Jesus Christ is well known all over the world for both His powerful actions and His powerful words. Each of these topics by themselves speaks volumes about His person and character; however, when taken together they form a very powerful argument that He is Himself God Jehovah.

            The miracles that Jesus performed were certainly spectacular, and many who saw them recognized instantly that He must have come from God. Nicodemus for example came to Him one night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” (John 3:2). Of course there were many prophets before Jesus who did many incredible miracles. Moses, Elijah, and Elisha for instance all did many incredible things, but that doesn’t mean that any of them were equal with God. It simply means that they received their power from God.

            Now let us consider the words which Jesus spoke. In John chapter 8 after a lengthy discussion about everyone’s identity, Jesus makes a very powerful and meaningful statement about His own identity. He said, “Most assuredly, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I AM.” Anyone who knows the Old Testament would immediately recognize the allusion to the revelation of God Jehovah to Moses in the burning bush. The Jews who were present certainly knew the Old Testament, and they caught the allusion. But how could He be telling the truth? Surely He must be a liar and a terrible blasphemer to make such a claim! Certainly that would ordinarily be true.

            This is where we must put together both the actions and the words of the Lord. Taken separately they can easily be explained away and would not necessarily point to Jesus actually being God. Taken together, however, they are a powerful argument. His words allow for only two possibilities; namely, He is telling the truth, or He is a gross blasphemer. But His actions testify plainly that He is sent from God and acts in the power of God. God would never allow His name and His power to be associated with such a terrible blasphemer who would take the credit by claiming to be God. The only conclusion is that Jesus was telling the truth, and that He is therefore God. This was not an easy truth for anyone to accept at that time or since then. Many of the Jews searched desperately for an alternate conclusion, even going so far as to suggest that His power came from Satan (Matt. 12:24). Even the disciples had a hard time accepting the full implications of this combined argument. It was not, I think, until the further testimony of His bodily resurrection that they fully understood who He was. The same doubt continues today, and many today continue to try to undermine the force both of the actions and the words of Jesus Christ. The testimony of this powerful combination argument lives on, however, and we who are His ambassadors have the great privilege of declaring Christ’s words and actions to the world today.