I am surprised by people who claim that Jesus was a good man or prophet of God, but not God Himself. There are many scriptures in the Old Testament that prophecy and point forward to Jesus Christ. In the New Testament there are many references where Jesus claims to be God. One such scripture is Matthew 9:1-7.
9 Jesus climbed into a boat and went back across the lake to his own town. 2 Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven.”
3 But some of the teachers of religious law said to themselves, “That’s blasphemy! Does he think he’s God?”
4 Jesus knew[a] what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you have such evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? 6 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man[b] has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”
7 And the man jumped up and went home! 8 Fear swept through the crowd as they saw this happen. And they praised God for sending a man with such great authority.[c]
One must accept Jesus Christ as God Himself, a madman, or a liar. There is no middle ground of “good man” or “prophet of God”. For those of us who have eyes to see and ears to hear… we know Jesus as God.
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