1. The way Jesus told people that he was the Son of God.
By virtue of being an descendant of God and claiming inheritance of His authority, Jesus proclaimed himself divine. There is several statements by Jesus that he referred to himself as the Son of the heavenly Father, which Jesus identified as being the God that the Jews worshiped. In the Jewish concept of the inheritance of rights and authority in Jesus' day, the eldest son, represented the father in attribute and authority in matters of law and community issues. So when Jesus called God his father, he was also telling everyone who heard it that He was Gods Son in all matters of law and community issues.
There were two distinct reactions to Jesus' proclamation to his statements of claiming divinity through heredity:
The first reaction when he was making himself divine with his declarations of his biological connection with God by referring to Him as his Heavenly Father was that Jesus was committing the crime of blasphemy and therefore they believed they had the legal right to kill him for making such a proclamation. (Matthew 7:21, 10:32, John 8:48-59[v.54],10:33)
The second reaction to his declarations of his biological connection with God was that they believed what he said he was, because of the miracles he gave as evidence of his divine power that he attributed that he received from His Heavenly Father, who was their God.(John 8:54)
2. Why did some people believe that he was the Son of God?
People believed that Jesus was who he said he was because:
He preformed miracles as evidence of his divine power.(John 3:2, 9:35-38,10:25)
He also spoke as one who had authority (Matthew 7:9 ) which means he taught many things that only someone who was in heaven could teach. There are a number of Kingdom of Heaven and Kingdom of God parables from which Jesus taught the people from showing the people the correlation of the spiritual world with the natural world. (Matthew 13:34 &35) It was also through these parables of the Kingdom of God and of Heaven he would some times would explain how the spiritual world worked. (Matthew 13:10-15; Mark 4:30-34)
People also believed after Jesus was put to death and was raised from the dead, because they saw him alive after his ordeal alive for 40 days.( Luke 24:13-34; John 21:1-14; Mark 16:9-20; Matthew 28:9+10, 16-20; Acts 1:4-8 [v. 3] ) Who could survive such a ordeal except he be God?
3. The disciples proclaimed him as divine
One day Jesus asked his disciples who do men say he was. Some replied that men though he was one of the ancient prophets that came back to life, Some believed that he was the prophet Elijah who has returned according to prophecy. Jesus then asked his disciples directly who did they believe he was. There as a moment of silence, then Peter proclaimed that Jesus was the living Son of God. This is the disciples recognition of Jesus' divine nature in the Gospels. Jesus immediately declared that Peter did not receive this revelation on who he was from men, rather he received this revelation from his heavenly father. He then charged his disciples to not tell anyone of the revelation. He did this not to hide the fact that he was divine, but to make certain that it was recognized only by those who believe him after hearing him speak. (Matthew 16:13-20; Mark Mark 8:27-30)
There was another occasion when the disciples were traveling on the sea as instructed by Jesus, but he did not go with them, but rather retreated to a solitary place to pray. While the disciples were traveling to Galilee a storm arose and began to toss about the boat they were in. Jesus came to his disciples walking on the water of the raging sea. Peter and the rest of the disciples seeing this sight though initially that they were seeing a spirit approaching them on the water of the sea. They became afraid, but Jesus identified himself and told them to fear not. Peter asked if this person walking on the sea was in fact Jesus, he should allow him to walk on the water. Jesus allowed Peter to step out of the boat and walk on the sea toward him. Now let us not get down on Peter for losing faith on the sea, he had enough faith to get out of the boat and walk to Jesus on the sea. After Peter cried for help, Jesus rescued him from drowning and walked with him back to the boat. Once Peter and Jesus rejoined the disciples in the boat, Jesus turned to the raging storm and said "Peace! Be Still." and the storm ceased. After seeing that, the disciples proclaimed Jesus as the living Son of God and worshiped him. Jesus did not upbraid them for not walking on the water, he upbraided them because of their little faith. Jesus did not stop them from worshiping him,neither did he accuse them of false idol worship or committing blasphemy. (Matthew 14:22-33)
Then there was the revealing to the Disciples when they were hiding after seeing their teacher die on the Cross because the custom was to stone those who subscribed and proclaimed the perceived blasphemy of Jesus. What was that they proclaimed that was so blasphemous? They proclaimed that Jesus was the Son of God as they were told. The stood condemned in the eyes of the religious authority at the time and the people swayed by that authority. With the doors locked Jesus appeared among them, ate a fish in front of them, but one disciple did not see him, he was out gathering information whether it was safe for them to walk through the city and escape being stoned to death. That disciple was Thomas. It was this disciple that boldly proclaimed that unless he puts his hand in the wounds of Christ's body he will not believe that Jesus has arose from the dead. Then Jesus appeared again and called out Thomas and directed him to place his hand in the wounds that Christ bore. Thomas fell to his knees (I know I would) and proclaimed Jesus not only his Lord, but also his God. (John 20:19-29)
We see here that the disciples collectively proclaimed him as divine after witnessing Jesus walking on the water and calming the raging sea. Also after his passion, the disciples once embolden by the Holy Spirit, continued to proclaim Jesus as divine (Acts 2: 34-36). In Acts 2:36 the word used is "Lord, we know that when the word "Lord" is used it can represent a number of things, but from the immediate context of the verse we have a quote from the scripture uttered by the the Apostle Peter, that The Lord said to his Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Now was the Lord speaking to himself as two separate persons? Yes he was and this scripture points directly at the doctrine of the trinity indicates also that both Lords were divine. This Lord that was directed to sit at the Lord God's right hand was none other than Jesus who the Lord God made Lord equal to him. For he did not direct Jesus to sit above him, nor below him before the Lord God's throne. He directed Jesus to sit at the Lord God's right hand equal to the throne of the Lord God. So when Peter says that God has made Jesus Lord and Christ. He is clearly telling the people that Jesus was made divine because that what he was before he died on the cross. God was just restoring Jesus to the position he had in Heaven. So the disciples were convinced that Jesus was God manifested in the flesh for the redemption of mankind and proclaimed him that way ever since and never recanted until each of them died.
