JESUS’ CLAIM TO DEITY
THROUGH RECEIVING WORSHIP

In the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 4, Matthew tells us about the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. While in the wilderness Jesus was tempted by the devil. Satan at one point of this temptation took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and said to Him, "All these things will I give You, if you fall down and worship me."

Why did Jesus become a man? First, it was to save us from our sins. He had a second reason. When God created man, He created man to rule over His creation. When Adam and Eve yielded to Satan’s temptation in the Garden of Eden, they yielded their rulership over the world to Satan so that Satan became the ruler of this world instead of man. The second reason why Jesus became a man was to regain man’s intended rulership over his creation. How was He to do this? through obedience to the Father in His humanity through the cross. In this temptation of Satan, he was offering Jesus a short cut that would not redeem Jesus’ intended purpose for man, but keep him in his bondage to the Devil.⁸⁶

Jesus said to Satan in response, "Be gone Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only’" The word for worship in the Greek is proskunew⁹². It means to do reverence, worship and homage by prostration, to adore. In this passage Jesus clearly tells us that God only is to be worshiped and served. Luke repeats this teaching of Jesus in Luke 4:6-8.

The significance of this teaching of Jesus is that in several different accounts in the Gospels Jesus is worshiped by men and not once does Jesus rebuke these men for their action but instead supports there action. Because Jesus already had said that God only is to be worshiped and served, by accepting man’s worship He was declaring Himself God. The first passage I would like to cite is God the Father’s own command that Jesus is to be worshiped. It is found in Hebrews 1:6-7,

"And when He again brings the First-Born into the world, He says, ‘And let all the angels of God worship Him.’"

God does not contradict Himself or His Word. Jesus said clearly that the Scripture cannot be broken. In Matthew 4:10 Jesus states to Satan, "It is written..." He quotes from the Old Testament to him that God only is to be worshiped and served; and yet, in this passage in Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews tells us that God the Father commands the angels to worship Jesus. The Father declares to us that Jesus is God. Again this is confirmed in Hebrews 1:8 where the Father declares about Jesus, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever..."

When Jesus was worshiped by men, did He stop them and quote to them the Old Testament passage that God is to be worshiped Only as He did with Satan, Or does he accept their worship? In Matthew 8:2 it states, "And behold, a leper came to him, and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Lord, if you are willing, You can make me clean.’" What is Jesus response? "I am willing." No rebuke. He accepts the worship and heals the man.

In Matthew 14 is recorded the famous walking of Jesus across the water. Matthew writes,

"And Peter answered Him and said, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to you on the water.’ And He said, ‘Come!’ And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. but seeing the wind, he became afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out saying, ‘Lord, save me!’ And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and says to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ And when they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, ‘You are certainly God’s Son!’" (Matt 14:28-33)

No rebuke from Jesus. He quietly accepts their worship and declaration: God’s Son; thus, being of the essence of God, God Himself.

After Jesus’ Resurrection, Matthew records,

"And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them, and they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him." (Matt 28:9)

Jesus does not pull back or rebuke them but quietly receives their adoration of His person.

John records the healing of a man born blind who was later thrown out of the temple because he claimed Jesus was the one who healed him. John records,

"Jesus heard that they had put him out; and finding him, He said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ He answered and said, ‘And who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.’ and he said, ‘Lord I believe.’ And he worshiped Him. And Jesus said, ‘For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.’" (John 9:35-39)

Again, no rebuke comes from Jesus. Jesus was called a Rabbi and it was the responsibility of a Rabbi to immediately correct a disciple when ever blasphemy was taking place. Jesus not only did not rebuke the man nor deny his worship, but through his lack of action of correcting the man, Jesus clearly declared Himself to be Yehovah God. This was the significance of the anger and indignation of the Chief Priests in Matthew 21:15-16 at Jesus quoting Psalm 8 as a fulfillment in Himself. They understood clearly that by accepting and not rebuking the children who were praising and worshiping Him, that He was accepting their declaration of Himself as Yehovah God. Jesus said to the chief priests in response: "Yes; have you never read, out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have prepared praise for Yourself?" Who were they praising? Jesus. Jesus declared Himself to be Yehovah God.

Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God; believe also in Me." (John 14:1). Believe in God and believe in Me equally? What an arrogant statement! Either Jesus was Yehovah God or a man on acid having delusions of grander. Merrill Tenney in his book, John: The Gospel of Belief, states,

"He was doomed to death, the death that overtakes all men. Nevertheless, He had the audacity to demand that they make Him an object of faith. He made Himself the key to the question of destiny, and clearly stated that their future depended on His work. He promised to prepare a place for them, and to return to claim them."^87/11

JESUS’ CLAIM TO
DEITY IN HIS TRIALS

Matthew records about Jesus’ trial before the High Priest:

"And the High Priest said to Him, ‘I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ Then the High Priest tore his robes, saying, ‘He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy; what do you think?’ They answered and said, ‘He is deserving of death!’ Then they spat in his face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him." (Matthew 26:63-67).

Albert Barnes, in his commentary on The Gospel of Matthew, makes the following comment on this trial of Jesus,

"The Son of God. The Jews uniformly expected that the Messiah would be the Son of God. In their view it denoted, also, that he would be divine, or equal to the Father (John 10:31-36), to claim that title was therefore, in their view, blasphemy."^88/11

In this passage the High Priest demands Jesus with an oath to tell them whether He is the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus is straightforward and states without hesitation that not only is He both, but that they will see him riding on the clouds of heaven exalted as Yehovah God. This is the significance of the High Priest tearing his robe. The High Priest by Law⁹³ was forbidden to tear his robe except for the charge of blasphemy: a person claiming to be God. The sentence according to the Levitical Law⁹⁴ for blasphemy was death by stoning. Would a liar die for a lie? Either Jesus was who he claimed to be or mad or insane. If He lied, he was not a good man.

Mark records about Jesus’ trial:

"But He kept silent, and made no answer, Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" And Jesus said, "I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of Heaven." And tearing his clothes, the high priest said, "What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to you?" And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death." (Mark 14:61-64).

Frank Morison, a skeptic of Jesus, wrote, "Jesus of Nazareth was condemned to death, not upon the statements of His accusers, but upon an admission extorted from Him under oath."^89/25 And what was that admission? That, yes, He is the Christ, the Son of God, thus of the essence of God, God Himself. The Apostle John records in John 19:7, "The Jews said to Pilate, ‘We have a law, and by that law he ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.’"

Luke records about Jesus’ trial:

"And when it was day, the council of elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes, and they led Him away to their council chamber, saying, "If You are the Christ, tell us." But He said to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I ask a question, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God." And they all said, ‘Are You the Son of God, then?’ And He said to them, ‘Yes, I am.’ And they said, ‘What further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.’" (Luke 22:66-71).

Hilarin Felder wrote in Christ and the Critics,

"This inspection of the trial of Jesus should be sufficient to give us the invincible conviction that the Savior confessed His true divinity before His judges."^90/299-300

Because Israel was under the domination of the Romans, they did not have the right of capital punishment, so they had to convince the Romans to carry out this sentence. The Roman form of execution was death through crucifixion.

"Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus, and said to Him, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?’ Pilate answered, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You up to me; what have You done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world, if My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.’ Pilate therefore said to Him, ‘So You are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say correctly that I AM A KING. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’ Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?’" (John 18:33-38)

This would be a very pompous statement if Jesus was only a man: Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. Can You imagine one of our Presidents getting on national TV and saying, Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. "Right! Get the wagon Charley!" Jesus believed Himself to be absolute truth. If You want to know the truth, everything Jesus says is the truth. Karl Scheffrahn and Henry Kreyssler tell us,

"He never hesitated nor apologized. He had no need to contradict, withdraw or modify anything he said. He spoke the unequivocal words of God (John 3:34). He said, ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Words will not pass away’ (Mark 13:31)."^87/11

"Oh! Wait a minute Pilate! That didn’t come out right! What I meant to say was I have done a lot of study of philosophies and religion and I feel I can safely say I am probably an expert on truth. Is there anything You want to know?"

Is that what Jesus said? He said, Everyone who is of the truth hears MY VOICE. Jesus did not claim to be a source of truth, he said if you want to know truth you have got to come to Him and Him alone to get it. This is the kind of a statement you would expect to hear from someone who thinks He is God. Oh! Jesus did.

"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." (John 14:6).

Here is the most bigoted religious statement ever made by a man. Jesus did not say He was a way, but THE Way. Jesus did not say he was a source of truth, but TRUTH itself. In making this statement He was saying He believed Himself to be sinless and absolutely without error. To know Jesus is to know truth. You want to know the truth? Go to Jesus. He is Truth. Jesus did not say He was a way to life, He said I AM Life! An associate of my past, attacking my Christian commitment, said to me, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. That is your whole life." Out of my mouth through the initiative of the Holy Spirit came, Jesus is life! Jesus claimed and believed not that He was a source of life, but Life itself. God the Father confirms this statement through the Apostle John in 1 John 5:11-12,

"And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have life."

