What Jesus Says About
Himself
I and my Father are one.
John 10:30
In a remote province of Galilee at the high point of Roman power, there appeared a man dressed in peasant garb, with the calloused hands of a laborer, who awakened unprecedented interest by His astonishing words and works. He was a young man of about thirty years of age. He had only the elementary schooling of the village synagogue. He had no political or financial backing. His itinerant ministry of teaching and healing was of short duration — about three years — then He was crucified at the hand of the religious and political authorities who feared His growing popularity. Rather than scattering His following, His death was followed by a movement of revolutionary impact and power. The effects of that spiritual explosion remain a major factor in the world today, the strongest influence for good and for God the world knows.
What do we think of this man Jesus? If He is not the Son of God and Saviour of mankind, then let us get down to the bitter business of adjusting to a grim and hopeless world. If He is, then let us give Him the full measure of our loyalty and
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love. I believe He is indeed the incarnate Lord of glory. I would direct your thought to just one area of evidence — what Jesus thought and said of Himself.
He said things about Himself that no other man has ever dared to say. He made amazing, astounding claims to unique Being and absolute authority. He made these claims in a natural, sincere way and in complete humility.
Suppose we were to hear one say, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). "I am the bread of life..." (John 6:35). "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12). "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture" (John 10:9). "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" (John 11:25).
Think of what He said about Himself. Consider too, the kind of promises He made. He said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away" (Mark 13:31). "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:13,14). "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:13). "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand" (John 10:27, 28). "...All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Mat. 28:18). "... and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." (Mat. 28:20).
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Moreover, Jesus calmly places Himself above the greatest of mortals, above the most sacred of institutions, above the highest authority known to man. He says, "... a greater than Solomon is here" (Luke 11:31). He placed Himself above the temple, even above the Sabbath. "That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath" (Luke 6:5). "And I, if I be lifted up... will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32). What statements!
He dared to claim outright equality with God. "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). They knew what He meant. They picked up stones to kill Him. In the fifth chapter of John's Gospel, there is a similar incident recorded. Jesus is by the pool of Bethesda. He looks with compassion upon a poor cripple who for thirty-eight years had laid helpless. He asks the unfortunate man if he really wants to be healed. The man gives reason why he is not healed. Then the Master speaks, "Arise, take up thy bed, and walk" (John 5:11). At once he stands to his feet, takes up his pallet and walks, rejoicing that he has been made whole.
Now the day on which this happens is the Sabbath Day and according to their tradition, no one is to carry so much as a stick on the Sabbath Day, let alone a mattress or a pallet. When the healed man is seen carrying his pallet, it arouses the fury of the religious leaders. They do not deny that a miracle has been performed and a ministry of mercy done, but it conflicts with the traditions of the fathers. They begin to accuse the Master of breaking the Sabbath law. In the last part of John 5:17 (RSV) we observe how our Lord replies. "My Father is working still and I am working." And for this reason "... the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God" (John 5:18, RSV).
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Some thoughtful student may call attention to the fact that most of the references just given are from John's Gospel, written particularly to present Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Perhaps these Scriptures are an expression of the later faith of the church rather than Jesus' own mind and message. But we cannot separate these claims of Jesus from the gospel record. They are woven into its very fabric. They cannot be deleted from the story without demolishing the structure. It is rather difficult to manage an umbrella from which the spokes have been removed. Just try it sometime and see what happens! But neither will the gospel hold together without the strong spokes of these claims of Christ to uniqueness. If He did not make these claims, then we know nothing whatever about His life. For the fact that Jesus felt and talked like this is as good as any historical evidence that we possess.
Moreover, we find these statements made throughout the entire gospel witness. For example, let us turn to Matthew's Gospel. In Matthew 11:27, He says, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." Thus He asserts that He is the solitary Mediator between the Father and man. Only as He discloses the nature of God, can He be known by mankind. As if that were not enough, He moves on to say, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Mat. 11:28). He offers rest and peace to the heart. He speaks then as no other man has ever spoken.
Or consider His words in the Sermon on the Mount. "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father. ...Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord have we not
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prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Mat. 7:21-23). Who is this man who sets Himself up as the very touchstone of life in the day of judgment and declares He will determine who shall enter into life and who shall not?
Observe Him as He stands under solemn oath before the High Priest on the night of His trial and crucifixion. The High Priest leans forward in a fury, shouting, "I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God" (Mat. 26:63). Jesus answers, "Thou hast said..." (Mat. 26:64). You are right. That is who I am. "...I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven" (Mat. 26:64). "Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy..." (Mat. 26:65). And they delivered Him to be crucified.
Jesus never would have been crucified if He had not made claim to be the unique Son of God. Thus, our Lord by His own words, sets Himself in a class by Himself. How do we understand this? Was he demented? Was He deluded? Was He a deceiver of men? Or was He divine as He said He was? Perhaps Jesus was suffering from delusions of grandeur. Perhaps He imagined Himself to be someone He was not. Perhaps He was sincere but mistaken about Himself.
