The Deity Of Jesus Christ

One God

In trying to understand Jesus Christ it is important to understand where Christ came from. Throughout the Old Testament a messiah was promised, one who would come and save His people and redeem mankind from the awful sin they had fallen into.

In Isaiah 43:10-11 the word of the LORD spoke saying “before me was no God formed, neither shall there be after me… I am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.” The scriptures take great efforts to maintain this concept of there be one God and there is none beside him, equal to him, nor any to compare Him to. In Isaiah 45:21-23 it states “There is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me... There is none else… That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.”

While we do not have time to go into every verse that declares God is numerically one and He is alone, Jesus was asked in Mark 12:28 “Which is the first commandment of all?” Jesus replied: “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

By this we understand the Shema was not strictly an Old Testament teaching but a teaching that Jesus carried over into the New Testament. Above all else, Jesus said, to obey this commandment and remember the LORD is one.

Who is the Christ?

Though there are many philosophies, ideas, or even beliefs about who or what the Christ is, our job is to search the scriptures. We have confidence that what is contained in the Holy Bible is inspired by the Holy Ghost and is the foundation for us to understand the things of God. So what does the scriptures say about this Christ? Who is this Christ and where does he come from?

The first mention of a messiah comes very early in the Bible, in Genesis:

Genesis 3:15 NKJV — And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

From the beginning of creation we see God promising a seed to the woman that would bring destruction to the serpent and claiming victory over him for what he had done to mankind, Gods creation whom He loved. As time passed and years went on, many prophecies came concerning a messiah who would set the people of God free. Lets look at some of the scriptures concerning this Holy One who is to come and save His people.

God wanted His people to know the He alone was their Redeemer, He was their King, and He would come and save them.

Isaiah 40:3 KJV — The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

The scriptures prophesied there would be a man sent before the LORD to prepare the way for Him, we know that John the Baptist was this man. John was not sent before just a prophet or great man but he was to go before the LORD and prepare the way for Him. John bore witness of Jesus, that this truly was the Christ, the Lamb of God, but he also made another statement in John 1:15 “…This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.” How could this Jesus be before John when John was six months older than Jesus? This was a issue that many not only today face, but also in the days of Jesus Christ, where the Jews were not looking for their God to come save them (Isaiah 35:4) but they were looking for a man to come and establish a kingdom and defeat their human enemies. But God had a sin issue He needed to take care of first.

Micah 5:2 KJV — But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

The prophets spoke of this messiah who would come who’s “goings forth have been from old, from everlasting.” Tho He was a man born to a woman, there was something about Him that was from everlastings. The Scriptures tell us what that was:

1 Corinthians 15:47 KJV — The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

Colossians 1:16 KJV — 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:

This same Jesus was the Father of creations manifest in the flesh. In order for God to be with mankind he needed a means to redeem them unto Himself (Titus 2:14). They could see the man of flesh and blood standing before them, but they could not understand how this Jesus claimed to come from above (John 8:23). In John 8, Jesus is speaking to the Jews who asked the question “ Where is thy Father?” and He tells them “Ye neither know me, nor my Father: If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.” Jesus would continue the discourse with “I am from above: ye are of this world”. Jesus would declare: “If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins" and John 8:27 lets us know what He meant: “They understood not that he spake to them of the Father".

In John 8:58 Jesus said “Before Abraham was, I am" and the Jews took up stones to stone Him. In John 10 Jesus would again make the claim “I and my Father are one" and explained the reason why they wanted to stone the man that stood before them V.33 “For good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” The Jews had no doubt of the claim Jesus was making, He was claiming to be the Lord of Glory come down and they had no other means to kill this man accept for blasphemy. In the end this claim would lead him to the cross.

Zechariah 12:10 KJV — And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

Thankfully the death and burial of Jesus Christ is not the end of His story, for we see John write a book entitled “The Revelation of Jesus Christ". And one of the first things we see is “one like unto the Son of man" clothed with a golden girdle, hair white as snow, eyes as a flame of fire, feet like unto fine brass, and his voice as the sound of many waters. All imagery that the prophets before hand had spoken about God. The angels worship the Lamb of God the same way they did when he was in the arms of Mary, in swaddling clothes. We see Jesus losing the seven seals and treading the winepress alone with the fierceness of God Almighty. We see a new city coming down from Heaven and there is a temple there but there is no need for the sun for God and the Lamb are the light of the city (Revelation 21:22) We see a single throne with one upon the throne and it is the express image of the invisible God, Jesus Christ. In Revelation 22:3 it stays “the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him; and they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.” Notice “His" servants shall serve “Him”. They are not the servants of two master but of the one who sits on the throne of God and the Lamb.

John ends the revelation with this:

Revelation 22:20 NKJV — He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

We are not waiting for the appearing of any other than Jesus Christ. The deity of Christ remains hidden to many of those in the world but “to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1) but to us there is but one God, the Father and one Lord, Jesus Christ. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so.

Titus 2:13-14 NKJV — looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.