King's Business - 1916-10

& 1 Why I Believe that JesusChrist isGod in Human Form By Dr. R. A. Torrey Dean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles

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twelfth chapter o f Mark He speaks o f all the prophets that had gone before Him, even the greatest o f them, as servants of God, and o f Himself as the only Son o f God (v. 6, R. V .). In the third chapter of John the sixteenth verse He speaks o f Him­ self as “ the only begotten Son o f God.” In John 5 :23 He claims all men should honor Him “even as they honor the Father.” In John 8 :24» He says, “I f ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” During His last hours before His cruci­ fixion the Jewish high priest said to Him, “I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou art the Christ, the Son o f God,” and Jesus replied, “Thou hast said.” This was the strongest form o f affirmation, and He went on to empha­ size what He had said by adding, “ I say unto you, Henceforth ye shall see the Son o f Man sitting at the right hand o f power, and coming on the clouds o f heaven.” Now throughout the Old Testament the only one who made the clouds His chariot was Jeho­ vah, and Jesus here affirms in the most striking way under oath that He is a Divine person. In John 14:9 He went so far as to say, “H e that hath seen me hath seen the Father." From these and from many other utterances o f our Lord, it is perfectly plain that the Lord Jesus claimed to be the Son o f God in a sense that no other was the Son o f God, in a sense that in attri­ butes and authority and worthiness o f wor­ ship He was on an equality with God the Father. H e claimed to be D ivine . But a claim to be Divine does not prove one to be Divine. Men rightly demand that such a claim be substantiated, and I do not believe that Jesus Christ is Divine

HERE is no subject more important than that o f the Deity o f Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ is not God man­ ifest in the flesh, then Chris­

tians are idolaters, for Christians worship Jesus Christ. I f Jesus Christ is God, then all who do not acknowledge Him as such and accept Him as their Divine Saviour and Surrender absolutely to Him as their Divine Lord and worship Him as God, are guilty o f the awful sin o f rejecting a Divine, per­ son and robbing Him o f the honor due t o . His name. It is then o f the highest import­ ance that each o f us know whether Jesus Christ is God or not. I am to give you tonight some o f the reasons why I believe that He is the Son o f God in an entirely unique sense, the Son o f God in a sense in which no other person was the Son o f God, the Son o f God in such a sense that all the attributes and perfections and glory o f God dwelt in Him. There was a time when I doubted it; very seriously and very earnestly and very honestly doubted it. ' I doubt it no longer and will tell you why not. I. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in an altogether unique sense, the only begotten Son of God, the Son of God in such a sense that God the Father dwelt in Him in all the fullness of His attributes and glory, because of His own claim to be the Son1of Godsend the way in which He substantiated that claim. There can be no honest doubt in the mind o f any man who will study the subject can­ didly and carefully that Jesus Ch'rist claimed to be the Son o f God in a sense in which no other was the Son o f God. In the -

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