Page 58 - Apologetics Student Textbook (3 Credits)

Close-up of the Aramaic inscription: "Ya'akov bar Yosef
akhui di Yeshua" ("James, son of Joseph, brother of
Jesus")

Even the strongest critics cannot deny that Jesus Christ existed, as the evidence is beyond doubt.

OK, I admit Jesus was a man who existed. But was Jesus God?
People confronted with the above evidence may admit that Jesus really existed, but will then go on to
say that was just a man, not God. They state that he never claimed to be God, or that he deliberately
misled people, or that he himself believed to be God but obviously was not. Can there be any truths to
these arguments?

Did Jesus claim to be God or not?

We know that the coming Messiah was going to be called Emmanuel, which means “God with us.”
Isaiah in prophesizing the coming Savior said:

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And
he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

In the Christmas story from Matthew, we see that Jesus Christ was the one prophesized by Isaiah.

Matthew 1:22-23 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
"BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME
EMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US."

In John 4, Jesus confronted the woman at the well in Samaria. In verse 25 she said to Jesus, “I know
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that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to
her, “I who speak to you am he.” Here, Jesus told the Samaritan woman that He was the Messiah,
Emmanuel, God with us.

In Mark 14: 61-64, at the trial before the high priest, Jesus was asked POINT BLANK, are you the Christ,
the Son of the Blessed (God)? Read Jesus’s response:

Mark 14: 62-64 And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of Power,
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and coming with the clouds of heaven. And the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What further
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need have we of witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him
to be worthy of death.

This is an extremely important verse:

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