JESUS CHRIST IS GOD (part 12)
This next argument against the fact that Jesus Christ is God gets the prestigious ‘weakest argument in the universe’ award for being so logically fallacious it veritably boggles the mind that people still try to use it as if it proved anything: ‘God cannot be tempted (see Jas. 1:13). Jesus was tempted in every way (see Heb. 4:15). Therefore Jesus cannot be God’. “This alleged contradiction has many flaws and is partially based on the same invalid assumption as the previous alleged contradiction concerning Deuteronomy 6:4. Firstly, the assumption here is that the text in James: 'Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man' refers to ‘God in human flesh’. But neither the text or the context makes any reference at all to God incarnate. Second, the text in Hebrews: 'For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin' is speaking about Jesus, Who has been revealed in Scripture as God incarnate, in His High Priestly ministry before the Father. While Jesus was God incarnate on earth it would seem reasonable to understand that He could be ‘tempted’ and suffer as we are tempted and suffer. This makes Him a better high priest who can ‘sympathize’ with us, as Hebrews 4:15 points out. Third, and finally, Jesus is recognized in Scripture (see Jn. 3:16) as the only unique (monogenes in Greek) ‘Son’ of God (meaning He had the unique nature of God) and the ‘Son’ of man (meaning He had the nature of a sin-free human). Therefore, Jesus was both God and man while on earth. Jesus in His humanity could be ‘tempted’, but the essence of His Deity within did not allow such temptation to have any real power because He was also God. This is why this apparently normal human being, born of sinful humanity, could live an entire life without sin. This also serves to prove His Deity because it is widely recognized that only God is perfect and sinless. And the sinless life of Jesus is what you would expect of God Who became man. This alleged contradiction is fatally flawed and fails to prove anything except that people can make up imaginative arguments based on their (often biased) assumptions and misunderstandings of Scripture.”
The Lord Jesus says, in John 14:28, “Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for My Father is greater than I”. “Not with respect to the Divine nature, which is common to Them both, and in which They are Both one; and the Son is equal to the Father, having the self-same essence, perfections, and glory: nor with respect to personality, the Son is equally a Divine Person, as the Father is, though the one is usually called the first, the other the second Person; yet this priority is not of nature, which is the same in Both; nor of time, for the one did not exist before the other; nor of causality, for the Father is not the cause of the Son's existence; nor of dignity, for the one has not any excellency which is wanting in the other; but of order and manner of operation: these words are to be understood, either with regard to the human nature, in which He was going to the Father, this was prepared for Him by the Father, and strengthened and supported by Him, and in which He was made a little lower than the angels, and consequently must be in it inferior to His Father; or with regard to His office as Mediator, in which He was the Father's servant, was set up and sent forth by Him, acted under Him, and in obedience to Him, and was now returning to give an account of His work and service; or rather with regard to His present state, which was a state of humiliation: He was attended with many griefs and sorrows, and exposed to many enemies, and about to undergo an accursed death; whereas His Father was in the most perfect happiness and glory, and so in this sense ‘greater’. That is, more blessed and glorious than He; for this is not a comparison of natures, or of persons, but of states and conditions: now He was going to the Father to partake of the same happiness and glory with Him, to be glorified with Himself, with the same glory He had with Him before the foundation of the world (see Jn. 17:5); wherefore on this account, His disciples ought to have rejoiced, and not have mourned.”
