What would you think of me if I said I’m a better leader than Abraham Lincoln and and more compassionate than Mother Teresa? You would rightly think I’m arrogant and proud, and you would laugh me off. I would lose all credibility with you with statements like that.

Jesus made that kind of claims for Himself. He said to the Jews He is wiser than Solomon (Luke 11:31) He also told them He is greater than Jonah who brought revival to a pagan nation. Elsewhere, He even said that He is greater than Abraham! (John 8:58) Jesus picked some legends that people venerated and told the people that He is greater than all of them!
How did the Jews take this? They thought He was arrogant and proud and wanted to kill Him! Jesus indeed would be arrogant and proud for making those claims unless they were true. If He was indeed greater than Solomon, Jonah, and Abraham, and said so, then He is not being arrogant. He is being truthful. Well, was He? (greater than all those people)
How was He greater than Solomon? Greater than Jonah? Greater than even Abraham? In the way that the painter is greater than his paints. In the way that Shakespeare is greater than Hamlet.
Jesus was in fact claiming to be God. If He was wrong, then He deserved to die. The cross is what He deserved! But if He was right, then all who believe Him to be less than God deserve to die. Even those who believe Jesus was a great teacher and leader. Or a revolutionary even. If they don’t believe Jesus was God, then they make Jesus out to be a liar. Either that or Jesus was mentally ill….
That is the case C.S. Lewis made about Jesus. Jesus was either crazy, a fantastic liar, or God. You do not have an option to think of Him as “Just a great teacher,” for a crazy person or a liar cannot be a great teacher.
If Jesus really was God, then He lives today. Everything He said about heaven and hell are true! He knows what you ate for lunch today. He knows what you watched on your phone last night. He knows what went through your head when that person said what she said…. He is God!
But if He is God, then what He said about heaven is also true. There is reward like we have never dreamed waiting for us. The earth will be given to us. We will live in mansions with many rooms. There will be no more pains and no more crying and no more deaths. All of our unfilled desires and longings will be fulfilled. He is God!
PH