Recently I heard of a scientist who desired to make a lie-detector test in a mental institution. He found a patient suffering from delusions of grandeur who thought he was Napoleon Bonaparte. Showing the instrument to the man, the scientist said, "This is a lie-detector. I want you to tell me the
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truth." Then he adjusted the apparatus and asked, "Are you Napoleon Bonaparte?" "No sir, I am not," the man replied. But the lie-detector showed that he was lying. Perhaps Jesus was deluded about His deity. But could the clearest light we have on life, the truest, purest word on relationships in family, in society or with God, have come through a disturbed or deluded mind? Of course not. It is unthinkable.
Perhaps He was a deceiver. But if, in order to accomplish certain good ends for humanity, He encouraged His followers to believe that He was more than He really was, then we are faced with the problem of explaining how it is that the highest morality humanity possesses, the strongest support to truth and integrity the world knows comes from a faker and a fraud. Could He out of untruth have produced truth, and by lack of integrity could He have created integrity? That too, we must disregard as an impossibility.
C.S. Lewis puts it tersely:
I am trying to prevent anyone from saying the really silly thing that people often say about Him; 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That's the one thing we mustn't say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn't be a great moral teacher. He'd either be a lunatic on a level with a man who says he's a poached egg — or else he'd be the devil of hell. You must take 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 demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But don't let us come
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with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He hasn't left that open to us.
I believe that Jesus is exactly who He says He is, the Son of God and the only Saviour of mankind.
These amazing claims are supported by His equally amazing life. Occasionally someone appears on the platform of history claiming to be divine. There is a man in Philadelphia today who gathers his angels about him in Harlem heavens. He says he is God Almighty incarnate in the world. But serious and sensitive minds reject this as preposterous. Yet no one is offended by the pretentions of Jesus to deity. For 1900 years these claims have been preached and published near and far. Thoughtful, earnest people have responded to them and have seen in Jesus a man of absolute worth and goodness. In other words, He maintains His staggering claims.
Then look at this fact. Jesus has a most remarkable modesty. His life is one of intense and consistent humility, deeper and truer than any humility we know. He maintains this humility and this modesty even while He is making these tremendous affirmations about Himself. For example, He says, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden..." (Mat. 11:28). He assumes supernatural authority, and follows it with words like these, "... for I am meek and lowly..." (Mat. 11:29). Yet in Him there is no inconsistency or contradiction. Even the severest critics of Jesus hesitate to accuse Him of being conceited or absurd. They may find many things about Jesus they don't like or they don't agree with, but you seldom hear anyone saying that Jesus is conceited or absurd. Even the person who rejects Jesus Christ as the Son of God does not
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laugh at the idea of Christ being the Son of God, for Christ's life supports His words.
Can you think of any other person in all history who could seriously maintain the claim to be incarnate deity? Could Plato or Aristotle or Caesar or the Emperor Hirohito or any other figure of history? Could such a personality have been imagined? Could Dante or Milton or Shakespeare have conceived such a character and supported its consistency through even the shortest drama?
Horace Bushnell in his book, The Character of Jesus, writes:
Take the range if you will, of all the great philosophers and saints, and choose out one that is most competent. Or if, perchance, some one of you may imagine that he is himself about upon a level with Jesus (as we hear that some of you do), let him come forward in this trial and say "Follow me" — "be worthy of me" — "I am the light of the world" — "Ye are from beneath, I am from above." — "Behold a greater than Solomon is here." Take on all these transcendent assumptions and see how soon your glory will be sifted out of you by the detective gaze, and darkened by the contempt of mankind! Why not? Is not the challenge fair? Do you not tell us that you can say as divine things as He? Is it not in you too, of course, to do what is human? Are you not in the front rank of human developments? Do you not rejoice in the power to rectify many mistakes and errors in the words of Jesus? Give us then this one experiment, and see if it does not prove to you a truth that is of some consequence; viz, that you are a man, and that Jesus Christ is more!
Finally, let me say that I believe in Jesus Christ because
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what He said about Himself is supported not only by His life, but by what He thought. The role of deity in flesh is consistent to the center of conscious and subconscious response. To act like God and support the role by a thousand acts and attitudes is one thing, but to think and feel like God is quite another and equally amazing thing.
Consider these facts. Jesus of Nazareth disowns all repentance. He never acknowledges sin. He never expresses regret. He evidences no awareness of mistakes, no feelings of compunction. He does not sense a need to ask anyone for forgiveness. Now, human piety begins with repentance. We cannot conceive a truly devout person who does not acknowledge unworthiness before the perfection and holiness of God. The humility of the Master is without inward humiliation and in this He stands alone. The very breath of prayer is the seeking of forgiveness. No such prayer ever fell from the lips of Jesus. On the cross, He prayed, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). He did not pray, "Father, forgive Me." In another, this would be arrogant self-righteousness. But in Jesus, it flowed out of a meek and lowly heart. He did not ask for forgiveness because He did not need forgiveness.
