JESUS: PROPHET, GREAT TEACHER, OR WHAT?

The things people say when you get into conversations about who Jesus is are really interesting. 

Some say He was a prophet.  I heartily agree.

Jesus certainly had prophetic things to say.   He commented on Old Testament prophecy (He was Jewish after all and knew the OT Scriptures), especially as He saw it applying to Him.  Like at the time when he began his public ministry. 

Luke 4:16-21 "Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom.  And he stood up to read.  The scroll of the (Old Testament) prophet Isaiah was handed to him.  Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written (Isaiah 61:1-2):  'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying, 'Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

With these words Jesus was proclaiming himself to be the Jewish Messiah.  Whew, dangerous claim if it wasn't true!

Jesus also had plenty to say about future prophecy - things that happened during and after the days in which He lived.  In Matthew 26:31-35; 57-75, He prophesied that Peter, one of his closest disciples', would deny him three times before the rooster crowed, the night Jesus was arrested.  And he did, although he had vowed to go to the death with Jesus.  His shame drove him out into the night weeping bitterly.  Peter hadn't believed Jesus, but his prophet's words were fulfilled nevertheless.

And then in Matthew 24:30, Jesus predicted the sign of his return, yet future to us, when he said: "At that time the sign of the Son of Man (a title he often used to refer to himself) will appear in the sky and all the nations of the earth will mourn.  They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory." 

Yes, Jesus was a prophet.

Others would say that Jesus was a great teacher.  I heartily agree.

Jesus was not only a great teacher, he was an inspired teacher.  Like all good teachers, he began with the practical and went to the theoretical, using ordinary events (like planting seed and catching fish) as teaching tools to reveal spiritual truth.  What made him a great teacher was that he had authority not found in the teachers of His day.  Even as a youth his teaching was notable.

He was only 12 years old, in Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover with his family, when he went missing.  His parents had already left for home when his absence was discovered.  After making the return trip to Jerusalem, it was 3 days before they found him in the temple.

Luke 2:46-49 "they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listen to them and asking them questions.  Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.  When his parents saw him, they were astonished.  His mother said to him, 'Son, why have you treated us like this?  Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.'  "Why were you searching for me?", Jesus asked.  "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"

In Matthew 7, after Jesus long discourse, which we call the "Sermon on the Mount", it says in v. 18-19, "When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as the teachers of the law."

Jesus truly was a GREAT teacher.

Others might say that Jesus is a good man, and once again I have to agree.

Jesus touched the untouchable; leprous outcasts, bringing healing and comfort.  Jesus raised the dead (John 11).  Jesus had compassion on widows, on pleading fathers, on bleeding women, on repentant prostitutes, on a people who were like sheep without a shepherd.  He was a good man - though few ordinary men could do the miraculous things he did.

BUT IS HE GOD?  That is the question.

The best way to answer that is to hear what Jesus says about himself.

John 3:16 Jesus said: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  With these words Jesus declared that God the Father sent him, the Son.

John 3:14-15 "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man (a term he used often to refer to himself) must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

John 4:23-26 In a conversation with a woman at a well Jesus said: "A time is coming and has now come when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth'.  The woman said, 'I know that Messiah' (called Christ) 'is coming.  When he comes, he will explain everything to us.'  Then Jesus declared, 'I who speak to you am he".  With these words, Jesus declared that he was NOT just a man, he was Israel's long awaited Messiah.

John 5:17-18 "Jesus said, 'My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too, am working.'  For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God."  There was no confusion for the Jews of Jesus' day about what Jesus was saying about himself.  They clearly interpreted his words as an indication that he was claiming to be God and they wanted to kill him for it, and rightly so, because in their eyes it was blasphemy.  Unless it was true.

John 8:23-24 Jesus said: "I am not of this world.  I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins."

John 8:58 "Before Abraham was born, I AM".  The name, "I AM", was the same name by which God revealed himself to Moses at the burning bush.  Using this reverent title, Jesus was claiming to BE God!

John 10:30 "I and the Father are ONE."

John 14:6 "I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."

So, what do we do with these claims of Jesus?  They're pretty outrageous.  Can we believe them and still say he is JUST a prophet, a great teacher, a good man - or could it be that they are true - he IS God, the Messiah, the only One through whom we can know God the Father?

Is he ONE with the Father?  Can he gives us eternal life?  Is he the Jewish Messiah, the great I AM of Exodus 3?  Is he the ONLY way, the ONLY truth and the ONLY source of spiritual life - because no one can come into relationship with the Father EXCEPT through him? 

If not, then these are ridiculous, outlandish claims, and he is a liar, a counterfeit, a deceiver, a fraud, or a schizophrenic - but certainly NOT a prophet, a great teacher, or a good man - and anyone who believed that he was a good "anything" would be a fool. 

So, if you are one of those who believe that Jesus is JUST a prophet, a great teacher, a good man, you just might want to give up being a fool. 

Or, you could consider that what Jesus says about Himself just might be TRUE, begin reading the Bible, especially the New Testament gospel accounts, and let Jesus speak for Himself.

FINISHING WELL

The Bible is full of examples of people who began well, but ended badly. 

I was surprised, when I first studied the history of Israel and its kings, how few were godly in the first place, (only 4 in the southern kingdom of Judah, and none in the northern kingdom of Israel), and how many of these same godly men failed in their faithfulness to God at their life’s end.

