by Jefferson David Tant

 

All history is focused on an event over 2,000 years ago. A child born in Palestine was given the name “Jesus.” He lived 33 short years and changed the course of the world. You cannot write a check or obtain a birth certificate without acknowledging that he lived on this earth, as the date you write refers to the time of his birth.

While there is ample historical evidence that he was real, the question we want to consider is “Who was he?” or “Who is he?” He is one of three things — a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord -- the Son of God, the Messiah (“Mashiyach” in Hebrew) who had been promised to Israel from ancient times. It is not our intention to explore in depth all of the possibilities, but briefly consider three of the possibilities.

Was He a Liar?

When we consider that he established what many believe is the greatest system of ethics and morals the world has known, we must conclude that this would not be the product of a great fraud. When he was put to death, if he had only admitted that he was not the Son of God, those in authority would not have demanded his death. Indeed, he had no motive to lie in the face of his excruciatingly painful crucifixion.

At his trial, he was questioned about his claims to be the Son of God.

"’If You are the Christ, tell us.’ But He said to them, ‘If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I ask a question, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.’ And they all said, ‘Are You the Son of God, then?’ And He said to them, ‘Yes, I am.’ Then they said, ‘What further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth’” (Luke 22:67-71).

Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that his disciples would have submitted to being stoned, persecuted, and executed for a lie. As we consider his life, we find that not one man ever convicted him of even one sin, even though he challenged them to do so at his trial. “Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?” (John 8:46). At his trial, his enemies manufactured a case against him, but they could not even agree in their testimony.

Was Jesus a liar? There is no evidence. If he was, surely, in 2,000 years, someone could have pointed it out.

Was He a Lunatic?

There is no evidence of either emotional or mental disturbance. Doctors who have studied the story of his life find no symptoms of any mental illness. Reading the story of his life reveals nothing upon which to make the case that he was crazy or that he had delusions of grandeur.

He is the Son of God!

This leaves only one conclusion that he is indeed who he claimed to be—the Son of God. The apostle John so testifies: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with 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 1:1-2, 14). Let us consider some of the evidence concerning this man and his claim.

He Was Born of a Virgin

The record is very clear when making this claim.

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be whith child and shall bear a on, and they shall call his name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us.’ And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus” (Matthew 1:18-25).

Matthew states that this is a fulfillment of a prophecy made 700 years before his birth: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Is there any evidence that this actually happened, that the virgin birth was not a myth? Some have claimed that Mary was pregnant by a German mercenary soldier stationed in Israel. Others have come up with other imaginary fathers.

But if she had not been a virgin, Joseph would not have married her. “And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly” (Matthew 1:19). This shows Joseph’s kindness and compassion, for the Law of Moses said he could have had her put to death. “If there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, one who commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death” (Leviticus 20:10). It is evident they were betrothed which was considered as good as marriage, although the marriage had not been consummated. Out of his compassion, he was going to “send her away” (equivalent to divorce), but something changed his mind. The angel spoke to him and assured him she was yet a virgin and the child she was bearing was someone special.

Furthermore, since the virgin birth claim appears so early in written history, there is not sufficient time for a myth or legend to develop. It takes many decades or even centuries for such myths to develop.

Finally, the story is so contrary to human experience that no one in his right mind would have invented it unless it was true.

What is the significance of the virgin birth? If Christ was to be both God and man, how else could this have been accomplished better? He is declared to be both God and man. “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all” (I Timothy 2:3-6a)

To be the one who brings us back to God after our sins have separated us, he needed to be both God and man. That is what a “mediator” is—a “go-between” who understands both sides. Thus, he was born of a woman (his human nature) but conceived by the Holy Spirit (his divine nature).

Why must he be born of a virgin? So, there is no possibility that anyone could claim he was born from a human father.

He Fulfilled Prophecy

The fulfillment of prophecy is an exceptionally strong point to consider. Some have counted over 300 prophecies that Christ personally fulfilled in exact detail. These prophecies go back to Genesis 3:15 — the first promise of the Messiah. “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel." In this curse put upon Satan, who had taken the form of a serpent, a conflict is mentioned. Who is the “seed” of the woman? We know that the “seed” is from the male, but this refers to the coming virgin birth thousands of years in the future, where the seed did not come from man.

