The Da Vinci Code. Was Jesus Just a Man? Part I. CA209 LESSON 05 of 08

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1 The Da Vinci Code CA209 LESSON 05 of 08 Our Daily Bread Christian University This course was developed by Christian University & Our Daily Bread Ministries. It s been said, The most influential person in human history is Jesus of Nazareth. Why has one man stood at history s center stage for two thousand years? Some would say it was because of His exemplary life and wisdom. Others, that it was the miracles attributed to Him. And millions of Jesus followers would go further, pointing out that, according to the New Testament, the Son of Mary was actually God walking among us in a human body. Now there is a new best seller that takes issue with the accounts of the Bible. According to The Da Vinci Code, the New Testament s description of the deity of Jesus is the result of a cover-up a grand religious and political conspiracy. Was Jesus Just a Man? On this Day of Discovery. This is the land of the Bible, modern nation of Israel, and homeland of the prophets. Here Jesus was born in Bethlehem, called followers from the shores of Galilee, and died outside the walls of Jerusalem. Who was this man millions call Lord? That question has led Day of Discovery s Mart De Haan and Jimmy De Young to the heart of Jerusalem s old walled city and to the threshold of the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Mart De Haan: Hello, I m Mart De Haan. Jimmy De Young: And I m Jimmy De Young. And we ve come here to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem, one of the traditional sites for the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. In the fourth century when this church was built, Constantine had sent his mother into the Holy Land to build churches on sites that would commemorate the life of Jesus Christ. In Bethlehem, the Church of the Nativity, his birth, of course. And then on the Mount of Olives, the Church of the Ascension, when he ascended into heaven. And here the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, depicting the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 1 of 8

2 Mart De Haan: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre also stands as a memorial to a dramatic religious and political shift that occurred under the Roman emperor Constantine. In addition to commissioning churches like this in the Holy Land, he also legalized the long-persecuted Christian faith and elevated the status of the followers of Jesus throughout the empire. If Constantine can be linked to this, one of the oldest churches in the world, is it also possible, as a best-selling novel suggests, that he had a hand in rewriting the history of the Bible? According to The Da Vinci Code, Constantine commissioned and then financed his own version of the Bible that downplayed the human traits of Christ and embellished those stories that portrayed Him as divine. The Da Vinci Code: Constantine held a famous ecumenical gathering known as the Council of Nicaea. Until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless. A mortal. Mart De Haan: In an age when many are already wondering whether or not any history can be understood and believed, what does this mean for those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God? For centuries followers of Jesus have come here to remember Jesus place of crucifixion. They kneel beside exposed rock that might have held His cross. Nearby, under a great rotunda, they wait in reverence to enter an interior chapel that covers what many believe to be Jesus tomb. The tomb is empty. But now, in part because of this novel, The Da Vinci Code, many are wondering where the idea of an empty tomb came from. Was the account of a resurrection the result of the power of God? Or was it because of the power of a Roman emperor? The Da Vinci Code: 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. Mart De Haan: This church [Holy Sepulchre] down through history has been destroyed three times and rebuilt. But many are 2 of 8

3 wondering today whether or not The Da Vinci Code has literally destroyed the foundations of the Christian faith. The Da Vinci Code: The greatest story ever told is, in fact, the greatest story ever sold. Richard Abanes: As you read more and more on The Da Vinci Code, you start seeing this mythology, this alternate history being expanded so that by the end of the novel what you have is a totally different picture of the world. What you have is what the book itself states, a history wherein you find everything you ve ever been taught about Jesus Christ is a lie. And unfortunately many people are believing this. Dr. Darrell L. Bock: The book is really an attempt to suggest that the divinity of Jesus was something that was created late and that the knowledge of church leaders that Jesus was just human was something that they worked hard to suppress. And this was done through a variety of conspiracies, and there were a variety of clues left around. Mart De Haan: One feels the age of this imposing church in its stone corridors and lofty interiors. It stands as a marker in time. But we have many biblical documents that are even older than these walls. No historical accounts from the early centuries have been as thoroughly examined and authenticated as the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John along with the writings of the apostle Paul. These were already considered sacred Scriptures inspired by God s Holy Spirit as early as the end of the first century. Dr. Darrell L. Bock: We know that the four Gospels that are a part of our Bible were well established and well circulated in the church certainly by the end of the second century. And then if you look at the content of that material it affirms very strongly the deity of Christ that material takes you back into the first century. We also have a letter from a Roman governor, Pliny, who s writing Trajan the emperor, talking about Christians worshiping Jesus as God in the early second century. So all these portraits show this strand of Christianity as extant and functioning and alive and well in these early periods. Now that doesn t mean that there weren t other people calling themselves Christians who were doing other things. But the core of the faith was well established and apostolically overseen and guarded long before we ever get to Constantine. 3 of 8

