A Mass of Variant Views, part 1

On page 177 of Jesus Interrupted, Dr. Ehrman says that “the earliest reference to Jesus’ tomb being empty is in the Gospel of Mark, written forty years later by someone living is a different country who had heard that it was empty.”

This is not true and I believe that Dr. Ehrman knows that the statement is not true.   Dr. Ehrman knows that Paul wrote much earlier than Mark.  He dealt extensively with the resurrection data and yet he did not mention Paul’s documentation in I Corinthians.  That documentation is the most important documentation because it is much earlier than Mark and for other reasons.

The Apostle Paul writes about the resurrected Jesus in I Corinthians and perhaps in other letters also.  The I Corinthians documentation is especially important because Paul is not the source of the evidence. Followers of Jesus early on, within 10 years, developed a creed which they repeated to one another and perhaps in worship services.  This creed summarized specific data about the life of Jesus Christ that they wanted to remember.  Here are the statements in that creed from one of the latest English translations based on the largest body of manuscripts available today.

that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

that he was buried,

that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

and that he appeared to Peter,

and then to the Twelve.

after that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.

then he appeared to James,

then to all the apostles

The first generation Jesus followers were quoting this creed to one another with a few years after Jesus ascended.  That this is a creed from these followers is well documented.  And the text of I Corinthians 15 indicates that:  “for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also receive.”  Paul said this primary statement he received from other believers, probably through his visits to Jerusalem, and passed it on to the Corinthians just as he had received it from the early Jesus followers.

This creed documents several essential beliefs about Jesus.  Jesus died for the sins of humanity. Jesus was buried in a grave by Joseph of Arimethea.  He was then raised from the dead three days after he was put in the grave in fulfillment of His own prophesy and of Old Testament prophesies.   He made several appearances after His resurrection. The most phenomenal appearance was to a group of 500 hundred believer/followers at one point.  According to Paul, most of those 500 were still alive as eyewitnesses to the life and post-resurrection appearance of Jesus.  The point that can be made here is that these 500 people could be contacted because they were still alive to get first hand information about Jesus’ appearance.

So this was a significant omission from the book and I can only conclude that it was omitted because it does not support Dr. Ehrman’s theses.

Who is Jesus and will you ever know who He is?

Who is Jesus? Do you think you know who He is? Will you ever know who He is? Until you have really contemplated Him and looked at the recorded history of Him, you will never know.

Paul’s friend and companion wrote precise details about his life. That would be one place to go and read if you want the history. Read it as history. Ignore the supernatural if you like for the moment and just find out what happened in his life. You owe it to yourself. What have you got to loose? Get an opinion or belief about him based on fact.

If He, Jesus is God-Incarnate, the God-Man, then, He is superior to all!!! No other man on earth claimed deity–that is, no other sane man. No other man/prophet on earth proved or backed up the claim to deity. We, followers of Jesus, simply believe that He is who He claimed to be and that He backed that up in the most forceful way by His life on earth. The largest proof is His resurrection from the dead and ascension into Heaven.

Who is Jesus? — The Incarnation-Implications for you

Actually, the incarnation points to a truth that the cross will make clear, namely, that our salvation is by sheeeeeer grace. I can’t stress that enough. In every other religion the founder is a human being sent by God to show us what to do to be saved. But Jesus is God come Himself. Now if God only needed to inform us what to do for salvation, he could have sent a prophet!!!!!! His personal coming means He will not just tell us what we have to do to be saved, but will do for us all that we cannot do ourselves. He will live the obedient life we should have lived but did not. He will die to pay the penalty for the disobedient life we shouldn’t have lived but did. He came himself to accomplish our salvation for us.

If Jesus is God, there is endless hope for the world and for you! The Bible tells us that Jesus brought “the kingdom of God.” That means that Jesus, the true King, has returned and has begun to put the world right with His power. Right now, that healing is only partial but some day all deformity, decay, sin, disease and imperfection will be complete taken away from here. This means we live with infallible hope (Romans 8:18-25) Whatever problem we face-whether disease or injustice or some other suffering-eventually God’s power will triumph over it. Weeping may remain for the night but Joy comes with the morning (Ps 30:5) Jesus is God. That means God has landed!!! The ideal has penetrated the real and is transforming it into his likeness. The world is destined for joy sooner or later.

I savor these thought and will for my lifetime. Whatever your state today, I hope and pray you have a wonderful day and are overcome by joy in Him.

