Is Yeshua (Jesus) God?

Does it Matter Whether or Not Jesus is God?

It certainly matters to me if He is. You see if He died on the cross as a mere man and shed the blood of a mere man then the debt for my sins has not been paid. If Jesus was a mere man then His blood would not be sufficiently valuable to wash away every sin I’ve ever committed no matter how severe. And His blood would not be of sufficient value to wash away your sins either. And it would certainly not be valuable enough to wash away the sins of a million or a of billion or of even more sinners who died but not before each one accepted the finished work - the shed blood and substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross. Because to do all that, for all of those sins to be forgiven requires a life and blood of infinite worth. And that infinite worth requires that Jesus is God. And there’s something else too: if I am to be made new and to become a slave of righteousness instead of a slave to sin, then I must be crucified in Yeshua, my Old Man must die, and I must be raised to newness of life, as a new creation. That requires that Jesus was raised from the dead - resurrected - and for that to happen, He has to be God. And I’m not just talking about me. What was and is required for all my sins to be forgiven - and for all the sins of each of you to be forgiven and for each one of you to be raised to newness of life, Jesus had to be and has to be God. My friends we are talking about being born again, born again to eternal life. For that to happen Jesus must be divine, He must be God.

So, is Jesus God? What does the Bible say? Let’s take a look. We’re not going to look at every Scripture that proves that Jesus is God. That would take too long. But we’ll look at enough Scriptures to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, in my opinion, that Yeshua, Jesus, is God. Let’s start with the Old Testament.

Old Testament Evidence That Jesus is God:

Isaiah 9:6

Isaiah 9:6 NIV

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah is here saying that a child will be born, and He was born hundreds of years later, who will be called, among other things, Mighty God. The word God here in the Hebrew is EL which means God. This child who was born in Bethlehem is Jesus. Jesus is God.

Next we are going to go to the book of Daniel:

Daniel 7:13-14

Daniel 7:13–14 NIV

13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

The prophet Daniel has been shown a vision of four world empires represented by four beasts. The fourth beast is representative of the Roman empire. This fourth beast had ten horns but, as Daniel watched, an eleventh horn sprang up and uprooted three of the first ten horns. In his vision, Daniel saw one like a son of man - that’s Jesus - approaching the Ancient of Days - that’s God the Father. The Father gave the Son of Man, Jesus, the God-Man authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. This is clearly God the Father giving all these things to God the Son, Jesus. Jesus is God.

Let’s go to the New Testament now, to the Gospel of Matthew.

New Testament Evidence That Jesus Is God:

Jesus has instructed John the Baptist to baptize Him:

Matthew 3:16-17

Matthew 3:16–17 NIV

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Here we have all three Persons of the triune God: the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus and the Father declaring that Jesus is His Son. The Son of God is God.

Matthew 9:5-7

Matthew 9:5–7 NASB 2020

5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, pick up your stretcher and go home.” 7 And he got up and went home.

Jesus had just told a paralyzed man “Your sins are forgiven”. Some teachers of the Law were there and said about Jesus “This man is blaspheming”. They said this because only God has the authority to forgive sins. Therefore Jesus was making it clear: He had the authority to forgive sins. Jesus was saying He is God. Now you and I cannot forgive sins and we don’t have the right to forgive sins. But we can say to a paralyzed man “Your sins are forgiven” and although we might say this to a person his sins are not forgiven. But Jesus authenticated His right and authority to forgive sins by immediately healing the man, something that only God could do. Jesus is God.

Let’s go next to the Gospel of John. In this Gospel, Jesus is sometimes called the Word. In Greek that’s Logos. John explicitly tells us that Jesus is God. And he also tells us that Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us:

John 1:1

John 1:1 NASB 2020

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14

John 1:14 NASB 2020

14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus is God.

Objections:

Some people object to what I’m sharing with you today. They argue that Yeshua, Jesus, is not God. Let’s look at three of these objections:

Numbers 23:19

Numbers 23:19 NASB 2020

19 “God is not a man, that He would lie, Nor a son of man, that He would change His mind; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

It’s true that God is not a man. Jesus is not merely a man. He is the God-Man. He is perfect God and perfect Man. If He did not have a human component He could not have died on the cross and He could not have saved us. Even on the cross He never stopped being God. Jesus is God.

