Does Jesus Claim To Be God?

Many people nowadays say that Jesus is not God because He never claimed to be. They say that since the Gospels do not contain any verses where Jesus says "I am God, worship me," that means Jesus is not God and that the trinity is an idea made up at the Council of Nicaea or hundreds of years after the Gospels were written. This type of critique is extremely common among followers of Islam, as they deny that Jesus is God, only a prophet for Allah. Despite the Quran telling Muslims to judge their own religion by the Bible, and the Bible showing that the Quran is a false religion, they relentlessly spew these lies, whether they are ignorant of their falsehood, or aware of it and attempting to win an argument.

Does Jesus claim to be God? Well, Jesus never says verbatim, "I am God, now worship me". But this does not warrant the conclusion that He never claims to be God, as He does so in some very direct ways without saying it word-for-word. Today, we will jump into some instances in the Gospels where Jesus is blatantly claiming that He is Yahweh in the flesh. I will also overview some prophecies that Jesus fulfilled within His lifetime, some chance calculations of Him fulfilling them, as well as prophecies of Him to come.

Jesus Claiming To Be God

Although Jesus never says that He is God and must be worshipped, he performs many actions and says things that seem to indirectly or directly imply that He has the Honor, Attributes, Names, Deeds, and Seat of Yahweh in the Old Testament.

In The Book Of Matthew

I have chosen 7 instances out of Matthew where Jesus does and says things that only God can do and say. In Matthew 9:2-6, Jesus heals a paralytic man, while also saying that "Your sins are forgiven." This caused the scribes to accuse Him of blasphemy, which led to Jesus' response implying He knew their thoughts and was the Son of Man from Daniel 7, with the authority to heal and forgive sins. In the Old Testament, God was the only one able to forgive a man's sin and perform miracles. Every prophet called upon God to perform a miracle (Numbers 12:9-15, 1 Kings 17:17-24), but Jesus doesn't; rather, He does it on His own authority. Why else would the scribes accuse Him of blasphemy? Moreover, in the verses prior to this, Jesus is speaking to a demon that recognizes His deity as the Christ with the authority to judge them. God is the ultimate judge (Psalm 32:5). God always performed a miracle in the Old Testament to show that He is the true God (Exodus 4:7).

The second instance is in Matthew 28:18, where Jesus says that "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me," after His resurrection. The term heaven and earth is a Hebrew idiom that referred to all of creation, earth and the cosmos, the entire universe. The only being to have authority and sovereignty over the entire universe is God Himself and no other. God is the only entity that a Jew hearing the Gospel in the first-century would know of that can logically have authority over everything, and Jesus claims to have this same sovereign rule. Although Jesus does not exercise this full authority during his ministry, and won't until the final judgement (Revelation 20:11-15). But this does not logically warrant that he does not have that authority.

In Matthew 26:63-64, when the high priest asks whether He is the "Christ, the Son of God," Jesus responds by claiming that He will be "seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven" (v64). Here, Jesus applies two Messianic passages to Himself, Psalm 110:1 and Daniel 7:13. He references a psalm of David where the "LORD says to my lord: 'Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool." Jesus is claiming to be the other lord that God is anointing in this passage. Furthermore, Jesus claims to be the Son of Man from Daniel 7, where He receives glory and authority to judge those in the second coming. He is given the Honor, attributes, and deeds of God.

Jesus claims to have exclusive and intimate knowledge of the Father. He says, "no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him" (Matthew 11:27). He also says that the Father has given all things to Him. Here, Jesus seems to be speaking of being not just any son, but one deeply interconnected with the Father. This is a stark example of the trinity being revealed in scripture. As here, Jesus and the Father both have attributes that only God has.

Jesus also declares himself to be the "lord of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:1-8), claiming authority over what God Himself established for man. The context is that Jesus and His disciples were plucking heads of grain from some fields when the Pharisees called them out for breaking the Sabbath. Jesus responds with an example of David breaking the law, eating the Bread of Presence in the tabernacle at Nod. He then quotes the very words of God with His own authority. He claims to have sovereignty over the Sabbath, an institution God established. Jesus says that He established it.

