The bulk of the commentaries I read pointed to the fact that
Jesus is Lord but, many of the Scripture that was provided as proof of the obvious
conclusion was from the New Testament and that Scripture would reference
Jesus’s life after the resurrection as proof that He was Lord God Himself.
However, I was struck by the reaction of the Pharisees who accused Jesus of
blaspheming against God – doing only what God was allowed to do – and their
reaction is based on Old Testament Scripture and not New Testament. After all,
the New Testament was not written yet so, how could the Pharisees base their
decision about Jesus on writings yet to be written?
However, the line of thought was correct – Jesus is God and
while on earth, Jesus was God in human form or should it be stated, God was
human in the form of Jesus – truly human, in all His human abilities and
inabilities. Still that didn’t answer what was gnawing at me. The four Gospel
accounts of the life of Jesus depict Him correctly interpreting the Law and the
Prophets (Old Testament Scripture), miraculously healing people and
miraculously doing actions only God could do. Yet, faced with all of that
evidence, the Jewish leadership was accusing Jesus of blaspheming against God.
Why? Why would a body of religious leaders who studied the Law and the Prophets,
to the point of being able to recite the entire Old Testament verbatim, accuse
Jesus of blaspheming against God? The Jewish leadership should have known the prophecy
in the Old Testament pointing towards the personhood of Messiah so when Messiah
appeared, it would be obvious. If the Pharisees were correct then, why would
Jesus claim publically to be God, misinterpreting Scripture, when Jesus was on
earth to testify to the truth of God? (John 18:37) Jesus time and again said He
wasn’t here to do His will but the will of His (the) Father and if that was
truly the case why would He claim to be The Father if that wasn’t true, which the
actions itself appears to be seeking God’s glory for Himself? This is the very
reason why the Pharisees accused Jesus of blasphemy.
Now, it would be easy to dismiss this mental argument with
the thoughts, “Well, the Pharisees where jealous of Jesus and didn’t want to
lose their status within the nation and power hold on the people.” Or, “The
Pharisees were misinterpreting Scripture incorrectly and since Jesus was
testifying to the truth of God, He was teaching them the correct
interpretation.” However, that reasoning didn’t answer the question of why
Jesus claimed to be Son of Man and as Son of Man knew He could forgive sins committed
against God when only God could do that. There had to be Scriptural evidence
that stated Messiah (Son of Man), would be God Himself and as God Himself, He
would do the things only God could do and when Israel saw these things occur,
the community would know that Messiah had arrived and that Messiah was/is
Jesus. After all, this is exactly how Israel was supposed to recognize Jesus as
THE Messiah, by His actions and words, fulfilling what was stated in Old
Testament Law and prophecy. If this was to be the case for everything Jesus
said and did, it should be the case for the action of forgiving sins committed
against God Himself.
So onward I went. Listening, reading, studying. After
finishing Matthew, I began the minor prophets since it seemed like Jesus quoted
those prophets frequently. I sent an email to one of my favorite radio pastors –
Dr. Stephen Davey – and I visited an elder in the faith who attended my church.
Two people impacted me the most with their understanding of
Scripture and, to my honest pleasure, allowed me to reason with each of them.
Each answered months apart, not knowing the other person nor what the other
person had said and yet, both gave me similar answers. That’s when I knew that
Holy Spirit was once again teaching me as their answers not only resonated with
me but, spurred me on to additional Scriptural referencing and noting the
experience in my Journal. Now, I’m hearing Scripture in my head when I read
which opens my eyes giving me a larger picture to answer the question.
The conclusion… Jesus is God incarnate and as God incarnate
He has the authority to do the things of God. (Isaiah 9:6-7 and Daniel 7:13-14 with Matthew 28:18 resonated the most with me.)
In other words, Jesus is Lord or
Jesus is God. You might say, “Big deal; I knew that all along. So why spend the
time researching, studying, asking people questions?” For me, the experience
made that realization real, alive and personal to me. This information went from learned knowledge
of Jesus – just something I read and committed to memory – to knowing Jesus as
a person knows a dear friend. And typical of God (and His sense of humor), in
family group this week while reading Acts 2, we discussed the transformation
of the Apostles learning from Jesus to knowing the truths of Jesus as being
real to each of them individually. Jesus as God incarnate is now more real to
me than before I began the Matthew 9 quest.
Shared from Dr. Tom Courtney is the following commentary on
the Incarnation of Jesus Christ: http://www.reformedonline.com/view/reformedonline/Incarnation.htm
Dr. Tom Courtney is in his late 80’s, was a missionary in
some dangerous places in Africa, has been married to his treasured wife Fran for over 60 years, taught at
Liberty University, and knows the Bible like nobody’s business. He honored me
with two hours of his time in February when we sat, discussed and reasoned
about the incarnation of Jesus.
The email to Dr. Stephen Davey was replied by his son, Seth
Davey, and he honored me with two lengthy emails, stuffed with Scripture and his
personal thoughts on the incarnation of Jesus with Old Testament verses to support it. My
second email to Seth Davey was the journal entry “Wrestling and Looking at
Things Differently.” His second reply letter was so eye-opening, I wanted to
make sure I never forget it so it is below.
To me, this journey was the reality of Matthew 7:7-12 (Ask,
seek, knock) and Revelation 3:20 (I stand knocking at your door). Jesus said,
if we earnestly and continually seek Him – seek the Kingdom of God – He will
open the door, come in and supper with us. He’ll come in, share truth,
share a meal, share life. We become part of Him and He is part of us. We’re in
communion and community. To me, THAT is the reason I love to embark on these
study journeys and my prayer is that everyone I know enjoys the same
relationship with our Lord Jesus – God incarnate.
