Truth Magazine

By Dudley Ross Spears

Jesus really did establish His kingdom. He gave Peter the keys to the kingdom (Matt. 16:19) and Peter opened the doors of the kingdom on Pentecost, following Christ’s resurrection from the dead (Acts 2). The brethren, both Jews and Gentiles, were “translated” into the kingdom of God’s dear son (Col. 1:13). But the premillennialists, while denying the existence of the kingdom now, affirm that God will give it to the Jews at the second coming of Christ. But consider the words of Christ. Speaking to the Jews of His own day, He said, “Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof” (Matt. 21:43).

The premillennialists have it exactly backwards. They have a much more optimistic picture for the Jews than Jesus had. They say that Jesus will give it to the Jews – He said He would take it from them. By rejecting Christ as King, national Israel forfeited all rights to the kingdom. The millennialists say that by rejecting Christ, they also guaranteed themselves another opportunity to have the kingdom. But Jesus refutes their error in this passage.

Guardian of Truth XXVII: 14, p. 421
July 21, 1983

By Hoyt Houchen

Question: Why did Jesus allow the woman caught in adultery in John 8 to go away uncondemned?

Reply: The account of this incident is recorded in John 8:3-11. Before commenting on the question, let us notice the passage.

And the scribes and the Pharisees bring a woman taken in adultery; and having set her in the midst, they say unto him, Teacher, this woman hath been taken in adultery, in the very act. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such: what then sayest thou of her? And this they said, trying him, that they might have whereof to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground. But when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground. And they, when they heard it, went out one by one, beginning with the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman where she was, in the midst. And Jesus lifted up himself, and said unto her, Woman, where are they? did no man condemn thee? And she said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn thee: go thy way; from henceforth sin no more.

Under the law of Moses, one guilty of adultery was to be stoned to death (Deut. 22:23, 24). Obviously; the woman’s accusers wanted to place Jesus in a dilemma. Since the Romans did not regard adultery as grounds for capital punishment, but yet the law of Moses commanded the Jews to stone one to death for this offense, they thought they had Jesus in a bind. If He endorsed stoning the woman, he would be acting contrary to Roman law; but, if He did not, He would be charged with violating the law of Moses.

When the scribes and Pharisees continued to ask Jesus what He would do in this case, He said to them, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” (v. 7). According to the law of Moses, the witness had to cast the first stone at the one to be put to death (Deut. 17:7). In the instance of this woman, the guiltless one was asked to cast the first stone at her. While legal punishment is to be exercised (when such is justified), these were not the ones authorized to administer it. Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground. What He wrote we do not know, but He gave the woman’s accusers an opportunity to carry out whatever they desired to do. The responsibility of executing the law was upon them. They left, one by one, and only Jesus and the woman remained.

Jesus arose and asked the woman, “Where are they? did no man condemn thee?” (v. 10). The woman replied, “No man Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn thee: go thy way; from henceforth sin no more” (v.. 11). Jesus was making no excuse for sin when He told the woman that He did not condemn her. They were not words of forgiveness (Lk. 7:48). The woman had sinned, but no one was present to execute the law; therefore, neither did He pronounce a sentence upon her. He did not array His judgment against the law of Moses nor did He violate Roman law. Then He admonished the woman to go her way and sin no more. He did not tell her to go in peace, but to “sin no more.” This was the condition of her pardon. She was to repent.

Guardian of Truth XXVII: 14, p. 421
July 21, 1983

By Mike Willis

The book of Hebrews contains one of the most comprehensive expressions of the doctrine of Jesus to be found in any New Testament book. The book is designed to demonstrate the all-sufficient salvation which is available to men in Jesus Christ, our all-sufficient Savior. The threat which the author was facing was that of some Hebrew Christians who were reverting to Judaism as a means of salvation or as supplemental to faith in Jesus. The author demonstrates the superiority of salvation through Jesus Christ to the priesthood, sacrifices, and promises of the law of Moses. He demonstrates that Jesus Christ is an all-sufficient Savior who is able to save to the uttermost those who call upon Him (Heb. 7:25). We can be benefitted by considering Jesus our Savior.

