Earl looked to be in his 60s or
70s. He always wore a cowboy hat, flannel shirt, and heavy jacket. He seemed to
live out of an old VW Bus that had religious graffiti all over the windows, and
he frequently came into Shari’s Restaurant
with a big bundle of mail tucked under his arm. He’d sit there and drink coffee
as he sorted through his mail.
And Earl claimed to be God—quite
literally. One of the first times I met him, I asked him what he did for a
living, and he claimed to be Messiah. He told me that every generation has its
own Messiah. Jesus was the Messiah for His generation, and that, “I am Messiah
for this generation.”
I know the Bible declares Jesus to
be the only Messiah, and in challenging Earl with this fact, I asked him, do
you believe in the Bible?” He said, “Of course I do. I wrote it.”
Well, Earl certainly had some
strange ideas, and I don’t believe he ever came close to convincing anyone that
he was God. However, I mention him for a reason. In my last entry, I pointed
out one of the instances in which Jesus Christ claimed to be God. On one hand,
the fact that He claimed to be God, given everything else we know about Him, is
a testimony to the fact that He is God.
On the other hand, there are a lot
of people, including Earl, who have claimed to be God. Therefore, just because
someone claims to be God doesn’t mean that he is God. And to be certain, the
primary reason the religious leaders in Israel wanted Jesus crucified is
that He claimed to be God. They, believing He wasn’t God, felt this was blasphemy
and sought to have Him put to death.
Therefore, in establishing the
deity of Christ, it is not enough to point out that other people worshiped Him,
or even that He claimed to be God. These two points can be compelling. But in
the end, the real question is: What does God say about Jesus Christ? Does God
say that Jesus is God? After all, God is the One who has the knowledge and
authority to answer the question—to tell us who is and who isn’t God.
Now, in answering this question, it
may be tempting for us to turn to such passages as Matthew 3—Jesus’ baptism at
the hand of John the Baptist. As Jesus came up out of the water, a voice was
heard from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well
pleased” (v. 17).
This is all well and good. But the
critic would say, “That’s just the point. Jesus is the Son of God, but He is
not God.” Therefore, we must ask whether or not there is any place in the Bible
where God specifically states that His Son, Jesus Christ, is in fact God.
The answer is yes. And the passage
to which we may turn is Hebrews 1. However, the limit of page space does not
allow me to delve into it this time. But in preparation for my next entry, I
would encourage you to read that chapter and take note of what God says about
Jesus Christ.
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