Evangelism: The Churche's First Priority

Chapter 5

Christology:
The Nature of Jesus Christ

Doctrinal Statement About Jesus Christ's NATURE

We believe that Jesus Christ is the only true God, our Creator, from eternity past, who had no beginning and will have no end, the second Person of the Trinity, who in time took on a full human nature as well through Holy Spirit conception of the virgin Mary so that He is now Fully God and Fully Man but one Person and will remain so forever; who came to die for our sins on the cross, who was bodily resurrected from the dead on the third day as absolute proof to these claims and ascended bodily alive to heaven and will return bodily alive in His second coming to judge and rule over the living and the dead forever.

JESUS CLAIMED TO BE YEHOVAH OUR CREATOR

Jesus makes an astounding statement in John 5:46-47, He states, "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?" In this passage Jesus affirms several things: 1) that Moses is the author of the first five books of the Bible: the Torah; 2) That the Creator Moses was writing about in Genesis 1-3 was Jesus Christ; 3) that if we do not believe and take literally what Moses wrote about Creation in six literal 24 hour days and the order given, the universal flood and everything else Moses wrote about, that we will not believe anything Jesus says either. In making this statement Jesus made it plain that taking the Genesis account of Cre-ation literally is not an option if we are to have saving faith in Him as well.

In this passage Jesus made plain that He is Yehovah-Elohim the Creator of all that is. He also said that if You do not take what Moses wrote about Him and Creation literallyYou will not take anything He says literally either. This is in fact what has taken place in our time: we deny Moses’ author-ship of the Torah and as a result we deny who Jesus claimed to be as well: His being God the Creator in the flesh.

Different religions teach different things about Jesus. Some religions teach that Jesus was only a man, Mormonism teaches that He was a man who evolved to godhood. Jehovah Witnesses deny both Jesus Divinity and humanity; they say He was Michael the archangel. The Church Fa-thers, however, taught that Jesus was fully God from eternity past who in time took on a full human nature as well.

The Old Testament prophesied that the Messiah would be Yehovah God in the flesh. This belief started with Eve after the fall. God told Satan concerning the Messiah in Genesis 3:15 "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." God prophesied to the serpent that the seed of the woman would bring him down. The seed always comes from the man but God tells the serpent that he will be brought down by the seed of the woman, thus indicating that the Messiah would be born of a virgin. Eve believed this seed would be Yehovah God Himself becoming flesh. Genesis 4:1 tells us about Adam and Eve’s belief about their first born: "And the man knew Eve his wife. And she conceived and bore Cain, and said, I have gotten a man: Yehovah." However, this was not the seed of Eve, but Adam’s seed and Cain being anything but God in the flesh was man’s first murderer of man.

The prophets understood that the Messiah would be Yehovah God from eternity past who would in time add the human nature to His divine nature as well. The prophets Isaiah and Micah prophesied concerning the Messiah:

"Therefore Yehovah Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin³⁹⁶ will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel³³⁴." (Isaiah 7:14)

"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the govern-ment will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty-God, Father-of-Eternity, Prince-of-Peace."^304-308 (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).

Isaiah tells us that the Messiah will be conceived of through a virgin and that His name will be called Immanuel.³³⁴ Immanuel is a compound word lae WnM;[i: WnM;[i meaning With-us, and lae El,²⁹⁴ God, short for !yhiloa> Elohim²⁹⁷ the primary Hebrew word for the general term "God." The angel, in talking with Joseph in Matthew 1:21-23 tells us that the virgin Isaiah prophesied about was Mary who became with child by the Holy Spirit and that He would be Yehovah God of the Old Testament in the flesh who would save His people from their sins. For this reason the baby was to be named Jesus, Hebrew Yeshua,³⁰² which means Yehovah is Savior because Jesus would save His people from their sins. The angel then went on to tell Joseph that because He was Yehovah God in the flesh saving us from our sins that He would be called Immanuel.

Some cults, which deny the deity of Jesus, try to say that Immanuel was just a title, a name like Jeremiah³⁰⁰ meaning Whom-Yehovah-has-ap-pointed. However, Jesus was never called by the title Immanuel because the term was not a title given to Jesus, but a description of who He was: God with us. These same cults also try to say that His name ['Wvwhoy, Yeshua, also was not describing who He was but a title describing that God, Yehovah, would save His people through the man Jesus. Paul, however in Colossians 1:9 makes plain to us that Jesus was God in the flesh saving us from our sins. He wrote, "For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form." Note Paul did not say that Jesus was a man in whom God fully dwelt, but that Jesus is completely (the fulness) God in bodily form. Jesus the man is God in bodily form.

