The Deity Of Jesus
The Deity of Jesus is something that is probably impossible for us as humans to completely understand, and a mystery we will never be able to explain in a clear enough way to express the completeness of it. There are some things we will have to accept by faith, according to what the scriptures say, and believe that someday God will reveal all the answers to us. To deny what the scriptures say in order to keep it on an understandable level to us is a dangerous place to put ourselves according to Revelation 22:18-19. We will never completely understand God or His word while confined to this earthly mind, but I believe He has revealed enough to us through His word for us to effectively do His will on this earth. The scriptures are very clear on the point of the Deity of Jesus and we will start with Genesis to prove the point, strictly out of the scriptures and nothing else; with the exception of a Hebrew/Greek dictionary.
Genesis
In Genesis we have the story of the creation in the first two chapters. You will notice in the first chapter that it is "God" spoken of in the singular, until you get to verse 26. At this point it gives an account of the creation of man, in God's image, or as it is said, "
in our image and after our likeness". There are many questions to ask at this point; Why is it "God" in the singular up to this point, and what does it mean that we are created in "God's" image, and why does it seem to repeat some of the creation process in chapter 2 ? First let us look at the most obvious point; the fact that there is more than one involved in the creating process starting at verse 26, or is there? Who is the "us" and "our" in this verse? Most who do not believe in the Deity of Christ, believe it to be the angels; the reason this cannot be accurate is this; angels have no creative powers, and the verse says, " let us make man in our image, and after our likeness". It is clear that whoever is intended in the "us", was a part of the creating process and not just a on-looker. If you also notice in the in-depth description of the creation of man in chapter 2:7, that it says that the "Lord God" formed man. There are many names by which God is addressed, but we will look at the names, God, Lord, and because we are talking about the Deity of Christ, we will look at the name of Jesus also.The Hebrew word for God is "Elohim", which is a plural noun, which you can look up in the Strong's Concordance, # 430. When you look up the word you will find that it is a plural of # 433, and when you look at # 433 you will find that it is from the root word "El" , # 410; which you will see means Deity, but mainly in the Jewish use of it, it refers to the Almighty God. Now to back up a minute, how can the word describing God be a plural noun, and yet there is One God? It is not difficult if you see God as one entity but working in three capacities, as Supreme God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Now if we continue this name search it gets even more interesting, look at the word Lord, as used in 2:7: it is 3068 in Strong's and it is, " Yehovah", which means "self-existent or eternal, Jehovah, the name of God." It also says it is from 1961, which simply means to "exist". It also says it is a composite of words 3050 & 3069, which only confirm the meaning of 3068. The only two other references to the name Lord in the old testament are 113 & 136 and their meanings are referred to as the name of God. Now look at the word for Lord in the Greek, which is used in reference to Jesus, hundreds of times, the word 2962, is " kurios ", which means "Supreme in authority, also a name for God". Now for the most convincing proof that Jesus is God, let's look at the meanings for Jesus' name. In the Greek, look at 2424, which is the definition for His name, notice it says that " the name of our Lord", and notice the most important piece of evidence, it says that this word is derived from 3068, which we already looked at and it clearly denotes that it is the definition for God.
Now look at something else, in Gen. 1:26, we are told that we are made in God's image, well the question is what is that image? According to 1 Thessalonians 5:23, we are made up of " body", "soul", and "spirit". This also makes us unique to all of God's creation; no other creature is composed of all three of these traits, animals are " body", and " soul", but do not have a spirit. God made us unique because we are made in His image; the angels are only spirit beings, so what is the significance of this? It makes sense if we, being made "in His image and after His likeness", are a picture of the Godhead. Notice that even though we are made up of body, soul, and spirit, none of the three are separate, but all housed in the "one" body. I will discuss this more later.
One more thing I wish to address in this section; Notice in the definitions that were given that none of them say that Jesus was any less, or a lesser God, in fact the definitions indicate just the opposite; that Jesus' name has the same meaning and comes from the same root words that are used to define God. One other thing to keep in mind is that the definition for the word Lord, definitely referred to Deity and there is no disputing the fact that the word Lord is used in reference to Jesus on over one hundred occasions in the new testament.
