Jesus was well-known in Judea but especially in Capernaum and Nazareth where the ministry got off to a start and onto its feet as the first HQ. His reputation preceded Him! He needed no introduction or publicity agent! Fame was something that traveled fast in those days as the common folk spread the word, especially that there was a prophet in the nation, maybe even the Prophet that is to come. Even today, people don't regard Him as Jesus the Great but simply Jesus. He has no equal, neither predecessor nor successor.
John was His forerunner and character reference so to speak and he was the most highly regarded man in the land at the time, so much that the Pharisees dare not interfere with him, for the people loved him and respected his preaching the baptism of repentance. But Jesus needed no letter of recommendation or to refer to credentials as a way to impress Himself on others. His miracles spoke for themselves.
What kind of credentials were these then? They consisted of perfect morality and keeping to a faultless degree every point of the Law of Moses, the Torah. No one could genuinely find fault in Him and He asked the Jewish leaders to accuse Him of sin with conviction and they failed; the only charge that could tick before the Sanhedrin was that He was an insurrection threat to Rome. Jesus was so holy that it made everyone who knew Him realized their own faults, shortcomings, and sins; Peter said, "Depart from me O Lord, for I am a sinful man!" Now, normally familiarity breeds contempt but not in His case! He could not have been anything but perfect to fulfill the Law and only one sin would have disqualified Him from being our Savior
Another credential was His works, so ass to say that we should believe on account of the sake of the works alone, that they were of the Father. He did many signs, wonders, and miracles that elicited faith in some and skepticism and cynicism in others; He had enemies because of the truths He spoke. He never footnoted His sayings but spoke directly as God Himself. He spoke nothing but the truth but didn't say that He knew the truth or would say it or found it, but that He is the truth (cf. John 14:6); He didn't speak by authority, but with authority "as one who had authority" (cf. Mark 1:22; Matt. 7:29)! His word was binding, authoritative, and final. He had and was the last word!
Now, His miracles were not helter-skelter or for no reason scattered in the narrative, but God had a purpose for each of them and without them, the story wouldn't be the same and Christ would be but a footnote in history If we remove the miracles from Christ then He is nothing and the faith is disemboweled and neutered. Other faiths remain intact even without the miracles--they are unnecessary for the religion. Jesus never did anything for selfish or self-serving reasons, but as acts of compassion and often to be object lessons to His sermons or sayings--no showy or biggie miracles!
Now, Jesus had many character witnesses, and even if we look at His enemies (the witness of an enemy has a lot of weight in a court of law due to no personal gain by it), we learn quite a deal because they have no agenda or motive to lie about Him; they would unwittingly tell the truth. For instance, Judas said he had betrayed innocent blood, the soldier at the crucifixion called Him an innocent man or even the Son of God, Pontius Pilate said he found no fault in Him, even King Herod was unwilling to convict Him. When at the trial, they found no legitimate witnesses to tell the truth but they contradicted each other--they had to resort to getting a confession and self-condemnation which was illegal.
But the biggest credential of Christ was His resurrection (cf. Romans 1:4; Acts 17:31), the final sign to a wicked generation. He prophesied this and rose on the third day to prove His vindication for us and to give us hope of a resurrection, which doctrine had been vague to the Jews. The cornerstone of our faith is the historical truth of the resurrection and this is arguably the most attested fact in antiquity. Either it's the most astounding fact in history or the biggest, cruelest hoax ever perpetrated according to Josh MacDowell. If we remove this miracle then our faith is futile and we have no reason to trust Christ and we are indeed the most miserable of all men and most to be pitied (cf. 1 Cor. 15:14).
But all this is only consistent with who Jesus claimed to be! Most people mocked at having virgin births like Alexander the Great and Buddha, but if you lived the life of Jesus, you'd take it more seriously. He claimed to be the Son of God, the Judge of mankind, the Lord of the Sabbath, to be without sin, and many more direct or indirect claims of deity. Even though He mostly spoke in figures so speech, He didn't always beat around the bush though. His claims were consistent with His character. Claims in themselves are not proof but in this case, they are consistent. Some cults teach that Jesus never claimed to be God, but Scripture makes it clear that He knew His mission and kept a low profile for that reason when they tried to kill him.
He made the most outstanding and bold claims and man since, or before ever did--even though the Caesars claimed deity, they didn't go this far! But He didn't go around bluntly announcing He was God, for His time had not come and he was looking for faith, not some who would believe had they had enough "evidence." It was obvious to the Pharisees just who Christ claimed to be and they plotted to kill Him for this reason. Jesus had to be both God to fulfill the Law and bear our sins, and man to relate to us as our Mediator. He must be the Go-between, the Daysman. Soli Deo Gloria!
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