|
Since He exists He must be God. Neither Jesus nor any New Testament
author displays the slightest doubt of His Godhood. He is God. He
is the creator and sustainer of everything. Regarding His identity
with God and His creation of all that is the apostle John, the disciple
closest to Him wrote these words:
John 1:1-4 – In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He
was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him,
and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life,
and the life was the light of men.
Concerning His sustaining power over creation the writer of Hebrews
adds that Jesus is:
Hebrews 1:3 – the brightness of
His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all
things by the word of His power.
Someone once said that if God were to remove His attention from
creation for the merest instant it would disappear as though it
were nothing more than smoke. This creation exists, as do you and
I, through the ongoing work of God. Jesus indicates this same idea
when He says:
John 5:17 – My Father has been working
until now, and I have been working.
Jesus confirmed His eternal existence again when He told the Jews:
John 8:56-58 – Your father Abraham
rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad. 57 Then the
Jews said to Him, You are not yet fifty years old, and have You
seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you,
before Abraham was, I AM.
Before Abraham was. Past tense. “I AM.” Present tense.
The same “I AM” that God spoke to Moses from the burning
bush. Eternal sense. Of the use of the phrase “I AM”
in this context John Gill writes:
This signifies the real being of God, his self-existence, and that
he is the Being of beings; as also it denotes his eternity and immutability,
and his constancy and faithfulness in fulfilling his promises, for
it includes all time, past, present, and to come; and the sense
is, not only I am what I am at present, but I am what I have been,
and I am what I shall be, and shall be what I am.
John Gill, John Gill’s Expositor
Jesus has the same relation to eternity as does His Father. He is
from before the beginning of time on to beyond the end of time.
Before the beginning of time Jesus lived. All that exists owes its
creation and continued existence to Him. He will remain after all
that exists is destroyed.
During His ministry on Earth Jesus made no secret of His identity
as the Son of God. He never beat around the bush, never hid the
truth behind clever words but boldly proclaimed Himself to be the
Son of God without fear or shame. It was this confession which ultimately
served as the excuse for which He was put to death. He repeatedly
identified Himself as one with the Father, an identification which
the religious leaders of His day rejected and viewed instead as
heresy since by this identification Jesus was actually making Himself
one with God.
Apart from God it is Jesus alone who does not refuse the worship
of man. He is worshipped by His disciples, His friends, those who
came to Him for Help, the hosts of heaven in His glory and the multitude
of the redeemed. The angels who stand in the very presence of God
and act as His messengers refuse worship for they are created beings,
the work of the hand of God. By accepting the worship of man Jesus
shows that He is not created but Creator.
1) Jesus is the visible manifestation of God the Father
John 14:6-9 – Jesus said to him,
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through Me. 7 If you had known Me, you would have
known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen
Him." 8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father,
and it is sufficient for us." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have
I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?
He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show
us the Father’"?
2) Jesus is the power through whom creation
came into being and is maintained
John 1:1-3 – In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He
was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him,
and without Him nothing was made that was made.
3) Jesus is the One through whom forgiveness
from sin is received
Hebrews 1:1-3 – God, who at various times and
in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed
heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 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 at the right hand of the Majesty
on high.
4) Jesus exists before and beyond all else
John 17:5 – And now, O Father, glorify
Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before
the world was.
John 8:56-58 – Your father Abraham
rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad. 57 Then the
Jews said to Him, You are not yet fifty years old, and have You
seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you,
before Abraham was, I AM.
Revelation 1:17-18 – And when I
saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand
on me, saying to me, "Do not be afraid; I am the First and
the Last. 18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive
forevermore."
|
