His Name Is The Word of God: The Importance of Seeing Jesus From Scripture (Part 3)

Many people point to Jesus life and teaching as especially profound because he emphasizes a unique love for the marginalized and he took a stand against the political and religious establishment of his day. They see this as an example worth following and picture Jesus as a supporter of their particular cause. But we must consider the reasons Jesus lived and spoke the way he did. To extract his words and actions from the historical context they are set in is to obscure them rather than reveal their true intent.

Jesus was born into a religious community during a time in which expectancy of the Messiah, the promised Savior of the Jews prophesied about in the books written by Moses (e.g. Deuteronomy 18:14-22) and the prophetic books, had reached a fever pitch. It was an environment more emotionally and religiously charged than the presidential election in our own day. Everyone wants to know who it’s going to be, everyone is waiting and watching for their redeemer. Primarily, this is because they had endured a long history of exile and occupation by the Assyrians, by the Babylonians, by Persia, by the Greeks, and now the seemingly unbreakable Romans had taken over. They knew from prophesies such as the one found in the book of Daniel (chapter 2 verses 24-35) that the Messiah would have to come soon. They were expecting a political ruler who would overthrow the government and take back Israel, liberating the nation from its captors. This was the world that Jesus came to.

Jesus began his ministry by opening up the scroll of the prophet Isaiah (61:1,2) and reading in the Jewish synagogue: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…” and then he said “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” The Jews would have understood this as a claim that the Messiah had in fact come and they would soon be free from the political oppression of Rome. We then read that he went on to preach “the good news of the kingdom of God, for which he was sent”. So, this was the basis for his teaching, not for any other reason but the firm conviction that the Christ (another word describing the Messiah which means the “anointed one” in Greek) had, in fact, arrived.

But who was he proclaiming as the Christ? In Luke chapter 22, Jesus stands before the elders and chief priests of the Jews and is asked point blank to answer this question:

“If you are the Christ,” they said “tell us.” Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.” They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?” He replied, “You are right in saying I am.” Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips.”

He is then brought before the Roman governor Pilate and asked again if he is the Christ, the King of the Jews:

“So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” “Yes it is as you say,” Jesus replied.”

Prior to that moment, Jesus had repeatedly made similar claims; here are just a few examples:

“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Matthew 11:27

“Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ‘Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Mark 2:6,7

“You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 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 indeed die in your sins.” John 10:23,24

"We are not stoning you for any of these [miracles]," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God." John 10:33

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” John 14:6,7

From this it is abundantly clear that Jesus endured false trials, severe flogging, and death by crucifixion for no other reason than his claim to be God incarnate, the promised Messiah who would, rather than establishing a physical political kingdom as the Jews had expected, establish a lasting spiritual kingdom; redeeming his people by becoming the ultimate and final sacrifice to atone for their sin, bearing upon himself God’s wrath and punishment for sin, according to the sacrificial system that had long been established and practiced in the Jewish temple.

This being a matter of fact, if Jesus were not telling the truth about himself, we can no longer call him a good teacher who gave hope to the oppressed. Rather, he would be liar and a false prophet who deceived people and incited God fearing Jews to commit idolatry and worship him. He instructed people to willingly give their lives to him and his cause leading millions of followers to die in vain at the hands of their persecutors. Neither can we celebrate his rebellion against the religious establishment, since he would only have been replacing it with a more corrupt and deceptive religion than any that ever existed. In short, if the Bible’s claims about Jesus aren’t true, Jesus is the worst man who ever lived, not the greatest.

Still, there are some who deny that Jesus ever made these claims, choosing to believe instead that what the historical Jesus said and did is only embedded in the theological agenda of the gospel narratives and needs to be salvaged. This attitude is best represented by the efforts of the Jesus Seminar; a cadre of liberal scholars and theologians who voted on what Jesus did and didn’t say. Needless to say, only a small remnant of Jesus words remained (82% were deemed inauthentic). But why are the opinions of modern scholars to be trusted any more than the authors of the gospel narratives who claimed to be eyewitnesses of Jesus? And if the Bible isn’t trustworthy, is there another more credible account of Jesus to be found? The fact is, there is not. The Bible is the most detailed and explanatory volume we have regarding the person and work of Jesus. Yes, it is filled with dogmatic assertions about his divinity, but those assertions are no more dogmatic than the censures of the relativistic Jesus Seminar.


Recommended Reading and Sources Used:

The Bible (choose a reliable and coherent English translation such as the New International Version or English Standard Version, NIV quotations were used for this blog, however, the ESV is known to be a more literal translation).

American Jesus by Stephen Prothero
Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll