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! 

A Profile Of Jesus

"If God were a man, we would expect His personality to be true humanity. Only God could tell us what true man should be like. Certainly there are forerunners of piety in the Old Testament models. Foremost must be a complete consciousness, coupled with complete dedication and consecration of life to God. Then, ranked below this, are the other virtues, graces and attributes that characterize perfect humanity. Intelligence must not stifle piety, and prayer must not be a substitute for work, and zeal must not be irrational fanaticism, and reserve must not become stolidity."--Bernard Ramm

"In Christ we have the perfect blend of personality traits, because as God incarnate, he is perfect humanity." --Paul Little, Know Why You Believe, John Schaff describes Him as follows:

"Jesus' zeal never degenerated into passion, nor his constancy into obstinacy, or his benevolence into weakness, nor his tenderness into sentimentality. His unworldliness was free from indifference and unsociability or undue familiarity; His self-denial from moroseness; His temperance form austerity. Hie combined childlike innocence with manly strength, absorbing devotion to God with untiring interest in the welfare of man, tender love to the sinner with uncompromising severity against sin, commanding dignity with winning humility, fearless courage with wise caution, unyielding firmness with sweet gentleness!"

He washed the disciples' feet, yet claimed to be the Judge of the world. Though He claimed deity, He never showed aloofness or arrogance, but was humble and came to serve, not to be served (cf. Mark 10:45). Scholar John Schaff again portrays Christ:

"This Jesus of Nazareth without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Muhammad and Napoleon; without science and learning, he 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."

His personality shows no sign of mental aberration, chemical imbalance, or illness, according to Dr. Gary R. Collins, a clinical psychologist and chair of the psychology division at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, who says there are a "variety of proofs. Among them are these: His teaching was impeccably moral and consistent with His claims; He demonstrated the gamut of human emotions; He was "never paranoid"; "He understood human nature"; "He never demonstrated inappropriate emotions"; He had meaningful, "healthy," multiple, "close personal relationships"; No one could accuse Him or convince Him of sin! He was the Exemplar without a flaw; "He spoke clearly, powerfully, and eloquently;" His fame and claims didn't go to His head and give Him a "bloated ego;" His sermons were not the rantings and ravings of a madman; He was a mystery--if He were a deceiver, liar, lunatic, or deceived Himself, the disciples would've figured it out by living with Him three years in close contact; and finally, He challenged His enemies to convince Him of sin (cf. John 8:46).

He was the most outstanding personality of all time: not to be surpassed or improved upon by either predecessor nor disciple; the greatest leader in history; He did the most good for mankind; He was the greatest teacher; He lived the holiest life; He was the best example for mankind; He was the greatest moral teacher, guide, and incentive to morality; He had the biggest impact on history. And His cruel death was not the end of Him. Calling Him the greatest man who ever lived doesn't do Him justice or saying Jesus the Great! You don't compare Him, you contrast Him! He is simply God's last word to man and all we need to know of God!

C. S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, writes: "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 a 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." He goes on: "The discrepancy between the depth and sanity of His moral teaching and a diagnosis of rampant megalomania" are patently incompatible.

No one can peg Jesus, put Him in a box, nor adequately describe Him nor figure Him out (cf. 2 Cor. 9:15), but whatever is perfect is what He demonstrated, and what He lived out was perfection personified. He cannot be improved upon! He demands worship, not admiration, discipleship, not study!   Soli Deo Gloria! 

God Is With Us

For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily"  (Col. 2:9, NKJV).



His name is Jesus (meaning "this Lord is salvation"), but He is "God with us" ("Immanuel") in the flesh or incarnated.  The full nature of God is manifest in Christ (cf. Col. 2:9) and God is personified for us to see, all we need to know is in Him and what we can know.  The whole revelation of God, as He is to be known and worshiped, is in Christ Jesus--to see Him is to see the Father and to accept and worship Him is to do so with the Father. Jesus left us, but not as orphans, the Holy Spirit was given as a Comforter and Paraclete to guide and enlighten us.



We are actually better off with the Holy Spirit within us than when Jesus walked the earth as the God-man among us.  We have both the whole counsel of God and the inward witness of the Spirit to be our inner comfort and witness.  Christianity is about Christ and to remove Him is to disembowel it and neutralize its teachings and reality.  You can remove Muhammad from Islam or Buddha from Buddhism and the religions stay intact, but not so with our faith: it is about Jesus beginning and ending, all else is circumference--every other issue is peripheral.  We could not know what God was like except for the incarnation, and our access to Him would be limited without His intercession and meditating on our behalf. 



