You've all heard the Christmas story told throughout tv, radio, and Internet. You've seen the movies. But I want to take it a step forward and examine who this Jesus was/is, and who He claimed/claims to be and his uniqueness in comparison to all other great religious world leaders such as Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, Zoroaster, etc.
In Luke 22:70 What was Jesus' reply to the council of the elders' question as to whether He was the Son of God?
"Yes, I am."
In Matthew 27:43 What did the chief priests, scribes, and elders quote Jesus as having said about Himself?
"I am the Son of God."
(The phrase, "Son of God", as used by Jesus Christ or in reference to Christ in His relationship to God is used in a very special sense, as that of a "unique" Sod of God. In John 3:16,18; 1 John 4:9 the word "begotten" means a unique, unoriginal relationship: an eternal relationship. The very fact that He never includes Himself when He uses the term "our Father" - as He taught His disciples how to pray - and of course He never included any others when He says "My Father" or "My own Father" show that He viewed Himself as Son of God in a very special sense.)
In John 5:18, Jesus calls God is own father. Stating this, He was making Himself out to be equal to God the Father. How do we know this? Well, in Leviticus 24:16, it says:
'Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.'
("Blasphemy" is giving the attributes of God to a creature- which is what the Jews accused Jesus of doing. The Jews from ancient times have interpreted the command of Lev. 24:16, as prohibiting the utterance of the name "Jehovah"- Lord or Self Existent One- and reading for it "Adanai- Master- or "Elohim" - God or one supreme deity or Creator. Blasphemy can also mean attributing some evil to God or denying Him some good which we should attribute to Him. see also Romans 2:24)
Again, in John 8:53-58, Jesus answers both questions in verses 53 and 57:
"Before Abraham was born, I Am." (Jesus' response not only reaffirmed His eternal, timeless, absolute essence, which is an attribute that only God has, but also identified Him as being one in essence with Jehovah God of the Old Testament, who also said that He is the
"I Am" in Exodus 3:13,14). Jesus calls Himself the
"I Am". God calls himself the
"I Am". Its interesting to see many false teachers in today's society are calling themselves that as well. (
http://youtu.be/5WRg7nrKnkg)
In John 10:30 -38 Jesus says in verse 30:
"I and the Father are one."
(the word "one" - "ev" - in Greek, which was the original language that the New Testament was written in, means "one in inner essence or substance" See also John 1:1, 14, 18; 5:18) For this reason, the Jews took up stones to stone Jesus, because He was making himself out to be God. Why did they do this? It was customary in Old Testament times to refer to some as gods. Most especially Judges who represented divine justice. So why did they protest and call Jesus a blasphemer when He called Himself the Son of God? Especially since He qualified, as demonstrated through His miraculous birth, perfect life, miracles, and fulfillment of scores of prophesies? (Psalms 82:6; Exodus 22:8; II Chronicles 19:5, 6)
Other attributes of God that Jesus claimed were:
Eternal - John 1:1, 2, 14, 18 ("In the Beginning" means beyond the beginning of creation in time to eternity. see John 17: 5, 24) John 8:58; Micah 5:2; Revelations 22:13 (22:12,16,20; 1:8,17, 18) Isaiah 9:6
Non-Changing - Hebrews13:8; 1:10-12; Colossians 1:16
Almighty - Revelations 1:8; 22:12-16, 20; Matthew 16:27; Hebrews 1:3; Philippians 3:20, 21; Matthew 28:18
Holy - Luke 1:35; John 6:69; Mark 1:24
In Being Worshiped - Matthew 2:2; 8:2; 14:22, 33; 28:9, 17; Hebrews 1:5,6; Matthew 4:10. Notice that Jesus did not reject or turn away this worship from Himself. He identified Himself in equality with God.
In Forgiving Sin - Luke 5:20-24 didn't Jesus claim to have this authority?
Creation of all things - Genesis 1:1-25; Colossians 1: 13-16
Life - John 14:6; John 11:25; 1:4
Resurrection - Acts 17:30,31; I Thessalonians 1:9,10; John 2:19 -21
In Name - Matthew 28:19; II Thessalonians 2:16,17; Isaiah 9:6
And the many more attributes that is said of Jesus that only God can claim. And upon studying the Scriptures, you will see that Jesus has fulfilled many of them. Something no other man in history has been able to do. This is what makes Jesus so unique. This is what makes Jesus, God.
The Gospel:
https://net.bible.org/audio/get/46-1Corinthians-15.mp3
All Bible references were taken from the
New American Standard Bible.