Who is Jesus? — The Incarnation-Implications for Followers

I have looked at the specific passages in the Greek New Testament which outline the circumstances in Jesus’ life and have implications for all who will listen to Him. He is still speaking today and to those who follow His voice.

This video is designed primarily for those who already follow Him and have a relationship with Him or those actively seeking Him.

If Jesus is God, he is not simply to be admired and respected but to be worshipped and adored. The purpose of our lives is to behold his glory and beauty and that certainly means more than to believe in Him or even to obey him. He is the ultimate object of worship (II Corinthians 3:18). He is to be reveled in, savored and rejoiced in. Jesus is God. Therefore, he should be the ultimate beauty and satisfaction for our hearts.

If Jesus is God, he is to be absolutely obeyed and given the central priority of our lives. Jesus’ claim to be God polarizes the only possible response to him. No one can respond to him casually or moderately. If he is not who he said he is, he should be hated or utterly ignored. If he is who he said he is then he should be adored completely. We should center our lives entirely on Him. Jesus is the Creator and the Almighty God. He is not someone you can ask into your life as an assistant or consultant-he must be Lord. Jesus is God-and therefore he should be the pre-eminent concern of our choices, the ultimate Lord over our wills.

If Jesus is God, his salvation is of infinite value. His sufferings were of infinite value. His blood was shed as a ransom ( Mark 10:45) to pay for our sins. But his blood was the blood of God (Acts 20:28)! Imagine how valuable that is!

He was forsaken by the Father ( Matthew 27:46) as a way to take the penalty we deserved (II Corinthians 5:21; II Thesalonians 2:9). But the Father and Son knew one another from all eternity and have perfect love for each other. So the loss that Jesus experienced on the cross was infinitely greater the loss any other being would have experienced. The deity of Christ means that his salvation is super-abundantly sufficient for us. He is able to save “to the max, to the uttermost” (Heb. 7:25). No sin is too great to be forgiven; no corruption is too great to be healed. Jesus is God-and therefore he should bring complete rest and assurance to our consciences.

I will pause here to say if you are seeking Him or have come to know Him and do not have that rest and assurance—by all means get in touch. We can help in that way.

Who is Jesus? — The Incarnation, a Retake

I realized after getting into the Incarnation of Jesus, the God-Man,  I had left much on the table that was said in the passages I used in the previous blog.  So,  I want to review them again and go much deeper.

John 1:1-3, 14

Here John challenges the pagan and the jewish views with these statements about the incarnation.   How does the incarnation challenge your world view?

The Incarnation in Jesus challenges the empiricist view.  This view denies that there is any eternal, supernatural world, or that the supernatural can ever break into and violate natural laws in the form of miracles.  The Incarnation, is THE Great Miracle of all time!

The incarnation challenges the post-modern view of the world.  What I hear from post- moderns is more mood than a coherent philosophy, but the post-modern view is that all depictions of reality are social constructs to serve the purpose of the dominant group, that there is no such thing as Truth with a capital T.

The incarnation, teaches that there is an absolute Truth and that Truth has become a human being.  Also, the incarnation challenges the modernized versions of religion which consist almost entirely of ethical behavior rather than focusing on the being, that is, what is inside a person.

The focus on ethical behavior puts in the background what is believed or the bases of that belief by saying “All religions basically believe in the same God. What really matters is that you are a good, loving and honest person.”

This pervasive view makes God a very vague and impersonal being.  God becomes a mysterious life-force and not a person we can know and relate to.  God is referred to in a very generic way.  Due to influence of eastern thought, many focus on meditation rather than verbal prayer-communication in order to “touch the divine.”

The incarnation, however, tells us that we have a palpable God—one who can be known, talked to, listened to, served, and loved.  The Incarnation gives us the most personal God in the face of modern efforts to depersonalize Deity.

John 14: 6,  I Timothy 2:5
How does the incarnation of God lead one to understand Jesus as the only mediator, the only way to reach God?

There is very strong opposition to the idea that Jesus is the only way to know and reach God.   This is seen as extreme narrow-mindedness.

This one aspect of the incarnation could take hours and hours of devotion and discussion.  Here I will only give a very brief summary.

If He, Jesus is God-Incarnate, the God-Man, then, He is superior to all!!!   No other man on earth claimed deity—that is, no other sane man.  No other man/prophet on earth proved or backed up the claim to deity.  We, followers of Jesus, simply believe that He is who He claimed to be and that He backed that up on the most forceful way by His life on earth.  The largest proof is His resurrection from the dead and ascension into Heaven.

