How Important Is The Deity Of Christ?

 A Chronological Harmony of the Gospels Leading to Easter  2/18/2013
(Click on link below for readings.)
  John 1:1-14, Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 1:1-60

I was on a run with my dog Rocky this morning (okay, a walk with bursts of occasional slow jogs and more than occasional stopping to sniff interesting smells in the ground along the way) when I thought that perhaps I should write daily devotionals to go along with the chronological harmonious readings of the Gospels during Lent (and yes, I meant the dog was stopping to sniff, with no encouragements from me).

So a day late here is a brief word to go along with the readings (found with a link at the bottom of the page).

How important is the deity?

We love to cling to the humanity of Jesus, but how important was the deity of Christ? After all, Jesus often referred to Himself as the Son of Man. What difference does it make?

Plenty!

Looking at the harmony of the gospels, isn’t interesting that Matthew traces Jesus’ royal lineage (that through Joseph, the son of David back to Father Abraham), Mark emphasizes the humanity of Christ, Luke traces Jesus’  human lineage (that through Mary, we presume and back to Adam), but John traces Jesus’ divine lineage, back to “in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning.”

Without the divinity, Jesus’ was merely another in the long line of philosophers and religious leaders, albeit deceived or deceiving as He clearly proclaimed His own equality with God and not only did He testify of Himself, but pointed to numerous other “testimonies” or witnesses.

Without the divinity, Jesus’ life was merely another in the long line of great moral leaders, not unlike Gandhi, Lincoln, or Mother Teresa, who taught as much with their lives as they did with their lips. True the miracles are hard to explain without the divinity, but not unique as tall tales often accompany great men and women.

And without the divinity, Jesus’ death was merely another in the longest of lines of mere mortals. His death, while tragic, was not uncommon of martyrs. Didn’t Socrates and Joseph Smith of the Latter-day Saint faith, also die an untimely death? Isn’t there a song that only the good die young? Sad? Yes. Tragic? For sure. But earth shattering? Hardly, some think.

But in fact Jesus was divine and yes, His death was literally earth shattering (“The earth shook and the rocks split” Matt. 27:51). From his prophetic coming, His miraculous birth, the sinless life and death without blemish, all point to His divine origins, but nothing greater than His resurrection points to the eternality of our Lord and our Savior and our God, Jesus Christ.

Pray: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we confess our faith in you as the Holy Trinity without our fully understanding how You are, we receive and accept the fact THAT You are who You always have been, the Great “I am”. We confess that Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever. Let that truth sink into us today. In the holy name of Jesus, Amen.