JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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In the same spirit are those memorable passages in which this Person speaks of Himself
as our peace:
● "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world
gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (Jn 14:27).
● "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world
you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (16:33).
Millions of people can testify to the authenticity of such a claim by Jesus. Those who have
come to Him for rest and peace have found it. Surely then He is not merely a great man, nor is
He of the angelic order since there is no reference in Scripture that we can receive rest and peace
from angels. This leaves us only with the conclusion that He is God.
● He demands the same devotion as God the Father:
". . . anyone who does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple . . .
any of you who does not give up everything cannot be My disciple" (Lk 14:27,33).
Such wholehearted devotion and radical sacrifice is only demanded by God Himself in
Scripture (e.g. the Rich Young Ruler—Mk 10:17-31). No angel or man dare make such a bold
demand. Only Jesus could make it if He really were God. If not, His challenge proves ridiculous.
Napoleon was convinced that such a challenge was not ridiculous:
"Christ alone has succeeded in so raising the mind of man towards the unseen that it
becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space. Across the chasm of eighteen
hundred years Jesus Christ makes a demand which is beyond all others difficult to
satisfy. He asks for that which a philosophy may often seek in vain at the hands of
his friends, or a father of his children, or a bride of her spouse, or a man of his
brother. He asks for the human heart; He will have it entirely to Himself; He
demands it unconditionally, and forthwith His demand is granted. Its powers and
faculties become an annexation to the empire of Christ. All who sincerely believe
in Him experience that supernatural love towards Him. This phenomenon is
unaccountable, it is altogether beyond the scope of mans' creative powers. Time,
the great destroyer can neither exhaust its strength nor put a limit to its range."1
● He was to receive equal love as God the Father:
"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and
children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My
disciple" (Lk 14:26).