Powerful Proofs

Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

1 Peter 3:22

What proofs did Jesus offer that He was truly God come in human form?

First, there was the proof of His perfect life. He could ask, “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?” (John 8:46NIV)—and no one could answer, because His life was perfect. He was able to confront the full fury of Satan’s temptations and yet not yield to sin; He “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

Second, there was the evidence of His power. His power was the power of God almighty—the power only God has. He could quiet the storms on the sea of Galilee. He raised the dead, healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, and made the lame walk. His miracles were a witness to the fact that He is Lord of all nature: “For by him were all things created. . . . And he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Colossians 1:16–17).

Third, there was the evidence of fulfilled prophecy. Hundreds of years before His birth the prophets of the Old Testament spoke precisely of the place where He would be born (Micah 5:2) and of the manner of His death and burial (Psalm 22; Isaiah 53). Uncounted details of His life were foretold by the prophets, and in every instance these prophecies were fulfilled.

Fourth, there was the evidence of His resurrection from the dead. Jesus Christ was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). The founders of the various non-Christian religions of the world have lived, died, and been buried; in some instances it is still possible to visit their graves. But Christ is alive! His resurrection is a fact! His tomb is empty—and this is a compelling and central proof of His unique divine nature as God in human flesh.

Fifth, there is the proof of changed lives. History vividly illustrates what the Bible clearly affirms: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Education and discipline can do no more than rub off the rough edges of human selfishness—but Christ alone, the divine Son of God, has power to change the human heart. And He does. Christ can take the most sin-laden, selfish, evil person and bring forgiveness and new life.

These are only five of the proofs on which I base my belief in the divinity of Christ.

Our Father and our God, You are divine and holy. If no other proof existed of Your divinity, I would know Your almighty power by the changes in my own life. I believe in You, Lord, and I trust Your guidelines for a happy life. Bless me, O Lord, through Jesus, who was raised from death to life eternal and through whom I pray. Amen.

Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).