Is Jesus Really God?
A college professor stood before his freshman philosophy class and asked a question that silenced the room: “If Jesus of Nazareth walked through that door right now, what would you ask Him?”
Hands went up. “Are aliens real?” “What happens after death?” “Why do bad things happen?” One student in the back row said quietly, “I’d ask Him if He’s really who He said He was.”
The professor smiled. “That,” he said, “is the only question that matters.”
He was right. Because if Jesus is who He claimed to be, everything changes. And if He isn’t, then Christianity crumbles, and we should all sleep in on Sundays.
So what did Jesus claim?
He didn’t tiptoe around it. In John 10:30, He looked the religious leaders in the eye and said, “I and the Father are one.” They picked up stones to kill Him. They understood exactly what He meant.
In John 8:58, He said, “Before Abraham was born, I am.” That phrase, I AM, was the name God gave Himself at the burning bush. Jesus wasn’t being poetic. He was claiming to be the eternal, self-existing God of the universe. And everyone in earshot knew it.
In John 14:9, Philip asked the question we’ve all wondered: “Lord, show us the Father.” Jesus answered, “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
C.S. Lewis framed the dilemma better than anyone: “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 the level with the man who says he is a poached egg or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice.”
Liar. Lunatic. Or Lord. There is no fourth option.
But Jesus didn’t just make claims. He backed them up. Three hundred and thirty-three Old Testament prophecies written centuries before His birth were fulfilled in His life, death, and resurrection. The odds of one person fulfilling even eight of those prophecies by chance. One in ten to the seventeenth power. That’s a number so large it loses meaning.
And then there’s the empty tomb. If Jesus stayed dead, Christianity is a fairy tale. But He didn’t. Over five hundred people saw Him alive after the crucifixion (1 Corinthians 15:6). People don’t die for what they know is a lie.
The student in the back row asked the right question. And the answer hasn’t changed in two thousand years.
Jesus is exactly who He said He was. The question isn’t whether He believes it. The question is whether you will.
Keep Looking Up!
May God bless your day.
Related devotionals: Why you can trust the Bible · Can we trust the Gospel? · Is Christianity too narrow?
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