1 Who Was / Is Jesus of Nazareth? Liar, Lunatic, Legend, or the Truth?
2 Jesus towers over the rest of mankind in His influence! Regardless of what anyone may personally believe about Him, no other figure in human history has been so dominant in the history of Western culture for almost twenty centuries. In fact, it is from His birth that most of the human race dates its calendars, and it is by His name that millions curse and in His name that millions pray. 1 Within a few centuries Jesus had become Lord of the very empire which crucified Him! Religion, art, music, architecture, education, politics have all been either formed or informed by His colossal cultural status. Thus He has to be reckoned with. He simply cannot be ignored. The anonymous author of the epistle to the Hebrews admonished his readers, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings. 2 These readers were probably recent converts from Judaism to Christianity, and they are told to remain loyal to the body of authoritative tradition about Christ which had come down to them through the apostles of the first Christian generation, some of whom were still living at the time of this writing.3 Jesus of Nazareth made His identity the focal point of His teaching. He said to the people of His day, I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will die in your sins. 4 Have you ever thought about the claims which Jesus made for Himself? They are astounding! Jesus said that the Father sent Him. He claimed that He came down from God; that the words He spoke, God had actually given Him; and that everything He did, He did according to the commandment of God. He claimed that He would be the final Judge of the world. He said that to know Him was to know the Father. In fact, He said that He and God were one. He even went further than this and claimed that no man could know God except as He, the Son, revealed the Father, and that no man could come to God except through Him. 5 Jesus self-awareness was astounding for He never put Himself in the attitude of a sinner before God; never shed a tear of repentance; never regretted a single thought, word or deed; never needed or asked divine pardon; was never concerned about the salvation of His own soul; and boldly faced all His present and future enemies in the absolute certainty of His spotless purity before God and man. As the sinless Son of God, Jesus demanded unparalleled allegiance. He commanded His followers to believe in Him, love Him, obey Him, sacrifice for Him, worship Him, and, if need be, die for Him as they would for God.
3 Now in the light of these assertions, what is one to think concerning Jesus Christ? The critical question Jesus put to those who followed Him was, Who do you say I am? The simple truth is that Jesus claimed to be God, He did not leave any other options. FOUR POSSIBILITIES As we face the claims of Christ, there are only four possibilities. He was either a liar, a lunatic, a legend or the Truth. It we say He is not the Truth, we are automatically left with the other three options. Liar One possibility is that Jesus lied when he said that He was God. If He knew He was not God then He was also a hypocrite because he told others to be honest, whatever the cost, while He Himself taught and lived a colossal lie. And worse than that, he was a demon, because he told others to trust Him for their eternal destiny. 6 If He could not back up His claims and knew it, then He was indescribably evil. And also He was a fool because it was His claims to being God that led to His crucifixion. 7 Jesus pointed to His works as proof of His deity. 8 During His ministry, Christ stilled the raging tempest, walked on the water, fed the hungry, healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, delivered the demonized and raised the dead. Peter, who had been an eyewitness to these miracles, when confronting those who had put Jesus to death, reported, Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs. 9 Not a voice of protest was raised. No one dared to suggest those miracles had not occurred. For they had occurred so openly they could not be denied. Wherever the true message of Jesus has gone, new life, new hope, new purpose for living have been the result. This gospel has not only converted individuals; it has also changed society. On every mission-field the message of Jesus has established standards of hygiene and purity; promoted industry; elevated womanhood; restrained anti-social customs; abolished cannibalism, human sacrifice and cruelty; organized famine relief; checked tribal wars; and changed the social structure of society. Paul s gospel did the same in the first century for those who became the Early Church. 10
4 Philip Schaff, historian and author of The History of the Christian Church, said, Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed and Napoleon; without science and learning, He shed more light on things human and divine than all the philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of the school, He spoke words of life such as were never spoken before, or since, and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet. Without writing a single line, He has set more pens in motion and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, works of art, learned volumes, and sweet songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times. Born in a manger and crucified as a malefactor, he now controls the destinies of the civilized world and rules a spiritual empire which embraces one-third of the inhabitants of the globe. 11 Jesus has accomplished more good for mankind than any one who has ever lived. If His claims are false, a lie has accomplished more good than the truth. Few, however, seriously hold to the position that Jesus lied about who He was. For even those who deny his deity affirm His goodness--after all, He was a great moral teacher. This, however, is a ludicrous position to hold for the simple fact that those two statements are a contradiction. Jesus could hardly be a great moral teacher if He were merely a man and said the sort of things reported in the Bible. From the very outset of His ministry to its very conclusion, Jesus constantly asserted and reasserted that he was the son of God and the Savior of the world. Now, either those claims were true or they were false. If He is the Son of God and the Savior of the world, it is blasphemy and nonsense for us to talk patronizingly about Him as a mere teacher. This is an option not left open to us. You must make your choice. Lunatic Another possibility concerning Jesus claims is that he was sincere but selfdeceived. For someone to think that he is God, especially in a culture that is fiercely monotheistic, and then to tell others that their eternal destiny depends on believing in Him are the thoughts of a lunatic. Was Jesus such a person? The closer one looks at the life of Jesus the more difficult it is to find abnormality and imbalance as found in deranged persons. Instead, one finds here a character distinguished by calmness and self-possession. Here we find meekness without a trace of weakness, holiness without the sham of hypocrisy, humility detached from inferiority, power without the blemish of pride and arrogance, suffering without the companion of self-pity, success without selfseeking, love that knows no limit even in the face of death.
