Did Jesus Really Claim to Be God?

 “The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.” – John 5:22-23

Not too many years ago, a well-respected leader stepped up to a microphone and spoke to a crowded room of supporters. His greatest desire was to convince them that his religion was superior to every other. To the surprise of many people in the crowd, the speaker had a lot of nice things to say about … Jesus. He praised Jesus as a genuine prophet, a wise teacher and a worthy example of human goodness. But then he said, “Jesus is ALL these things, but He never claimed to be anything more than a man. He never claimed to be God.”

So, let me ask you: Is he right? Truth be told, we don’t have a record of Jesus ever speaking the words: “I am God.” So, did Jesus ever really claim to be God?

The religious leaders of Jesus’ time certainly thought so. Within minutes of Jesus healing the crippled man at the Pool of Bethesda, these leaders started griping. At first they complained because the man who Jesus had healed was holding his bedroll—carrying a “burden” on the Sabbath (John 5:10). When the man said that Jesus had told him to carry it, they shifted their attack to Jesus. And their attack intensified when Jesus declared in verse 17: “My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I, too, am working.”

John explains why those words set the religious leaders’ teeth on edge: “For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill Him; not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God” (v.18). Now, if Jesus was being falsely accused of being the Son of God, this would be the perfect opportunity to set the record straight. But Jesus doesn’t voice a rebuttal here in John 5. Instead, He doubles down and makes six claims that reinforce His declaration that He is the Son of God:

Claim #1 (vs. 19-20): My actions and God the Father’s actions are identical. Jesus says flat out, “Whatever the Father does the Son also does,” and the Father “shows Him all He does.” No man—or even any angel—would ever say, “My actions are identical with God’s, and God never does anything that He doesn’t first run by me.” So, the claim that Jesus makes in verses 19-20 is NOT a claim that any human or angel can rightfully make.

Claim #2 (vs. 21 and 26): I raise the dead and give life at will. Chuck Swindoll writes, “This would be an outrageous claim for any mere human. Doctors can give medicine or administer treatment in order to delay death, but they cannot give life to a dead body…. Only God can create something from nothing and then fill it with life…. Only God has the power to restore life.” The Bible makes it clear that God alone is the Creator and Sustainer of life.

Claim #3 (vs. 22 and 27): I am the final judge of the living and the dead. In verse 22, Jesus claims that the Father “has entrusted all judgment to the Son.” And in verse 27, Jesus says that the Father “has given Him authority to judge.” God is the only One in the universe qualified to be the eternal Judge of the living and the dead, because God is the only One in the universe who knows absolutely everything about us. And God is the only One who is perfect both in His love AND in His justice. So, when Jesus claims to be the eternal Judge of the living and the dead, He’s claiming to be all-knowing and perfectly holy.

Claim #4 (v. 23): I am worthy to be honored just as God the Father is honored. Jesus is, in effect, claiming a right to be worshiped just as God the Father is worshiped. Once again, no mere human or angel can rightfully make this claim.

Claim #5 (vs. 24-25): Every person’s eternal destiny hinges on Me. If Jesus is telling the truth, where you spend eternity has nothing to do with how good you were or how wicked you were during your lifetime here on earth, or how religious or irreligious you were. In God’s eyes, the man who has “done good” is the man who has accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and followed Him with his life. And in God’s eyes, the man who has “done evil” is the man who has rejected Him as Savior and Lord and lived life on his own terms.  If Jesus is telling the truth here, where you spend eternity has nothing to do with you at all. It has everything to do with Him. It has everything to do with Jesus.

Claim #6 (vs25-29): At the sound of My voice, every person who has ever died will be resurrected. At first glance, this might seem to be the same as Jesus’ second claim, but it’s not. Jesus’ second claim is that He can raise a dead body to life here on earth. But in verses 25-29, Jesus claims to have the authority to resurrect EVERYONE who has died to live forever.

Now, that you’ve heard Jesus’ claims for Himself, you have to decide. You can’t just call Him a “good teacher” or a “prophet”—because He claimed to be the Son of God. Therefore, there are only three logical options: He is either a liar, a lunatic or Lord of all—Lord of the living and the dead, at whose name one day “Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” Are you willing to receive that which is true? Will you humbly bow before the Son of God, confess Him as your Savior and Lord, turn from your sin and obey His marching orders from this point forward?

