He is Who He Says He Is – Today’s Family Devotion

He is Who He Says He Is

Bible Reading: John 10:22-33

The Father and I are one.   John 10:30

Roberto sat at the dinner table with his parents and the new boy in the neighborhood, Eric. As soon as Roberto’s dad ended grace with “in Jesus’ name we pray, amen,” Eric dove in with all sorts of things he thought about Jesus.

“My parents said we don’t have to pray to Jesus,” he started. “There are lots of other religions to follow. Did you know Jesus never said he was God?” Roberto and his family were surprised at how many mixed-up ideas about Christianity Eric and his family had.

Despite what people like Eric say, it isn’t tough to spot in the New Testament places where Jesus clearly claimed to be God.

For instance, take the Bible event described in John 5. Some Jewish leaders were upset that Jesus healed a lame man on the Sabbath—the weekly day of rest. Jesus told the man to roll up his sleeping bag and take a celebration hike. Carrying the sleeping bag was considered work, which was not allowed on the Sabbath.

We would think that a healing would cause everyone to live happily ever after. But the leaders wanted to kill Jesus. So what made them blow up? Follow these facts:

John 5:18 sums up what Jesus did: “In addition to disobeying the Sabbath rules, he had spoken of God as his Father, thereby making himself equal with God.”

Jesus had said “my Father,” not “our Father,” and then added “never stops working, so why should I?” (verse 17). Jesus’ use of these two phrases made himself equal with God, on a par with God’s activity. The Jews never referred to God as “my Father,” only as “our Father.” By claiming that God was his Father, Jesus identified himself as one with God. By saying that he was working just as the Father was working, Jesus boldly implied that he was God’s Son.

Those sound like tricky word games to us, but to his peers the claims of Jesus were shocking—so shocking that the religious experts wanted to do him in.

Later, Jesus didn’t just claim equality with God. He said he was one with the Fa­ther (see John 10:30). The religious leaders again began rock collecting right then and there, getting ready to stone him—all because, as they said, “You, a mere man, have made yourself God” (John 10:33).

People might say that Jesus never claimed to be God. But they don’t have their facts right. Jesus didn’t hide the fact that he was God. His claim was clear. He was no ordinary man. He was God’s Son. And he wants the world to recognize that fact!

TALK: What did Jesus claim about himself? Are you clear on that?

PRAY: Jesus, you are more than a mere human being. You are the Son of God.

ACT: Explain to a non-Christian friend how we know Jesus was more than a man.