The Unique One

Are there any parallels between Jesus and any other great man of religion? Muhammad amassed an army of 10,000 to set out to conquer (killing thousands), while Jesus conquered hearts in His invisible kingdom through love ("My kingdom is not of this world"). Buddha, which means "Enlightened One," (while Jesus claimed to be the Light) and Buddha's real name was Siddhartha Gautama, and he came from an affluent Hindu family and lived a sheltered life in childhood. Muhammad and his followers looted and pillaged caravans, while Jesus had no flaws in morality and his followers aimed to live by his code of love. Jesus was from a working-class family, while Buddha had privilege, Muhammad, a camel driver, married a rich woman 15 years his senior and then took to meditation. Buddha left his wife and son to become an ascetic, while Jesus never married, was tempted of the devil for 40 days in the wilderness, and had a close-knit band of followers, both male and female to the very end, and Muhammad set out with his army in at least 66 battles. Buddha was appalled at the suffering of his day, while Jesus was a man suffering, and acquainted with grief, even dying on a cross willingly. Buddha set out merely to reform Hinduism, while Christ was the fulfillment of Judaism and the prophecies. Buddha claimed that his mother was impregnated by a six-tusked white elephant, while Jesus was born of a virgin woman in fulfillment of a prophecy made 700 years prior--the kind of life He lived would be consistent with this.










George Gordon, Lord Byron, the great Romantic poet, said that "if ever a man were God or God were a man, Jesus was both!" John Stuart Mill, considered by some to be the most intelligent man to have ever lived, said Jesus was the "guide of mankind." Bertrand Russell, the atheist philosopher, said that "what the world needs is more Christian love and compassion"--people emulate Jesus like no other man as the epitome of love in action. Will Durant said that Jesus is the dominant figure of Western Civilization. No one predecessor is His equal and no successor meets His standards of perfection and lawlessness.










Jesus, Himself, challenged His enemies to convict Him of sin. Even the Koran says that He was without sin. The crassest heretics have not denied his sin-free life either. He was flawless, whereas Muhammad had his flaws. Buddha couldn't have been perfect and didn't even claim it--he was agnostic--because he claimed to have come to "Enlightenment" after his search under the bo tree near the river Gaya, and therefore couldn't have always known the way, while Jesus confounded the Pharisees at the age of 12 and knew the business of His Father, and didn't claim to know the way but to be the way--Buddha didn't believe in God, and said that, if there was one, He couldn't help you find enlightenment, because you must find it on your own.

You cannot compare Jesus with any other man (you can only contrast), for He is alone and incomparable:  His character was unique (flawless, without sin, and it is said that He is in a moral category by Himself, and it has been well said that His character supports His claims); His conduct was unprecedented (He forgave His enemies on the cross, and He invariably practiced what He preached); His claims were unparalleled (made Himself the Son of God--no other religious leader such as Muhammad or Buddha, an agnostic, has said this); and His credentials were unequaled (His life didn't belie but confirmed His claims, His miracles were true signs and consistent with his nature, and not just for show or selfish reason of profit, and even His enemies acknowledge His character). The caliber of His life was such that no one could challenge His answers and authority, and accuse Him of wrongdoing or sin.

The founders of other faiths are known for what they said, Jesus is primarily known for who He was and what He did--that He claimed to be the Son of God, died on the cross, and rose from the dead! Any man can claim to be God for instance, (but you need credentials and character), but to prove it by rising from the dead is quite another!  It has been said that the kind of life Jesus lived verified His claims and you would expect the Son of God to behave like Him--there is no ungodliness or weakness in His person. There is everything we would want in a man to worship and adore and He doesn't fall short of any ideal or standard, but only inspires even the greatest of men--even Napoleon proclaimed Him to be no mere man and he claimed to know men.

Jesus lived in obscurity as a common man without privilege: He had no army, yet He conquered millions; He never wrote a word, yet He inspired more books and inspired more literature than anyone else; He had no riches, yet He made many rich; He had no formal education, yet He was the greatest teacher to have ever lived.  Jesus was not born into privilege or opportunity, but into an average working family and knew what the average man went through in daily life from personal experience.  He confounded the Pharisees with His brilliance at the age of twelve with His questions and answers concerning the Scriptures.  There was no duplicity in Him, for He practiced what He preached, yet He condemned hypocrisy in others.  Though men have conquering armies, Jesus conquered hearts and many millions would die for Him.

Who was the greatest leader of all time? Who has done the kind of miracles that have never been duplicated?   Who was the greatest teacher? Who gave us the highest ethic or moral code to live by? Who lived the holiest life of all men?  Who has the most followers and worshipers of all time? Who was the greatest philosopher or "un-philosopher" of all time?  Who has done the best for mankind? Who had the greatest personality of all time? Who sets the highest standards to live by? Who had a more profound impact on civilization, either direct or indirect (inspiring the building of hospitals, universities, orphanages, charities, and missions)?

All other men pale in comparison to Christ and no one can meet His standards of holiness.  Usually, familiarity breeds contempt, but not so with the disciples who were near Him--they never stopped admiring His perfection and even worshiped Him.  What Jesus did, no man can do and we don't compare Jesus with others but contrast them:  We don't say, "Jesus the Great," though we say Alexander the Great, or Peter the Great, for even that is an insult and do Him injustice; what we do is contrast Jesus with others and make Him the standard to judge all of mankind by.  If God became a man, what kind of man would you expect Him to be?

Of the greatest men who have ever lived, none have dared to claim to be God in the flesh or the one and only way to God.  Jesus didn't claim to be the best way to God, nor one of many ways, but the one and the only way to the Father.  Only Jesus had the "words of eternal life" and showed us the Way. He didn't claim to be telling us the truth, but that He was the incarnation of truth itself  ("I am the truth").  He said that all who are "of the truth" will hear Him, but unbelievers are those who reject the truth. In all of recorded history, no one has matched His personality and life! Many books can claim to be true, but only God's Word is Truth with a capital T, and the testimony is this: nature forms you, sin deforms you, education informs you, prison reforms you, but only Christ transforms you!