Jesus Was God With Us

There are a number of declarations of the deity of Christ in the book of Hebrews, some of them conspicuous and some not so conspicuous. I would like to list several of them to remind us that Jesus, who was born to Mary, was no other than Jehovah God of the Old Testament. Let us begin by looking at the opening verses of the book:

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the . right hand of the Majesty on high (Heb. 1:1-3).

We begin our study of Jesus as “God with us” by listing the affirmations of these verses.

1. Jesus the Son of God. The author begins;-by stating that God now speaks to us through “his Son” (1:2). This is placed in contrast to the manner in which God spoke to the fathers byAhe prophets. The prophets of the Old Testament were men who spoke under the direction of the Holy Spirit – inspired men. Jesus is more than a good thinker, a good teacher, or even an inspired man. He is the “son of God.” The Jews understood what “son of God” meant when they heard Jesus state that He was the Son of God. “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God” (Jn. 5:18). Some sectarian denominations have stated the “son” indicates that Jesus derived His existence from the Father. This is not so.

An eternal relation subsisting between the Son and the Father in the Godhead is to be understood. That is to say, the Son of God, in His eternal relationship with the Father, is not so entitled because He at any time began to derive His being from the Father (in which case He could not be co-eternal with the Father), but because He is and ever has been the expression of what the Father is . . . . Thus absolute Godhead, not Godhead in a secondary or derived sense, is intended in the title . . . . The words, `Father’ and `Son,’ are never in the N.T. so used as to suggest that the Father existed before the Son . . . . (W.E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Vol. IV, pp. 48-49).

Hence, the statement that Jesus is the “Son of God” indicates that Jesus has the same nature as God the Father. He is deity.

2. Jesus the Heir of all things. In Hebrews.1:2 Jesus is further described as the “heir of all things.” This is also stated about Him in Hebrews 2:10 (“for whom are all things”) and Colossians 1:16 (“all things were created. . . for him”). This implies “all things being subjected to his sway” (Thayer, krronomos, p. 349). Jesus is Lord over all, having dominion over everything which has been created.

3. Jesus the Creator. Jesus is further described in Hebrews 1:2 as the one “by whom also he made the worlds.” Jesus is also asserted in other passages. John wrote, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (Jn. 1:3). Paul added, “. . . for by him were all things-created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities or powers: all things were created by him, and for him” (Col. 1:16). The only way that this statement can be harmonized with Genesis 1 is to understand that Jesus is the God of Genesis 1:1 who, in the beginning, created all things.

4. Jesus the Brightness of His glory. Jesus is further described in Hebrews 1:3 as “the brightness of His glory.” In commenting on this phrase, Moses Stuart wrote,

If God be represented to us under the image of splendor, or of a luminary or source of light, then is Christ the radiance of that splendor, or the light emitted from that luminary. That is, as a luminous body becomes perceptible in consequence of the light radiated from it, so God has manifested or exhibited himself to us in the person of his Son. To the same purpose John says, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath revealed him, John 1:18.” So again, “He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father, 14:9;” and again, “He that seeth me, seeth him that sent me, 12:45.” In Col. 1:15, Christ is called “the image of the invisible God,” i.e. he by whom the invisible God is, as it were, presented to our inspection. In him God has exhibited to man the perfections of his character, i.e. has exhibited ten doxan autou (the glory of him,-. MW), which word is figuratively used to designate the divine perfections (Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, p. 285).

