Jesus Christ: Is He God or Man?

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Further evidence to support the deity of Christ is seen in the more than 300 prophecies concerning him and his life that are found in the Bible and were written centuries before his birth.

For instance, 700 years before Christ was born in Bethlehem, Micah wrote, "But you, Bethlehem...though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel."⁴

A thousand years before Christ's death David predicted how he would die. "They have pierced my hands and my feet," he wrote.⁵ This happened at Christ's crucifixion.

This is even more remarkable when considering that, in David's time, death by crucifixion was unknown. This inhuman, torturous death was first used by the Persians centuries later.

David also predicted that Christ would be betrayed by a friend, that people would "throw dice" for his clothes, and that he would die with criminals.⁶He also predicted the dying Savior's cry: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"⁷ All of these predictions came true.

Six hundred years prior to Christ's coming Daniel predicted when it would be. One hundred years later Zechariah told how Christ would enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey; how he would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver; and how this money would be used to buy a potter's field.⁸

All these predictions about Christ and many more—written hundreds of years before his coming—were fulfilled in detail, giving evidence to show that Jesus Christ was indeed God's promised Messiah—the Savior of the world.

When Jesus came, he asked his disciples, "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."⁹

This is the crucial question that each of us needs to answer. If Christ is who he claims to be, then our response to this question will determine our relationship to God for all eternity.

Who do you say that I am?

One thing we cannot do is accept Christ as a great moral teacher but not as God. As C.S. Lewis, a former professor at Cambridge and Oxford wrote, "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 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. You can shut him up for a fool; you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."¹⁰

Jesus himself said, "He who is not with me is against me."¹¹ That is, unless we act on our belief and make a commitment to follow Christ in our everyday life, we are automatically against him.

However, if you do believe Jesus is the Son of God, and you aren't sure you have committed your life to him, you can do so through a simple prayer. Tell Jesus Christ that you believe he is the Son of God who died for your sins, and that you would like to become one of his true followers starting today. To assist you to do this click on the God's Invitation link at the bottom of the page.

1. John 10:30, NIV. 2. Matthew 16:21. 3 Luke 24:13-43; 1 Corinthians 15:5-8. 4. Micah 5:2, NIV. 5. Psalm 22:16, NIV. 6. Psalm 41:9; 22:18. 7. Psalm 22:1, NIV. 8 Daniel 9:25-26; Zechariah 9:9-10; 11:12. 9. Matthew 16:15-16, NIV. 10. Cited on Christian Odyssey at: http://www.gci.org/history/lewis. 11. Luke 11:23, NIV.

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