Reflections
The two events in Jesus’ human life that people most often reject are the virgin birth and the resurrection. This is because BOTH prove is He God. You cannot deny either one if you believe the true gospel or true Jesus Christ. And you don’t have to belong to a cult to deny Christ. You will stand or fall upon your personal faith.
C.S. Lewis presented an argument about Jesus Christ that is logically air tight. This argument proves that Jesus Christ could not have been merely a good man, or a prophet. He was either a deliberate liar, a mad man, or in fact, the Son of God. For example, all of His, “I AM…,” statements were claims to be God. When a person stands up and publicly proclaims, “I AM the Way the Truth and the Life” — but is NOT — can this person be a good man? Can he be a prophet of God? If a person openly claims, “He that believes on Me has everlasting life” — and this is a false claim — can that man be a mistaken, yet GOOD man? When Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I AM,” and was accused of claiming to be God, He did not deny it. He embraced it.
Jesus made Himself the center of God’s universe. He directly claimed to be the Son of God, and the Messiah, and stated outright that He existed before His human birth. Those are the either the claims of a deliberate liar — because He knew those claims were absurd — OR — they were the claims of a mad man — because He, Himself, believed them — OR they were the claims of One who actually was God Incarnate — the Son of God and Messiah. You cannot put Jesus on a list of good teachers that God has used. His claims make it all or nothing. Indeed, the same can be said about the Bible — for it records and affirms those claims.
People either want the Truth or they do not. Many say they want the Truth, but they want THEIR Truth — they want a God and a Christ they can create in their own image. This is exactly why those who rejected Jesus did reject Him — He did not come affirming THEM. Rather, He came to reveal Himself — and with that revelation of Himself came all the Truth of God.
Knowing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God is not the product of a theological study — although such a study will lead you to that academic conclusion. Neither is it the product of emotionalism or intellectualism. You cannot see that Jesus is God by mustering something up out of yourself. Rather, this Truth comes only by revelation. God must reveal Jesus Christ to us, and then in us. Our part is an openness in wanting the Truth — no matter what it takes and no matter the cost.
The question remains: “Who do you say that I AM?”