16 - Jesus - Did He Claim to Be God?
Did Jesus Claim to Be God?
OK, so we have discussed how science points to the fact that a creator God most likely designed the universe.
But who is that Creator? And why should we think Jesus was the Son of God? Did He ever actually claim to be God?
Yes He did, and we will explore where exactly He does.
Who is the Son of Man?
So let's talk about this phrase, "son of man". Who is the son of man?
Jesus is referred to as son of man more than 80 times in the New Testament, mostly by Himself. So what does son of man mean? Daniel 7:13-14 explains what it means quite well, and I explain in this video:
In Mark 14:61-64, the high priest asks Jesus pointedly, "Are you the Son of the Blessed One (God)" and Jesus replies, "I am..." and then goes onto again explain that He is the divine Being who has an everlasting kingdom, and sits at the right hand of God the Father.
So why did the high priest tear his clothes; it is because Jesus had committed maybe the ultimate offense, claiming to be God; thus the blaspheme.
Here is a video which explains this further.
Jesus also says, in John 8:58, "Before Abraham was, I Am." That word for "I Am" is the same word for when God tells Moses, "Tell them I Am sent you", (Exodus 3:13-15) which is another clear indication of Jesus revealing His divinity.
There are many other places in the Gospels where Jesus claims to be the Son of God. A few of these are explained in the video below.
In this next section, we will discuss how Jesus could NOT just be a good teacher - He was either a liar, Lord or lunatic.
