Page 100 - Life of Christ - textbook (3)

Pilate did not want to execute Jesus. In fact,
Pilate’s wife warned him to have nothing to do
with this innocent man. He made several
attempts to placate the hatred of the Jewish
leadership and release Jesus, including having
Jesus scourged. When the Jews threatened to
tell Caesar that Pilate was willing to tolerate a
seditionist in his province, Pilate capitulated and
turned Jesus over to be crucified. At about 6:00
AM, before most people had even gotten up from
their night’s sleep, Jesus was condemned to die
by Roman crucifixion.

The Roman crucifixion was designed to make an
example of the criminal, especially those who
rebelled against the power of Rome. They
mercilessly beat the accused, and then made him
carry his cross up the hill from the fort area to a
hill outside the city walls. They waited until all
the city would be out and could witness the event Model of Herod Antipas’s Palace in Jerusalem next to Jaffa Gate
to suppress any who would consider a revolt
against Rome.

At his trial, He was asked if He was the Christ, the Messiah. If he knew that He was not, yet answered in
the affirmative by deliberately lying, then He also knew that such an answer would result in crucifixion.
He held that He was God in flesh to the last breath. That is very unlikely if he was lying and knew it.

Could it be that Jesus was just sincerely deluded about who he was? Or maybe he was
insane?

So, if Jesus didn't consciously lie about who he was -- maybe he was really a good person, very idealistic,
actually believing he was God, but surely wrong about it. After all, it is possible to be both sincere and
wrong.

The problem with that view is that Jesus PROVED He was God by the thousands of miracles He
performed. He raised people from the dead, restored sight to the blind, the crippled walked again, He
spoke to the wind and waves and they obeyed Him, He fed 5000 men plus women and children with a
few loaves of bread and two fish. Could a deluded person who claimed to be God do these things?
Absolutely not!

If Jesus was insane, then at some point or time this would have become evident to others. After all his
disciples, all down-to-earth men, followed him for three years and believed in what he said (Matthew
16:13-16). And they all but John eventually died claiming Him to be the Christ, God with us.

Do we have evidence for His deity in the Bible besides His own claim?

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