"What if God Was One of Us: Was Jesus Really God?"
(Matt. 16:13-16)
Today we come to the last of our messages regarding the novel and the upcoming movie The Da Vinci Code. In these messages we have sought to answer the questions: Can the Bible, particularly the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John be trusted? Are they reliable? Our answer was that they could be trusted, both historically and spiritually. The next message explored the issue of Jesus being married to Mary Magdalene. In that study we discovered how that not only was Jesus not married as The Da Vinci Code claims but it also defames the discipleship and devotion of truly a model disciple, Mary Magdalene. Today we want to answer a critical question raised in The Da Vinci Code and it is this: "Was Jesus Really God?"
The Da Vinci Code claims that up until 325 A.D., at what was called the Council of Nicea, that "Jesus was viewed by his followers as a mortal prophet, a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless. A mortal." (p.233) That it was not until that moment in history that the church established the divinity and equality of Jesus as God’s unique, one and only, Son in the Trinity. The novel says it was Constantine who made Jesus a divine figure, according to a fictional historian. "By officially endorsing Jesus as the Son of God, Constantine turned Jesus into a deity who existed beyond the scope of the human world, an entity whose power was unchallengeable…It was all about power…. Christ as Messiah was critical to the functioning of Church and state. Many scholars claim that the early Church literally stole Jesus from His original followers, hijacking His human message, shrouding it in an impenetrable cloak of divinity, and using it to expand their own power" (p. 233).
He goes on to say, "The vast majority of educated Christians know the history of their faith. Jesus was indeed a great and powerful man. Constantine’s underhanded political maneuvers don’t diminish the majesty of Christ’s life. Nobody is saying that Christ was a fraud, or denying that He walked the earth and inspired millions to better lives. All we are saying is that Constantine took advantage of Christ’s substantial influence and importance. And in doing so, he shaped the face of Christianity as we know it today" (p. 234). He concludes, "Almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false" (p. 235, emphasis his). Dr. James Denison, pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, says, "I have never read a more devastating indictment of Christianity’s central affirmation that Jesus is Lord. Made in the guise of a supposedly reputable historian, claiming that ‘the vast majority of educated Christians’ agree with him, it is easy to see why so many readers have been confused and mislead." (The Real Painter of the Gospel: The Da Vinci Code in the Light of History, p. 9).
Is it true that none believed Jesus was divine until 300 years after his death? The Da Vinci Code says that it is. Yet there is ample evidence, outside the New Testament, from both non-Christian sources and early church writings that affirm that Jesus was believed by his followers to be divine, that he really was the unique, one and only, Son of God. For example persons who were non-Christians wrote, prior to the end of the 1st and 2nd centuries that Jesus followers believed him to be God. Beginning in 52 A.D. with writing by a person named Thallus the Samaritan to Roman writers and historians Suetonius, Tacitus and Pliny the Younger and Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in A.D. 75, all wrote of Jesus being recognized by his followers that they considered him to be God. It doesn’t verify that he was but that at least his followers believed he was. Also prior to the end of the 1st and 2nd centuries, the early Christians wrote believing that Jesus was God. Starting with Clement of Rome in A.D. 95, Iganatius in A.D. 110, Justin Martyr in A.D. 150 and many, many more all overwhelmingly affirmed that they believed Jesus to be divine. It is simply not historically true that persons believed Jesus to be only human until the 4th Century!
The question is, though, what does the New Testament say? That is what we want to explore now. While we will look at many passages there is one where Jesus clearly accepts the belief and confession that he was divine. In the gospel of Matthew, again written in the era of eyewitnesses, Jesus says to Simon Peter, "Who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus does not respond to Peter by saying, "No. No. I’m just a man like you." Jesus says, "Blessed are you, Simon Peter, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven." It is a matter of historical record that many of the first-century followers of Jesus were martyred for their faith. Trying to say that they knew that Jesus was only mortal, and they covered it up, and then they were willing to suffer and die for what they knew to be a lie is the biggest leap of faith of all.