“For Christians, it is clear that the glory of God belongs to Him alone. Isa. 42:8 – ‘I am the LORD: that is My name: and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images’. Yet, in John 17 Jesus claims to possess the glory of God: ‘And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was’ (Jn. 17:5).” “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn. 1:1). The Word Who was with God and was God had the same glory with God before the world was. It is vitally important to notice here that not only did the Lord Jesus have “glory with the Father at a time when Yahweh had said that no one possessed that kind of Divine glory”, but that this was in fact the same glory which the Father possessed! Notice also that Jesus was with the Father “BEFORE THE WORLD WAS”! This clearly shows that Jesus is the eternal God. Also, Isaiah 42:8 stands as further evidence of the Trinity, for God says He will not give His glory to another (see Isa. 42:8). If then God does not give His glory to another, He surely does not share that glory with any other which leaves us with nothing to conclude, in light of Jesus’ words that He was in possession of the same glory His Father had before the world was, that Jesus is one with the Father: Jesus is God. Seeing that the Lord Jesus shares God’s glory, it stands to biblical reason that Jesus is no lesser or minor god, a created god, but is very God Himself. It also shows that the Trinity is not polytheistic, but very much monotheistic. Jesus is not another God, but the one, true and only God with Yahweh. “If God will not give His glory to anyone, and Jesus possesses the very same glory as Yahweh, then the only plausible explanation is that Jesus is of the essence of God.”
God says: “…before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside Me there is no Saviour. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are My witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God” (Isa. 43:10-12); “…there is no God else beside Me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside Me. Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (Isa. 45:21,22). “Two points bear emphasizing: First, these verses (along with others) teach that Yahweh is the ‘Saviour’ (see Isa. 3:3; Jon. 2:9). Second, Yahweh is the only Saviour, for ‘beside Me there is no Saviour’. The New Testament writers were well aware of these facts and yet still felt compelled to write the following about Jesus: ‘Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom ye crucified, Whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved’ (Acts 4:10-12). These verses indicate that salvation is found in Jesus. But how can salvation be in Christ if Yahweh is the only Saviour? Romans 10:9-13 states: ‘That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved’." Only the called call upon Him (see 1 Cor. 1:2). This last sentence, in Romans 10:13, is taken from Joel 2:32: “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered…” One can see that our passage from Romans 10, as well as Acts 2:21: “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved”, shows clearly that anyone calling on the name of Jesus will be saved. “Comparing this to Acts 4:12 is devastating to those who deny Christ’s Deity because the Book of Acts verse specifically notes that ‘none other name under Heaven’ is given other than Jesus by which we must be saved. Would the authors of the New Testament really play so fast and loose with Scripture? Isn’t it more reasonable to conclude that they are not merely being sloppy, but are trying to communicate an intricate theological truth about the nature of God?” Significantly, God says in Jeremiah, referring to the coming Messiah, “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a Righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jer. 23:5,6 cf. Jer. 33:16). This coincides perfectly with God’s words concerning Himself in Isaiah 54:17: “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS OF ME, saith the LORD (Yahweh)” (cf. Isa. 45:24; 61:10; Rom. 10:4; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9).
Comparing the following two Scriptures shows, again, that Jesus Christ is indeed God: “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins” (Isa. 43:25). “While this verse teaches that sins are wiped away for Yahweh’s own sake, interestingly, when one reads 1 John 2:12 one finds that sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake: ‘I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake’. The question is, To Whom is the pronoun ‘His’ referring in 1 John 2:12? The answer is that it refers to Jesus as is evident for two reasons: First, ‘His’ refers back to ‘Jesus Christ the Righteous’ in verse 1 of chapter 2. Second, in the even more immediate context, verse 13 refers to the same Person as ‘Him that is from the beginning’. And as is indicated from 1 John 1:1: ‘That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life’ (cf. Jn. 1:1-3). For whose sake are sins forgiven? It cannot be overstated that the New Testament writers knew the Book of Isaiah, yet they repeatedly and unashamedly took Old Testament verses about Yahweh and applied them to Jesus. Given the first century Jewish mindset, wouldn’t such a tribute be utterly profane unless Jesus was God?
“In Isaiah 44:8 Yahweh asks ‘…Is there a God beside Me? Yea, there is no God; I know not any’. In fact, earlier in Isaiah one reads that Yahweh Himself is the stone over which Israel would stumble. Isaiah 8:13,14: ‘Sanctify the LORD of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. And He shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem’ (cf. Isa. 28:16). Yet in 1 Peter, the apostle applies the stumbling stone imagery directly to Christ: ‘Unto you therefore which believe He is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed’ (1 Pet. 2:7,8 see also Matt. 21:42; Mk. 12:10; Lk. 20:17; Eph. 2:20) “If Yahweh is the only rock and the rock over which Israel stumbles, what are we to make of Peter’s statement which flatly states that Jesus is the rock over which Israel stumbled? It would seem that either the authors of the Bible are deeply confused or they are vigorously trying to tell us something about the identity of Jesus.” The Book of Acts leaves one in no doubt as to Who Christ Jesus is: “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom ye crucified, Whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner” (Acts. 4:10,11). Clearly, Jesus is God!