In Matthew 28:9, women worship Jesus after His resurrection, and in 14:33, the disciples worship Him after He walks on water. Instances where Jesus receives worship are blatant displays of His deity. If Jesus were not God, then He would have corrected them and directed their worship to the true God instead. But he doesn't. Instead, Jesus accepts the worship and even encourages those who do it. Here, Jesus receives the Honor that only God receives in the Old Testament. Moreover, in Matthew 25:31-32, Jesus describes Himself as coming "in his glory" (v31). He also describes himself as separating the people "one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." Only God has the authority to judge human beings at the end of ages, and Jesus claims to have the same authority as God in this respect.

It is clear that in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus claims to be God. If you expect Him to say the exact words you want Him to say, then you simply misunderstand why we think Jesus is God, and how the early Church came to that conclusion.

In The Book Of Mark

For the Gospel of Mark, I have chosen 6 examples of Jesus displaying His deity (taken from my own personal study notes). This section will be shorter, but Mark is by no means short on examples of Jesus as God. In fact, just about every chapter has at least one example of Jesus displaying divine attributes. Many of the examples listed may be repeats of the ones just mentioned. I am listing these as a reference for you to come back to or take note of for use in conversations with other people. It is this article's purpose to serve as a resource for you to defend the faith, or perhaps be led to it.

In Mark 1:1-4, Mark attributes a Messianic passage from Isaiah to the birth of Jesus. A voice cries:

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:3-5)

Here, Jesus is representative of the one whose way is being made. The LORD Himself. Mark informs us that Isaiah was talking about John the Baptist preparing the way for God Himself to enter humanity and redeem them through the person of Jesus. Why do you think Jesus is called LORD, or Yahweh?

In Mark 2:5, Jesus performs two deeds only God is capable of doing, while claiming all the glory for it, unlike prophets from the Old Testament. Here, Jesus heals and forgives the paralytic man's sins. "Son, your sins are forgiven you." The scribes around Jesus then asked, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Indeed, only God can forgive sins, and Jesus claims to be able to do the same thing. Jesus is given the attributes and deeds of Yahweh here.

Jesus claims to have the authority to bind and judge satan in Mark 3:27. This is where Jesus is talking about how satan cannot work against satan, as a house divided against itself cannot stand. He then compares himself to a strong man who breaks into satan's house to bind him and take his goods. Here, Jesus is given the deeds and the seat of Yahweh.

In Mark 4:39, Jesus and His disciples were traveling by boat, and there was a great storm. His disciples woke Jesus, and He went outside and rebuked the winds. The storm halted, and the seas calmed. Jesus claims to have authority over nature, as well as over the forces of evil. The Jews saw the sea as the location of Sheol, where evil spirits also dwelled. It was seen as the gates of hell to first-century Jews. So Jesus is making a double claim to deity, in both authority over nature, and evil dispalying His holiness... things only God can have.

Jesus heals a girl in Mark 5:41, but never calls upon God to perform it through Him. Unlike the prophets in the Old Testament (2 Kings 20:1-11, Numbers 21:4-9), and the Apostles in the New Testament (Acts 28:8, Acts 9:36), the Apostles also call upon the name of Jesus to perform miracles, which further supports the idea of Him being God rather than just a prophet.

When Jesus walks on water in Mark 6:48-51, the disciples think he is a spirit coming to torment them. But as He got closer, Jesus called out to them not to fear, and then said, "It is I." The Greek wording parallels John 8:58, when Jesus says that "before Abraham was, I am," claiming that He existed before Abraham was chosen from Ur. This also brings us back to Exodus 3:14, where God first reveals His name to Moses as I AM WHO I AM, with authority over the waters (Psalm 77:19). The wording of verse 48 also parallels Job 9:8, where God is described as "trampling over the water of the seas." You can go on and on into Mark (Mark 8:7, 9:4, 10:18-19, 11:1-11, etc.) to find various instances where Jesus is performing acts that only God can perform, or making claims only God can make.

In The Book Of Luke

I have chosen 7 from the Gospel of Luke that display God in the flesh of Jesus. When questioned by the Sanhedrin about whether He is the Son of God, Jesus confirms this and declares that He will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. Jesus is claiming to have the seat of God, sharing the same position on the throne of judgment (Luke 22:69-70). In Luke 10:22, Jesus claims to have intimate knowledge of the Father that no man has. "All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”  Once again, Jesus claims not to be just any human, but one who has a deep interconnectedness to the Father and Holy Spirit. Jesus is receiving the seat, honor, names, and attributes of God. Jesus claims to be the personage of God who reveals Him to man, much like the second power in heaven, the presence of God, which man can see and come out alive (Exodus 33:7-23).