Now let's look at another section of scripture that is very suggestive, turn to Genesis 18 & 19. There is an interesting story here, but we will look beyond the surface and look at some interesting things that are probably always overlooked. Let's start with chapter 18, and remember, let's keep individual thinking out and stick to only what the scriptures say in this section, realizing that there are not contradictions in the scriptures.
According to vs.1, it is said that " the Lord appeared unto him", and then in vs.2, he looks up and sees three men, and runs to them and bows down to them. Before we go any further let's look at one thing which must be cleared up; angels are not to receive any worship from men, look at Revelation 19: 10, 22: 8-9, and Colossians 2:18. Now notice that in vs.3 that Abraham addresses "them" as "My Lord", and then in vs.4, offers to wash "their" feet, and in vs.5, wants to get bread to "comfort ye your hearts." Now in vs.8 it says at the end of the vs. that " they did eat", and then in vs.9 "they said unto them". Now up to here what is the point? The point is that in vs.1, it says that the Lord appeared to him, then he sees three men, he bows down to them, and calls them Lord, and "they" reply. Why did he call all three of them Lord, and why if they were only angels, did they not refuse to be bowed down to, and refuse to be called Lord? Now go to vs.16, and we see that "the men" got up to go to Sodom and in vs.17 it says, "And the Lord said," and then in vs.20 again "the Lord said", and in vs.21, "I will go down now", and then in vs.22, "the men turned their faces", "but Abraham stood yet before the Lord", then in the rest of the chapter he intercedes for the town of Sodom. Now go to ch.19:1, and we see that now "two angels came" to Sodom and then Lot bowed down to them, and then in vs.2, he says "Behold now my Lords," and the word "Lords" here is the Hebrew word "adoni ", which is exclusively reserved for the use on referring to "Jehovah or God". So now up to this point we see that there were three men with Abraham, and Abraham referred to all three as Lord and then one stayed with Abraham and the other two went to Sodom, when they arrived Lot calls them Lord and both Abraham and Lot bow down to these men. Now let's continue with 19:13, here the two say "for we will destroy this place", and in vs.22, they said "I cannot do any thing till thou.." and then in the very next vs.24, it says "then the Lord rained upon....and fire from the Lord out of heaven." By now you should be totally confused; but shouldn't be, let's recap what we have seen "the scriptures say". According to this story, Abraham bows down to three individuals that is said to be the Lord appearing to him, and he addresses all three of them. They in turn reply to him, the three get up to leave for Sodom, but one is said to stay behind and talk to Abraham, which says that it was the Lord. Then it clearly says in 18:17,21, that it is the Lord speaking in the singular tense, then in 19:13, it says that "we" will destroy the place, and then in vs.24, it says the Lord did it from heaven. Now my question is this; how many Lords are there? And according to 18:1 they are men, and according to 19:1, they are angels. Which are they? If the Lord was with Abraham in 18:22, and then in 19:1, Lot calls these two Lords, and then in 19:24, the Lord is in heaven, where was the Lord?
What is the answer to these questions? I believe God was giving us a picture in this story of the Godhead, and even though we cannot completely understand how it can happen, we must by faith accept what the scriptures indicate. Keep in mind that we are talking about God and not man, and can not limit God as to how He can and does choose to reveal Himself to us. The facts are these: These men in this story are addressed as Lord, (and looking at the definitions there is not question that it is used in a Deity sense.) and whether we can explain how or why does not change what the scriptures indicate. Both Abraham and Lot bow to these men, and both address them as Lord. These men say that they are going to destroy Sodom, yet other verses indicate it is done singularly. Read these two chapters very closely and see for yourself, not making it say what you want, but look at what the scriptures say. None of the scriptures we will look at by themselves is proof alone, but when you combine the bulk of the scriptures that we will look at, the evidence is undeniable.
