The greatest moment in baseball folklore was sealed in history by the greatest player of the game: Babe Ruth.

The fate of his team’s entire season depended on how he performed against one of the league’s best pitchers. At a time as important as this, he still had the audacity to point to the spot in the stands where he claimed he would hit his home run.

How he would have been mocked and ridiculed by everyone, and how cocky and incompetent he would have seemed, had he failed. But we all know how the story turned out. He has been the undying idol of the baseball world, because he did exactly what he claimed he would do. He backed up his claim with action that supported it.[i]

How do Christians back up their claim that Christianity is reasonable and true?

In particular, how do we show it is true to those who do not believe that it is? It is one thing for us to be personally convinced that Christianity is true because of our own experiences with God, but it is another thing for us to faithfully demonstrate this to others. It is one thing to point at the fence and make a claim, but it is another thing to hit the homerun.

To be sure, we are justified in sharing our experience with unbelievers. I love telling others about how God made his way into our hearts and changed us. The Apostle Paul also shared his testimony as a way of showing others the love of Christ. [ii] He let others know what kind of man he was before Christ saved him – a ruthless murderer – and how his life was totally changed on the road to Damascus. Our personal testimonies are powerful witnesses of the existence of God and salvation through Christ.

But the unbeliever might want more. He might say, “I’m glad you had an experience with God, but I have not. Can you give me other reasons that I should believe Christianity is true?”

It is my desire to show you that not only can we know that Christianity is true, but that there are also many ways we can reasonably show it to be true. [iii] Before we get there, here’s a little story.

LeBron James and Reasonable Faith

Suppose LeBron James and I are both on the basketball court shooting hoops together. Suppose he says that he is about to jump and rotate three hundred and sixty degrees in the air, and then slam-dunk. I would reply, “Okay, I believe you can do it.”

This is an example of faith. I used the word believe which means faith. It is faith because it has not happened yet. If it had already happened and I saw LeBron do it, then it would be sight, not faith. When things are in the future, we must have faith if we believe they are going to happen.

But in this case my faith is a reasonable faith. Why? Because, hello, this is LeBron James! He is 6’8” tall! He is arguably the best basketball player who has ever lived! For crying out loud, they call him The Chosen One! So even though I must exercise faith in order to believe that he will do a three-sixty, it is obviously a reasonable faith, based on good and valid grounds.

But let’s suppose that LeBron successfully performs his dunk and walks back over to me. There I am, standing on the court with a confident swagger, bouncing a basketball. I look up at him (way up) and say, “Nice dunk, Chosen One, now it is my turn!”

Well, anybody who knows me knows that I can’t play basketball at all. I repeat – I have no skills on the court. When I jump as high as I can, I can barely touch the rim. So when I say I am about to do a three-sixty, it is not reasonable to believe that it will ever actually happen. I have never shown that I can dunk before and I am not tall enough to dunk if I wanted to.

Sure, I can have faith! Yes, I can believe that somehow a strong wind will blow through the gym at the precise moment I leap for the hoop and carry me up to the basket, twisting me in a full circle as I go. Sure, I can believe that. But that is NOT a reasonable faith. That is called blind faith. There is a major difference between reasonable faith and blind faith!

Our faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he rose from the dead is not blind faith. It is reasonable faith. It is reasonable because he has proven himself. His life, his words, and his deeds are the most convincing apologetic arguments that the world has seen. When it comes to showing that Christianity is true and reasonable, the first place to look is the heart of Christianity – Christ Jesus himself. He is the most amazing and incredible person who has ever lived.

But Some Say Jesus Never Existed

 

There is a small group of extreme radicals who have proposed the Jesus-myth hypothesis. This is the view that Jesus of Nazareth never actually existed, but was a created legend, invented by the apostle Paul and other early church leaders, apparently to manipulate their followers. Earl Doherty, author of The Jesus Puzzle [iv] and Robert M. Price, a member of the Jesus Seminar [v], are two of the most prominent individuals holding this extreme view. Additionally, a recent independent documentary called The God Who Wasn’t There, written and directed by Brian Flemming, takes this unsupportable position.