The New Testament books are not to be compared with the writings of other religions where so-called miracles are attributed, for they were written within a generation of the events and by eye-witnesses--not compiled centuries later.  The difference between Christ's miracles and those of other faiths is that they were signs of His deity, and not just fantastic, for a show, or for personal advantage. You can take the miracles out of Islam, for example, and the religion remains intact, but if you remove the miracles from the Bible you disembowel it and make it nothing.  Without miracles, Jesus would have only been a footnote in history and not worth following.   Even Muhammad believed Christ performed miracles and he did none himself (there are none in the Koran)--only years later did writers ascribe some to him.

After the crucifixion, His own followers were ready to write Him off and go on living as if they had wasted three years of their life.   It was the miracle (the great sign that He would give) and the fact of the resurrection that turned a disbanded and demoralized group of followers into roaring lions of the faith, who were not afraid of the authorities anymore, nor of death itself.  If God were to become a man, you would expect Him to be like Jesus and do miracles and Jesus foots the bill and doesn't let us down on any count.  It is one thing to claim to be God and quite another to prove it and have people die for your claims! "He spoke like no other man ever spoke"--with authority (He didn't say, "Thus says the Lord, but, "I say unto you.").

The Christian scholar Philip Schaff portrays Christ graphically as follows:

This Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Muhammad, and Napoleon; without science and learning shed more light on matters human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of schools, he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times.

Nothing can explain Him, except the profound hypothesis that He is the living Son of God!   We don't compare Christ, we contrast Him who is in a league of His own as the one who claimed to be God in the flesh or incarnated--you can rest assured of this:  No one will ever improve on Jesus! As John Stuart Mill (considered one of the most brilliant minds of all time and an atheist) said he is "a unique figure not more unlike all his predecessors than all his followers,"

The problem with most would-be messiahs is that their character doesn't support their claims and the problem is that familiarity breeds contempt with men, but there is no discrepancy with Christ--his character does not disprove His deity, but it is consistent with it and confirms it.  No one, not even a psychiatrist could analyze Him as unbalanced despite His claims.  Christ is beyond our analysis (no one can figure Him or peg Him) and we can only be in awe as we wonder what kind of man would we expect the Son of God to be.  Who can understand a man who washes His disciple's feet, yet claims to be the Judge of mankind?   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Beatific Vision

Men have always imagined what God must be like and Christians have longed to see visions and revelations of God, known as theophanies. But no one knows what God looks like because God is Spirit (cf. John 4:24)!  Moses saw the backside of the glory of Christ, who does reveal Himself, but the Father doesn't and no man has ever seen the Father.  Our faith concerns the God who is there!

A child was asked what he was drawing in class:  "I'm drawing a picture of God!"  The child had to learn that no one can draw God, but the child answered that people will see now what He looks like. Children have an innocent faith and we are to mimic it (cf. Matt. 18:3).  Hebrews says that we do see Jesus (cf. Heb. 2:9), and we sense His presence when two or three are gathered in His name as a promise (cf. Matt. 18:20).

He indwells each of us and we can have an existential encounter with Him as we read Scripture, fellowship, worship, or pray.  Christians see the glory of God in His work on earth and will see God's glory in heaven, to our delight.  The prophets who claimed they "saw God" were seeing theophanies, and not God in His fullness.  We cannot bear to look at the sun in its brightness, much less look at the glory of God directly. That's one reason God reveals Himself propositionally and in the Word.

Christians want Christ to be seen in them and also to seek Christ being glorified.  As Paul said in Col. 1:27, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." He also boasted that Christ was glorified in him. We wait till Christ be formed in us and in our brethren as a sign of maturity.  God will never give up making us in His image and we are works in progress (cf. Phil. 1:6).

The Greek disciples came to the apostles and said they "[wanted] to see Jesus"; we have a much greater thing in that we have the Word of God and full revelation of the wisdom and knowledge of God in it--we're better off than being with Christ in person also, because we have the inner blessing of the Spirit.  The apostles said that it would suffice to see the Father, but Jesus said that to see Him was to see the Father!  All that we can know and see God is revealed in Christ!  In eternity we'll see the big picture!

The infidel doesn't see God anywhere at work, but the believer sees His fingerprint everywhere, from the smallest atom to the largest galaxy, at work.  No amount of proof will convince someone who doesn't want to do God's will or sincerely have a relationship with him; to the believer and honest seeker, there is ample evidence--no one can disbelieve due to lack of evidence!

In glory, we shall behold Him as He is and we shall be like Him too, able to take it in.  It is said that some angels always do behold the face of God and that Gabriel "[stands] in the presence of God"; we'll have more privilege than an angel!  People generally say that seeing is believing; however, believing is seeing!  Don't envy those who have seen a vision or revelation, as Jesus told Thomas: "Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believed" (cf. John 20:29).  Jesus rebuked the Pharisees who maintained they could see but were "blind guides," in fact, the "blind leading the blind"; think how much worse it is to think you see and be blind, or not knowing you're blind!  Christ came to open our eyes and to make the blind see, and Satan has blinded the eyes of all who don't believe in Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 4:4).

Caveat: Don't reduce God to one dimension or put Him in a box, emphasizing one aspect, like seeing Him just as: the Old, Doting Grandpa who says, "Boys will be boys;" the Kind Father; the Man Upstairs; Cosmic Killjoy; the Great Spirit; the Strict, Mean Judge; the Higher Power; or even as the Great Mathematical Mind.  Whenever we have an inadequate perception of God it's idolatry and our God is too small, thinking of Him in human terms. How big is your God, is just as important as seeing Him.  God cannot be limited, defined, or confined, and we must know that He is beyond comprehension, known as His profundity, and we will never fully apprehend His glory, nature, or essence throughout eternity ("the finite cannot contain the infinite," says the maxim).

