Why I Believe in Jesus

Apotheosis?

 

This morning we are going to talk about apotheosis.  Apotheosis is an interesting word.  It comes from the Greek meaning "to" + "god" or change to god.  It would be a synonym for deification.  There is a fascinating painting in the Rotunda of the Capital building called, "The Apotheosis of George Washington".  It is an immense fresco painted by Italian artist Constantino Brumidi in 1865 and visible on the dome in the rotunda of the United States Capitol Building.  The fresco is suspended 180 feet above the rotunda floor and covers an area of 4,664 square feet.  The figures painted are up to 15 feet tall and are visible from the floor below.  It is impressive. 

 

The reason I mention apotheosis is that is what some people believe happened to Jesus.  They think that Jesus was only a good guy, a great teacher, a guru who had an insight into humanity.  He was misunderstood by the Romans and crucified.  Then his followers, who later became the church, over time gradually apotheosis-ed Jesus.  They took a man, admittedly a great man, and hyperbolized all the stuff about him in being God.

 

You may ask, "Tim we don’t' believe that.  So, why bring it up?"  You may be sitting at Starbucks some afternoon sipping on your Venta Cherry Mocha Frapacino, and someone may sit down and begin chatting.  That person may even ask you why you believe in Jesus and they may even ask you, "Did Jesus know he was God or did he get apotheosis-ed?"  They may believe that the apotheosis of Jesus was much like the apotheosis of George Washington.  Almost 100 years later some people who really liked George Washington deified him.  "Did Jesus, himself, really think he was God?" 

 

What do you say to that?  "Well, that is just my belief."  Or, "That is how I was raised."  Or, "That is just the way it is." Or can you reasonably give an answer for the hope/faith you have?  I think it is worth the next 20 minutes to formulate an answer to the question, "Did Jesus think he was God?" 

 

I'm not going to answer the when question.  Did baby Jesus in the manger or as a toddler, know he was YHWH?  There is no way to answer the when question.  But beginning with his ministry, as a 30 something, let's see if there are any clues to what Jesus considered himself.  As we answer this question you will notice we will be reviewing the Jesus body list.  If you haven't been here throughout this year, you may not know we have been looking at ten reasons why I believe in Jesus.  This will be a brief summary of the 10 reasons and also we are going to see who Jesus thought he was.  I am going to have to talk fast so, you are going to have to listen fast.  Ready?

 

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1) Toes: Jesus' Teaching

 

Matthew 7:28-29  When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

 

What does this mean, "He taught as one who had authority?"  This statement is at the end of the Sermon on the Mount.  Where did the Law of Moses come from?  Mt. Sinai; Moses; God the Law; Ten commandments.  Now Jesus is standing on a Mountain giving the Law to the people.  Symbolically, who did Jesus think he was?  God giving a new Law.  If you read the Sermon on the Mount you don't come away thinking Jesus is making suggestions about how to live.  You come away feeling God has just told you how inadequate you are and you have a higher calling. 

 

How would first century Jews, listening to Jesus deliver the sermon on the Mount, have answered our question?  He taught as one who had authority… giving us a new law… God?  So, right off the bat we have Jesus teaching like he thought he was God. 

 

2) Knees: Jesus' Prayers

 

Matthew 6:9-13 "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us today our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'"

 

 Jesus taught his disciples to address YHWH as Father.  This was revolutionary.  Jesus addressed God as Abba.  Who but God, himself, could authorize you to call him Dad?  He prayed as if he and the Father had a special relationship.  Wow.  His prays revealed that at least he thought he was amazingly tight with God. 

 

3) Muscle: Miracles

 

Mark 2:3-12  Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them.  Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.  When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."  Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves,  "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things?  Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralytic,  "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."  He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"

 

Note two things from this story.  He forgave sins.  Way early in his ministry he knew he could forgive sins.  And, two, he didn't pray for healing, as we do.  He commanded healing, as God would.  From his healings you get the feeling Jesus was acting as if he were God and backed it up with miracles.  Sidebar: Mark, the first of our Gospels, would have been written sooner to the death of Jesus than Brumidi was to the death of George Washington; not much time for apotheosis to happen. 

 

4) Rear: Resurrection

 

Matthew 12:39-41  He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.  For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here."

 

Everything hinges on the resurrection.  If Jesus was not resurrected then he failed the test of Jonah and we can't believe anything else he saids.  But note here, in answer to our question, did Jesus think he was God.  He predicted his resurrection.  He knew the plan.  He knew his primary mission was to die on a cross for our salvation and then be vindicated in his resurrection.  That was the sign, above all others, that Jesus is who he claimed to be!  He made a prediction.  It came true.  It validated who he thought he was!

