IS JESUS GOD?
475 Col.1: 15-20
INTRO:
1. My kids gave me a copy of The DaVinci Code for Christmas 2003. I finished reading it on New Year’s day. As an author, I was wishing I had written it until I got to chapter 56 on Jesus’ deity. Suddenly, that spoiled the whole book for me.
2. Brown, Dan (2003), The DaVince Code. New York: Doubleday, p. 233.
3. Next to the events in the Christian scriptures, the most important event in Christian history is the conversion of the Emperor Constantine to Christianity in 312 C.E.
4. Here’s the story: Constantine’s troops were positioned at the Milvian Bridge just outside Rome. They were preparing to overthrow the Roman Emperor Maxentius. Victory would make Constantine the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. The night before the battle, Constantine saw a vision that changed his life and the history of the church. Eusebius of Caesarea, who was both a historian & a confidant of Constantine, wrote that the Emperor was praying to a pagan god when “he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross in the light of the heavens, above the sun and an inscription, Conquer by this, attached to it. . . Then in his sleep the Christ of God appeared to him with the sign which he had seen in the heavens, and commanded him to make a likeness of the sign. . . and to use it as a safeguard in all his engagements with his enemies” (M.A.Noll.Turning Points, Baker, 1997, p. 50). He had his army sprinkled in baptism as they marched by the river, crossed the bridge, and won the battle, fighting under the banner of the Christian cross. Later he issued the Edict of Milan, decreeing that Christians were no longer to be persecuted.
5. The DaVince Code makes a startling charge: that Jesus’ followers only considered him to be a human being until Emperor Constantine “upgraded” his status to deity almost 300 years after his death at the Council of Nicaea, in 325 C.E.
6. The humanity of Jesus has been thoroughly questioned by Docetism which maintained that He only appeared to be human. Cf. “The Human Side of Jesus” (Strobel & Poole, p. 78).
I. THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES PROMISED A MESSIAH
1. His decent from Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob: Gen. 12:3; 17:19; Mt. 1:1,2; Ac. 3:25.
2. His birth in Bethlehem: Mic. 5:2; Mt. 2:1,6.
3. His crucifixion with criminals: Isa. 53:12; Mt. 27:38.
4. Piercing of His hands & feet on the cross: Ps. 22:16; Jn. 20:25.
5. Soldiers gambling for his clothes: Ps. 22:18; Mt. 27:35.
6. Piercing of His side: Zech. 12:10; Jn. 19:34.
7. His bones would not be broken at His death: Ps. 34:20; Jn. 19:33-37.
8. His burial among the rich: Isa. 53:9; Mt. 27: 57-60.
II. THE CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES CLAIM JESUS IS GOD
1. Considering the table dating the N.T. books (McDowell, p. 24), Jesus’ deity had been proclaimed & believed by Christians for over 200 years before the Council of Nicaea in 325 C.E.
2. The easily remembered passages are found in the 1st chapters of Jn. , Col., Heb., 2 Pet., & Rev.
1) Jn. 1:1-3a: “In the beginning was the Word, & the Word was with God, & the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him & without him not one thing came into being.”
2) Col. 1:15-20 (read as sermon text)
3) Heb. 1:1-6,8,10
4) 2 Pet. 1:1: “our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”
5) Rev. 1:8: “’I am the Alpha & the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is and who was & who is to come, the Almighty.”
3. Mk. 15:39: “Truly this man was the Son of God
4. Jn 20:28: Thomas: “My lord & my God!”
III. JESUS CLAIMED TO BE GOD
1. He confirmed Peter’s statement in Mt. 16:16,17 “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
2. Jewish leaders tried to kill Jesus for “calling God his Father, making himself equal with God” (Jn. 5:18).
3. In Jn. 8:58, Jesus referred to himself using the very words God had used to reveal Himself to Moses (Ex. 3:14): “Before Abraham was, I am.”
4. Jesus explicitly said, “I & the Father are one” (Jn. 10:30-33).
5. Jesus said to Philip, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn. 14:10).
6. At his trial before the Sanhedrin, the Chief Priest asked, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” Jesus answered, “I am.” (Mk. 14:61,62).
