46 THE KEY OF MYSTERIES

claim was, and had therefore endeavoured to seize Him,1 in order to put Him to death, but had not been able to do so. Christ's argument was that, if He had been a blasphemer, as His enemies deemed Him, He could not have worked such miracles as He did; for those were works of divine power, and divine power would not have been committed to one who falsely claimed to be the Son of God. The Jews could not answer this argument. They could not deny His miracles, they would not accept His claim, and so they strove to kill Him, thereby condemning 2 themselves.

(4) The Lord Jesus Christ coupled together belief in His Father and belief in Himself in a manner which distinctly implies His own essential Deity. Thus He said to His disciples shortly before His precious death upon the cross: 'Let 3 not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.' He then went on to make to them promises which implied that He had the authority in heaven 4 and on earth which He elsewhere declared that He possessed, for He said: 'In 5 my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.' He then added: ' I 6 am


1 John x. 39. 2 John viii. 37, 40, 44, 47. 3 John xiv. 1.
4 Matt. xxviii. 18; xi. 27; John iii. 35; xvii. 2.
5 John xiv. 2-3. 2 John xiv. 6.
PROOF OF THE DEITY OF CHRIST 47

the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me.'

(5) In another way also the Lord Jesus associates Himself with God in dealing with the spirit of the believer, in such a manner that it is impossible to understand His words unless we remember His Deity. Thus He said to His disciples in the Gospel; ' If 1 a man love me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.'

(6) The Lord Jesus Christ not only claims to be the Son of God, but also teaches that belief in Him as God's Son is necessary for salvation. Thus in one passage He says: 'God 2 so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him. He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.' In another He says: 'This 3 is the will of my Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son, and believeth on him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.' Again, it is written that our Lord opened the eyes of a man born blind 4, and that the Jews excommunicated the man for believing in 5


1 John xiv. 23. 2 John iii. 16-18. 3 John vi. 40.
4 John ix. 1-11. 5 John ix. 34.