The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.” Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’—and the scripture cannot be annulled— can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. Many came to him, and they were saying, “John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there. As the death toll from the Coronavirus continues to rise, it becomes more and more urgent that people are spared the eternal separation from God that death will bring if they are not reconciled to him. And Scripture teaches us that there is only one way to do that: by believing that Jesus is God and being baptized in him. But how do we know that Jesus is God? Well, for one, Jesus’ words show him to be God. “The Father is in me and I am in the Father,” he declares. Just before the Jews took up stones to stone him, Jesus had said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). For those who say that Jesus never said he was God, what does being one with the Father mean? But, skeptics would say that claiming to be God does not make it true; anybody can claim to be God. Which brings us to the second point. Jesus’ works show him to be God. Ever since he started his ministry, Jesus worked miracle after miracle. True, people before him like Elijah and Moses, and people after him like Peter and Paul also worked miracles, but not like Jesus did. He worked miracles practically as a matter of course, only as God can. Skeptics ask for miracles today, but when they happen they don’t believe any more than the Jews did. Three, there are testimonies from others that Jesus is God. On two notable occasions — once at his Baptism, another at the Transfiguration — God himself testifies about who Jesus is. Additionally, we have testimonies from the apostles and other notables like John the Baptist that Jesus is God. John was sent expressly to prepare the way for Jesus, to help people recognize and accept Christ. And, thereafter, all the apostles testified to the divinity of Christ. And, finally (although there are several more “proofs”), the Scriptures show him to be God. Scholars believe there are more than 300 prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament pointing to his identity as the Messiah. There are prophecies about his birth, his ministry, his death and resurrection, and his role in the church. And, if you still are not convinced, ask Jesus to reveal himself. Just keep that heart and that mind open. That should be reasonable enough, even for people of rational thinking, no? After all, open mindedness is key to scientific thought.