Let us look at another interesting scripture, Genesis 22:8. In the story Abraham is told by God to sacrifice his son, which was to be the progenitor of the nation of Israel. This story is a picture of God giving His son for a sacrifice for the sins of the world. The thing I want to look at which is almost always looked over in this story, is what exactly is said. Abraham makes a prophetic statement when he says that "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering ". Notice what he said, not "God will provide "for" himself", but " God will provide "Himself" a lamb". Is it a coincidence that John the Baptist called out at the Jordan that day " behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" ? Not at all, God did provide Himself a lamb for an offering in Jesus.
Isaiah
The scripture I would like to look at first is Isaiah 9:6. In this scripture there is probably the strongest proof of the Deity of Christ of any other single scripture. There is no need to look up the meanings of the words, which I already have and they confirm the fact of what they say outright. There is no doubt that this verse is referring to Jesus and it says that His name shall be called among others in the list, "Mighty God", and "Everlasting Father". Without trying (and real hard I might add) to make this say something other than it clearly does, it is impossible to get any other meaning out of this verse than the fact that Jesus is in fact God.
Now look at 43:10, 44:8, 45:5, 21, & 22; these verses along with many others such as Deuteronomy 6:4 clearly indicate that there is only ONE God. So my question is this: If Jesus is not God then what exactly is He? Is He a God? A lesser God than the Almighty? The Son of God? What is the Son of God, if not God? If Isaiah 9:6 clearly says (which it does) that Jesus is "Mighty God" (and notice it does not say "a" Mighty God, but "THE" Mighty God.) and Everlasting Father and John 1:1 also states that He is God, then where do we have the right to make Him less? If you are to say that Jesus is not God but simply the Son of God; then define it, explain it, and give scriptural proof that indicates that He is only "a" God or "a part" of God, and find scriptural proof that will not conflict with the scriptures given at the beginning of this paragraph.
Now look at 43:11, " I, even I, am the Lord: and beside me there is no savior." Now let me ask you a question; according to this verse who is the savior? It is very clear that there is "no" savior except God, now look at 45:21. This verse says the same thing, that God is the savior. Now look at Luke 2:11, who is the Savior? Clearly Jesus is according to this verse, now look at some other scriptures that say who the savior is; look at Acts 2:21, and Romans 10:13, and it says that if you call on the name of the Lord you will be saved; so who is the Lord? According to Isaiah 43:21 & 45:21, it is clearly God, and Acts 2:21, and Romans 10:13, seem to back up the fact that calling on the name of the Lord is salvation. The question is: what is that name? Look at Acts 4:12, and you see that it is only thru the name of Jesus that you can be saved. Now look at some other verses that indicate who the savior is, and as you look at these verses, simply look at who the verse calls the savior. 1Timothy 1:1, 2:3, 4:10, 2Timothy 1:10, Titus 1:3,4, 2:13, 3:4,6. The purpose in going to these other scriptures was to point out that this was not done accidentally, by these writers or by God, but I believe it is done deliberately to show the interchangableness of God and Jesus to represent the same point in purpose. How can the verses listed allow both Jesus and God to be called savior without contradicting Isaiah 43:11, and the others listed above. It is not surprising that men continue to try to eradicate the Deity of Christ, it started when He started His ministry on the earth and continues to this day.
Let's look at Isaiah 44:24; It is clear in this verse that God alone created the earth and everything else. Now look at John 1:3, and Colossians 1:16-17, 1Corinthians 8:6, Ephessians 3:9, and Hebrews 1:2. According to these verses Jesus created all things, either God did it alone as Isaiah 44:24 states or there is a serious problem of contradiction with these other verses. There is absolutely no contradictions in the scriptures, so there has to be another answer. This also should be considered with the first section of this study of the creation in Genesis.
Now let's look at Isaiah 45:22-23; it is clear in these verses that God is the one that every knee will bow to and every tongue shall confess to, but look at Philippians 2:10-11. It is clearly Jesus here who it says that every knee in heaven and earth will bow to. Notice also that the cross reference given for this verse is Isaiah 45:23, is that a coincidence or design by God?
