Ň)
sent him to them. Yehovah, which some translate Jehovah or Yahweh,
is a form of the Hebrew verb to be and is repeated twice meaning "I
AM WHO I AM". God tells us that His name is "I Am who I Am" and
that this will be His name forever. God speaking through Isaiah the prophet
tells us about Himself in Isaiah 43:10-11,
"‘You are My witnesses,’ declares Yehovah, ‘And My servant whom I
have chosen, in order that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am
He. Before Me there was no El formed, and there will be none after Me. I, even
I, am Yehovah; and there is no Savior besides Me. It is I who have declared and
saved and proclaimed, and there was no strange els [gods] among you; So you are My
witnesses,’ declares Yehovah, ‘and I am El. Even from eternity I am He; And
there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?’"
(Isaiah 43:10-13)
In this passage God tells us many things about Himself:
-
First, that Before Him
there was no God formed.
-
Second, that there will be no God formed
after Him.
-
Third, that there is no Savior besides
Him.
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Fourth, that He had no beginning, that His existence is from eternity past.
This passage forever dispels the myth that a created man can become God as is
taught by some religions. Yehovah God tells us through Isaiah that He is the
Only God, that there was no God formed before Him and that there will be no
God formed after Him. Yehovah God tells us that He is the only God that
exists, that He is the only God who has ever existed and that He is the only God
who will ever exist. This God, Moses tells us in Genesis Chapter 1, created the
earth, the heavens and man.
Jesus Christ of Nazareth claimed to be Yehovah God, our Creator and Savior.
As Jesus was entering Jerusalem on a donkey, the children began to praise and
worship Jesus. The Greek states that as a result of this that the religious
leaders became indignant.170
"But when the chief priests and the scribes saw. . . the children
saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they became indignant, and said to
Him, ‘Do You hear what these are saying?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Yes;
have you never read, "Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes You
have prepared praise for Yourself"?’" (Matthew
21:15-16)
When Jesus said "Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes You
have prepared praise for Yourself" He was quoting
from Psalm 8:2 and was claiming that this referred to Him. Psalm 8:1 states
"O Yehovah, our-Adonai [our-Lord],
how majestic is Your name in all the earth, who have displayed Your splendor
above the heavens!" Then the Psalmist talking further about Yehovah states
"Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes You
have prepared praise for Yourself"?’" (Jesus
quotes from the Greek Septuagint169). The Psalmist tells us
that this referred to Yehovah. Jesus by claiming this for Himself claimed to be
the one and only true God Yehovah in human form.
God the Father Himself called Jesus Elohim. In Hebrews 1:8 the writer of
Hebrews tells us "But of the Son He says, ‘Your throne, O God, is
forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of Your kingdom.’"
This is a direct quote from Psalm 45:6. The word for God here is Elohim.
God the Father calls Jesus Elohim, the God of Genesis 1:1 who created the earth,
heavens and man. Paul tells us in Acts 20:28,
"The church of God which He purchased with His own blood." (Acts
20:28)
Paul tells us that God purchased His church with His own blood. Jesus is the
one who shed His blood and died on the cross to save us from our sins. Paul and
John wrote about Jesus Christ:
"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our
trespasses, according to the riches of His grace." (Ephesians 1:7)
"The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)
"To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood."
(Revelation 1:5)
God prophesied through Isaiah and Micah about the the Messiah Jesus Christ
that He would be God in the flesh:
"Therefore Yehovah Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin167
will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel159."
(Isaiah 7:14)
"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the
government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty-El169,
Father-of-Eternity152,
Prince-of-Peace." (Isaiah 9:6)
"But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be
among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in
Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of
eternity." (Micah 5:2).
In these prophecies about Jesus we are told that Jesus will be God in the
flesh, that He is from all eternity and that he is the Father of eternity. These
are all the things God attributes to Himself alone in Isaiah 43:10-11 quoted
earlier. Jesus is Yehovah God in the flesh.
Jesus claimed to be our Creator. The Apostles wrote:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God
and the Word was God. This One was in the beginning with God. All
things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that
has come into being." (John 1:1-3)
"For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all
things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all
things, and in Him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:16-17)
God "In these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed
heir of all things, through whom also He made the ages." (Hebrews 1:2)
The writers of the New Testament tell us that Jesus is our Creator. Some
religions try to say Jesus was not God but a being created by Him that He
created the heavens and the earth through. However Yehovah states the following
about His creating the earth, the heavens and man:
"I, Yehovah, am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens by
Myself, and spreading out the earth all
alone." (Isaiah 44:24)
Yehovah God tells us plainly that He created the earth, the heavens, and man
without help from any created being. Thus for Jesus to claim to be our Creator
is for Jesus to claim to be Yehovah God.
Jesus claimed to be our Savior. Jesus stated the following about Himself in
the Gospels:
"For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but
that the world should be saved through Him." (John 3:17)
"For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save
them." (Luke 9:56)
Illustration
of Jesus' Nature
When Mary became pregnant with a child an angel of the Lord told Joseph not
to be afraid to take her as His wife because she was with child by the Holy
Spirit, not as the result of having had sexual intercourse with a man. The angel
then told Joseph,
"‘And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name
Jesus, for it
is He who will save His people from
their sins.’ Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord
through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "Behold, the virgin shall
be with child, and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name
Immanuel," which translated means, "God
with us."’" (Matthew 1:21-23)
The angel tells us that Mary’s firstborn is to be called Jesus
because He will save His people from their sins. The name Jesus160
in Hebrew is Yeshua
The Holy Spirit is God. The word in Hebrew for Spirit is