Now, when you encounter a snake, the inclination is to stomp on its head with your heel. In doing so, you may bruise your heel, but you have bruised its head in overcoming. How does this refer to Christ? Satan caused Christ to be put to death—causing injury to Christ. But Christ overcame death in his resurrection, and so in a figure bruised Satan on the head. Thus, Christ was the victor in this struggle.

Consider just a few of the prophecies.

1. To be a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah through the lineage of David. His genealogy, given in Matthew's chapter one, confirms this.
2. To be born in Bethlehem. God’s prophecy concerning this city is made in Micah 5:2: “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity." We see this fulfilled in the New Testament. “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod, the king…” (Matthew 2:1). Some claim that Christ read the prophecies and manipulated events in his life to fulfill them. It seems it would be somewhat difficult to pick out your ancestors and the city of your birth before you are born if you were not God.
3. Even the time of his birth and ministry were predicted. In Daniel 2, Daniel has interpreted an unusual dream for Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. The dream showed a giant image of a man with a head of gold; breast and arms of silver; belly, and thighs of bronze; and legs and feet of iron mixed with clay. Each part represented a kingdom, with the head of gold representing the Babylonian kingdom and Nebuchadnezzar; the silver representing the Medo-Persian Empire; the bronze the Greek Empire under Alexander; and the feet and legs representing the Roman Empire. Note what Daniel said in 2:44 concerning that last world power: “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.” Daniel 9:25 further pinpoints the time. “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.”

This decree was issued by the Medo-Persian emperor Cyrus to rebuild Jerusalem after Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed it years before.

“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying: "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, 'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:1-4).

The evidence suggests that the decree was given on March 5, 444 B.C. Daniel 9:24-27 mentions 70 weeks from the decree to the coming of the Messiah and events surrounding his crucifixion. In prophetic terminology, each day represents a year. It would take another treatise to explain the way this is worked out, but the point is that the prophecy involves 483 years from the command to rebuild Jerusalem to the coming of the Messiah and encompasses 173,880 days. Christ rode into Jerusalem on March 30, 33 A.D. How else can this astounding prediction be explained except that it was fulfilled 483 years later on the exact day that was prophesied? That cannot be just a lucky coincidence.

When was Jesus born, and when was his spiritual kingdom set up? In the first century A.D. What kingdom was in power at that time? The Roman Empire. Prophecy fulfilled!

4. The slaughter of the babies and the flight into Egypt of Jesus and his parents was foretold. At his birth, a star was seen in the heavens, which prompted certain men to come from afar to see the one who had been promised. “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him’” (Matthew 2:1-2). Upon hearing this, Herod hatched a plan to kill this child, whom he feared would be a rival for his throne. He ordered the killing of all male children less than two years in Bethlehem and the area around. He had instructed the magi to return to him and tell him where to find the child, but they were warned to return to their homes in another way. “Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.’ So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my Son.'" (Matthew 2:13-15)

Where had this been spoken through the prophet? Hosea 11:1: “When Israel was a youth I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” Israel was considered God’s son, and thus in a prophetic sense we have a double fulfillment, as both Israel and Jesus came out of Egypt. Hosea was written sometime between 760-720 B.C. Hundreds if years later the prophecy was fulfilled.

5. The details of Christ’s work and his rejection by his own people were prophesied. (Isaiah 53:3, and shown to be fulfilled in John 1:11, etc.)
6. His betrayal by a friend and the amount of money paid for delivering him to his enemies was predicted. Judas, one of Christ’s twelve disciples, went to the chief priests and asked, "’What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?’ And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him” (Matthew 26:15). The Old Testament prophecy concerning this is found in Zechariah 11:12: “I (Zechariah) said to them, ‘If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!’ So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages.”.

 God requested the Jews to gauge their response to his Lordship as the Good Shepherd. The thirty shekels was the price of a slave at the time of Zechariah.

7. Christ’s behavior at his trial and the circumstances of his crucifixion were also mentioned in the Old Testament and exactly fulfilled in the New Testament. Isaiah 53 gives exacting details of as many as fifteen events concerning his life, his trial, and his death. We note just one incident, which was his silence at this trial. Not that he did not speak a word, but that he offered no defense. He knew his mission was to be sacrificed for our sins, so he did not try to mount a defense to prevent his crucifixion. “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). After certain accusations were made against Christ, the High Priest spoke to him, “The high priest stood up and said to Him, ‘Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?’ But Jesus kept silent” (Matt. 26:62-63a).