In Luke 20:41-44, is when Jesus cites Psalm 110:1 to equate the identity of the second Lord to whom God talks with Himself. Here, God gives all authority over to this Lord, for everything to be his "footstool" in the end of days. Jesus argues that the scriptures say that the Messiah will be a son of David, but that David himself calls the Messiah his Lord, much like Yahweh is. Jesus then says, "David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son?" to reveal what the true meaning of that passage is, and who it's referring to.

Jesus' disciples wake Him during an intense storm, "We are perishing!" Jesus arises and rebukes the wind and raging waves, and they cease. The disciples' reaction surely wasn't lacking: "Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water?" Then they proceed to worship Him. (Luke 8:24-25). Jesus is given the honor, attributes, and deeds of God when nature obeys Him and His followers worship Him. Once again, in Luke 7:14-15, Jesus touches a funeral bier of a widow's dead son. He commands the dead young man to "arise," and the man sat up and began to speak. Jesus performed a miracle on His own authority, something no prophet before Him had ever done. It's almost like He has the same authority as God, and that God is not limited by man's ideas about what His powers should be capable of regarding the incarnation.

The final example is in Luke 9:28-36, during the transfiguration, Jesus' face is altered, and His clothing transforms into a dazzling and blinding white, then a voice from a cloud declares, "This is my Son, my Chosen One; Listen to Him!" The narrative here climaxes at the declaration that Jesus is God's Chosen Son, a title that transcends the previous ideas about the Messiah as military leader, and raises Jesus into heavenly transcendence like Yahweh. His white clothing reveals His divine nature.¹ The presence of Moses and Elijah supports the claim to divinity. Neither of them is described as emanating glory like Jesus is, and the voice from the cloud reinforces this idea that Jesus is much, much greater than both. This instance places Jesus above the two most important historical figures in Jewish tradition.²

In The Book Of John

John begins his Gospel by identifying Jesus as "the Word," or Logos, who in the beginning was "with God" and "was God." (John 1:1). The Logos was seen by the Greeks to be the underlying logic of the universe, the order from which all came. Yet John identifies the one from whom all order and logic comes as Jesus Christ Himself. The prologue describes Jesus' incarnation as fulfilling Isaiah's promise of a virgin conceiving a child named Immanuel, a title meaning God is with us (Isaiah 7:14). “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). John also emphasizes the trinity, presenting Jesus as “the only God, who is at the Father’s side” and “has made him known” (John 1:18).

John mentions several "I Am" statements where Jesus describes Himself in terms God uses to refer to Himself, revealing His deity (John 6:35-51, 8:12, 10:7-9, 11-14, 11:25, 14:6, and 15:1-5). He is given titles that are only applied to God in the Old Testament, such as the Bread of Life, Light of the World, Door of the Sheep, the Good Shepherd, the Resurrection and the Life, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the True Vine. Jesus also claims the same name as Yahweh in Exodus 3:14 in John 8:58, claiming that "Before Abraham was, I Am." Jesus is given just about every title given to God throughout the entire Old Testament.

Chapters 1-11 have a collection of Jesus' miracles that He performs on His own authority. Jesus turns water into wine (John 2:1-12), knowing everything about a stranger, claiming to eminate Gods glory as living water, and to be the Messiah (4:7-26). He heals a royal officer's son on His own authority in 4:46-54. He also feeds thousands of people by miraculously dividing a small portion of food on more than one occasion (5,000 in John 6 and 4,000 in Mark 8). He even revives Lazarus after he had been dead for about three days in his tomb (John 11:1-44). Jesus performs deeds that only God can do, and He never calls upon God as a separate entity to perform the miracles.

Finally, in John 20:28, the disciple Thomas falls before Jesus after His resurrection and cries out, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus is directly called God, and does not rebuke Thomas. He says, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." It is examples such as these that are the reason why Christians view Jesus as God. He was constantly doing and claiming things that only apply to God. He was even almost stoned on multiple occasions for blasphemy. How much more evidence do you need?

