I just received an E-mail from a Muslim lady who stated emphatically that she knows that Jesus is not God. I am the type of person who has to have a reason for what I believe and I am ready to share why I believe in the deity and resurrection of Jesus. Is Jesus Christ God, reaching out to man, whereas religions are man's best efforts to reach God? Yes and Jesus is the only way to God because He is the only way to Himself and He is ALIVE!

A man, who claims to have resurrected Himself from the dead was not just a great prophet. He was either a fantastic liar, a deluded lunatic or He actually is Lord of all.

Jesus Christ alone has fulfilled 300 Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah!! No religious leader has come close to making the claims that Jesus Christ made, much less proving that they have power over death, Hell and the keys to eternal life. Without the resurrection, Jesus would be no more than another dead religious leader. We would be without any hope of an eternal life with Father God.

God took the form of a man, becoming totally human and totally divine. (Phil 2:6-7) Only Jesus was perfect, totally innocent of sin and able to offer Himself as Savior of the World.

His deity was seen in His name, Immanuel, (Matt.1:23), His witness to Himself, when He said He was equal with God (John 5:17-19), He said, "I and the Father are One" and by the writings of the Apostles. He was with God before the creation of the earth and made all things. (John 1)

He purposed to come and die by crucifixion, in our place, for the forgiveness of our sins "that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor. 5:21)

Even the exact amount paid for His betrayal was specified in Old Testament prophecies. Zechariah 11:12.

In other Old Testament prophecies, Isaiah said that He would be scourged and spit upon in Isaiah 50:6.

He taught that He was the Son of God. (Matt. 11:27, Luke 10:22, Matt.21:33-46)

Jesus repeatedly spoke of God as His Father. Matt. 7, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, etc.)

Jesus claimed deity and to have all authority on Heaven and earth. (Matt. 28:18)

Jesus claimed to have power to forgive sins. (Matt. 9:6)

Jesus allowed Himself to be worshipped as God. (Matt. 14:33 and John 20:25-28)

Jesus said that He was from Heaven. (John 5:17-18)

Jesus claimed that He should have the same reverence that God has. (John 5:23)

He said He would raise all humans from the grave and judge them. (John 5:27-28)

He promised to give eternal life to all who would trust in Him. (John 6:47)

Jesus alone never failed to please Father God and never sinned. (john 8:46)

He said He would also come to earth a second time. (John 14:1-3)

Many witnesses verified that Jesus actually claimed to be the Christ the Son of God, such as John the Baptist, Peter, Thomas, Philip, Nathaniel, Martha and the Centurion.

There are many proofs that Jesus Christ actually rose from the dead.

He foretold His own resurrection, that on the third day He would be raised. (Matt. 16:21)

His enemies guarded His body with 16 armed guards so that no one could say that a "swooned Christ" moved the stone and so that the disciples could not steal His body.

Jesus appeared to many witnesses after His resurrection, over a period of six weeks: to certain women, Mary Magdalene, Peter, Cleopas and another disciple, to the ten disciples assembled together, to the eleven a week later, to several disciples at the Sea of Galilee, to the disciples and 500 witnesses at once on an appointed mountain in Galilee, to James, and to the Apostles in Jerusalem immediately before His ascension from the Mount of Olives.

His resurrection is the only reasonable explanation of the beginning of the Christian Church. Half of Peter's sermon in Acts 2:14-36 dealt with proofs of the resurrection.

The resurrection is the only explanation of the complete transformation of the disciples and their willingness to not only live for Him but to give their lives rather than to deny Jesus Christ.

Finally, the witness of the Apostle Paul and the radical transformation of his life, from persecutor to preacher of the Gospel, can only be explained by a vision of the resurrected Christ.

Only Jesus Christ offers to forgive us, to give us His righteousness, eternal life, a new past, a new present and a new future. He alone replaces our old degenerate nature with a divine new nature. God is not willing for any one of us to perish, but has come to take our punishment onto Himself and to offer us eternal life through Jesus Christ.

To accept Jesus, as Savior and Lord, is not just giving mental assent to His claims. John 1:12 says that we must believe and also receive Him in order to become the children of God. Jesus promised that He is standing of the door of your heart and knocking and if you would invite Him in, He would actually come into you to live and abide forever. (Rev. 3:20, John 15) We must not only believe on Him with our minds but also with our hearts, confessing Him as our own Savior and Lord. Would you like to have a more intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ?

If you could know for sure that you could have a more personal relationship with the God of the universe, would you be interested?
See Know Jesus Christ.