In the midst of a world that seems to be going more mad with each passing day, we need a Savior. I need a Savior. You need a Savior.
“In times like these you need a Savior
In times like these you need an anchor
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock
This Rock is Jesus, Yes, He’s the One
This Rock is Jesus, the only One
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock.”
Jesus is the only Savior for He is divine. The world may not yet acknowledge that, but the Church does, and for good reason. The deity of Christ is established in several ways.
First, Jesus claimed to be divine. “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” (John 14:9). If Jesus was not whom He claimed to be, He could not be regarded as a Good Man. “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man, who was merely a man, and said the sort of things Jesus said, would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him, and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”–C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity
Second, the Apostles taught Jesus was divine. Listen to John as he says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” …“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”… “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” (John 1:1, 14; 20:31).
Third, the confession of others testifies to Christ’s deity. The prophet Isaiah predicted, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). The Roman centurion testified to the deity of Jesus. “Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God” (Matt. 27:54). Demons know that Jesus is divine. “And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ” (Luke 4:41).
Fourth, the sacred titles of God, applied to Christ, assert His divinity. Jesus is called Emmanuel in Matthew 1:23. He is called God in John 20:28. He is called the Alpha and Omega in Revelation 1:11. Jesus is called the King of kings and Lord of lords in 1 Timothy 6:15.
Fifth, the works of Christ testify to His deity. The miracles Jesus performed (John 20:30), His bodily resurrection from the dead (Acts 2:32-36), His supernatural knowledge (Matthew 9:4), and His unique teachings (Luke 4:22; 2:47) led individuals to embrace the deity of Jesus.
Sixth, the personal influence of Christ in the World speaks of His deity. Jesus is, the Man who changed the world.
“More than 1900 years ago there was a Man born contrary to the laws of life.
This Man lived in poverty and was reared in obscurity…
Only once did He cross the boundary of the country in which He loved:
That was during His exile in childhood…
In infancy, He startled a king: in childhood, He puzzled the doctors:
In manhood He ruled the course of Nature, walked upon the billows as if pavement, and hushed the sea to sleep.
He never wrote a book, and yet all of the libraries of the country could not hold the books that have been written about Him.
He never wrote a song, and yet He has furnished the theme for more songs than all the song writers combined.
He never founded a college, but all the schools put together cannot boast of having as many students…
The names of the past, proved statesmen of Greece and Rome, have come and gone.
The names of past scientists, philosophers and theologians, have come and gone; but the name of this Man abounds more and more.
Though time has spread 1,965 [1,998] years between the people of this generation, and the scene of His crucifixion, yet He still lives.
Herod could not destroy Him, and the grave could not hold Him.
He stands forth upon the highest pinnacle of Heavenly glory, proclaimed of God, acknowledged by angels, adored by saints, and feared by devils, as the living, personal Christ, our Lord, our Savior and our God.”—Herbert Lockyer
Seventh, the authority that has been entrusted to Jesus serves to establish His deity. It is Jesus who shall judge the world. “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:” (John 5:22). “And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead” (Acts 10:42). “Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). So we look to Scriptures, and find the deity of Christ taught.
“In times like these you need the Bible
In times like these O be not idle
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock.
This Rock is Jesus, Yes, He’s the One
This Rock is Jesus, the only One
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock.”
Eighth, perhaps the best proof of the deity of Jesus, is the personal experience of Divine grace that regenerates the soul. Mel Trotter was a desperate alcoholic, to the point that at the funeral of his young daughter he actually slipped into the funeral parlor and stole her shoes. He thought he could sell the child’s shoes for another shot of whiskey. Then the day came when he met the Master. Mel Trotter became a preacher of the gospel. He often went back to the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago where the Lord found him, to give his testimony. One evening while he was speaking, a half-drunk fellow stood up and yelled, “How do you know you are converted?” And Mel Trotter immediately replied, “Why, bless your dear heart, old fellow, I was right there when it all happened!”
Let the Church affirm her belief in the deity of Jesus, for in times like these, we do need a Savior.
“In times like these I have a Savior
In times like these I have an anchor
I’m very sure, I’m very sure
My anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock.
This Rock is Jesus, Yes, He’s the One
This Rock is Jesus, the only One
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock.”
—Ruth Caye Jones