You must understand that Christians who accept the Word of God, do not choose to believe that Jesus is the unique way to God.  Once we believe He is God in the flesh, we simply have to see Him as the only way to know and serve God truly.  Once that is understood—nothing else–no other prophet, no other religion, compares to His life and revelation.

Matthew 9:2-3

Here Jesus takes the authority to forgive sins.  The teachers of the law very correctly believed He was claiming a right that only God has.  When Jesus forgives this man’s sin,  he is saying that all sins are AGAINST HIM.  How can He say that if He is not God?  He can’t.  Only God can claim that all sins are against Him, since He made the world and everything in it and all sins are against His creation.  This scene makes it clear who Jesus claims to be.  He claims are radical as demonstrated by the reaction He got from Jewish leaders.

Matthew 11:27

“All things have been committed to me”   Wow!!  That is a staggering claim that he has the right and power to control everything that exists.

“No one knows the Father but the Son”  He claims to have complete knowledge of the Father in a way that no one else in the universe does.

“…no one  knows the Father”    He cannot mean that no one has any knowledge or any relationship to God.  Many know God in a limited way, so Jesus must be claiming absolute knowledge of God.  He is saying, “Compared to the exhaustive way I know the Father, no one knows him at all.”    But that raises a question—how could any mortal human claim to completely know the infinite God?

“…no one knows the Son but the Father.”  This may be more startling that all the statements he made here.  He is saying that He alone is capable of knowing the Father, so, the Father alone is capable of knowing him!!!  This is a flabbergasting claim that the Son, Jesus, is at an equal level and standing with the Father.

John 8:52-59
He claims to have existed well before Abraham was on earth.

John 20:28-29
Jesus accepts Thomas’ worship of Himself as God here.  Did you know that John repeatedly falls at the feet of an angel in worship in the book of Revelation??   The angel forbids it each time he does.  Jesus never forbids worship of Himself.

Mark 1:2-3
(Isaiah 40: 3-5)

Mark is saying that John the Baptist is the messenger predicted in Is 40:3-5.  There Isaiah says that the messenger is paving the way for YAHWEH ie, the LORD of glory!!!!!!   Therefore,  Mark is saying in the most unmistakable terms that in Jesus is the Lord God Himself.

Acts 20:28

Luke recorded Paul speaking about the church which “God…bought with his own blood.”  Think about that–the only person who shed blood, on the cross, was Jesus.  This means that Jesus was God and that His blood was God’s blood.  This shows that Luke and Paul believed that Jesus was full deity by the way this is recorded.

Colossians 2:9-10

This is unmistakable:  “All the fullness of the Deity (the only Deity) dwells in bodily form.”   Who was that?  It was and is Jesus.  Paul could have used a greek word that simply means divine qualities or godlike-ness.   Instead he uses the actual word for God   Theos.  Which means that God in all his fullness is in Jesus.  We can’t say that Jesus has part of the divine nature, but that all of it is in Him.

Hebrews 1:1-3

I said this before but I will say it again.  Jesus is the “exact” representation of God’s glory and being.  He is a mirror image, an absolute equal to the reflected object in every way—shape, brightness, clarity, etc.   Jesus holds the entire universe together;  he sustains it with the “word of his power.”

I believe there is only one conclusion we can take away from these scriptures.  Jesus is the supreme, the Majesty. He is to be honored, reverenced and worshiped because He is God.

I’d love to discuss with you further.

Who is Jesus? — The Incarnation

John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, (Greek: Logos)  and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.     He was with God in the beginning.    Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,  who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Greeks understood logos to be the rational principle by which everything exists, and which is the essence of the rational human soul.  In the Greek mind,  there was no god other than logos.  But there is Old Testament background to the term logos.   It could be argued that John is referring to the Torah.  Is so,  logos would be rich in meaning for Jewish readers, and also it would resonate in the minds of readers with entirely pagan backgrounds.   Whatever their thoughts about the meaning of logos,  the writer is trying to force new thought here.    – DA Carson  The Gospel according to John

We move to verse 14 and we see that this eternal uncreated Word of God becomes flesh.  What!!! Yes.   John articulates this phenomenon in the boldest way.

If he had said “adopted the form of a body” the readers steeped in the popular dualism of the Hellenistic world might have missed the point.  No, John is unambiguous,  almost shocking in the expressions he uses:  THE Word became flesh he says!!!!

This is supreme revelation.  Like none other ever read or heard.  If we are to know God, neither rationalism or mysticism will suffice.  Even the former Hebrew scriptures cannot match this (revelation).  – DA Carson

What is mysticism?  What is rationalism?

