DID JESUS EVER DOUBT HIS OWN IDENTITY?

DID JESUS KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT THAT HE WAS THE SON OF GOD?

WAS THERE A TIME JESUS DOUBTED HIS IDENTITY? WHEN DID JESUS FIND OUT HE WAS GOD IN THE FLESH?

A. JESUS HIMSELF HAD SUPREME FAITH, SO WE SHOULDN’T THINK HE HAD ANY DOUBT ABOUT HIS OWN IDENTITY. NOTICE PETER’S CONFIDENCE IN IDENTIFYING WHO JESUS WAS IN MATTHEW 16;13-17; “WHEN JESUS CAME INTO THE REGION OF CAESAREA PHILIPPI, HE ASKED HIS DISCIPLES SAYING “WHOM DO MEN SAY THAT I, THE SON OF MAN, AM? SO THEY SAID, “SOME SAY JOHN THE BAPTIST, SOME SAY ELIJAH, AND OTHER JEREMIAH OR ONE OF THE PROPHETS. HE SAID TO THEM, BUT WHO DO YOU THINK I AM? SIMON PETER ANSWERED AND SAID, YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.

JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID TO HIM, BLESSED ARE YOU, SIMON BAR – JONAH, FOR FLESH AND BLOOD HAS NOT REVEALED THIS TO YOU, BUT MY FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN”.

B. SO VARIOUS PEOPLE IN THE WORLD AT THAT TIME, HAD VARIOUS IDEAS ABOUT WHO JESUS WAS, BUT HE KNEW WHAT HIS OWN IDENTITY WAS, AND CONFIRMED WHAT PETER SO DIRECTLY SAID TO HIM ABOUT IT.

C. ONE NEVER SEES ANY SELF DOUBT ABOUT JESUS CONCERNING HIS OWN IDENTITY. HIS HESITATION IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE (MATTHEW 26:37-39), WHICH CONCERNED HIS TEMPTATION TO WANT THE “CUP” (OF AWFUL PAIN) OF HIS CRUCIFIXION TO PASS BY WASN’T ABOUT HIS IDENTITY OR A KIND OF SELF DOUBT. SINCE JESUS WAS ALSO A PROPHET, HE HAD DIRECT KNOWLEDGE, AND HE DIDN’T NEED FAITH TO KNOW ABOUT GOD THE WAY WE DO, SINCE WE NEVER HAD A DIRECT VISION OF GOD AS HE DID BEFORE THE INCARNATION, (THAT IS, BEFORE BEING PUT INTO THE VIRGIN MARY’S WOMB).

D. THERE’S NO SIGN OF DOUBT THAT HE KNEW THAT HE WAS THE MESSIAH WHEN TESTIFYING BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN, SUCH AS MARK’S RETELLING. THE HIGH PRIEST ASKED, “ARE YOU THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE BLESSED’? JESUS RESPONDED; “I AM, AND YOU WILL SEE THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT OF THE POWER, AND COMING WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.” SEE (DANIEL 7:13, FOR THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE JESUS WAS REFERRING TO). FOR MAKING THIS STATEMENT, THE SANHEDRIN FOUND AN EXCUSE FOR CONDEMNING HIM TO DEATH. IT’S PROBLEMATIC TO THINK JESUS WOULD BE UNCERTAIN ABOUT THIS WHEN IT COSTS HIM HIS LIFE, BY CONFESSING HIS IDENTITY AS THE MESSIAH IN THIS SITUATION.

E. ONE INTERESTING SPECULATION, ALTHOUGH IT CAN’T BE PROVEN, CONCERNS JESUS WAS FIRST SELF ENLIGHTENED TO KNOW HE WAS GOD AND THE SON OF GOD. AFTER ALL, AS HE GREW UP, IT DOESN’T SEEM PLAUSIBLE HE ALWAYS KNEW THAT HE WAS GOD, SUCH AS WHEN HE WAS THREE YEARS OLD AND (SEE LUKE 2:2) IT COULD BE WHEN HE WAS TWELVE YEARS OLD AND GOT “OVERLOOKED” WHEN HIS FAMILY LEFT JERUSALEM AFTER THE PASSOVER FEAST THAT HE BECAME SELF AWARE OF HIS DEITY (SEE JOHN 1:1, 14) THEY FOUND HIM ANSWERING QUESTIONS IN THE TEMPLE AND AMAZING THE TEACHERS THERE ABOUT HE LEARNED HE WAS AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE. HE COMMENTED TO HIS PARENTS, “DID YOU NOT KNOW THAT I MUST BE ABOUT MY FATHER’S BUSINESS/” (LUKE 2:39) HE MAY HAVE FOR THE FIRST TIME FELT A MISSION FROM GOD AT THIS POINT HAD BEEN REVEALED TO HIM. IT MAY WELL HAVE BEEN FROM THAT POINT ON HE KNEW THAT HE WOULD EVENTUALLY BE CRUCIFIED, WHICH IS A MOST GRUESOME THOUGHT INDEED.