4. Demons and Evil Spirits knew Him as divine.
Demons and evil Spirits knew that Jesus was the Son of God and acknowledged him as such. At no time did Jesus rebuked and denied that he was what they had testified of him. (Matthew 8:28-34 [v. 29])
Why did Jesus commanded the Evil Spirits or Demons to be silent? He did not want evil spirits or demons being associated with his name. This however did not prevent his adversaries from spreading the idea among the people that Jesus casts out demons and evil spirits by the power of the prince of demons. (Matthew 9:34, 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15)
Not just anybody can fool Evil Spirits in thinking they have some sort of spiritual authority over them. Evil spirits know who has the Spirit of God in them. They know those servants of God by name. Just look at the 7 sons of Sceva:
"Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, 'We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.' And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, 'Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?' And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded." (Acts 19:13-16)
The thing to point out here is that the evil spirits did not speak of Jesus in the past tense like this: We knew of Jesus and we know of Paul, but who are you? . No they spoke of Jesus as though he was still alive and active and still had the power of God to deal with them. They also knew that Paul had the same level of power in the authority of Jesus, but these boys did not have such power in them but they wanted to excercise the evil spirit just by using the name of Jesus. Evil spirits know who the Son of God is. They know of Jesus being divine.
It is also clear the demons and evil spirits know each name of those who have truly given their lives to Christ and were born again of God's Holy Spirit. This is why the evil spirit knew of Paul, his conversion to Christ was genuine. The power of God resides in each believer (John 1:12+13; Ephesians 1:13+14). Each believer has authority over Evil spiris and demons, but Satan wants to convince every believer that he has more power than they do and tricks them in confessing that lie. Knowing that as long a believer speaks that lie in faith it gives him free course to reign in their lives. Also by confessing the lie of Satanic authority each believer places themselves at a disadvantage to the demons and evil spirits sent by Satan to harras them. (Hebrews 1:7,14; Luke 10:17-20; 1 John 3 8) Only because many of the believers are ignorant of the power they have in the authority of Christ, but for them that do know of their authority in Christ, no devil can stand before them. Isn't it logical that the Church will storm the gates of Hell and set free those held captive in bondage to sin and the devil through the fear of death. It is because Jesus is God and that we each are joint heirs with him that we have such authority over the devil and every evil spirit that reigns in the hearts of men. What ever the Son has of the Father, we have as adopted children of God. This is the secret power of the saints.
5. His adversaries heard him declared that he was the Son of God
His adversaries had him put to death for his testimony of divinity. I should not have to even write on this fact because the treatment of this event is very visibly displayed through all sorts of media and mediums and is rehearsed over pulpits all over the world. However there are those who say that Jesus did not die on the cross, even deny that Jesus' declaration that he was the Son of God was the cause of it. This doesn't change the fact that Jesus did declare himself such . He did so in a way that the people who heard him declare that he was the Son of God could not make the mistake that he was declaring anything else. (John 10:36)
Here are the verses where they accused Jesus as a blasphemer, you can read them for yourself and come to your own conclusion (Luke 22:66-71; Matthew 26:63-66; Mark 14:60-64). A blasphmer, according to the religious rulers interpretation of the Law warranted the death penalty. (Leviticus 24:16; John 19:7) The problem was that they needed the Pagan Roman authority to fulfill what they believed their Law demanded because the Jews at this time were a conquered people, beholden to Pagan Rome. So the Jewish people did not directly kill Jesus, they had their conquerors do it. They did this by persuading the Governor to put Jesus to death on the grounds of that Jesus proclaimed himself King of the Jews. Under Roman Pagan law only the Emperor of Rome is to rule the people. If a man claimed himself a king he was to be executed. (John 19:15) So on two charges was Jesus crucified: (1) He was crucified for revealing that he was indeed the Son of God, the son of the Blessed. (2) He was crucified because he was declared to be the King of the Jews.