The eyes of our heart are opened upon salvation and we can literally say we see and were blind, just like the blind man Jesus healed said, "I was blind, but now I see!"  No one can argue the fact that we have spiritual eyes enlightened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit living in our hearts. Theologians have attempted definitions of God in vain, for He cannot be described, only known, loved, and worshiped!

It is the childish faith that seeks to know God through pictures, visions, or experiences, but the mature obedient believer clings to the Word and hears God speaking His message through it; just like Francis Schaeffer wrote:  "He is there, and He is not silent!"  The problem with man is not only is he blind to spiritual truth, but spiritually hard-of-hearing and turns a deaf ear to the gospel message that he does hear.   Man isn't faithful to the God he does see and is without excuse.   Soli Deo Gloria!  

Did God Die?

I will use a syllogistic proof (a major premise, a minor premise, leading to a conclusion) that shows God as dying on our behalf on the cross: Christ is God; Christ died on the cross; hence God died on the cross. Now some may balk at this kind of logic and seem to think that it is impossible for God to die; but what is here, but separation from the Father and Holy Spirit, in a cry of dereliction, taking on the sins of the world until Christ pronounces tetelestai or "it is finished," [a done deal!].





You have to look at your definitions of God and to see the logic. The sky went black from 12 noon till three o'clock that day as the Father could not look on the Son bearing our sins. Since God is infinite, we cannot put Him in a box and confine Him to logic that makes His Godhead understandable to us, but as the song goes, "Amazing love, how can it be, that thou my God, should'st die for me!" Lee Strobel refers to "Deicide" as what we did to Christ on the cross.  Note that He had the authority to lay His life down and authority to take it up. 




If Jesus was only a man the sacrifice would be imperfect and insufficient for us. The triune God works together to accomplish a unified plan and goal. The Father purposes and plans, the Son implements and carries through, the Holy Spirit applies and completes the plan. Jesus experienced separation from the Father and in this sense, He died and wondered about His being forsaken. This is a paradox because in one sense God died for us and in another sense, God judged sin in Jesus as our substitute and is very much alive and working to preserve the cosmos.





As long as you define your terms you can make this statement. God is three persons in one essence. Jesus is two natures in one person, neither separated, confused, mixed, nor divided. He is not a deified man nor a humanized god or theanthropos, but the infinite God-Man, perfect God, perfect Man, very God of very God, and very man of very man (not a God in human disguise, nor a man with divine attributes). Jesus' two natures can be distinguished, but not separated; due to the hypostatic union.



In the final analysis, it depends on how you define death.  Christ's Spirit was indeed separated from His body and when we die our spirits are separated from our bodies too.  Christ never was separated in His divine nature from the Trinity but lost fellowship during His passion on the cross.   Soli Deo Gloria!

The One And Only

Are there any parallels between Jesus and any other great man of religion? Muhammad amassed an army of 10,000 to set out to conquer (killing thousands), while Jesus conquered hearts in His invisible kingdom through love ("My kingdom is not of this world"). Buddha, which means "Enlightened One," (while Jesus claimed to be the Light) and Buddha's real name was Siddhartha Gautama, and he came from an affluent Hindu family and lived a sheltered life in childhood. Muhammad and his followers looted and pillaged caravans, while Jesus had no flaws in morality and his followers aimed to live by his code of love. Jesus was from a working-class family, while Buddha had privilege, Muhammad, a camel driver, married a rich woman 15 years his senior and then took to meditation. Buddha left his wife and son to become an ascetic, while Jesus never married, was tempted of the devil for 40 days in the wilderness, and had a close-knit band of followers, both male and female to the very end, and Muhammad set out with his army in at least 66 battles. Buddha was appalled at the suffering of his day, while Jesus was a man suffering, and acquainted with grief, even dying on a cross willingly. Buddha set out merely to reform Hinduism, while Christ was the fulfillment of Judaism and the prophecies. Buddha claimed that his mother was impregnated by a six-tusked white elephant, while Jesus was born of a virgin woman in fulfillment of a prophecy made 700 years prior--the kind of life He lived would be consistent with this.


George Gordon, Lord Byron, the great Romantic poet, said that "if ever a man were God or God were a man, Jesus was both!" John Stuart Mill, considered by some to be the most intelligent man to have ever lived, said Jesus was the "guide of mankind." Bertrand Russell, the atheist philosopher, said that "what the world needs is more Christian love and compassion"--people emulate Jesus like no other man as the epitome of love in action. Will Durant said that Jesus is the dominant figure of Western Civilization. No one predecessor is His equal and no successor meets His standards of perfection and lawlessness.

Jesus, Himself, challenged His enemies to convict Him of sin. Even the Koran says that He was without sin. The crassest heretics have not denied his sin-free life either. He was flawless, whereas Muhammad had his flaws. Buddha couldn't have been perfect and didn't even claim it--he was agnostic--because he claimed to have come to "Enlightenment" after his search under the bo tree near the river Gaya, and therefore couldn't have always known the way, while Jesus confounded the Pharisees at the age of 12 and knew the business of His Father, and didn't claim to know the way but to be the way--Buddha didn't believe in God, and said that, if there was one, He couldn't help you find enlightenment, because you must find it on your own.

You cannot compare Jesus with any other man (you can only contrast), for He is alone and incomparable: His character was unique (flawless, without sin, and it is said that He is in a moral category by Himself, and it has been well said that His character supports His claims); His conduct was unprecedented (He forgave His enemies on the cross, and He invariably practiced what He preached); His claims were unparalleled (made Himself the Son of God--no other religious leader such as Muhammad or Buddha, an agnostic, has said this); and His credentials were unequaled (His life didn't belie but confirmed His claims, His miracles were true signs and consistent with his nature, and not just for show or selfish reason of profit, and even His enemies acknowledge His character). The caliber of His life was such that no one could challenge His answers and authority, and accuse Him of wrongdoing or sin.