“In the last chapter of the last Book of the Bible, the apostle John is given a stern warning to ‘Worship God’ (Rev. 22:9), and not a creature. Throughout chapters 40-48 of Isaiah, God has emphatically driven home the same point; namely, worship God, for there is only one true God and only He is worthy of worship. In fact, God even declares that one day everyone will recognize His Sovereignty. This is beautifully put in Isaiah 45:22-24: ‘Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in Righteousness, and shall not return, That unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I Righteousness and strength: even to Him shall men come; and all that are incensed against Him shall be ashamed’. In the Isaiah passage, every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear is in recognition of Yahweh. But in the New Testament the same phrasing is used in the recognition of Jesus: ‘That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’ (Phil. 2:10,11). Why would the Holy Spirit inspire language expressly used to recognize Yahweh and apply it to a creature? Would it not be deceitful for God to inspire such language about a ‘created’ being when the context of Isaiah is about God establishing His identity? Does it not seem more reasonable to conclude that God is consistent with the use of terminology, particularly when it comes to His indistinguishability? Further, doesn’t the context of Philippians 2 indicate that Jesus existed ‘in the form of God’? ‘Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God’ (Phil. 2:6). How can a finite creature have ever existed ‘in the form of God’? And if the Son is not Almighty God, how can He receive Sovereign worship reserved expressly for Almighty God?”
Some say that the Lord Jesus is God, but not man, while others declare Him to be man, but not God. “The belief that Jesus is both God and man is of fundamental importance.” To have the Son, to truly believe in Him is to believe in Him as man and also God. This is one of the most elemental doctrines of the Christian Faith. No man can be a true believer in Christ Jesus the Lord, if he does not believe that Jesus is both God and Man. To not believe this about the Lord Jesus is to not have Him. A Christ who is not equally both Man and God is a false Christ in whom there is absolutely no salvation. It is not Jesus the Christ Whom one is worshipping if one does not believe He is fully Man and fully God. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the Wrath of God abideth on him” (Jn.3:36). To believe in the true Jesus is to believe the undiminished truth about Him. God Himself declares the Deity of His Son: “…when He bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him. And of the angels He saith, Who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son He saith, THY THRONE, O GOD, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of Righteousness is the sceptre of Thy Kingdom” (Heb. 1:6-8). "The apostle John provided a sober warning that those who deny Christ’s true humanity are promoting the doctrine of antichrist: 'For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist' (2 Jn. 1:7 cf. 1 Tim. 2:5; 1 Jn. 4:2). Jesus is not half-human and half-Divine. Rather, He is Theanthropos, the God-man. The Lord Jesus Christ is one eternally Divine Person Who will forever possess two distinct yet inseparable natures: one Divine and one human.” “The doctrine of the hypostatic union is the teaching that within the single Person of Christ are two distinct natures: Divine and human. This means that Jesus is both God and man. So when we see Jesus, we're looking at the man, but within Him is also the Divine nature. However, we cannot see Divinity. It does not have a weight, shape, or color. We must perceive the Divine nature through the human nature of Christ. Therefore, we would see Jesus, the man, literally walking and eating. This clearly displays His human nature. But we also see that He said that He would always be with us wherever we were (see Matt. 28:19-20). This shows His Divine nature.