He is constantly aware of divine resources always available. His miracles are not preceded by long and strenuous intercessions or labored incantations. Simply and easily He speaks and the power of God is manifest. Pilate, the Roman Governor looks in amazement at this man standing before him in the Judgment Hall. He is the only One who is quiet and undisturbed in all the tumult of accusation that is raging against Him. The crowd shouts, "Crucify him!" But He remains silent. So, the Governor, looking into the face of Jesus says, "...know-
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est thou not that I have power to crucify... (John 19:10). And Jesus replied, "Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above..." (John 19:11). He knows He is secure in the Father's will.
They come bearing word to Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, that his daughter is dead. But Jesus enters into the room where the mourners are wailing and quietly speaks, "...the damsel is not dead but sleepeth" (Mark 5:39). They look at Him in amazement and contempt. Our Lord moves into the presence of death with the absolute confidence that at His word, the dead shall rise. He takes the hand of the little girl in His hand and speaks, "... Little girl, I say to you, arise" (Mark 5:41, RSV). And she lives! At all times He is conscious of omnipotent resources. This is unique. No one ever thought like that about himself. No one ever conceived such a character on the pages of any drama.
This divine self-consciousness is more fully seen in His dealing with sinners. Consider His word to the paralytic. "... Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee" (Mat. 9:2). This word is overheard by the Pharisees and the Scribes and they say within themselves, "Blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God?" Jesus knows what they are thinking. He does not question their remarks. They were true. Who can forgive sins but God? Then with confidence, He speaks to the paralytic, "But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins... Rise, take up your bed and go home" (Mat. 9:6, 7, RSV). And he rises forgiven and healed.
Or again, listen to Jesus as He views the city of Jerusalem. Perhaps He is standing on the Mount of Olives, looking down upon the crowded city and the sun gleaming upon the white marble of the Temple. He cries out in grief, "O, Jerusalem...
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how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not" (Mat. 23:37). Why this outbreak of sorrow? Was it simply out of sympathy for the distress and darkness of the people of Jerusalem? No! The conflict in His soul was that He knew He had the power to save them and they would not receive Him.
Penetrate to the deepest level of the consciousness of Jesus of Nazareth and there is one consistent personality, fully man and fully God and a consciousness of being both at all time.
Jesus confidently assumes what is humanly impossible. He undertakes to do what no man, in the wildest flights of imagination, dares to attempt. He predicts the setting up of a universal kingdom. Contrary to the narrow and exclusive views of His time, He purposes to bring into being a kingdom of God, a new moral and spiritual creation of humanity for all peoples of all lands. He will restore mankind to the reign of God, to fellowship with the Father. He who never saw a map of the world, commands a handful of disciples who had never been a hundred miles from their homes, to go into all the world and teach all nations, bringing all peoples to God through His Name. Imagine a simple Galilean carpenter walking out of His shop to venture a scheme that dwarfs the grandest ambitions of Alexander the Great, to launch a plan of immense grandeur, scope, and purpose. His plan embraces all ages, reaching into all areas. Where did He get the confidence that His mission was going to succeed? He said, "... the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Mat. 16:18).
His expectation reaches beyond His death. In John's Gospel, we read of Mary and Martha ministering to Jesus. Mary takes an alabaster box of ointment and anoints Jesus for His burial.
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Although He knows that before Him is the cross, He is not disturbed nor unsettled. Rather He says, "Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her" (Mat. 26:13). Wherever the gospel shall go throughout the whole earth, what she has done will be remembered, He said. And two thousand years after this event, on the other side of the world, we are remembering what this woman did. Jesus was certain that His word and His work, His cause and His Kingdom would embrace the world and last forever.
Moreover He purposes to establish His reign and the Kingdom of God in a manner no human mind could conceive, not by force or compulsion, not by scepter or sword, not by crushing authority or a program of occupation, but by laying down His life. Whoever thought of such a thing! Whoever conceived that by dying an unjust death at the hand of enemies, one could establish a kingdom that would overcome the forces of evil and last forever? Jesus did! He said, "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep" (John 10:11)."No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself..." (John 10:18). "... the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Mat. 20:28). "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32). He would win by love, through the giving of His life for them.
Napoleon once acknowledged, "Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I have founded great empires, but upon what did these creations of our genius depend? Upon force! Jesus alone founded His empire upon love and to this very day millions would die for Him."
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I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God because He talked like incarnate deity; He thought like it, He planned like it, He died like it, arising from the dead in glorious vindication of it. I believe in Christ because He evidences the divinity of His person today by bringing new life to those who receive Him. What do we think of this Man Jesus? Well, if you doubt what He says about Himself, ask Him to verify it in your own experience, surrendering to the truth He has to say about you.