It should first be noted that the vast majority of historians and other experts of the life of Jesus strongly disagree with these radicals.

Even those who are not Christians are convinced, at the very least, that Jesus of Nazareth was a real person. They just do not believe he was the Messiah, the Son of the living God. But to deny that he ever existed is to go against a mountain of evidence that speaks clearly to the contrary. To say that Jesus was merely a myth is like claiming that George Washington was a myth. [vi]

But how do we know Jesus really existed? There are numerous historical writings that speak of Jesus as a real person, both inside and outside the Bible. Some of these are from his friends and some of these are from his enemies. Many of these sources were written very close to the time of Jesus’ life. This fact argues heavily against the Jesus-myth hypothesis, since there were many people still alive at the time of the writings who would have known about Jesus first-hand, and some who would have known him personally. These people provide historical checks and balances. The following is a list of many of the historical sources that prove that Jesus actually existed.

Christian sources

The New Testament is a collection of books written by Christians to convince people to become Christians. No doubt, it is Jesus-friendly. But even still, the books of the Bible do recount history, and a telling of history can be either verified or falsified. In the case of the gospels and epistles of the New Testament, the best evidence shows that the apostles were not making up stories, but were writing actual accounts of the life of Jesus.

The Bible is not one book written by one person. It is a collection of books written by many different people. Therefore, the individual books of the Bible constitute independent witnesses of the history recorded inside the Bible. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, Jude, and the writer of Hebrews are all in agreement that Jesus Christ was an actual person. His life is described in detail in these sources. Plus, it is clear that several passages in the New Testament are based on sources that are dated even earlier than the New Testament documents themselves.

For example, biblical scholars speak of a mysterious Q document, that explains the origin of the material shared by Matthew and Luke, but that does not appear in Mark. Though we do not possess a copy of the Q document itself, its theoretical existence indicates another ancient source for the life of Jesus.

In addition, several ancient creeds are recorded in the Bible. These creeds predate the books we find them in, providing more early and independent sources for the life of Jesus. A clear case of this can be found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church:

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

Many scholars indicate that this was a creed recited by the early church and Paul is simply quoting it. If this is so, then the creed itself is older than the first letter to the Corinthians, and probably much older, since creeds take time to be circulated and accepted.

Other similar creedal formulas are found in 1 John 4:2, 1 Timothy 3:16, 2 Timothy 2:8, and Romans 1:3-4. Since these are sources quoted by the Bible, then they give us evidence that people other than the biblical authors believed that Jesus was real, prior to the writing of the New Testament. This evidence alone shows that it is hardly possible that the apostles could have invented Jesus. [vii]

In addition, there are hundreds of other ancient Christian sources that provide evidence for the existence of Jesus. These include the Didache, a collection of teachings practiced by the early church, [viii] as well as the writings of the early church fathers who confirmed the writings of the apostles. The Apostles’ Creed could also be included in this list, since it was probably written prior to 100 AD.

But someone might object by saying that all of these documents were written by Jesus’ friends and followers. Perhaps they somehow made a pact together that they would all lie about Jesus and fabricate a story about his life. Of course this is historically impossible, since most of these sources were written by people who did not know each other. But beyond this, there are other sources proving the life of Jesus written by those outside the circle of his friends, who would have no reason whatsoever to promote a Jesus myth.