5. Jesus the Express Image of His Person. Hebrews 1:3 also describes Jesus as the express image of God’s person. The word “express image” is translated from charakter which was used; first of all, to describe the instrument used in engraving and carving and then to describe the mark stamped upon that instrument. Hence, it means “the exact expression (the image) of any person or thing, marked likeness, precise reproduction in every respect” (Thayer, p. 665). Jesus is the exact expression of God’s hupostasis – “the substantial quality, nature, of any person or thing” (Thayer, p. 645). “The phrase then teaches that Christ was the representation of very God, so to speak; and finds its best parallel and illustration in Col. 1:15, which has been already adduced, image of the invisible God (translated from Greek by me, mw)” (Francis S. Sampson, A Critical Commentary On The Epistle To The Hebrews, p. 49).

6. Jesus the Sustainer of Creation. The Son of God is also described as the one “upholding all things by the word of his power” in Hebrews 1:3. This phrase describes the work of Jesus Christ as the one who sustains the creation which He had made. “Even as He is the effluent brightness and image of God, so is He also the ground of existence to the world: He upholds all things, i.e. God, who is . . . `the Sustainer of the worlds’ . . ., upholds all things by Him: not only was the world originally created, but its government is still carried on through His mediation” (Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, Vol. 1, p. 53). Paul wrote, “. . . by him all things consist” (Col. 1:17).

7. Jesus is God. As the epistle develops in chapter one, the author of Hebrews wrote, “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom (Heb. 1:8).” Jesus is here expressly called “God.” This reminds us of the opening verse of John’s gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This is not an affirmation that Jesus is the Father; it is a statement of the deity of Jesus Christ. He has every attribute characteristic of deity. The contrast of the passage is between the angels who are God’s ministers (Heb. 1:7) and the Son who is here called “God.”

8. Jesus is Jehovah. The next reference to the deity of Jesus is not so obvious as the preceding one. However, the implication is there nonetheless. In Hebrews 1:10, the author continues to describe the Son, citing several Old Testament texts as having reference to Him. In verse 10, he began a quotation which continues through verse 12 which relates to this and the next two points. He wrote,

And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: they shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail (Heb. 1:10-12).

This usage of this quotation of Psalm 102:25-27 is to show the superiority of Jesus to the angels. Hence, the words of this psalm are here applied by the author to Jesus. In the original psalm, the “Lord” being discussed is Jehovah (see Psa. 102:21, 22; the AV designates that Jehovah appears in the original by writing the word “lord” by LORD instead -of Lord). Hence, to apply this passage to Jesus, the author had to believe that Jesus is the one known as Jehovah of the Old Testament. This simply means that the word Jehovah, like the word God, is applied to all members of the Godhead.

9. Jesus is Eternal. The purpose of the quotation was to indicate that Jesus possesses divine attributes. In the psalm quoted by the author of Hebrews, Jesus is contrasted with the heavens. In the first place, he said, “They shall perish; but thou remainest” (Heb. 1:11). Jesus is an eternal being. Before the heavens were created, He existed (Heb. 1:2) and He will continue to exist after they are destroyed. Elsewhere in the epistle His eternity is described (7:16-17, 24-25).

10. Jesus is Immutable. The psalm also presents Jesus as an immutable person (one who never changes). He is described as follows: “. . . and they (the heavens) shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail” (Heb. 1:12). Elsewhere in the epistle Jesus is described as being the same “yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). This is another characteristic of deity.

11. The Word of Scripture Is The Word of Jesus. In two places in the book of Hebrews, the words of the Old Testament Scripture are quoted as the words of Jesus (Heb. 2:11, 13; 10:5ff). When one remembers that the words of the Old Testament were considered to be the “word of God” (Matt. 15:3-9; cf. Heb. 1:5, 7), the affirmation that Jesus spoke these words of Scripture can be nothing less than a statement of the deity of Jesus, as identification of Jesus with Jehovah of the Old Testament.

These references do not exhaust what the book of Hebrews has to say about Jesus. However, they are sufficient to prove that Jesus is “God with us.” There can be no doubt that Jesus was the Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Creator and Sustainer of our universe. He was of the same nature as the Father, possessing every attribute of Godhood even as I possess every attribute of humanity.

