Beyond All Others: The Incomparable Person of Christ
The apostle John begins his Gospel with words that echo the very cadence of Genesis: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1, ESV). Then, in verse 14, he makes the stunning declaration that has reverberated across twenty centuries: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” This is the heart of Christianity—not merely a philosophy or a moral code, but the incarnation of the living God.
There has never been, nor will there ever be, anyone like Jesus of Nazareth. Every honest student of history—regardless of religious affiliation—must acknowledge His unparalleled impact on human civilization. The very calendar by which we mark our days testifies to His existence. When you glance at today’s date, you are confronted with the reality that history itself has been divided by the life of this one Man. B.C. marks the years “before Christ,” while A.D., Anno Domini, means “in the year of our Lord.” Even those who reject Christ cannot escape His shadow across the centuries.
The Prophetic Testimony: A Thread Through History
The coming of Christ was not an afterthought in the divine plan, nor was it a response to human failure. Rather, it was the centerpiece of God’s redemptive purpose from eternity past. The Old Testament, composed by multiple authors over a period of fifteen centuries, contains more than three hundred specific prophecies concerning the Messiah. Each prophecy—from His virgin birth in Bethlehem to His crucifixion and resurrection—was fulfilled with meticulous precision.
Isaiah prophesied, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14, ESV). Micah pinpointed His birthplace: “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2, ESV). The psalmist described His crucifixion in haunting detail centuries before crucifixion was even practiced: “They have pierced my hands and feet” (Psalm 22:16, ESV).
This prophetic precision is not coincidental—it is providential. It demonstrates that God, who knows the end from the beginning, orchestrated history itself to bear witness to His Son. The mathematical probability of one man fulfilling even eight of these prophecies by chance has been calculated at 1 in 10 to the 17th power. Yet Jesus fulfilled them all.
The Radical Claims of Christ
What sets Jesus apart from every religious founder who has ever lived is not merely His ethical teaching or His miraculous works—though both are without parallel. What makes Him unique is His audacious claims about His own identity. Jesus did not present Himself as merely a teacher showing the way to God; He claimed to be God Himself come to seek and save the lost.
Consider His words: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30, ESV). This was not poetic language or mystical rhetoric. The Jewish leaders understood exactly what He meant, which is why they picked up stones to kill Him for blasphemy. When Philip asked to see the Father, Jesus responded, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9, ESV). And most famously, He declared, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6, ESV).
As C.S. Lewis powerfully argued, these claims force us into an unavoidable choice. Lewis wrote that a man who claimed to be God would either be “a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell.” He continued: “You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.” We cannot, Lewis insisted, patronize Jesus by calling Him merely a great moral teacher while rejecting His central claims. He has not left that option open to us.
Timothy Keller echoed this when he said: “If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.” The resurrection is not peripheral to the Christian faith—it is foundational. Without it, Christianity collapses entirely.
Lives Transformed by Encounter
Throughout history, the most formidable skeptics have been confronted by the overwhelming evidence for Christ’s deity and resurrection, and many have been compelled to bow the knee.
1. Frank Morison (Albert Henry Ross) – The Lawyer Who Tried to Disprove the Resurrection
English lawyer Albert Henry Ross, writing under the pen name Frank Morison, set out to debunk Christianity in the 1930s through historical investigation. Doubting biblical miracles based on rationalist principles and legal training, he began research to disprove Jesus’ resurrection. However, his careful examination of the evidence led him in the opposite direction, transforming his skepticism into belief. His resulting book, “Who Moved the Stone?” describes how examining the facts converted him.
2. Sir William Ramsay – The Archaeologist Changed by His Discoveries
Archaeologist William Ramsay initially set out to refute the Bible through academic exploration. However, he became awestruck by the historical accuracy of the New Testament, discovering many facts that confirmed its precision even in the smallest details. Ramsay shocked the intellectual world by converting to Christianity and accepting the Bible as God’s Word because of his factual discoveries. He produced “St. Paul, the Traveler and Roman Citizen,” which supported Biblical events rather than attacking them.