Because there is so much confusion, controversy and conflict related to the person of Jesus Christ that The Da Vinci Code creates I believe it is essential that we are equipped with reasons for what we believe about the foundation of Christianity – the person of Jesus Christ. Here is the crucial question I want us to explore: Was Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth, the Son of God? Was Jesus really God?
There are two reasons we need to answer this question: 1) Essentially Christianity is Christ! You take away Jesus from Christianity and you have nothing left! Take Elvis from Graceland and all you have is a really strange house. So our study will be focused on the person of Jesus. Who was he? 2) Another reason for our study is that if it can be shown that Jesus was the uniquely divine Son of God then other things fall into place. They begin to make sense if he was who he said he was. So with that said, we come to the New Testament convinced that what it said he said he said and what it said he did he did! What did He say? What did he claim about himself?
First, Jesus’ claim to be God was focused on himself (John 6:35, 8:12, 11:25-26, 14:6) Jesus never hesitated to identify himself with God. That fact is one of the many things that set Jesus apart from all other great religious teachers. Others pointed away from themselves. Jesus pointed to himself. Listen to what he said in these statements from John’s Gospel: "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35), "I am the light of the world." (John 8:12), "I am the resurrection and the life." (John 11:25, 26), "I am the way, the truth and the life…" (John14:6) Each one of those statements focused on himself. He said, "I am…" not go look there but here, in me is the revelation of God to you.
There were other claims that Jesus made:
But the most egotistical statement Jesus could have ever made about himself was this: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself" (John 12:32). When he is the focal point there is a magnetism morally exerted upon the lives of all people. What is amazing, though, is while he made these fantastic statements he called for humility on the part of those who followed him! Could anyone but God himself have made such claims about himself? I don’t think so!
Second, Jesus’ claims to be God were direct. (Luke 4:21) In Luke 4:16-21 Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth. There at the synagogue on the Sabbath day he is given the scroll to read and he finds the place in Isaiah where it says that when the Messiah comes he will say, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord's favor has come." Luke records that Jesus rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. With everyone in the synagogue staring at him intently he says, "This Scripture has come true today before your very eyes!" Jesus claimed directly to be the fulfillment of everything for which they had been looking. He was not another signpost, but the destination to which the signposts had pointed. He was not as some say "One peak among many paths" meaning "We are all trying to get to the top of the same mountain we’re just taking different paths to get there." No!
More, though, he claimed to have a unique, personal relationship with God that no one else had:
He claimed an exclusive relationship with God as his Father. "My Father has given me authority over everything. No one really knows the Son except the Father, and no one really knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."(Matt. 11:27) When you explore what Jesus said about that relationship you understand that:
To know him was to know God
To see him was to see God
To believe in him was to believe in God
To receive him was to receive God
To hate him was to hate God
To honor him was to honor God.
He makes another direct claim is in John 8:57-58 when he tells the Jews that "…before Abraham was born ‘I Am.’" He was saying clearly he was equal with God! There’s still one more spoken not by Jesus but by Thomas who was a doubting disciple. We read two weeks ago of Jesus appearance to Thomas in John 20:26-29. At the end of their discussion, after seeing the nail prints and the wound in his side Thomas exclaims, "My Lord and by God." The thing is Jesus didn’t decline or deny the claim! Could anyone but God have claimed such things? I don’t think so! Jesus claimed directly and intentionally to be God!
Third, Jesus’ claims to be God were indirect. In other words, as he performed his ministry there were some things he said that left an impression that was unmistakable!
If someone came to you and said, "Listen carefully to all I say. What happens to you after you die depends on it. I am going to come back at the end of the world to judge you and what happens to you then will depend on how well you did what I said.", that person would either be God or insane!
