JESUS CHRIST is unique. He claimed to be God and He made His identity the focal point of His teaching. The question He put to His followers was, "Who do you say I am?"
"I am the Father are one."
The Jews took up stones again to stone Him.
Jesus answered them,
"I showed you many good works from the Father;
for which of them are you stoning Me?"
The Jews answered Him,
"For a good work we do not stone You,
but for blasphemy;
and because You, being a man,
make Yourself out to be God." John 10:30-33
There was no ambiguity about Jesus' claim (c.f., Luke 5:20-21). Even the Jews understood perfectly that Jesus was literally claiming to be God. That was why they stoned Him. Who do you say Jesus is? His claim must be considered. I believe there are just two possibilities to this claim:
As we examine all these possible alternatives, you be the judge as to which one is the most probable.
SUPPOSE I CAME UP TO YOU AND SINCERELY PROCLAIMED THAT I AM THE ALMIGHTY GOD OF THE UNIVERSE, I AM APPOINTED TO SAVE YOU FROM YOUR SINS. What would you think of me? Would you say that I am a nut!
For Jesus to sincerely believe that He was God in a culture that is fiercely monotheistic (remember the Jews who stoned Jesus?) would not be a mere mistake or fantasy, it would be insanity! Could Jesus have been a lunatic?
We see no evidence of abnormality or imbalance in Jesus that we would find in a mad person. Rather we find the greatest composure under pressure ... He was calm and serene even when His life was at stake during His trial before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. Pilate could find no grounds for condemning Jesus so he washed his hands in front of the people (Matt 27:24-25) to declare that he was not responsible for Jesus' blood!
An insane man could not have demonstrated the same quality of teaching that Jesus did ... consistent, systematic and shrewd. Could an insane man have delivered the famous Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3-12)?
What would you call a person who claimed to be God but knew it was not true? I would call him a liar. Could Jesus have been a liar?
What personal advantage did Jesus gain by lying? (Remember the Jews who stoned Jesus?) If Jesus were a liar, He would also be a fool because it was his claim to be God that led to His crucifixion. Only a fool would die for a lie. Man lies for personal gain but when it becomes unprofitable or when he is threatened by death, he would confess. But Jesus did not! He affirmed that He is God. Is Jesus, who is intelligent enough to start a worldwide movement, a fool?
Moreover, the ego of a liar would cause him to use and abuse others, not help them. But Jesus came to serve. He taught and fed the people; He even washed the feet of His disciples.
To say that Jesus was a great moral teacher would be a contradiction because you have to ALSO say that He was ...
In his book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis said,
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say.
A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- 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. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
... only as well as you can prove scientifically that you were in your office this morning!
We cannot prove a past event scientifically because we cannot repeat the event.
However, there is another kind of proof ... the legal-historical method used in the courts of law. Legal proof is based on showing that something is a fact beyond reasonable doubt on the basis of the weight of the evidence such as oral testimony, written testimony and physical testimony (called exhibits).
You could provide evidence (not proof) to show your presence at the office. You could show exhibits such as minutes of meeting confirming your presence on that day. You could also arrange for eye-witnesses' testimony.
The writer, Paul, appealed to about 500 eye-witnesses' accounts of the resurrection so that the readers can check it up for themselves.
"For I delivered to you as of first importance
what I also received,
that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures,
and that He was buried,
and that He was raised on the third day
according to the Scriptures,
and that He appeared to Cephas (Peter),
then to the twelve.
After that He appeared to more than five hundred."
I Corinthians 5:3-7
Are you willing to accept eye-witnesses' testimony as the basis of knowledge of the past? The resurrection of Jesus proved that He is who He claimed to be.
"Who was declared the Son of God with power
by the resurrection from the dead,
according to the spirit of the holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord."
Romans 1:4
If Jesus rose from the dead, then He is alive today! And because He lives, He can enter a person's life and change him from the inside out.
If Jesus is God, then He can do what only God can do ... forgive sins.
And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven."
"Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?" And immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic, "Your sins are forgiven" or to say, "Arise, and take up your pallet and walk"? But in order that you may know the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins -- He said to the paralytic -- I say to you, "Rise, take up your pallet and go home." And he rose immediately took up the pallet and went out in the sight of all; so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this." Mark 2:5, 7-12
Is Christ God? This is the most important decision you can make. Maybe you think you are not interested or do not have the time to make a decision about Jesus Christ. But in this case, no decision becomes a decision of rejection by default. If Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be: God, then none of us can afford to ignore His claims in our lives.
The other choice is to receive Him.
"But as many as received Him,
He gave the right to become children of God,
even to those who believe in His name." John 1:12
I guess one could assert that Jesus never actually existed -- that Jesus was a legendary figure -- but there is so much historical and archaeological evidence to support his existence --
In the 18th book of his Antiquities, the first-century Jewish historian, Josephus made mention of Jesus in these words,
"Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as had a veneration for truth. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles: He was the Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at first did not forsake him; for he appeared unto them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets of these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him: whence the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day."
Few hold the view that Jesus was just a myth.