The founders of other faiths are known for what they said, Jesus is primarily known for who He was and what He did--that He claimed to be the Son of God, died on the cross, and rose from the dead! Any man can claim to be God for instance, (but you need credentials and character), but to prove it by rising from the dead is quite another! It has been said that the kind of life Jesus lived verified His claims and you would expect the Son of God to behave like Him--there is no ungodliness or weakness in His person. There is everything we would want in a man to worship and adore and He doesn't fall short of any ideal or standard, but only inspires even the greatest of men--even Napoleon proclaimed Him to be no mere man and he claimed to know men.

Jesus lived in obscurity as a common man without privilege: He had no army, yet He conquered millions; He never wrote a word, yet He inspired more books and inspired more literature than anyone else; He had no riches, yet He made many rich; He had no formal education, yet He was the greatest teacher to have ever lived. Jesus was not born into privilege or opportunity, but into an average working family and knew what the average man went through in daily life from personal experience. He confounded the Pharisees with His brilliance at the age of twelve with His questions and answers concerning the Scriptures. There was no duplicity in Him, for He practiced what He preached, yet He condemned hypocrisy in others. Though men have conquering armies, Jesus conquered hearts and many millions would die for Him.

Who was the greatest leader of all time? Who has done the kind of miracles that have never been duplicated? Who was the greatest teacher? Who gave us the highest ethic or moral code to live by? Who lived the holiest life of all men? Who has the most followers and worshipers of all time? Who was the greatest philosopher or "un-philosopher" of all time? Who has done the best for mankind? Who had the greatest personality of all time? Who sets the highest standards to live by? Who had a more profound impact on civilization, either direct or indirect (inspiring the building of hospitals, universities, orphanages, charities, and missions)?

All other men pale in comparison to Christ and no one can meet His standards of holiness. Usually, familiarity breeds contempt, but not so with the disciples who were near Him--they never stopped admiring His perfection and even worshiped Him. What Jesus did, no man can do and we don't compare Jesus with others but contrast them: We don't say, "Jesus the Great," though we say Alexander the Great, or Peter the Great, for even that is an insult and do Him injustice; what we do is contrast Jesus with others and make Him the standard to judge all of mankind by. If God became a man, what kind of man would you expect Him to be?

Of the greatest men who have ever lived, none have dared to claim to be God in the flesh or the one and only way to God. Jesus didn't claim to be the best way to God, nor one of many ways, but the one and the only way to the Father. Only Jesus had the "words of eternal life" and showed us the Way. He didn't claim to be telling us the truth, but that He was the incarnation of truth itself ("I am the truth"). He said that all who are "of the truth" will hear Him, but unbelievers are those who reject the truth. In all of recorded history, no one has matched His personality and life! Many books can claim to be true, but only God's Word is Truth with a capital T, and the testimony is this: nature forms you, sin deforms you, education informs you, prison reforms you, but only Christ transforms you!

The New Testament books are not to be compared with the writings of other religions where so-called miracles are attributed, for they were written within a generation of the events and by eye-witnesses--not compiled centuries later. The difference between Christ's miracles and those of other faiths is that they were signs of His deity, and not just fantastic, for a show, or for personal advantage. You can take the miracles out of Islam, for example, and the religion remains intact, but if you remove the miracles from the Bible you disembowel it and make it nothing. Without miracles, Jesus would have only been a footnote in history and not worth following. Even Muhammad believed Christ performed miracles and he did none himself (there are none in the Koran)--only years later did writers ascribe some to him.

After the crucifixion, His own followers were ready to write Him off and go on living as if they had wasted three years of their life. It was the miracle (the great sign that He would give) and the fact of the resurrection that turned a disbanded and demoralized group of followers into roaring lions of the faith, who were not afraid of the authorities anymore, nor of death itself. If God were to become a man, you would expect Him to be like Jesus and do miracles and Jesus foots the bill and doesn't let us down on any count. It is one thing to claim to be God and quite another to prove it and have people die for your claims! "He spoke like no other man ever spoke"--with authority (He didn't say, "Thus says the Lord, but, "I say unto you.").

The Christian scholar Philip Schaff portrays Christ graphically as follows:


This Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Muhammad, and Napoleon; without science and learning shed more light on matters human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of schools, he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times.

Nothing can explain Him, except the profound hypothesis that He is the living Son of God! We don't compare Christ, we contrast Him who is in a league of His own as the one who claimed to be God in the flesh or incarnated--you can rest assured of this: No one will ever improve on Jesus! As John Stuart Mill (considered one of the most brilliant minds of all time and an atheist) said he is "a unique figure not more unlike all his predecessors than all his followers."


The problem with most would-be messiahs is that their character doesn't support their claims and the problem is that familiarity breeds contempt with men, but there is no discrepancy with Christ--his character does not disprove His deity, but it is consistent with it and confirms it. No one, not even a psychiatrist could analyze Him as unbalanced despite His claims. Christ is beyond our analysis (no one can figure Him or peg Him) and we can only be in awe as we wonder what kind of man would we expect the Son of God to be. Who can understand a man who washes His disciple's feet, yet claims to be the Judge of mankind? Soli Deo Gloria!

Present Your Credentials Please! ...

It goes without saying that Jesus was not the Messiah of conventional wisdom--a military prince to deliver Israel from Rome; instead, they got a pacifist with a whole new way of living. No one had the unique character of Christ that forgave His enemies and had compassion on the multitudes; no one had exhibited such unprecedented conduct like turning the other cheek or practicing what He preached to such a magnitude; no one demonstrated such unparalleled claims like being the incarnation of God--yet people were puzzled as to His very identity: He didn't go around advertising that He was the Son of David, neither did He ever deny it. He did speak in figures of speech at first but didn't always beat around the bush--His enemies knew full well what He was claiming. He didn't have a publicity agent to promote Him, but the word sure got around that He couldn't escape the adoring crowds and curiosity seekers.

