Sunday, February 7, 2010

A response to those who don't understand that Jesus is God

Why we know Jesus is God

This is a response to the “Christians”, Jehovah Witnesses, Muslim or any other person that doesn’t understand that Jesus is God. My opinion or the opinion of any man does not mean anything. The only thing that does matter is what God says, as revealed in the Scriptures. So, to start off we will look at Scripture to see if the Bible says that Jesus is God.

In 2 Peter we see that the Father is God:

For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, (2 Peter 1:17)

We see in Revelation 1 that there is someone (the Lord God) claiming to be the Alpha and the Omega:

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." (Revelation 1:8)

Again in Revelation we see that someone is claiming to be the Alpha and the Omega:

And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. (Revelation 21:6)

We see in Revelation 22 that someone is coming quickly and we all would agree the text is referring to Jesus Christ coming back:

"And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book." (Revelation 22:7)
"Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. (Revelation 22:12)

We know that Jesus is this person. Look down to the next verse and we see that Jesus is claiming to be the Alpha and the Omega and the first and the last.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." (Revelation 22:13)

Again we see in Revelation 1:17-18 that Jesus claims to be the first and the last. We know this is Jesus because this person is the on that is alive, died, and lives again.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
(Revelation 1:17-18)

Now go back to the Old Testament for a shock.

Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.
(Isaiah 44:6)

The shocking part is that we see here that God the father is claiming to be the first and the last. This is extremely significant because Jesus also said that He was the first and the last. In this verse in Isaiah the Father not only said he was the first and last but that there in no other god besides Him.

So we see that Jesus and the Father are both claiming to be the First and the last and we know that there is only one God. So, do they contradict each other or is there something more.

Look at Hebrews 1:6

For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you"? Or again, "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son"? And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him."
(Hebrews 1:5-6)

We see here that the Father is telling all of His angels to worship His Son.

If we cross-reference this with Luke 4:8 we see that Jesus Himself is saying that we should worship the Lord God only.

And Jesus answered him, "It is written, "'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'" (Luke 4:8)

This is the nail in the coffin. We have God the Father saying that the Son should be worshiped and we have the Son saying that only God should be worshiped.

The only conclusion could be that Jesus is God, the second person of the Trinity. God the father could only tell others to worship the Son unless the Son Himself was God!

More evidence:

In John 10 Jesus claims that He and the Father are one:

I and the Father are one.
(John 10:30)

What about the fact that Jesus’ name Immanuel means “God with us”:

"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us).
(Matthew 1:23)

We know that Jesus, the Word made flesh, was in the beginning with God and IS God form John 1:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
(John 1:1)

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John 1:14)

In John 8, Jesus calls himself by the Fathers name: “I am”:

Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."
(John 8:58)

The Father calls Himself the “I am” in Exodus 3:

God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
(Exodus 3:14)

The Bible directly calls Jesus God:

To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
(Romans 9:5)

waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
(Titus 2:13)

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
(2 Peter 1:1)

Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
(John 20:27-28)

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
(Isaiah 9:6)

But of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
(Hebrews 1:8)

To believe that Jesus in not God, is to ignore many God-inspired verses of the Bible. The Bible says this about believing men instead of what God revealed in Scripture about His Son Jesus, who is God, the second person of the God-head, and equal in power and glory:

If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
(1 John 5:9-13)

Finally, If Jesus Christ is not God then we are all going to Hell. The only way that God could ever satisfy His divine justice was to kill His own perfect, sinless, self in the person of Jesus Christ. If Jesus wasn’t God then His sacrifice was not sufficient. God could not get divine justice out of killing a sinful man, He had to kill Jesus, His Son, the second person of the God-head.

5 comments:

AL said...

Well said!

Kim said...

Couldn't have been explained any better!
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Anonymous said...

This is a complete answer to show the deity of Jesus as the Anointed One. 1 John 2:21-22 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
Also according to Romans 1:18 the natural man by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Keep sharing the Truth, Scottie- Tim K

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed looking over your blog
God bless you

Timothy Kerttula (TJ) said...

Very good Scott.