Mysticism:   (Merriam Webster): the belief that direct knowledge of God, spiritual truth, or ultimate reality can be attained through subjective experience (as intuition or insight)
Rationalism:  (Merriam Webster)  1: reliance on reason as the basis for establishment of religious truth 2  a: a theory that reason is in itself a source of knowledge superior to and independent of sense perceptions   b: a view that reason and experience rather than the nonrational are the fundamental criteria in the solution of problems

Don’t get me wrong here as I am quoting, there is a place for reason, but not to the  exclusion of faith.

The book of Hebrews says:  In the past God spoke through the prophets…but in these days he has spoken to us by his son.”  Hebrews 1:2-3  The Word, God’s very Self-expression, who was both with God and was God,  became flesh:  He donned humanity,  save only our sin.  God chose to make himself known, finally and ultimately, in a real, historic man.      –  D. A. Carson

How does the incarnation shed light on claims that Jesus is the only mediator,  the only way to reach God?

He said while here on earth:  I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me!!  Then Paul reaffirms this concept.   If He is God in flesh, He has the right and authority to say this.

Now here are just a few Greek verses which expound on what John has told us in his prologue to his gospel.
Matt 9: 2-3

He knew the Old Testament says that only God forgives sins…. Yet, He forgave this man’s sins and stated it this way.  He is claiming her power to forgive sins and indirectly that He is God.

Matthew 11:27

It is as if Jesus here is claiming to be the exclusive conduit of the Father’s will and the Father’s work on the earth!!  We can’t know God except by knowing Jesus.

Matthew 28:20

He will continue His presence on the earth after he physically leaves the earth.  He is saying this after His resurrection.  He knows He is about to leave, but says “I will be with you always (forever).”  We know He is present with us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

John 5: 21-23

Jesus is the source of life, ie, eternal life.  The Son is entrusted by the Father with judgment.  This is judgment of sin.  If we honor Him, we are honoring the Father.  This would not be true if He were only a man.  Those who do not honor the Son do not honor God or the Father.

John 8:52-59

Jesus claims many things here and in the last uses the Exodus phrase that God used naming Himself to the Jews:  I AM.  The Jews believe He is blaspheming because He claims to know God and that they do not know God.  He also said that Abraham knew Him while Abraham lived several hundred years earlier.  The Jews do not understand that.

John 20:28-29

Here is one of the most explicit statements about His godhood.  Here Thomas calls Him Lord and God.  Jesus does not correct him.  In fact, He encourages/congratulates Thomas and future believers for the same recognition of Him.

Mark 1:2-3  (reference Isaiah 40:3-5)

The Messiah will have many messengers sent before to prepare the way.  Mark believes him to be the Messiah.

Colossians 2:9-10

God dwelt on earth in bodily form.  Jesus has control over all powers and authorities on the earth.  These powers would be spiritual and governmental.  The spiritual now and the from an earthly throne in the future.

Hebrews 1:1-3

Jesus is the spokesperson (the Word) for the Godhead.  All that is significant in human history will be accomplished for Him and in His name.  The Son of God is the radiant expression of God’s glory.  He reigns now at the right hand of  Majesty.

The Greek New Testament is as long as the Qur’an and it is all about the person of Jesus Christ. So, you know there are many more wonderful things about Him there.  I encourage you to pick up the New Testament and begin reading in the Gospel of John, the fourth gospel.  This will start you on a great adventure—the greatest adventure you can experience on earth.

Is Jesus God? He spoke the greatest words ever spoken

Jesus said about his own words, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away” Luke 21:33

It was common for the crowds who heard Him to be “astonished at His teaching” Luke 4:32.  Even a Roman officer exclaimed, “No one ever spoke like this Man!” John 7:46

Statistically speaking, the Gospels are the greatest literature ever written. They are read by more people, quoted by more authors, translated into more tongues, represented in more art, set to more music, than any other book or books written by any man in any century in any land. But the words of Christ are not great on the grounds that they have such a statistical edge over any body else’s words. They are read more, quoted more, loved more, believed more, and translated more because they are the greatest words ever spoken. And where is their greatness? Their greatness lies in the pure, lucid spirituality in dealing clearly, definitively, and authoritatively with the greatest problems that throb in the human breast; namely, Who is God? Does He love me? What should I do to please Him? How does He look at my sin? How can I be forgiven? Where will I go when I die? How must I treat others? No other man’s words have the appeal of Jesus’ words because no other man can answer these fundamental human questions as Jesus answered them. They are the kind of words and the kind of answers we would expect God to give, and we who believe in Jesus’ deity have no problem as to why these words came from His mouth.
Ramm, Protestant Christian Evidences, 170-171