Even as I possess every attribute of humanity (I am a man) just as does my father, though I am not my father, Jesus has every attribute of God, although He is not God the Father.

Any concept of Jesus which makes Him less than on an equality with God (Phil. 2:6) results in this false concept: it creates a system of polytheism. The polytheism of the Old Testament was one which believed that there were levels of godhood. One god controlled the sun, another the moon, another the stars, another rain, another controlled the mountains, etc. Each god was different in nature from the other gods. A doctrine of God which has levels of deity is nothing but polytheism. The doctrines of God as taught by the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormonism, which treat God as a created being, are polytheistic to the core.

Let us remember that Jesus who died for us was none other than “Immanuel” – the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6). He is worthy of our adoration, worship, and praise (Rev. 5:12-13), in spite of the fact that no created being is worthy of worship (neither man [Acts 10:25-26] nor angel [Rev. 22:8-9]). He is worthy of our worship because He is God! (Continued next week.)

Guardian of Truth XXVII: 14, pp. 418-420
July 21, 1983

By Daniel H. King

Mark’s account of the life of Jesus tells of a meeting between Jesus and a young man who was puzzled over one of life’s most difficult questions. He confronted Jesus with these words: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mk. 10:17). It is not Christ’s answer which interests us here, but his response to what He had been called. he said “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.” Some have been surprised at this reply, thinking that Jesus somehow robs Himself of His dignity. But, if you will read more carefully than they, you will find there is more here then meets the eye. By so answering, He made it clear for all time that Jesus of Nazareth must not be confused with a mere man, not even a good man. This young fellow felt that he was addressing Jesus with a complimentary title, and for most people it would have been such; but for Jesus it was unacceptable. In the first place, the Lord understood that all men fall short of God’s glory on account of sin. All men, that is, except Himself. Too, if we assume that He was much more than an ordinary man, we can understand that he would not appreciate being classified as this and nothing beyond. It was His plan to challenge the rich young ruler, and you, to look more closely at Him and decide whether He was more than a “Good Teacher.”

In the world today, there are many people who look at Him as a great man, a first-rate teacher, a prophet, a “super-star,” etc. But will this do? Let me challenge your thinking in the following paragraphs and you decide for yourself. I will do so by presenting to you five things that I have found to be powerful proofs that He is God’s Son.

Nobody Ever Talked Like That!

When the Jewish ruling counsel, the Sanhedrin, sent officers to arrest Jesus, they returned empty-handed. In dismay, the leadership inquired of them, “Why did you not bring him?” The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this man!” (Jn. 7:32ff.). What they said was true. No one had ever talked quite the way He did. In this respect, Jesus fits in a category all by Himself! The people were astounded at the way He spoke simply because He spoke as though He possessed authority, resident within himself (Mt. 7:29). All of their scribes and teachers (rabbis) had to cite Sacred Scripture to command the attention and demand the respect of their hearers. Jesus talked as though his words were Scripture. He spoke as God would speak if He were to walk among men.

Furthermore, He made all sorts of claims about Himself, which if true make Him the central figure of the human race, but if false brand Him a liar or a lunatic. For example, He claimed to be the Messiah or Christ which the Old Testament prophets had foretold (Jn. 4:24-26; Mk. 14:61-62); He claimed to be the Son of God – not a son of God, but God’s very own Son (Jn. 10:30-36; Mt. 16:13-17); He asserted His personal equality with God (Jn. 5:17-18); He therefore claimed to be eternal, as only God could be (Jn. 8:56-59) and spoke of Himself as the judge of all mankind (Jn. 8:56-59) and spoke of Himself as the judge of all mankind (Jn. 5:21-27). He also boldly laid claim to the most elusive of all traits for man – perfection! He even charged those who were His examiners to find some sin in Him (Jn. 8:46). That charge applies as much for you today as for them then. All of His most intimate associates and even one of His worst enemies (who became His follower) had to admit that they had not been able to find any fault with Him or taint of sin in Him (1 Pet. 2:19-24; 1 Jn. 3:5; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15). This alone should be enough to make you take a careful look at Him.