There was King David, most renown of the kings of the United Kingdom of Israel, whom God called a man after His own heart.  At the height of his reign as king, David sinned by taking another man’s wife and then orchestrating his death in battle to cover up David’s adultery.  David repented of his sin, but reaped the consequences of it in his own family for years to come.

After the Kingdom of Israel divided, Asa reigned as king over Judah for 41 years.  The Bible says this of him at the start of his reign (2 Chronicles 14):

Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.  He removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashed the sacred stones (symbols of the peoples’ idolatry).  He commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers and to obey His laws and commands.

But then, after Asa had been king for thirty-six years, he made a treaty with Ben-Hadad, the idolatrous king of Aram, sweetened with silver and gold items which he took from the treasury of the Lord’s temple.  Hanani, a seer living in Judah at that time, spoke God’s Word to Asa (2 Chronicles 16):

Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand (they were after all, Judah’s enemy).

. . For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.  You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.  Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison.  At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people.

Later, when Asa was stricken with a disease in his feet, the Bible records:

Even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord.

Asa’s son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king of Judah.  During his reign there was always the threat of war with the idolatrous northern kingdom of Israel, so he set to work fortifying the cities of Judah.  2 Chronicles 17 says of him:

The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because in his early years he walked in the ways his father (ancestor) David had followed.  He sought the God of his Fathers and followed His commands.  His heart was devoted to the ways of the Lord; furthermore, he removed (the idols) from Judah.

In the third year of his reign he sent his officials out to teach throughout Judah, taking with them the Book of the Law of God; they went around all the towns, teaching the people. 

Then we get to chapter 18 of 2 Chronicles.  Jehoshaphat had great wealth and honor by this time, but made a foolish alliance through marriage with the northern kingdom’s most notorious evil king, Ahab.  They went to war together and Jehoshaphat would have lost his life had not the Lord protected him.

When Jehoshaphat returned from battle he was met by Jehu the seer, who denounced him for aligning with Ahab and pronounced these words (2 Chronicles 19:2):

Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord?  Because of this, the wrath of the Lord is upon you.

Chapter 19 and 20 of 2 Chronicles stand as a wonderful testimony of Jehoshaphat’s faith in the Lord, but he did not learn from his foolish alliance with Ahab and near the end of his life, made another:

Later, Jehoshaphat king of Judah made an alliance with Ahaziah king of Israel, who was guilty of wickedness.  Eliezer prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, ‘Because you have made an alliance with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made.’  The ships were wrecked and not able to set sail to trade.

When I read these accounts of people who began well and then ended not so well, I have two reactions – sadness and comfort.  Sadness because they began so WELL!  They were committed to the Lord and His ways and led their people in His ways as well.  What happened to them? 

Did they forget that it was the Lord who had been blessing them with His favor and begin to believe their own press, “I’m successful because I’m smart, powerful, strong.  Everyone says so.”?

Did fear replace faith, causing them to make foolish and ungodly alliances?

Were they resting on their laurels so that they weren’t prepared when temptation came calling?

Whatever it was, it’s not surprising the Bible warns us about pride and the necessity to stand fast in faith.

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

In Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 11 and 13, the Apostle Paul instructs us about the Armor of God, that which protects us against the wiles of Satan to destroy us:

Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all, to stand.

The other reaction I have to the Bible’s record of these men is comfort.  For one thing, I am really not very different from them.  I too have loved the Lord and followed in His ways, and I too have said things, and done things, and THOUGHT things, that were equally foolish and sinful as theirs.  With those things came unpleasant consequences as well as the great grace of God.

Here’s what stands out to me in the accounts of kings Asa and Jehoshaphat:

2 Chronicles 15:17

Although he did not remove the high places (of idolatrous worship) from Israel, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life.

2 Chronicles 20:31

So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah for 25 years.  He walked in the ways of his father Asa and did not stray from them; he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.

How thankful I am that when the Lord looks at my life, He applies His grace.  Because I belong to Him, God forgives me, and bases His evaluation of me on the sacrifice of His Son by which righteousness has been credited to my account.  Amazing grace! 

So, why this blog at this time?  I’ve been thinking a lot about Billy Graham who died last week after a long and blessed “career” as an evangelist of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

What impressed me most about this wonderful man of God is that he not only began well, he finished well.  Billy Graham was a man saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  Like those kings, and like me, he probably had his failings too.  However, when I look at the way he lived these last days, I see his faithfulness – to the call of God upon him when He saved him, and to the call of God upon him when he became an evangelist – and an evangelist he was until God called him home.

I don’t know about you, but that’s how I want to live my life – right up to the end of my earthly life – faithful to the God who saved me by His grace.

I had taken an online Bible class through Dallas Theological Seminary and so began to receive their magazine.  In this month’s issue there was an article about the life and homegoing of Dr. Donald K. Campbell who had served as the seminary’s president.

In the article was the following poem by Robertson McQuilkin called, Let Me Get Home Before Dark.  It made me think of those kings of Judah, and of Billy Graham, and it echoes the thoughts of my heart as I live through these winter years of my life. 

Let Me Get Home Before Dark

It’s sundown, Lord.

The shadows of my life stretch back

into the dimness of the years long spent.

I fear not death, for that grim foe betrays himself at last,

Thrusting me forever into life;

Life with YOU, unsoiled and free.

But I do fear.

I fear the Dark Spectre may come too soon – or do I

mean, too late?

That I should end before I finish or

finish, but not well.

That I should stain Your honor, shame Your name, grieve Your loving heart.

Few, they tell me, finish well. . .

Lord, let me get home before dark.