Zechariah
In this book there are very clear references to the Deity of Christ, look at chapter 14. In vs.1, we are told that there is a day coming called the "Day of the Lord", and in vs.3 we are told that in this day that the Lord is going to fight against the nations of the world (which we know to be the battle of Armageddon also described in Revelation 19:11-21) and then in vs.5 we are told that the " Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee." With that verse in front of us, look at 1Thessalonians 3:13, 4:14-18, 2Thessalonians 2:1, Revelation 22:7, 12-13, & 20. Now according to these verses it is very clear that Jesus is the one coming and in 1Thessalonians 3:13 the saints belong to Jesus and in Zechariah 14:5, they belong to God. Also according to Matthew 24:27, Mark 13:26-27, Luke 17:24, 21:27, it is clearly Jesus that is coming. There are some problems here unless Jesus is in fact God, the saints are referred to as belonging to both God and Jesus, and if you noticed in Mark 13:27 the angels are said to belong to Jesus also, something impossible to say unless Jesus is God and created them.
Matthew
In the first chapter of this book we find a statement that implies Deity to Jesus, look at vs.23. Notice what is being said in this verse, it says that "they shall call His name Emanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." now obviously we know that Jesus' name was not actually "Emanuel", so what was the meaning of what is said? We already looked at Jesus' name in the first section of this study and showed that it is actually a name defining God. Jesus was God in the flesh and this is how it could be said that He was "God with us". The Jews from the beginning of the creation of their nation understood that God would always be with them in the sense of watching over them. This point was clearly demonstrated in the Exodus from Egypt and how that God was with them in the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day. After the Exodus he then set up the Temple service and was then with them in the presence of the Holy of Holies. They understood all throughout their history what it meant for God to be "with them", so why was this verse put in the way it was, if it was only trying to relay the same message? The reason is because this was a different situation altogether, yes God was with them but never before in this fashion. God was now going to take on flesh and become as one of them in order to fulfill His plan of redemption. there are scriptures to prove this fact, look at Philippians 2:6-8, John 1:14, 17:5, 2Corinthians 4:4, Colossians 1:15, 19-20, Hebrews 1:3, 1Timothy 3:16. there is no way around the clearness of these scriptures, especially John 1:14, and 1Timothy 3:16, that what is being said is that Jesus was indeed God in the flesh.
John
The whole book of John focuses on the point of the Deity of Christ beginning with the very first verse. We will look at the first three verses and verse fourteen. 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2. The same was in the beginning with God. 3. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. 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. It could not be any clearer from these verses alone that Jesus is God; to say this, the "Word" that is being discussed has to be assessed to describing Jesus, which it clearly does. It doesn't matter what any theologian says or any commentary, or anyone for that matter, the fact is that the first verse clearly says that the "Word" was God, and in verse 14, it is without argument talking about Jesus. To further prove the point, the "Word" which is the topic of these verses is the same word in vs.1 & 14, same meaning, same word. No where in the first three verses (nor in the entire first chapter for that fact) does it give any indication nor grammar to indicate that vs.1 and vs.3 are talking about two different persons, in fact just the opposite. Let me explain; the topic is clearly the "Word" in the verses listed above, it is still the "Word" that is addressed in vs.3, so it is saying that the "Word" was responsible for everything that was created. If vs.14 is in question, there are other verses that reaffirm that this is Jesus that is being referred to, Philippians 2:6-8, Colossians 2:9, and 1Timothy 3:16. The bottom line is that by just looking at the verses listed and not including human reasoning to alter what is said, there is absolutely no way these verses can be any clearer about the Deity of Jesus.
John 8:58, if you look at this verse there are some interesting points to look at that would not ordinarily be seen unless you were looking for them. This whole chapter is focused on Jesus trying to explain who He is to the Jewish leaders, and after many efforts which fell on deaf ears, Jesus made this interesting statement to end the chapter with. " Before Abraham was, I am." This is an extremely important verse because of what Jesus is actually saying, (which the Jewish leaders obviously understood what He was saying because they took up stones to stone Him.) If you look at the word used in this verse you will see that it is expressly indicating Deity; the word in the Greek is "Elmi " 1510, and it means "exist, or self-existent". Now that alone is not proof, but if you understand not only that the same word in the Hebrew (1961, which we discussed in the first section of this study of the names of God, Jesus, and Lord, you will see that this word "1961" is derived from the word meaning "Jehovah".) and look at Exodus 3:14, and look up the word for "I Am" in this verse you will see that they are exactly the same word that Jesus was using. To further prove this point, look at the verse we are discussing, 8:58; if you notice the Jews never tried to stone Jesus for any of the things He said up to this point. The reason is that they knew exactly what He was implying when He said "I AM". Why would they want to stone Him? That was the penalty for blasphemy, and in their eyes that was what He was doing by claiming the title God used for Himself in Exodus 3:14. In this verse Jesus is clearly claiming to be God by calling Himself the "I AM", He did not say, "I am the Son of the I AM", He said the truth, "I AM". This point is further proved to be both accurate and what is being said in the next verses we will look at.
John 10: 30-33, " I and my Father are one. 31. Then the Jews took up stones to stone him. 32. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? 33. The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. First let's look at the word "one" in the first verse. The word is "hen" 1520, which is a root of the word "heis", the word used means "to be one in essence", so is basically sating they are one in being. The Jews knew exactly what Jesus was indicating and that is why they were going to stone Him. In fact they even said that Jesus was indicating that He was God, and Jesus did not say a word to reject the claim. I would think that if Jesus was not God and knew the severity of claiming to be when He wasn't, that He would make sure that there was no mistake about what He was really saying. In fact as indicated here and earlier, Jesus knew exactly what He was saying and in fact made sure He used language that would express the meaning clearly to the Jewish leaders. Notice also that the Jews were not going to stone Him for claiming to be "the Son of God", but for claiming to "be God".
There are other verses which give us the same indication of Jesus being God in the flesh, but we will not go into detail on these verses due to time. Look at 14:7, and answer how Jesus could say that if you see Him you are seeing the Father? Look up the word for "have seen" in this verse, 3708, and compare it to the Hebrew word and the definition itself makes it clear that He is saying exactly as it reads.
Look at 17:5, how can this be taken any other way than to express the idea that Jesus was with God before the creation, and as we have already covered and will more, the fact that Jesus is said to be the one that created all things. Also there are scriptures in Isaiah that say that God will not share His glory with another, look at Isaiah 42:8; so how can this be accurate? It is easy if Jesus is God, then there are no contradictions.
John 20:28, if you read the story in verses 24-29, you see what leads to the declaration that Thomas makes in vs.28. There are several things to point out here; first notice what Thomas calls Jesus, "My Lord and my God", only a big imagination can make this say something other than what is said. The fact is clear that Thomas was calling Jesus, both "Lord and God", and Jesus in no way rejects the titles addressed to Him. We already looked at the meanings of the names of "Lord" and "God" and even "Jesus". What other proof is needed? but we will go on.
Acts
Look at 20:28; in this verse it is speaking of God when it says, "....to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. " Do you think it was a mistake in the wording or was there a deeper meaning here? It is speaking about God and says the church is His and then goes on to say that he purchased it with "his own blood " , so if God purchased it with His blood, who does that make Jesus, since it was His blood that was shed? None of these scriptures we have looked at are coincidences, neither are they mistakes or errors; they are this way for the specific reason of God revealing the truth of the Deity of Christ.
