No matter what someone’s argument against God’s existence may be (atheism, evolution, etc)… They have to do something with Jesus. History indisputably records the existence of Jesus of Nazareth. No getting away from Him. Most will chalk Him up to being a good teacher, a good philosopher, religious leader or revolutionary. There’s only one problem with all of those. Jesus repeatedly is called God, is worshiped as God, and Himself claims to be God. If it’s not true… He’s not good.

Throughout this post we will consider multiple arguments and proofs that Jesus of Nazareth was and is the long awaited Messiah/Christ/Deliverer/Lord of mankind. We will look at: Others’ claims of Jesus as God, Jesus’ claims to deity, the changed lives of the disciples, the changed life of Saul of Tarsus, the resurrection, prophecy, and personal testimony. Some will be looked at in greater detail than others and this is for sure not an exhaustive list of Christian apologetics. But, I hope in doing so, this will inspire confidence in Believers that we DO NOT have a blind faith!

Others claiming Jesus is God…

• John 20:26 – He didn’t rebuke Thomas for calling Him God.
• Matthew 16:16-17 – Peter called Him the Christ, the Son of the living God & Jesus agreed with him.
• John 11:27 – Martha calls Him the Christ.
• John 1:49 – Nathaniel called Him the Messiah, the King of Israel.
• Acts 7:59 – Stephen calls out “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”.
• Paul continually calls Him; Christ, Savior, Lord.

Jesus claims to be God…

• John 5:16; 10:31 – Jesus calls God “My Father” instead of our Father.
• John 5:23-24 – He claimed to be worthy of worship as God the Father is worthy.
• John 10:30 – Jesus says “I and the Father are one”.
• He repeatedly spoke of Himself and the Father as one in essence – John 8:19; 12:45; 15:23 5:23.
• Mark 2:5; Luke 7:48-50 – Jesus forgave sins which only God can do (Isaiah 43:25).
• Mark 14:60-64 – At His mock trial He made repeated claims to deity. Which was why He was there in the first place. He was accused of blasphemy.

Lord, Liar or Lunatic…

• There are only three ways to interpret Jesus’ claims to being God.

C.S. Lewis states “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 claims to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and 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 up with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Was Jesus a liar (not Lord and knew He wasn’t)?

• If He was a liar, then He was a hypocrite, asking others to be honest.
• If He was a liar, then He was demonic, telling others to trust Him with their eternity.
• If He was a liar, then He was a fool because it got Him killed.
• Wherever Jesus has been proclaimed, we see lives changed for the good, nations changed for the better, alcoholics become sober, hateful people become channels of love, and unjust persons embrace justice.
• To conclude Jesus was a liar doesn’t coincide with what we know of Him or the results of His life and teachings.

Was Jesus a lunatic (not Lord and thought He was)?

• It is possible to be sincere and wrong.
• He spoke some of the most profound statements ever recorded.
• His instructions have liberated many from mental bondage.
• The skill and depth of His teaching support the case for His total mental soundness.
• Insane people don’t speak with much sanity and certainly don’t make the world more sane with their teachings and sayings.

The only logical conclusion left is that Jesus Christ is who He said He is… Lord of all!

What other proof do we have of Jesus being God?

• We spoke last time about the reliability of the Bible (“Does God Still Speak?” pt.1, pt.2, pt.3) as historical and accurate, so I won’t go back into that now.

Changed lives of the disciples & Paul…

• Many people over the years have died for a lie, but they did so believing it to be true.
• If Christ’s deity and resurrection were a lie, they would have known!
• Before the crucifixion, they we all cowardly, weak, and deserters. But weeks later, something changed.
• They became bold, proclaiming Jesus as God and Christ even unto death.

1. Peter was crucified (historically upside down).
2. Andrew was crucified.
3. James, son of Zebedee was killed with the sword.
4. John died of natural causes (after being boiled in oil and exiled to Patmos).
5. Phillip was crucified.
6. Bartholomew was crucified.
7. Thomas was killed with a spear.
8. Matthew was killed with a sword.
9. James, son of Alpheus was crucified.
10. Thadeus was killed by arrows.
11. Simon, the zealot was crucified.

• If they conspired together to lie about it, there’s no way they all held up to the torture they went through… for a LIE!
• The 180 that Saul of Tarsus pulled could only be explained as super natural. More in the book (More Than a Carpenter) about Paul!