Jesus Is The Angel-of-Yehovah — hwhy &alm

The Angel-of-Yehovah²⁸⁴ is appearances of God on the earth in the form of man known as Theophanies. God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden, but after the fall they only heard His voice (Gen 3:8) as Cain did (4:6). Yehovah appeared to Abraham by the oak of Mamre (Gen 18). Jacob saw Him in a dream (Gen 28:10-17). God usually appeared to men in dreams except with Abraham. In Genesis 18 Abraham bowed and wor-shiped the Angel-of-Yehovah addressing him as "Yehovah". This Angel-of-Yehovah said to Abraham that He was yD;v'-la,²⁹⁶ El-Shaddai, God-Almighty (Genesis 17:1); thus we read in Genesis 18:17, "Yehovah said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?" It is to this angel, Yehovah, that Abraham intercedes to for Sodom. Thus we read in Genesis 19:24, "Then Yehovah rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yehovah out of heaven." Here we have

a clear distinction made between the visible Yehovah on earth and the invisible Yehovah in heaven. Who then is the Angel-of-Yehovah? The Apostle John wrote in John 1:18 concerning Jesus, "No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, that one has revealed Him." John tells us that no one has ever seen God the Father, but that the only begotten God, the Son of God, has revealed Him. Therefore, whenever the Angel-of-Yehovah appeared in the Old Testament and was referred to as Yehovah, it was Jesus manifested physically.

Exodus 3:2 tells us that the Angel-of-Yehovah appeared to Moses in the burning bush, yet when Moses turned to look at this phenomena Exodus records the following:

"When Yehovah saw that he turned aside to look, Elohim called to him from the midst of the bush, and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then He said, ‘Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ He said also, ‘I am the Elohim-of-your-father-the-Elohim-of-Abraham-the-Elohim-of-Isaac-and-the-Elohim-of-Jacob.’ Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at Elohim." (Exodus 3:4-6)

Moses tells us that the Angel-of-Yehovah was Yehovah and spoke to him from the bush and that because it was Yehovah speaking to him that he was afraid to look at God.

Most translations of the bible today translate Yehovah: "The Lord." They do this as an overreaction to the use of God’s names by cults like Jehovah Witnesses and because of Jewish myths about speaking God’s name. This, however is a mistake, because when they do this, as you can see from the passages we have studied from in the Old Testament already, we lose the true meaning of the text which clearly reveals to us that Yehovah is Jesus. God’s Word does not need help and needs to be translated as literally as possible from the original text, especially when it comes to the names of God. (see my New Testament: Evangelism: The Time Is Now New Testament)

The visible Yehovah was the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ making an Old Testament appearance on earth to whom the invisible Yehovah in heaven, God the Father, committed all judgment. It was the visible Yehovah who promised Abraham and Sarah a son and that through his seed, referring to a future descendent—Jesus Christ (Gal 3:16), that all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

Moses Recorded in Exodus 14:19,

"And the Angel-of-Elohim, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them."

!yhila>h; &a'l]m' Angel-of-Elohim²⁸⁵ is another expression of Angel-of-Yehovah, Elohim being the term for God in Hebrew, making Elohim and Yehovah synonymous. In this passage Moses tells us that the Angel-of-God went before them to guide them and behind them to protect them. Paul tells us that this Angel-of-Yehovah was Jesus Christ:

"For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ." (1 Corinthians 10:1-4)

See and study the other passages mentioned in the bibliography reference 498.

Word-of-Yehovah — hwhyArbd

Zechariah 12:1 states, "The burden of the Word-of-Yehovah concerning Israel. Thus declares Yehovah who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him."

The Apostle John tells us in John 1:1

"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. . . . And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-3, 14)

The Apostle John tells us in John 1:1 that in the beginning of eternity past was the Word and the word was with God and the Word, he tells us, was God, qeo;" h\\n oJ lovgo". Logos (logo"), the subject of the sentence, in the Greek is the word used here translated Word. The word God, which is theos (qeo;") in Greek, is a predicate nominative. We know it is a predicate nominative because there is no article (oJ: a, the) in front of it and it follows a verb to be —was (h\\n). In Greek, however, the subject always has an article in front of it as Logos does (oJ lovgo"). A predicate nominative’s job is to describe the subject. In this case it tells us who the Word, Logos, is. John tells us that the Logos is God.

The Watchtower of the Jehovah Witnesses translates the word Theos in John 1:1 in their New World Translation: "a god." The obvious implication is that the Logos is not God but a lord or ruler under God. Concerning this Walter Martin in his book, The Kingdom of the Cults, explains the following:

"Contrary to the translations of the Emphatic Diaglott and the New World Translation the Greek grammatical construction leaves no doubt whatsoever that this [the Word was God] is the only possible rendering of the text. The subject of the sentence is Word (Logos), the verb, was. There can be no direct object following was since according to gram-matical usage intransitive verbs take no objects but take instead predicate nominatives which refer back to the subject, in this case, Word (Logos). (Colwell’s rule clearly states that a definite predicate nominative (Theos — God) never takes an article when it precedes the verb (was) as in John 1:1). It is therefore easy to see that no article is needed for Theos (God) and to translate it ‘a god’ is both incorrect grammar and poor Greek since Theos is the predicate nominative of was in the third sentence-clause of the verse and must refer back to the subject, Word (Logos). Christ then if He is the Word ‘made flesh’ (John 1:14) can be no one else except God unless the Greek text and consequently God"s Word be denied."^466/75

Next, John tells us that the Word God did something:

"And the logos became flesh, and dwelt among us." (John 1:14).