Seth Davey’s reply from May 10, 2012:
Hey Rose,
I was away for a couple of weeks and then let my inbox get way too full! Sorry for the very delayed response.
I want you to know that I read everything you wrote and was greatly encouraged by your words. Scripture says that "Iron sharpens Iron" and that's what your testament to Christ's work has done for me.
You are posing very good questions, which, as I said before, are deep theologically and philosophically. I think I did misunderstand your main question in my last email and I hope to rectify that in this one. If I'm correct, you have realized why the Pharisees were not so crazy for thinking Christ a blasphemer, and that is (what) they understood from the Old Testament that only God himself can truly forgive sins. Therefore Christ was effectively claiming to be God by forgiving men their sins. Furthermore, you want to know if anywhere in the Old Testament God tells Israel that the Messiah will have the power to forgive sins, because if He doesn't, then the Pharisees weren't wrong to think Him a blasphemer - even if He was the Messiah. That seems to be your main question, and I hope I haven't missed it.
I'm going to list a few important Old Testament Messianic prophecies for you to read and discern for yourself what they say. While none of them specifically refer to Christ forgiving sin, most of the prophecies don't specifically refer to Him dying on a cross either. That's why many Jews, including the disciples until the Resurrection, thought Christ was coming to save them from Roman oppression. All the passages relating to salvation (especially Isaiah 49:1-7) were interpreted as earthly and material. Only after the Resurrection did the Disciples understand the full meaning of them. Here is a link that outlines the major prophetic prophecies of the Messiah. You can click on each passage and it will give you more information:
http://www.messianicbible.com/prophecies.asp
Take note, however, of a few prophecies in particular. Psalm 110:1-6; Micah 5:2; Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6-7; Psalm 2:1-12; Zecheriah 9:9; and Daniel 7:13-14 (huge passage). In all of these passages, the Messiah is spoken of in terms of Deity. He is the "Son" of God. He is from Everlasting to Everlasting... and so on. So even if there isn't any specific mention to the Messiah being able to forgive sins, this goes without saying because Jews understood that God was the only one who could forgive sins. If the Old Testament is declaring the Messiah to be God "incarnate" then of course He'll have the power to forgive sins. As you rightly said, the reason the Pharisees called Christ a blasphemer is not because they couldn't find an Old Testament passage which declared the Messiah would be able to forgive sins; it's because they didn't believe Jesus was the Messiah. They didn't understand all of the prophecies because Jesus, as He did with many of his parables, kept some things hidden. In other words, they weren't saying, "Look Jesus, we know you're the Messiah... but that doesn't make you God, does it?" No! They were saying, "Look Jesus, we know you're not the Messiah!"
So the real question is whether or not Jesus is God. That was the stumbling block to the religious leaders. It's clear throughout the Gospels that hardly anyone was interpreting Old Testament prophecy correctly. After the Resurrection Christ walked with two men to explain how the Old Testament spoke of His coming. Then they understood. Christ also met with His disciples and, at some point, explained to them all the things they had been overlooking. It's not like everything was very clear during his ministry. This is a difficult truth to grasp, but Christ Himself even says that he spoke in parables so that the people would not understand Him.
Lastly, it's important to take into account the other passages of Scripture that relate to the Pharisees - especially Jesus' statements of condemnation to them (Matthew 23). He didn't rebuke them for their ignorance; no; He rebuked them for their pride. And this is the main point...
When Jesus healed a man and then forgave him of his sins, the Pharisees said, "See, he is a blasphemer for only God can save (sinners)." Then Jesus responds with Divine wisdom and logic and says, "Which is easier to say? Rise and walk or your sins are forgiven?" Then Jesus explains to them how His miracles are a proof of His divinity. That's the point! If the Pharisees had taken the time to look at the Old Testament prophecies about signs and (wonders) - prophecies that Christ was fulfilling before their eyes - they would have realized that Jesus was not a blasphemer or a liar. But they didn't. They rejected Christ because of the hardness of their hearts. Scripture is clear on that. Not because they lacked evidence or because Christ was a hypocrite. No. Simply because, as Jesus said Himself, they were "whitewashed tombs." (They) wanted self-righteousness rather than real righteousness.
So I encourage you, as you continue to read Scripture and ask deep, meaningful questions about Christ, to realize that the real stumbling block to the Pharisees' faith is the same stumbling block to our faith today. It's not a lack of evidence... it's pride.
Lastly, Jesus knew He could forgive sins not because He learned it from the Old Testament but because He was God incarnate, and that's what He had come to do. The external aspect of His ministry, i.e. his perfection, miracles, healings, teachings, and so on, were only meant to reveal the internal aspect of His ministry: i.e. His desire to save mankind from their sins. Forgiveness is what He came for. That was the cause and everything else was the effect.
Thanks again for writing, and I hope some of these Scriptures will encourage and challenge you in the days and weeks to come. God bless!
Seth
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November 12, 2012:
While listening to teaching pastor Bob Coy, he spoke on the authority of Jesus Christ which relates to the search on the Incarnation of Christ that I studied. It is at this link - entitled "What's Wrong With Jesus? Does He Really Mean What He Says?" - on 11/9/2012 and 11/12/2012 under the Media Gallery under the Radio tab. Worth listening to.
http://www.activeword.org/media.cfm?fn=AW20121112&st=2&type=Radio&radioNavStack=11/12/2012
Enjoy!