Jesus as God Jesus as Man
He is worshipped (Matt. 2:2,11; 14:33 He worshipped the Father (John 17)
He is prayed to (Acts 7:59) He prayed to the Father (John 17)
He is sinless (1 Pet. 2:22; Heb. 4:15) He was tempted (Matt. 4:1)
He knows all things (John 21:17) He grew in wisdom (Luke 2:52)
He gives eternal life (John 17:2) He died (Rom. 5:8)
All the fulness of Deity dwells in Him (Col. 2:9) He has a body of flesh and bones (Luke 24:39)
The fact of the matter is, as the Scriptures we have thus far provided demonstrate, Jesus Christ is both fully man and fully God, a fact to which the succeeding Scriptures will testify.
The following section of our study of the Deity of Jesus the Messiah is filled with Scripture after Scripture from both the Old Testament and the New, providing abundant, verifiable, trustworthy and incontrovertible evidence from the Word of God that Jesus Christ is indeed Almighty God. Significantly, speaking of the Lord Jesus, the apostle Peter noted that “To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43). “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:7,8 cf. Acts 1:9-11; Psa. 22:16; Zech. 12:10; Jn. 19:34,37). “Only because Jesus Christ is Almighty God do we have reassurance that He can and will save His elect from eternal damnation and eternal torment. Jesus IS the visible image of the Invisible God: ‘Giving thanks unto the Father…Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son…Who is the image of the invisible God…’ (Col. 1:12,13,15); ‘…lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, Who is the image of God…’ (2 Cor. 4:4). To see Jesus is to see the Invisible God. ‘Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father…’ (Jn. 14:9). Mankind was created IN the image of God (see Gen.1:26), Jesus IS the image of God. To see Jesus is to see the Invisible God in the flesh. Jesus was conceived by God: ‘And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God’ (Lk. 1:35); ‘But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost’ (Matt. 1:20). Since Mary was His earthy mother, that makes Jesus fully human. Since God was His physical Father, since Jesus did not have an earthy father, that makes Jesus fully God. He was fully man and fully God. The Great Godman. To see Jesus' face is to see the glory of God: ‘For God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’ (2 Cor. 4:6).
“Jesus ‘being in the form of God’ (Phil. 2:6) makes Him God. In the form of the Father; being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His Person. This form is to be understood, not of any shape or figure of Him; for as such is not to be seen, it is not to be supposed of Him…whatever is in God, is God; He is nothing but nature and essence, He is the (to on), the Yahweh: ‘And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM’; and so is His Son, which is, and was, and is to come, the Fountain of all created beings nor does it intend any outward representation and resemblance of Him, nor does it design the state and condition Christ appeared in here on earth…but this phrase, ‘the form of God’, is to be understood of the nature and essence of God, and describes Christ as He was from all eternity; just as the form of a servant signifies that He was really a servant, and the fashion of a man in which He was found means that He was truly and really man; so His being in the form of God intends that He was really and truly God; that He partook of the same nature with the Father, and was possessed of the same glory: from whence it appears, that He was in being before His incarnation; that He existed as a distinct Person from God His Father, in Whose form He was, and that as a Divine Person, or as truly God, being in the glorious form, nature, and essence of God; and that there is but one form of God, or Divine nature and essence, common to the Father and the Son, and also to the Spirit; so that they are not three Gods, but one God: what the form of God is, the heathens themselves say cannot be comprehended nor seen, and so not to be inquired after; and they use the same word the apostle does here: and now Christ being in this glorious form, or having the same Divine nature with the Father, with all the infinite and unspeakable glories of it…for if He was in the same form, nature, and essence, He must be equal to Him, as He is; for He has the same perfections, as eternity, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, immutability, and self-existence: hence He has the same glorious names, as God, the mighty God, the true God, the living God, God over all, Yahweh, the Lord of glory, the same works of creation and providence are ascribed to Him, and the same worship, homage, and honour given Him: to be ‘in the form of God’, and to be ‘equal with God’, signify the same thing, the one is explanative of the other.
