Welcome to Defender’s Voice. This is Dr.Paul. Thank you for joining us today. Please send me your questions to info@doctorpaul.org. Visit my website www.doctorpaul.org. Today’s question is,
Muslim apologist Dr.Zakir Naik often asks Christians, ‘Where did Jesus say ‘I am God, worship me’. What is your response?
Excellent question. I gave the link below to Zakir’s video. Dr.Zakir Naik is the world famous Muslim apologist. He is a medical doctor from India, who turned into a defender of Islam. He often challenges Christians with this question, ‘Where did Jesus say, I am God, worship me? Show me such a sentence in the Bible and I will become a Christian?’
First of all, a phenomenon is not always identified by a declaration. Let me give you an example. If you say,
Unless President Biden says, “I am the President of the United States”, I refuse to recognize him as the President of the United States.
So I got to sit down and watch all the videos for a simple statement from Biden’s mouth in which he says, ‘I am the President of the United States’. I could not find one and I came back to you and said, ‘Well, I have watched all the videos since the beginning of this year. I could not find a statement from Biden in which he says’ He is the President of the United States.’
Then you said, ‘So, you lost, Biden cannot be the President of the United States because you could not find one simple statement from him in which he says he is the President of the United States’.
You can see the silliness of Zakir Naik’s argument. He gives you only one condition that you must satisfy to prove your position. But there are many ways to prove your position. There are many ways to prove Joseph Biden is the current President of the United States.
For example, the United States Constitution gives certain unique powers to the president of the United States. You can filter 330 million Americans and find that one person exercising those unique Constitutional powers and safely say that person is the President of the United States.
The US Constitution gives the President the power to sign or veto a legislation
to be the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed forces
The power to lead a cabinet
The power to nominate someone to the Supreme Court
The power to pardon someone
The executive privilege to withhold information from the Congress etc
If you find the person who is signing a bill into the law, who is controlling the armed forces, who is appointing the judges to the Supreme Court, who is pardoning people, you can safely say that person is the US President. So, you can read the US Constitution, learn the uniqueness of the office of the President and then go out and look for the person who fits the description. In the same way, you can read the Bible, learn the uniqueness of the office of God, then go out and look for the person who fits the description.
The Bible says God is the creator, Jesus is also called the creator, so Jesus must be God
The Bible says only God is the light, Jesus called himself the light of the world, so Jesus must be God
The Bible says God preceded humanity, Jesus preceded humanity, so Jesus must be God
The Bible says only God can forgive the sins, Jesus forgives sins, so Jesus must be God
The Bible calls God the Savior of Israel, Jesus is called the Savior of Israel, so Jesus must be God
The Bible calls God the first and the last, Jesus is called the first and the last, so Jesus must be God
The Bible says God does not share his glory with anyone, Jesus shares glory with God, so Jesus must be God
The Bible says only God must be worshiped, Jesus was worshipped, so Jesus must be God
The Bible says God is the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus is the Lord of Sabbath, so Jesus must be God
So, a plain reading of the Bible clearly establishes the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, the people of Israel clearly understood the claims of Jesus. They charged Him with blasphemy because He made himself equal with God. Every time he called himself the son of man, he reminded them of the son of man described in Daniel chapter 7, who is a divine figure.
Jesus Christ our Lord was the incarnation of God himself. Zakir Naik should understand this truth and get saved by the blood our Savior.