by Foy E. Wallace, Jr.
(1896-1979
The list of old testament references to Christ cited in the new testament by various quotations and allusions number more than three hundred. The prophetic preview of him sets forth that he would be of the Hebrew race, of the Jewish nation, of the Davidic family; he would be the seed of woman, of virgin birth, in a Bethlehem manger, a child of peasantry; a Galilean ministry, an ignominious death, a glorious resurrection, an exalted throne not on the earth and a spiritual kingdom not of the world. Such a delineation is impossible on any other explanation than divine origination in the minds of the messianic seers, "who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you," when by "the Spirit of Christ which was in them" they "testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow," and "unto whom it was revealed that not themselves but unto us they did minister these things."
The foundation fact of the deity of Jesus Christ is in the new testament words: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." As an oracle, it is the most potent utterance ever to fall from human lips. As a confession, the declaration contains more than any other ten words possible to select. As a creed, these words declare that-he is Lord, Jesus, Christ, Savior and King, covering the entire volume of the spiritual' realm, without which the Bible itself would be an empty hull and reduced to a blank page. As lawgiver, it means he is greater than all, superseding Moses (Matt. 17) and above all earth's potentates (1 Tim. 6:12). As the Son of God, he was born, but he existed before. In man's existence he must reason from step to step in life from the cradle to the grave, from childhood to man hood, hence from birth to death - and he can do so only by regarding the intervening years: his years as a child, then the same child as a man, and only by the process -of growth and development in natural life. Not so of Christ. He was born of woman, but existed before his birth. He was nourished in the ordinary way of human beings, but he had life and glory with the Father before time. All of this is not human.
The irrefutable evidences of the deity of Jesus are found in his superhuman sayings and doings.
(I ) The unnatural sayings of Jesus.
A natural man-mere man-cannot say and write unnatural things. The unnatural sayings of Jesus, both in questioning and answering his critics and in teaching the multitudes, prove that he was more than a natural man. At no time were his questions and answers such that even the wisest and the shrewdest of the Jews, among their lawyers and teachers, could anticipate.
1. His discourse to Nicodemus (Jno. 3) is without any human precedent.
2. His reference to his mother and his brothers (Matt. 12:46-50) was not from any point of consideration a human statement.
3. His reply to the ruler who called him good (Matt. 18:16-22) was not a human expression.
4. His prayers at the grave of Lazarus (Jno. 11) was the superordinary. What sleight of hand performer ever prayed before or after his performance to give thanks for the power to do what he had done? Jesus was divine but he never claimed glory or power for himself, always from God.
5. He first public utterances to his teachers and his parents (Lk. 2:47, 49), were, not of a natural child, but superhuman.
6. His answer to Satan (Matt. 4), "it is written," honored the word of God and the law of Moses rather than himself, contrary to the action of a human lawgiver.
7. His answer at the publican's supper (Matt. 9), "they that are whole need not a physician," when he could have associated with the most influential and the best instead of the poor, was not natural.
8. His answer on the difficult case (Mark 9:29), "this kind cometh out only by prayer," was not human-man would have said, "only I can cast out this kind!"
9. His answer on authority (Mark 11:29-33) to the scribes by the question on John's baptism was divine acumen. Am egotist who wanted glory would have answered by his own authority. Not being able to see through his philosophy, the scribes were afraid to answer him whose answer to them was not like a man.
10. His answer to the disciples on the destruction of Jerusalem (Matt. 24; Mark 13; Luke 21), spoken while the temple buildings were yet standing, and recorded by the three witnesses beforehand, giving credit to Jesus for the predictive statement yet in advance of the occurrence, is not human. Would mere man do it? If it be claimed that is was dated, afterward, why did not unbelievers expose it? He spoke before the event and told what happened; the writers recorded it before the incident was fulfilled, and it came to pass. He spoke the truth, his witnesses recorded the truth, which proves the record to be superhuman and inspired, and himself the Son of God.
11. His answer to the mocking mob (Luke 23), "Father, forgive them," under the pressure of the hour of their deed, were not the words of a mere man, and was not human.
12. When the Jews took stones to stone him Jno. 10:32)-what man would have so asked and so answered on such an occasion?
13. His question to the disciples (Matt. 16:13), "Who do men say that I am?" and to the Pharisees (Matt. 22), "What think ye--whose son is he?" are not human-what mere man would have asked such questions if he were only a man, and not the Christ? What answer could he expect? Why ask? What profit, if only a man, and not Christ?
(2) The unnatural doings of Jesus.
The fact that the actions of Jesus were not the ways of one who was only a man, proves that Jesus was super-human, and his words and deeds supernatural. That being true he is the Son of God.
1. When he was given an ovation in the temple he left the city (Matt. 21)-what man would run away when the people were so taken with him and inclined to praise him for what he could do-no, mere man would not do that, he would wait for more! But Jesus eluded the people to escape the honors of king. He accepted respect and honor only measurable, and beyond certain limits forbade demonstrations. He was not a man, but was the Son of the God of the universe.
2. When put to trial by the lawyers (Matt. 22), Jesus upheld the greatness of the law instead of his own prominence and reputation-which was not like a man, unlike any man.
3. The conduct of Jesus when he knew that he was to die (Matt. 16:2 1; Jno. 18:4), yet made no preparation for it, was not the natural in the ways and actions of men. What mere man would have acted so? Does it not prove that he knew his resurrection to be a fact? Thereby proving that he was supernatural, superhuman, and the Son of God.
Natural men cannot say and do unnatural things. The unnatural sayings and doings of Jesus Christ furnish the irrefutable evidence that He was not a mere man, but the Son of God that he claimed to be, of whom the prophets of the Old Testament prophesied and the apostles of the New Testament testified.
(3) The unnatural teachings of Christ.
The teaching of Jesus deals with matters of eternity before and after he lived on the earth. This life is as far as mere man can see. Jesus saw farther. The deity of Jesus is attested by his teaching on life after death-immortality in the world to come.
1. "Before Abraham was I am" (Jno, 8:58)To believe that a mere man could think up such is to believe more in the unreasonable than to believe all the miracles of the Old and the New Testaments.
2. "Fear not them which kill the body ....rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matt. 10:28). If there is not life beyond this life, and no death but that which ends this life, how could a man think of it or the possibility of it?
3. "Whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire" (Matt. 5:22). The word gehenna is here used, and it related to 6 condition after life, death and the judgment. To speak of such a danger, or to think of such a condition, if he know nothing of a judgment after death, is simply out of the question.
4. "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven" (Matt. 6:20). This is an exhortation to labor here for a reward hereafter. A mere man could not have originated the thought, Again, "What shall it profit a man?" (Matt. 16:26)-man cannot think of life beyond without revelation Jesus was not a mere man.
5. "These shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into everlasting life"(Matt. 25:46). Here Jesus brings himself into the future, too deep for a man to utter, and too far away for man to conceive. A child who speaks of heaven must be taught. Men learn by education, and speak only what is revealed to them. Jesus spake these things-by whose authority by whose power? Jesus Christ was not a mere man-he is the Son of the eternal God.
6, "I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world" (Jno, 8;23). Jesus knew his origin. He said to Mary: "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"-Lk. 2:49-He knew at the age of twelve who his father was that God, not Joseph, was his Father. Jesus knew that he was the Son of God.
From Torch, February / March, 1951