The Resurrection…

• No theories about the resurrection hold up under scrutiny. They are all weak and actually require more faith than believing in the resurrection itself!

1. Wrong tomb theory:  This means the women, John, Peter, the Pharasies went to the wrong tomb… They all got it wrong?
2. Swoon theory:  Says Jesus didn’t really die, He just passed out. Then a bloody, beaten-beyond-recognition, starved, hole-in-the-chest, recently-crucified Jesus… revived Himself, wiggled out of more than 100 lbs of cloth and spices, managed to single-handedly roll away a bolder, sneak past a highly disciplined guard of roman soldiers, stumble to where the disciples were and present Himslef as Lord of all, the great victor??
3. Disciples stole the body:  Now you’re back to them dying for a lie… If they took the body, they KNEW it was a lie!
4. Pharasies stole the body:  Would they not have produced the body as soon as Peter and John began claiming a risen Christ, in order to kill Christianity in it’s tracks?
5. Again, the book (More Than a Carpenter) says much more!

Prophecy….

• God didn’t want us to be ignorant about the Messiah. He told them where to look, and made sure they would know it was Him when He got there using multiple prophecies.
• It would be like narrowing down who I am with my exact street address and description. With it we would know that I live… On Earth, in the Northern Hemisphere, in North America, in the USA, in Alabama, in a specific county, in a specific city, on a certain street, at house number so and so. Once at than house I’d be the balding blonde haired guy with blue eyes and the father of 3 kids. You get the point. You couldn’t miss me!

Prophecies about Christ’s birth & life:

1. Born as an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham (Gen 22:18; Gal 3:16).
2. A descendant of Isaac, not Ishmael (Gen 21:12; Lk 3:23-34).
3. From the line of Jacob, not Essau (Num 24:17; Lk 3:23-34).
4. From the tribe of Judah, 1 of the 12 (Gen 49:10; Lk 3:23-33).
5. Family line of Jesse (Is 11:1; Lk 3:23-32).
6. House and lineage of David (Jer 23:5; Lk 3:23-31).
7. Born in Bethlehem in Judah (Micah 5:2; Mt 2:1).
8. A messenger will prepare His way (Is 40:3; Mt 3:1-2).
9. He will begin His ministry in Galilee (Is 9:1; Mt 4:12-17).
10. He will teach in parables (Ps 78:2; Mt 13:34-35).
11. Perform many miracles (Is 35:5-6; Mt 9:35).
12. Ride into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zec 9:9; Mt 21:2; Lk 19:35-37).
13. He will “clean house” in the temple courts (Ps 69:9; Mal 3:1; Jn 2:15-16).

• On the day of His crucifixion alone, He fulfilled 29 more prophecies.
• Jesus fulfilled a total of 60 major Old Testament prophecies with about 270 other ramifications. All of which were made more than 400 years before His birth.
• The odds of one person fulfilling just 8 prophecies (stats approved by the American Scientific Affiliation) are 1 in 1017 (that’s 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000). Just 8 prophecies!
• Jesus fulfilled at least 60!

“Look at it this way: If you were to take 100,000,000,000,000,000 silver dollars and spread them across the state of Texas, they would not only cover the entire state but also form a pile of coins two feet deep! Now, take one more silver dollar, mark it with a big red X, toss it into the pile, and stir the pile thoroughly.

Then, blindfold yourself, and starting at El Paso on the Western border of the state, walk the length and breadth of that enormous state, from Amarillo in the panhandle to Laredo on the Rio Grande all the way to Galveston on the Gulf of Mexico, stooping just once along the way to pick up a single silver dollar out of that two feet deep pile. Then take off your blindfold, and look at the silver dollar in your hand. What are the chances that you would pick the coin marked with an X out of that pile of silver dollars the size of the Lone Star State? The same chance that one person could have fulfilled just eight messianic prophecies in one lifetime.” – Josh McDowell “Beyond Belief to Conviction”.

Your Personal Testimony…

• You have a story. Never underestimate the power of a good story… Yours!
• You know how you were before Christ. You know what happened. And you know how you are now.

Most of the stats and references I used came from a great little book “More Than A Carpenter” by Josh McDowell. It’s a book he wrote with the purpose of distributing for evangelism. You can get a single copy for around $5 – 7. Or I have gotten a pack of 6 for around $20. I love to keep one on hand to refer back to once in a while, as well as keep a few others on hand to give away when the need arises.