The So-called Audacious Claims Of Christ...

With all due respect to the religious founders, Christ is the only one who claimed deity, to be God in the flesh.  He wasn't just God's surrogate, spokesman, representative, a son of God, sent from God, a prophet of God, humanized God, or even a deified human, but fully man and fully God--God in the flesh and made man:  the God-man.  George Gordon, Lord Byron said, "If ever man were God or God were man, Jesus Christ was both."  This may seem to be the height of audacity, but if it's true, He has every right to tell us who He is, justly and rightly so.  He is such a historical figure, we dare not ignore Him, His claims, nor the evidence even as an antiestablishment, revolutionary figure who turned the world upside-down.

The possibility of Him being a liar is nill or unreasonable (no one successfully accused Him of sin--wouldn't His disciples have known because familiarity can breed contempt?), since even His enemies concede Him to be a "great moral teacher," which wouldn't be true if He were wrong of His own identity--in fact, He'd be a lunatic or madman or even demon-possessed!  But we must not just take Him at His word and be gullible; we must ask for some evidence to back up His claims (such as to forgive sins, to accept worship, to have the authority to judge mankind, to plainly say He is the Son of the Father).  You can claim anything you choose, and somebody is bound to believe you, but Jesus is the great so-called myth that became true because of the abundant and overwhelming evidence that cannot be ignored or denied.  If Jesus wasn't who He claimed to be, He would be a blasphemer and worthy of death, of stoning according to the Law.

I could offer ALL the evidence that exists and more but there is no "smoking gun" evidence that's going to force you to believe if you don't want to. But there is no evidence that is beyond a shadow of a doubt; in a court of law, we look for a reasonable doubt and there is enough evidence to come to a reasonable conclusion.  Jesus said that if we are willing, God will help us believe.  Now, evidence can be compelling, is often just circumstantial (and verdicts can be rendered based on this alone) and not always convincing, certain, or complete, but there is enough to make a decision so that the jury doesn't have to remain out or hung. Witnesses are weighed as to their credibility and documents tested as to authenticity.  But no one can not make up their minds due to lack of evidence though. The mind can be so hardened that even if Jesus were to perform a miracle some will not believe, not can not believe.

What evidence is there?  Let's do our homework and check it out!   Not to mention some 35 miracles performed for the sake of love and charity, not selfish reasons and they are called "signs" by John because they illustrate an aspect of His deity; He had a personal charisma that drew people to Him to love and obey; for the sake of His consistent character which no psychologist would fault because He's too balanced an individual and completely normal with nothing suspect, dubious, or questionable (thus they seem to verify the normalcy of His character and that He was no lunatic or nut-case, in fact, He raised the bar on character and ethics; Bible prophecy being fulfilled (some 333 texts illustrating some 456 details); His character references (both friendly and unfriendly)--no one could successfully accuse Him of sin ( cf. John 8:46)--any so-called accusation wouldn't hold water if Jesus was God anyway even His enemies could testify in a court of law for good and favorable evidence Judas, Pilate and the centurion who killed Him all testified He had no fault; the evidence from the New Testament writers, all of whom accepted and wrote of His deity;  His resurrection is the final proof of His deity as Luke said in Acts 17:31 and Paul in Romans 1:4. Luke even stressed the point that there are "many infallible proofs."  (cf. Acts 1:3). 

But in a court of law, and we must consider the evidence in light of that as a legal scholar would, we must consider the character references, the signs, the claims, the documents presented as to whether they have internal as well as external evidence such as corroborating evidence or documents and testimony and check out any so-called contradictions, forgeries, inconsistencies, or misrepresentations.   As far as character references go, we have the friendly and the unfriendly witnesses making their cases. Why the unfriendly? They have nothing to gain and no reason to say anything positive, with no motive to perpetuate the claim.

But what is the strongest evidence of the resurrection?  You can be the strongest evidence!  We can point to the dramatic conversion of the apostles, but this is still going on today among believers: "Let the redeemed of the LORD say so!"  Who can deny that He opened the eyes of the blind that he can now see?  The way He changed lives!  You could tell that the disciples had been with the Lord after the resurrection because they were changed people, from timid and fearful, to become brave and fearless. They seemed to be intoxicated with Jesus and that they had completely turned over their lives to Him and even willing to lay them down for His sake. Jesus was such that you could tell a person had been around Him.  The response was that they worshiped Him and their love was kindled. We can encounter Christ in our lives too: knowing that He rose again is history but that He rose in you is salvation.  The disciples had come to a conviction of the truth and put it into action, turning their creeds into deeds.

Jesus is the light that lights every man and no one can remain the same after meeting Him.  We can have an approximate encounter or existential experience as they did if we surrender our lives to Him and commit them to His will.  We must do more than feel sorry for our sins, we must turn our back on them, renouncing them and do an about-fact or turnaround and commence following Christ in faith.  It's God's work in us to quicken faith and repentance, but we must make good on it and do the works of repentance and faith (cf. Acts 26:20); no fruit means no faith and we shall be known and judged by our works, not our faith.

The ultimate response is to love and worship for who He is or as Richard of Chichester said, "to know Him more clearly, to love Him more dearly, to follow Him more nearly."   We come to know Him personally that the Lord is good and loved us first.  This leads to full surrender of our wills to His, giving Him the ownership of our lives, putting Him at the helm as Captain of our lives and Master of our fates. Our will becomes one with His as Jesus said, "Thy will be done," as we relinquish control and trust wholly in God's will and wisdom. This may require us to crucify our own flesh with its desires and to change our priorities.

In sum,  His enemies would ask Him who He thinks He is, but Jesus claimed to be the personification of truth itself ("I am the truth.") which means if we want to live according to the truth and in reality which corresponds to truth, we must realize who Jesus really is, taking His personal claims seriously and examine the evidence as in a court of law. He didn't just claim to be telling us the truth, or to know the truth but to be the truth incarnate.  It would seem to be the conclusion that we would want to be on the right side of truth as people desire to be on the right side of history, for Jesus did say we shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free.
Soli Deo Gloria!