I wrote this piece during my sophomore year in high school. I know it will be controversial, and I accept the fact. Plus, I was a little more unforgiving of non-belief then, but now I understand some cases, so please look past some of the more harsh statements, which may offend some who are not of the Christian faith. This is not all the evidence for Christ though, if you have questions, either leave them in a reply, or PM me...I'll try my best to answer.
Divinity or Deception?
“Son, I need a favor of you. There is a place in great need of your help, and the task shall not be easy. You’re going to need to build a bridge; I’ve left all you need on Calvary.” The son being spoken to has caused somewhat controversy over throughout the world, although he left this earth nearly 2,000 years ago. His name is the Prince of Peace and Wonderful Counselor to some, the Christians call him Savior and Redeemer, some like to call him fake, and many just say he was a normal man…for now; we’ll just call him by his name Jesus. Jesus, the name can bring hope to those who believe, while it can just as easily bring hatred to the heart of those who rebuke him and refuse his warm embrace. Some people would like to let themselves believe that he was a mere man, or maybe even just a mislead prophet who taught truth and love…no matter where you look, evidence likes to say otherwise. Jesus was no mere man, not even by a long shot…how can one be a man when his father’s breath made the stars, his words shaped the earth beneath our feet, and from the earth he created he created man out of the dust within? Look at the odds he overcame, the miracles he performed, and just take a glance into his claims that may seem outlandish, but yet no other prophet had made them before. People like to believe that Jesus was a mere man, but yet his legacy stays with us over 2,000 years of him leaving our world…seems strange doesn’t it? Seems almost like a divine intervention of sorts. Now open your mind, close off the access to doubt and just believe in something you may think impossible…but with God “nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matthew 17:20).
When the coal purified the lips of Isaiah, he hadn’t a clue about the man he would be writing some of his prophecies about. He knew nothing of the Savior whose stripes he claimed would heal us, but yet it’s written in Isaiah 53 “…and with his stripes we are healed”, and the Bible speaks of Jesus being beaten then crucified so we may be able to go to “His Kingdom”. Keep in mind the book Isaiah was written approximately 800 years before Jesus was born. The thought that something being predicted then being fulfilled in a day, week, month, or maybe even one year isn’t totally unheard of…but foretelling something almost a millennium away and getting the details exactly right, that’s nearly impossible…unless God was in both ends of the spectrum. Now this isn’t the only prophecy Jesus fulfilled …but this is just one of 332 distinct prophecies in the Old Testament which was written way before Jesus came to Earth (some books are dated as far back as 450 B.C). So nearly 450 years before the coming of Jesus, people already knew of him and what he would have to face…they just may not have known it yet. The silence he showed before Pilate was predicted in Isaiah 53:7 (almost 800 B.C), while in the same chapter his sinless life was predicted (v.9), as was being included in with the sinners (v.12)…these are just a glimpse into what was predicted of the Nazarene’s life. This alone should convince those who claim his to be just a man, to at least ponder the idea that he was not an ordinary guy. Now lets take a look into the book of songs, poetry, and yes there happen to a few prophecies within the mix…the book would be Psalms. No prophet wrote this book, just poets, and a king. This proves that God will take ordinary people (in his eyes), and make them predict spectacular things…but that’s another sermon. Keep in mind this book was put together around 1,500-450 B.C. Psalms predicts the betrayal of a friend, in this case Judas (41:9), the crucifixion (22:16), and the giving of Jesus’ spirit unto the Father (31:5). Just look over the old testament, and you’ll find the life of Jesus laid out before your eyes…you may not mind it as clear as you would in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, but it’s there. As for the possibilities of one man fulfilling 332 prophecies, some told 800 years before his time, the odds are 1/84, doesn’t seem impossible. Now just tack on 94 zeros behind the 84, there lies the actual odds of this happening…otherwise knows as impossible. I guess when you were present at the beginning of time, nothing seems quite impossible though.
