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(#34) He Is God

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If Jesus Rose from the Dead, then (#34) He Is God [audio]

We’ve seen a lot of things that are connected to the resurrection of Jesus, and we will see more. However, the one now before us is the ultimate, for the Scripture declares that the resurrection confirms His Divinity. Paul stated that Jesus was:

“...declared to be the Son of God… by his resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4).

Several days from now we will ponder how the resurrection is the Great Confirmation, affirming everything the Scripture said about Him and all of His words. For now, we want to contemplate this statement by Paul: that it was the resurrection which declared Jesus to be the Son of God… God in the flesh.

Of all the things that were written of Him, of all the things that Jesus claimed for Himself, this is the most earthshaking. For some, it is quite absurd, even revolting; for others, it is the grand and joyful summation of who Jesus truly is. It is professed only by those who have been shaken by Him. 

When Jesus was crucified, the centurion, who had most likely been present from the arrest to the death, had watched Him through the whole process. And when darkness covered the land and the earth shook so hard that the rocks split, he confessed, “truly this was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54).

Quite a remarkable and revealing confession by a hardened Roman soldier. But what does “Son of God” mean?

The best way to comprehend what this phrase means is to look at what the Jewish leaders thought it meant—to understand it in its cultural context:

And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy (Matthew 26:63-65).

First of all, the high priest was equating “Christ”, or “Messiah”, with “Son of God”. In their mind, they were one and the same. And to claim to be the Son of God, was to claim to be “of God”, of the very nature of God. Jesus responded “you have said so”, a common way of saying “yes, and you have said it yourself”, as evidenced by the high priest tearing his robes at this declaration and crying “blasphemy”. 

When they brought Him before Pilate, this was their charge:

The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God” (John 19:7).

This phrase, "Son of God", is not, as some have claimed, akin to “we are all creatures of God”. The Jews wanted Jesus put to death for His claim.They rightfully saw this as blasphemy—if Jesus were not truly God in the flesh.

But He was.

The Holy Spirit moved John to write it this way:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1,14).

This title was laid on Jesus by the angel at His birth:

 The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35).

This was God being made manifest in the flesh. There is much more that could be written on this title: “Son of God”, but let’s turn our attention to the life of Jesus for a moment and ponder all the things Jesus did that confirmed His deity:

He forgave sins: Remember when a paralytic was lowered through a hole in the roof by his friends because the crowd was too big to get in? Jesus first told him that his sins were forgiven. The scribes were incensed:

Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! 

Who can forgive sins but God alone? Mark 2:7

The scribes were right. Only God can forgive sins. They just didn’t realize that Jesus was indeed God and had the right and authority to do so.

He lived a sinless life: One thing we all know about ourselves is that we are not only imperfect, but in the context of God’s holiness, we are deeply sinful. Paul writes “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). But Peter, who walked with Jesus for three years, wrote that “He committed no sin” (1 Peter 2:22) and that Jesus was the “unblemished and spotless” lamb (1 Peter 1:19). Paul says that Jesus “knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21) and in Hebrews we read that Jesus was tempted in all things, “yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

When Jesus was engaged in that difficult dialogue with the Jewish leaders in John 8, He asked His accusers at one point, “Which of you convicts me of sin?” (verse 46). The implication is that they had nothing for which to accuse Him. For a man to live his entire life without sin would be unthinkable, but to claim to be without sin would be either arrogant and deceitful or it just happened to be true.

Jesus accepted worship: We often read in the Scripture that when an angel appears to someone, that person immediately begins to bow down and worship. And the angel’s instant response? “Don’t do that!” Why? Because they weren’t God. You can almost sense fear in the angels that someone would worship them. In fact, in Revelation 19:10, when John falls down and worships an angel, the angel seems to shout at John: “Do not do that!... worship God!” When Cornelius fell at Peter’s feet and began to worship him, Peter exclaimed “Stand up! I am just a man!” (Acts 10:26).

But, remember earlier, when Jesus appeared to the other women after His resurrection? They took hold of His feet and “worshipped Him” (Matthew 28:9). And Jesus let them. He didn’t rebuke them. Whenever anyone worshipped Jesus, He let them do so. When Thomas declared, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28) Jesus didn’t tell Thomas that he was getting carried away. He said blessed are those who haven’t seen yet, believe (verse 29).

When Satan offered Jesus the kingdoms of the world if He would just worship him, Jesus rebuked him, 

“Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve” (Matthew 4:10).

Jesus was adamant that the only One who could be worshipped was God Himself. Yet, when Jesus walked on the water in the middle of a fierce storm and then got into the boat with a soaking Peter, the storm immediately stopped and they worshipped Jesus declaring “You are certainly God’s Son!” (Matthew 14:33)

And Jesus let them worship Him. Because He was God.

