Was Jesus who he said he was, or was he a liar?

Was Jesus Christ who he claimed to be, or was he a liar? When one stops to think about it, this may be one of the most important questions ever asked mankind. If Jesus Christ was NOT who he claimed to be, then he was not only a liar, but he would have pulled one of the most colossal frauds over on mankind that has ever been pulled. Believe me there have been some colossal frauds pulled on mankind.

Jesus once asked his disciples, “Who do men say that I the Son of man am?” The answer he got was typical of an answer he would get today. The disciples said, “Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets." Most people today think that Jesus was JUST another prophet or a good teacher. Jesus then got more personal and asked, “But whom say ye that I am?” It makes little difference what others think about Christ or who he is. The most important thing is what YOU (and I) personally think about Him. Then Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Notice there are three THE’s in Peters answer “The Christ, The Son of The Living God." Each of God’s children is “A son of God," but The Christ was/is The Son of God. Jesus then answered and said unto Peter, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (Matt 16:13-17). This last statement teaches me that only those to whom reveals this truth can know WHO Jesus the Christ really IS. By this statement Jesus was saying THIS IS who I am – and God the Father has revealed it to you.

In the Old Testament, 800 years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah foretold of his birth, and said, “Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:13-14). This same prophet said of this Son that was to be born of a virgin, “His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6-7). Now if Jesus was called these Names and He wasn’t “The Mighty God and The Everlasting Father," that would have been blasphemy on the part of Isaiah. When Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, and they called his name “JESUS” (i.e. JEHOVAH is SAVIOUR), Matthew said, “Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matt 1:18-25). If the Virgin Birth of Christ was a hoax and not the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, then Matthew was a liar, and we would have no reason to believe anything he wrote. So if Isaiah was a liar, and Matthew was a liar, and these things are not true, we can tear from our Bibles the books of Isaiah and Matthew.

The apostle John tells us “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” John then tells us “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-3, 14). John claimed that Jesus Christ was the Word of God, the Creator of all things, and was made flesh and dwelt among mankind. If this was not true, John was a liar, and we can tear from our Bibles all the writings of John, which includes the Gospel, his epistles and The Revelation.

Paul came along about six years after the Resurrection of Christ, and wrote, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (I Tim. 3:16). His reference to God being manifest in the flesh could refer to none other than Jesus Christ. He confirms this in Philippians 2:5-8, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Paul said that Christ was once in the form of God, and equal with God, but was made in the likeness of men. If this is not true Paul was a liar and we can tear from our Bibles all the eleven epistles that this apostle wrote.

Excerpts from the writings of Mark, Luke, Peter, James and Jude, who are the only writers of New Testament books and epistles not discussed, could be used to illustrate the same principle. Obviously if what they said about Jesus Christ is not true then we would have no Christian Bible left to refer to. But let’s consider what Jesus said about Himself. It is one thing to consider what others say about Christ, and call them a liar, another thing to consider what Jesus says about himself, and then call him a liar. For if he is a liar, then we have NO Saviour and NO hope of eternal life.

Jesus claimed to have come down from heaven. In John 6:38 he said, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” But then, like today, many did not believe him. For the Jews said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?" (John 6:42).

Jesus claimed to have come forth from the Father. In John 16:28 he said, “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father” and again when praying to His Father he said, “For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me” (John 17:8). He had prayed earlier, “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was” (John 17:1-5). Was Jesus speaking the Truth when he said these things – or was he a liar? Dear friend in whom God has revealed the Truth – we know that He spoke the Truth..

Jesus was talking with some Jews and said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw, and was glad." The Jews replied, “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Verily, verily (truly, truly) I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM." An English teacher would probably say Jesus used bad grammar. But the truth of the matter is, I AM is the name of JEHOVAH, and this was another way in which Jesus was telling the Jews WHO he was. In Exodus 3:14 we read, “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." I AM is another name of JEHOVAH, God Almighty (Exodus 6:2-3).

Throughout our Lord’s ministry on earth he repeatedly used the term I AM to express his attributes. He said, “I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:48-51). He said, “I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). He said, “I am the door of the sheep” and “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:7, 9). He said, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” and “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine” (John 10:11, 14). He said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman” and “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:1, 5).

He said, “I am the way the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Philip then said, “Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” Jesus saith unto him, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake” (John 14:8-11). Jesus said, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). Was he telling the Truth or was he a liar? Dear reader, in whom God has revealed the truth, we know that he was not a liar – and that no lie is of the Truth.