John 17:1-3,
1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Jesus was talking to his Father and called Him the only true God.
In the Bible, Jesus makes direct claims, and He also makes indirect claims. We’ll start with the indirect claims. First, Jesus made staggering claims about His ability to meet the spiritual needs of others. In the gospel of John there is a great succession of “I am” statements made by Jesus. “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness.” “I am the bread of life.” “I am the door.” “I am the good shepherd.” “I am the resurrection and the life.” “I am the way, the truth and the life,” and so on.
Why are these “I am” statements significant? Because when Jesus makes each of these statements, He is claiming that He and He alone could meet every individual’s need for forgiveness, peace, security, and direction. And
He alone could bring them into a living, eternal relationship with God. He is not simply making interesting statements. He is actually affirming
certain convictions about who He is. “Follow Me,” He says, “and you’ll never walk in darkness.” “Eat the bread of life and you’ll never hunger again.”
“Follow Me, walk with Me, and I’ll take you directly into heaven.”
It is difficult to imagine how anyone in his right mind could make even one of these claims without believing himself to be God. Imagine a man walking onto the stage of human history and saying, “I am the way, the truth, the life. Nobody comes to God the Father but through me.” That man is either a bad man telling lies, or a madman totally deluded or he is the Godman. He is actually who he claims to be.
We need to be able to engage our friends at this level of dialogue. We can say to them, “I know you’ve got a problem with this idea of Jesus being
divine, but look at what He said. He’s either a liar, a madman, or God. Do you think He’s a liar?” “No,” they’ll probably say. “Do you think He’s crazy?” They might say, “No, I don’t think so. He healed people and welcomed them and talked with them. I don’t think he was crazy.”
“Well, then, who do you think He is?” The standard
answer is, “I think he was just a good man.”
How can you have a good man who tells lies like this? He did not leave us the option of being a good man. He was either who He said He was,
or “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.”
1. The evidence in the Bible is that Jesus made staggering statements and claims concerning how He alone could address the spiritual needs of others.
Secondly, He made astonishing claims about His teachings. In Matthew 5:18 during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “
I tell you the truth, until
heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” Jesus was here affirming the authenticity of the Old Testament. He was saying what others would say of the Scriptures—they
are from God, they are factual, they cannot be tampered with. Then in Matthew 24:35, He says the same thing about His own words: “
Heaven
and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” He was claiming that His words were like the Old Testament words. “
The words that I
speak are the very words of God. They will never, ever pass away.”
Two thousand years later, we are studying the
very words of Jesus, which He said will never pass away, despite the fact that centuries have tried to grind into the dust of oblivion the very truth of the
Scriptures. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus also takes false
interpretations of the Old Testament and corrects them. He says,
You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and
anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. (Matthew 5:21–22a).
You have heard that it was said, ‘
Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (vv. 27–28).
It has been said, ‘
Anyone who divorces his wife, ...’ But I tell you, ... (vv. 31–32).
You have heard that it was said, ‘
Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you... (vv. 43–44).
And on and on.
What is the point here? If someone else were to take the Bible and say, “
You’ve heard what the Bible tells you to do, but I’m telling you to do this other,” we’d be saying back, “Who in the world do you think you are?” What was Jesus doing? He was clearly making astonishing claims about His
teaching. He was putting His teaching on a par with the rest of biblical instruction.
Third, Jesus claimed He would be directly involved in all the major aspects of the end of the world. In John 14:3, He says to His disciples, “
I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” Who is this man who stands at a moment in time and space and says, “
I’m going to be involved in wrapping up the end of the world”? Jesus said, “
I’m going to go away and I’m going to come back.” This is a relevant statement in our twentieth-century culture. The whole world is consumed with people who have had near death experiences—they have gone away and come back. Yet if you say, “What if I could introduce you to somebody who had an out-of-body experience and actually died and definitely came back,” their initial interest would wane when you told them
it was Jesus. “Oh, I thought you were going to tell
me about a real person who went away and came back.” Minds that think like this are predisposed to error. They are prepared to believe the most
unbelievable things and are at the same time unprepared to accept that which is explicit in the statements of Jesus. He said, “I’m going to go away
and I’m going to come back.” In John 5:27, He said He was going to be involved in the judgment of the world: “And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.” Realizing people’s jaws would be hanging down in response to this, He said, “
Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me” (John 5:28–30).
In Matthew 25:31–32, Jesus says, “
... he will sit on his throne ... and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”
Some people say, “Isn’t Jesus just like Buddha? Isn’t Jesus just like Krishna? Isn’t He just like another Hindu avatar?” When we answer, “No, He’s not,” they ask, “How is He not?” Some of us may answer,
“I don’t know how He’s not. I just know He’s not.” A person who has genuine questions about Jesus is not going to put up with that nonsense. If we
cannot say why Jesus is not like Buddha, we are likely to get this kind of response: “Thank you very much, you don’t know anything. You are a
Christian ignoramus and you are annoying me.
Don’t stand there and shout in my face. Listen to my questions and go home and do your homework until you know the answer.” One of the answers is that Buddha never said he was going to sit on a throne and be involved in the judgment of the world. One of the other answers is that Buddha never claimed to be the one who spoke the very oracles and words of God. But it takes some Sunday afternoons with a concordance to come up with answers. It takes some evenings with your Bible and a pencil. It
takes some thinking. It takes some discovering. It takes some diligence. All any reasonable teacher can do is stir within you the desire to become a
student of the Bible. You cannot be spoon-fed into being able to articulate your faith. It takes hard work.
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