Prophecies Of Jesus Fulfilled

Not only does Jesus claim to be God, but He also fulfilled many prophecies that were written hundreds of years before He ever showed up on Earth. I believe this section will further support the claim that Jesus is God, as there is no way a single man could achieve what Jesus has. To further present this, I will include some chance calculations on the odds of one person fulfilling only a handful of the prophecies Jesus has. If the Bible is not inspired scripture, then why would it predict Jesus' birth, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection with such detail? The Bible's inclusion of predictions not only about Jesus but also about numerous events supports the assertion that it stands as the one true Holy Book among various religions, as no other book exhibits such a high level of prophetic accuracy.

The Old Testament (with the last book being completed sometime in the 2nd century BC) contains an extensive collection of Messianic prophecies that Jesus fulfilled within His lifetime. There are about 109 individual prophecies, but more than 300 if you count those that are repeated in one form or another.³ Bethlehem was identified as the birthplace of the Messiah in Micah 5:2, and Isaiah prophesied that a virgin would conceive a son with the title "God is with us" (Isaiah 7:14). 2 Samuel 7:12-16 also says that the covenant made with David will establish an eternal kingdom, and Isaiah again prophecied that a "Rod from the stem of Jesse" would bear its fruit (Isaiah 11:1-10).

Isaiah 61 depicts the anointed one who brings good news to the poor, healing the brokenhearted, and freeing the captives. Zechariah 9:9 also predicted when Jesus would make His triumphant but humble entry into Jerusalem on a donkey (Matthew 21:1-11). Isaiah 53 predicts that the Messiah would be "pierced for our transgressions", "bruised for our iniquity" (v5), to bring healing through his wounds. Psalm 22 also describes Jesus' crucifixion in great detail (written between 1000 and 1044 BC). It says that he would be mocked (v8), alone (v11), pierced in His hands and feet (v16-17), and that His clothes would be cast as a lot (v18). It also predicts His resurrection and triumph over sin (v21-31). Daniel 9:24-26 even describes the general timeframe of Jesus' birth as some 483 years after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, which some scholars believe to be around 4-6 BC

Psalm 16 promises that the Messiah will not see corruption, and 110 describes God inviting the Messiah to sit at His right hand. The Old Testament is full of references to Jesus life, death, and resurrection that all find fulfillment in the life of Jesus Christ. We will now move into the chance calculations of Jesus fulfilling just a handful of these prophecies. Inductive evidence such as this supports the deity of Christ with (what I believe) very high confidence.

The Chances Of Jesus Fulfilling Prophecy

The laws of probability inform us that if one events chances are 1 in 10, and another event has a chance of 1 in 6, then the combined odds of them occurring in sequence is 10 multiplied by to be 1 chance in 60. Or say you flipped a coin, and it has a 1 in 2 chance of landing on heads. If you flipped two coins, the chances of both coins landing on heads are 2 x 2, or 1 in 4. We will be taking this into consideration when we calculate the chances of Jesus fulfilling some prophecies.

The first prediction is that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem from the tribe of Judah (Micah 5:2, Genesis 49:10). This was fulfilled in Matthew 2:1, when Jesus is recorded as being born in the exact city. Grant Jeffery uses the figure of 1 in 2,400 for the chances that Moses guessed Jesus' birthplace correctly from the 12 tribes. There are over 2,000 villages and towns in the territory given to the tribes, so this 2,400 figure is a very conservative estimate, as the number is probably higher. So we have a 1 in 2,400 chance that this prophecy would be fulfilled.

The second prophecy is that Jesus would be preceded by a messenger (Isaiah 40:3). John the Baptist fulfills this in Matthew 3:1-2, when he preaches a message that prepares the people for Jesus. Jeffery says that there are no historical records of a king being preceded by a messenger like John the Baptist to his knowledge, so he chose a pretty generous estimate of 1 chance in 20. To know what the odds of both of these being fulfilled at the same time, we take 20 multiplied by 2,400 to get a combined chance of 1 in 48,000.

The third prophecy is that Jesus would enter Jerusalem on a donkey. Zechariah 9:9 tells us that the Messiah would come humbly riding on a colt, or donkey. Jesus fulfills this in Luke 19:35-37, and once again, there is no historical figure that has entered a city in this fashion. So Jeffery uses the odds of 1 in 50, which comes out to a total of 1 chance in 2,400,000. These odds are already getting extremely unlikely, but we must go on!