It had been said that the strongest evidence that could be provided to prove anything is to hear what the advarsaries had to say about it. Jesus advarsaries wanted him dead and wanted to have Jesus guilty of some crime that required death. They did not care if they had to break their own laws in prosecuting Jesus. Jesus had to die, because the High Priest wanted the people to be spared the wrath of Rome. If the people proclaimed him to be Kngly Messiah they were looking for, then the Pagan Roman soldiers would have killed Jesus when they saw him in the Garden. Or crushed the people of Jerusalem with military force. Never the less, it was not the Pagan Roman Guard that arrested Jesus in the Garden, it was the Temple Guard that returned him to the Temple, where in the middle of the night, Jesus was tried and found guilty of blasphmy.
What man would accurately proclaim his own death and resurrection? Either he is God or he is insane, there is no middle ground. He can not be just a good moral teacher of God that the Jews were jealous of and had him killed or he had them believe that he was killed. That somehow this moral teacher survived the bloody crucifixion by substituting someone else and was taken up to heaven. Jesus died before his disciples and the people was buried and his tomb was guarded so that none of his disciples could steal the body of Jesus and proclaim that he had somehow risen from the grave. Even with all that, on the third day Jesus got up from the dead and appeared to all. Just as He told his disciples several times that he was going to Jerusalem to be betrayed and die. Why didn't they know he was talking about himself? The way he did this prophecy of his own death and resurrection was along his journey as he was walking toward Jerusalem he would say to his disciples that the "the Son of Man" would do such and such. By speaking like this the disciples did not realize that the "Son of Man" Jesus was referring to was himself. They did not think he was talking about himself until he got into Jerusalem and had the Passover with them and installed the communion ceremony. (Matthew 12:40, 17:22, 20:18, 26:2; Mark 9:12,31, 10:33; John 13:31) Then before their eyes they seen Jesus betrayed by one of his own, unjustly tried and convicted of being a blasphemer, then they saw him crucified as a sinner for blaspheming and claiming to be a king. After seeing all that Jesus' disciples hid. Until the unforgettable encounters they all had with Jesus after his death: from the place of the empty tomb and the testimony of the Angels to the time when he ascended into the sky out of the sight of more than 500 of them into Heaven. Its those who testify to us through the Gospels and the letters of the New Testament and other ancient documents that Jesus is God and worshiped him as God.
So yes we agree that Jesus did not exclusively declare himself as God and demanded that he be worshiped apart from God or in competition with God . He did however declare that he was God's Son and he did so in a way that everyone that heard him or seen his miracles believed he was the son of God. No Jesus did not proclaim himself as a competing or a partner to God. Jesus proclaimed himself as a part of God or an extension of God. Just like when someone slices a piece of cake, no one questions the fact that the piece of cake and the main cake is of the same character and attributes. So is Jesus the Son of God to God. They are one and the same in attributes and character.
Now consider this those of you who believe that Christians believe that God had to have sexual intercourse with a woman to create Jesus: If God can not create life through just speaking a word then he is not God. So if God can create life by uttering a single word, why would God need to have sexual intercourse for a woman to be pregnant with his life? God the creator does not need to have sex, all God has to do is say a word and it is done, It was God's choice to use to process of procreation as well as his promise that virgin will have a child, born with divine characteristics. A child that will be called "the Mighty God" (Isaiah 9:6) and Emmanuel, which means "God is with us" .
So Jesus did proclaim himself divine and by doing so was put to death by the Jews via using the Pagan roman authority. When the cross and the grave could not hold him he overcame them both. People who consider Christ from a human point of view can not see a man who is God, but Jesus wasn't just a man. Just because they can only view Jesus from a human point of view means that is the only acceptable view of Jesus. There is Jesus words himself about himself. Jesus called God "my heavenly Father." He could not do that without himself believing that he was the Son of God and thereby divine. As an extension of God the Creator.
Here are some interesting YouTube links
The Quran made Me Christian- a testimony of a former Iman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZc7KYO0PVw
Proof from the Quran that Jesus is God pt1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H02o1OIiDQ
Proof from the Qraun that Jesus is God pt2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ3vEVZKaqQ
Proof from the Quran that Jesus is God pt3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoTS25maDjQ
More Proof that Christians believed Jesus was God before 300AD (that is before the council of Niecea)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7zElCRwNgI
300 prophecies fufilled in Jesus, the Christ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hMuNGHKsjM
Is the New Testament Reliable?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuiayuxWwuI
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