A key belief of the Christian faith is that Jesus Christ is the Son of GOD. But what evidence do we have to assess this claim?
It is wise to ask questions like this. It is wise to research and consider all the evidence yourself.
By contrast, it is foolish to question or doubt the divinity or existence of Jesus and not research the evidence. What if you doubt and are wrong and Jesus really is GOD and His teachings all true? What will you do then?
In this post, I give you three evidences that Jesus is the Son of GOD.
Evidence #1: Numerous prophecies foretold aspects of Jesus hundreds of years before His birth.
In the Garden of Eden, after Adam and Eve sinned, GOD foretold the coming of the Messiah and the future defeat of Satan, the serpent who deceived humanity:
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
(Gen. 3:14-15 NIV)
Jesus crushed Satan with His innocent death upon the cross (see Matt. 27; Mark 15; Luke 23; John 19), followed by His resurrection (see Matt. 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20-21) and subsequent casting of Satan and his angels into hell (see Rev. 20:10).
It was foretold that Jesus would be born of a virgin:
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
(Isa. 7:14 NIV)
Luke 1 and Matt. 1 record the virgin conception of Mary, a godly Jew, before her marriage to Joseph and Joseph’s initial hesitancy to marry her, thinking she had been unfaithful to him and become pregnant through premarital sex.
But an angel appeared to Joseph and informed him of the miraculous pregnancy and faithfulness of Mary.
Abraham, the father of the Jews, was told by GOD:
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
(Gen. 22:15-18 NIV)
Jesus came through the lineage of Abraham, Isaac (see Gen. 21:12) and Jacob (see Gen. 35:10-12). He blessed all nations by providing an opportunity for their sins to be forgiven and the example of how to peacefully coexist with one another here upon the earth.
In Psalm 2, David prophesies what God the Father would say to Jesus at His birth:
7 I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:
He said to me, “You are my son;
today I have become your father.
(Psalm 2:7 NIV)
In the first century A.D., the apostle Paul, speaking by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, quoted Psalm 2:7 and applied its fulfillment to Jesus:
32 “We tell you the good news: What God promised our ancestors 33 he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm:
“‘You are my son;
today I have become your father.’
(Acts 13:32-33 NIV)
The final example I will use here is that the prophet Micah foretold Jesus’ birth in the town of Bethlehem:
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”
(Mic. 5:2 NIV)
Matt. 2:1 tells us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
These are just a few examples among many other prophecies. All of these were written hundreds of years before Jesus walked the earth.
Not one of these prophecies of Jesus was inaccurate.
Think about the magnitude of that statement: Despite massive advances in human technology, we still can’t even accurately predict the weather!
Evidence #2: Eyewitness reports of the miracles Jesus performed confirm a supernatural power.
Jesus’ entire life on earth was surrounded by miracles.
The gospel accounts tell us of numerous people Jesus healed, raised from the dead and fed miraculously.
An innumerable number of people witnessed Jesus’ miracles and yet history records no eyewitness claim of Jesus being a fraud.
In fact, even Jesus’ enemies, the Jewish religious leaders, acknowledged Jesus’ miracles.
1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
(John 3:1-2 NIV)
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!” …
37 Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. …
42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved human praise more than praise from God.
(John 12:17-19, 37, 42-43 NIV)
If Jesus were a fake, He would have been proven a liar.
And He is either a Liar or the Son of GOD, for that is what He claimed.
Regarding Jesus’ trial before the high priest, Matthew wrote:
62 Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” 63 But Jesus remained silent.
The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
64 “You have said so,” Jesus replied.
(Matt. 26:62-64a NIV)
Evidence #3: Jesus’ bones have never been found.
For me, the most powerful evidence as to the validity of Jesus’ claims of deity is that, despite the best efforts of His enemies—the hate-filled Jewish religious leaders, aided by the most powerful empire of the world—followed by two thousand years of subsequent enemies of the cross and doubters, nobody has been able to produce the bones of Jesus of Nazareth.
If Jesus were a fraud, where is His body?
The tomb was sealed.
The Roman soldiers stood guard with strict orders to watch.
The disciples were all scattered and despondent over the loss of their friend and leader.
They were entirely disinterested in a coup to steal Jesus’ body.
All the power of humanity was stacked against the fraudulent disappearance of Jesus’ body.
Yet, we don’t have His bones.
But we do have numerous eyewitnesses who saw Him alive…again.
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
(John 20:24-31 NIV)
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