“Jesus is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the exact image of the Father's Person: ‘Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the Word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high’ (Heb.1:3). That is why to ‘see Jesus’ is to ‘see the Father’: 'Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?' (Jn. 14:9); ‘Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me. And he that seeth Me seeth Him that sent Me’ (Jn. 12:45). That is why Jesus said He and His Father are one: ‘I and My Father are one’ (Jn. 10:30).” Jesus said, “Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me…” (Jn. 14:11 cf. Jn 14:20), this speaks of the union of the Father and the Son. “Jesus is IN the bosom of the Father: ‘No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him’ (Jn. 1:18). Not ‘on’ the bosom, not ‘near’ the bosom, but ‘IN the bosom’. Jesus is in the center of the Father. They are ONE. ‘in the bosom of the Father’, denotes unity of nature, and essence, in the Father and Son; Their distinct personality; strong love, and affection between Them; the Son's acquaintance with His Father's secrets; His being at that time, as the Son of God, in the bosom of His Father, when here on earth, as the Son of man; and which qualified Him to make the declaration of Him: ‘He hath declared Him’. The Lord Jesus is called ‘EVERLASTING Father’: ‘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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace’ (Isa. 9:6). ‘The everlasting Father’ does not design any relation of Christ in the Godhead; and there is but one Father in the Godhead, and that is the first Person; indeed Christ and the Father are one, and the Father is in Him, and He is in the Father, and He that has seen the one has seen the other, and yet they are distinct, Christ is not the Father; the Son and Spirit may be considered with the first Person as Father, in creation and regeneration, they being jointly concerned therein, but not in the Trinity”. Being “everlasting Father” is a characteristic of the Lord Jesus, but not His role in the Trinity. “It is easy to make it appear Christ is not the Father, but is distinct from Him, since He is said to be with the Father from eternity, to be the Son of the Father in truth and love, His own Son, His only begotten and beloved Son; Christ frequently calls the first Person His Father, prayed to Him as such, and is our Advocate with Him, as well as the way unto Him; He is said to be sent by the Father, to come from Him, and to go to Him; and many things are said of Christ that cannot be said of the Father, as His being made flesh, suffering and dying in the room of His people; and the Father is said to do many things unto Him, as to anoint Him, to seal Him, to show Him all He did, to commit all judgment to Him, and give Him to have life in Himself as He had: but Christ is a Father with respect to chosen men, who were given Him as His children and offspring in covenant; who are adopted into that family that is named of Him, and who are regenerated by His Spirit and grace: and to these He is an 'everlasting Father'; He was so from everlasting; for regeneration and faith do not make men children, but make them appear to be so; God's elect are children previous to the Spirit's work upon them, and even to the incarnation and death of Christ; adoption is an act of the will of God in covenant from eternity: and Christ is a Father to these unto everlasting; He will never die, and they shall never be left fatherless; He and they will ever continue in this relation; He as such supplies them with everlasting provisions, He clothes them with everlasting raiment, He gives them an everlasting portion, promotes them to everlasting honour, saves them with an everlasting salvation, bearing an everlasting love to them.
“Some render the words, ‘everlasting Father’, ‘the Father of eternity; the Author of eternal life, Who has procured it for His people, and gives it to them; or to Whom eternity belongs, Who inhabits it, and is possessed of it, is the everlasting I AM, was before all persons and things, was set up in an office capacity from everlasting, and had a glory with the Father before the world was, in Whom eternal election, and with Whom the everlasting covenant, were made.” The Hebrew states that He is “Father of future”. “The Septuagint version is, ‘the Father of the world to come’; of the Gospel dispensation; so called, (see Heb. 2:5) the legal dispensation, when in being, was the then present world, at the end of which Christ came; this is now at an end, and a new state of things has taken place, which with respect to the Old Testament saints was the world to come, and of this Christ is the Father or author; as the law came by Moses, and he was the father of the legal dispensation, grace and truth are come by Christ, the Father and Author of the Gospel dispensation; the doctrines of it are from Him, and the ordinances of it by Him; and He is the Father of that state or world to come after the resurrection, the New Jerusalem church state, and also of the ultimate glory.” “The Chaldee renders this expression, 'The man abiding forever’. The Vulgate, 'The Father of the future age’. Lowth, 'The Father of the everlasting age’. Literally, it is the Father of eternity, עד אבי 'ĕby ‛ad. The word rendered ‘everlasting’, עד ‛ad, properly denotes ‘eternity’, and is used to express ‘forever’; see Psalm 9:6, Psalm 9:19; Psalm 19:10. It is often used in connection with עולם ‛ôlâm, thus, עולם ועד vā‛ed ‛ôlâm, ‘forever and ever’; Psalm 10:16; Psalm 21:5; Psalm 45:7. The Hebrews used the term father in a great variety of senses - as a literal father, a grandfather, an ancestor, a ruler, an instructor. The phrase may either mean the same as the Eternal Father, and the sense will be, that the Messiah will not, as must be the case with an earthly king, however excellent, leave His people destitute after a short reign, but will rule over them and bless them forever; or it may be used in accordance with a custom usual in Hebrew and in Arabic, where he who possesses a thing is called the father of it.
