Is Jesus Really God?Sample
Is Jesus God?
You've now surveyed the basic arguments for the divinity of Jesus, looking both at non-biblical and biblical evidence.
You have seen proof outside the Bible that Jesus existed and that the first Christians worshiped him as their risen Lord.
You have considered the improbability that the earliest believers would have risked everything for a message they knew to be a lie. You have looked at every logical explanation for the empty tomb.
Still, don't you wish there were more?
If Jesus of Nazareth were really the Son of God in the flesh, wouldn't you assume that the entire world would know it?
Wouldn't you expect absolute proof that God visited our planet?
We understand such sentiments, and we share them. But, as noted in our YouVersion devotional “Is God Real?”, we need to step back and ask what more we could ask God to do than he has done.
What More Would You Ask Of God?
He sent his Son to join the human race, miraculously announcing the event with an angelic chorus and virgin birth.
This Son lived a perfect, sinless life. He performed miracles never before seen in human history.
He was crucified in full public view, buried in a guarded grave, and raised from the dead on the third day.
His critics have never been able to explain his empty tomb.
He appeared alive to more than five hundred people, then ascended to heaven in full view of more than one hundred.
He gave us a New Testament to transmit this information to the world and preserved its text with remarkable and trustworthy accuracy.
Suppose God did it all again in our lifetime so we wouldn't have to depend on ancient records and evidence. Would our response be any different from that of his first eyewitnesses?
Some would believe that his miracles and resurrection were real, but others would not.
He could appear at your side as you read this devotional, but you could decide that your senses were deceiving you.
If we don't believe that miracles are possible, no miracle can convince us otherwise.
About this Plan
An increasingly popular claim by skeptics is that Jesus of Nazareth never existed, or, if he did, he was not God. Why should you believe that Jesus is God? No other religion does. What makes Christians right and everyone else wrong? If we're wrong about Jesus, we're wrong about the belief that is most central to our faith. So, how can we defend the existence and deity of Jesus today?
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We would like to thank Denison Forum for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: http://www.denisonforum.org