In short, no one has ever had His credentials, just like George Gordon, Lord Byron said, "If ever a man were God, or God was a man, Jesus was both." For instance, he despised duplicity and hypocrisy in others, and yet he was so straightforward and guileless Himself. This is notable because normally familiarity breeds contempt, and the closer the disciples got to Him the more they saw their sin, not His and respected Him to the point of worshiping.

Jesus is unique and cannot be pegged or put in a box to be analyzed: No one ever spoke like Jesus; He is easily the most outstanding personality of all time and easily the dominant figure of Western Civilization; His ethic is unheard of to the time in formulating the Golden Rule; He is the greatest teacher, lived the holiest life, has the most adherents, made the biggest impact on history, and He is by far the leader par excellence of mankind (John Stuart Mill, atheist, called Him the "guide of humanity") and the greatest man of letters, William Shakespeare called Him his Lord and Savior in his will. Without an army He has conquered more hearts, without going to formal school or penning anything He has inspired more songs, books, poetry, and sermons that can be counted! Even Napoleon wandered at His influence over man and said, "I tell you, I know men, and Jesus was no mere man!"

Let's examine some credentials of the God-man: His enemies concede more than you might realize in saying He was innocent blood, truly the Son of God, having no fault to crucify for, and did nothing worthy of death. His friends like Peter testified that He was the Son of the living God, and Thomas cried, "My Lord, and my God." The thief on the cross unwittingly said that "He saved others." The chief priests and elders couldn't deny the miracles (it was common knowledge!) that He wrought and even plotted to kill Lazarus because of his testimony. Some of the strongest credentials are the 333 prophecies He fulfilled to the letter of at least 456 details. He had all the witnesses you could ask for John the Baptist announced the inauguration of His ministry; the Holy Spirit was there at His baptism; the soldier at the cross realized He was the Son of God; Paul saw Him on the road to Damascus; a heavenly chorus of angels sang at His birth; More than 500 eyewitnesses saw Him in His resurrected body at one time; He was showered with gifts by magi; (the books couldn't all be written) ad infinitum.

The sign of His virgin birth, given as fulfillment of prophecy (Is. 7:14) was a biological anomaly, but is wholly consistent with His character: If a man lived the kind of life He did and died the way He did, you would believe Him when He claimed a virgin birth, unlike Alexander the Great, who claimed his real father was a snake!

To mention in passing that His historicity is vouched for by pagan as well as religious or spiritual sources is only common sense. Pliny the Younger, the Talmud, Suetonius, Tacitus, Josephus, et al mention vital facts about Christ inadvertently and what seems fortuitously. One can no longer dismiss the Scripture record as legend or myth because these didn't have time to develop and the timeline places them in the first century mostly before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

We would have no reason to believe in His deity had He not risen from the dead to prove it as the ultimate credential--this is a historical fact that can be vouched for by more various sources than any antiquarian fact. His miracles were not denied but attributed to Satan--even the historian Josephus in his Antiquities of the Jews claimed miracles done and the Jews never denied this. The point is that He didn't just do fantastic miracles to attract attention, on-demand, or for selfish reasons, but only as signs of His nature and out of compassion. In multiplying the loaves He was proclaiming Himself as the Bread of Life; in raising Lazarus as the Resurrection and the Life, etc.

In application, we have to realize that we present Jesus to the world and people look at our personal credentials: What manner of person are we or what are we really made of in a crisis? Our testimony shows our true colors and there comes a time when our actions may speak louder than our words. To some people, Jesus would never measure up because He isn't what they are looking for; and likewise, we will be rejected by the world and we must learn that the world hated Him and will hate us also. We have the honor to bear our cross, which pales in comparison to His, and to suffer for Jesus in ways that He never did to complete them and so that we can share the fellowship of suffering as Paul did and said in Philippians 3:10 (ESV) which says, "[T]hat I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings [the fellowship of His sufferings] ...."

In sum, John couldn't have said it more clearly: "This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true" (John 21:24, ESV). I appeal to no higher authority than Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith, because He is the highest authority and is self-attesting. This means that Jesus measures up and to appeal to any other authority than to Him is to dethrone Him and exalt that authority to God-like status. Soli Deo Gloria!

Jesus' Impression On Men

"The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ"  (John 1:17, NIV).
Jesus said, "He who is of the truth hears My voice."

No matter who Jesus talked to He left a deep impression as the personification and embodiment of truth, enlightening everyone along His path.  Pilate asked the question, "What is truth?" (John 18:38). He was a little ahead of his time, as people in this postmodern era echo similar queries. They teach us today that you can know nothing for certain, and they are certain of that one truth!  Just saying, "Truth is relative" has little truth-value, since it is also relative, that's a truth claim.  If some posit that something is only relative, just inquire of them, "Relative to what, to you?" or "Is that statement relative?"   In antiquity, there was no worldwide or international truth that was accepted because each nation or peoples seemed to have their own gods and their own turfs where they reigned.  Romans let the locals have their own gods, especially the Jews, to whom they acted in deference to their laws and traditions, such as no images on coins.

"If there is no God, all things [including truth itself,] are up for grabs," and truth is a meaningless concept indeed (as Dostoyevsky said).  Actually, truth is what God decrees and agrees with Him. Francis Schaeffer called God's Word "true truth."  God cannot lie and is called the God of truth, while Jesus claimed to be "The Way, the Truth, and the Life." In antiquarian times might was considered right and they had not conceived of monotheism, except in the Jewish world, even though there had been a diaspora or dispersion of Jews being scattered around the known world.

