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 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment