Cracking the Da Vinci Code #2 – Was Jesus God?
Over the past 25 years there have been several attempts in Hollywood to smear, put down or challenge the Christian faith. For some reason Christians tick off the Hollywood elite. It may be the same reason that cockroaches, rats, skunks and mice don’t like it when you turn the light on, and only come out in the dark…just a thought.
I remember in college a movie called the “Life of Brian” coming out that riled the church. There was the “Last Temptation of Christ” controversy. And how many ABC, CBS, NBC, and National Geographic specials has there been trying to explain away the virgin birth, or the resurrection, or miracles? And what about the continual defamation of Jesus and His name and His church in many media outlets? You must conclude that Hollywood has a Jesus problem!
Even the “Passion of the Christ” movie was opposed!
They would dare portray Islam like they do Christianity.
The Da Vinci Code is the latest attempt. You may ask, “It’s just a movie and a book, why get so upset about it?” Good question.
It is a movie and a book that claims to be supported by fact. It tries to come across as the truth and crosses all kinds of lines, real, factual and historical lines. It takes history and throws it away creating a “new history.”
There will be many who will see this compelling movie and believe what it says about the church, about Jesus and about a conspiracy to suppress the real truth about Jesus.
STORY LINE
The story is really a pretty good one. It begins with a murder in a museum. The man murdered we find out is the last of 4 people in a secret organization that had been protecting a huge secret: that Jesus was married and had a baby with Mary Magdalene and that this royal bloodline continued through the ages.
Before his death he had left a scattering of clues that would lead the right person to discover this truth. All the while the Catholic Church has commissioned a monk to hunt down and kill anyone who knows this secret to continue the cover up. This secret, if exposed would destroy the church as we know it.
The story is pretty good, but in the midst of it there is a lot of so called fact that is no where near the true story. It is fiction that is made to look like fact – on purpose.
Last week we looked at the issue of whether we got the real Bible or not.
It is the kind of stuff that would really rock the faith of those who don’t know any better, and unfortunately, there are a lot of people who don’t know any better in America today.
Lets put this whole Da Vinci thing into a scriptural category:
1 John 2:18-23 (NLT)
18 Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared….22 And who is the great liar? The one who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Such people are antichrists, for they have denied the Father and the Son. 23 Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father either. But anyone who confesses the Son has the Father also.
1 John 4:1-6 (NLT)
1 Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. 2 This is the way to find out if they have the Spirit of God: If a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ became a human being, that person has the Spirit of God. 3 If a prophet does not acknowledge Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist. …..5 These people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. 6 But we belong to God; that is why those who know God listen to us.
The Bible calls this kind of flagrant attack on the character and the nature of Jesus Antichrist. Nothing less. These things come from the enemy to water down Jesus and challenge His exalted position as Savior and Lord.
Now, I don’t mind challenges, let’s look at the facts.
What the Da Vinci code says about Jesus.
“Constantine commissioned and financed a new Bible, which omitted those gospels that spoke of Christ’s human traits and embellished those gospels that made Him godlike. The earlier gospels were outlawed, gathered up, and burned.” (p234)
“Many scholars claim that the early Church literally stole Jesus from His original followers, hijacking His human message, shrouding it in an impenetrable cloak of divinity, and using it to expand their own power.” (p233)
“Jesus’ establishment as the ‘Son of God’ was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicaea…A relatively close vote at that.” (p233)
“Until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet… a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless. A mortal.” (p233)
“The early Church needed to convince the world that the mortal prophet Jesus was a divine being. Therefore, any gospels that described earthly aspects of Jesus’ life had to be omitted from the Bible.” (p244)
“The modern Bible was compiled and edited by men who possessed a political agenda—to promote the divinity of the man Jesus Christ and use His influence to solidify their own power base.” (p234)
So what is the story? Is Jesus the Son of God, God in the flesh, or is this thing just a big hoax and conspiracy?
Now give me a moment. One day a Mormon will show up to your door and want to drop off the book of Mormon. The book of Mormon is fiction. I can’t express in terms strong enough to tell you there is not one shred of evidence to support the book of Mormon. I guess the guy that wrote it – Joseph Smith – never knew that his prank would never stand up to scrutiny.
But that doesn’t bother the Mormon’s. They will ask you to read it and then pray by asking God to tell you if it is true. If you get what they call the “burning in the bosom” then you will know it is true.
Our faith is nothing like that. We don’t blindly believe based on feelings. We don’t pretend something is true based on excitement. Our faith must be supported by the evidence, by fact, by eyewitnesses, by truth. Our faith can be investigated and has been.