One cannot arrive at the truth unless one admits his ignorance and that he could be wrong. Many searchers for truth never find it because they've got their minds made up and don't want to be confused with the facts.  The truth of the Bible is not something we would've imagined or thought up on our own, but it is revealed truth--we postulate that the veracity of the Bible is at stake in our dependence on supernaturally revealed and inspired truth.

Pilate didn't perceive Jesus as any threat to Caesar until the weak-willed, wishy-washy procurator was blackmailed into crucifying the Lord of glory.   It was obvious to him that the Pharisees were jealous of His popularity and were trying to keep job security and protect their turf.  Even Herod saw Jesus as nothing more than a dreamer, bumpkin, or magician that was no threat.  Herod and Pilate became friends that day on their mutual convictions.

No one is the same after an encounter with Jesus, he is transformed or hardened, there is no neutral territory or reaction.  When Jesus wanted to make a pronouncement, He said, "Amen, amen!" which means "Verily, verily, I say unto you."  It introduces a vital truth not to be ignored.  Jesus would say, "You have heard it said, but I say unto you" to shock them out of their comfort zones and as a spiritual wake-up call reminding them of His identity and credentials that matched.   Jesus didn't bother to footnote His sermons by quoting the rabbis as the Pharisees had done (i.e., the "Rabbi So-and-So says this" formula!"). He never "prefaced" his decrees as the prophets did ("Thus saith the LORD, etc. which is not self-attesting) and is not known to have quoted anyone.  It was known that Jesus spoke as one who had authority no by authority (cf. Matt. 7:29).

Jesus is the highest authority and to rely on someone to prove someone compromises this trait.  Jesus spoke of His own authority and like no other man before Him.  They were also unable to withstand His wisdom and He was so able to answer all their questions, that they dared no ask anymore.  If Jesus had quoted people, He would not have been coming in His own authority, speaking on the Father's behalf, but would have been a scholar offering opinions.  Jesus only said what the Father told Him to say.

Absolute Truth with a capital T does indeed exist and we can encounter it and have a relationship with it by knowing Christ as our Lord and Savior.   Statements can be true, and logical conclusions can be valid, but only God's Word can be called truth.  Jesus told Pilate that he who is of the truth hears Him.  Things that are wrong in the Bible are still wrong and haven't evolved with the times to be right in today's modern age.  If something is wrong, it is always and everywhere wrong. Something is objectively true whether one believes it or not and believing something doesn't make it true, nor denying it makes it false!  Man cannot achieve total objectivity apart from revelation from God.

Jesus is the source of all wisdom and knowledge and Proverbs 1:7 says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge."   It is not a matter of some people having faith and others having facts. It's not faith vs. reason, but faith vs. faith (faith in science is still faith).   All knowledge begins in faith and assuming something you can't prove--you just decide which set of propositions you are willing to accept as a foundation to your thinking and mental outlook or belief system. Augustine of Hippo said that all knowledge begins in faith and "I believe in order to understand."  He also said that all truth is God's truth, and Thomas Aquinas added that all truth meets at the top.

It has been wisely said that nature forms, sin deforms, education informs, prison reforms, but Christ transforms.   Jesus said that we shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free and He is not talking about knowledge of facts or education, but of knowing the truth in Him and being set free by it--only Jesus can set a soul free from its bondage to sin.  Jesus is still in the business of changing lives and God is still in the resurrection business, and the Bible is not for increasing our knowledge but transforming our lives as the living Word of God.  However, "to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge" is the key to victory and assurance (cf. Eph. 3:19).  Soli Deo Gloria!

Christ In You

The mystery of the faith is "Christ in you, the hope of glory," according to Colossians 1:27. Not only is the Father and Holy Spirit resident within our hearts, upon invitation, but Jesus' very Spirit is too, which will be glorified when we enter glory for our reward. Then "we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (cf. 1 John 3:2).

We must periodically examine ourselves to see whether Christ is in us, unless we fail this test, according to 2 Cor. 13:5, and we will see that God is conforming us into His image as icons of Christ, as we go from glory to glory, being increasingly brought into conformity to His image (cf. 2 Cor. 3:18). Paul wrote to the Galatians that he was waiting patiently for Christ to be formed in them (cf. Gal. 4:19), for they had reverted to legalism and spurned God's grace for another gospel, trying to perfect themselves in the flesh, not the Spirit.

Paul had been received "as Christ Himself" (cf. Gal. 4:14) and it was time to admonish the flock entrusted to his care. Paul was the perfect witness to them and they knew Christ was speaking through him as he wrote, for the God "revealed His Son" in Paul (cf. Gal. 1:16) as verification of His gospel's authenticity.

The point is that we are all little Christ's as lights in the world, just as He is the light of the world, and that is what is meant by the term "Christian." The only gospel message some may read is our story and the witness we give by our lives and words. In other words: What is the gospel according to you?


God's goal is to make us resemble Christ, and He does it by taking away everything that doesn't look like Christ! Adversity is the primary means to the end of sanctification, and we are meant to grow Christlike by exposure to it, seeing our character become conformed to His image.

The Greek disciples said to the apostles in John 12:21, ESV: "...Sir, we wish to see Jesus." The writer of Hebrews says, "But we Jesus..." in Heb. 2:9, and in this sense our spiritual eyes do apprehend Him. Peter says we love Him, though we haven't seen Him (in the flesh)! This is the miracle, to love Him in the Spirit and to have His Spirit bear witness with our spirit.

Remember, 2 Cor. 4:4 says the lost are blind spiritually and God needs to open the eyes of our hearts to see Jesus. The Pharisees claimed they could see, but woe to those who don't know they are blind and think they see! We can say with faith that we see Him by faith: "Though you have not seen him you love him..." (1 Pet. 1:8, ESV). Soli Deo Gloria!

Who Does Jesus Think He Is?

"And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes" (Mark 1:22, ESV).