“Jesus is deserving of the SAME honour as the Father. Jesus said: ‘That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent Him’ (Jn. 5:23).” Jesus and the Father are eternally linked, they are One. When one worships the Son, one is worshipping the Father. To dissect the Two as separate Gods is impossible, for they are part of the Holy Trinity which declares One God in Three Persons. If you have the true God you have the Father, Son and Spirit. If you do not have the true God you have not the Father, or the Son or the Holy Spirit. “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son” (2 Jn. 9 cf. Lk. 10:16; Jn. 3:36; 13:20; 14:23,24; 1 Jn. 2:23; 5:12). Clearly this verse shows that if one does not abide in Christ’s doctrine—meaning if one does not abide in the truth of Christ, and about Christ—one has not the only true God, but he that does abide in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son—God. He who has the true God has the Father and the Son. False doctrine does not reveal the true God, and so, anyone holding to false doctrine, and not the doctrine of Christ, cannot possibly have the only true God. To have the true God is to believe the truth about Him. To believe in lies, false gospels, is the clearest indication that one does not have the true God, for the true God reveals Himself to all His people through the INSTRUMENTALITY OF TRUTH!
Galatians 5 talks about “the works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:19), and “that they which do such things shall NOT inherit the Kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:21). Among such works is that called “heresies” (Gal. 5:20). Those who commit heresy will also not inherit the Kingdom of God. To commit heresy is to engage in and express, 'A SELF-WILLED OPINION WHICH IS SUBSTITUTED IN PLACE OF SUBMISSION TO THE TRUTH'. "Such erroneous opinions are frequently the outcome of personal preference or the prospect of advantage." The word, “heresies”, also means, 'bad principles and tenets, relating to doctrine, which are subversive of the fundamentals of the Gospel and the Christian Faith; and are the produce of a man's own invention, and the matter of his choice, without any foundation in the Word of God; and these are ‘works of the flesh’, for they spring from a corrupt and carnal mind, and are propagated with carnal views, as popular applause, worldly advantage, and indulging the lusts of the flesh’.” Underpinning the Faith of every true Christian is the Rock, the true Christ of the Gospel of God. Those who hold to false gospels are like those who have built their house upon sand, for their natural faith cannot support the weight of their vain hopes. "A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself" (Titus 3:10,11cf. 2 Tim. 4:3,4). The Christian is one who has been made subject to the Gospel of God by the grace of God through the gift of Faith. By this means the now saved man has, by the grace of God, submitted himself unto the obedience of God's Gospel only, and thus is forever freed from any self-willed opinion spawned by his natural faith which seeks to lust against the Spirit and His Truth and usurp the place of the gift of Faith which comes from God.