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church. Join us for worship on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. or 10 a.m. at 16209 Kamana Road in Apple Valley, or livestream us on Facebook or YouTube. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

Who Jesus Is … and What That Means

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” – Luke 9:20

One Sunday morning an elderly pastor was getting ready for church, and he noticed that on his wife’s side of the closet, there was an old shoebox that he didn’t recognize. He opened it and was surprised to see three eggs and 100 one-dollar bills. He called his wife into the closet to ask her about it. Well, she was pretty embarrassed, but she ’fessed up. She said she’d been hiding the box for the past 30 years. The pastor was disappointed and hurt, and he told her, “I just don’t understand!”

She responded, “Well, I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, but every week you preached a bad sermon, I put an egg into the box.” At that point the pastor thought to himself, “There are only three eggs in the box. Three bad sermons in 30 years…that’s not bad at all!” But then he asked his wife, “What about the 100 one-dollar bills?” “Well,” she said, “every time I got up to a dozen eggs, I sold them to our neighbor for a dollar.”

Now, Jesus Christ is the greatest teacher who has ever lived, and I feel comfortable saying you wouldn’t find any eggs stashed in his disciples’ closets. But there are some who would say that Jesus was a good teacher, but not the Son of God. Have you ever heard that crazy rumor? Well, it’s nothing new. Going clear back to Jesus’ day, there were plenty of rumors and misconceptions about who he was. And in Luke 9:18, Jesus took this up with his disciples when he asked them: “Who do the crowds say I am?”

Why did Jesus ask this question? I believe he wanted to make sure his apostles could separate fact from fiction. And when Jesus asked, “Who do the crowds say I am?” they responded in verse 19: “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.” Once they confessed the fiction that other people believed, Jesus asked in verse 20: “But what about you? Who do you say I am?”

This is one of the most important questions Jesus ever asked his disciples, and it’s one of the most important questions he will ever ask you. Your answer to this one simple question affects everything else in your life. And Peter’s full response, which we now call the Good Confession of faith, is given in Matthew 16:16: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Surrounded by a sea of false rumors and lies about Jesus’ identity, Peter knew the truth. And he boldly spoke it.

This eternal truth would be the foundation upon which Jesus would build his entire Church. But, as Jesus continued to teach his disciples, it’s not enough to accept the truth that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of the living God. Jesus’ followers must also accept the truth about what that means. In Luke 9:22, he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

And since suffering and dying would be a very real part of Jesus’ life, it shouldn’t surprise us that it will be a very real part of our lives as we follow him. In verse 23, Jesus revealed three commands for anyone who has chosen to be his follower: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” What do those three commands mean?

#1: We must deny ourselves. As Chuck Swindoll explains, “The emphasis on ‘denying oneself’ is submission to HIS agenda, saying no to what WE want and saying yes to what HE wants.” This doesn’t mean to constantly deny yourself all food and rest and pleasure. But when Jesus says you must “deny” yourself, he means that if YOUR plans ever conflict with HIS plans, you must surrender to HIS plans.

#2: We must take up our cross daily. If denying ourselves means to submit to Christ’s agenda, taking up our cross means to die to our own agenda. William Barclay says it this way: “To take up our cross means … to be ready to endure the worst that man can do to us for the sake of being true to him.” And Jesus asks you and me today, “Knowing this, will you follow me anyway? Even if it means that suffering and death are on the horizon, will you pick up your cross every day and follow me anyway?” I want to make that commitment to my Lord and Savior, and I hope that you do too.

#3: Finally, a Jesus follower must FOLLOW Jesus. That sounds like a no-brainer, doesn’t it? But millions of so-called “Christians” don’t follow Jesus. If we are serious about following him as the Christ, we must be ready and willing to follow in his footsteps. As he speaks, we must speak. As he acts, we must act. As he prioritizes, we must prioritize. As he suffers and dies, we must suffer and die. That’s not the feel-good message we hear preached in many pulpits across America. But it’s the truth.

Follow Christ boldly. Follow Christ publicly. Follow Christ without any shame or regret. Followers of Christ, be very, very proud to proclaim to your family and friends and neighbors that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. Without hesitation, he picked up his cross and carried it for you. So you and I must, without hesitation, pick up our cross and carry it for him.

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information, visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 a.m.

Why Was Jesus Tempted?