 

5) Love handles: Liar, Lunatic, Legend or Lord

 

Here is where we can really see who he thought himself to be.  People have said, "Jesus never said he was God."  That is true in that he did not go around blabbering like a lunatic saying, "I am God, fall down before YHWH".  Or anything like that.  But his claims are amazingly unmistakable concerning who he considered himself to be.   Listen to just a few from one chapter in the Gospel of John.

 

John 8:12 "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

 

John 8:23-24 "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.  I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins."

 

John 8:29 "He one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him."

 

John 8:31-32 "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

 

John 8:51 "I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."

 

John 8:56-58 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."  "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!"  "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"

 

Who did he think he was? The I Am; YHWH?  Was all this made up?  It sounds too audacious to be made up.  Jesus knew who he was and I have to believe it or call somebody a liar!

 

6) Shoulder: Sharing With Jesus

 

In my sermon a couple of times ago, I made the point that Jesus knew he was going to bring the fire and the smoke.  He knew that he was to be the temple; the place of incarnation.

 

Matthew 21:12-16 Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.  "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.'"  The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.   But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant.  "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, "'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'?"

 

Wow, Jesus knows that the real temple is going to be people.  He brought the fire and smoke to the living Temple.  He knew he was to be the presence of God in the Temple not built with hands!  This is too amazingly subtle to be made up.  Jesus knew he was bringing the fire and the smoke.

 

7) Collar: - Jesus Christ, Lord and YHWH

 

In the seventh reason we observed that the church very early, actually from the beginning, called, Jesus Christ, Lord and worshiped Jesus as YHWH.  There is no reason for Jews of the first century to call the crucified Jesus, Christ or believe he is Lord of the whole world, or worship him as YHWH, unless they got it from Jesus taught and it was proved it in the resurrection.  Why?  If it were not true.

 

1 Corinthians 8:4-6  So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

 

It was the eye-witness accounts of those who saw Jesus of Nazareth after the resurrection that convinced them he was Christ the Lord and ultimately YHWH.  Jesus, after the resurrection, revealed who he truly was! 

 

8) Face: Compassion

 

In the 8th reason we saw the creator caring for his creation.  Jesus saw people for who he had created them to be.

 

Matthew 7:28 - 8:3 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.  Matthew 8:1 When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.

 

Jesus backed up his authority of teaching like God with the compassion of God.  You would expect the creator to care for the created, and Jesus compassion for the hurting and the marginalized assumed that he knew he was their creator.

 

9) Point: Prophecy

 

As Jesus died upon the cross, he connected his crucifixion with the prophecies of Psalm 22.  The connectivity of Jesus to this song is amazing and shows he knew who he was.  Remember Jesus wanted us to read Psalm 22 in connection with the cross.

 

Psalm 22:1-18

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?  O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.  Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel.  In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him." Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast.  From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God.  Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.  Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.   Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me.   I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me.  My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.  Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.  I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me.  They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. 

 

Wow, The Psalmist, a 1,000 years before Jesus wrote of his death.  But more impressively, he wrote of the resurrection!

 

Psalm 22:19-31

But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me.  Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs.  Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.  I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you. You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!  For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.  From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows.  The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the LORD will praise him-- may your hearts live forever!  All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,  for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.  All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him-- those who cannot keep themselves alive.  Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn-- for he has done it.

 

The story of this rescue from death has spread to the ends of the earth, just as Jesus knew it would as he pointed to the Psalm which predicted him. 

 

10) Ceiling - Spread of Gospel

 

Acts 1:6-8 So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

 

Jesus called it.  The early church spread across the Roman Empire with astonishing speed.  Jesus knew it would.  And set it up to do so by sending the Holy Spirit to move it.  He knew what is mission on this earth was to accomplish.  He sent the power of the Spirit.

 

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So, what do you think?  Did Jesus think he was God?  It seems to me he did. 

1) His teachings assumed authority. 

2) His prayers pointed to intimacy.

3) His miracles presumed power. 

4) His resurrection validated his word.

5) His claims were audacious.

6) His healings presupposed the fire and the smoke.

7) His names are inexplicable; Christ, Lord, YHWH.

8) His compassion was of a creator.

9) His prophecy, fulfilled.

10) His legacy went to the ends of the earth.

 

There was no apotheosis of Jesus to Christ.  There was, rather, the incarnation of YHWH on earth!     

 

Los Alamos Church of Christ

July 25, 2010