Did Jesus ever claim to be God ??? If so, was he crazy ???

• People, especially those of different religions, often points out that Jesus was only a "wise man" (buddists loves to say that)

• Some people even claimed that Jesus never claimed to be God; in fact, they will challenge christians to show them in the Bible where it is written that said that "Jesus was God".

• Jesus often refers to himself as "son of God", but this, some say, refers to his "goodness", "kindness". We are all sons of God...

The answer is clearly yes, here are some relevant passages

• Jesus often called himself Son of Man. By this, he was refering to Daniel 7:13-14
  I saw in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And dominion and glory was given Him, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages, should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

• Jesus did something that only God would do: He forgave sin

  Remember the lame man that was laid in front of Jesus by his friends through the roof of the house ? Jesus said to him "Your sins are forgiven".

• Jesus made radical statements that go beyond the Jewish laws.

  Example: he states that it's not what enters a person that defiles him, but what comes out of it. That's goes beyond the Jewish laws concerning purity (e.g., of eating unclean animals).

  What kind of person (human) thinks he has the authority to set aside the divinely inspired Jewish Scriptures and supplant them with his own teaching ?

  (Case for Christ, pp 134-135)

• The way that Jesus perform miracles showed that He was God
  • When prophets performed miracles, they do so through the authority of God

  • But when Jesus performed miracles, He do so under His own authority (although He does give thanks and glory His father).

• The way that Jesus teaches showed that He was God
  • In Jewish law, you need a testimony of two witnesses for some claim to be truth

  • Jesus began his teachings with the phrase: "Amen I say to you", which is to say "I swear in advance to the truthfullness of what I am about to say".

    Jesus did not require any second testimony - He testifies for Himself. No mortal man (rabbi) before or since Jesus has taught that way...

• Jesus acknowledged that He was not a mortal:
  • Mat 16:13-17 -- And coming into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked His disciples, saying, Who do men say Me to be, the Son of Man? And they said, Some say, John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He said to them, But who do you say I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered and said to him, You are blessed, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but My Father in Heaven.

  Notice that Jesus did not duck Peter's answer but acknowledged it.

• In Jesus' days, the concept of the Trinity nature of God does not exist

• Jesus would have to say "I am Yahweh", if He was gonna say that He was God.

• But from Matthew 26:63-65 it is clear that the Jewish leaders did understand exactly that Jesus has claimed to be God:
  Matthew 26:63-65 --- But Jesus was silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, I adjure you by the living God that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said to him, You said it. (That's "yes" in ancient language) I tell you more. From this time you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of the heavens. Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, now you have heard his blasphemy.

  The high priest understood Jesus was claiming to be God because he was screaming blasphemy....

• From the simple fact that Jesus has clearly claimed to be God, you can NEVER say that "Jesus was a wise man"

  Anyone that calls a man that has knowingly claimed to be God a wise man is himself crazy or deserves the award for the most stupid man/woman in the world; and I personally would stay at least ten feet away from such person....

• From the fact that Jesus has clearly claimed to be God you can only conclude that:
  • Jesus was a nutcase (a wacko)
  • Jesus was the worst liar in human history
  • Jesus was telling the truth...

According to Gary Collins in "The Case for Christ":

• Disturbed individuals often display inappropriate depression, or they might be vehemently angry, or they may be plagued woth anxiety - Jesus never demonstrated inappropriate emotions

• Another sign of mental disturbances is unsuitable behavior - such as dressing oddly or unable to relate socially to others. Again, Jesus' behavior was perfectly normal.

• Jesus' disciples were the closest to Him and they knew Him best

• After Jesus' death, many of Jesus' disciples went out and preach Jesus' gospels - some of them were executed.

• Jesus' disciples ensured the suffering because they have seen Jesus' death and His resurrection - even his sceptical brother James believed Jesus and was executed.

• If Jesus can pull this off by lying; He should deserve an Oscar - the best actor that Hollywood would have ever known.

• Well, that's a scary question.... could Jesus be God incarnated - the omnipotent, timeless God becoming flesh....

• What's more... to suffer and die ????

• Can you imagine God - the Creator - would let His own Son suffer the cruelty of the crucifixion ?

• If you were the almighty God, wouldn't you kill these miserable creatures that you have created who is trying to hurt your own Son ?

• Yet, Jesus himself stated that He must die:
  Mark 10:45 --- For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.

• John tells us why God did it:
  John 3:16 --- For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

• OK, so far, I have tried to establish that the scriptures were written very early - only tens of years after Jesus' death and resurrection

• That the scriptures were accurately preserved and passed down to us.

• That archaeology has confirmed many places, people and events that were recorded in the New Testament

• That Jesus did claimed to be God....

• I haven't show any evidence that Jesus was indeed what He claimed to be...

  During Jesus' ministry, He has backed up His claim to be the Son of God with many miracles.

  So what, prophets perform miracles too, but they don't claim to be God. (Even soccerers perform miracles).

• To prove to His disciples that He was indeed God, Jesus has performed one miracle that no prophet had ever attempted to perform:
  • Jesus died in front of the disciples own eyes
  • and then later come back to life and chat with them.

• Now Jews do believe in resurrection, that's why they save the bones of their death - they believe that when the death is resurrected, the dead man's bones will get a new body

  And the Jew believe that resurrection will happen at the end of the world

• With His resurrection, Jesus has convinced His disciples beyond any doubt that He was God

  Evidence of this is the fact that Peter denied Jesus 3 times when Jesus was arrested; but the same coward would rather be crucified in Rome rather than deny Jesus again....

  Peter has seen the risen Jesus and finally understood.

• Next we will look at how solid the evidence is for the resurrection of Jesus