He spoke as if He were God: The prophets of old would say, “Thus saith the Lord”, but Jesus spoke as if He were the authority:

  • “You have heard that is was said…but I say to you…”
  • “Truly, truly, I say to you…”
  • “Therefore, I tell you that the kingdom will be taken away from you…”
  • He said that “all authority in heaven and on earth” had been given to Him.
  • He said that He would set people free from their slavery to sin (John 8:36)
  • He said that if anyone would keep His words, he would never taste death (John 8:52)
  • He declared that He was
    • The bread of life
    • The light of the world (whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness)
    • The door of the sheep (if anyone enters by Me, he will be saved)
    • The true vine
    • The good shepherd
    • The resurrection and the life
    • The way, the truth and the life (no one comes to the Father except through Me)
  • When the people were praising Him and putting palm branches in the road before Him, He told the Pharisees that if the people were silenced, the very stones would cry out (Luke 19:40)
  • He said that He could give eternal life (John 10:28)
  • He said that apart from Him, we could do nothing (John 15:5)

C.S. Lewis made this beautiful comment:

"Among these Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He has always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time. Now let us get this clear. Among Pantheists, like the Indians [Hindus], anyone might say that he was part of God, or one with God: there would be nothing very odd about it. But this man, since He was a Jew, could not mean that kind of God. God in their language, meant the Being outside of the world Who had made it and was infinitely different from anything else. And when you have grasped that, you will see that what this man said was, quite simply, the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips.”[1]

Jesus and the Father had a divine relationship: This, of course, is too familiar to us and therefore has limited impact. But think about Someone over whom heaven opens up and God speaks saying “This is my beloved Son, hear Him.” That might just cause you to think there was something special in their relationship! Jesus said that He only spoke what the Father told Him to speak. In fact, if you take the time and just read the “red letters”, you will find an amazing insight into this relationship. Several times Jesus declared that He and the Father were “one” (see, for example, John 10:30; 17:11, 22). This is the intimate relationship that exists within the triune nature of God. 

Jesus assumed divine titles: You will hear people say that Jesus never said He was the Messiah nor God, but the records beg differently. Keep in mind, also, that Jesus often used veiled speech with unbelievers. Nevertheless, there were times He was quite clear:

Messiah: When Jesus dialogued with the Samaritan woman, we read this,

“The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am he.” (John 4:25-26).

Son of Man: When Jesus used this self-designated title, it was based upon the reference in Daniel. Though prophecy is almost always veiled, it is clear that the “son of man” carried divine attributes:

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed“ (Daniel 7:13-14).

When Jesus said, speaking of Himself, that “the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins” (Mark 2:10-11) and “the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27), and “the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:61), He was linking this title to deity as did Daniel.

Son of God: We saw this earlier. Jesus was put to death for claiming this title.  

Lord and God: When Thomas declared Jesus to be “My Lord and my God!” Jesus did not correct nor rebuke him. 

I am: Although some aren’t fully convinced, I think there is something significant in the response of Jesus to those who came to arrest Him in the garden. When He asked them who they were seeking and they said “Jesus the Nazarene”, Jesus replied “I am”. When He said this, they “drew back and fell to the ground” (John 18:6). I suppose if this were isolated, we might pass it by, but in the light of everything else, it seems to me that this is a clear reference to the great “I Am”, Yahweh (Exodus 3:14). For sure, there was something powerful in those words because it caused the Roman soldiers and the Temple guard to fall to the ground.

Jesus manifested divine attributes: I will leave to you the task of thinking through where these attributes are manifested in the life of Jesus:

  • Holy
  • Omniscient
  • Omnipresent
  • Omnipotent
  • Eternal

Neither time nor space allow us to speak of the many, many "audacious" things Jesus said: to pray in His name; if you have seen Me you have seen the Father; before Abraham was, I am; My Father glorifies Me; He who keeps my word will never die; you are from below, I am from above; today you will be with me in paradise…

C. S. Lewis said these are either the worlds of a liar, a lunatic, or Jesus was, indeed, Lord of all. Everything points to the fact that Jesus was, in reality, the Lord of all.

And, the resurrection cemented it.

Coming back to Paul’s statement that Jesus was:

 “...declared to be the Son of God… by his resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4).

We are again struck by the weight of the resurrection. As theologian Louis Berkhof said about the resurrection: “It put the Father’s seal on the completed work of Christ” and it declared His divinity. When Jesus rose from the dead, it was the declaration throughout the universe that Jesus was God in the flesh. Everything makes sense in the context of that declaration and that truth claim… all the miracles, all the words of Jesus, and all the prophecies:

Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).