4 Mart De Haan: According to the four Gospels of the New Testament, what did Jesus say about Himself? John 10:30 33 (NKJV) From the Gospel of John, Jesus said: I and My Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me? The Jews answered Him, saying, For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God. Mart De Haan: On this, and a number of other occasions, Jesus claimed equality with God, and the Jewish religious leaders of the time understood exactly what He was claiming. Interestingly, their own prophet Isaiah had said about the coming Messiah, The Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14 NKJV) Then, when the story of Jesus virgin birth is recorded by His disciple Matthew, it includes this key passage in Isaiah and translates the child s name Immanuel as meaning God with us (Matthew 1:23). Matthew 1:21 23 (NKJV) From the Gospel of Matthew: [Mary] will bring forth a Son, and you [Joseph] shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, God with us. Mart De Haan: And so Isaiah s prophecy tells us that Messiah would be God in human flesh. And Jesus disciple Matthew affirms that the One he followed was clearly the Messiah. The apostle Paul made another stunning claim about Jesus: that this perfect man who walked the roads of Israel was nothing less than the Creator taking on material form. Colossians 1:15 16 (NKJV) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven 4 of 8

5 and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. Dr. Paul L. Maier: One of the things we notice in the biblical documents would be the eyewitness flavor. You can tell these witnesses were on the scene, and they did not contrive some sort of a cockamamie story, which would benefit them. Mart De Haan: Because of their belief that Jesus was God, worshipers have traveled to this church [Holy Sepulchre] since the time it was built by Emperor Constantine. But what about those earlier followers of Jesus before Constantine, did they also believe that Jesus was God in the flesh? Dr. Darrell L. Bock: But the real important part of this story isn t what happened with Constantine. It s what happened before Constantine. And that s a very important part of the history. The Da Vinci Code leaves the impression that Constantine did a lot of very significant creative stuff that basically helped to form orthodoxy. But orthodoxy was substantially in place long before Constantine came in contact with Christianity. Mart De Haan: History records that during the spread of Christianity, many early church leaders were tortured and killed for their belief that Jesus was God. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch [martyred A.D ]: For our God, Jesus the Christ, was conceived by Mary according to God s plan. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna [martyred A.D. 155]: May He give to you a share and a place among His saints, and to us with you, and to all those under heaven who will yet believe in our Lord and God Jesus Christ and in His Father who raised Him from the dead. Mart De Haan: Polycarp was burned at the stake by the Roman authorities because he would not deny that Jesus was God. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna [A.D. 155]: Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who has saved me? Mart De Haan: So why did Jesus come here to the Galilee after His resurrection? Because for the better part of three years of public life, He walked these hills, shoreline, with His many friends and disciples. And according to the New Testament, after His resurrection He came back to this area to the people who had followed Him to let them know that He was alive. In the process 5 of 8