We need to know what God is like to know how to live and Jesus is the express image of God with skin on for us.  Of men inspired by God or inhabited by God, there have been many, men called by God and lead by God numerous, men of God and godly men countless, but Jesus stands out unequaled and unsurpassed as the God-man, unlike any of His predecessors and disciples--you simply cannot improve on Him.  He is not a lord nor a god, but the Lord and God personified--the Word become flesh, and the Word is God.



According to Francis Schaeffer, Christianity is about "the God who is there."  Sometimes we may wonder where God is, but He is right here as close as His name, and we might wonder and realize He was there all the time.  Surely, He was there and we knew it not--that is the commentary on some people's spiritual life. For wherever two or three are gathered in His name, there He is!   As the title implies, Immanuel, Christians have the Holy Spirit and God with them wherever they go never forsaking us (cf. Matt. 28:20).



We must endeavor to attempt great things for God and expect even greater blessings in return because we can be assured that God is with us and will guide us all the way.  When God is in something, it will succeed.  There is a story of Saint Theresa, who said she desired to erect a convent, and when asked of here resources, said she had twelve pence.  They told her that even Saint Theresa couldn't do much with only that; she replied that God and Saint Theresa could do anything.  We can see that the only important thing is whether God is in it or not; we don't bring our plans to God for approval, but find His will and do it and He will provide the resources.  If we are led to do something from the Spirit, God will provide.



Jesus became what we are and what He was not, but continued to be what He was--He never gave up His divine nature, but became man as the God-man.  He is not a deified man nor a humanized God, nor a man with divine attributes, nor a God that acts or appears as a man.  He is not a God in human disguise either, but fully man and fully God, perfect man, perfect God--two natures united mysteriously into one nature forever.  He feels our pain because He Himself experienced the worst man could dish out Himself.  Could you identify with a God who knew no pain nor had any first-hand experience as a man in our world?  Not only can we relate to Him, but He identifies with us and is in a position to make intercession for us.  God is with us when we need Him most, and whatever happens, we will not be overwhelmed because of His presence through the Spirit abiding in u



We must be careful not to limit Him nor put Him in a box:  He was a great teacher; He was a divine Healer; He was a miracle worker; He was a great leader, etc.  You cannot speak of Him in comparative nor superlative terms, such as saying He is Jesus the Great, or even the greatest leader, teacher, model, nor influence man has ever seen or for that matter, it diminishes Him by saying these things, for He cannot be compared but must be contrasted, the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in His nature for our benefit so we can know God personally and have a relationship with one that identifies with us on our level and we can resonate with Him, which is mutual.  He feels our pain!  Pronouncing Him in human terminology such as Jesus the Great doesn't do Him justice and no man can be what He was nor step into His shoes and do what He did (a regular man could do what Muhammad did, but no man can do what Christ did!).



Jesus took on the infirmities of man in the weakness of the flesh to identify with us and dwell in our midst.  He always was, is, and will be the Lord of all and couldn't be our Savior, if not God with us!  He emptied Himself of the independent usage of His divine attributes and obeyed the Father's will and didn't act independently on His own--for He could do nothing of Himself.  The wonderful thing is that we can taste and see the Lord is good and find it out for ourselves and experience His presence in the same Spirit that His disciples did, opening our eyes to spiritual truth and showing us the way.  In the final analysis, Jesus will not barter away His nature nor cease being God with us in the flesh!     Soli Deo Gloria!

Jesus Emptied Himself

He became what He was not; He continued to be what He was."--Athanasius, the father of orthodoxy

"But he emptied himself by taking the form of a slave and by becoming like human beings. When he found himself in the form of a human, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Phil. 2:7-8, CEB).

"I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me" (John 6:38, NIV).

"I have ... [completed] the work you gave me to do" (John 17:4, NIV).

"The Son can do nothing by himself" (John 5:19, NIV).

"My food is to do the will of him who sent me,"  (John 4:34, NIV).

"... whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say" (John 12:50, NIV).

"Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself" (Phil. 2:5, MSG).


NB: In God's economy, the way to be filled is to be emptied and we must empty ourselves of all our love for self or empty ourselves of all which contradicts God. Putting God first is the only place to put God. He will not accept second place or play second-fiddle.


Paul talks about the kenosis or emptying, of Himself concerning Christ in Philippians 2. The definition of the doctrine of kenosis is that Christ voluntarily laid aside His glory, restrained His power; accepted hardship and human limitations, and confined Himself in His human nature to the limits of space, time, and knowledge of man's experience. He never gave up any part of His divine nature, but became subordinate to the Father's will, not doing anything He didn't see the Father doing or even saying anything the Father didn't tell Him to say. Note that subordination doesn't mean or imply inferiority, but only a sphere of authority and domain of responsibility. 

