Jesus as God

The question of whether Jesus is God or not is one that cannot be proven based on history. However, this can be proven based on prophecy in the Bible and Jesus fulfillment of those prophecies and the eye witness of people seeing Jesus doing miraculous things that can only be done through God’s power. Every single prophecy made about Jesus in the Old Testament was fulfilled in Jesus and the majority of the prophecies concerning Jesus were things that would have been beyond control of anyone or a group of people to forcibly control. As for the miraculous some of these miraculous things include raising people from the dead and the forgiving of sins. Forgiving of sins can only be done, undoubtedly, by God.
Now frequently people outside (and at times inside) of the Christian church have stated that Jesus never claimed to be God. This simply is not true. Jesus does claim to be God. In Mark 14 we see Jesus confirm that He is God:

“And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, "Have you no answer
to make? What is it that these men testify against you?" But he remained
silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ,
the Son of the Blessed?" And Jesus said, "I am, and you will see the Son
of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of
heaven." And the high priest tore his garments and said, "What further
witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your
decision?" And they all condemned him as deserving death.”

Then in John 10:25-33:

Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in
my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are
not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they
follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no
one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me,
is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
Joh 10:30 I and the Father are one." The Jews picked up stones
again to stone him. Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works
from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?" The Jews
answered him, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for
blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God."

So it is clear that Jesus did claim to be and is God.

It is interesting, last night a story was broken that someone had “found the bones of Jesus Christ.” They mention that they are using DNA evidence to connect Jesus with the other remains found. It may be true that this body is connected biologically to these other bodies, but DNA evidence cannot prove that these bones are Jesus, because we don’t have a DNA sample from Jesus. In addition to this there is confusion as to if the box that held these bones names Jesus or someone else. On top of this Jesus was a common name when Christ walked the earth. Then the final nail in the coffin of this discussion is that Jesus, after raising from the dead, ascended into heaven. Eye witnesses have recorded this in the Bible. Some people will argue that there was a conspiracy and Jesus didn’t raise from the dead. However, the eleven remaining disciples all died for this truth. One has to think, would these men and others have died for this cause had it been a conspiracy or hoax? I’m pretty sure that had it not been the truth, these men would not have died for it. Thus it is clear that Jesus really did raise from the dead and did ascend into heaven. There is no sense looking for the “bones” of Jesus because you won’t find them. Jesus is not dead, He is a live in heaven and He is God.

Jesus Christ As A Historical Figure

Bertrand Russell once wrote, “Historically it is quite doubtful whether Christ ever existed at all, and if He did we do not know anything about Him.” Anyone who makes such a statement hasn’t done their homework. There is ample proof for the existence of Jesus Christ both in and outside of scripture. F.F. Bruce states,

“Some writers may toy with the fancy of a ‘Christ-myth,’ but they do not do
so on the ground of historical evidence. The historicity of Christ is as
axiomatic for an unbiased historian as the historicity of Julius Caesar.
It is not historians who propagate the ‘Christ-myth’ theories.”

We have secular historians such as Cornelius Tacitus, Lecian of Samosata, Suetonius, Pliny the Younger, Thallus, Phegon, and Mara Bar-Serapion. The Babylonian Talmud refers to Jesus Christ when we read these words, “On the eve of Passover they hanged Yeshu (Greek name for Jesus).” Then we have the editions of Jewish historians, such as Jospheus & Philo, who mention Jesus Christ.

There is also the writings of early church fathers who were at least two persons away from knowing Jesus Christ Himself. These writes include Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Quadratus, Justin Martyr and others.There is no doubt that history proves that Jesus Christ did exist. Next I will turn to the discussion of Jesus being God and Savior of the world.