Romans
Look at 14:11 & 12; according to these verses it is God that we will bow to and give account to and we also are given the same account in Isaiah 45:23. Now look at 2Corinthians 5:10 and it is Christ we are going to answer to and in Philippians 2:10-11, it is Christ we are going to bow down to. If you notice the scripture here in Romans gives a direct reference to the scripture in Isaiah 45:23 and the scripture in Philippians 2:10-11 gives a direct reference to Isaiah 45:23 also. The point is that both scriptures use the same reference which refers to God as the one being referred to, yet the scripture in Philippians and 2Corinthians clearly refer to Jesus as the subject. There is a contradiction unless Jesus is God and these verses can be used interchangeably. Romans 14:12 clearly says that we will give account of ourselves to God, but 2Corinthians 5:10, clearly says it is Jesus we will answer to; contradiction or unity? Isaiah 45:23 and Romans 14:11, clearly say that it is God that we will bow our knee to, yet Philippians 2:10 clearly says it is Christ that we will bow our knee to, and even uses the reference to Isaiah 45:23. These are not contradictions, they are direct uses of the scriptures to express the Deity of Jesus.
Romans 1:20 uses the word "Godhead", which is also used in Acts 17:29 and Colossians 2:9. The word 2304 or 2305 in the Greek, simply means "divinity"; the word itself indicates that there is "character" and "personality' to God, and has been believed to represent the work of Jesus, the Spirit, and God, all deriving from the same source. Try to explain, only using scriptures, what the Godhead is and consist of. There is a non-biblical expression that I like to use and according to what I believe the Godhead is, I believe it is the most explainable and accurate description. The analogy has been used of the "sun" representing the Godhead and the explanation of it goes along these lines: the sun (the planet itself, or to be technical, the star) world represent God, and the light that is produced, represents Jesus, and the heat that is produced, represents the Holy Spirit. Now if you look at this concept, I believe it is extremely accurate of what the Godhead is, and none of the three are independent from the other. They are all of one source, perform different functions, yet do not separate from the source in existence. Now to answer such questions such as that of 1Corinthians 15:24-28; well we may never know all the answers to questions such as these, but I will attempt to answer this as to what I believe the scriptures indicate to me, and not conflict with the Deity of Jesus. I believe that when the end cometh then Christ will deliver up all things and that God will be all in all. If you remember as we discussed in some of the other sections, Jesus was existent from the beginning, (He is the "Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End", according to Revelation; see Rev. section.) and yet He was not manifest in the flesh until the appointed time. He will remain manifest as the Lamb of God until 1Corinthians 15:26, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.". After the Great White Throne Judgment, immediately following the 1000 year Millennial Reign, then "sin" will be no more, and all things will have been accomplished that the manifested "Lamb of God" was to accomplish. Then the working of the Lamb as intercessor and attoner of our sins, "the light of the sun", and the convicting work, and sustaining work of the Holy Spirit, as the "heat of the sun", will no longer be required. They will not cease to exist, (as they cannot, because they are all one it essence) just cease to function in the capacities that they did while sin was present. they will reunite as the "all in all" God that they are. Revelation 21:22-23, tells us that there is no need for the things that were needed before because God will be all that is required in heaven and we will be in His presence forever, no need for an intercessor, no need for conviction, no need for lack of understanding anymore. We will know all of these answers that plague us now. I hope that this helps to explain the Godhead.
Ephesians
Ephesians 3:9; according to this verse all things were created by Jesus, and according to Isaiah 44:24, God did the creating by Himself. According to John 1:3, and Colossians 1:16-17, and Hebrews 1:2, it is Jesus who created all things. Look at each of the verses listed and compare the accounts and without trying to make it say something else explain how this apparent contradiction can be unless Jesus is in fact God.
Look at 4:4-6; in these verses it is clear that there is only one God, Lord, and Spirit. In John 4:24, it is clear that God is a Spirit, and there are also numerous references to the "Spirit of God", the "Spirit of Christ", the "Spirit of Jesus", the "Spirit of the Lord"; the question is this: if there is only one Spirit, then it is apparent that each of these phrases represent the same Spirit. Their is also only one "Lord", so with the word "Lord" being applied to God, and Jesus hundreds of times, it is obvious the implication of Deity.
1Timothy
1Timothy 3:16; we already discussed this earlier but the point is this; Taking this scripture as it says, there is no question that Jesus was God in the flesh. As hard as it may be to understand and even explain, the fact of this verse speaks for itself. This verse if confirmed with John 1:14, Philippians 2:6-7, and Colossians 1:19.