Mary and Martha seen Jesus walking down the road, but it didn’t matter because their brother had been dead four days. The death watch was over, and his body had already begun to stink. The sisters knew their brother would arise again, but they believed it to be in the end of days…they never expected the man walking down the road would resurrect their brother, Lazarus, that very day…but when Jesus called him forth, Lazarus walked out of the tomb, grave clothes and all. Now look to a wedding in Cana, where the host has run out of wine. Mary looks to none other than her son, whom she knew was Heaven sent…before long all the water has been turned into wine by the Carpenter from Galilee…but doesn’t wine take a while to make? Let’s take a look at a Captain (Roman more than likely) that came to Jesus because his servant lay sick. The Captain knew of Jesus and believed, and when the captain asked Jesus said “Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee,” needless to say his servant was healed in the selfsame hour. The odd thing is Jesus was no where near the Servant, and no cell phones existed for Jesus to call a doctor to fix him up…but Jesus called upon his Father who has healed many people. Finally, look out to the stormy waters and imagine a boat out in the middle of the tempest. All the passengers are running frantically, but one lay sleeping. When the sleeping one was finally woken he looks around and commands the winds saying “Peace, be still” (Mark 4:39)…and the storm clears off. Every miracle Jesus performed only added one more verse to his already miraculous song, which was designed to tell humanity that he loved them…but yet we refuse to believe in his divinity. These miracle mentioned are just a few, if you want more, read the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), or you can just look around. We may not be accustomed to diseases being there one day and perishing the next, crippled running around,and blind being made to see…but whose to say a cripple made whole is more of a miracle than the healing of heart? The facts are that Jesus did every one of these miracles on his own (in a sense), no special effects, no hiding of the truth, no magic, no anything but himself and his Father. After showing us we still find it within us to just not believe that he was, in fact the son of God.
“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:18) Jesus was talking to Nicodemus when he made the underlying claim above, which is that he is the one and only son of God. “One and only” being translated from the Greek monogenes which literally means “one of a kind”. This goes to say that before him there was none like Jesus, and neither will there be after he leaves earth. Because of Jesus being God’s one and only Son, the Apostle Paul speaks of Christ being “the image of the invisible God”(Colossians 1:15). “Image”, being translated from the Greek eikon, which would mean Jesus was “of identical nature with” God. Of all the claims that Jesus made it would be simple to disprove of them. Most of the claims, and predictions he made while he was alive came true during his time spent here on earth. If what Jesus claimed was going to happen, never did... we could easily disprove him and his doctrine…but this never happened. Every prediction Jesus made came true, so why would he lie about anything else. If his predictions were not enough to make the Jew’s claim him to be crazy…then him claiming to be God’s son was. Yet, not other prophet claimed such a Divine Blood running through their veins. In the Koran the Muslim Prophet Mohammed claims “Muhammad is naught but a messenger” and “Surely I am no more than a human apostle.” If that weren’t enough to prove a world of difference between him and Christ Mohammed confessed to be sinful, asks of God for forgiveness, and is even rebuked by God. If Mohammed claimed to be sinful, Jesus claimed to be sinless. If Mohammed only claimed to be a prophet of God, Jesus claimed he was God. Buddha (Buddhism) was only enlightened, Confucius (Hinduism) didn’t even claim to be a good man, let alone divine, Zoroaster (Zoroastrianism) was only a prophet nothing more, while Lao-tze (Taoism) claimed to be ignorant Jesus claimed to be “Son of God”, “The way, the truth, and the life”, and that “He overcame the world”.
Jesus was rebuked by his own people. Keep in mind his “people” were Jewish, although the Jew’s he was surrounded by were a peculiar bunch, who weren’t like by very many Europeans of that time. These Jew’s would more than likely be the butt of a joke in Rome, rather than the topics during an afternoon sit down. Somehow this one Jew name Jesus Christ, altered the history of the Rome with his teachings. No more than three centuries after Jesus left Earth, Rome was converted to Christianity. This alone is a miracle considering the certain group of Jew’s he was with. If this alone isn’t enough to convince one’s self that Christ was indeed more than a man, then all that one would have to do is read in the Bible…or possibly even hear the testimony of a sinner changed. The evidence alone is astounding and points toward the fact that Jesus Christ was and is who he claimed to be. Indeed this may not be enough to convince some skeptics, who may claim to have irrefutable evidence…while all they have is a stubborn heart and closed mind. Again, all one needs to do is look at the prophecies being predicted, then filled. Then if that isn’t enough, look to the miracles that were not of this world, and finally if your mind is still set that Jesus was a mere mortal man…look to his claims, which only he made. This evidence is enough to leave you with for now; you can find this and so much for in a little book called the Bible. After accepting that fact that Jesus was God, it erases all doubt that God even exists…but further more the question will now be…will you make Jesus your God?
