Jehovah’s True Witnesses Agree:
JESUS IS GOD!
introduction
There is no question in my mind about the humanity of Jesus of Nazareth. Nor do I doubt the existence of what we have called “trinity”, a 3-in-one concept of the Godhead. In the case of this study I should speak of two-ness rather than three, for I center on the Son, and His identity with the Father. And in making that statement I am admitting a distinction between the two.
But there is a growing discomfort with the idea of two as we understand that numeral, as the Person of Jesus Christ the Lord is studied in detail throughout Scripture. One gradually and then fully realizes that two just won’t do. Yes, the distinction is there. Yes, a Father and a Son. Multitudes of passages point out the difference. But quite a number say the other truth, too: “I and My Father are one.” “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” “And His Name shall be called ...the Prince of Peace...the everlasting Father!”
It is this aspect of our marvelous Lord that I wish to trace through Scripture. What a sublime mystery unfolds before us. And unlike some mysteries of Scripture that unfold themselves at last upon careful scrutiny, this one stays intact from start to finish as an enigma that shall not be solved until we have the mental equipment, viz., our glorified bodies, to comprehend it. And not even then...
This Jesus. This wonderful Jesus. He is indeed a man. A perfect sinless man. He is also the very Son of God. But that phrase can lend itself to “interpretations” and “explanations” . After all, are not we sons of God, also? one will be asked. Therefore let us proclaim this accompanying truth: Jesus is GOD, the Son. No explanation, no interpretation. Let it stand! The Biblical proof is overwhelming.
This revelation of the identity of Jesus Christ is the only antidote one needs for the religious scourges that are upon the earth today in the name of God. If Jesus is Divine, Islam can stand no more. If Jesus is God, there is no more Mormonism or Watchtower Society. If Jesus is Who He says He is, all cults and all other religions are out the door. What a critical truth to is this.
Here is the proof of which I was speaking, in nearly every book of your Bible:
FROM MOSES:
GENESIS
1. The Creator
1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” says the Holy Spirit through witness one, Moses. But another witness, John, under that same Holy Spirit says in his Gospel, 1:3, “All things were made by Him (referring to the Word in verse 1) and without Him was not anything made...”
Paul chimes in, to the Colossians, 1:16, that the Firstborn, the Head of the body, the church is the One by Whom all things were created! And the writer of Hebrews, in an attempt to show the superiority of Christ over the angels, quotes the Psalmist as though the Father were speaking to the Son: “Thou, LORD, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth!”
But wait! Who is “the Lord” who speaks to Job in that book (38:4)? Whoever He is, He challenges Job with the same words: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?” “God” did it. Jesus did it. “The Lord” did it.
And who are the 24 elders worshipping in Revelation 4:11, when they proclaim the worthiness of the One Who “hast created all things”? Although in the very next chapter we see the “Lamb” interacting with One on the throne, in this chapter we see only the throne. And on that throne the one God. The Creator. The Word. The Firstborn.
All told, in creation, Jesus is God. The Lord, God, the Word. Jesus.
2. One in plurality
11:7 speaks of “us” as the singular God is speaking. “Let Us go down, and there confound their language,” says God to God. But 11:8 reads, “So the Lord (singular!) scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth.
Insights like this let us know that our God, though He is One, is more than “one” as we reckon numbers.
God the Father speaks to God the Son, Jesus.
As a member of the Godhead, Jesus is God.
3. The Almighty God
We have become comfortable with assuming that everything that happens Divinely in the Old Covenant happens because of God the Father, the One we call variously Jahweh, Jehovah, or some such name. But with this title, translated "Lord", Moses introduces us to the fact that there is a constant overlapping of Father and Son. Yes, One called “the Lord” introduces Himself to Abraham thus: (17:1) “I am the Almighty God...”
But a quick trip to the other end of your Bible will bring you face to face with Jesus Christ, who appears to John in the book of Revelation, and says in 1:8, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord ...the Almighty.”
What a presumptuous title for someone to take. Unless that Someone truly is God. What other conclusion can be drawn?
In His might, Jesus is God.
EXODUS
4.The “I AM”
God was patiently answering Moses’ barrage of excuses, you recall. One of them involved the identification of this God who was sending him to Israel. God’s reply is classic Jewish -and now Christian - theology: (3:14) “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”
1,500 years passed before a Personage in Scripture ever applied that Name to Himself. In John 8:24, Jesus of Nazareth is dealing with some Jews who similarly want to know Who He is. “...if ye believe not that I AM, ye shall die in your sins,” said He. The King James conveniently adds a “he” at the end of the verse, but this blocks the intended significance. The Jews understood that he had just said the un-sayable I AM, but didn’t catch what He meant, and asked, “Who art Thou?” In the course of the ensuing explanation, v. 28, Jesus says again, “When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then ye shall know that I AM...”
Still no response. More dialogue. Finally, at the end of chapter 8, they get it: “Before Abraham was, I AM. Then they took up stones to cast at Him.” He had blasphemed. He had used the Holy Name for God, and even applied it to Himself!
HE IS. No more can be said about Him. Jesus simply is , just like His Father.