Napoleon:

Never did the Speaker seem to stand more utterly alone than when He uttered this majestic utterance. Never did it seem more improbable that it should be fulfilled. But as we look across the centuries we see how it has been realized. His words have passed into law, they have passed into doctrines, they have passed into proverbs, they have passed into consolations, but they have never ‘passed away.’ What human teacher ever dared to claim an eternity for his words?  G. F. Maclean, Cambridge Bible for Schools, 149

Though without formal rabbinical training, He showed no timidity or self-consciousness, no hesitation as to what He felt to be truth. Without any thought of Himself or His audience, He spoke out fearlessly on every occasion, utterly heedless of the consequences to Himself, and only concerned for truth and the delivery of His Father’s message. The power of His teaching was also deeply felt. “His word was with power” Luke 4:32. The spiritual force of His personality expressed itself in His utterances and held His hearers in its enthralling grasp. And so we are not surprised to read of the impression of uniqueness made by Him. “Never man spoke like this man” John 7:46. The simplicity and charm and yet the depth, the directness, the universality, and the truth of His teaching made a deep mark on His hearers, and elicited the conviction that they were in the presence of a Teacher such as man had never known before. And thus the large proportion of teaching in the Gospels, and the impressions evidently created by the Teacher Himself, are such that we are not at all surprised that years afterward the great Apostle of the Gentiles should recall these things and say, “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus” Acts 20:35. The same impression has been made in every age since the days of Christ and His immediate followers, and in any full consideration of His person as the substance of Christianity great attention must necessarily be paid to His teaching.  W. H. Griffith Thomas, Christianity Is Christ, 32

Please comment below or pass on through a reading service?

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Is Jesus God? Did He live a perfect life?

If God became a man, then we would expect him to live more perfectly than any human who has ever lived.

Jesus’ Friends:

His life was holy; His word was true; His who character was the embodiment of truth. There never has been a more real or genuine man than Jesus of Nazareth.
W. B. Thomas, Christianity Is Christ, 11

Carnegie Simpson wrote:

Instinctively we do not class Him with others. When one reads His name in a list beginning with Confucius and ending with Goethe we feel it is an offense less against orthodozy than against decency. Jesus is not one of the group of the world’s great. Talk about Alexander the Great and Charles the Great and Napoleon the Great if you will…Jesus is apart.  He is not the Great;  He is the Only. He is simply Jesus. Nothing could add to that…He is beyond our analyses. He confounds our canons of human nature. He compels our criticism to overleap itself. He awes our spirits. There is a saying of Charles Lamb … that “If Shakespeare was to come into this room we should all rise up to meet him, but if that Person (ie, Jesus) was to come into it, we should all fall down and try to kiss the hem of his garment
Quoted by John Stott, Basic Christianity, 36

Jesus was the most Jewish of Jews; even more Jewish than Hillel
Yosef Klausner, Jewish intellectual & scholar of Jewish religion and history, Yeschu Hanostri, 1249

It is universally admitted…that Christ taught the purest and sublimest system of ethics, one which throws the moral precepts and maxims of the wisest men of antiquity far into the shade.
Philip Schaff, The Person of Christ, 44

Only a Christ could have conceived a Christ
Joseph Parker in Ecce Deus, from Martin, CC, 57

Napoleon Boneparte:

I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Ceasar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we reast the creatsion of our enius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.
Frank Mead,  Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations, 56

Antagonists to the cause of Christ:

I esteem the Gospels to be thoroughly genuine, for there shines forth from them the reflected splendour of a sublimity, proceeding from the person of Jesus Christ and of as Divine a kind as was ever manifested upon earth.
Frank Ballard, MU, 251

He was too great for his disciples. And in view of what he plainly said, is it any wonder that all who were rich and prosperous felt a horror of strange things, a swimming of their world at his teaching? Perhaps the priests and the rulers and the rich men understood him better than his followers. He was dragging out all the little private reservations they had made from social service into the light of a universal religious life. He was like some terrible moral huntsman digging manking out of the snug burrow in which they had lived hitherto. In the white blaze of this kingdom of his there was to be no property, no privilege, no pride and precendence; no motive indeed and no reward but love. Is it any wonder that men were dazzled and blinded and cried out against him? Even his disciples cried out when he would not spare them the light. Is it any wonder that the priests realized that between this man and themselves there was no choice but that he or priestcraft should perish? Is it any wonder that the Roman soldiers, confronted and amazed by something soaring over their comprehension and threatening all their disciplines, should take refuge in wild laughter, and crown him with thorns and robe him in purple and make a mock Caesar of him? For to take him seriously was to enter upon a strange and alarming life, to abandon habits, to control instincts and impulses, to essay an incredible happiness….