A Jewish Historian

The most prominent Jewish source for the life of Jesus was a man named Josephus, a historian most famous for his detailed accounts of the Jewish war with Rome, which included the famous Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Josephus was not a Christian, so he was not interested in promoting Christian beliefs. He simply wrote down what was happening in the world at the time. Here is a famous passage from his Antiquities:

At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus, and his conduct was good, and he was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. And those who had become his disciples did not abandon their loyalty to him. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive. Accordingly they believed that he was the Messiah, concerning whom the Prophets have recounted wonders. (18.3.3 Arabic 10^th C. version)

Not only did Josephus identify Jesus as a historical figure, but he also indicated that Jesus had many followers, that he was crucified by Pilate, the Roman governor, and that some people believed he rose from the dead. All of this from a careful historian who was not interested in promoting Christian belief! No wonder the majority of scholars dismiss the Jesus-myth hypothesis so quickly. But the words of Josephus are only the tip of the iceberg of evidence for the existence of Jesus.

Roman sources

The life of Jesus and the history of the early church occurred during a time when the Roman government controlled a major part of the civilized world. Archeologists have uncovered several letters and other works written by Roman historians and officials that indicate some of the empire’s difficulties in dealing with the growth of the early church. For example, the Roman senator Tacitus (c.55-117 AD), in recounting the history of the reign of the emperor Nero, wrote:

Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. (Annuals 15:44)

Here is solid evidence from a man who was not a Christian, nor even a Jew, that Jesus of Nazareth was an actual historical figure, and that he was put to death by crucifixion under the authority of Pontus Pilate.

Other Roman sources include Seutonius and Pliny the Younger. Seutonius was a historian who in his Life of Claudius mentions the expelling of the Jews from Rome because they had been stirred up by a leader called “Chrestus,” a probable reference to Jesus, who was called the Christ. This event finds a strong parallel in the book of Acts:

Then Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he became acquainted with a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife, Priscilla. They had been expelled from Italy as a result of Claudius Caesar’s order to deport all Jews from Rome. (Acts 18:1-2)

Pliny the Younger was the Roman governor of Bithynia who wrote a letter to Emperor Trajan asking him how to deal with the growing Christian population in his territory. In this letter, written very close to the actual life of Christ, Pliny indicates that Christians worshipped Jesus as though he was God. [ix] Pliny’s letter is solid proof that the worship of Jesus as deity did not develop over centuries after his life, but that Jesus was a real man who was thought to be God himself by his earliest followers.

Greek sources

In addition to the Christians, Jews, and Romans, several writers of Greek origin also join the chorus and confirm the existence of Jesus. Celsus was a 2^nd Century Greek philosopher, famous for poking fun at Christianity. But in so doing, he actually confirms many of the beliefs and practices of the early Church, and he never denies that Jesus was an actual person.

Thallus was another Greek historian who apparently mentions Jesus. We do not possess any of his original writings, but a 3^rd Century Christian historian named Julius Africanus, in writing about the darkness that came when Jesus was crucified states, “In the third book of his history, Thallus calls this darkness an eclipse of the sun–wrongly in my opinion.” [x] This quote indicates that people were aware of the mysterious darkness that occurred at the crucifixion of Jesus, and debated what might have caused it.

Assyrian sources

One last category of sources for the life of Jesus needs to be mentioned. Two prominent Assyrian sources also testify that Jesus was an actual person. The first was a famous playwright named Lucian of Samosata (c.125-180 AD). In one of his plays, Lucian writes:

The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day—the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account…You see, these misguided creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains the contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them; and then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws. All this they take quite on faith, with the result that they despise all worldly goods alike, regarding them merely as common property. (The Death of Peregrine 11-13)

Like the Roman sources, Lucian lived close enough to the actual events, and was a strong enough enemy of early Christianity, that if Jesus had never existed, he would have certainly focused his attention on that reality. But Lucian never denies the actual existence of Jesus. He simply makes fun of him and his followers. In so doing, however, he unwittingly proves to us today without doubt, that Jesus of Nazareth was a real man.

The second Assyrian confirmation of Jesus comes from a letter that a man wrote to his son, encouraging him to pattern his life after the lives of wise people. In his list of wise people, he mentions a Jewish king who was executed at the hands of his own people. He writes, “What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise king? It was just after that that their kingdom was abolished.” [xi]

Again, another confirmation that many people, not only Christians, knew many facts about the life of Jesus, and their writings confirm that Jesus was an actual person, and not just a myth.

