Again I ask, What impression regarding His own dignity were such words as these intended to convey Consider them, and give an answer to God.
2. Consider Christ's Person as it was seen by His enemies and friends. Now, I bid you observe how both received from His words the very impression which I assume He intended to convey by them.
His enemies did so, and alleged that He claimed to be Divine in the strictest sense of that word; accordingly they attempted to stone Him, and in the end put Him to death on the very ground that He was a blasphemer. "Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM." "I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them. Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God." "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him. Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand." "The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die,[A] because he made himself the Son of God." "And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless, I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying. He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death. Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands."
[Footnote A: "And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put, to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death."—LEV. xxiv. 16.]
Nor did the friends of Jesus endeavour to undeceive His accusers. They did not say, "You have misunderstood His meaning! He is not guilty of such blasphemy! He is a man like us, and does not claim to be one with God, as you understand Him to do." Instead of this, they too recognised His claims as divine, and worshipped, loved, served, and preached Him accordingly. I will return to this part of the subject afterwards. I remind only the reader of it in passing.
But before the force of such teaching as this of our Lord's can in any degree be appreciated, two things should be borne in mind: one is, the previous training of the Jewish nation with reference to the being and character of God; and the other is, the moral character of Jesus.
As to the first of those points, remember only how, from the very beginning, God had revealed Himself—that men might know the One living and true God; and worship and serve Him alone with heart, soul, and strength. This was the lesson of all lessons. This was the mighty theme of all God's teaching and training of His people, from Adam to Christ, by patriarchs, kings, and prophets; by national blessings and national judgments; by captivities and restorations. On the other hand, the sin of all sins was idolatry; rot the bowing down to stocks or stones merely, but the giving, in any degree, that glory to another which belonged exclusively to the One living and true God. Had not their whole history been determined by their adherence to God, or their falling away to idolatry? Enter, then, into the Jewish mind with reference to this training, think how hallowed God's name was above every other name—how enshrined it was in the very holy of holies of the national faith, and how it had become so only after a discipline of much suffering, prolonged through many centuries, until at last idolatry had been banished on the return from Babylon;—think! of this while you read those utterances I have quoted of a Jew to Jews. Do you wonder that they called Him a blasphemer? for so, indeed, He certainly was unless He was Divine.
But could such a one have been a blasphemer? Was it morally possible that He could have uttered what He did about Himself, unless it was true? To establish His high claims, it might be sufficient to appeal to His miracles, and assert that no such works of power and love could have been done but by one who verily had God with him; as He himself said,—"Believe me for the very works' sake. If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not." Or I might appeal to the witness God gave to His Son at His baptism, on the Mount of Transfiguration, and, above all, when He raised Him from the dead, and thereby declared "Him to be the Son of God with power." But, putting aside all this evidence, I ask you to contemplate the moral character of Jesus, and say, Is it not as impossible that such a person could have spoken untruly or blasphemously regarding God, as that God himself can be aught else than true and holy? Do not let us evade this awful question of Christ's character—He was an impostor unless he was Divine! Either Christ never uttered those things regarding Himself which are here recorded, and so the history which we have assumed as true is false in fact; or, having uttered them, He spoke falsehood, and was a blasphemer, or spoke the truth, and was Divine. To deny the Divinity of His Person is to deny the truth of His character.
If any man replies that those sayings of Christ may be interpreted differently, then I ask, What impression did Christ intend to give? If He was a mere creature, how could He have used language to which it was possible to give such an interpretation as would imply Divinity? Only imagine any other man on earth daring so to speak that his language could, with difficulty be interpreted as not necessarily implying his assumption of Divine attributes! But Jesus certainly did so speak, and did give this impression to friend and foe; and He has left the same impression, in the form of a living faith, more indelibly on the mind of the Church than if it were engraven with a pen of iron on the rock for ever. If this impression is blasphemy. He himself, and none else, is to blame for having given it to the world.
3. Consider Christ's Person as it was seen by the apostles. What did they believe regarding Him? Yea or nay, did they recognise Him as Divine?