So what about Jesus? Do we believe here today simply because a preacher or a pope said so? Is Jesus God?
1. LISTEN FIRST TO WHAT JESUS SAID ABOUT HIMSELF.
Jesus was not shy about making claims, claims that can be verified.If I stood up and made any statements like this you could verify them in an instant. Jesus invites you to check these out for truth and accuracy. Listen to things He said and determine what you think Jesus believed:
25 The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."
26 Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."
John 4:25-26 (NIV)
16 For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But He answered them, ``My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.’’
18 For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
John 5:15-18 (NASB)
32 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
34 "Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."
35 Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
John 6:32-35 (NIV)
48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
John 6:48-51 (NIV)
12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
John 8:12 (NIV)
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."
57 "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!"
58 "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
John 8:56-59 (NIV)
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
John 11:25-26 (NIV)
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
John 14:6-7 (NIV)
Those are some amazing claims. Dan Brown, the Da Vinci author, obviously must have skipped over these verses. It wasn’t the early church conspiring to make Jesus into God, IT WAS JESUS HIMSELF WHO INVITED PEOPLE TO BELIEVE IN HIM AS GOD.
Who could promise such sweeping statements and claim to have this kind of power except God Himself. His identity as God did not come from a vote in the year 325 AD.
2. LISTEN TO WHAT THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS OF JESUS’ DAY SAID ABOUT HIM.
Jesus said, “I and the Father are one." (One in essence, in nature. )
31 Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?"
33 "We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."
John 10:30-33 (NIV)
17 Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." 18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
John 5:17-18 (NIV)
Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?"
62 "I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
63 The high priest tore his clothes. "Why do we need any more witnesses?" he asked. 64 "You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?"
They all condemned him as worthy of death.
Mark 14:61-64 (NIV)
On trial was not the actions of Jesus, but the identity of Jesus. These people trying Jesus were not barbarians, they were highly cultured, law abiding people. The blasphemy to them was not his works, but who he claimed to be.
There was no mistaking to them what Jesus was saying, neither should there be to us.
3. WHAT OTHERS SAID ABOUT JESUS
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
John 1:1-4 (NIV)
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 (NIV)
If God were to become man, what would you expect of him?
1. To have an unusual entrance into this life.
2. To be w/o sin
3. Do miracles.
4. Being different from other men
5. Speak the greatest words ever spoken“ His teachings were ultimate, final – above those of Moses and the prophets. He never added any afterthoughts or revisions; he never retracted or changed; he never guessed or supposed or spoke with any uncertainty.”
6. Have a lasting and universal influence
7. Satisfy the spiritual hunger in man
8. Exercise power over death
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
John 20:26-28 (NIV)
The word Lord is Kurios – used exclusively of God and Jesus.
Early writings prove it - an indisputable trail
Early worship services he was worshipped as God
They prayed to Jesus.
He had convinced his followers that he was God.
John 14:1
He was doomed to death yet had the audacity to demand that they make him an object of faith. He dais that their future depended on Him. He promised to prepare a place for them and then come back to claim them.
4. THE RESURRECTION PROVED IT.
Paul said clearly that if there is no resurrection then we have no faith. Either the resurrection is the greatest fact in history, or the greatest hoax.
The res is the ultimate proof. What we know for sure….
1. That he did die
2. That he was buried
3. That 3 days later the tomb was empty how did it get empty
4 Jesus followers saw him alive and would die for that 515 people saw him
5 And their lives were transformed.
And they never visited the grave again, they never recanted. And men do not die for a known lie. (Chuck Colson)
“Not one religious leader, not Moses, Paul, Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, etc. has ever claimed to be God; that is with the exception of Jesus Christ. Christ is the only religious leader who has ever claimed to be deity and the only individual ever who has convinced a great portion of the world that he is God.”
Lets clear this up. Did a meeting of early church leaders, the council of Nicea, by a close vote decide that Jesus was God? No. The vote was 300 – 2. The vote was taken to quash the Arian’s, a group of people who thought Jesus was the first thing in God’s creation.
Liar, Lord or Lunatic? You cannot accept Him as a great teacher, he must be accepted on his terms. The only thing left to us is either he is crazy or Lord.
Dr. Lutzer – Parliament of world religions to discuss how to unite the religions of the world. 5000 delegates. I went searching for a sinless savior – you see I am a sinner and I can’t have someone save me who is a part of my predicament. One sinner can’t save another.
I discovered that Christianity is the only one with a savior.
I went to the Buddhist table, “do you have a sinless savior?” No Buddha had enlightenment not sinlessness.
What about the Muslims? Well I knew that in the Koran at least 7 times Mohammed asked for forgiveness.