Those who hold to the Jesus-myth hypothesis must do so by blind faith.

The evidence argues solidly against their position. It is clear that their goal is not to find truth, but rather to discredit Christianity. I suggest a better course of action; follow the evidence where it leads.

Not to be Ignored

In spite of all this evidence, Jesus is often treated as the embarrassment of Christianity. Some feel he is someone who should be helped out and pitied, or even set in a far off corner so that he doesn’t ruin our reputations. There is a tendency to subject him to our sympathy and censorship rather than present him as the object of our worship.

Watching the infomercials that air at three in the morning can be an intriguing experience. You never know what you’ll find being advertised there. Perhaps there will be an eighty-foot long garden hose, or finely tuned nose hair clippers, or knives sharp enough to cut straight through a solid kitchen counter! Funny, there is inevitably some drawback to every item they offer, something the advertisers want to hide, something that keeps their product from being the perfect product they desire the public to think it is. Whether it’s in unreadable print flashing on the screen for three seconds, or the speaker talking faster than anyone could hope to understand, there is something they are ashamed of.

Sometimes Christians present Jesus this way. He is a good “product,” as far as it goes, but he comes with many disclaimers. For example, we have to believe he made postmortem visits to his followers (1 Corinthians 15:5-7). Well, that is just weird. We also have to believe that he commands believers to eat his flesh and drink his blood in an act of communal remembrance.

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” (John 6:53-56)

In our modern culture, this can be downright embarrassing. Even in Jesus’ day, after he taught this, “many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (v. 66). So Christians often elevate the ethical teachings of Christianity – like love your neighbor as yourself – and downplay Jesus the person, who has a tendency to come across as an oddity.

But if we are not presenting Jesus, what are we left with? Jesus is not only the destination of apologetics, but he is an absolutely essential part of the path. He is not only the supreme figure within Christianity, but also the greatest argument for it. He is the argument God himself uses (John 1:1-14).

Furthermore, he cannot be ignored. Jesus forces a conscious and intentional acceptance or rejection, and stands as a fork in the road of life. He asks that heart-wrenching question to all people, “Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29). Every person is under obligation to answer. Is he merely a Jewish religious teacher? An ethical guide? A prophet from God? A manipulative deceiver? A myth who never existed? Or God himself?

Jesus Christ stands in the way of every man’s routine life, and demands to be everything or nothing. He issues this warning to all who will hear:

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? (Luke 14:27-28)

So let’s examine this man and see if following him is worth the cost. If his claims prove to be false, so be it, leave him to the history books. However, if he is truly God in flesh, then abandon everything in relentless pursuit of his glory. But let none of us be guilty of simply ignoring him.

When Moses saw an unexplainable phenomenon in his normal pursuits of life – a burning bush – he made a decision. “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned” (Exodus 3:3, emphasis ours). Let us follow his example and turn aside to see this great sight, the person of Jesus Christ.

The God-Man

Read the following passage from the Gospel of John carefully. Make the connection between Jesus proving his power by coming back to life from the dead, and the belief of the people:

“When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken” (John 2:22).

The disciples saw Jesus alive after he had died, they remembered the Old Testament prophecies that he fulfilled, and they believed. The amazing evidence was set before them. Jesus Christ fulfilled hundreds of Old Testament prophecies in ways that could not have been faked. This proved to them that Jesus was not a liar, but was actually the Messiah. Having faith in Jesus was not a blind leap, but rather was the most reasonable thing to do!

Read the next verse: “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing” (John 2:23).

The same thing was true of the people in Jerusalem. When they saw Jesus working mighty miracles, they had reason to believe the words that Jesus spoke. It was not an irrational faith, but rather a reasonable faith based on clear evidence.