5 If Jesus were demented then I would to God that the world were affected with His kind of insanity! Legend A third alternative is that His claims to deity is but a legend. This is the belief that what actually happened was that His enthusiastic followers, in the third and fourth centuries, put into His mouth words He would have been shocked to hear and would have repudiated. The problem with this theory is the discoveries of modern archeology which have conclusively shown that the four biographies of Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) were written within the lifetime of Jesus contemporaries (no later than A. D. 90). It would be incredible for a mere legend about Christ to have gained the circulation and to have had the impact it had, without a shred of basis. For someone to claim deity, to forgive peoples sins, and to have risen from the dead, is a story too wild and fantastic to get off the ground if there were still people around who knew such a person. The pages of the gospels contain scores of references to geographical locations, all of them substantiated by what is known of these areas. They contain innumerable references to and brief descriptions of contemporary characters, such as Ananias, the Herods, Pontius Pilate, and Tiberius Caesar, not one of which can be shown to contain historical errors. These gospels were written in an age of careful historical composition. Among contemporary historians were Tacitus of Rome, Plutarch, the greatest of the Roman biographers, Strabo of Greece, and by far the greatest of all ancient Jewish philosophers and historians, Flavius Josephus. Professor Eduard Meyer (formerly of the University of Berlin), generally recognized as our century s greatest authority on ancient history, was not at all a believer in Christianity. His verdict cannot be said to have been given in an attempt to defend the doctrines of the Christian faith. Yet he said, It is evident that for our history of Jesus we have by no means to reckon merely with representations of the record of the second apostolic generation, but are taken back far beyond that into the midst of the first generation people who personally had known Him intimately and still preserved a lively recollection of Him; and that these old recollections lie under our eyes in manifold forms.... There is no ground at all for refusing to accept these oldest traditions as historically trustworthy in all essentials, and in their chronological ordering of the history. 12
6 The records we have of Jesus can be believed, without hesitation. They are historically trust-worthy. Unusual Testimonies Him: The contemporaries of Jesus gave the following unusual testimonies concerning Judas Iscariot: Just before Judas committed suicide, after having betrayed Jesus, he said, I have sinned, for I have betrayed innocent blood. 13 Pontius Pilate: As a Roman officer Pontius Pilate had been passing verdict on the innocent and the guilty according to Roman law. After a thorough investigation of the charges against Jesus, he said, I find no basis for a charge against this man. 14 Apostle Peter: As a disciple Peter had lived with Jesus for practically all his years of ministry on this earth. Yet thirty years after Jesus ascension, Peter testified, He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth... a lamb without blemish or defect. 15 Apostle Paul: As a Jewish leader who began his ministry by trying to stamp out Christianity, Paul became a fearless leader for the Christian movement after his conversion on the Damascus Road. He became convinced of the fact that Jesus was who He claimed to be--the promised Messiah, the Son of God. Thus Paul testified, He had no sin. 16 God the Father: Jesus claimed,... the Father who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me. 17 But what did God the Father testify concerning Jesus? On two different occasions (once when Jesus was baptized and once when He was transfigured)god spoke from heaven in an audible voice proclaiming, This is My son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. 18 The Astounding Challenge Is it any wonder that Jesus challenged His enemies with the statement, Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? 19 Then He adds, If I am telling the truth why don t you believe Me? 20 The Truth The only other alternative left open is that Jesus spoke the truth that He is who He claimed to be: God in the flesh the God-Man the Savior and Lord of sinners.
7 Your response to the question of Jesus identity must not be put aside as an idle intellectual exercise. You simply cannot put Him on a shelf as a good man or a great moral teacher. He has not left that option open to you. Either He is who He claimed to be or He isn t. The evidence, however, is clearly in favor of Jesus as Lord. But are you honest as you consider these various options concerning Jesus claims? Who is Jesus of Nazareth? A liar, a lunatic, a legend, or the Truth? Your life upon this earth and for all eternity is affected by your answer to this question. 21 The apostle John wrote,... these things have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in His name. 22 Won t you come face to face with His claims and embrace this Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord and find life in His name?
8 NOTES 1 Jaroslav Pelikan, Jesus Through the Centuries (Grand Rapids: Harper & Row, 1985), 1. 2 Ibid. 3 Hebrews 13:8-9 4 John 8:24 5 John 8:16-19,23-25,28-29;14:9;10:30; Matthew 6 6 John 3:15-18,36;5:24; 6:40-58; 8:24. 7 John 5:18;19:7; Matthew 26:63-68; Mark 14:61-64; Luke 22:70. 8 John 5:36 9 Hebrews 2:4 10 Samuel Zwemer, Evangelism Today, 24. 11 Philip Schaff, The History of the Christian Church. See also Schaff, The Person of Christ (New York: American Tract Society, 1913). 12 Eduard Meyer, Origin and Beginning of Christianity, 178. 13 Matthew 27:4 14 Luke 23:4 15 I Peter 2:22; 1:19 16 II Corinthians 5:21 17 John 5:37 18 Matthew 3:17; 17:12; Mark 9:2 19 John 8:46
20 Ibid. 21 John 8:24 22 John 20:31 9
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