Everything.

And, now, along with Paul, we are

“…waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ“ (Titus 2:13).

Amen!

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[1] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book II, Chapter 3, “The Shocking Alternative”.

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 If Jesus Rose from the Dead, then (#2) The Seal Was Broken [audio] We don’t spend much time talking about the seal that was placed upon the tomb, but I think it is significant. Here is the historical record: The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard. 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John weeps because there was “no one worthy to open the scroll or to look into it” (Revelation 5:4). Of course, we find that the Lamb, “standing as though it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6), was worthy to break the seals. And when each of those seals were broken, great calamity came upon the earth. Seals in the Scripture mean something. And John had wept, because the seal represented an inviolable wall to anyone who did not have the authority to break it. Seals show authority. They show authenticity. And they show finality for all except the one who had the authority to break them. And so, we now come back to the tomb. The seal, whether it was a Roman seal or the High Priest’s seal, represented a fixed closure that no one was allowed to breach. When it was set upon the tomb, there was a finality, a stamp of ultimate authority, that said, “This tomb is closed.” Ah, but God is not subject to the laws or seals of man. 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If Jesus Rose from the Dead, then... (#0)
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important truth claim in a biblical worldview. It is the key apologetic for Christianity. It is the most important event in history. The implications of the Resurrection are so deeply woven into the fabric of our Christian faith that it is important for us to continually embed its truths into our heart and mind such that it becomes an ever-present reality. To do this, I would like for us to ponder fifty compelling arguments and implications that are true if Jesus, indeed, “rose from the dead.” We will look at these, one a day, over the next seven weeks. This will take us through Ascension Day and Pentecost. The latter two are important days of remembrance following the Resurrection and we will highlight them. But more importantly, I want to help people contemplate, on a daily basis, over a sustained period of time, the tremendous significance of the Resurrection. We will do this by considering not only the many proofs, but also the many deep implications. I would encourage you to do this as devotions with your spouse or as a study for your small group and then engage in a healthy discussion (suggested questions will be provided in the daily email). My prayer is that God will use these days to increase faith within the Body of Christ and our ability to provide a "neighborly apologetic" to those who are open to hear as the result of the relationships we are building with them. Paul states that without the resurrection, our faith would be in vain and we would still be lost.  “… if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”      1 Corinthians 15:17 This is not a minor statement, and it should cause us pause, for it puts this unique historical event into sharp perspective. Without the Resurrection, we are hopelessly lost. We are without a true faith and we are unforgiven, still condemned in our sins. We should probably read that verse over several times before plowing forward. It is easy for me, and possibly you, to treat Easter as another Christian holiday marked by multiple, and possibly extensive, preparations. Church choirs rehearse diligently and on overtime, special services are prepared (think Good Friday and sometimes Sunrise Services), thousands of lilies are tended and provoked to bloom at the right time and are purchased to line sanctuary rails, special meals are planned and prepared and joyously consumed, treasure hunts are created, painted eggs are hidden and Easter baskets are filled with chocolate bunnies, peeps, and who knows what else the market has, and will, come up with.  The point here is that just like Christmas and Thanksgiving and every other holiday, including birthdays, anniversaries, and the multitude of “take-your-boss-to-lunch” kind of days, they are preceded with much preparation, happy execution, and then forgotten except to toss the wrappings into the trash and press on with life as usual. When I was at the White House, the annual “Easter Egg Roll” on the south lawn was a big deal with weeks of preparation, followed immediately by a massive clean-up and the Secret Service hustling folks out of the “compound”. The next day, it was impossible to find any evidence that there had been anything going on. For the Resurrection, however, Paul implies that it is something so critical to our faith that it should be an ever present reality. The astounding cry, “He lives!” should be ongoing, not a one-and-done holiday. Certainly, "We serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today," as the famous hymn states, is an astounding, continual reality. I believe it is important for us to frequently ponder and meditate upon the deep implications that the tomb was really, truly empty and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is absolutely true. So, we will look at not only these implications, but also the apologetic propositions and the incredible truths that logically follow this unmatched historical assertion. We will generally lay down the apologetic arguments first and then deal with the implications. And hopefully, after working your way through all of this, you will have imprinted these implications and truths deep in your heart such that they will help you with your walk into the darkness we call future. Because it is the Resurrection of Christ that stands not only at the forefront in the apologetic reality of who Jesus is and what God has done for us, but also the enduring hope we have in Christ. As another famous hymn states: "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow." [Next: It Would Have Shaken Everything]
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