Who Did Jesus Say He Was

Isaiah 44:6, “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God.”

Rev. 1:17, “And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.”

I have talked before about Jesus in the sense that He cannot be seen just as a great moral teacher, but in this article I want to look at what Jesus said about Himself. Did He believe He was the Savior of the World, or just another prophet or teacher? There are six strong arguments that Jesus believed He was the Christ, the Savior, God’s only Son. He believed He was the only way for us to get to Heaven.

The first claim we will cover is that Jesus claimed to be YHWH from the Old Testament. You can see from the first two verses when compared to each other. The first is from Isaiah when God is talking and the second is from Revelation and Jesus is talking to John, and they claim the same exact thing. Jesus is claiming the same status as the God of the Old Testament. You can also compare these verses as well:

John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep,” compared to Psalm 23:1, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

Jesus claimed to be judge of all people in Matt. 25:31f, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.”; John 5:27f, “and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.”; compare to Joel 3:12, “Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.”

Jesus called Himself the Light of the World in John 8:12, “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” and compare it to Psalm 27:1, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?”

Probably the strongest claim that Jesus claimed to be YHWH is in John 8:58 where he says, “Before Abraham I was I am.” This statement claims existence before Abraham, but also equality with the I am of Exodus 3:14, “And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Jesus claimed many times to be the same as the God of the Old Testament. No other person has claimed the same authority as God as Jesus has. Not Muhammad, not Buddha, not Krishna, nor any other leader of any other religion.

Second, Jesus claimed the prerogatives of God. As forgiving sin, which is something only God can do. We see an example of this in Mark 2:5-11, “When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

Jesus claimed power to raise and judge the dead in John 5:21-29, and the O.T. taught that only God is the giver of life in Deut. 32:39. This is another prerogative of God, just as saying He should be honored as God, as Jesus did in John 5:23.

The third argument is pretty much a plain and simple statement by Jesus, as He just comes out and claims to be the Messiah. We even find in the Koran, Jesus being referred to as Messiah, “The Messiah, son of Mary, is no more than a messenger like the messengers before him, and his mother was a saint. Both of them used to eat the food. Note how we explain the revelations for them, and note how they still deviate!” (Surah 5:75). It is also found previously in Surah 5:17.

Jesus said He was the Messiah at His trial before the high priest in Mark 14:61-64, “But He kept silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?” And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death.”

Jesus also applies the passage of Psalm 110:1, “The LORD said to my Lord,“Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” where Father & Son hold a conversation and then applies it to Himself in Matt. 22:43-44, “He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying:‘ The LORD said to my Lord,“ Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool”’

Our fourth application of who Christ is comes from the form of worship. Only God was to be honored with worship, especially in Jewish culture, but Jesus (a Jew) accepted worship. The O.T. forbids worship of anything except God in Exodus 20:1-4 & Deut. 5:6-9. N.T. agrees with this as we see in Acts 14:15 & Rev. 22:8-9. Now compare those verses with these verses in regards to Jesus:

Matt. 9:18, “While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.” Matt. 14:33, “Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.” Matt. 15:25, “Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” Matt. 20:20, “Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him.” Mark 5:6, “When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him.” Matt. 28:17, “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.”

Our fifth reason is that Jesus claimed authority with God. Jesus put His words on par with God, Matt. 5:21- 22, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.” Matt. 28:18-19, “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”

Jesus made a new commandment that only God should be able to do in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” Jesus speaks of those that reject Him in John 12:48, “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.” Only God has the authority to do the things that Jesus is claiming here, thus saying He is God.

Lastly, Jesus requested that His name be used in prayer. In John 14:13-14 Jesus said that what is asked in His name He would do for the apostles. John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” 1 Cor. 5:4, “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Acts 7:59, “And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Again, no other religious leader has made such strong claims about themselves. They may have tried to show they are able to perform or come close to one of the points above, but none have ever claimed all of them.

C.S. Lewis put it best when he said that Jesus was either a lunatic on par with a poached egg, the greatest deceiver on par with Satan himself, or Savior and Lord. There is no middle ground with all the claims He has made about Himself. You can shrug Him off as crazy, say He was a deceiver by the claims He made, or fall on your knees and accept Him as Savior and Lord.

There is no other choice, because of the claims Jesus made. He did not leave it any other way, and I believe on purpose. No one can just say He is a great teacher, because no great teacher claims to be God in all ways, or to be God at all.

Acts 4:11-12, “This Jesus is The stone despised by you builders, who has become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”