When a person professes to be a Christian they are professing "...SUBJECTION unto the Gospel of Christ..." (2 Cor. 9:13). But there can be no subjection unto the Gospel of Christ when one's love is for another christ of a gospel which is not God's. There is absolutely nothing whatsoever in the Scriptures that would lead a man to rightly consider himself saved based on his view of what the Gospel is. Quite the contrary. A man's view comes from his faith, and that which comes from a man's faith is called heresy in the Scriptures, and the man who commits it, a heretic, who, clearly, will not inherit the Kingdom of God, for he is subverted, or perverted, and thus condemned of himself. Those who hold to the tenets of false gospels believe they do have a strong Scriptural foundation, but in reality no false teaching, however much it is sincerely believed, has any foundation in Truth. The confusion lies in an utterly flawed understanding of what the Scriptures are truly saying, for those who reject God’s truth clearly do not have the gift of Faith with which to believe the doctrine of Christ. Man either believes with his own faith, which the Bible calls heresy, or with the gift of Faith given by God to His people for the express reason that they believe His Truth. These are the ones spoken of in the Scriptures, who have received the love of the truth (see 2 Thess. 2:10-12). THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO MIDDLE GROUND! A man either believes with his own faith to his own destruction, or with the gift of Faith from God to his salvation. God is the Saviour, and He saves His people by His grace through the gift of His Faith. It is abundantly evident that in giving the gift of Faith to His people God demonstrates the absolute necessity of it, and that none can be saved without it. Moreover, man by his own faith could never savingly believe the truth, but only ever deny it. A man’s natural faith is not conducive to salvation, for it contains within it a natural aversion to the only Gospel of God. This, in and of itself, is absolute and conclusive evidence that a man can never be saved by his own faith, consisting predominantly of fallacious views and opinions, but only by that which is given by God, for it alone embraces the whole Gospel of God: the gift of Faith which comes from God. This is why any error one believes in, when it comes to the Gospel of God, is proof positive that a person is not believing with the Faith of God, but with their own corrupt faith. "He that believeth (the Gospel) ...shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mk. 16:16). To savingly believe the Gospel of God one must be given the gift of Faith from God. To not believe the Gospel of God is to not have the gift of Faith.
Those who are deceived by lies perish, “…because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved...That they all might be damned who believed not the truth…” (2 Thess. 2:10,12). “Jesus was WORSHIPPED: ‘And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down, and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh’ (Matt 2:11); ‘And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean’ (Matt 8:2); ‘Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped Him, saying, Of a truth Thou art the Son of God’ Matt.14:33); ‘And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held Him by the feet, and worshipped Him’ (Matt. 28:9); ‘And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy’ (Lk. 24:52). (see also Matt. 15:25; 18:26; 28:9,17). Since only God is to be worshipped, ‘Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve’ (Matt. 4:10 cf. Matt. 4:7), this means that Jesus is God.
“Even angels WORSHIP Jesus: ‘And again, when He bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him’ (Heb. 1:6). Heaven falls down before the Lamb of God: ‘And when He had taken the Book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints’ (Rev. 5:8). Jesus Created ALL things ‘For by Him were all things created, that are in Heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him’ (Col. 1:16); ‘God…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’ (Heb. 1:1,2); ‘All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made’ (Jn. 1:3); ‘And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, Who created all things by Jesus Christ’ (Eph. 3:9)…God created all things: ‘And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made Heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein’ (Acts 14:15); ‘For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else’ (Isa. 45:18); ‘Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by Myself’ (Isa. 44:24); ‘Thus saith God the LORD, He that created the heavens, and stretched them out; He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein’ (Isa. 42:5). Jesus is God. Jesus also made the world: ‘He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not’ (Jn. 1:10).