5. The One Who Reigns Forever
15:18 states simply, “The Lord shall reign forever and ever.” The sons of Korah echo this sentiment in Psalm 45:6, where they say, “Thy Throne, O God, is forever and ever...” But wait! The Spirit-inspired writer of Hebrews uses that quote from Psalms as a message from God to His Son! (1:8)
And, speaking of Jesus alone, Gabriel announces (Luke 1:33) that “He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.”
The mystery is consistently confounding in the Revelation of John, 11:15. The seventh angel prompts this response in heaven: “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ;” (both? two separate persons? read on...) “and He shall reign forever and ever.” There it is again! Just when you think the writer has a “2” in mind, the great “1” appears.
The Lord shall reign forever and ever! The Lord God, that is. And Jesus is that God!
6. Author of a Book
32:33 . The Lord tells Moses, “Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My Book.” So there is a Divine Record Book, containing the names of those in favor with God. Un-forgiven sinners are blotted out of that Book. Is this not the same Book that is opened in Revelation 20:12 and 15? “And another book was opened, which is the book of life... and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Sounds the same to me. But in the next chapter, verse 27, John says that that book, the book of life , belongs to the Lamb.
And the Lamb is Jesus. God has a Book. Jesus has a Book. It's the same Book. It's the same God. Jesus is that God.
7. The Unapproachable One
40:34-35. “Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent....because [of]...the glory of the Lord.” Reminiscent of scenes on Mount Sinai, and before, at the burning bush. A God so radiant and powerful that to be truly “in His presence” is to be annihilated. Awesome God!
But who is this Jesus spoken of by the apostle Paul in his first letter to Timothy (6:16), who is “dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto” ? Is He not this same God? Ah, but what of His condescension to become one of us, and lay aside His glory? An even more awesome thought, that He can lay it down, along with His life, at will. This He did for 33 years. But approach Him in His glory uninvited now and you will realize as does Paul here that no one has really seen this Mighty God.
In His flesh, our Mediator and Saviour. But forget it not, in the unapproachable nature of the Light radiating from His Person, Jesus is GOD!
LEVITICUS
8. The Holy One
11:44-45 Twice in rapid succession the God of Israel tells the Jewish nation, “Ye shall be holy, for I am holy.” The Spirit that exudes from this God is called the Holy Spirit. Not the Happy or the Mighty but the Holy. Those filled with Holy Spirit are holy people!
Isaiah sees the Lord as holy, and the angels of His vision thrice use the word in their classic proclamation: (6:3) “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts!”
And Jesus? Is He ever referred to as holy? (Acts 2:27) Peter quotes David’s famous words, “ Thou wilt not leave My (Jesus’) soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption.” Peter again, in Acts 3:14 says, But ye (Jews) denied the Holy One (Jesus)...and desired a murderer (Barabbas) to be granted unto you.”
Granted, all of God's people are to be holy. But this Jesus is the holy one. There is only one holy. God.
In a passage that in many ways parallels Isaiah’s scene, John the Revelator (4:8) quotes the angels thus: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” But in 1:8 of that book, that formulation of words is applied directly to Jesus!
Yes, the “Holy Child” Jesus is also the Holy Lord Almighty! God!
DEUTERONOMY
9. The ONE God
We come to a critical passage. 6:4 says simply, “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.” We see in this most precious of Jewish Scriptures the reason that the orthodox of Jesus’ day wanted to stone Jesus. They could not accept a second God. They knew, and they were correct, that the Lord our God is one, a unity. The idea of more than one was abhorrent.
Would that they had listened to Jesus when He proclaimed His oneness with the Father, John 10:30. But it still is quite difficult for these finite minds to grasp that one plus one equals one still.
Notice again Paul’s use of the word “only” in a passage quoted above, I Timothy 6:15-16: “[Jesus Christ] is the... only Potentate, THE King of Kings...Who only hath immortality...”
Yahweh claims to be the one God. Jesus is proclaimed to be the only Potentate (source of power and authority). No conflict. It's simple. Jesus is GOD.
10. Lord of Lords
10:17 “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords...”
No question about it. The God of Moses bore such an exclusive title.
But it is also the title of the Lord Jesus Christ, written on His clothing, seen by the apostle John and recorded for us in Revelation 19:11-16: “The Word of God...hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords."
What can we say? Only that Jesus is God.
11. the Rock
32:4 “He is the Rock..” This is one of many Old Testament passages calling the Lord a rock. Like in I Samuel 2:2, where we see Hannah, in the Spirit, saying, “Neither is there any Rock like our God!”
Similarly in the New Testament we see Jesus telling Peter that the Church will be built on Peter’s rock-statement that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God (Matthew 16). Peter later tells his flock that this Jesus is the “stone which the builders disallowed...the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence...”
Paul comments that the “Rock” that followed the Israelites through the wilderness was none other than Jesus Christ! (I Corinthians 10:4)
Hannah's "Old Testament" God and Our God, Jesus... the same Rock! The same God. You cannot separate the Father and the Son!
12. Truth
The same passage as quoted above, 32:4, says that this God is “a God of truth.” I need not even remind my readers that Jesus said (John 14:6) “I am the way, the truth, and the life...” If He is not God, He is a bit out of order to make such a claim!
