The Trilemma - Your Daily Forward Devotional

The Trilemma

February 2

Read John 8:54-59 (ESV)

Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Reflect

What claim is Jesus making in today’s reading? Did the religious authorities accept this claim?

Imagine having a discussion with a young man who claims to personally know the 16th US president, Abraham Lincoln. Yes, the Abraham Lincoln who was elected president way back in 1861 and was assassinated in Ford’s Theater by John Wilkes Booth in 1865. Yes, the one who has been dead for over 150 years! This man claims to be a messenger from Abraham Lincoln to proclaim that Honest Abe has seen the condition of the United States today and that he knows how to save the Union. What would you think?

Most of us would immediately think this guy is mentally ill. The only other logical explanation is that he is lying for some reason. But I don’t know any sane individual who would take him seriously. This guy is either a liar or a lunatic.

Well, the Jewish religious leaders thought the same thing about Jesus. He was claiming to have existed long before a different Abraham—the Abraham of the Bible, the father of the Jewish people who had a covenant relationship with God. Furthermore, Jesus was claiming that Abraham had seen Jesus’ day and was glad even though Abraham had been dead for a long time before Jesus was born. Clearly Jesus had to either be a liar or a lunatic, right? Or is there a third option?

Well, the only other option is that Jesus was telling the truth and that He is who He claimed to be. Jesus was claiming to be equal with God. He didn’t say, “before Abraham was, I was.” He said “before Abraham was, I am.” He was asserting His eternal existence. Only God has externally existed. Jesus was claiming to be God and the Jews knew it. That is why they wanted to stone Him. He was either crazy for claiming to be God or lying about being God. Either way, they considered Him guilty of blasphemy.

They were unwilling to consider the obvious third option that Jesus is actually God. In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis called this the liar, lunatic, or Lord trilemma. What makes the most logical sense? Well, we’d have to ask ourselves, is there any evidence that Jesus was a liar? Did He act like you’d expect a crazy or demon-possessed person to act? Or, do we have evidence that points to the deity of Christ?

Well, if you’ve been following along with us throughout the book of John, you know that proving the deity of Christ is John’s main objective. In John 5:30-47, Jesus listed the witnesses that testify to Him. God the Father, God’s Holy Scripture and the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist, and the miracles that Jesus was able to perform all provided us with plenty of undeniable evidence that Jesus is God, just as He said.

What about you? Who do you think Jesus is? Have you accepted the evidence that He is the Lord in the flesh? If not, why not? What else would it take for you to believe and put your faith in Him?

Respond

Jesus, I know that You are the Lord God in the flesh. Of course, You aren’t lying and You aren’t crazy. Thank You for providing us with trustworthy evidence so that we can confidently put our faith in You. Amen.

Reveal: Is there someone in your life that might place their faith in Christ if only someone shared with them all of the evidence testifying that Jesus is Lord?

~ Pastor Nat Crawford