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”

- Luke 4:8

In June 2011, a man found a bag of money with a Chase Bank logo on it at a Walgreen’s drugstore in Chicago. When he peeked inside, he discovered the bag contained $17,000 in cash and checks. What would you have done? Well, this man gave in to temptation and took the bag. But it was a 45-minute drive back to his suburban home, and in that time, he became convicted that he was doing the wrong thing. The fact that he might get caught probably also weighed into his decision. At any rate, he turned the money in.

But when he turned it in at a Chase Bank, he was a little concerned about how he’d explain those 45 minutes. So, he lied and said he found it at the local mall. The story made the news, and he was hailed around the world as a hero. But the authorities weren’t so sure. The police and FBI investigated the incident and discovered the truth. As a result, the man was fined $500 for filing a false police report, and he went from hero to zero in one news cycle.

Well, Jesus was tempted too. And before we assume that any temptation would be a slam-dunk for the Son of God, the Book of Luke reminds us that Jesus was also the son of Adam. Luke spends the last half of chapter 3 tracing Jesus’ family tree to the first man ever created: Adam. He wanted us to know that as the Son of God, Jesus was 100 percent God. But as the son of Adam, Jesus was also 100 percent man. Jesus could get hungry like Adam got hungry. He could get tired and discouraged, just as Adam could get tired and discouraged. And Jesus could be tempted, just as Adam was tempted.

In Luke 4:1, we’re told that after his baptism Jesus was “full of the Holy Spirit,” and that he was “led by the Holy Spirit into the desert.” He fasted in the Judean desert for 40 days and 40 nights. At the end of 40 days, Satan knew full well that Jesus was hungry—REALLY hungry. So he tried to persuade Jesus to turn one of the limestone rocks around him into a loaf of bread. But the Father had something much more important than bread for Jesus to feast on, and Jesus knew that. So in response, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3: “It is written, man does not live on bread alone.” One temptation down, two to go.

In the following verses Satan tempted Jesus two more times, and each temptation was strategically chosen by Satan to capitalize on one of Jesus’ weaknesses (as if he had any). The second temptation—offering Jesus authority over all the kingdoms of the world—was intended to get Jesus to compromise his integrity in order to avoid the pain and suffering of the cross. And Satan’s third temptation—for Jesus to throw himself from the temple to be rescued by angels—was designed to get Jesus to upstage God, making himself the center of attention instead of God the Father. In both cases, Jesus overcame the temptation by unleashing the sword of the Spirit: the word of God.

Over the years many Christians have wondered why Jesus was tempted. Perhaps it was because Jesus wanted a showdown or because Satan thought that he could best Jesus. Maybe. But I tend to think Jesus suffered through that temptation for you and me. He allowed himself to be tempted because he knew that you and I would be tempted. And his victory over his three temptations provides a picture-perfect “how-to” guide for how we can do the same.

The truth is, as long as you and I are still living here on earth, we’re going to be tempted. Sometimes the devil is the one tempting us. Sometimes people around us are tempting us. Sometimes our old sinful nature tempts us. We have these three great enemies that constantly fight against our souls. And we are told in God’s word to resist temptation. It’s not a sin to be tempted. It’s only a sin to give in to that temptation. So, how do we resist temptation? We do it the same way Jesus did. First of all, we pray. Second, we lean on the Holy Spirit.

Third—and this one is a biggy—we stand firm on God’s word. Did you notice Jesus’ response to Satan? They’re the first words quoted from Jesus in the Bible after his baptism: “It is written.” These words mark the beginning of his ministry on earth. Do you think, perhaps, there’s a message for us in there? I think so. As long as we are living here on earth, Satan will nip at our heels just as he nipped at Jesus’ heels. But just like Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we can prayerfully use the word of God to crush Satan’s head.

When we lift God’s word in prayer, it is our strongest weapon against temptation. Jesus responded to every one of Satan’s temptation with the powerful, unchanging word of God. Back in 2011, if the man at Walgreen’s had followed these three steps—if he had prayed, leaned on the Holy Spirit and stood firm on God’s word—it would have saved him a lot of embarrassment and heartache. It also would have saved him 500 bucks. I can’t guarantee you that following these three steps will save you money, but following them will save you a lot of heartache, and God will be very, very pleased with you.

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com  and join us for church Sundays at 10 a.m.