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We live in a skeptical world. This isn’t entirely bad, of course. The world is full of liars, con-men, and lunatics and we have to discern between the true and the false. But our modern society has gone beyond healthy skepticism to an unbelief that, ironically enough, requires absolutely concrete, empirical evidence for matters of faith—the perfect example of an oxymoron. this has led to significant damage to faith in Christ.

Don’t misunderstand, the Lord has not demanded of us blind faith. He has not left Himself without witness. I believe in God rather than evolution, because the evidences for God’s existence makes better sense than a natural world explanation. And the reason that I am a Christian is because the evidences that Jesus of Nazareth was and is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ, are truly, overwhelmingly great. God has not left us without evidences.

So, what kinds of evidences will lead us to conclude that Jesus is the Son of God? Well, whole books have been written on this one topic, but let me select just a few

  • He fulfilled Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah; and not just one of them, all of them. For example, He came at the time that Daniel designated. He came after the forerunner, John the Baptist, and was actually identified by John as the Messiah. He was of the tribe of Judah, and of the family of Jesse and David. He taught by means of parables. But these were the easy ones, many people might have qualified to be the Messiah on the basis of these.
  • He also fulfilled the difficult prophecies. He was born in the city of Bethlehem; a much smaller pool of possible Messiahs—besides, you can’t choose where you’re born. He was crucified. He was born of a virgin.
  • But most tellingly, He fulfilled the impossible prophecies. He walked on water, He fully fed thousands with very small amounts of food, and turned water into wine. He raised men up from the dead, and healed incurable diseases and infirmities—just as it was prophesied. And He did all these things in the presence of sometimes thousands of people.  Indeed, His enemies at one point, after Jesus rose a man named Lazarus from the dead, John 12:10, 11 “…planned to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.” And most impossibly of all (for a mere man, that is), He arose from the dead with an immortal body.

Tragically, there were those of Jesus’ time who didn’t believe that He was the Son of God, the Messiah. This was for a variety of reasons, some of them for petty reasons and jealousies, and other because Jesus didn’t fit the notion that they held for what and who the Messiah should be. Jesus didn’t look, act, or speak like the king they were looking for. The apostle Paul said,

1 Corinthians 2:6-9 “Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.””

But if allow ourselves an honest, reasoned, and objective look at 1) all the fulfilled prophecies, 2) strongly attested miracles, and 3) His resurrection, we may be fully assured that Jesus was not a mere man, no great rabbi, and no mere prophet; He was the very Son of God, the second person of the eternal Godhead, in whom the fullness of Deity dwelt in human flesh.

Many of you who are reading this blog are already believers in Jesus; but if you’re not, let me strongly encourage you stop a moment to let this fact sink in. And even if you are already a believer, let me urge you, too, to let the implications of this truth wash over you afresh and revive your discipleship in thought, word, and deed.