Legal studies at the University of London states:
“It is a matter of history that the apostles from the beginning made many converts in Jerusalem, hostile as it was by proclaiming the glad news that Christ had risen from the grave - and they did it within a short walk from the sepulcher. Any one of their hearers could have visited the tomb and come back again between lunch or whatever… Would a great company of the priests and many hard-headed Pharisees have been impressed with the proclamation of a resurrection which was in fact no resurrection at all? Their message could not have been maintained in Jerusalem for a single day for a single hour if the emptiness of the tomb had not been established as a fact for all concerned.”
3. The Beginning of the Church
• After the crucifixion of Christ, the disciples were in no shape to give their lives so completely to what appeared to be a failed cause.
So how do you explain the inception of a movement with such a vast impact on an antagonistic culture except by the means of a cataclysmic miracle?
If God did become man, then we would expect Him to have a lasting and universal influence
Jesus Christ, through his church has made a tremendous impact on humanity that even after 200 years, the impact has not worn off.
Philip Schaff, The Person of Christ
“This Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed and Napoleon; without science and learning, He shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of schools, He spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, He set more pens in motion, and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art and songs of praise, than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times”
The early church’s message was Jesus is the Son of God, risen from the dead
What caused many of these people to changed lives?
What caused them to deny themselves and place Jesus 1st in all that they did?
What caused the conversion of many of Christ’s enemies?
Some dead Rabbi couldn’t!
Only the miraculous resurrection from the dead!
Only Christ’s resurrection from the dead would have caused changed lives
Even causing even some of His enemies to believe
The message of the cross and the empty tomb hold great promise and hope for all who believe – it holds the power of God – to change lives
The cross and the empty tomb has an awesome power to:
• Forgive us of our sins
• Transform our lives
• Overcome Sinful habits
• Reverse Negative attitudes
• Mend strained relationships
• Refine poor personality traits
• Deliver from dangerous temptations
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come!” 2 Cor. 5:17
In regards to the church – a powerful witness was the Jews who observed centuries of religious tradition, to break that tradition to meet the 1st day of the week and follow Jesus.
The three strands of witness to the Resurrection
• The Empty Tomb
• Eyewitness Testimony
• The Beginning of the Church
Are compelling, logical and reasonable evidence to His resurrection
It must be noted beyond these three strands of collaborative evidence in the Resurrection that
No writer or historian of the time of Jesus, Christian or Pagan, recorded any evidence contrary to the Resurrection.
Conclusion
I hope you see that Jesus was a unique being, unparalleled in history or experience
To Review -- The Deity of Jesus
• He claimed it
• Others claimed it
• The Bible claims it
• Fulfilled prophecies claim it
• The Resurrection claims it
Do you claim it?
Can you say from your heart today with Thomas the disciple– “My Lord and My God”
More than just acknowledging His greatness or knowing facts about His deity, we want you to personally know Him.
Jesus has done it all to bring you close to God,
to make a way for you to come to God, by bearing all of your sins and being risen from the dead to come into your life and create a new heart and a new life
As you ravel alone I-10 in Louisiana there is a large billboard which catches your eye.
It stands high above the city just as you start up the Mississippi River bridge.
On it is a picture of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross of Calvary, head bowed.
The caption underneath in bold letters reads, “It’s Your Move!”
Jesus has already taken the initiative for you to go to heaven, for you to come to God.
It’s your move. What will you do?