3. George Lyttleton – The 18th Century Skeptic Convinced by Paul’s Conversion
George Lyttleton, an Oxford graduate and British statesman born in 1709, was critical of Christianity during the “Age of Reason”. He investigated Paul’s conversion story as a skeptic but found the evidence compelling. Examining how Paul’s dramatic transformation from persecutor to apostle could be explained, Lyttleton concluded the story must be historically true, ultimately converting and becoming a Christian apologist.
4. C.S. Lewis, who served as a professor at Oxford University, was a convinced atheist
C.S. Lewis dismissed the deity of Christ as myth and superstition. Yet through patient study and honest intellectual inquiry, Lewis could no longer deny what the evidence demanded. He later wrote of Christ’s resurrection: “The New Testament writers speak as if Christ’s achievement in rising from the dead was the first event of its kind in the whole history of the universe. He is the ‘first fruits,’ the ‘pioneer of life.’ He has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because He has done so.”
These transformations continue today. There are countless testimonies of hardened criminals, wealthy sophisticates, intellectual skeptics, religious hypocrites—all brought to their knees by the risen Christ. When converts in Madagascar were asked what first led them to consider Christianity, their consistent answer was “the changed conduct of others who had become Christians.” The gospel does not merely modify behavior; it transforms hearts.
The Empty Tomb: Christianity’s Unique Foundation
All other religions would survive, at least in modified form, if their founders were removed from the equation. Buddhism would continue with its philosophical teachings even without Buddha. Islam would maintain its Five Pillars without Muhammad. But Christianity without the risen Christ is not Christianity at all—it is an empty shell, a house built on sand.
The resurrection is what separates Christianity from every other worldview. As Paul wrote, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17, ESV). Everything hinges on whether Jesus walked out of that tomb on the third day.
The evidence for the resurrection is compelling to any honest investigator. First, Jesus Himself predicted His death and resurrection repeatedly, and it occurred exactly as He said it would (Luke 18:31-33). Second, the empty tomb remains unexplained apart from resurrection. The grave was guarded by Roman soldiers and sealed with an enormous stone. Neither Jesus’ traumatized disciples nor His vengeful enemies had motive or means to remove the body. Third, Jesus appeared repeatedly to His followers after His resurrection—not as a ghost or vision, but in physical form. He ate with them, spoke with them, and invited them to touch His wounds. He appeared to more than five hundred people at one time (1 Corinthians 15:6).
Fourth, the birth and explosive growth of the Christian church defies explanation apart from the resurrection. The disciples who had cowered in fear after Jesus’ arrest were suddenly transformed into bold proclaimers willing to die for their testimony. As one writer noted: “Many of them went on to live sacrificial lives, and many of them were killed for teaching that Jesus had been resurrected.” Men do not die for what they know to be a lie.
Simon Greenleaf, widely recognized as one of the greatest legal minds in American history and an authority on evidence at Harvard Law School, examined the resurrection accounts with the same scrutiny he would apply to any legal case. He concluded that it was impossible the disciples could have persisted in their testimony had Jesus not actually risen from the dead, and had they not known this fact as certainly as they knew any other fact.
Wikipedia: Testimony of the Evangelists
The Testimony of the Evangelists, Examined by the Rules of Evidence Administered in Courts of Justice is an 1846 Christian apologetic work by Simon Greenleaf (1783-1853), an early professor (1833-1848) of the Harvard Law School (founded in 1817).
Greenleaf’s Treatise on the Law of Evidence, published in three volumes between 1842 and 1853, forms the basis for his study of the Gospels. Greenleaf came to the conclusion that the New Testament evangelists classed as reliable witnesses, and that the resurrection of Jesus occurred. In the 21st century, contemporary Christian apologists sometimes cite Testimony of the Evangelists.
The Living Lord: A Present Reality
Because Jesus rose from the dead, Christianity is fundamentally different from every other religious system. We do not follow the ethical teachings of a dead founder. We do not merely study ancient manuscripts or perform religious rituals in memory of someone who once lived. Rather, we have a vital, dynamic, personal relationship with a living Savior who reigns at the Father’s right hand and who has promised, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20, ESV).
