|
The
claims of Christ Jesus is different from all others in human history
not only because of His nature but also because of His claims. The
character of Christ provides a foundation for His claims. If He was not
a man of absolute moral purity, His claims would be completely absurd.
But to the contrary, because of His moral purity and integrity, we must
take His claims seriously. We have no other choice.
C.S. Lewis, the great Christian philosopher and author, had this to say of Jesus' claims:
"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
What were the claims of Christ? Who did Jesus say He was? Those may be difficult questions for 20th-century readers to answer. However, they were not difficult for those closets to Him -- those who ate with Him, walked with Him, and listened to His teachings. He claimed to be deity. There was no doubt in the disciples' minds about that. Those closest to Him were willing to love and obey Him, were willing even to die to proclaim that He was and is God in human flesh.
Not only were His closest associates sure that He claimed to be God, but His most bitter enemies were positive that those were His claims as well. He was asked by Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" And Jesus said, "I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven" (Mark 14:61-62).
There was no doubt in the high priest's mind as to what Jesus had just said. He claimed to be the Messiah. Caiaphas was so outraged that he tore his clothes and said, "What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard blasphemy; how does it seem to you?" (Mark 14:63-64).
Everyone agreed, so He was condemned to death. The claim of Christ was clear to friends and foes alike: He claimed to be God.
Either Jesus was a man who made Himself out to be God, or He truly was God who became man.
Those are the only two choices concerning Christ we have available to us. Jesus was pure in His moral character, yet He claimed to be God. Therefore, we must deny His moral purity, or we must bow before Him in worship and adoration.
|