Philippians
Philippians 2:6-8; these verses are an excellent explanation of why God chose to take on flesh to fulfill His plan for the perfect sacrifice for mankind. Another good place that describes this is Hebrews 2:14-18, and for that fact most of Hebrews chapters 7-9.
Titus
Titus 2:13; In this verse the Deity of Jesus is expressed in two ways. The verse reads "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ." First of all the glorious appearing that it is talking about is the return of Jesus to the earth at the battle of Armageddon. We already discussed who it was that was returning in the section on Zecheriah, and clearly showed that it is Jesus. Notice that this verse not only reaffirms that it is Jesus that is coming back, but call Him "the great God ". I'm sorry to be so adamant about this, but it is impossible to not see Jesus as God, when He is directly addressed that way the numerous times in scriptures such as this verse. We must also remember the times He addressed Himself as God, which we already covered. The only way to even attempt to say this verse is not addressing Jesus as God is to say that there are two that are coming, which is totally unscriptural and only shows the desperate attempt to keep from admitting the truth.
Revelation
There are many verses in this book which express the Deity of Jesus; 1:8,10,18, 2:8, 3:14, 4:11&5:12, 19:16, 22:7,13,16,20. In the verses 1:8 to 3:14, Jesus is referred to as the "first and last", the "beginning and the end", and the "Alpha and Omega". According to Isaiah 41:4, God is the one who owns these titles, but here we see Jesus apply them to Himself. In the two verses, 4:11 & 5:12, we see that there are attributes that are ascribed to God and then in 5:12, Jesus is ascribed the exact same attributes. In chapter 22 we see that Jesus is warning of His quick return, which verifies the scriptures we discussed on who is coming back in Zechariah. I did not go into a lot of description on these last few sections because most of it was already covered in previous sections.
Summary
There are many other scriptures which could be used in this study and there are many other things which could be added to the ones used. There are also many questions which are difficult to answer and some which to be honest will not be answered while confined to this flesh and mind. The bottom line is that there is ample scriptural evidence of the Deity of Jesus, and, yes there are some hard to answer scriptures on how they can apply, but that is where faith comes in. As I said at the beginning of this study, this is one subject among many in the spiritual realm which we will never completely understand while confined to this earthly mind. The fact are: There is only ONE God, ONE Lord, ONE Spirit; God is a Spirit; Jesus was conceived by the Spirit; The Bible clearly says that Jesus was God in the flesh, and whether we can understand it or not does not matter, Jesus is God. There are going to be many questions which we will have to rely on faith and what the Word of God says and not try to make it fit into our human reasoning, because as the scripture says " For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, saith the Lord. " Isaiah 55:8-9, and " For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain . " 1Corinthians 3:19-20. To say that you believe in a God that created everything that we se and know and never be able to comprehend or understand that; and at the same time say that this same God, in His own plan could not operate His plan by allowing Himself to inhabit flesh, since He is a Spirit; and become the perfect sacrifice which was required to redeem mankind back to Himself; to say that He could not do that, would be a contradiction. The scriptures clearly back up the Deity of Jesus, and to devalue Jesus in any way to make Him less than God is very dangerous. There are answers to such questions as: Why did Jesus cry out to the Father on the cross if He was God? Well if you understand that Jesus is God, then it is answerable like this; Jesus was 100% God in the Spirit (remember God is a Spirit, and is not limited to time and space, for confined to a single space, you cannot confine nor kill a Spirit, that is how we are eternal beings, through the Spirit.) and 100% man in the flesh, and therefore in the flesh He did pray to God, and as other scriptures indicated which we covered already: He was willingly subject to the flesh. As I said before, there are many questions which we will never be able to answer completely, nor to satisfy everyone. At the same time we cannot and must not change what the scriptures clearly say because we do not understand any one issue in them. I truly wish I had more time to do a more exhaustive study on the subject to put in print, but I do hope that this has at least been helpful.
Sincerely in Christ,
Adam Bartlett