Jesus, the Son of God
Course 2 of 6

No one has had more effect on human history than Jesus of Nazareth. He has brought about more changed lives than any other. He is the one the Old Testament writers look forward to and the New Testament writers describe. Every one has heard the name of Jesus yet how many really know Him? The purpose of this study is to show that Jesus is the Son of God by looking at the evidence and thus have our faith in Him established.

JESUS AND PROPHECY

Throughout the New Testament, the writers appealed to prophecy as evidence that Jesus was the son of God. The Old Testament, which took over 1000 years to write, contain some 300 prophecies of the coming Messiah and even more examples of Him known as shadows or types. All of these prophecies, told hundreds of years before Jesus came, were fulfilled by Him and establish solid confirmation of who Jesus said He was. Jesus himself used the Old Testament to explain His claims, “And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27.)

To tell something in detail, over a period of time, before it happens and then have those details fulfilled is compelling evidence and only deity could see something before it happens. Study the prophecy on the left and note its fulfillment on the right. Make sure you read all the verses.

There are only 8 listed here but there are over 300 altogether and space does not allow us to list them all. His life was mapped out via prophecy hundreds of years before He came. Jesus was God’s son and prophecy helps prove it.

Some will say that the prophecies were fulfilled deliberately. But what about the ones a person has no control over such as the place of birth or who their parents would be. How could He deliberately fulfill the ones about His side being pierced or where He was buried since He was dead already.

Nor is it coincidental that Jesus fulfilled all prophecy. Using the science of probability, a scientist named Peter Stoner calculated that the odds of 1 man fulfilling just 8 prophecies is 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. If we take 48 prophecies, the odds of 1 man fulfilling them would be 1 in 10157. That is a 1 followed by 157 zeros. Astronomical! And what do you suppose the odds of 1 person fulfilling them all would be? Off the chart to say the least. Point is that Jesus fulfilled every prophecy against all odds of any 1 person doing that. The Old Testament prophecies show the coming son of God and Jesus fulfilled those prophecies. The evidence is overwhelming.

JESUS AND THE EYEWITNESSES

Jesus lived upon the earth and said many wonderful things. He performed amazing miracles and all that He did and said was witnessed by people.

• John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen His glory…"
• Luke 1:2 “just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us”
• Acts 1:8 “...and you will be my witnesses….”
• 2 Peter 1:16 “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths…but were eyewitnesses of His majesty”
• 1 John 1:1 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life.”

These verses, and many more, show that people saw, heard, and touched Jesus. They saw His miracles, heard His words, and even saw Him alive after His death. They were eyewitnesses to the Lord’s glory. Now we know that in any court of law a thing is established by eyewitness testimony. Any historical figure we have not seen we still accept because of eyewitnesses who did see them. There were eyewitnesses to Jesus. Why should He be treated any differently?

JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION

Jesus died horribly on a cross - publicly executed and humiliated and there was a whole crowd of people who saw it (Matthew 27:36, 39; Luke 24:18.) Upon His death, Jesus was buried in a tomb close by the crucifixion site (John 19:41.) This is important. People knew where the tomb was because it was close by, it belonged to a prominent Jew (Matthew 27:60), two leading members of the Jewish council—Nicodemus and Joseph– saw to the burial (John 19:38-40), and a group of women followed the body to the tomb to see where it was (Luke 23:55.) Some have tried to claim that the disciples and women went to the wrong tomb on the first day of the week but everybody knew where it was. Certainly Joseph knew where his own tomb was and the women weren’t going to forget where the tomb of their beloved Lord was. No, they went to the right tomb and Jesus was not there for He had raised from the dead.

Matthew 27:62-66 records how the Jewish council was afraid the disciples would come and steal the body of Jesus, so they went to the Roman governor and asked for an armed guard to guard the tomb from theft. Some try to refute the resurrection of Jesus by saying the disciples did steal the body. Are we to believe that these disciples, who fled when Jesus was arrested (Matthew 26:31,) and were cowering in fear of the Jews (John 20:19,) somehow found the courage to sneak past a guard of soldiers, roll away the stone over the tomb, and make off with a dead body? And these soldiers didn’t see or hear a thing? Defies logic doesn’t it?

Some say that Jesus didn’t really die and just “woke up” in the tomb. How could a scourged and crucified man have the strength to roll away the stone by himself? Besides, his side was pierced to prove He was dead (John 19:31– 34.)

The empty tomb figures prominently in the first gospel sermon in Acts 2:22-36. The apostles preached about David’s tomb (29) and showed it was still occupied. But the Lord’s tomb was empty (32.) The apostles were using visual evidence as they were speaking in the very area that the resurrection took place. They could literally point to the empty tomb and when they did, 3000 people obeyed the gospel (Acts 2:41.)

Jesus died and was buried but now that tomb is empty. The only way Jesus could have gotten out of that tomb is by raising from the dead and this is certainly the greatest evidence that Jesus is the Son of God (Romans 1:4.)

JESUS, THE SON OF GOD

Jesus made the claim to be God and did not leave any other options. Notice:

• John 10: 30-33 “I and my Father are one…”
• John 8:58 “I am” (This is the sacred name of God)
• John 5:23 “...honor me as they honor the Father”
• John 14:1 “...believe in God, believe also in me.”
• Mark 14:61-62 “….are you the son of the Blessed … I am…”

No other religious leader has ever made such a claim. Moses did not Neither did Paul or Peter. Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius - none of them ever claimed to be God. Only Jesus has made the claim to be God and there are only 2 possibilities. The claim is true or false. Notice:

• If the claim is false, then Jesus told people He was God but knew He wasn’t. That makes Him a liar. Worse yet, it makes Him a hypocrite because He told others to be honest but wasn’t Himself. We may even go as far as to say He was demonic because He told others to trust Him with their eternal destiny based on a lie. But the virgin birth, His miracles, fulfilled prophecy, and the resurrection show proof that He was who He claimed to be.
• Someone who lived as He did, taught as He taught, and died as Jesus did could not be a liar or a lunatic.
  That makes His claims true. Jesus is the son of God. It is the only conclusion that fits the evidence.

We have spoken much about evidence in this lesson. Christianity is not mere blind faith. Faith is based on evidence and the evidence clearly shows that Jesus is God’s son. We cannot make this an idle exercise or put Jesus on a shelf as a great teacher of morality. We conclude that Jesus is God’s son and that He is Lord. Now it is up to us. Either we accept Him as Lord or we reject Him. If we accept Him, we must commit our lives to Him in humble obedience.