|
Calgary Worship Centre
Jesus Christ is the best known name in history, the most common
curse word in the world and the source of the greatest debates among
religions and people. The question of who he is, who is Jesus Christ,
has been the source of countless books, myths, movies and musicals.
Who is this Jesus Christ and why does it matter so much?
In 1973 I sat in a theatre in London, England and watched a live
production of the musical, "Jesus Christ - Superstar".
Attempting to answer the question of who Jesus Christ is, the authors
had Judas (who, according to historical documents, was a Benedict
Arnold that betrayed Jesus to his enemies) ask Jesus "Do you
think you're who they say you are?"
Many groups claim to be able to tell you who Jesus is. The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons) say they know
who he is because one of their prophets told them. According to
the Mormons, Jesus was only one of many 'spirit children' that a
god named "elohim" was father to. The Watchtower Bible
and Tract Society (Jehovah's Witnesses) say they know who he is;
Jesus was an angel who became a man. Not THE God, but a god in a
sense. To Islam, the Muslims, Jesus Christ (Issus) was a perfect
prophet, a man, but not God.
In times past, many scholars claimed that Jesus Christ never really
existed at all. They said he was a myth, but in recent years no
serious academic would make that claim. Discoveries like the Dead
Sea Scrolls and others have made it clear that Jesus Christ really
existed and that the histories in the Bible which Christians call
the Gospels are extremely accurate narrations of the events of Jesus'
life.
So who is this man Jesus? We have three ways of answering this
question.
1. Who did Jesus claim he was, and could he back those claims up
with proof?
2. Who did those who knew him personally claim he was, and what
evidence do they provide historically for that claim?
3. What other evidence is there for determining who Jesus Christ
is?
Answering these three questions properly would take volumes of
books. It is best, for this brief paper, to summarize each.
1. Who did Jesus Christ claim he was? What evidence did he provide
for this claim?
Jesus claimed to be Almighty God, the creator of the universe,
the God who existed before any gods, the one who revealed himself
to Abraham and Moses in ancient times (John 8:58; John 14:20, John
10:33). He claimed that no one except him could reveal God Almighty
to people, which is a pretty bold claim. It makes a liar out of
Islam, Mormonism and every other religion in the world, if it is
true (John 10:7-9, John 14:6) Although he was a man, born of a woman
named Mary, he claimed also to be the Supreme and only Almighty
God, come to earth in human form (John 14:10). Where the confusion
in who Jesus is has come in is because Jesus claimed that the only
Almighty God was not one, but three. This idea (known since about
the 4th century as the 'Trinity') is confusing. God, said Jesus,
is the Father, I am the Son, and we (the Father and I) will send
you the Spirit, a person who will teach you all about me. (for a
more complete understanding of this, please see our teaching page.)
Let's deal with one of these claims. Jesus said he was the Almighty
God. What abilities would an Almighty God have that no human could
imitate? Well, to name only two, he must have complete control over
nature, he must also have complete control over life and death,
and this control can not be subject to distance or any other limitation.
Anything less than this, and the one making these claims cannot
be truthful.
Jesus demonstrated again and again his complete control over nature.
He walked on water, shut down a raging storm as if it were child's
play, and turned a small boys lunch into a feast for over five thousand
people (which has never been repeated or imitated by any one, ever!)
(Matt 14:25, Mark 4:39, Luke 9:14-17). So, clearly Jesus had control
over nature.
What about life and death? Jesus demonstrated conclusively that
he had power over life and death by raising the dead and healing
those that were sick. He also demonstrated that distance and time
were meaningless in his control. (Luke 7:1-10, Matt 9:25, Matt 11:5)
Jesus claimed to be the human manifestation of the only Almight
God and backed it up with strong proofs. No one else in all of history
can make that claim with the kind of evidence we have in the historical
narratives. It would appear to our CSI mindsets that Jesus Christ
was just who he claimed to be!
2. Who did those who knew him personally claim he was, and what
evidence do they provide historically for that claim?
It takes more than one witness to convict a man of a crime. Sometimes
that witness is the evidence, but if four or five people all testified
in a courtroom that someone was seen committing a crime, that would
be strong evidence. What if they were more than four or five? What
if over three hundred people all claimed to be witnesses to the
same event?
That would seem to be compelling. In any courtroom today, that
many witnesses would overwhelm any defense. If three hundred people
all saw O.J. Simpson killing his wife, his defense team would have
stood no chance of getting him found not guilty, even with shaky
forensic evidence and a poor prosecution!
There is, in fact, evidence in the historical documents that over
five hundred people were willing to back up the claims of Jesus
Christ. This huge body of people were personal witnesses to seeing
Jesus Christ alive and well (after he was killed by the Roman authorities)
and also claimed that they, personally, knew He was God Almighty!
(1Cor 15:4-6) This document was written less than thirty years after
the fact, which means that almost all of these witnesses were still
alive and could testify. The reason this was written was because
some were claiming that there was no evidence, so the writer, Paul,
was showing how silly that argument was.
So what did these witnesses claim about Jesus Christ? They said
that he was the creator of the universe, a being not made but who
pre-existed everything, that he was God Almighty and that (sorry
Mormons) he was not 'one spirit child of Elohim' but the ONLY Son
of God, the only one who was Lord God. *See Hebrews chapter one
to three for a summation of these teachings.
3. What other evidence is there to back up these claims?
There has not been any life so microscopically examined by historians
and archeologists. We accept, with little evidence, that Plato existed.
We accept with (by comparison) minute evidence the story of Cleopatra.
By contrast, scholars have spent hundreds of thousands of hours
to try and disprove the claims of Jesus Christ.
The end result (see "Evidence that Demands a Verdict",
by Josh McDowell) is that the claims of Jesus Christ have been clearly
documented. Although Islam is wrong about who Jesus is, they also
state clearly that He did the things he did and said the things
he said. One of the reasons that Muslims are mistaken about Jesus
is that very few even know what he said and did, even though they
state strongly that he was perfect (therefore he could not lie).
So who is Jesus Christ?
Jesus Christ is life because in the counsel of God before the creation
of the world (Eph. 1-14), it was decreed that man would experience
life by experiencing the source of life for man, the Son of God
(Col. 1:17). It is the Son of God incarnated in Jesus Christ that
gives life to man.
Jesus Christ said, "For as the Father hath life in himself;
so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given
him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of
man" (John 5:26,27). In other words, the Father has not only
"given to the Son to have life within himself," but He
has also made ("given") the Son to be the One that would
enable man to experience that life ("authority to execute judgment").
Jesus Christ enables all men to experience life.
Life is only in Jesus Christ. With God being the only One that
has "life within himself," it would be necessary for the
Son of God to become the mediator (the Person of the Godhead which
would be the "go-between") of the God of the heavenly
realm and the man of the earthly realm (1 Tim. 1:5). By being the
One which bridged the gap between Creator and creation, Jesus Christ
has the authority to make the decision ("execute judgment")
to determine who experiences life and who does not. Jesus Christ
is the substance of life for man.
Jesus Christ is God coming to the earth in the likeness of man
(Col. 1:13-15)
Jesus Christ was made of the seed of man according to the flesh
(Rom. 1:4)
Jesus Christ is declared to be the Son of God by the Holy Spirit
(Rom. 1:4)
Jesus Christ is the incarnation of the Son of God in human flesh
(John 5:26.27)
Jesus Christ is the light of life that shines in all men (John 1:9)
Jesus Christ is the subsistence of all things (Col. 1:17)
|
