Like many of you, I grew up in a Christian home and was taught what the Bible says about Jesus. The true nature and work of Jesus was confirmed to me in 10 years of summer Christian youth camps (I accepted Christ at one of these camps in 1958) and in four years of intensive ministerial training in a conservative Bible college in the Midwest.
But today the majority of people in America, this “land that I love,” have a faith in Jesus that is shaky at best and heretical at worst. The October 16, 2018 online version of Christianity Today quoted a LifeWay Research study, which revealed that 78% of evangelicals believe Christ is the first and greatest being created by God. That’s what got Arius condemned as a heretic in 325 AD at the Council of Nicea!
Furthermore, according to an earlier 2009 Barna report, 38% of evangelicals believe that Jesus sinned just like you and me while He was on earth. In 2015 it was found that 56% of millennials now believe that Jesus sinned just like they do. What on earth is going on here? How have we sunk to this dismal view of Jesus?
Let’s return to Scripture and “discover” 10 divine claims made by Jesus Christ.
- Jesus affirmed He was the Christ, the Son of the living God. A Samaritan woman said, “I know that the Messiah” (called Christ) “ is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you – I am he” (John 4:25-26). See also John 9:35-37, Matt. 26:63-66, and Mark 14:61-62.
- Jesus stated He was the great I AM, who existed before Abraham. “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58). Jesus is the same as God. “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30).
- Jesus said that to see Him is to see the One who sent Him. Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me” (John 12:44-45). He told Philip, “Anyone who has seen me as seen the Father” (John 14:9).
- Jesus said He was without sin. “Can you name one sin that I’ve committed? Then if I am telling you only the truth, why don’t you believe in me?” (John 8:46 TPT).
- Jesus said He could forgive sin. Four men brought a paralyzed man to Jesus. He said to him, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” (Luke 5:20). Some observers began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (v. 21). Jesus told them: “…the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (v. 24). When He instituted the Lord’s Supper, He took a cup and said, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:28).
- Jesus said that He came to give His life as a ransom. “…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28).
- Jesus declared that He was the only way to God. Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
- Jesus stated He could give eternal life. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand: (John 10:27-28). See also John 6:40 and 11:25-27.
- Jesus foretold that He would die and come back to life. Three times He told the Twelve that He would be condemned to death, mocked, spit upon, flogged and killed. “Three days later he will rise.” (Mark 10:32-24). See also Matt. 20:17-19 and Luke 18:31-34).
- Jesus promised that He would return and would judge the nations. “I will come back and take you to be with me” (John 14:3).“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matt. 25:31-32).
Friends, it is time to proclaim as truth everything Jesus said about Himself. For Jesus clearly said: “…the reason I was born and came into this world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (John 18:37). Get on the right side of truth.
Victor Knowles is founder and President of ‘Peace on Earth Ministries (POEM). He resides in Joplin, MO. He preaches frequently at various churches in the USA.