Psalm 41:9 says that the Messiah would be betrayed by a "familiar friend whom I trusted." Judas would ultimately fulfill this when he sold Jesus out for silver in Matthew 26:47-48. There aren't many kings who are mentioned as being betrayed by a friend, as it was a rather uncommon event, so we can choose a very generous chance of 1 in 10. This makes our combined chances 1 chance in 24,000,000.

The fifth prophecy will be that Jesus would be pierced in His hands and feet, and is located in Psalm 22:16. Jeffery once again stays very generous and chooses another 1 chance in 10, which brings the total odds to 1 chance in 24,000,000,000 (24 billion!). Now, the very last prophecy that I will consider is that Jesus would be sold out for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12). Judas also fulfills this one in Matthew 26:15. The odds of Zechariah correctly predicting the exact amount Jesus would be sold out for are astonishing, but a very generous 1 chance in 50 can be chosen for this. This brings the total combined odds for all six prophecies at over 200 billion, surpassing the estimated number of humans to have ever lived throughout history.

Just fulfilling 6 prophecies surpasses all human beings that ever lived, so for Jesus to fulfill much more than that lends extreme credit to the claim that Jesus is who He claimed to be. Jeffery continues to include 17 prophecies that come out to chances of 1 in 4.8x10³² or 480,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.⁴ Apart from His many claims to deity, the mere chances of Jesus fulfilling just 17 prophecies from the Old Testament far surpass the total estimate of humans that have ever lived.⁵

Jesus To Come

Not only are there prophecies that Jesus fulfilled, but there are many that He still has to come back for. Several categories of Old Testament prophecy are waiting for Jesus' return. These include passages talking about Jesus' second coming, vengeance on the wicked, redemption and restoration for the Church, and a restored heaven and earth for the new kingdom to inhabit with God. The bodily resurrection of believers, the transformation of the material world, the coming of the Antichrist, and the final defeat of satan. Jesus is described as coming back in apocalyptic language, like standing on the Mount of Olives and causing it to split into a wide valley (Zechariah 14:4-9). He will also come on the clouds with great power and glory of God to tread upon the high places of the earth. Micah 1:3-4 describes mountains as melting beneath Him as He comes in fire with chariots "like a whirlwind", referring to His just anger and fury (Isaiah 66:15-16). These prophecies depict cosmic transformation of the material world as God's judgment comes to its final fruition.

The Son of Man is described as being presented to the Father to receive dominion, glory, and "an everlasting kingdom" that all nations will serve (Daniel 7:13-14). He is given the seat of judgment to judge all the nations in the valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:12-16), a location east of ancient Jerusalem, before the Mount of Olives, which would grab a Jewish reader's attention. The Day of the LORD is described as coming like the heat of an oven, leaving neither root nor branch lying on the ground (Malachi 4:1-3). Yet this prophetic vision of the day of judgement does not end here. Everyone who survives from all the nations will come to Jerusalem to worship Jesus year after year and to keep the "Feast of Booths" (Zechariah 14:16-21). This will be a time when the LORD will be king over all of the earth, and His name will be one (Zechariah 14:4-9). Daniel 12:1-3 informs us that those who have died will awake to either eternal life with Christ or eternal separation and contempt. Our spirits will be reunited with a restored and glorified body, not susceptible to corruption, decay, hunger, or thirst. We will not tire or sin, and be reunited with the most perfect being, Jesus Christ, in all of His glory and majesty on full display forever and ever (Revelation 21:4).⁶

Conclusion

The popular claim that Jesus was just a prophet, mystic, or good rabbi and never claimed to be God is very obviously a false one. Jesus is constantly doing and saying things that imply He has the same status as the Father. He makes a very direct, though not verbatim, claim to deity. To expect Jesus to say the exact words "I am God, worship me right now!" is simply fallacious. This critique commits the Verbatim Fallacy: demanding an exact word-for-word statement from a source to prove a point, ignoring textual context, paraphrase, nuance, compaction, or logical implications. It focuses on literalism rather than the meaning of the words present, which is a dishonest approach to any text, let alone those of antiquity.