He voluntarily gave up on the independent use of His divine privileges and powers to live as a man in all his weaknesses. He wanted to be able to identify fully with the human predicament and condition, in order to intercede for us on a sympathetic basis, knowing the pain and suffering first hand. Likewise, we can resonate with Him. In plainspoken language, Jesus became the subordinate One to save those who were insubordinate!

He spared Himself no problems common to man! He was truly acquainted with suffering and grief on our behalf in order to be a faithful high priest, savior, and king for us--that we can relate to and can be identified with. Everything about Him was a story of and typical of humiliation because He left His throne in heaven to humble Himself all the way to the cross in obedience to the Father's interposed will. In so doing He represented us and the Father was able to accept His obedience vicariously for us so that we could be justified by an act of imputation. Yes, Christ didn't just die for us but lived the perfect, moral, and spiritual life on our behalf too (that is why He told John the Baptist that they "must fulfill all righteousness").

He came to die, the only man who ever lived, whose mission it was to simply to die and lay down his life. From the very get-go, He was a man on a mission par excellence and set His sights on Calvary. He asks us to carry our cross and follow Him, but our crosses pale in comparison to His and He asks us to do nothing He didn't do, and He spared Himself no level of suffering--at least He was honest enough to warn us and tell us to count the cost of discipleship, for He exempted Himself no pain. In sum, we must acknowledge Him as the living, victorious Lord of Life and Victor over Satan, sin, and death, our enemies--He is Lord of all or not at all!


But Christ's life is more than an example for to follow as the so-called guide to life or humanity, or some good life to mimic: He was born under the Mosaic Law and lived subordinate to it in perfect obedience on our behalf--so that His perfect righteousness could be imputed to our account. He must be seen not simply as a martyr for a good cause (for He laid down His life willingly), but as a victory over death and the only way to conquer it. Indeed, His cruel death was not the end of Him! The Pharisees' worst nightmare came true: He rose from the dead and transformed the lives of the witnesses and disciples who saw Him. 

Benjamin Franklin wrote in his Autobiography that "we should imitate Jesus and Socrates," but there is no comparison between the two; Jesus is in a moral category by Himself and we don't compare Him, but contrast Him--we don't speak in terms of comparatives or superlatives either. Calling Him the best man who ever lived, or the best teacher, best example, or example of mankind doesn't do Him justice--we don't say Jesus the Great either because this is an insult to His glory and puts Him on the level of other so-called great men of history. What Alexander the Great did was a mere human achievement, but what Jesus did was divine! Pascal said that what Muhammad did any man can do, but no man can do what Christ did.

Jesus had very humble beginnings, not born as one would think of a conventional king, and died in conditions of what has been termed as "ignominious." Crucifixion was repugnant! Everyone can relate to Christ on some level, not just kings and princes, but the common man in his predicament and forlorn situation. For instance, Muslims cannot conceive of a God or Savior being "defeated" by man and dying on a cross in humiliation. They see the cross as an ignominious death too low for God. But this is God's way of defeating Satan: let the devil think he won and do all the evil he can, and turn it into good or a victory despite his attempts. God indeed does turn evil into good by overruling it by Providence. Like Psalm 76:10 says, God "makes the wrath of man to praise Him."

Jesus never gave up His divine attributes, but only their independent use or for His own advantage. While on earth in His subordination, He obeyed the Father and did His will perfectly: "Although he was a Son, he learned obedience by what he suffered" (Heb. 5:8, NIV). You can see every one of His attributes played out and at work in the gospels, but nowhere did He seek to display them for personal gain or to subvert the Father's will. His subordination was completely voluntary a and His subsequent glorification and exaltation was well-deserved due to His work as our Savior. You might think it's strange to show your love by dying for someone, but this was the only way to save us and Jesus said that to lay down your life for a friend is the sign of no greater love--He gave it all, the ultimate sacrifice!

In application, we ought to have the same mindset as Christ ourselves, who didn't grasp the concept of equality with God, but humbled himself--let this mind be also in us, because in God's economy, the way up is down, emptying comes before filling, and humility before honor; he who humbles himself in God's eyes will be exalted! Having the attitude of John the Baptist, who proclaimed in John 3:30, ESV: "He must increase, but I must decrease." We must empty ourselves or forget about ourselves to serve others, not being full of ourselves in the process! We ought not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought (cf. Rom. 12:3), but to regard others in honor, giving preference to them (cf. Rom. 12:10). Soli Deo Gloria!