But, whatever you do, don’t be satisfied with “he’s a good man.” Why not? Because, if a man made such claims as did Jesus and they were not true, then you should not consider a fellow like that “good.” He was either a liar or a lunatic, but in neither case was He “good.” If, on the other hand, He was what He claimed to be, then you cannot be satisfied with putting Him there and leaving Him. He must sit upon a throne in your heart and reign as King in your life!

Before we leave this matter of His extraordinary claims, let me make one final point. Jesus sealed His claims with His blood. Now, before you pass that off too lightly, consider another man who made great claims: Savanarola, a reformer of the Catholic church, claimed direct communication with God, and was subsequently tortured to elicit the truth from Him. Under such pressure, he retracted all he had said of himself. In contrast, Jesus was beaten brutally by the authorities, condemned in a public tribunal, and tortured to death, yet He maintained to the end His integrity and His claims!

What Others Said About Him

How did those closest to Jesus react to the fantastic things He said about Himself? Actually, they acted much like we would behave if someone close to us began to say such things. His brothers, for example, at first did not believe Him. They reacted with the same attitude that we would have under similar circumstances (Jn. 7:5). They wanted to see proof! But something truly miraculous happened after the stories of His resurrection from the dead began to circulate: they suddenly became His disciples! How are we to explain the fact that thereafter they followed Him, confessed Him as their Lord, urged others to believe in Him, and finally died as martyrs for His cause. The Bible simply explains that “He appeared to James” (1 Cor. 15:7). Who would have been better qualified to know whether it was really Jesus risen from the tomb, or some imposter, than His own brother (Mt. 13:55; Gal. 1:19)? This powerful evidence apparently swayed all of His brethren (Acts 1:3, 14). Both of His brothers who contributed to the literature of the New Testament later saw themselves as His bond servants (Jas. 1:1; Jude l: l).

His mother never questioned the veracity of His assertions. In fact, she was confident that His power was without limit (Jn. 2:1-11). Unlike His brothers, she never needed to be convinced. She believed Him from the start. Her stonelike silence at His crucifixion will forever remain one of the powerful evidences that her Son was telling the truth. Had He been a pretender, she could have stepped in at any moment and halted the ugly proceedings with: “Son, give this pretension up!” She could have ruined Him. How so? She was the only one who could know beyond the shadow of a doubt that He was born of a virgin, conceived directly by God. Knowing what she did, she could never, ever doubt Him. To her more than to anyone else he was the Son of God! She stood silent as they crucified Him (Jn. 19:25), watched Him as He died, and was numbered among His faithful disciples when He rose again to life (Acts 1:14).

Those who were the closest to Him as He went about His task of teaching and performing signs were also totally convinced of His divinity. This was not a conviction reached out of logic or persuasion, either. It was forced upon them by what they saw, heard, and themselves experienced (1 Jn. 1:1-4). “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” said Peter (Mt. 16:16). John was so thoroughly convinced of this that he wanted to tell the world. He did just that in his record of the gospel, concluding with this impressive thought: “Many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in his name” (Jn. 20:30-31). Many of His disciples, most in fact, sealed their faith with their blood. That in itself is impressive, for they lived and died bounded by an ethic of absolute and unequivocal honesty. To die for a lie? For them it was unthinkable!