We could go on page after page, detailing the over 300 prophecies about Christ, but these will establish the point. Prophecy and fulfillment occupy a major part of God’s plan. Fully 27% of the Bible deals with predictive prophecy. Henry Liddon counted 332 prophecies that were fulfilled by Christ. The probability of these being fulfilled by chance in one person is beyond belief, calculated at 84 X 10¹²³ or 84 followed by 123 zeroes.

What is the significance of this? This is absolute proof that God is behind all of this. God promised Moses:

“I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’ When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18:18-22).

Who is the “prophet” who would be raised up? “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. Moses said, 'The LORD God will raise up or you a prophet like me from from Your brethren; To Him You shall give heed to everything He says to you.  And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days” (Acts 3:18-24). The conclusive evidence points to Jesus Christ as the one prophesied.

Consider the record of our modern “prophets.” The Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Mormons, and many others have made all sorts of prophecies, especially about the end of the world. The famed Nostradamus predicted the world would end on October 23, 1996, at 5 p.m. It is amusing that such people claim to know something that Christ himself said he did not know. In speaking of the end of the world, Christ said, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone” (Matthew 24:36). This shows they are false prophets. Obviously, Christ had the power of choice — to choose to know or to choose not to know.

Only God can know the beginning and the end of all things. "Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, 'My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure'” (Isaiah 46:9-10).

He Was Raised from the Dead

The Scriptures give this as the ultimate proof of his divinity. “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 1:1-4).

There is more testimony to the resurrection of Christ than to almost any event in ancient history. We will not consider the evidence in detail but briefly consider a few points.

1. When the disciples came to the tomb, the stone had been rolled away, and the tomb was empty. “When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him. Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. They were saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?’ Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large” (Romans 1:1-4).

Such stones weighed one-and-a-half to two tons, and it would take 20 men to move such a stone. So, who moved the stone? Not the disciples, for a strong Roman guard was posted there, and the disciples had already demonstrated their fear, for they ran away when Christ was arrested. Obviously, the authorities did not move the stone and take the body away, for all they had to do to disprove the claim of the resurrection was to trot out the body and say, “He was not raised. Here is the body.” This leaves only one possibility—God raised him from the dead.

2. There were over 500 witnesses to the resurrected Christ. (I Cor. 15:6). Even his enemies saw him after the resurrection. “And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men” (Matthew 28:2-4). These were the same guards who immediately went to the authorities and reported what they had seen.

These men were then paid to tell a lie: “…some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened.  And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, and said, "You are to say, 'His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.' "And if this should come to the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble."  And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day” (Matthew 28:11-15).

3. The changed the lives of the disciples. A group of fearful, discouraged and defeated disciples suddenly became bold proclaimers of the resurrection and fearless defenders of the gospel and some would die for their faith. Would they have been willing to die for a lie?

He Claimed He Was the Son of God

As noted earlier, at his trial, Christ did not deny that he was the Christ, the Messiah that had been promised for centuries. Many today say he was a prophet and a great teacher but not the Son of God. Included in this number are Jehovah’s Witnesses. One of the principle doctrines of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is the claim that Jesus Christ is not God, nor is he a divine being who is eternal. They teach that Christ is Michael, the archangel, a created being who existed before the world's creation, but that he is not eternal.

“So the evidence indicates that the Son of God was known as Michael before he came to the earth and is known also by that name since his return to heaven where he resides as the glorified spirit Son of God” (from the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ publication, Reasoning from the Scriptures, “Is Jesus Christ the same person as Michael the archangel?” (p. 218).

Islam also rejects the idea that Christ is the Son of God. Islam does command people to believe the Bible. “And dispute ye not with the People of the Book…but say, ‘We believe in the Revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down to you; our God and your God is one; and it is to Him we bow down in Islam” (from the Qur’an, Sura 29:46-47).