Fourthly, Jesus’ claims to be God were demonstrated. (John 20:30-31) John concludes Chapter 20 of his Gospel with these words, "Jesus' disciples saw him do many other miraculous signs besides the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life." John’s purpose in recording these miracles was to provide evidence for believing that Jesus was truly the Son of God! In fact his entire book is built around seven miracles Jesus performed that demonstrated his claims to be God. There are four that need our attention: 1) Water into wine (John 2:1-11); 2) Feeding of the 5000 (John 6:1-15); 3) opening of the eyes of a man born blind (John 9:1-23); 4) the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead (John 11: 30-45). What these events claimed to be were parables of the things people needed the most. People are spiritually thirsty, hungry, blind and dead and only Jesus can satisfy their thirst, their hunger, restore their sight and give them new life. Jesus demonstrated in his ministry that no one other than God could be the source of all that he did!
Dan Brown’s conclusion about Jesus in his novel is, "The Church’s version of the Christ story is inaccurate, and…the greatest story ever told is, in fact the greatest story ever sold." (p. 266-267, emphasis his) Have you believed a lie? Was Jesus of Nazareth really the Son of God? He certainly claimed to be! He claimed that about himself, he made those claims directly, he made those claims indirectly and he demonstrated those claims in action through his miracles. The claims are there. If he was not who he claimed to be then in all honesty we are not left with the option of calling him a good teacher if he was totally wrong in the most central thing he claimed about himself: He claimed to be the Son of God! Was he insane? Was he a liar? Was he just another imposter? Was he really only human as The Da Vinci Code claims? Has everything you have ever believed about Christ been false? Our answer as people of faith after looking at the records from the New Testament, from the early church and from historians is: No!
In C.S. Lewis’s The Silver Chair, which is the fourth book in the children’s classic The Chronicles of Narnia, a girl named Jill is transported to Narnia. She is confused and finds herself alone in a remote area and very thirsty. As she walks she discovers a stream but just as she is about to drink from the stream she sees a Lion on the other side of the stream. The Lion of course is Aslan, who is the symbol of Christ in the story. She is frightened and reluctant to drink but then the Lion speaks, "If you’re thirsty, you may drink."
"For a second she stared here and there, wondering who had spoken. Then the voice said again, "If you are thirsty, come and drink," …and realized that it was the Lion speaking. Anyway, she had seen its lips move this time, and the voice was not like a man’s. It was deeper, wilder, and stronger; a sort of heavy, golden voice. It did not make her any less frightened than she had been before, but it made her frightened in rather a different way.
"Are you not thirsty?" said the Lion. "I’m dying of thirst," said Jill. "Then drink," said the Lion.
"May I—could I—would you mind going away while I do?" said Jill. The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.
"Will you promise not to—do anything to me, if I do come?" said Jill. "I make no promise," said the Lion. Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer. "Do you eat girls?" she said. "I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms," said the Lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.
"I daren’t come and drink," said Jill. "Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion "Oh dear!" said Jill, coming another step nearer. "I suppose I must go and look for another stream then." "There is no other stream," said the Lion. (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair, by C.S. Lewis, p. 17-18)
When we face the claims of Jesus we are left with one conclusion: He was who he said he was: the one unique divine Son of God. If he was and is the Son of God then every claim that he spoke recorded in the Gospels still has a claim on me today. Either I will submit to his claims or live and die in rejection of his reality. The choice belongs to you. The question is though, "Where else will you go?"
Sunday, May 7, 2006
Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor
First Baptist Church
Jonesboro, Arkansas
Resources:
"Jesus and The DaVinci Code," a sermon by John Ortberg
The Real Painter of the Gospel: The DaVinci Code in Light of History, by James Denison
"Christianity 101: Was Jesus God? " a sermon by Bruce Tippit
The Gospel Code by Ben Witherington III
Breaking The Da Vinci Code by Darrell L. Bock
Exploring The Da Vinci Code by Lee Strobel
Basic Christianity by John R.W.Stott