This Logos is the Word-of-Yehovah Zechariah tells us about in Zechariah 1:1. Zechariah also tells us that the Word-of-Yehovah created the heavens and the earth which is also what John tells us the Word of God did in John 1:3. Zechariah tells us that the burden of the Word-of-Yehovah came to him and that Yehovah then said to him. . . . Zechariah calls the Word-of-Yehovah — Yehovah; thus declaring the Word-of-Yehovah — God. A study of Zechariah Chapters 12-14 will show clearly that it is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, that is being discussed here. This confirms to us that the Word of God John talks about in John 1:1 is indeed Yehovah God, the Word-of-Yehovah Zechariah talks about in the Old Testament. Jesus Christ is Yehovah God in the flesh. Any time you see the Word-of-Yehovah mentioned in the Old Testament it is referring to Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity.

John does not tells us that God put on humanity or possessed a living human being, but that God BECAME a 100% living human being Himself. The Logos that became a 100% living breathing human being was the man Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Thus in doing so the Word-of-Yehovah did not stop being God but added a human nature to His Divine nature.

God is one composed of three persons: the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ makes up a part of the Godhead and is equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Neither one of them alone completes the God-head. The three together make the one God. Dale Moody in his book, The Word of Truth states, "God is Father, Son and Spirit in eternal rela-tions."³⁴⁶ God is one essence manifested in three individual consciously aware persons. God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit all have the same attributes of God. They have all knowledge, all power and are transcendent throughout the universe. How are they then indi-viduals? They are individuals because their response and experience of their knowledge is individual which makes their experience of each other and the universe unique. They are one in their objective knowledge, but individually unique in their subjective response to that knowledge and the universe they created. Because God the Son became flesh, His Divine nature took on a human nature and now Jesus Christ of Nazareth is both fully God and fully man while remaining one person, and will remain this way throughout eternity.

John also tells us in John 1:3, "All things came into being by Him, and apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being." The third thing John tells us about Jesus is that there is nothing that exists that was not created by Him. Jesus is the creator of all things. The Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians 1:15-16,

"And he is the image²⁸¹ of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. 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."

Paul tells us the following about Jesus in this passage:

First, that Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
Second, that Jesus is the first born of all creation.
Third, that all things were created by Jesus.
Fourth, that Jesus existed before anything else existed.
And Fifth, that all things are held together by Jesus.

Paul tells us that Jesus is the image of the invisible God.²⁸¹ In Colossians 2:9 he tells us that all the fullness of Deity dwells in Jesus in bodily form. When Paul tells us that Jesus is the image of God in bodily form he is not talking about what Jesus looked like but in his essence and nature. Jesus put it to the Apostle Philip in John 14:9 this way: He said, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, ‘Show us the Father’?" We know Jesus is not talking about his physical form because in John 4:23-24 Jesus tells us,

"But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall wor-ship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Jesus tells us that God the Father is Spirit, not flesh. The Apostle John clarifies this much better for us in John 1:18 when He tells us, "No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him." Here again John tells us that Jesus is God. The writer of Hebrews further clarifies this for us in Hebrews 1:3. He states,

"And He is the reflected-brightness²⁸² of His glory and the exact-image²⁸³ of His essence,²⁶⁹ and upholds all things by the word of His power."

H.D. McDonald writes concerning this passage in his book, Jesus Human and Divine:

"The word translated ‘express image’ (AV) is character; from which we derive our English word ‘character’; and the word for ‘person’ is hypostaseos which has the idea of essence. Thus is the Son of God the very character of God’s essential being. . . . Jesus is God thrown on the screen of human life"^474/72

The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the reflected-brightness³⁰⁷ of the glory of God which means that He is the exact-image³⁰⁸ of His es-sence.³⁹⁷ In other words, Jesus is God in all His substance, nature and character. He is the exact image of the Father. The writer of Hebrews tells us that God the Father states about Jesus, "But of the Son He says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.’" (Heb 1:8)

Jesus-God perfectly represents Father-God in all that He says and does. If you want to know what God the Father is like, get to know Jesus. God the Father healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, opened the eyes of the blind, fed the multitudes, had compassion for the multitudes and it was He who sent Jesus to become Man so He could pay sin’s penalty in His own flesh on the cross for us in our place. This is who God is and what he is like: Jesus! Jesus tells us in John 5:19,

"Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner."