6 He let not just a few know, but hundreds were able to see and compare notes and to talk about the fact that they had literally seen with their own eyes the risen Son of God. Here in the Galilee, called by the prophet Isaiah, Galilee, land of the Gentiles. Because according to Christ, according to the New Testament, the good news of His resurrection wasn t just for His Jewish countrymen but for men and women of all nations. Matthew 28:19 20 (NKJV) Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Jesus Mart De Haan: Jimmy and I returned to the Mount of Olives, just across the valley from the Old City of Jerusalem, where the final post-resurrection appearance of Jesus was witnessed by those He knew so intimately and loved so dearly. Jimmy De Young: This is Augusta Victoria Hospital, located here on the Mount of Olives. It also is the site of one of the traditional locations for the Ascension. The Church of the Ascension here, commemorating Jesus Christ ascending into heaven. Many many steps, so I figured it would probably be best if we used the elevator here to go to the tower. They say the view is unbelievable. By the time Mart gets here, the elevator should be down. Mart De Haan: Hey, Jim, hey. How are you doing? Jimmy De Young: Hey, Mart. Mart De Haan: Want to take the elevator? Jimmy De Young: Absolutely! Too many steps. Mart De Haan: That s what I ve heard! Jimmy De Young: I think 144 steps! We re not going to walk that! Mart De Haan: Really? Jimmy De Young: The elevator should be well Mart De Haan: Jim. Jimmy De Young: This seems to indicate that Mart De Haan: Jim, look. What does that say? 6 of 8

7 Jimmy De Young: I think it s German. Mart De Haan: No, Jim, I mean no, I mean this, Jim. Jimmy De Young: You re kidding? The elevator isn t working? Mart De Haan [laughing]: See ya, Jim! Let s walk. Let s go. We ve come too far to not go up now. Jimmy De Young: One, two I m going to see if it s 144. Mart De Haan [at top of stairs]: You all right? Jimmy De Young: Not as bad as I thought! Worth 144 steps. Mart De Haan: Hey, I don t know if it was worth the climb, but the spot is, the significance. Jimmy De Young: This is beautiful. Temple Mount. Dome of the Rock. That s out toward Mart, this is out toward Bethany. Mart De Haan: OK. Jimmy De Young: Out back toward the Jordan River, Jordan valley. Mart De Haan: All right, and then the Judean wilderness over here. OK. Jimmy De Young: This is the bell tower. I don t know if I ve been in this. Mart De Haan: Hey, you know the good news? This goes off once an hour. Jimmy De Young: Yes. Mart De Haan: You know what time it is? The bad news? We ve got five minutes. Jimmy De Young: Before it goes off? Mart De Haan: Look at the size of those! Jimmy De Young: This is out toward the new city of Jerusalem. Beautiful panoramic view from the Mount of Olives and the Church of the Ascension here at Augusta Victoria Hospital, marking one of the traditional sites that Jesus Christ would have ascended into heaven from. After forty days of spending time with the disciples after His resurrection, He met with them here on the Mount of Olives. He told them to start in Jerusalem, go to Judea, Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. The final act of the 7 of 8

8 life of Jesus Christ here on earth. Mart De Haan: If we accept the records of the New Testament, the truth about Christ lies not with the bones of Mary Magdalene and not with a fictional alternative to the life of Christ, but rather with the accounts of eyewitnesses. Men and women who lived and walked and talked and saw the miracles of Christ, saw the quality of life He lived, a life that ended voluntarily when He said that He had to die for sin. Then three days later, rose from the dead to show Himself alive. Here in this bell tower, these bells here in Jerusalem and around the world are linked to the message of Christ. To the good news that the Messiah has come, that He lived, that He died, that He rose again to offer new life to anyone who would trust in Him. And for me personally, the sound of these bells is much greater, the message that these bells represent is infinitely greater than a fictional account based on bad history that is being whispered around the world as if someone has come up with an alternative story of Christ. Now the truth is found in the bells of the churches and the message of Christ. One who arose from the dead, and from somewhere here on the Mount of Olives literally ascended before eyewitnesses back to His Father in heaven. Acts 1:11 (NKJV) This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven. Mart De Haan: If you ve never personally considered the Jesus of the Bible and have questions about His claim to be God in the flesh I would encourage you to read the Gospel accounts for yourself, starting in John s Gospel, which clearly presents Jesus and God. Christ-Centered Learning Anytime, Anywhere 8 of 8