How would you defend Jesus and the claim that He is God if you were in a courtroom and needed to defend Him?

We often say “because I said so.” Especially as parents, we say it to our children as we are beckoning them to trust us. So why can we trust Jesus?

1 Peter 3:15 NLT Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.

Why can you trust Jesus? Because Jesus is historically verified, divinely proven, eternally consistent, and personally transformative.

What does history have to say about Jesus? History proclaims His existence. He never wrote a book or poems or started a university yet there are 10s of 1000s of texts and universities written on Him and made for Him.

All of time is based on the existence of Jesus.The birth of Jesus splits time. AD and BC mark our calendars and the way we organize time. Even if you never open the Bible, non-Christian resources tell us that His life, death and resurrection happened.

What does the Bible say about Jesus?

John 1:1 NLT In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 NLT So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

Isaiah 53:3-5 NLT He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

This was written 800 years before Jesus was even born.

Isaiah 7:14 NLT All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin[b] will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).

Jesus was born of a virgin. Which is fulfilled in Matthew.

What does Jesus say about Jesus? He is not ambiguous. He is clear.

John 14:6 NLT Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

There is no other way. He is the way to everything. To healing, out of addiction, and every pitfall of our lives (depression, anxiety, etc). Truth is not a concept, it is a person. Jesus is the truth.

He is the way to have a more abundant life. Often we need someone on the outside to show us how blessed we are. We forget about how blessed and prosperous we are. With Him, prosperity is even in the midst of our chaos. Our prosperity is that we have peace.

Our prayers must be to manage the stuff we already have. When we can manage that, it is when He can bless us with more. He is the way, the truth, and the life. We need Him to be all these things because all of us have fallen short of the glory of God. The cross is what changes everything for us.

John 10:18 NLT No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”

Jesus says He is God.

John 10:30 NLT The Father and I are one.

John 8:58 NLT Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am!”

John 5:18 NLT So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God.

There are historians that say they don’t believe in God, but there is evidence that He rose from the dead.

The Precautions - the steps the Romans took to ensure Jesus could not be stolen from the tomb.
A guard was put at the tomb. A guard means 10-30 Navy Seal level trained men.
They rolled a 4000 lb stone in front of the tomb.
They put a seal around the tomb.
They made a decree that if anyone messed with the body that they would be killed.
And yet, the tomb was empty. The body has never been found.

Additionally, the disciples only came back together when Jesus rose. When they knew He was alive. They risked death and all types of torture by coming back together. Knowing that He conquered death strengthened them to face death knowing that eternal life was waiting for them as well.

In 1 Corinthians 15, Jesus revealed Himself to 50 people after He rose from the dead. No historian can account for what happened to the body of Christ. However, what was left behind in the tomb shows that God cares about the details and gives even more evidence of Him.

When Jesus rose He took the linen off and folded it. In Jewish culture when you get up from the table and fold your napkin it means you are coming back. When you just ball it up it means you are finished and not coming back.

Matthew 16:13 NLT When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

Who we say Jesus is determines how we live and how we follow Him. Who Jesus is to you will shape you and shape your world. Our testimony can be so loud that even the people that don’t like us are curious to know more.