Jesus does nothing except what He sees God the Father doing, so to see Jesus is to see the Father; that is whatever Jesus is doing is what the Father is doing. To know what Jesus is like is to know what the Father is like. To know what Jesus is doing is to know what God the Father is doing and thus to know what God is like. Do You want to know what God is like? Study the life, character and deeds of Jesus. This is who and what God is like and what God is doing: Jesus Christ!

Jesus Is Yehovah — h/hy "I AM"

As we have already discussed the significance of the name Jesus is that it means Yehovah is Savior. Yehovah is the name God gave to Moses in Exodus 3:14. Moses asked God what answer he was to give to the Israelites when they would ask him who had sent him to lead them out of slavery from Egypt. The answer was to tell them that Yehovah had sent him. Yehovah is a form of the Hebrew verb to be and means "I am that I am." God told Moses to tell the Israelites that I AM has sent you. God speaking through Isaiah in Isaiah 43:10-13 tells us about Himself,

"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 EL²⁹⁴ formed³⁰³ and there will be none after Me. I, even I, am Yehovah; and there is NO SAVIOR besides Me. . . . So you are My witnesses," declares Yehovah, "And I am El. Even from eternity I am He."

Yehovah God tells us several things about Himself in this passage:

Before Him there was no God formed.
Two, there will be no God formed after Him.
Three, that there is no Savior besides Him.
Four, that His existence is from eternity past.

This passage forever dispels the myth that a created man can become God as is taught by Mormonism and other 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.

Yehovah tells us something else about Himself. He states, "...there is no Savior besides me." Yehovah God tells us that He also is the only Savior that exists.

The Angel of the Lord tells Joseph to name the child Jesus because he, the baby Jesus, will Save man from his sins. Matthew and the angel of the Lord tell us that Jesus is Yehovah God who will save us from our sins. Jesus is God and Jesus is Savior. Jesus is Yehovah God of the Old Test-ament who became human flesh, man, to save us from our sins. Yehovah God tells us that He is from eternity and Isaiah in Isaiah 9:6 tells us that Jesus is the Father of eternity. Jesus is Yehovah God because only Yehovah God is Savior and Jesus is our Savior. Yehovah God of the Old Testament and Jesus Christ of the New Testament are one and the same person. Jesus is Yehovah God our creator and Savior. That is the mean-ing and significance of the name Jesus.

We have already established that Jesus is the one through whom all things that exist were created. Jesus is our creator. Jeremiah the prophet records about Yehovah,

"Ah Lord Yehovah! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You." (Jer 32:17)

Yehovah God later states in Response, "Yehovah who made the earth, Yehovah who formed it to establish it, Yehovah is His name." (Jer 33:2). Isaiah the prophet records Yehovah God as saying, "But now, thus says Yehovah, your Creator. . . . I am Yehovah your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." (Isaiah 43:1, 3). Jeremiah and Isaiah tell us that Yehovah God is the Creator and the Savior and since Yehovah God tell us that He alone is God and Savior, for Jesus to claim to be the Creator and Savior of man is for Jesus to claim to be Yehovah God, the Creator and Savior, in the flesh.

Jehovah Witnesses will tell you that Yehovah created through Jesus, but that Jesus is not Yehovah. However, Yehovah speaking through Isaiah in Isaiah 44:24 states: "I, Yehovah, am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself, and spreading out the earth all alone.’" Yehovah makes plain He created all things by Himself, not through anyone. Jesus is Yehovah God, the second Person of the Trinity, our Creator and Savior.

JESUS’ CLAIM TO DEITY
THROUGH PRE-EXISTENCE

The second thing Paul said about Jesus in Colossians 1:15-16 was that He is the firstborn of all creation. Some people try to say this proves Jesus had a beginning, that He was created just like you and I. It is true that Jesus’ humanity had a beginning. This is clearly recorded for us in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. But Jesus the Logos, God, did not have a beginning.

Besides the fact that the very context of this statement, "...before all things," contradicts this interpretation, we must understand that in Hebrew culture the word firstborn has a much deeper meaning than to mean the first child to be born in a family. When a son was called the firstborn in Hebrew culture, it had nothing to do with whether he was the firstborn physically or not. The term was used to mean preeminence. For example, Jacob in the Old Testament would be called the firstborn even though His brother Esau was the actual firstborn physically. This was because Jacob was the one who received his father’s inheritance. Jacob had preeminence over Esau when it came to their father’s inheritance. David was the youngest in His family, but God declares in Psalm 89:27 that He places him as the firstborn, firstborn meaning preeminence in position, as the king of the earth. Therefore, when Paul tells us that Jesus was the firstborn of all creation he means that Jesus has preeminence over all creation. He further clarifies this when he tells us in this same passage following this statement, "For by Him all things were created." He further clarifies it in the next verse when he says, "And He was before all things." Note the word all. The word all, pavntwn³⁴⁸ in the Greek in verse 17 is without the article and is therefore all inclusive. Jesus was not created and therefore existed before all things that were created. This is why he is the firstborn of all creation or rather has preeminence over all because he existed before anything created existed. Jesus is not a created being, He is from all eternity. Several Old Testament passages in the Bible also confirm Jesus’ Deity and eternal preexistence:

"But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, 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)

The prophet Micah, writing in Micah 5:2, recording Yehovah’s words, gives not only the birthplace of Christ (which the Jews affirmed as being the City of David, Bethlehem), but he gives a clue as to His identity—namely God in human form. The term goings forth can be rendered origin.²⁷³ The only one who fits this description, whose origin is "from everlasting" is God Himself. This is because He alone is the eternally existing One (Isaiah 44:6, 8).

Isaiah prophecies about Jesus when he says in Isaiah 9:6,

"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 Won-derful Counselor, Mighty-God, Father-of-Eternity, Prince-of-Peace."^304-308

Here again Isaiah confirms Jesus’ Deity and eternal existence by telling us that Jesus is the Father of Eternity.

JESUS’ ENEMIES CLAIMED
HE CLAIMED TO BE GOD

Jesus’ enemies claimed He claimed to be God. In John 5:17-18 Jesus said,

"‘My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.’ For this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself EQUAL with God."

The Jews would know. Jesus was a Jew speaking their language and they understood Jesus to say clearly that he was of the same substance as God the Father, thus equal with God, thus God himself.

Jesus said, recorded in John 8:58, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM." Jesus said, recorded in John 8:23-24,

"You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins; for unless you believe that I AM, you shall die in your sins."

Jesus tells the Jews in these passages that their origination is on this planet Earth; but concerning Himself, Jesus states that His origin is not from this Earth. He states that He is from above, Heaven.⁴⁶⁷ Then Jesus tells them that unless they believe that He is the I Am that they will die in their sins.

What does Jesus mean by I Am? To understand this we have to go into the Greek. What is the word in Greek for I am? The word is eijmiv. But what is the Greek words John uses here? The words John uses for I Am are ejgwv eijmiv. John uses two words. The first word ejgwv from which we get the word ego is the word for I in Greek. What is the significance of John using these two words together instead of just the Greek word eijmiv which by itself alone means I am? It goes back to the translation of the Old Testa-ment into what is called the Greek Septuagint. The term Septuagint means seventy.

During the reign of King Ptolemy Philadelphia of Egypt (285-246 B.C.) the Jews were a scattered people. F. F. Bruce in his work, Revelation and the Bible, explains how the Greek Septuagint came about:

"Demetrius of Phalerum, the Librarian of King Ptolemy, convinced the King to send a delegation to Eleazer, the Jewish High priest at the time. The High Priest picked six translators from each of the twelve tribes of Israel and sent them with an accurate parchment of the Torah. They were given residence in a house on the Island of Pharos where in seventy-two days they completed their task of translating the Pentateuch into Greek. As a result they presented a version that had been agreed upon as a result of conference and comparison"^466/146-147

When these scholars translated the Hebrew Old Testament into the Greek Septuagint, whenever they came across the word Yehovah, to signify that this was the name for God in the Greek, instead of translating it just eijmiv they would translate it ejgwv eijmiv so the reader would know it was referring to Yehovah. In other words, when Jesus said to the Jews in Hebrew, "Unless You believe that I AM, you shall die in your sins," He wasn’t referring to the fact that He was the promised Messiah, but rather unless they believed He was Yehovah Himself, Moses’ God in the flesh, they would die in their sins.

Some people try to say that if You just believe in the person of Jesus without believing in His Deity as well you can still be saved. Not according to Jesus. Jesus made it plain that His Deity was not up for debate. It is a necessary part of the faith confession for salvation. To say that You believe that Jesus is the Son of God come in the flesh is to say that You believe that Jesus is Yehovah God in the flesh. The Apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:1-3

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God."

In John 10:22-42 the feast of dedication is taking place in Jerusalem. Jesus is in the temple at this time and the Jews surround him and say to him, "If You are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus tells them in response, "I told you and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these bear witness of Me." His first indication to the Jews that He is claiming to be God is that he calls God his Father. He does not say "Our Father," He says "My Father." Jesus then goes on to tell them that he can give a man eternal life (v. 28), but the real clincher comes in verse 30, "I and the Father are one." The word one in Greek is the neuter hen (e{n) not the masculine heis (ei;") as is used in Galatians 3:28 when it says we are one in Christ. Jesus using the neuter term strengthens the emphasis of one essence with the Father. How do we know this is true? Because of the response of the Jews that followed:

"Jesus said, ‘I and the Father are one.’ The Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, ‘I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?’ The Jews answered Him, ‘For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because you, being a man, make yourself out TO BE GOD.’" (John 10:30-33)

Again, we have to understand that Jesus a Jew was talking to Jews in their language and they understood Jesus to say not just one in philosophy with the Father, not just one in purpose, but literally one (e{n) in essence; thus, Yehovah God Himself in the flesh.