What does Islam believe about Christ? “Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) an apostle of God, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from Him:…(Far exalted is He above having a son.” (Sura 4:171). “The Jews call ‘Uzair a son of God, and the Christians call Christ the Son of God. That is a saying from their mouth; (In this) they but imitate what the Unbelievers of old used to say. God’s curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth” (Sura 9:30). “They say: ‘(God) Most Gracious has begotten a son!’ Indeed ye have put forth a thing most monstrous! At it the skies are ready to burst, the earth to split asunder, and the mountains fall down in utter ruin, that they should invoke a son for (God) Most Gracious. For it is not consonant with the majesty of (God) Most Gracious that He should beget a son” (Sura 19:88-92).

With Muhammad’s blessing (Sura 29), we turn to the Bible as a reliable source for our knowledge.

The angel spoke to Mary concerning the birth she was expecting. “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). The demons, agents of Satan, recognized Christ as the Son of God. As he approached those possessed by demons to drive them out, the demons recognized him. “And they cried out, saying, "What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?" (Matthew 8:29). The disciples of Christ recognized him as the Son of God. When Christ as his disciples whom they thought he was, Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). At the crucifixion of Christ, one of the soldiers who was guarding the tomb came to acknowledge who he was. “Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!" (Matthew 27:54).

In the early ministry of Jesus, as he was conversing with the Samaritan woman at the well, “The woman said to Him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He’” (John 4:25-26). Time and again, Jesus Christ affirms his identity as the one prophesied, the Messiah, the Son of God.

At the trial of Jesus, the ruling elders, his enemies, asked him, “’Are You the Son of God, then?’ And He said to them, ‘Yes, I am.’" (Luke 22:70). And throughout the New Testament, the teaching and writing of the authors refers to Christ as the Son of God too many times to list here. One further note is the fact that Christ received worship. When Thomas met him after the resurrection, he knelt before him: “Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (John 20:28). The problem with this is the fact that only God is worthy to receive worship. When John saw an angel standing before him, he bowed down, but the angel refused to receive worship. “Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy’" (Revelation 19:10).

There are two problems concerning the claim of Jesus and his receiving worship. (1) Islam teaches that a prophet cannot sin. The Qur’an teaches that Jesus is a prophet. The Qur’an further teaches that a prophet cannot lie. But if Christ claimed he was the Son of God when in truth he is not, then he lied! And the last I knew, lying was a sin. (2) It is obvious that Christ received worship, but worship is only reserved for God. The implications of this are that either Christ is the Son of God and thus divine, or else he is a faker, which would also make him a sinner. Islam cannot have it both ways.

Conclusion

This has been a brief essay on the vast store of evidence supporting the claim that Christ is the Son of God, the Messiah promised to Israel thousands of years ago. 2,000 years ago, Pilate, the Roman governor, stood before a howling mob and asked, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” (Matthew 27:22). “They all said, ‘Crucify him.’”

Now the question is before you, “What will YOU do with this one who is the Messiah?” Certainly, you would not condemn him to death. You may even claim that he was a good man, a good moral teacher. But this is not a viable position. If he is not the divine Son of God as he claimed to be, then he is a great liar, imposter, and fraud.

If he is not the Son of God, he should be rejected, but if he IS the Son of God, the Messiah, then our only hope is to accept him, obey him, and accept his promises. The choice is ours to make as we wish while we are alive, but the time will come when we will have no choice. We will accept him one day if we do not accept him now. “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:8-11).

Our confession is declared when we accept his commands and are baptized into Christ, having our sins taken away, to become children of God. “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16).

Two thousand years ago, a member of the Jewish high court became convinced that Jesus was indeed the Christ. Ananias then told him, “Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.” (Acts 22:16). This man’s name was Saul of Tarsus. He had been educated by one of the great Jewish teachers of his day, Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). In his early years, he had persecuted Christians, putting them in prison and even assisting in the stoning of Stephen, an early Christian martyr (Acts 7:58ff). But he later came to accept the evidence that Jesus Christ was truly the hope of Israel, and became a bold defender of Christianity. He suffered much for his faith, enduring beatings, imprisonments, and finally execution by order of the Roman emperor Nero. He would not endure all of this for what he knew was a lie!

Dear reader, your response to the question of who Jesus is will determine your eternal destiny. I pray that you will accept the evidence and thus accept Jesus Christ. If I am mistaken in my conclusions, I would be forever in your debt if you would show where my conclusions are in error.