“Just give me one verse in all of the Bible where Jesus claimed to be God, directly or indirectly.”
For the hundredth time this statement was made this week by another Muslim. There are many Bible verses where Jesus claimed to be God. For now, we will show you just one of them, and it is perhaps Jesus’ favorite.
Written by the prophet Daniel (the Quran affirms the writings of the prophets), he speaks of the Ancient of Days and also the Son. The title “Son of Man” is Jesus’ most common title for himself, and is used around 80x in the gospel.
Now look what Daniel says:
“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14).
This “Son of Man” that Daniel prophesied is not like any one else. A man is not worshiped, given glory, and an everlasting kingdom that will not pass away. Only God can be worshiped in this manner.
Fast forward to the New Testament. The Jewish leaders have Jesus at a trial and they want to kill him. His death is imminent. He could save himself if he wanted to, but instead, he stands on His identity.
In this critical life and death moment, what does Jesus?
“Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death” (Mark 14:61-64).
Jesus used the language of the Daniel prophecy to say that He was the fulfillment of this very Scripture. What was the response of the Jews? They wanted to kill him. Why? Because he committed blasphemy. What was blasphemy? Associating himself with God.
They had tried to stone him before for this very deed. Here’s how the Jews understood his blasphemy:
“The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God” (John 10:33).
The Jews did not question whether Jesus claimed to be God.
They KNEW it.
That’s why they killed him.