Is this confirmed in other Gospels? Yes. Matthew records the following in Matthew 21:15-16,

"But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he had done, and the children who were crying out in the temple and 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?"’"³⁰²

What has Jesus just said? Jesus quoted this passage from Psalm 8 where the passage is prefaced with, "Yehovah, our Adonai [Lord]..." The passage Jesus claimed for Himself in Psalm 8 is referring to Yehovah God. Often Jehovah Witnesses will claim that there is no direct statement of Jesus claiming to be Jehovah-God. Matthew 21:15-16 is a clear state-ment of Jesus claiming to be not just a god, but Jehovah-God. The Jews were understandably infuriated with Jesus, that is if Jesus where only a man. In this passage Jesus gave them a straightforward claim to be their Yehovah-God before them in the flesh. Another passage where Jesus made a straightforward statement to be Yehovah God in the flesh is John 5:46-47. In this passage Jesus claims that Moses is writing about Him in His books: Yehovah-God.

Another Gospel passage is found in Luke Chapter 8. Jesus has just delivered a demoniac from demon possession and has healed the man. The man is so grateful that He asks Jesus to allow him to be one of His disciples and to go where He goes. Jesus said to the man in response, "Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you." Luke then adds, "And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him." (Luke 8:39, Mark: 5:18-20). Jesus told him to tell everyone what great things God had done for him. What does he do in response? He tells everyone what great things Jesus, God, has done for him.

JESUS’ CLAIM TO DEITY
THROUGH CREATION — ktisi"

"All things came into being by Him, and apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being." (John 1:3).

The Apostle John tells us that Jesus is the creator of all that is. We owe our existence to Jesus. John tells us that there is nothing that exists that Jesus did not create. This is confirmed over and over again throughout the New testament. We already quoted Colossians 1:16 which tells us that not only did He create all things but that all things were created for Him and His pleasure. The writer of the Book of Hebrews tells us,

"God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 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." (Heb 1:1-2)

Getting back to the passage in Colossians, the last thing Paul tells us is that in Jesus "...all things hold together." The writer of the Book of Hebrews reaffirms this in Hebrews 1:3. He states that Jesus, "...upholds all things by the word of His power."

I have a degree in Electronic Technology. While going through this degree we studied the atom. The atom is composed of electrons, neutrons and protons basically speaking. Protons are of a like charge.

Like charges cannot co-exist together because they repel each other. As our teacher was explaining this to us, he said, "Science cannot explain how this is possible." I could not help myself. I rose my hand. He said , "Yes Dale?" I said, "I know what holds the nucleus of the atom together!" With a snicker and a mocking smile, he said, "Oh! And what is that Dale?" I answered, "The Bible states that Jesus holds the nucleus of the atom together." "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" I love being a fool for Jesus. They had a good laugh, but it is the truth. If Jesus where to take His mind off the atom for one second, the universe, you and I would disintegrate into trillions of protons and neutrons and electrons. Life would end as we know it. It makes sense that if Jesus created all things then He must be the glue of the atom that holds it together.

With what kind of power does Jesus hold this nucleus together? Have you ever seen a nuclear explosion take place and know what it takes to create a nuclear explosion? John goes on to tell us in John 1:10-11, "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him."

JESUS’ CLAIM TO DEITY
THROUGH RECEIVING WORSHIP — proskunew

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.⁴⁷⁴

Jesus said to Satan in response, "Begone Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only’" The word for worship in the Greek is proskunevw²⁷⁸. 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."^272/11

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."^273/11

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 sig-nificance of the High Priest tearing his robe. The High Priest by Law²⁷⁹ was forbidden to tear his robe except for the charge of blasphemy: a person claiming to be God. The sentence according to the Levitical Law²⁸⁰ 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."^274/25 And what was that ad-mission? 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."^275/299-300

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)."^272/11

"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.

JESUS’ OTHER CLAIMS TO DEITY

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:

First, He claims that the Father has given ALL JUDGMENT to Him.
Second, He claims that the Father has done this so that all will honor the Son EVEN AS they are to honor the Father.
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 Him-self, 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.

John 8:31-51

Jesus said that the people who are truly His disciples are the ones who abide in His Words. He said that the ones who would abide in His words would know the truth and that knowing the truth would set them free.

When the Jews heard this they said that they were Abraham’s seed and that they were enslaved to no one. Jesus explained back to them that the one who practices sin is the slave of sin. Jesus further explained that the Son will remain in the House of God forever, but that the person who is a slave of sin would not. He then went on to say that the only person who can set us free from slavery to sin is Himself and that when he does we are truly free.

