Who Did Jesus Claim to Be?
Month 5: Jesus — God With Us · Why We Believe
Today's Scripture
Read together: John 8:56–58 & John 14:6
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see My day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham?” 58 “Truly, truly, I tell you,” Jesus declared, “before Abraham was born, I am!” — John 8:56–58
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. — John 14:6
Memory Verse
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”— John 10:11 (BSB)
📖 Bible-in-a-Year (optional)
Today's reading: Psalm 80; Psalm 81; Psalm 82; Psalm 83; Psalm 84; Psalm 85
Reading the whole Bible in a year — do this when you have extra time. (Around Day 144 of 365 — songs longing for God's nearness.)The Heart of It
Lots of people are happy to call Jesus a good teacher. But Jesus didn't leave that option open. In He said something that made the crowd pick up stones to throw at Him. "Before Abraham was born, I am!" Abraham had lived two thousand years earlier. Yet Jesus didn't say, "I was." He said, "I am." He was reaching back and taking for Himself the very name God spoke to Moses at the burning bush: "I AM WHO I AM" (). His listeners understood right away. He wasn't claiming to be old. He was claiming to be God. That is why they reached for stones.
This is why a "nice teacher" who isn't God makes no sense. As one writer famously put it, a man who said the things Jesus said is either telling the truth, or He is lying, or He is out of His mind. He cannot simply be a wise human guide for living. Jesus also said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (). No good teacher talks like that. But the Good Shepherd who came from heaven does. So the real question isn't whether Jesus was nice. The question is whether He told the truth about who He is. And He calmed storms. He rose from the dead. He laid down His life for His sheep. He gives us every reason to believe He did tell the truth.
Around the Table
Jesus said He has always been alive, because He is God! He didn't have a beginning. He has always been.
Let's do it: Hold up your hands and say, "Jesus is God! He was always, always there!"
"I am" is God's special name. When Jesus used it, the people knew He was saying, "I am God."
Let's talk: Why couldn't Jesus be only a good teacher if He said He was God?
Jesus was either lying, or mistaken, or telling the truth. He left no room for "just a good man."
Let's go deeper: What evidence helps you trust that Jesus was telling the truth about being God?
💬 Conversation Starter
If a brand-new kid at the park said, "I made the whole world," what would you want to see before you believed them? People asked the same thing of Jesus. And He gave them proof.
🛡️ Defending the Faith
When someone says, "Jesus never claimed to be God; that was added later": kindly point to , written by someone who was there. Jesus took God's own name, "I am." And the crowd tried to stone Him for blasphemy. That only makes sense if they understood Him to be claiming He was God. His actions matched His words. He forgave sins. He accepted worship. He rose from the grave. We can give this answer with "gentleness and respect," ready to share the reason for our hope (). We stay confident, but never harsh.
For Dad · Go Deeper
The "Lord, liar, or lunatic" framework is a useful tool, but it is not the heart of the matter. Your kids will ultimately come to know Jesus is who He claimed not merely through airtight logic, but by meeting Him. Still, the logic matters. It clears away the lazy cultural compliment that Jesus was "a great moral teacher," and it forces a decision. Help your older children see that everyone makes a verdict about Jesus. Even staying neutral is itself a verdict. And model it yourself. Do your calendar, your wallet, and your temper treat Jesus as merely a respected teacher? Or do they treat Him as the great I AM who has every right to your life? Your kids will read the answer in how you live long before they ever weigh the arguments.
Draws on: Josh McDowell & J. Warner Wallace, evidence for Jesus' deity (echoing C. S. Lewis's trilemma).
Let's Pray Together
"Lord Jesus, You are the great I AM. You are God with us. You are the way, the truth, and the life. Help us believe You and follow You with our whole hearts. In Jesus' name, amen."
Jesus didn't claim to be only good. He claimed to be God, and He proved it.