Chapter I

Jesus Christ asserted frequently and clearly to the Jews, that he was God, and required them to believe him. So his disciples understood him, who believed; so the Jews understood him, who did not believe, but accused him of blasphemy and condemned him to death. {43} The great sign, the miracle, the proof, to which he appealed to justify this declaration, was his resurrection on the third day after his death. He declared himself to be the proper and only begotten Son of God. He that does not believe this, he says, "_is already judged, because he believeth not in the Name of the only-begotten Son of God._" [Footnote 5]

[Footnote 5: John iii., 17.]

[Transcriber's note: The USCCB reference is John iii., 18.]

This title of only-begotten which he gives himself, shows that he does not merely claim to be a child of God by grace and adoption, but by nature. This nature he declares positively is not his human nature, but distinct from it, that it came from heaven, and was in heaven as well as on earth. "_No man hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven_." [Footnote 6]

[Footnote 6: John iii., 13.]

He confesses that he is man; but asserts that he is more than man, that he came from heaven. He asserts also that this superior nature which is joined with his humanity is eternal. "_Before Abraham was--I am_." [Footnote 7]

[Footnote 7: John viii., 58.]

Not I was; but _I am_, the word by which God made known his eternity to Moses. And finally he declares that this super-human and eternal nature is identical with that of his Father, is the Divine nature itself. "_I and my Father are one_." [Footnote 8]

[Footnote 8: John x., 38.]

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His disciples who believed in him, understood him to teach his divinity. "_My Lord and my God_." [Footnote 9] was the expression of the faith of Thomas. "The Word was God," [Footnote 10] that of John.

[Footnote 9: John xx., 28.]

[Footnote 10: John i., 1.]

So the Jews understood him, who did not believe. "_The Jews answered him: for a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because that thou, being a man_, MAKEST THYSELF GOD!" [Footnote 11]

[Footnote 11: John x., 33.]

The Jews understood then perfectly well, that in calling himself the true, proper, and only Son of God, the Christ and Saviour of the world; and in working miracles, forgiving sins, and preaching salvation, in his own name, and by his own authority, and not as a mere prophet--he asserted his own true and proper divinity, and made himself God.

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In support of this claim, Jesus Christ repeatedly appealed to his resurrection. He foretold his death; and declared that he would show himself to be the true Son of God the Father, having the same divine nature and the same divine power with him; by raising himself from the dead on the third day. "_The Son of Man shall be in the heart of the earth, three days and three nights._" [Footnote 12]

[Footnote 12: Matt, xii., 40.]

This was said to the Scribes and Pharisees who wished him to give them a sign which should prove him to be the true Christ. When he drove out the men who were trafficking in the courts of the Temple, the Jews said to him: "_What sign dost thou show unto us, seeing thou dost these things? Jesus answered and said unto them: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. But he spoke of the temple of his body_." [Footnote 13] It is remarkable that he does not declare that he will be raised to life by his Father, but by himself. "_I lay down my life that I may take it again. No man taketh it away from me, but I lay it down of my self, and I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again_." [Footnote 14]

[Footnote 13: John ii., 18-21.]

[Footnote 14: John x.. 17-18.]

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These are only samples of the frequent and public declarations made by our Lord to the same effect. And it was so well known among the Jews that he had staked his entire cause on his resurrection, that they came to Pilate, immediately after his crucifixion, and said to him: "_Sir, we have remembered that that seducer said, while he was yet alive: After three days I will rise again. Command therefore the sepulchre to be guarded until the third day._" [Footnote 15]

[Footnote 15: Matt. xxvii., 63-64.]

Here, then, is the grand test of the truth of Christ's doctrine--the grand sign of his divinity; the public challenge which he gives to all his enemies. We have it on the testimony of the most desperate haters of his name and doctrine; the very men who nailed him to the Cross. They were resolved to prove his prediction false, to show that he could not, and would not, rise again, and thus to manifest him to the world as a seducer. At the sepulchre of Jesus Christ, then, is the trial of strength between them. The dead body of Jesus is on one side; the Jewish rulers, the Roman governor, and a strong watch of soldiers on the other. And Jesus Christ overcame; he actually did rise, as he had foretold: "_resurrexit sicut dixit;_" and all their precautions only served to furnish so many brilliant testimonies to the fact, that he had fulfilled his word.

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