"The officers answered, Never man spake like this man" (John 7:46, KJV), who reported to the authorities. Jesus was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God (cf. John 10:33), even claiming that the Father and Him were one [in essence]. In one sense the triune God is a threesome or three (in one), but in another, it is a unity of one being with three persons in a relationship. Elohim, the plural of God (El) is used by God in Genesis and God refers to Himself as a unity of one in Deut. 6:4, using the Hebrew echad, meaning one as in a cluster or unity. They are one in Spirit and one in purpose and will, but three in self-distinction and personality.

Jesus didn't go around advertising that He was the Son of David, or the Son of God, though He never denied it (He was forced to confess it at His trial as the Son of the Blessed One). Note that with all due respect to the founders of all the other world religions, only Jesus claimed to be God (cf. John 8:58, says, "Before Abraham was, I AM" and John 8:24 really says, "Unless you believe that I AM, you shall die in your sins" and in John 14:9 He says, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father"), and this is why the authorities despised and hated Him and were jealous of His powers and influence of the people--they knew what He was claiming! "If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him..." (John 11:48, ESV).

Jesus usually used figures of speech, but He didn't always beat around the bush by indirect claims but spoke plainly enough for his disciples to recognize Him as the Messiah or Christ the Lord. Peter confessed Him as the Son of God. His favorite title for Himself was Son of Man (cf. Daniel 7:13), showing Him identifying with us as the Messiah, as this was a known messianic title from Daniel. George Gordon, Lord Byron said that "if ever man was God, or God man, Jesus Christ was both." He wasn't half God and half man, but the God-man (theanthropos in Greek), being all God and all man in one permanent incarnation or personification. Some find it incredible to believe a man could become God or deified, but they can accept the historical fact of the incarnation when God became man! They besought Him to tell them plainly and He did, but they wouldn't listen or understand. John 12:37 says that even though he performed many signs, they would not (not could not) believe in Him.

The most striking aspect of His teaching and some just saw Him as a good teacher ("... Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him" (John 3:2, KJV). It is patronizing to think of Him only as a good teacher or moral leader or even martyr for a good cause--these are not valid options to consider concerning Him. "You call Me Lord and teacher, and so I am." He never prefaced His teachings with "thus saith the Lord" but directly said it as if speaking as God, not for God. He didn't speak by authority, but with authority, and no man ever spoke so audaciously before; others would commonly quote the authorities, like renowned and learned teachers and Pharisees. When He spoke it was not introduced by phrases like "It is said," but "I say unto you." The critics would just mutter, 'Who does He think He is?" In respect to His teaching: "[F]or he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not their scribes" (Matt. 7:29, ESV).

About calling Himself the Son of God and not denying it (John 1:49 says, "... Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel"), He pointed out that we are all sons of God in the sense of being His creatures and challenged them: who was David's Son? When He referred to Himself as the Son of Man, the Pharisees knew very well that this was a messianic title and just who He was claiming to be. Indeed, the teachers and Pharisees got the message and weren't as clueless as they pretended--they even remembered that He predicted His resurrection, which the disciples didn't understand or anticipate. Even Nicodemus, the so-called "teacher of Israel," didn't know where He was coming from at first, but after the encounter at night came over to sympathize with His cause, and took His side--even helping to anoint and bury Him.

Normally you don't believe someone who makes claims of deity or divinity which they can't substantiate (Father Divine of Philadelphia, now deceased, and Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church of Korea and whose followers are called Moonies, for instance), but Jesus' claims were consistent with his credentials and the witness of signs and wonders. There have been numerous wannabes and would-be messianic figures, but they are easily dismissed. If Jesus had been a devil, a madman, sincerely deceived teacher, or a liar, wouldn't the disciples had figured it out and had Him pegged after three years of close contact; familiarity normally breeds contempt!

People will die for what they believe is true, but these men were in a position to know the truth, fanatics and religious extremists aren't. Napoleon thought he could conquer Europe, but languished on St. Helena in exile, reading and studying the Bible, contemplated Jesus: "I know men, and I tell you Jesus was no mere man." When anyone considers the evidence the only credible hypothesis is that Jesus is the Son of God, but acknowledging this is not salvation, you must know Him, love Him, and follow Him as you trust in Him as Savior and submit to Him as Lord.

Other religious leaders are self-effacing, while Jesus was self-advancing or promoting and His teaching was self-centered. You can take Buddha out of Buddhism and the faith remains intact, but Christ is what Christianity is all about; its essence is that Christ is God in the flesh! Actually, the whole of Scripture is all about Jesus on every page and in every book. It wasn't just Jesus who was His own witness: the Father and Holy Spirit gave approval of Him, and said, "This is My beloved Son...."

His miracles were really signs of His deity and were consistent, not helter-skelter, for prestige, personal gain, showy, fantastic, haphazard, capricious, without any reason, ostentatious, nor for personal gain or profit, but out of love as the motive to confirm faith. He did everything that you would expect a God-man to do and was everything you'd expect Him to be. I rest my case: there's no reason to doubt due to lack of evidence or irrationality. If one is willing, God will authenticate the truth--He's no man's debtor--"seek and you will find" (cf. Matt. 7:7).

The conclusion of the matter is that anyone can make claims and do to be a somebody, and many have claimed to be Israel's Messiah, but their lives have to be consistent with their testimony and not belie it. Jesus' life was of such caliber and moral uprightness that there is sufficient reason to believe he wasn't a deluded madman, lunatic, liar, or mistaken because he invariably practiced what He preached and preached what He practiced. Usually, familiarity breeds contempt, but not in this case, the disciples recognized His holiness and no one could convict Him of sin or convince Him of it, they verified in their writings that He was without sin. One disciple says to Christ: "Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man."

They willingly verified and proved the veracity of their witness to His resurrection by the sacrifice of their lives in martyrdom--people don't normally lie when threatened with death. Just like Elvis impersonators are easy to spot, it is easy to realize that Jesus will never be surpassed or equaled (neither by predecessor nor by disciple nor by wannabe nor even rival). You don't compare others with Him, but you contrast them with Christ.

