I have been listening to Mark Dever’s Bible Overview sermons, and enjoying them very much. Yesterday, I listened to The Message of Matthew: Jesus, the Son of David. Towards the end of the sermon, Dever addresses the notion that Jesus was a humble man, a good teacher, a good example, and nothing more. While Jesus said much to refute that claim, calling himself the son of God, etc., I think the most eloquent proof is in what he did not say.
In chapter 4 of Matthew, “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” In his final temptation,
8 Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; 9 and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’”
God, and only God, is to be worshiped.
In Matthew 14, after seeing Jesus walk on water, the disciples “worshiped Him, saying, ‘You are certainly God’s Son!’” In chapter 28, when Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and John, saw Jesus following the resurrection, “they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.” Then, when he met the disciples in Galilee, “they worshiped Him.” And how did Jesus respond? To the women, he said, “Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren . . .” To the disciples, he said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. . . .”
On the other hand, when Cornelius met Peter, and “fell at his feet and worshiped him,” Peter immediately responded, “Stand up; I too am just a man” (Acts 10).
When a “good man” is worshiped, he rebuffs the worshipers. But Jesus accepted their worship without a word of objection, thereby declaring himself to be God. Would a good, wise, humble man do that? Certainly not. Jesus’ own words — “worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only” — and the words he did not say — “I too am just a man” — force one of only two possible conclusions: either he is God, the creator and Lord of all, or he was a very bad man.
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