C.S. Lewis once said that the reason he believed Christianity is because it was a religion he could not have made up and that it had that same kind of queer twist that true things have. At the pinnacle of Christianity is the fact that God became a baby named Jesus, so that he might be murdered to redeem a people for Himself. Many skeptics and non-believers deny the incarnation of God. They believe Jesus was a great teacher, good man, but most certainly not God. I think this response comes from a desire for an easy answer, but as Lewis said, in reality the real answers are never easy.
The Necessity of Christ's Deity
In order to understand the reality that Jesus was God, it's important to understand why it matters. Christians believe that Jesus took the punishment we deserved for our rebellion (disbelief & disobedience) against God, receiving the just wrath of God against mankind. A good way to understand this concept is to think of a courtroom analogy... You have broken the law and are standing before the judge. He says that in order for restitution to be made for your crime, you must pay a $10,000 fine or else go to jail. The only problem is you don't have $10,000, someone has to pay that fine. That's what Christian's believe Jesus did when he was crucified on that cross. He paid the price we could not.
Why does it matter if He was God or not? Because if He wasn't His death was pointless. You see the scripture tells us that God is good, that He is the ultimate reality of goodness. So an offense to an infinitely good God could not be overlooked because a man or an angel was killed. The value of the payment must equate the value of the offense. Only God could pay that debt, because the offense was infinite, the one who was our substitute had to be the infinitely good God of heaven.
But, Was He Really God?
Some people have a problem with the idea that Jesus is God because they say that Bible never says he is God, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Throughout scripture we see the deity of Christ declared again and again... The simplest answer is found in Matthew 1:23 where Jesus is called Immanuel (God with us) but better yet we see the declaration of deity from His own lips in John 8:56-59.
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
Here we see an interaction between the jewish leaders and Christ. Jesus tells the leaders that father Abraham rejoiced at seeing His day and they respond as anyone should, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”. You see Abraham lived nearly 2000 years before this encounter. But Jesus responds in an unexpected way, he says, "Before Abraham was, I AM!" Not only is this a claim of Christ that he was over 2000 years old, but I AM is the name God gave himself in exodus 3:15. During this time the greek translation of the Torah used the greek expression "Egō eimi" in exodus 15, the very same greek expression is used in John 8:58. And if that's not convincing enough, if you read the following verse, it appears the jewish leaders understood it as blasphemy and proceeded to try to stone him to death (the punishment for blasphemy according to Leviticus 24:16).
Additional verses that point to the deity of Jesus Christ: Isaiah 7:14, Micah 5:2, John 1, John 20:27, Matthew 28:17, Romans 9:5, Philippians 2:6 , 2 Corinthians 4:4, Colossians 1:15-18, Titus 2:13-14, Revelation 4:11
What does this mean?
The infinite good God of heaven was born as a baby that he might pay a debt you couldn't pay. The infinite offense of disbelief and disobedience (that we are ALL guilty of) was absorbed on the cross of Christ, so that all who would gladly accept Him would be acquitted of their just punishment. And if that wasn't gracious enough, in that great transaction, he not only removes our guilt, but also gives us something we could never have on our own... right standing before Him. You see, he doesn't just forgive us our failings, he removes them and gives us His righteousness.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
You can be made perfect in the sight of God. We are all by nature rebels against the Great King, but through faith in Jesus, we can become perfect, beloved children of God. Not that God merely tolerates you, but abundantly loves and rejoices over you.
How do you enter into this amazing relationship?
Faith. It's only by faith alone that you can become a partaker in this amazing grace (Ephesians 2:8). Not just cognitive assent to a belief in God, but a sturdy unshakable trust in Jesus alone for salvation. Jesus described what this kind of faith looks like in a parable in Matthew 13:44.
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
This man saw the value in the treasure that was hidden, so much so that he realized that it was worth more than everything he had. Having faith in Jesus means that you value Him, that you treasure Him. Upon finding Him you realize that by comparison, all else is rubbish. That's why the Bible uses language like Colossians 3:4, "Christ, who is your life". The bible assumes that those who are partakers in this great exchange so rocked to their core that He becomes their life. Is He your life?