Objective Facts Of History

Certain objective historical factors, when closely studied, show Jesus was none other than the Christ, the Son of God. First, there is the fact that He was a person in history, not a mythical or legendary character. Pagan writers from the early centuries mention both the man and His movement. Tacitus, Roman orator, public official, and unsympathetic historian, in his Annals 15:44 (dated 56-120 AD) wrote about a certain “Christ,” brought to capital punishment by. the procurator Pontius Pilate. The Jewish historian Josephus (38-100 AD) in his Antiquities 18.3.3; 20.9.1, calls him “Jesus, surnamed Christ.” Suetonius, the Roman biographer and historian (69-122 AD) in his Lives of the Caesars, “Claudius,” 25 refers to him as “Christ” (Chrestus). Pliny, another Roman, in his Letter to Trajan, 96, records that this “Christ” was worshiped by the Christians of Pontus and Bithynia as their God. This early evidence attests that He was a real person, a man of history, not a figment of imagination or a figure from legend or myth.

One of the greatest pieces of historical evidence, though, is seen in the conversion of Saul of Tarsus (who came to be called Paul) in about 34-35 AD. Here is a man who at first led in the opposition to Christianity. He killed its adherents and persecuted their cause even beyond the borders of the Jewish homeland. His conversion to Christ is an unexplainable event, unless we accept his own story of how it happened. He relates it on two occasions in the book of Acts (chaps. 22 and 26). Luke the historian recounts it directly in Acts 9. The amazing story he tells is that the resurrected Jesus met him on the road to Damascus, confronted him with the truth of His resurrection, and chided him for his obstinance. Now if this story had been told by some fanatical follower of Jesus, it might be conceivable that it was fabricated to lend some credence to the story of the empty tomb. Instead, it happened to the leader in the opposition, the mortal enemy of Christianity! What he endured on account of this change in his thinking makes us even more sure that he actually did meet the risen Lord on the road to Damascus (2 Cor. 11:22-28). He became a leading figure among Christians, wrote numerous works in defense of his faith, and finally died at the hands of a Roman executioner. He refused to give up this faith in Jesus even when he knew it would cost him his life! He was happy to surrender his life for the one who had died for him (Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:20-21; 2 Tim. 4:6-8), and so became one of the early martyrs of a movement which viewed death a happy alternative to denying that Jesus was the Son of God.

Prophets Spoke Of Him Long Before

No other religion ever attempted to establish itself on the grounds of miracle or fulfilled prophecy. Yet the religious movement started by Jesus validated itself on both points. You can no doubt see how this could be a most dangerous, even precarious, basis upon which to stand. If. the prophets really did not so speak or if Jesus did not really fulfill them, then His followers would have been vulnerable on this count ever afterward. But the friends of Christ were bold to declare that Jesus had fulfilled the utterances of men who spoke hundreds of years before. In direct prophecies, types and figures, etc., the disciples saw Him not as a mere fulfillment of a few forecasts, but as the personal culmination of all that the Law and Prophets intended to say. God had completed that segment of His dealings with men by speaking through his own Son (Heb. 1:1-3; 8). This bold habit of citing the prophets they borrowed from Jesus Himself (Jn. 5:46; Lk. 24:44).

The amazing fact is that men hundreds of years previous described almost every facet of his life, at times doing so plainly, and on occasion through veiled references. He is to be seen almost at every turn on the pages of the Old Testament, even in the incidents and words which relate to those figures from Israel’s sacred past. Things which seem only to be incidental and of little importance thus come to testify that He is far more than any mere man. Here we will give you a bare outline of the hundreds that we could offer if space would permit: (1) His birthplace to be Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2); (2) He was to be Divine (Isa. 7:14; 9:6); (3) A forerunner was to herald His arrival (Mal. 3:1; 4:5); (4) His ministry was to begin in Galilee (Isa. 9:1-2); (5) He was to be a prophet like Moses (Dent. 18:15-19; 34:10-12; Acts 3:22-23); (6) He was to be king like David, but a heavenly king who was also a priest like Melchizedek (2 Sam. 7:16; Psa. 110:1-4); (7) His kingdom was to see its origin in the days of the Roman Empire (Dan. 2:44); (8) He was to bring a new covenant (Jer. 31:31ff.; Heb. 8:8ff.); (9) He was to be betrayed and tried (Zech. 11:12, 13; Isa. 53:7); (10) He was to suffer and die (Isa. 53; Ps. 22:15-18); (11) He was to be raised from the dead (Isa. 53:10-11; Ps. 16:10; 2:6-7); (12) He was to ascend to heaven (Ps. 68:18) and there be glorified (Dan. 7:13-14).

Why prophecy? Because it is an infallible proof of one’s ability to tap the resources of the divine mind. Only God can really know the future, all of the pretensions of modern prognosticators notwithstanding. As Jesus said of His own advance warnings to the disciples: “I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He” (Jn. 13:19; 14:29). The fact that men centuries before told the very details of His life is a tremendous proof that He is indeed the Son of God.

His Miracles

As we earlier said, no religion in the history of the world ever attempted to establish itself on the basis of either prophecy or miracle. Mohammed offered none. Buddha offered none. Krishna offered none. Jesus is absolutely alone in establishing His claim to authority on miracle. What He did was clearly intended to show who and what He was (Mt. 4:3). They were not ends in themselves, but the “signs” of who He was (Jn. 2:11; 3:2). The incredible risk involved in this must not be underestimated. If people could not have remembered the incredible works of Jesus, or if they could not have produced many eye-witnesses to the miracles, Christianity would have never have gotten off the ground. In fact, witnesses were abundant (Acts 2:22; 1 Cor. 15:4-8). That Christianity persisted beyond the first two generations of its history is proof that the miracles actually happened!

Through His miracles He demonstrated that He was divine; no one except God could possess power so absolute. In turning water to wine (Jn. 2:1-11), He showed His authority over the normal processes of nature: The same may be said of many of His miracles: (1) Multiplying the loaves and fishes (Mt. 14:15-21; 15:32-39); (2) Walking on water (Mt. 14:22-33); (3) The draughts of fishes (Lk. 5:1-11; Jn. 21:6); (4) Tribute taken from-the mouth of a fish (Mt. 17:24-27); (5) Healing birth defects (Jn. 9:lff.) and all forms of disease (Mt. 4:24); (6) Demon possession, a temporary manifestation of the power of evil, He also thwarted.

The greatest of all his feats of power, though, was certainly His control over death. He was its master when others were taken by it (Lk. 7:11-16; Mt. 9:18; Jn. 11:1-46), but just as much so when it cast its dark shadow over Him. His own resurrection from death was His most important miracle of all (Jn. 20:24-29; Mk. 16:1-14; 1 Cor., 15:3-8). It convinced His disciples of His divinity to the point they were happy to lay down their lives for Him, although they were at first as skeptical as you and I would have been about such a thing (Mt. 16; Jn. 20:24-29). The empty tomb which He left behind remains the most powerful proof that He was and is the Son of God. As Paul wrote: “(He was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 1:4).

Conclusion

These five proofs lead me to conclude that Jesus of Nazareth is the very Son of God. The more I read and study about Him, the more I am convinced of His divinity. On that account, I have placed the present and future in His hands. He is worthy of it. Let me encourage you to take a long and searching look at Him and then at yourself. I think you will find in Him all that you should be, the epitome of humanity, man made in the very image of God (Gen. 1:26-27), in every respect without fault or taint of sin. He is, thus, God’s final message of love to man, written on a tablet of human flesh, illustrated in a human life, sacrificed for human sin (Jn. 1:1, 14; Phil. 2:5-8), and glorified as Lord and Savior of all men. “Wherefore God highly exalted him, and gave him the name which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow. . . and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11).

Why not make Him your Lord also, by belief, repentance, confession, baptism, and heeding His every command (Mk. 16:16; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 22:16; Rom. 10:10; Rev. 2:10)?

Guardian of Truth XXVII: 14, pp. 417, 440-441
July 21, 1983