The buck stops with God. What He says is absolute. It does not matter what any man says or thinks, it only matters what God says and God says if You want to have eternal life then you must belong to the right church and be extremely religious. Is that what He says? No. He says that in order to have eternal life, you must have His Son Jesus Christ. No other condition. If You do not have Jesus You do not get into heaven. That is the declaration of God the Father and the declaration of Jesus His ONLY Son.

Jesus finishes John 14:6 by saying, "No one comes to the Father but through Me." When Jesus made that statement He absolutely excluded all other claimed ways and religions, prophets or claimed messiahs. Jesus was either an extremely prejudiced religious bigot, and if that is true, not someone to be modeled after but to be rejected; or He was just who He claimed to be: The only way to God, God Himself, Truth itself, and Life itself. If what Jesus claimed in this passage is not true, you cannot call him a good teacher or a good man. You have to call Him a raving lunatic. The Apostle Paul was standing before Felix and King Agrippa, rulers of Rome, making a defense of the claims of Jesus Christ. As Paul was making his defense, Felix spoke out in a loud voice, "Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you mad." (Acts 26:24). This was said to one of Jesus’ followers who was speaking second hand information about what Jesus claimed about Himself and this was the response of Felix the Roman ruler: Your great learning is driving you mad. Your response to Jesus cannot be any less. He either was Yehovah God your Creator and Savior in the flesh or, as Felix said about Paul, Jesus was worse than mad. There is no other possible choice. You either bow to Him and worship Him as Yehovah God or you reject Him as a liar and an insane lunatic.

John the Baptist said in John 3:31,

"He who comes from above is ABOVE ALL, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth, He who comes from heaven is above all."

Only God is above all. John the Baptist declared Jesus God.

John the Baptist states in John 3:34,

"For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure."

Only an infinite being can have an infinite Holy Spirit without measure. Jesus has unlimited Spirit and power, both attributes only of God.

Again John states in 3:35,

"The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand."

One of the biggest frustrations I had had in the past was keeping track of all my computer files, a neutron compared to all things and the Universe. I spent a week sorting them out and putting them into an alphabetical computer file. John the Baptist states that God the Father has placed into Jesus’ hands ALL THINGS: all of creation, all of the universe. Only infinite God has the capacity to rule all things justly and in order. Not even our super computers have the minutest capacity to do this.

Because the Father has given all things into Jesus’ hands, has given Jesus the Spirit without measure, has put Jesus above all things, only the one who has faith and believes on and obeys Jesus will have eternal life. This is because Jesus is God. Because Jesus is God, the one who does not believe on and obey Him will have only God’s wrath to look forward to. John the Baptist said:

"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him." (John 3:36)

The Apostle Peter said,

"And it shall be that every soul that does not heed that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people." (Acts 3:23)

Jesus has an infinite heart. He said in John 5:20, "For the Father loves the Son and shows him all things that He Himself is doing." Only infinite God can know all things infinite God is doing.

Jesus said in John 5:21, "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes." Have you by your power raised anybody from the dead recently or created a human being? Only God can create life.

Jesus is God for He has the same attributes that God the Father has. Jesus said in John 5:22-23,

"For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given ALL JUDGMENT to the Son, in order that all may honor the Son, EVEN AS they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him."

Jesus makes three claims in this passage:

1. First, He claims that the Father has given ALL JUDGMENT to Him.

2. Second, He claims that the Father has done this so that all will honor the Son EVEN AS they are to honor the Father.

3. Third, Jesus claims that to not honor the Son is to not honor the Father.

In order to judge all of creation righteously one must have the infinite intellect of God. Jesus’ ability to judge all creation shows his attributes of Deity of having infinite and perfect perception of all acts and decisions of creation. Only God has the power to control and judge all of creation perfectly and justly. Jesus states that the reason why the Father has given this assignment to Him is for the very purpose of revealing Jesus’ true nature which is equality in essence and power with God so that Jesus will receive equal recognition and honor as God. For this reason Jesus states that to not honor Him is to not honor the Father.

Jesus said in John 5:26, "For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in Himself." Jesus has life in Himself, dependent on no one else in existence, just as the Father has life in Himself. One of the attributes of deity is self existence, absolutely reliant on no one. We as finite creation are absolutely dependent on our Creator. This passage also corrects an incorrect teaching about the Son of God in Church History which taught that the Son is eternally generated from the Father. The Son is not eternally generated from the Father but has independent life in Himself.