History tells us that Jesus lived in Israel just over 2000 years ago. The Bible records many of the things He said and did in the four gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the New Testament. Jesus made a number of controversial statements about Himself including: He claimed to be God (John 10:30); He said that He was the only way to God (John 14:6); He predicted that He would rise from the dead after three days (John 2:19 – 22). We need to evaluate what Jesus said and the impact that He had on those around Him.

There are three options that are open to us as we evaluate the claims of Christ. The first option is that He knew that He was not who He claimed to be, in other words he was a liar. This is highly unlikely, as Jesus died a most painful death simply because of who He claimed to be. Had He been lying it would have been quite easy for Him to denounce His claims and escape the horrific death of the cross. Our second option is that Jesus sincerely believed that He was God when in fact He wasn’t, in other words He was a lunatic. The disciples lived with Jesus for three years, they would have been able to tell if He was mentally unstable in any way. Not only did they live the rest of their lives according to His principles but also many died violet deaths because of their devotion to Christ. Had there been any doubt as to His sanity they would not have chosen to follow Him to the extent that they did. The third option is that Jesus is who he said He was, God living as man, who died for our sins, was raised from the dead and made it possible for us to have an intimate relationship with God. If Jesus really is who He claimed to be what difference does that make to us living over 2000 years later?

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