Let’s look at another objection. This one is in the 24th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew and it has to do with Jesus’ return. The apostles were asking Jesus when that would be. I’m going to read the verse in question:

Matthew 24:36

Matthew 24:36 NASB 2020

36 “But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

Now if Jesus was God would He not know the exact time of His return? The answer to that question is no and the reason for that is because Jesus was and is perfect God and perfect Man and sometimes He set aside His divine powers and prerogatives. This was an example of Him doing that. Let me read to you a verse from Philippians that helps us to understand this:

Philippians 2:5-8

Philippians 2:5–8 NASB 2020

5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.

The apostle Paul is writing here and he is teaching about the importance of humility and he is using Yeshua as an example. Perhaps another example will help us to better understand why Jesus did not know the exact day and hour of His return:

Jesus is soon to be taken to the cross.

Matthew 26:47

Matthew 26:47 NASB 2020

47 And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs, who came from the chief priests and elders of the people.

Matthew 26:51-54

Matthew 26:51–54 NASB 2020

51 And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. 52 Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword will perish by the sword. 53 Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 How then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?”

So even though Jesus could have called upon His Father for twelve legions of angels to deliver Him from this armed crowd it did not serve His purposes to do so. And yet He was still God. Listen to what He does in the Gospel of Luke:

Luke 22:51

Luke 22:51 NASB 2020

51 But Jesus responded and said, “Stop! No more of this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.

Isn’t that amazing! Jesus emptied Himself of His power as God allowing Himself to be taken by an armed mob to be taken to an unfair trial that would lead to His death yet He healed the sliced off ear of the high priest. Jesus is God.

Now there is one more example that I want to give you today. There are many more examples that the Bible contains but I’m going to give you just one more today. Let’s read from the psalms:

Psalm 2:7

Psalm 2:7 NKJV

7 “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.

This verse is a prophecy about the anointed Son of God, the Messiah. Now those who do not believe that Yeshua is the Son of God and equal to God might say that the LORD, Adonai, God the Father is saying that He has begotten the Son. This Psalm, earlier on makes it clear that this Son is the anointed One. In other words He is the Messiah. So He is the Son of God and the Messiah, the anointed One. But doesn’t begotten mean that He was created? After all, begotten refers to birth, even in the Bible as for example in the New King James Version in :

Genesis 4:18

Genesis 4:18 NKJV

18 To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech.

Now begot in this verse means fathered, i.e., these men in this verse had intercourse with their wives and the result in each case was the birth of a son. These sons were not eternal, they did not come into the world from eternity, they did not always exist. They were created beings just like you and I.

Let’s now read Psalm 2:7 again:

Psalm 2:7

Psalm 2:7 NKJV

7 “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.

Well in this verse begotten does not mean created. But you might say to me, “Art, haven’t you always taught your students to take the Bible literally?” I would say to my students yes, I do teach that, but there are exceptions. I’m going to read to you Dr. David Cooper’s Golden Rule of Scripture Interpretation:

"When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise."

Well it so happens that in Psalm 2 verse 7, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You’ does not mean created. The reason I say that is because other related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths indicate that clearly Jesus is not a created being. So then what does begotten mean in this verse?

I suggest to you the following: I believe, as do many others, that Psalm 2 is a Royal Psalm that refers to the day of Messiah’s coronation, when He comes to Earth the second time to set up and to assume the rulership of His Messianic or Millennial Kingdom. God the Father has ordained this and is saying to the Messiah, His Son, “Today is the consummation of what You and I have long awaited, of what We have planned from before the foundations of the world. Today is the day. Congratulations my one and only beloved Son”. Jesus is God.

So, my friends, what does all this mean for you and for me?

I’m going to read 2 more verses to you:

Romans 8:16-17

Romans 8:16–17 NASB 2020

16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

And:

Hebrews 2:11-12

Hebrews 2:11–12 NASB 2020

11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for this reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 12 saying, “I will proclaim Your name to My brothers, In the midst of the assembly I will sing Your praise.”

My friends, I don’t know about you but I want to be a fellow heir and brother with my Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus. I want to be with Him in the midst of the assembly as He proclaims the Name of His Father to us and sings praise to His Father’s glory. Don’t you want that too?

Do you know our Messiah? Do you know Him. If you don’t I beg of you to call on His Name today. Recognize that you are a sinner (just like me!), say to Him: “Lord Jesus, Son of God, Please wash me clean today, forgive all my sins, so that I can spend eternity in heaven with You. Thank you Lord”.