“Don’t talk to me about Jesus. Jesus was just a man.” Someone said that to me…and In a way, this is true—but it’s only half-true. Here’s the whole truth.
Jesus was a man. The apostle, John, wrote very plainly that Jesus was a flesh-and-blood man. John wrote about how he had heard Jesus speak with his own ears, seen Jesus with his own eyes, touched Jesus with his own hands (1 John 1:1) Matthew, who was also one of Jesus’s disciples along with John, wrote about how Jesus said to him, “Follow Me” (Matt 9:9), and then he invited Jesus over to his house for supper along with a bunch of his friends. The gospels are filled with stories of Jesus interacting with people, traveling around Israel, preaching and teaching. Obviously, Jesus was truly a man.
But Jesus was not JUST a man.
John saw Jesus do things no mere man could do. Jesus instantly and completely healed hundreds of sick people…He fed a crowd of 5000 in the middle of nowhere with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread…Jesus brought His dead friend, Lazarus, back to life—4 days after Lazarus died. These are just a few of the amazing miracles of Jesus. Who do you pray to when you’re sick? When you’re hurting? God. Jesus did all these miracles to let people know that He was God in the flesh, right there among them.
Plus, Jesus knew peoples’ hearts. He answered Nicodemus’s question before Nick could even ask (John 3:2-3)…Jesus told the woman at the well she’d had 5 husbands and was living with a man she wasn’t married to—Jesus had never met this woman before and they hadn’t talked about her personal life (John 4:16-18). And I especially like the time when Jesus was at one of the Jewish leaders’ houses, and Jesus read this guy’s mind (Luke 7:36-50). “Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” Did you catch that? The Pharisee said to himself…and Jesus answered him. No mere man reads minds and hearts. God knows the hearts of man. So does Jesus.
Jesus knew the future. Here are just a couple of the many examples. He told his disciples again and again that He would die and be raised from the dead (Matthew 16:21-23, Mark 8: 31-32, Luke 9:21-22). That’s what happened. Jesus told His disciples that Jerusalem would be destroyed (Luke 21:20). That happened, 40 years later, in 70 AD. God knows the future. So does Jesus.
Going back to 1 John 1:1, we read that Jesus was described as “that which was from the beginning.” This means Jesus is eternal. John also introduced Jesus in his gospel as being eternal, being with God—and being God (John 1:1). But how did John know this? Jesus told him! Jesus said that that He and the Father were one (John 10:13). God is eternal and has always existed. So is Jesus.
What’s amazing is that God bothered to send His Son, Jesus, into a world that is full of sin, and to a world of people who say Jesus was nothing but just another man. It was because of God’s great, great love for us that He bothered. It was because of Jesus’s great, great love for us that He willingly died for our sins. Jesus was not JUST a man. He was also God in the flesh who came so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Let me know if you need prayer or a Bible.
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