“Jesus is God: ‘Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel’ (Isa. 7:14 cf. Isa. 9:6; Dan. 7:13,14; Mk. 14:62).” Immanuel literally means “God with us”: “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matt. 1:23). “There are many names given to Jesus using the phrase ‘He shall be called’, both in the Old and New Testaments. This was a common way of saying that people would refer to Him in these various ways. Isaiah prophesied of the Messiah, “His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6). None of these titles was Jesus’ actual name, but these were descriptions people would use to refer to Him forever. Luke tells us Jesus ‘shall be called the Son of the Highest’ (Lk. 1:32) and ‘son of God’ (1:35), but neither of these was His name. In two different places, the prophet Jeremiah says in referring to the coming Messiah, ‘And this is His name by which He shall be called, YHWH, OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS’ (Jer. 23:5,6; 33:15-16). Now we know that God, the Father, is named Yahweh. Jesus was never actually called Yahweh as though it was His name, but His role was that of bringing the Righteousness of Yahweh to those who would believe in Him, exchanging that Righteousness for our sin (see 2 Cor. 5:21). Therefore, this is one of the many titles or names which belong to Him. In the same way, to say that Jesus would be called ‘Immanuel’ means Jesus is God and that He dwelt among us in His incarnation and that He is always with us. Jesus was God in the flesh. Jesus was God making His dwelling among us (see Jn. 1:1,14). No, Jesus' name was not Immanuel, but Jesus was the meaning of Immanuel, ‘God with us’. Immanuel is one of the many titles for Jesus, a description of who He is. “The Messiah is truly God, as well as truly man: the name is expressive of the union of the two natures, human and Divine, in Him; of His office as Mediator, Who, being both God and man, is a middle person between both; of His converse with men on earth, and of His spiritual presence with His people: ‘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’ (Jn. 1:14 cf. Jn. 17:5); ‘And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory’ (1 Tim. 3:16). Here we see the apostle Paul referring to the Lord Jesus as God. GOD was manifest in the flesh; GOD was justified in the Spirit; GOD was seen of angels; GOD was preached unto the Gentiles; GOD was believed on in the world; and GOD was received up into glory. Jesus Christ is GOD!
“Jesus created all things for HIMSELF: ‘For by Him were all things created, that are in Heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him’ (Col. 1:16); The Lord God made all things for Himself: ‘The LORD hath made all things for Himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil’ (Prov. 16:4). Jesus is God. Jesus is before all things, and by Him all things consist: ‘And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist’ (Col. 1:17). Jesus upholds all things: ‘Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His Person, and upholding all things by the Word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high’ (Heb. 1:3). Jesus rules Heaven and earth: ‘And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in Heaven and in earth’ (Matt. 28:18). Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath: ‘Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath’ (Mk. 2:28); ‘And He said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath’ (Lk. 6:5).” Compare these Scriptures with the following: “…the Lord hath given you the Sabbath…" (Ex. 16:29); “…the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God…” (Ex. 20:10); “…it is the Sabbath of the Lord…” (Lev. 23:3). “Jesus called Himself the Great ‘I AM’: ‘Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am’ (Jn. 8:58 cf. Jn. 8:24); In the body of Jesus dwells the fullness of the Godhead: ‘For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily’ (Col.2:9). The Father, Son and Holy Ghost are THREE and they are ONE: ‘For there are three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these Three are One’ (1 Jn. 5:7). And this is all why Jesus is EQUAL WITH GOD: ‘Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God’ (Phil. 2:6 cf. Jn. 5:18). God was in Christ: Jesus said, ‘Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me…”, (Jn. 14:11 cf. Jn. 14:20); ‘To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation’ (2 Cor. 5:19). Jesus is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God: ‘But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God’ (1 Cor. 1:24).
“Jesus ‘only’ hath immortality: ‘That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in His times He shall shew, Who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; Whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to Whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen’ (1 Tim. 6:14-16). Jesus is Lord of the living and the dead: ‘For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living’ (Rom. 14:9). Jesus is called the Saviour: ‘For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord’ (Lk. 2:11); ‘To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour’ (Titus 1:4); ‘Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ’ (Titus 2:13); ‘Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour’ (Titus 3:6); ‘Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the Righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ’ (2 Pet. 1:1)”, original Hebrew states: “in righteousness of the God of us and of Saviour of us Jesus Christ”. “‘For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ’ (2 Pet. 1:11); ‘For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ…’ (2 Pet. 2:20); ‘But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and for ever. Amen’ (2 Pet. 3:18); ‘And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world’ (1 Jn. 4:14). Only Yahweh God alone is the Saviour: ‘I, even I, am the LORD; and beside Me there is no Saviour’ (Isa. 43:11); ‘Verily Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour’ (Isa. 45:15); ‘Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but Me: for there is no Saviour beside Me’ (Hos. 13:4); ‘For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour’ (1 Tim. 2:3); ‘To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen’ (Jd. 1:25). This means Jesus is God.