Timothy Keller captured this beautifully when he wrote: “The resurrection is not a stupendous magic trick but an invasion.” He explained further: “The resurrection means not merely that Christians have a hope for the future but that they have a hope that comes from the future. The Bible’s startling message is that when Jesus rose, he brought the future kingdom of God into the present.”
The gospel is not merely fire insurance against hell or a ticket to heaven when we die. It is the power of the risen Christ breaking into our present reality, transforming us from the inside out. When we trust in Christ, we are united to Him by faith, and the same resurrection power that raised Him from the dead begins to work in us. We become new creations (2 Corinthians 5:171Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.). Old patterns of sin lose their grip. New affections awaken. We begin to love what we once hated and hate what we once loved.
Blaise Pascal, the brilliant French physicist and philosopher, understood the universal human need for this transformation when he wrote, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man, which only God can fill through His Son Jesus Christ.” Every human being senses this emptiness, though many try to fill it with counterfeit gods—success, pleasure, relationships, religion, morality. But only Christ can satisfy the deepest longings of the human heart because only He can reconcile us to the God for whom we were created.
The Question That Determines Destiny
Jesus once asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15, ESV). Peter answered correctly: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16, ESV). This remains the most important question any person will ever answer. Your response to it determines not only the trajectory of your earthly life but also your eternal destiny.
Many are content to acknowledge Jesus as a great teacher, a moral example, or a religious leader. But as we have seen, Jesus’ own claims do not permit such a comfortable middle ground. He claimed to be God in human flesh. He claimed to be the only way to the Father. He claimed that every person would one day stand before Him in judgment. He either was who He claimed to be, or He was a deceiver and a blasphemer.
The evidence is overwhelming. The prophecies fulfilled. The life lived in perfect righteousness. The miracles were performed in the presence of both friends and enemies. The death on the cross. The empty tomb. The transformed lives across twenty centuries. The indestructible church that has survived every attempt to destroy it. All point to one inescapable conclusion: Jesus Christ is Lord.
The Call to Surrender
If Jesus is who He claimed to be—and the evidence demands that conclusion—then He has a rightful claim to absolute authority over every aspect of our lives. We cannot compartmentalize Him, giving Him Sunday mornings while retaining sovereignty over the rest of our week. We cannot accept Him as Savior while rejecting Him as Lord. Salvation comes through surrendering completely to His lordship, trusting entirely in His finished work on the cross, and following Him as disciples.
This is not merely intellectual assent to theological propositions. It is personal trust in a personal Savior. It is turning from sin and self-rule to embrace Christ as both the forgiver of sin and the master of life. It is acknowledging that we stand guilty before a holy God, that we cannot save ourselves, and that Jesus paid the penalty we deserved when He died in our place.
Have you answered Jesus’ question? Who do you say that He is? Your eternity hangs on your answer. Do not make the fatal error of those who acknowledge His historical existence while refusing to bow to His authority. Do not be content with secondhand religion or inherited faith. You must answer for yourself: Is Jesus Christ your Lord and your God?
If you have never truly trusted in Christ, I urge you to do so now. Confess your sin to Him. Acknowledge that you cannot save yourself. Trust completely in His death and resurrection as payment for your sin. Commit yourself to following Him as Lord. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9, ESV).
And if you have already trusted Christ, let this truth strengthen your faith and embolden your witness. You serve a risen Savior. You follow not a dead religious founder but the living God. As C.S. Lewis wrote: “Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead.” Give Him everything. He is worthy of no less.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We have seen His glory. Now we must respond to His call: “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19, ESV). There is no one like Him. There never has been. There never will be. Jesus Christ is Lord—the unparalleled, incomparable, risen Savior.
How will you answer Him?
Here is what it means to believe in Jesus from the Word…
Romans 3:10: ‘As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one”‘
Romans 3:23: ‘For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’
Romans 5:8: ‘But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us’
Romans 6:23: ‘For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord’
Romans 2:4: ‘God’s kindness leads you to repentance’
Romans 10:17: ‘So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ’
Romans 10:9-10: ‘Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved’
Romans 10:13: ‘For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”‘
John 1:12: ‘But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God’
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” — John 1:1, 14 (ESV)