THE DEITY OF CHRIST

PART TWO

Last month we spent most of the time examining verses from the Old Testament that expressed attributes connected with JEHOVAH, the name that God specifically gave to the children of Israel as His personal and unique name for them. We also viewed New Testament passages that clearly applied these Scriptures to Jesus. This meant that the writers of the New Testament believed that Jesus was not only equal to God, but that He was the same! Otherwise, they would be guilty of blasphemy before their peers in Judaism.

In this article, I would like to emphasis the truth of the Oneness of God, and show that He also jealously guards His prerogatives as God, and will not share his attributes or His glory with another. This is extremely important when we desire to declare the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Again, if Jesus were in any way inferior to the Father, or any less  Deity than the Father or the Holy Spirit, it would have been blasphemy to insinuate that He was God!

My task today is quite easy, since the Oneness of God is clearly declared throughout the Old Testament. But it is not the difficulty of the task that is important, but the consequences of the resulting truth. If the verses I present below do indeed prove that only God is Savior, and that only God has the full Glory of God, and that there is no God except JEHOVAH, then we are again faced with the proposition that either Jesus is Who the New Testament says He is, God with us, or we have been following cunningly devised fables lo these 20 centuries, we have been woefully deceived, and we are still in our sins. That is some serious stuff!  But fear not little flock, the Word of God is sure!

I will limit our inquiry to just a few verses recorded for us in the Book of Isaiah. Isaiah is so full of verses that define and explain what Messiah will be and do, that it has often been referred to as “The Gospel of Isaiah”. Our interest today starts in Isaiah 42:8. And again I will be quoting from the American Standard Version of 1901.

  I am Jehovah, that is my name; and my glory will I not give
to another, neither my praise unto graven images.

If I may refer you back to last month’s article, we saw that JEHOVAH came from the Hebrew HAYAH, the “verb to be”. To appreciate the importance of this name given to Moses and Israel as their history under Him unfolded, it would be well to give a better word picture of what it means that “I AM”, and that “I AM THAT I AM” as revealed in Ex. 3:13,14.  Following is my own definition of God’s name and I believe it is what God wants us to know about Him:                        

“He will be, or become, all that He needs to be or become, 
in order to fulfill and do all that He must fulfill and do, 
according to the promises he has made from the day He 
called Israel unto Himself until that final Day of The Lord”

This is why we find God revealing Himself in so many ways in so many situations as He deals with Israel, culminating of course in the Incarnation and Crucifixion in which he shed His own blood for us. Acts 20:28 Do not pass lightly over this concept of God revealed in so many ways. One starting point for study is to examine some of the different Names of God in the Bible. There are whole books written on this subject of the names of God and you will usually find good articles in any worthwhile Bible Dictionary.

Another verse that is relevant to our study is Isaiah 43:3

For I am Jehovah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, 
thy Saviour; I have given Egypt as thy ransom, 
Ethiopia and Seba in thy stead.  

Several things may be gleaned from this verse. First, we see once again that the Old Testament presents the fact that JEHOVAH is God! Second, we are told that He may also be called “the Holy One of Israel”. I have listed below six verses from the New Testament that make reference to the Holy One. There can be no doubt that Jesus is that One! Third, we are to understand that this God, this Holy One, is also thy Savior! Keep that thought in mind as we continue with the next few verses. Ask yourself the question: “How many Saviors are there?”

Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my 
servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know
and believe me, and understand that I am he:
before me there was no God formed, neither shall
there be after me.I, even I, am Jehovah; and
besides me there is no saviour.

That should answer your question. In this verse, God is calling upon the people to bear witness to what He has revealed to them. As those chosen for the task, they are called upon to believe and to witness to the fact that JEHOVAH is God, the only God ever to have existed. But He is also the only Savior! Anyone who calls Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior, but questions His Deity has not understood the Word of the Prophets.

Some of the other relevant Scriptures in close proximity for your consideration are:

Isaiah 43:15 I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.

Isaiah 43:25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake; and I will not remember thy sins.

Isaiah 44:6 Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.

Isaiah 44:8 Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have I not declared unto thee of old, and showed it? and ye are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? yea, there is no Rock; I know not any.

Isaiah 44:24 Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb: I am Jehovah, that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth (who is with me?);

Isaiah 45:5,6 I am Jehovah, and there is none else; besides me there is no God. I will gird thee, though thou hast not known me that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me: I am Jehovah, and there is none else.

Isaiah 45:23 By myself have I sworn, the word is gone forth from my mouth [in] righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

The reference to “Witnesses” in 43:10 and 44:8 above are extremely important to an understanding of events as they unfold in the revelation of Jesus in the New Testament. In the Next issue of the Trumpeter, I will show just how vital witnesses were and still are as those charged with giving testimony to the Deity of Christ.  

Take time during this month of Thanksgiving to realize the magnitude of God’s plan of salvation in Jesus. Only God could have turned the impossible situation of a world without hope because of sin into a world where with God all things are possible! 

NOTES:

Ac 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

Jude 1:9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

The following verses make reference to The Holy One of Israel.

Mark 1:24 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.

Luke 4:34 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.

Acts 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Acts 3:14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;

Acts 13:35 Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.