7. Cf. Strobel & Poole’s table on pp. 84,85.
8. This is the mystery of the Trinity: #Water: solid, ice; liquid, water; vapor, steam.
IV. JESUS DEMONSTRATED THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD
1. Omniscience:
1) Jesus predicted His death & resurrection: Jn. 2:19-22.
2) He predicted Peter’s denial: Mt. 26:34: “this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me 3 times.”
3) He even predicted the destruction of Jerusalem & the Temple: Lu. 21, which occurred in C.E. 70 under the Roman General Titus.
2. Omnipotence:
1) Jn. 11: 43: raised Lazarus
2) Jn. 2: 19: raised himself from the dead
3. Omnipresence: Mt. 28:20: promised to be with followers in the future
V. JESUS BEHAVIOR SUBSTIANTIATED HIS GODSHIP
1. Forgiving sin; Lu. 5:20: the paralytic let through the roof.
2. Sinlessness
1) Jn. 8:46: “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?”
2) 2 Cor. 5:21: “had no sin.”
3) 1 Jn. 3:5: “in Him is no sin.”
4) 1 Pet. 2:22: “committed no sin, & no deceit is found in His mouth.”
3. His authority over sickness: Mt. 4:23: “healing every disease and sickness among the people.”
4. Quieting the Sea of Galilee: Mk. 4:39.
5. Power over evil spirits: Lu. 4:35
6. Supernatural authority over death: Jn. 4:50: To the royal official, he said, “Your son will live.”
7. Jesus resurrection
1) The N.T. records 11 resurrection appearances.
2) In 1 Cor. 15:6, Paul wrote that he “appeared to more than 500 of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living.”
VI. THE IMPACT OF JESUS LIFE
1. In 300 years, a small band of insignificant believers succeeded in changing their world. They had faced torture & death for what they knew to be true. They would hardly have died for a lie.
2. The 12 were changed.
1) In fear, Peter denied Jesus but later courageously was crucified upside down.
2) James was embarrassed by his brother but later called himself a “servant of Jesus Christ” (Ja. 1:1).
3) Saul, the persecutor, became Paul the missionary.
3. The church changed the day of worship from Saturday, the Jewish sabbath, to Sunday, the “Lord’s Day” (Ac. 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10).
4. After the resurrection, Christians stopped sacrificing animals for the forgiveness of sin. After 70 C.E. & the destruction of the Temple, the Jews stopped sacrificing.
5. In place of the passover, Christians celebrated Easter & the Lord’s Supper.
6. Gentile converts were baptized in the name of the God of Israel, but converts to Christianity were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
CONCL:
1. Brown wrote that Jesus was not considered divine until the Council of Nicea in 325 C.E. and that was by a “close vote.” Actually, the debate was not on Jesus’ divinity but on whether He was coeternal with the Father. The vote was 300 to 2. The 2 dissenting bishops were Secundus of Ptolemais & Theonas of Marmarica, both Lybians associated with Arius, who had attracted followers who agreed with him that Jesus less than God. All 3 went into exile after the meeting (Timothy D. Barnes, Constantine & Eusebius, p. 217). Thus, 99.33% of the church leadership throughout the Roman Empire endorsed the Nicere Creed, which is recited in many churches to this day.
2. Good church history lists almost a dozen Church Fathers who attested to Jesus’ divinity before the Council of Nicaea (Cf. Strobel & Poole’s table on p. 90).
3. More Christians have trouble with the humanity of Jesus than with His divinity. Marcus Barth, a prominent N.T. scholar writes that Jesus did not fully understand his divinity until after his resurrection.
4. An astounding statement: the existence of God & the divinity of Christ cannot be proven; they can only be accepted on faith. If proven, we would have no freedom not to believe.
5. Christ has continued to change lives through the centuries. Most of you now live a changed life since becoming a Christian. This certainly happened to me at age 15.
6. So, what about you?
1) Jesus asked, “Who do you think I am?” (Mt. 16:16).
2) Confess and turn from your sin. Jesus said in Jn. 8:24 “If you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.”
3) Accept Christ as your personal Savior.
