Read John 5
Key Verse: John 5:46 “…if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.”
Can you trust someone who says he is God? Not likely. Maybe you heard the story of the pastor visiting a mental hospital. He walked by tow of the patients sitting on a bench in the sunshine outside the main entrance.
“How ya doin’, Reverend?” one of them asked brightly.
“Oh, quite fine, thank you,” replied the pastor. “And what is your name, if I may ask?”
“Napoleon.”
“Napoleon? The Napoleon?”
“Yep!”, declared the the man proudly.
“How do you know?” the pastor asked.
“God told me,” he said.
“I did no such thing!” the other patient blurted.
One man thinks he’s Napoleon; the other God. Little wonder these poor souls are being cared for in a hospital. It doesn’t matter how sincere you are, or how convinced, the objective evidence doesn’t line up with the subjective claim. So why should we believe Jesus when He says that He is God? The greatest objective evidence, I think, is the empty tomb. But Jesus himself said there were three other powerful objective evidences for His claim to deity. Here they are:
Firstly, “the very work that the Father has given Me to finish” (v.36). Secondly, “the Father who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me.” (v.37). And thirdly, “The Scriptures–…testify about me” (v.39). The work, the Father, the Scriptures. These are the three witnesses to Jesus.
His work included teaching , miracle working, and disciplining. The Father (His Father) declared both at Jesus’ baptism and on the Mount of Transfigurations that He was His “beloved Son. Hear Him!” And the Scriptures, from Moses to the Prophets, speak clearly and unequivocally about Israel’s Messiah who was to come. “I am He”, says Jesus.
And who, in the light of the empty tomb, the post-resurrection appearances, the ascension and the profound, timeless impact of His work, can build a case against His claim? It’s one thing to say He wasn’t God. It’s another thing to prove it.
