Why Believe Jesus Is the Christ?

by Micky Galloway

In our Wednesday night Bible class, we are studying a chronology of the life of Christ. Please plan to be a part of this very rich study. We are not just studying to learn the academic history, but we are examining evidence to convict us that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31). What we think about Christ is crucial to every decision we make about how we live! Jesus said, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). Please consider the testimony that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

The testimony of Jesus Himself. “I can of myself do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is righteous; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true” (John 5:30-31). Jesus claims a unique relationship with the Father. “My Father worketh even until now, and I work … The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner … that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father that sent him” (John 5:17, 19, 23). The Jews clearly understood His claim to be more than a prophet. Jesus claimed to be of the same nature (deity) as the Father. Therefore, they sought to kill Him because He “called God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18). However, the testimony of Jesus alone would not be accepted as true (verse 31). The Law of Moses required that His testimony be supported by other witnesses (cf. Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 19:15).

The testimony of John the Baptist. “It is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true. Ye have sent unto John, and he hath borne witness unto the truth” (John 5:32-33). John corroborated the testimony of Jesus. John was considered by the multitudes to be a prophet of God (cf. Matthew 21:26). John said, “And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” They acknowledged the testimony of John that Jesus is the Son of God (Read the context – John 1:29-34; 3:25-26). John was considered as a “lamp that burneth and shineth” and they rejoiced in his testimony “for a season” (cf. John 5:35).

The testimony of His works that He is from God. “But the witness which I have is greater than (that of) John; for the works which the Father hath given me to accomplish, the very works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father that sent me, he hath borne witness of me” (John 5:36). Nicodemus, a Jewish teacher and ruler, correctly observed, “We know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him” (John 3:2). NO ONE ever denied a single miracle of Jesus! What was the purpose of the miracles? Peter described Jesus as, “a man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know” (Acts 2:22). The miracles were evidence of God’s approval. In rejecting the claims of Jesus substantiated by the miracles they had rejected the Father. Jesus sharply said of them, “And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he sent, him ye believe not” (John 5:37-38).

The testimony of the Scriptures, the Law of Moses. “Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me; and ye will not come to me, that ye may have life … For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” (John 5:39-47). They searched the Scriptures, but they did not know the truth about the Christ, because of their own prejudice. “And unto them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand; And seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn again, And I should heal them” (Matthew 13:14-15). Isn’t it astounding how blinding our own preconceived ideas can be. John references this same prophecy from Isaiah 6:9-10 and noted, “For this cause they could not believe, for that Isaiah said …” (John 12:39). Jesus asked them, “How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another, and the glory that (cometh) from the only God ye seek not?” (John 5:44).

There was no inadequacy in the evidence of the Scriptures. “But the things which God foreshowed by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled” (Acts 3:18). Paul, as his custom was, went into the synagogue in Thessalonica and “for three sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, opening and alleging that it behooved the Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom, (said he,) I proclaim unto you, is the Christ” (Acts 17:2-3). Apollos after being taught “more accurately” the way of God preached in Achaia where he, “powerfully confuted the Jews, (and that) publicly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 18:28). Paul making his defense before Agrippa explains why the Jews had arrested him and sought to kill him. “Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand unto this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses did say should come; how that the Christ must suffer, (and) how that he first by the resurrection of the dead should proclaim light both to the people and to the Gentiles” (Acts 26:22-23). Even in Rome, Paul expounded to the chief of the Jews, “the kingdom of God, and persuading them concerning Jesus, both from the law of Moses and from the prophets, from morning till evening” (Acts 28:23). Even then, “some believed the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved” (Acts 28:24). Once again Isaiah 6:9-10 is quoted to show the inadequacy is not in the evidence, but in the heart of the hearers (Acts 28:26-27).

Why believe Jesus is the Christ? The evidence is overwhelming! Moreover, it is through Him that we have forgiveness, the hope of eternal life. “For this is the will of my Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son, and believeth on him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:40).