The six lines of proof of the Deity of Jesus Christ which I have given you leave no possibility of doubting that Jesus Christ is God, that Jesus of Nazareth is God manifest in a human person, that He is a being to be worshipped, even as God the Father is worshipped; but there are also incidental proofs of His absolute Deity which, if possible, are in some ways even more convincing than the direct assertions of His Deity.
1. Our Lord Jesus says in Matt. 11:28, +"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."+ Now any one that makes a promise like that must either be God, or a lunatic, or an impostor. No one can give rest to all who labour and are heavy laden who come to him unless he is God, and yet Jesus Christ offers to do it. If He offers to do it and fails to do it when men come to Him, then He is either a lunatic or an impostor. If He actually does it, then beyond a question He is God. And thousands can testify that He really does it. Thousands and tens of thousands who have laboured and were heavy laden and crushed, and for whom there was no help in man, have come to Jesus Christ and _He actually has given them rest_. Surely then He is not merely a great man, He is God.
2. Again in John 14:1 _Jesus Christ demands that we put the same faith in Him that we put in God the Father_, and promises that in such faith we will find a cure for all trouble and anxiety of heart. His words are, +"Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me."+ It is clear that He demands that the same absolute faith be put in Himself that is to be put in God Almighty. Now in Jer. 17:5, scripture with which our Lord Jesus was perfectly familiar, we read +"Thus saith Jehovah: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man,"+ and yet with this clear curse pronounced upon all who trust in man, Jesus Christ demands that we put trust in Him just as we put trust in God. It is the strongest possible assertion of Deity on His part. No one but God has a right to make such a demand, and Jesus Christ, when He makes this demand, must either be God or an impostor, but thousands and tens of thousands have found that when they did believe in Him just as they believe in God, their hearts were delivered from trouble no matter what their bereavement or circumstances might be.
3. Again, _the Lord Jesus demanded supreme and absolute love for Himself_. It is clear as day that no one but God has a right to demand such a love, but there can be no question that Jesus did demand it. In Matt. 10:37 He said to His disciples, +"He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."+ And in Luke 14:26, 33, He says, +"If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. . . . So therefore whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."+ There can be no question that this is a demand on Jesus' part of supreme and absolute love to Himself, a love that puts even the dearest relations of life in an entirely secondary place. No one but God has a right to make any such demand, but our Lord Jesus made it, and, therefore, He must be God.
4. In John 10:30 the Lord Jesus claimed absolute equality with the Father. He said, +"I and the Father are one."+
5. In John 14:9 our Lord Jesus went so far as to say, +"He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father."+ He claims here to be so absolutely God that to see Him is to see the Father Who dwelleth in Him.
6. In John 17:3 He says, +"And this is eternal life, to know thee, the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ."+ In other words, _he claims that the knowledge of Himself is as essential a part of eternal life as knowledge of God the Father_.