A statement under oath
“But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”
“Yes, it is as you say,”Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.”
Matthew 26:63-65.
Here is a truth about Jesus. He made the statement under oath before the high priest that He was the Christ, the Son of God. Further more he went on to say,
“In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Quite a statement. Jesus was an educated man he knew Jewish law. He knew what claiming to be the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God would bring on him if the high priest did not believe him.
The high priest did not believe him saying,
“He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.”
At that moment the fate of Jesus was sealed. Under Jewish law of the day Jesus had to be put to death. All they had to do was convince the Roman governor to let them do it. Which for political expediency he did.
Christians believe Jesus is all he said he is. We believe He is the Son of God, we believe he is the suffering Messiah who will one day return to earth. We believe he is the Christ.
C. S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity makes valid point when he says,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. 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. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
I know there are many out there who do not believe Jesus is the Son of God the Christ, the Messiah.
What I would ask them is to study the New Testament particularly the first four books. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Keep in mind that for Jesus to make the claim he was the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. It would get Him the death penalty.
Ask yourself would an intelligent, well educated man say the things he did if he were not the Son of God.
And here’s one more thing to consider. In Acts chapter five we are told the story of two of Jesus’ disciples preaching in his name. They are brought before a Jewish religious court who wanted to put them to death for making the claims that Jesus is the Son of God. A wise man among them however rose and said,
“Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.
But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
Acts 5:38,39.
Over two thousand years have come and gone since then. Christianity is now the largest religion in the world and still growing. Not only that it is growing without the use of force. It is a faith built on love for God, ones fellow man, and even ones enemies.
I contend that Jesus is the Son of God the Saviour of mankind.
I only ask that you think about it.
Post Script to Christians,
There many out there who claim to be Christians but do not believe Jesus is the Son of God. I firmly believe that you cannot be a Christian and not believe Jesus is the Son of God. The entire New Testament makes that clear.
Showing posts with label Jesus saviour of mankind. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jesus saviour of mankind. Show all posts
Monday 10 August 2015
Saturday 4 April 2015
The Death and Burial of Jesus
The Death and Burial
“It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour,
for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
Jesus called out with a loud voice,“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.”
When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.
But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God.
Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body.
Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.
It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it.
Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.”
Luke 23:44-56.
The death and burial of Jesus. Here we have those who loved Jesus watching him die and what the other people around were doing.
The sky went black for three hours. Jesus gives his own spirit up. The Roman soldier stating “Surely this was a righteous man.”
Joseph of Arimathea a member of the council who was not at the council when it voted to have Jesus put to death asked Pilate for the body of Jesus and place him in a new unused tomb. While the women prepared the spices and perfumes to embalm the body. They could not however embalm it because of the Sabbath on which they rested in obedience to the commandments.
This was the lowest point I think in the life of Christ’s followers. Jesus was in the grave. He was dead.
Death has come to every leader of every faith throughout history.
Jesus however would stand out, in that death did not hold him. For on the Sunday morning he arose from the grave to walk the earth for a short while before ascending into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father.
This is what makes Christianity and Christians different from all other faiths. We serve a risen Lord that during the three years he ministered on this earth claimed to be the One and only Son of God. He made the statement,
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6
A potentially dangerous statement in the time of Jesus.
C. S. Lewis wrote of Jesus,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. 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. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Please think about it.
“It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour,
for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
Jesus called out with a loud voice,“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.”
When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.
But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God.
Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body.
Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.
It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it.
Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.”
Luke 23:44-56.
The death and burial of Jesus. Here we have those who loved Jesus watching him die and what the other people around were doing.
The sky went black for three hours. Jesus gives his own spirit up. The Roman soldier stating “Surely this was a righteous man.”
Joseph of Arimathea a member of the council who was not at the council when it voted to have Jesus put to death asked Pilate for the body of Jesus and place him in a new unused tomb. While the women prepared the spices and perfumes to embalm the body. They could not however embalm it because of the Sabbath on which they rested in obedience to the commandments.
This was the lowest point I think in the life of Christ’s followers. Jesus was in the grave. He was dead.
Death has come to every leader of every faith throughout history.
Jesus however would stand out, in that death did not hold him. For on the Sunday morning he arose from the grave to walk the earth for a short while before ascending into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father.
This is what makes Christianity and Christians different from all other faiths. We serve a risen Lord that during the three years he ministered on this earth claimed to be the One and only Son of God. He made the statement,
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6
A potentially dangerous statement in the time of Jesus.
C. S. Lewis wrote of Jesus,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. 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. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Please think about it.
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