Jesus Christ is God
The eminent British professor
and scholar C. S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity:
"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 claim 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 away with any patronizing
nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He
has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."
Jesus Christ is Lord because He
is God.
While on the earth Jesus did
exactly what was apparently the impossible thing He
said He would do. He taught on numerous occasions
that He would be killed, buried for three days, and
would rise from the dead. Obviously, if Jesus did
not rise from the dead what He said was a lie and He
was justly crucified for blasphemy.
However, since He was raised
from the dead what He declared was not blasphemy
because He truly was God. He was claiming that He
was Yahweh, the LORD God, Jehovah, and the great I
AM.
In John 8:56-58 Jesus said to a
group of hostile listeners, “Your father Abraham
rejoiced at the thought of seeing My day; he saw it
and was glad.” The aggressive religious leaders
replied, “You are not yet fifty years old, and you
have seen Abraham?” Obviously, they misunderstood.
You will recall that Abraham lived 2000 years before
Christ came in the flesh. These Jewish leaders asked
a relevant question! Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I
say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM” (v. 58).
Jesus is the absolute, timeless
existence, eternal, independent, self-sustained,
eternally present, eternally pre-existent One.
"Before Abraham was, I am." The Word of God was, is,
and ever will be. Jesus is truly eternal. He is God.
His listeners knew what He was
saying and they picked up stones to kill Him.
These words of Jesus have
eternal significance for us today. Jesus said, “I am
from above; you are of this world; I am not of this
world. I said therefore to you, that you shall die
in your sins; for unless you believe that I AM, you
shall die in your sins” (Jn.8:24).
Those are serious words. Where
you spend eternity depends upon how you respond to
what Christ is saying. Again, Jesus said, “When you
lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am
he, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I
speak these things as the Father taught Me” (v. 28).
Jesus demands a positive
response on our part, “If you abide in my word, then
you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know
the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (vv.
31-32).
Do you want to be free? “Free”
in this passage is a synonym for salvation and
eternal life.
This is why the apostle Peter
stated the only option: “There is salvation in no
one else; for there is no other name under heaven
that has been given among men, by which we must be
saved” (Acts 4:12).
Jesus is the only way to
heaven; He is the truth of God; He is the very
embodiment of God’s kind of life. “No one comes to
the Father, but through Me” (Jn. 14:6). There is no
other way to get to heaven and spend eternity with
the LORD God.
The Lord Jesus Christ claimed
to be God. It is imperative that we take Him
seriously. The only adequate response to Him is to
“fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.”
“Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and you shall be saved.”
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
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Unless otherwise noted "Scripture quotations taken from the NASB."
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE" © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://www.bible.org/. All rights reserved.
Wil is a graduate of William Carey University, B. A.; New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Th. M.; and Azusa Pacific University, M. A. He has pastored in Panama, Ecuador and the U. S, and served for over 20 years as missionary in Ecuador and Honduras. He had a daily expository Bible teaching ministry head in over 100 countries from 1972-2005. He continues to seek opportunities to be personally involved in world missions. Wil and his wife Ann have three grown daughters. He currently serves as a Baptist pastor and teaches seminary extension courses in Ecuador.
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