Jesus never claimed to be God, really?

The idea that Jesus never claimed to be God would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic. The entire Bible is filled with clues as well as clear declarations of the divinity of Christ. 

But perhaps my favourite go-to section of the Bible to show this is John 8, 9 and 10. In chapter 8 Jesus proclaims Himself to be the I am of the old testament. (John 8:58) In chapter 10 Jesus declares Himself as one with the Father. (John 10:30). But it is in chapter 9 that we see Jesus do something that only God can do.

In chapter 9 we see Jesus heal a man who was blind from birth. But he heals him in a way that the man has never seen Jesus. He goes to wash at the pool of Siloam and comes back seeing. 

Instead of giving him a chance to rejoice, he is immediately met with scepticism. Once Everyone including the Pharisees realizes that he was actually born blind they cast him out since it is quite obvious that he sees that Jesus is special and the Pharisees hate Christ and want to kill him.

What follows is astounding. 

The blind man, who has been kicked out of the temple, most likely excommunicated from Judaism, on what should have been the best day of his life, is found by Jesus. 

• The sweet saviour introduces himself. He tells him to believe in Himself. 
• The man responds with bowing down and worshipping Christ. 
• Jesus accepts worship. (John 9:38)
• He doesn’t rebuke the man. 

He doesn’t stop him. Rather, the expectation Jesus has is that the man would get on his knees and praise His creator. Peter and John are most likely present watching all this unfold. Little did they know that they would be in the same exact scenario just a short time later.Fast forward to a little over a year or two later and you have Peter and John going up to preach the Gospel at the same temple. (Acts 3)

They get accosted by a man who was also born with a deformity. This time the man is lame from birth. 

He begs for money, just like the man in John 9. Peter and John, though full of money (acts 2:45) tell the man that the money they have is for the church, but instead do something a little more impactful and heal the man. 

“I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” 

Instantly the man was given the ability to walk. In fact, the miracle was so great, that the man bypassed years of learning how to walk and run and immediately begins leaping in praise to God.

Then we see something astounding. People run over to see what happened. The Bible tells us that they are amazed. I imagine that people are about to worship these two men, but Peter immediately deflects and says the following words,

“Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?”

Peter is concerned. He does not want worship. Before people can even think about getting on their knees he immediately deflects. He wants the worship placed on another person, the person who enabled them to be able to do the miracle. 

Peter wants people to worship Jesus.

He says,

“And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.”

Same temple, same healing but entirely different expectation by the part of the healer. One expected worship the other deflected it. 

Actually, you could say that the expectation was exactly the same. To worship Jesus Christ.

Peter and John can’t stomach even for second misplaced worship. They immediately use this God-given opportunity to tell the gathered crowd that they must worship Christ in order to receive eternal life. In fact, they go a step further and in Acts 4:13 they declare that there is no other name given among men by which they must be saved. Jesus is the only name that can save a soul from Hell.

This stark contrast illustrates perfectly the fact that Jesus Christ not only believed and preached that he was the Lord of the universe, but that His expectation and his disciples’ expectations were that every knee would bow to Him.

Sadly, though every knee will bow to Him one day, many will be forced (Phil. 2:10). And once that knee will have met the ground, they will be thrown into hell for refusing to do so in this life. 

It is essential for every Christian to know what Jesus expects of them and the world around them. Only this will give them the confidence to share the truth with the world around them. 

• It isn’t enough to think of Jesus as a great man. (John 9:17)
• Those that do will spend eternity in Hell. 
• It isn’t enough to believe that Jesus is divine in some way.
• Those that do will spend eternity in Hell.
• It isn’t enough even to believe in Jesus but then think of themselves as good people who aren’t in need of saving. (John 9:41)
• Those that do will spend eternity in Hell.

The only ones who will get to spend eternity with Jesus are those who bow their knee to Him in submission and in humility. These recognize His Lordship and recognize their own inadequacy to save themselves. They worship Jesus because He deserves it and because they know that He alone, through faith in Him alone can save them and raise them from their spiritual death. (Eph. 2:4)

Boldly preach Christ to the world around you. 

Many think that they are headed to Heaven, many think that they know Jesus, but few, very few, know and worship the Jesus of John chapter 9.

Preach this Christ, and gently but boldly confront the world’s misunderstanding of Jesus, because it is the only way for people to be saved. But most importantly Jesus deserves and expects the right kind of worship that He is due.