Jesus then asked them if anyone of them could convict Him of sin. Since they could not and since He was speaking the truth, He asked them why they did not believe in Him. Jesus then told them that the person who is of God hears the Words of God. He then told them that they were not able to receive what He was saying because they were not of God. In making this statement Jesus was declaring to them that He was God.

As a result, in response, they told Jesus He had a demon. Jesus re-sponded back by saying that the one who would keep His Word (notice His word, God’s Word) would not see death (spiritual death). Under-standing that He was again claiming to be Yehovah God they again accused Him of being demon possessed.

They said that Abraham and the Prophets had died and wanted to know If He thought He was greater than them. They wanted to know who He made Himself out to be. They wanted Him to state it clearly straight-forwardly. Jesus told them in response that Abraham leaped for joy when he saw the day Jesus became a man to save men from their sins. The Jews said in Response, "You are not yet fifty years old (in His humanity), and have you seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them in response, "Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham came into being, I AM." He used the name in Hebrew for Yehovah God, given here in John in the Greek Formula ejgwv eijmiv. How do we know this was what He meant? We know Because the next thing the Jews did was pick up stones to stone Jesus because they clearly straightforwardly heard Him say He was Yehovah God. Leviticus 24:16 stated plainly that the penalty for blasphemy was death by stoning. They were giving Jesus a proper response if He were only a man. In response, John tells us that Jesus was hidden and went forth out of the Temple unharmed.

Jesus talks about His Divinity in John 5:20-21,

"For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and greater works than these will He show Him, that you may marvel. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes."

In this passage Jesus states that He is completely aware of everything the Father is doing. Only Divinity has infinite capacity mentally and intellectually. Jesus raises men from the dead and gives life to whom He wishes. Only Divinity can create life and give it back again. Josh Mcdowell in His book Evidence That Demands a Verdict states,

"Jesus claimed to be God, He did not leave any other options. His claim to be God must be either true or false. . . . If, when Jesus made His claims he knew that he was not God, then he was lying. But, if He was a liar, then he was also a hypocrite because He told others to be honest, whatever the cost, while Himself teaching and living a colossal lie. And more than that, He was a demon, because he told others to trust Him for their eternal destiny. If He could not back up His claims and knew it, then He was unspeakably evil. Last he would also be a fool, because it was his claims to being God that led to His crucifixion."^34/104-105

C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity said the following about Jesus’ claims to Deity,

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse."^276/40-41

"You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."^276/40-41

"No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him." (John 1:18)

John the Apostle states that no man at any time has seen the Father. Jesus Himself in John 5:37 stated that no man has at any time seen God the Father’s form or heard his voice. Jesus further tells us in John 4:24 that God is a Spirit. Yet, Abraham in Genesis 18 has three visitors from heaven: two were angels and the third he refers to fourteen times as Yehovah. If no man has ever seen God the Father or heard his voice then Yehovah must be Jesus Christ. John tells us in John 1:18 that Jesus Christ, Yehovah God, has revealed to us the Father. Genesis 19:24 tells us, "Then Yehovah rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yehovah out of heaven." Walter Martin states,

"Moses here reveals a glimpse of the composite unity in the Triune God. . . . This unquestionably is the only solution to this dilemma. God the Father rained fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, and God the Son spoke and ate with Abraham and Sarah. Two persons... are both called ‘Yehovah’ (Genesis 18:21, 19:24; Isaiah 9:6; Micah 5:2), and both are ‘one’ (Echod) with the Holy Spirit in ‘composite unity’ (Deut 6:4). God the Father was in heaven, God the Son died on the cross, God the Holy Spirit comforts the Church till Jesus shall come again."^271/62

"For this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself EQUAL with God." (John 5:18)

Jesus was a Jew talking to Jews and the Jews clearly understood in their language and culture that Jesus was calling Himself God, equal with God the Father. Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible defines i[son (ison) as "Equal to, the Same as"^5/205 Walter Martin in Kingdom of the Cults gives the following discussion on ison,

"The Greek word for equal is ison, which according to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon (p. 307), an acknowledged authority, means ‘equal in quality as in quantity, to claim for one’s self the Nature, rank, authority, which belong to God’ (John 5:18). Dr. Thayer... was a Unitarian who denied Christ’s Deity;... yet, being honest, he gave the true meaning of the Biblical terms even though they contradicted his views."^271/58

From this study it is clear that Jesus and his followers declared straight-forwardly that Jesus was Yehovah God in the flesh. It is also clear that by the response of His enemies that they believed Jesus to claim He was Yehovah God in the flesh and thus why they hanged him on the cross.