Is it any wonder that to this day this Galilean is too much for our small hearts?” — H.G. Wells, The Outline of History, 535-536

It’s an interesting thing to be convicted of Christ by an atheist.

Is Jesus God? Was He without sin?

If God became a man, we would expect Him to be without Sin

1. Jesus’s View of Himself

To a hostile crowd:

“Which of you convicts Me of sin?” John 8:46

He got no answer.   Though He invited scrutiny, no one could accuse him of anything.   He was innocent.   He could encourage this public examination because He was without sin.

John 8:29: “I always do those things that please Him.”

He was in unbroken communion with His Father in heaven.

Another quality which has often been remarked was the absence of any sense of having committed sin or of a basic corruption of Himself.  It is highly significant that in one as sensitive morally as was Jesus and who taught His followers to ask for the forgiveness of their sins there is no hint of any need for forgiveness for Himself, no asking of pardon, either from those about Him or of God.
Kenneth Scott Latourette, Historian, A History or Christianity, 47

The best reason to consider Him sinless: “is the fact that He allowed His dearest friends to think that He was (sinless). There is in all His talk no trace of regret or hint of compunction or suggestion of sorrow for shortcoming, or slightest vestige of remorse. He taught other men to think of themselves as sinners, He asserted plainly that the human heart is evil, He told His disciples that every time they prayed they were to pray to be forgiven, but He never speaks or acts as though He himself has the faintest consciousness of having ever done anything other than what was pleasing to God. Jefferson, CJ, 225

Another quality which has often been remarked was the absence of any sense of having committed sin or of a basic corruption of Himself…It is highly significant that in one as sensitive morally as was Jesus and who taught His followers to ask for the forgiveness of their sins there is no hint of any need for forgiveness for Himself, no asking of pardon, either from those about Him or of God.
Kenneth Scott Latourette, Historian, A History or Christianity, 47

2. The Witness of His Friends

Jesus’ closest associates, Peter and John, attest to His being without sin:

1 Peter 1:19: “but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

1 Peter 2:33: “Who committed no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth.”

1 John 3:5: “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.”

While saying this, John also declared that anyone who declares himself to be without sin, he is a liar and he is calling God a liar also!!!

Even Judas—the one responsible for Jesus’ death—recognized Jesus’ innocence. “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” Mt 27:3,4

Hebrews 4:15: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin”

3. The Witness of His Enemies

One thief rebuked the other: This Man has done nothing wrong.” Luke 23:41

Pilate also found Jesus innocent of wrong-doing “You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him” Luke 23:14

The Roman centurion at the cross of Jesus: “Certainly this man was innocent” Luke 23:47

Is Jeus God? His unique entrance into Human History

Mohammed, Confucius, Buddha, and all other human beings were conceived by natural means: a male human sperm fertilizing a female human egg. Not so with Jesus Christ. His mother conceived Him while she was yet a virgin. He had no paternal father. The virgin conception and birth of Christ is utterly unique in human history.

Biblical Testimony for the Virgin Birth

The prophets of the Old Testament predicted the Messiah’s unusual conception hundreds of years before Matthew and Luke ever wrote their Gospels.

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.  Genesis 3:15

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.   Isaiah 7:14

This may not be straightforward to the uninitiated.  At the end of the Fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis, God says that there will be hostilities between Satan, represented here by the Serpent, and the offspring of Eve.  The offspring, he, will bruise Satan’s head.

Isaiah notes a specific sign of the coming of this Immanuel, or ‘God with us’,  he will be born of a virgin.   How many times has that happened?  We know of one time and in the blood lines outlined in the Old Testament and document in Matthew and Luke.

What is this?  It is a memorial,  That star-like bronze detail on the floor represents were Jesus was born is Palestine.   It is lit 24/7 as a memorial to the birthplace of Jesus.  I don’t like gaudy or tacky but this site symbolizes that the God we worship, the G0d-Man we worship had an absolutely unique entrance to earth and as predicted in the Hebrew scriptures.

As with any topic here we are open to your comments below. Comment away!!

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