The same is true for us today. We have many good and rational reasons to believe that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. We will attempt to demonstrate this with the following simple argument:

1. Jesus claimed he was God.
2. Jesus proved that his claim was true.
3. Therefore, Jesus is God.

Jesus claimed he was God

What do you make of folks who say they are God? There have been a few people listed on the pages of history who have made this outrageous claim. Many others declared themselves to be a prophet of God. Most people, however, never make any claims like this. Personal declarations of deity can be a real turn-off.

Imagine if one of your longtime friends stood up one day in a public setting, cleared his throat, and asserted loudly, “May I have your attention please! It is time for me to reveal that I am actually the Lord God Almighty! I insist that everyone who hears my voice fall down and worship me immediately!” You probably would be slightly irritated by your friend’s actions, and wouldn’t want to be seen with that person anymore. After all, claiming to be God is a big deal.

So when people do claim to be God, what should we do with them? David Koresh was the guru of a cult group in Waco, Texas known as the Branch Davidians. Several years ago the group was in the news for stockpiling weapons and eventually the government removed them. Their compound was burned and most of the people in their group, including Koresh, perished in the flames. [xii]

This story was in the news for several days and reporters continually pointed out that Koresh believed himself to be the Messiah. His followers were also apparently convinced of this. Most people outside the cult, however, thought the guy was out of his mind – missing a few cards, elevator not going all the way up, a wacko in Waco. People who say they are God or god-like usually have only a small following of deluded people.

But when Jesus Christ entered the public scene of history, he was much different. He openly and continually referred to himself as the Messiah, the anointed and prophesied One of the Old Testament. “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).

Jesus never hid the reality that he was the One predicted by the prophets in the days of old. But that is not all! He even declared himself equal with God the Father, an action that got him into real trouble with the Jewish authorities: “‘I and the Father are one.’ The Jews picked up stones again to stone him” (John 10:30-31). They picked up the stones because they wanted to kill him. Why? Because he had just made himself out to be equal with God! That was total blasphemy as far as they were concerned, and a blasphemous man was a dead man.

This goes even further. People often worshipped Jesus, and when they did, he did not stop them. One time people tried to worship Paul and Barnabas because they had worked a miracle. But Paul immediately prohibited them and said, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you” (Acts 14:15). In stark contrast look what happens when Jesus heals a blind man who shows his appreciation to Jesus by worshipping him:

Jesus…having found him [the blind man]…said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. (John 9:35-38)

As you continue reading the passage you will observe that Jesus did not correct the man. He did not say, “Stop worshiping me! I’m just a man like you.” This is because Jesus was not a mere man. He was different and he knew it and he proved it.

He even had the audacity to forgive people of their sins. Suppose you and your mom got into a nasty argument. After shouting at her, you did the unthinkable and slapped her to the ground, leaving the house in a fury. Now imagine that while you were out, thinking about the horrors of your actions, you bumped into a man who said, “I forgive you of the sins you just committed against your mom.” What? Who does this guy think he is? How can he forgive you for something you did to someone else? He wasn’t even involved in the incident!

This illustration sounds strange, but this is exactly what Jesus did on many occasions. He forgave people of their sins which they committed against other people. The Jewish leaders knew that when he did this, he was essentially claiming to be God:

And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Luke 5:20-21)

Good question! Who can forgive sins but God alone? There is no doubt that Jesus claimed and believed that he was God in the flesh.

He even acted like God. He multiplied (created) food out of nothing when he fed 5,000 men and their families. [xiii] He calmed furious storms. [xiv] He walked on the surface of water. [xv] He miraculously transformed water into wine. [xvi] He raised people from the dead. [xvii] Who else can do these things but God?

At one point he infuriated the Jewish leaders by referring to himself as the I AM. If you know the Old Testament at all, you know that when Moses asked God for his name, God called himself “I AM” (Exodus 3:14).

The Jewish leaders certainly knew that this was God’s covenantal name. So when they heard Jesus say the following, it is clear they wanted him dead for claiming to be God himself:

“‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple” (John 8:58-59).