The significance of Jesus’ crucifixion is that it both justifies us before God and justifies God’s condemnation of man to hell forever if man rejects Jesus, Yehovah God. Some people say, "How can a good God condemn anyone to hell?" You judge for yourself: God the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He loved us, healed us, fed us and forgave us for our sins. What did we as man do in response? We rejected God and tried to kill Him by putting His humanity on a cross. Man’s killing of God’s humanity justifies God’s condemnation of man to hell. At the same time God tells us in His Word that all we have to do to be saved from hell and go to heaven is believe that Jesus Christ is Yehovah God His Son hanging on that cross and He will forgive us our sins and receive us into His dwellings in Heaven. Jesus said,

"And no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, even the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His ONLY begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. . . . He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed IN THE NAME of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil." (John 3:13-19)

All you have to do to be saved is believe that Jesus is God’s Son, Yehovah God, who came down out of heaven and became flesh, and that His death on the cross was for your sins. You personalize this by opening up and surrendering your heart to Jesus and allowing Him to come into Your heart. Jesus said in Revelation 3:20,

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him, and will dine with him, and he with Me."

If You reject Jesus Christ, His death on the cross rather than being your means of salvation becomes God’s just reason for condemning you to hell.

If You want to have eternal life and go to heaven, You must receive Jesus Christ as Your Savior and Lord. As Savior means Savior from Sins penalty, death, for you on the cross; as Lord means as Yehovah God Your Creator and Redeemer. If you believe that Jesus is Yehovah God the Son who became man and died for Your sins, then pray the following prayer right now and receive Him as Your Savior and Lord:

Jesus, I believe that You are the Son of God who became man and died on the cross for my sins. I confess to You that I am a sinner and repent of my known sins. I ask You now to come into my heart as Savior from my sins and as Lord of my life. Heavenly Father, thank You for forgiving my sins through Your Son’s death and shed blood on the cross and that I now have eternal life. Now take control of my life, and through Your Holy Spirit lead me into your will and plan for my life; in Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth’s name, amen.

If you responded to this prayer for salvation and received Jesus as Savior and Lord then God’s Word states that I can declare to you the following:

One, you are saved, you have eternal life and you ARE going to heaven (1 John 5:11-13, Col 1:27).
Two, you have been adopted as God’s child (John 1:12).
Three, you have just begun Jesus’ present and eternal purpose and plan for your life (John 10:10, 14:6).

It took the Church 451 years to understand fully all that the Scripture taught about Jesus being fully God and fully man. This understanding was clearly spelled out in what is called The Nicene Creed of the Council of Nicea 325 AD, The Chalcedonian Creed of the Council of Chalcedon 451 AD and The Athanasian Creed 400-500 AD.

Historical Creeds

Nicene Creed

We believe in one God, the FATHER Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord JESUS CHRIST, the Son of God, begotten of the Father [the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father God of God], Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance (oJmoousion, homoousion)⁴⁷⁸ with the Father; by whom all things were made [both in heaven and on earth]; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man; he suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

And in the HOLY GHOST.^{445/Vol.1/28-29}

Chalcedonian Creed

Therefore, following the Holy Fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in Manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his Manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his Manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only begotten, recognized IN TWO NATURES, WITHOUT CONFUSION, WITHOUT CHANGE, WITHOUT DIVISION, WITHOUT SEPARATION; the distinction of natures being inno way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the Fathers has handed down to us.³⁴⁶

Athanasian Creed

Whoever wills to be in a state of salvation, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic [apostolic/universal] faith, which except everyone shall have kept whole and undefiled without doubt he will perish eternally.

Now the catholic faith is that we worship One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is One, the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal.

Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit; the Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated; the father infinite, the Son infinite, and the Holy Spirit infinite; the Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet not three eternals but one eternal, as also not three infinites, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one infinite. So, likewise, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty; and yet not three almighties but one almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God; and yet not three Gods but one God. So the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; and yet not three Lords but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by Christian truth to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be both God and Lord; so are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say, there be three Gods or three Lords.

The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, nod made nor created but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and the Son, not made nor created nor begotten but proceeding. So there is one Father not three Fathers, one Son not three Sons, and Holy Spirit not three Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity there is nothing before or after, nothing greater or less, but the whole three Persons are coeternal together and coequal.

So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity is to be worshipped. He therefore who wills to be in a state of salvation, let him think thus of the Trinity.

But it is necessary to eternal salvation that he also believe faithfully the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. The right faith therefore is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man.

He is God of the substance of the Father begotten before the worlds, and He is man of the substance of His mother born in the world; perfect God, perfect man subsisting of a reasoning soul and human flesh; equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, inferior to the Father as touching His Manhood.

Who although He be God and Man yet He is not two but one Christ; one however not by conversion of the GodHead in the flesh, but by taking of the Manhood in God; one altogether not by confusion of substance but by unity of Person. For as the reasoning soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ.

Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life eternal, and they who indeed have done evil into eternal fire.

This is the catholic faith, which except a man shall have believed faithfully and firmly he cannot be in a state of salvation.²⁸⁶

^{*For Further Information on Our
Salvation in Jesus}

^{Understanding Your Salvation in Jesus}