CHRIST'S DIETY

How could Jesus be God? How can Jesus be God and man at the same time? That's a good question. Many have wrestled with that mystery for years. The truth is that if Jesus isn't God he's a fraud because He Himself said He is God. "If Jesus is not God, then we who worship Him are idolaters. Anything less than deity condemns Him as a liar or lunatic."(1)

Most today do not realize that Jesus claimed to be God. Most would assume that Jesus was a good man an amazing miracle worker, and a prophet of God. But when posed the question, "Is Jesus God?" they become incredulous.

The Bible clearly attests that Jesus is God in the flesh. To deduce otherwise requires one to close his eyes to the Scriptures.

The book of John begins with a bold assertion. The Word, another name for Jesus, was with God at the beginning; the Word was not only with God, the Word was God.

John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.
The same passage goes on to declare that the Word would put on the flesh — become man.
John 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

The creation account in Genesis 1 verifies John 1.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1:26 And God [singular] said, Let us [plural] make man in our [plural] image, after our likeness. (Genesis 1:1,2)
One God refers to Himself as "us." This is the first reference to the Trinity.

Hebrews 1 reveals God's viewpoint. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds
(Hebrews 1:1).
In verse six, God tells the angels to worship His son.
And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him (Hebrews 1:6).
If Jesus had not been God, God would have been requiring the angels to break one of his own commandments–"Thou shalt have no other Gods before me" (Exodus 20:3).

In Hebrews 1:8 God Himself calls Jesus God. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever (Hebrews 1:8)

Moses had and interesting experience at the burning bush. God commanded him to go back into Egypt and lead the people free. Moses asked the question, "How am I going to convince them that You, God, have really sent me?"
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?"
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. (Exodus 3:13,14)

Clearly the Hebrews understood God's own made for Himself as "I AM." Many times thereafter, God revealed Himself as I AM... and the Hebrews could fill in the blank. He was their Jehovah-Jirah (God who provides), their Jehovah-Shalom (God who gives peace), their Jehovah-Raphe (God who heals), etc. God, as their I AM, was everything they would ever need. In the book of John starting in chapter six, Jesus began revealing His deity.
He said. .
John 6:48 I am that bread of life.
John 8:12 I am the light of the world
John 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,
John 10:11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 15:5 I am the vine.
John 18:6 As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.

In the "I AM" context, one passage stands out as critical to the verification of Christ as deity.
John 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
John 8:59 Then took they up stones to cast at him:
One has to stop to consider why they picked up stones to kill Him? Only one answer will suffice. He said he was God! The Hebrews knew Jesus was quoting a passage from Isaiah 43: 12, 13– Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God. Yea, before the day was I am he. They considered his words blasphemy.

One additional passage reveals Christ's true identity. Christ appeared to "doubting" Thomas and asked him to place his finger in the nail scared hand, and to put his hand in the hole in his side. (John 20:28) Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
If Jesus wasn't truly God, it would have been blasphemy for Him to have allowed Thomas to call Him God!

He is God! No other answer can match the Scriptures.

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

"If Christ did not claim to be coequal with God, He then deliberately allowed the Jews to kill Him for what He never claimed–to kill Him for a mutual mistake, which He could have rectified by even once distinctly repudiating His deity.
"Jesus affirmed His deity and equality with God and took for Himself prerogatives appropriate only to such a position. Jesus accepted and even encouraged the titles appropriate only for God. The reaction of many who heard Him shows that they also understood that He was claiming to be God."(2)

(1) J. Oswald Sander, "Divine Savior or Deceived Saint?", Moody Monthly, April 1984, 19.
(2) Wayne A. Brindle, "Did Jesus Really Claim to Be God?", Fundamentalist Journal, December 1985, 18.