There are some important truths we must consider on the matter of judgment. This has been illustrated through the egregious false statements typically seen on the news following any issue of consequence. The truth does not matter, all that matters is how it can be spun to benefit “our party” or “our interests”.
Our Lord said, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24). It is important to adjudicate facts, not what we wish to be so. It is important that we be fair. Later in the same chapter, Nicodemus counseled the same basic thing with regard to the judgment they sought against Jesus Himself, “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?” (51).
Let’s do that now. Was Jesus what men claimed about Him? Concerning those who witnessed Jesus, we are told that some said, “He is good”, while others said, “No, on the contrary, He deceives the people” (John 7:12). After Jesus protested His innocence among them some said, “You have a demon” (7:20). Some who were more impressed with Jesus said, “Truly this is the Prophet” (7:40).
This is similar to the disciples’ response to Jesus in Matthew 16 when Jesus asked, “Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?” (13). “So they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets’” (14).
You hear all of the same views today. Many in the world will claim Jesus was a good moral teacher, while denying that He is anything other than a man. Others believe Him to be a charlatan, claiming that incredulous ignorant people believed Him just as (for example) incredulous ignorant people might be taken in by a charismatic television evangelist today. The claim of legitimacy made by muslims is that Jesus was “just” a prophet, who was superseded in His authority by another prophet who came after Him, Muhammad (570-632 AD).
Jesus claimed to be God. “But Jesus answered them [the Jews], ‘My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.’ Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God” (John 5:17-18). On another occasion, “Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM’” (John 8:58). This made the Jews angry as they rejected His claims. They even took up stones to kill Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.” (John 10:33).
So how do we judge the legitimacy of Jesus’ claim? Might I suggest we emphasize the two major things suggested by Nicodemus in John 7:51.
First, we examine His teaching. In other words, the other views of Jesus can’t be true as they themselves are denied by Him. Other than His being a charlatan, why claim something about Him He denies. He was not merely a prophet. In addition to the claim to be God, as we have noted, He claimed to speak from God, “Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority” (John 7:16-17). He claimed sinlessness in His ministry among them, “But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin?” (John 8:45-46). He claimed that He would be resurrected. “Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day” (Matthew 16:21). Jesus claimed to be the exclusive reason for the hope of redemption, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:6). He demanded obedience and love due to His position as the Son of God, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37). “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).
Next, we consider what Jesus did. This will help us to determine if what He said is valid. Consider the context of John 7 as an example. They marveled because Jesus healed a man in Jerusalem on His previous visit to there. The healing took place on the Sabbath (cf. John 5:1-9). Jesus showed their hypocrisy in marveling at His work, but rejecting Him because of the day He healed the man. Consider His words, “If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:23-24). The righteous judgment Jesus called for would be an acknowledgment that the healing was only possible through Divine power. As Jesus had the power to heal, and He claimed He was divine, the truth is axiomatic. Those who deny this truth today are no better than the Jewis of the first century.
This is what the works of Jesus say about Him, His claims, and His teaching. He is the Christ, the Son of the living God! Jesus Himself said, “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” (John 10:37-38). This is why John wrote in John 20:31, that the signs recorded in his gospel, “are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