Fanatics and religious extremists will die for what they believe is true, but they are not in a position to know the truth, as the disciples were, and they died to prove their veracity concerning their witness of the resurrection and the risen Jesus. You don't normally believe someone was born of a virgin either (Buddha claimed his father was a white elephant and Alexander the Great and Augustus Caesar claimed their fathers were serpents!), but if they lived like Jesus there would be ample reason to believe it. Soli Deo Gloria!

Jesus Wasn't A Great Moral Teacher

"I and the Father are one" (John 10:30, NIV).

Many skeptics refuse to think of Jesus as anything but a moral teacher and even an example or model for man, denying His deity in the process. But Jesus didn't want to be known as just a great moral teacher or example, but as our Lord and Savior--He didn't leave us that option! If He were not who He claimed to be, He wouldn't be great at all, but evil and an impostor. When I say that He was not a great teacher, I'm saying He wasn't particularly that, limiting Him--He was that and more! And so the title is not contradictory according to the law of noncontradiction: nothing can be something and not be something at the same time, in the same sense!

Jesus could have been a demon who had powers to deceive, but could a demon say the things He did and can a demon open the eyes of the blind (cf. John 10:21), as they murmured? His wise reflections and teachings are not the rantings and ravings of a madman, but the Words of God. George Gordon, Lord Byron said that "if ever man were God or God-man, Jesus was both." His personality is as normal and balanced as anyone who ever lived, and the moral precedent He set has never been equaled, excelled, nor surpassed, neither by predecessor nor by follower and worshiper.

C. S. Lewis has said that He was either a liar, lunatic or Lord; there is ample proof He wasn't legend and no one in their right mind would call Him the devil! If He were a liar, wouldn't the disciples have had him pegged and figured out after three years? Lunatics and imposters, like Elvis impersonators, are easy to spot and can be ruled out because their lives belie their claims and they don't have the credentials.

Jesus didn't just say He was the Son of God, but proved it by His life and good works, especially miracles. Even famed atheist Bertrand Russell didn't begrudge Him the highest of morality and principle! John Stuart Mill, considered by some scholars to be the most intelligent man who ever lived, called Jesus the guide of humanity, though he was no Christian.

If a psychologist were to analyze Him, and he is beyond our ability to analyze or peg, he would find a perfectly balanced person who is well adjusted and with no inner conflict, issues or baggage. He has all the traits of a normal person and besides that, the ideal man's personality with no flaws whatsoever--He's the ideal standard to judge by, the most well-adjusted personage known! There's absolutely nothing abnormal about Him and certainly no evidence of mental illness or tendency at all.

You can tell something about a person by their followers, and Christ not only laid down the highest ethics in the Golden Rule but also served as the highest incentive to practice it! The disciples were of high moral fiber and laid down their lives for their testimony; it is a known fact that people will die for what they believe is true, but not for a known lie! The disciples were in a position to verify and know whether He rose from the dead or not, and died as martyrs to test the veracity of their claim.


We don't refer to Jesus in any human category: Not just Jesus the Great, which sounds quite insulting and doesn't behoove Him, nor just the Exemplar of mankind to live by or martyr to inspire us to a good cause. He is not just our example or leader, which He is, but also our Savior (that was His mission!). If you don't accept Him for who He is (God come in the flesh), you are rejecting Him; you cannot declare you are willing to accept Him as your teacher or guide only without reference to His offices as prophet, priest, and king and His authority as Lord and Savior. We come to Him on His terms, not vice versa! Soli Deo Gloria!

The Kenosis Of Christ

The title refers to the "emptying" of Jesus (the kenosis in Koine or common, "vulgar" Greek) or when He "made Himself of no reputation," NKJV, in the sense of laying aside His glory and independent usage of divinity, as He functioned as a man with all the limitations that go with it.  Christ never stopped being God, nor did He lose His powers as God, but only did what the Father told Him to do, following the interposed will of the Father.  Philippians 2:7 (NLT) says, "Instead, he gave up his divine privileges...." Christ's glory is that He laid aside all His glory and humbled Himself, even to the death on a cross as a criminal.



Some may object to this ignominious death, (thinking that it's repugnant to have Christ "defeated" by man) but it was the pleasure of the Father to judge sin in this manner.  We all ought to learn a lesson in humility following His example.  Just to make a point about true service, Christ took a towel and washed the disciples'  feet, and they were all taken aback, Peter even objected, thinking this was not fit the Lord's dignity.  When Christ said that we also ought to wash each others' feet, we get the lesson that, in God's economy, the way up is down just like John the Baptist said, "He must increase, but I must decrease"  (cf. John 3:30).



Peter failed to see Christ as the servant of the Lord and that greatness is in how many people you serve, not how many serve you.  Christ himself said that he came, "not to be served, but to serve and to give [His] life a ransom for many" (cf. Mark 10:45).  This gesture of foot-washing showed that we must be willing to humble ourselves, for humility comes before exaltation.  There is no caste system nor superstar believer in the body, but all are "one in Christ" (cf. Col. 3:11; Gal. 3:28; 1 Cor. 12:13).  There are no "untouchables" and neither is anyone beyond redemption.



All believers are called to become  the servants of Christ; at the bema (or Judgment Seat of Christ) we all look forward to hearing Christ pronounce:  "Well done, thou good and faithful servant...."  Albert Schweitzer was right:  "The only happy people are those who have learned how to serve."   I call this humiliation of ourselves in Christ's service as the "order of the towel," and the question should not be how high we can aim, but how low we can go--nothing is literally "beneath" the believer.  Whosoever humbles himself as a child shall be great in God's kingdom (cf. Matt. 18:4).   Service is the keynote of Christ's ministry, for He went about doing good (cf. Acts 10:38).   Soli Deo Gloria!