To further support his deity, Jesus claimed to be able to do things that only God himself could do. He promised a group of his followers, “Where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am among them” (Matthew 18:20). But how could Jesus make this claim if he was only a human?

He also claimed to have power over everything. When he was about to ascend into heaven, Jesus said to his followers, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18).

Listening Is Important

If someone says he is God or a spokesperson for God, what should we do with him? We think that, at the very least, people should listen to him and test his claims to see if he is telling the truth.

Think about it. Here we are – humanity – swirling about on this planet called Earth in the midst of a vast and mostly unknown universe. How did we get here? Why are we here? Most people would really like to know the answers to these questions, and a lot of answers have been offered. Some say that life is a sort of cosmic accident that arose in this far corner of the universe and that it has no real meaning. It just happened, so hey, we might as well enjoy it. This is the answer of the naturalist (whom we will talk more about later on).

But Christians are not at all happy with that answer and nobody should be. We feel life is significant and meaningful, an idea shared by many. The fact that people exist at all seems to be a pretty big deal, not just some sort of universal fluke. Our existence seems to be on purpose, as Sir John Templeton pondered, “Would it not be strange if a universe without purpose accidentally created humans who are so obsessed with purpose?” [xviii]

People want sufficient answers to our big questions of existence and purpose, but there is a major problem. Where do we find those answers? With the exception of the folks who landed on the moon and orbit around the earth on occasion, we’re stuck on this planet. We can’t just fly up into Heaven and ask God what is really going on. So what we need is someone to come down from God to us.

If someone says that he has been sent from God, then, as a minimal response, we should listen to what he has to say. We don’t have to believe him, and we should certainly test his words to see if he speaks truth, but at the very least we should listen to him.

For example, Muhammad, the founder of Islam, declared himself to be a prophet of God. A seeker of truth named Whitney might listen to Muhammad but not believe him. Muhammad said that he was a prophet of Allah (the standard Arabic word for “God”) and that he had the answers people were looking for, but as Whitney studies the Qur’an she is not convinced that Muhammad was telling the truth. In fact, it seems as though Muhammad was very confused. So she listens to him, but then refuses to believe him. [xvx]

Most people who claim to be God or a prophet of God are the same as Muhammad. They fail to follow through in proving their claim. But this is where Jesus Christ was so different and unique. Not only did he claim to be God, having all the answers that people needed about the meaning of life, but he also verified and substantiated his claim.

Jesus proved that his claim was true

Get ready, here comes another Superman story. Suppose someone walks up to you on the street and says, “My name is Clark Kent and whenever the need arises, I can turn into Superman.” You would say, “Whatever!” Most folks are smart enough not to believe such an outrageous claim. But then suppose he rips off his coat and tie revealing his blue and red Superman suit, complete with majestic cape flapping heroically in the wind. He shouts, “Up! Up! And away!” Then with a bounce he flies up into the air and circles around the sky. When he lands you stare at him in amazement and say, “Wow! It is true, you really are Superman!”

It is one thing to claim to be Superman, but it’s another thing altogether to prove it. It is one thing for Jesus to say he was God, but it is another thing altogether for him to prove it. As unlikely as it might seem, that is exactly what He did.

We’ve already mentioned some of the miracles that Jesus worked in demonstrating that he was God – healing the blind man, turning water into wine, feeding 5,000, walking on the water, and calming the storm. After each of these miracles, people became convinced that Jesus was really what he claimed to be. “Many of the people believed in him. They said, ‘When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?’” (John 7:31). These people believed Jesus was the Messiah because Jesus proved it to them by performing miracles. These signs and wonders were pointers to the reality that God had become flesh and was dwelling among them (John 1:14).

Of course, many people say that miracles are impossible. Therefore, Jesus could not have worked miracles. The flaw with that reasoning is that it starts from a premise of unbelief. It assumes that there is no God first, then states that miracles are impossible. Well, in a universe where there is no god or supernatural being of any kind, one would expect there to be no miracles.

