Compare Them

 Is Jesus God Almighty?

Why is it that people have less of a problem in accepting God, and a hurdle to get over to accepting Jesus? Is it because He’s a “man”? Believing in God will not give you salvation (James 2:19). You will not inherit eternal life by just believing in God. Why? Because God has, in His sovereignty, brought about salvation through faith (trusting) in Jesus Christ. Our part in God's decision is in believing who Jesus claims to be.

Jesus speaks in the Old Testament. He appears in the Old Testament. Do you recognise  Him? I want to focus on a few verses from the New Testament that show the writers were under no confusion as to who Jesus claimed to be. I want to show that when they quote an Old Testament verse about God Almighty and attribute it to Jesus they are declaring that He is Almighty God. And I hope that you will also see if you are in doubt that it is Jesus with whom you have to deal. He is the judge at the end of this age. Everything to do with our having eternal life rests on Christ. The Scriptures teach us:

God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. The one who has the Son has the life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

This is a very serious verse to get a hold of. Very serious indeed. We cannot make up our own beliefs and think that they are valid. There is no such thing as "one's own truth", there is "one's own opinion" but there is only one truth. What is the truth about the Son of God? How consistent is the Bible in its teaching about the God of the Old Testament revealing Himself in the Son? Hebrews 1:1-2, 8-9 has an interesting twist:

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us by His Son... regarding the Son He says,  “Your throne, o God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of His kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God has anointed You...

God said to God. Understanding the "trinity" can be confusing. Think of it this way God Himself shows Himself in three different functions: God the Father oversees, God the Son redeems, and God the Holy Spirit reveals. One being, one purpose shown in three distinct functions.

1. Sovereign God

God has stated that He is the only one who is "God Almighty", "Saviour", the only "Right One" and the  only One whom we should ally with:

Is it not I, the Lord (yaweh - the sovereign God)
And there is no other God besides Me,
A righteous God and a Savior;
There is none except Me.
Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth;
For I am God, and there is no other.
I have sworn by Myself;
The word has gone out from My mouth in righteousness
And will not turn back,
That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. (Isaiah 45:21-23)

Then Paul uses this same phrase in acknowledging Jesus as that God and Saviour:

so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:10-11).

That is no coincidence.

2.  Name Revealed

Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” ”And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Ex 3:13-14)

When Jesus was talking to the accusers:

"Your father Abraham was overjoyed that he would see My day, and he saw it and rejoiced.”  So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and left the temple. (John 8:56-58)

In John 10:30-33 we read Jesus as saying:

"I and the Father are one". The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. Jesus replied to them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” The Jews answered Him, “We are not stoning You for a good work, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.”

They picked up stones to kill Him - they were in NO DOUBT as to what He was saying. He stated that He was equal to the sovereign God. He is the same "I Am" that Moses spoke to on the mountain (Ex 3:1-14). God declares that He is everything you need. Have you, in your mind linked that it was Jesus speaking to Moses on the mountain? 

3. From the Beginning to the End

God tells us that He is the First and Last. He began everything and He will finish everything.

This is what the LORD says, He who is the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of armies: "I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me" (Is 48:2).

John, when he receives the Revelation, hears Jesus saying:

"I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end, and the living one, I was dead and behold I am alive forevermore". (Rev 1:17-18)

This proclamation came from Jesus, who also says in Isaiah that He's the one who says that there is no God besides Him. Jesus spoke it in Isaiah and reminds John as we read in Revelation 1.

4. Is There Any Other Rock?

God has many names, one of them is an image of strength, the rock.

"Is there any God besides Me, or is there any other Rock? I know of none" (Is 44:8)

Paul gives us the commentary for this Old Testament verse so there is no confusion:

...and they all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ (1 Cor 10:3-4)

The rock of the church is Christ.

5.  God is Jealous of What?

for you shall not worship any other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God (Ex 34:14)

Worship only Him. Basically, worship means to bow down. In old English it's a word that means "to give worth to".  He will not allow another to have what belongs to Him. Now look at what happened with Jesus:

When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshipped Him, saying, “You are truly God’s Son!” (Matt 14:32)

When Jesus came to the disciples walking on the water they were astonished to see such a miracle! What was their response? The Bible says they worshiped Him saying "You are certainly God's Son". Jesus accepted the worship. Remember, God will not share his glory (revealing of who He is) with another" (Is 42:8). Jesus accepted the worship, the "giving worth to" because He as God, wrought the miracle.

6. Forgiveness with Proof

 “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing... (Ex 34:6-7)

Only God has the right to forgive because He is creator of all laws against Him. All sin is against Him, against His values. So how did Jesus show that He was equal to God?

...Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  But some of the scribes were sitting there and thinking it over in their hearts, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins except God alone?”  Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were thinking that way within themselves, *said to them, “Why are you thinking about these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” He said to the paralyzed man, “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet, and go home.”  And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” (Mark 2:9-12)

It's easy to say things that require no proof - but where proof is given then we have to take it seriously. The Pharisees themselves acknowledged that: "Who can forgive sins except God alone?”  The New Testament supports Jesus' right to forgive sins and therefore supports that He is equal with God.

 

7. Would You Worship a Mere Man?

Those who understood that He was no "mere man" gave Jesus the equal worth with God. And as we understand Him to be God we give Him equal value as we do to God the Father (1 Cor 8:6) and to God the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4). Take for example the man who was blind that Jesus healed:

Jesus heard that they had put him out, and upon finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered by saying, “And who is He, sir, that I may believe in Him?” Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the One who is talking with you.” And he said, “I believe, Lord.” And he worshiped Him (John 9:38-39)

Paul explains why Jesus should be worshipped:

For in Christ all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form (Col 2:9) 

...for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him (Col 1:16)

Jesus is not a mere man, He is God Almighty come in human flesh, who subjected Himself to the constraints of a body to bring about the reconciliation between Himself and mankind. God is a loving, humble, and powerful God who is also jealous, and just. We must accept Him as He is and not try and dilute Him to what we may find acceptable. We cannot pick and choose our preferences from the Bible. That same Bible where people can accept God as Father also says:

Who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.  Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also (1 John 2:22-23)

You cannot have it both ways. You cannot dictate to God which verses are legitimate and which are not. If you accept the Father but not the Son, does not even know God whom he thinks he knows. You can say "I've prayed to God and I saw that prayer answered!" Yes, because wants to draw you into the light so you can see better into the spiritual world. His aim is plain, true spirituality is defined from Romans 8:22:

to become conformed to the image of His Son

And now I speak to those who were brought up in a home that taught you that Bible. Who faithfully encouraged you to follow God and all His ways. Those who gave you life lessons when you were going for a walk, having chat times when you going to bed or getting up or just going about your everyday lives, 1 John 2:24 says:

As for you, see that what you heard from the beginning remains in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.

The Old and New Testaments are about One God who shows Himself in three functions. Jesus is trustworthy, He is for you, He will not lie to you. Read His claims in the New and see how they are drawn from the Old. Jesus is Almighty God and worthy of worship, so talk to Him, ask Him to reveal Himself to you. He said "If anyone is thirsty let him come to Me and drink..." (John 7:37).

 

The New Testament is in the Old concealed and the Old Testament is in the New revealed.