Jesus fulfilled some extremely (that's an understatement) unlikely prophecies at 4.8x10³² for just fulfilling 17 prophecies alone. This is something that lends credit to His reliability, as the Old Testament was not written after Jesus was born; it was completed and canonized by the Jews by the end of the 3rd century BC, with most books predating that. Rather, God was guiding the men who wrote the Old Testament to record what mattered concerning the wider story of God's dealings with humanity (2 Timothy 3:16). So to make some conspiracy that the Church wrote or altered the New Testament after Jesus' ministry is simply historically inaccurate, and minuscule research into the Dead Sea Scrolls would cure that. So the Gospel narratives were not a made-up story, but a very real record of claimed spacetime events in the format of a historical narrative. The Bible withstands the scrutiny and proves itself reliable once again, and the reliability and truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Although Jesus does not claim to be God verbatim, He is ultimately given the H.A.N.D.S. of God that place Him as the same essence as the Father. H.A.N.D.S. is an acronym that stands for the Honor, Attributes, Names, Deeds, and Seat of God, and is a very easy way to remember why Jesus claims to be God... He is given the hands of God. Jesus is given the Honors of God. He accepts worship and honor from people that are only to be applied to Yahweh; if to any other being, it is idolatry. Yet Jesus never rebukes anybody for worshiping Him as they would Yaweh (2 Peter 1:17, Philippians 2:9-11, Hebrews 1:6, 2:9, 3:3, John 1:1-4, 10:30, 14:9, 17:5, 5:23, 9:38, Matthew 14:33, 28:9 and 17, Revelation 5:12-14, etc.). He is also given the Attributes of God, such as an eternal nature, omniscience, omnipotence, and fullness of deity eminating Gods glory and love (John 1:1, 14, Colossians 1:15-17, 2:9, Hebrews 1:3, 8, Isaiah 9:6, John 8:58, 5:21-23, 10:30, 20:28, Matthew 28:18, Revelation 1:17-18). Jesus has Yahweh's names applied to Him like Mighty God, Everlasting King, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords (Philippians 2:9-11, John 17:11-12, Matthew 28:19, Revelation 3:12, Isaiah 9:6, John 8:58, 20:28, Titus 2:13, etc.). He performs the deeds of God on His own authoirty unlike the prophets of the Old that had to call upon Yahweh to help them. He also claims to have the authority to judge and save humanity, an action only God can logically perform (John 3:16, 35, 5:22, 9:3-7, 17:2, Matthew 28:18, Daniel 7:14, Acts 2:22, 4:30, Luke 5:17, etc.). Finally, Jesus is elevated to the same throne seat at the right hand of the Father (Hebrews 1:3, 12:2, Revelation 3:21, Mark 16:19, Colossians 3:1, Ephesians 1:20-22, 1 Peter 3:22, Acts 7:55-56, Matthew 26:64, etc.)

Jesus claims to be God, and His resurrection serves to validate that claim to all men. If Jesus had no authority over life itself, then He would have stayed in that tomb. But three days later, that stone was rolled, the guards knocked out, and Jesus was missing. But He was not dead. He was saving you and me from our own rebellious nature. A redemption for us to come back to God to a righteous love relationship through the work of Jesus Christ to make a truly loving and just offering. He was like a Prince who saw a beautiful commoner whom he wanted as a bride, but couldn't approach her in His full majesty, so He put on rags and went to meet the girl, right where she was... right where we are.

(1) (Douglas Mangum, ed., Lexham Context Commentary: New Testament, Lexham Context Commentary, Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020)

(2) (Ron Geaves, “Transfiguration,” in Continuum Glossary of Religious Terms, London; New York: Continuum, 2002, Pgs 423–424)

(3) (Todd Hampson, The Non-Prophet’s Guide to the End Times: Bible Prophecy for Everyone, Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2018, Pg 29)

(4) (Grant R. Jeffery, The Signature of God: Documented Evidence That Proves Beyond Doubt the bible Is the Inspired Word of God, Word Publishing, Pgs 211-225)

(5) (Population Reference Bureau, How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth? https://www.prb.org/articles/how-many-people-have-ever-lived-on-earth/)

(6) (Michael Vlach, The Return Of the King: The Second Coming 2 Thessalonians 1:5–10, in High King of Heaven: Theological and Practical Perspectives on the Person and Work of Jesus, ed. John F. MacArthur, Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2018, 164)