But the Christian can use the same approach. If there is a God, as we have good reason to believe there is, then miracles are not only possible, but to be expected. It is the blatant denial of God that leads people to deny the possibility of miracles. To take it one step further, if miraculous events do occur, then they offer an incredible amount of proof that there actually is a God. [xx]

It should also be noted that Jesus worked miracles mostly in front of many people, without the benefit of a stage, lights, and emotional music, as seen in the services of various self-proclaimed healers of our own day. Indeed, Jesus healed all types of diseases, many that were visible to the eye, so that the validity of the miracle could not be questioned.

On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered…And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. (Luke 6:6, 10)

Modern day “healers” who are interested in manipulating people for financial gain and in order to acquire personal prestige, do not do things like this! They prefer to “heal” people of invisible diseases like headaches or backaches or the like. But this man had a visibly deformed hand that was restored before the eyes of many witnesses, some of whom were the enemies of Jesus. Even these enemies did not deny that Jesus was actually performing miracles, since this was undeniable. Instead, they attributed his work to the power of demons (Matthew 9:34).

This fact lends a great deal of historical credibility to the reality that Jesus of Nazareth was known as a miracle worker. If a person’s enemies admit that the miraculous is happening, even if they do not believe it is coming by the power of God, then the chances are much greater that the Bible is recounting factual history, and not just the thoughts and theology of Jesus’ friends and followers.

The Proof of the Resurrection

But of all the miracles of Christ, one of them stands out above the rest – he returned from the dead. People don’t usually come back from the dead. If they did, we would all freak out.

I remember my brother renting the movie Return of the Living Dead when we were kids. I do not suggest you watch it, nor would I ever recommend it. It isn’t exactly edifying art. It portrays zombies who return to life because of exposure to a particular gas. The zombies are not happy at all, nor do they make the “living” people very happy. Flicks like this do not paint resurrection in a good light.

Interestingly, the Jews during Jesus’ day would have thought even less of the idea of resurrection. They considered dead bodies “unclean” (Numbers 9:7). The thought of a man back from the dead would not have been very appealing to them. Paul says that for this reason the resurrection is a “stumbling block to the Jews” (1 Corinthians 1:23).

In spite of this, Paul maintains that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was and is a reality. Of greater importance, the resurrection is the proof that Jesus is who he says he is. “[Jesus] was declared to be the Son of God…by his resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). The fact that Jesus conquered death is the principal proof that he is the One who has the power over death. When the disciples saw that Jesus had returned from the dead, all of their doubts quickly disappeared.

This is why John the Apostle referred to Jesus as the “Word” and wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). By rising from the dead, Jesus proved beyond all question himself to be the Son of the living God.

Jesus is God

The amazing conclusion of Christ’s proofs for his divinity is the reality that he is actually God in the flesh. This is a worldview-altering fact. Since he is God, everything he said was true. He said the Bible was true and indeed it is. [xxi] He said salvation comes by grace alone through faith in him alone and indeed it does. [xxii]

If he is God then our lives have meaning and purpose. We were created to bring honor and glory to God forever by seeing him as the eternal treasure that he is, and enjoying what we see (Psalm 16:11; John 17:13). Christianity is not about having a checklist of spiritual duties like Bible study, prayer, and church attendance, and going through the motions of those religious activities. Yes, those disciplines of grace are vital to Christian life and growth, but the heart of the Christian faith is a Person who is God in the flesh (John 1:14).

He came down from Heaven to give us the answers that we so desperately need. He proved that he was indeed God and therefore has the right to speak with authority. When we worship, we do not worship an idea or a concept. We worship him, a real Person who supplies us with all we will ever need.

Why am I a Christian? Because Jesus, the most amazing man who ever lived, who claimed and demonstrated his divinity, instructed me to be Christians. And though I may not be able to have all the answers I want here and now I trust him. He is a lot smarter than I am.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28-30)