II. WHEN JESUS MET THE DEVIL IN THE WILDERNESS, HIS ONLY RESOURCE WAS GOD’S WORD, AND THAT IS THE WEAPON SATAN FEARS. THAT IS WHY SATAN’S ORIGINAL TEMPTATION WITH EVE CENTERED ON HER COMING TO A PLACE OF DOUBTING OR DISTORTING GOD’S WORD.

A. IN A VERY REAL WAY EACH OF US HAS WITHIN US THE BASIS OF SPIRITUAL FLAWS THAT SATAN EXPLOITED AS HE INTRODUCED SIN TO ADAM AND EVE.

1. JESUS EXPLAINED IT THIS WAY IN JOHN 8:44 (NAS); “YOU ARE OF YOUR FATHER THE DEVIL, AND YOU WANT TO DO THE DESIRES OF YOUR FATHER. HE WAS A MURDER FROM THE BEGINNING; AND DOES NOT STAND IN THE TRUTH, BECAUSE THERE IS NO TRUTH IN HIM. WHENEVER HE SPEAKS HE SPEAKS A LIE. HE SPEAKS FROM HIS OWN NATURE, FOR HE IS A LIAR AND THE FATHER OF LIES”.

2. EACH OF US IS BORN INTO THIS WORLD JUST LIKE OUR FATHER THE DEVIL. THAT IS THE TERRIBLE REALITY OF OUR DEPRAVITY. WE ARE SINNERS BY NATURE, BY CHOICE, AND BY THE DECLARATION OF GOD’S WORD. ONLY JESUS AND THE DIVINE TRANSFORMATION OF THE NEW BIRTH CAN CHANGE ALL THAT.

3. SATAN’S PLAN AS HE TESTED JESUS TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO, AND EVEN TO THIS DAY, INVOLVES HIS SAME LIES FROM GENESIS CHAPTER 3. THESE ARE THE LIES OF SATAN THAT SEEK TO KEEP MANKIND FROM LISTENING TO THE VOICE OF THEIR CREATOR. AS WE OPEN OUR BIBLES, REMEMBER, SATAN DOESN’T WANT YOU TO LISTEN TO GOD’S WORD TODAY! INSTEAD OF FOLLOWING OBEDIENTLY IN PARADISE, ADAM AND EVE DISOBEYED, FELL INTO SIN, AND PARADISE LOST. AS A SIDE, NOT FOR YOU AMERICAN HISTORY BUFFS, AN AMAZING FACT IS THAT THE FIRST WORDS PRINTED IN AMERICA WERE IN THE NEW ENGLAND PRIMER, THE FIRST PAGE OPENS WITH “IN ADAM’S FALL WE SINNED ALL”.

4. LISTEN TO THE FIRST TEMPTATION AND SATAN’S PLAN TO DISTORT GOD’S CHILDREN TO DOUBT GOD’S WORD. GENESIS 3:1-; “NOW THE SERPENT WAS MORE CUNNING THAN ANY BEAST OF THE FIELD WHICH THE LORD GOD HAD MADE, AND HE SAID TO THE WOMAN, “HAS GOD INDEED SAID, “YOU SHALL NOT EAT OF EVERY TREE OF THE GARDEN”? AND THE WOMAN SAID TO THE SERPENT, “WE MAY EAT THE FRUIT OF THE TREES OF THE GARDEN, BUT OF THE FRUIT OF THE TREE WHICH IS IN THE MIDST OF THE GARDEN, GOD HAS SAID “YOU SHALL NOT EAT IT, NOR SHALL YOU TOUCH IT, LEST YOU DIE.” THEN THE SERPENT SAID TO THE WOMAN. “YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE, FOR GOD KNOWS THAT IN THE DAY YOU EAT OF IT YOUR EYES WILL BE OPENED, AND YOU WILL BE LIKE GOD, KNOWING GOOD AND EVIL.”

5. AT THE SCENE OF THE FIRST TEMPTATION TO SIN, AS WITH ALL OTHER DOCTRINES, THE FIRST OCCURRENCE HAS MANY POWERFUL INSIGHTS, NOTE THE WAY SATAN ATTACKS GOD’S AUTHORITY BY A SERIES OF DOUBTS ABOUT GOD’S WORD AND DISTORTIONS OF GOD’S WORD.

NEXT: THE 4 BASIC ATTACKS

PASTOR JOHN