I went to each religion and discovered that other religions had gurus, prophets that say live this way and live that way, but guess what? There is only person perfectly sinless, able to bring us into God’s presence and declare us as righteous as Christ himself is. I leave you today by saying that there is nobody else out there like Jesus.
Can Jesus really be all that?
Can Jesus really do all that?
Let me say as a reminder that this whole book is about Jesus and the greatness of God. It is all about how life apart from Jesus is
- meaningless
- clueless
- fatiguing
- empty and dark
W/O Jesus there is no reason, no purpose, no way, no path, no hope for the future and no forgiveness for the past. That’s what we believe!
He is the light and the life! He is the definition of life, the defining moment of life, the sustenance of life and the reason why everything exists. That’s what we believe!
If you meet this Jesus you will be forever changed.
- you are different then you were before
- going to a place you weren’t before
- filled with something you didn’t have before
- the difference is equated in scripture with the difference of being DEAD AND ALIVE! That’s what we believe!
This Jesus, this one God was sending into the world to fix things, is so extraordinary that He rises above the highest, holiest and loftiest thought, idea or conception of Him. OTHERWISE…we haven’t even scratched the surface yet when we think of Him!
He surpasses all expectations and is other than anything else in all of creation!
The Bible says Jesus is WONDERFUL what does this mean? The biblical meaning of this word means that Jesus is;
- beyond anything we have ever seen, singularly unique
- extraordinary, so vast that we can’t understand the full meaning
- that Jesus would be beyond the bounds of all human expectations.
His name is
-power to the believer, a threat to governments, the guarantee of prayer and a menace to the devil. It is wonderful, it has power!
You want to know it’s power? Look at the enemies of the name! They want the name Jesus or Christ removed from America. It is a threat, but to us it is sweet and powerful.
People were continually being AMAZED at the wonder of Jesus.
Their amazement and astonishment came because Jesus had no limitation! He brought a fresh face to God, He said, “if you have seen me you have sent he Father.”
- he brought the fresh power of God that had become a memory
- he brought the fresh teaching of God that had become stale
- he brought the fresh grace of God that had been replaced by rules
Listen to all they were amazed at in the NT as Jesus worked…
Mat. 7:28 Amazed at His teaching, it was powerful and new
Mat 8:27 Amazed that the winds and waves obeyed Him
Mat 13:54 Amazed at who He was. “Where did he get all this?”
Mat 15:31 Amazed at His healing power when a mute spoke
Mat 21:20 Amazed that a tree would obey his orders
You see, Jesus had no limitations! Whatever words rolled off his tongue reordered reality, made broken muscles, tongues, bones, winds, clouds, demons obey Him.
Mk 1:27 Amazed at how demons obeyed Him
Mk 2:12 amazed at how paralyzed bodies sprang to life
Mk 6:51 amazed that he walked on water
But the most amazing thing is something we call “Amazing Grace.” Amazing grace is that Jesus didn’t come to the earth to show off, but He came to give you what you can’t get in your own power, to do what you cannot do by your own works, to take where you cannot go by your will, he came to give you grace.
Grace is the undeserved, unearned favor of God. It is Jesus Christ dying for you, forgiving your every sin, reconciling you to God and the way God meant it to be, and you taking this gift having done nothing to deserve it. No other religious leaders does that for you!
He is the sum total of all knowledge. All wisdom, all guidance, all direction, all truth, all counsel and insight…He knows everything about everything and is never wrong.
All knowledge of the past present and future, of all things, of all purposes and plans belongs to Him. He even knows what is in your heart!!
HE KNOWS THE DEPTHS OF SCIENCE…He made the atom, the atom awaits His order every day to keep going.
HE KNOWS THE DEPTHS OF CREATION…he knows exactly how big the sun needed to be, how hot and how far away from the earth so that we don’t freeze of burn.
He created the eyeball…the heart…he knows all this stuff
HE KNOWS THE DEPTHS OF TRUTH…he is the truth! Truth is unchanging and unwavering and never plays favorites. The truth doesn’t care how you feel about it, it jiust stands and works and cannot be defied.
…even if the government outlawed the truth it changes nothing!
HE KNOWS THE DEPTH OF TIME…the past, present and future He is there already.
HE KNOWS THE DEPTH OF OUR HUMAN CONDITION…he knows about our weakness.
HE ALREADY KNOWS THE PLANS OF ALL MEN AND DEVILS…His counsel is so good because He takes into account what is going on in places and conversations that He hears but you have no idea about. THAT”S COOL!
So how do we respond to Jesus? We invite Him to become Lord of our life and lead us from this point forward. He is the real deal!
