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Download: html Who Is Jesus? (Chapter 2)What makes Jesus different from the other great religious teachers, prophets or philosophers?If any adjective were to describe Jesus, it would be "unique"! — His message was unique. The claims He made regarding Himself were unique. His miracles were unique. And the influence He has had on the World is unsurpassed by any other. One very outstanding and undeniably unique aspect of Jesus' life is that literally hundreds of detailed predictions and prophecies were made by ancient prophets and seers, many centuries before He was born. — Specific details regarding His birth, life and death, that no mere mortal man could possibly have fulfilled! In the first books of the Bible, known as the "Old Testament," over 300 such predictions about the "Messiah" or "Saviour" can be found. The discovery of hundreds of ancient Old Testament manuscripts by archaeologists during this century has proven without a doubt that these prophecies were indeed written before this man called Jesus was born. Not one of the great recognized religious leaders — not Moses, not Buddha, not Confucius, not Mohammed — ever claimed to be God. True, some have been deified by their followers after they died, but none ever personally claimed to be Deity. — That is, with the exception of Jesus Christ. In fact, He not only claimed to be the Son of God, God manifest in human flesh, but He convinced a great portion of the World that He in fact is God's Son. This is probably the greatest difference between Jesus and all of the other great philosophers, teachers, prophets and gurus throughout the ages. Although many of them spoke and taught about love and about God, Jesus claimed that He was Love, that He was God's Love for the World. — Thus He really knew what He was talking about! Either He was right, or He was terribly wrong. — Either He was good, and spoke the truth, or He was evil, a deceiver and a liar! The famous intellectual and former professor of Cambridge University, C.S. Lewis, expressed it this way: "There is a really foolish thing that people often say about Him: `I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' — That is one thing that we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be `a great moral teacher'. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with a man who claims he is a poached egg — or else He would be the Devil of Hell! You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: Or else a mad man or something worse." "You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a `great human teacher'. He has not left that option open to us, He did not intend to." Another unlikely authority on such matters, the emperor and conqueror of nations, Napoleon Bonaparte, also rightly recognised the absolute uniqueness of Jesus, and expressed it in these words: "I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the World there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? — Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon Love, and at this hour millions of men would die for Him." Who Is Jesus?, Copyright © 1998-2010, The Family International |