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The Deity of The Lord - Part 1 |
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Introduction
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The undeniable truth |
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a) |
To have an open Bible and an
open mind, the acceptance of
the deity of the Lord is
only rejected by the will of
man. Just as in the days
when our Lord was here,
despite the evidence the
Jews rejected Him. The
rejection was not due to
lack of evidence but the
unwillingness to accept Him
as such. |
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b) |
It is an undeniable truth
Satan uses religions and
cults to deny the deity of
the Lord! This is not new
nor is it teaching which has
only occurred in the last
hundred years, for
even
when our Lord was here His
deity was denied by the
religious hierarchy. As
they listened to the Lord
they heard Him say, “My
Father worketh hitherto, and
I work” (Jn. 5:17) and
immediately they said He was
making Himself equal with
God (Jn. 5:18). What was it
about what the Lord said
that caused them to
understand His claim to
deity? It was a mixture of
His words and cultural
understanding. When the
Lord used the word “My” it
indicated a unique
relationship of full
equality culturally when a
son was able to function as
a full
representative
of their father. If they
said “My father”, it was
understood
he was speaking as one who
had the full authority of
the Father and was in full
fellowship with him. Before
many more years passed the
Ebonites and others also
denied that living
relationship. Today,
Jehovah’s Witnesses and
Muslims are two of the
religious bodies which deny
His deity. There are those
who deny the
“full
deity” of the Lord. I say
“full
deity” for they teach He is
a lesser God but not fully
God, having every attribute
of Jehovah. They would teach
that He is the
“Mighty
God” but not the “Almighty”
or that He is the highest of
one of a series of gods, but
not truly God and Jehovah’s
co-equal
in every attribute and is
co-eternal. |
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c) |
When the Lord walked this
earth, neither Satan nor any
of his demons ever denied
its truth knowing He was
God! Indeed the temptations
were an attempt by Satan not
only to set aside the will
of God but also to
separate
the humanity of the Lord
from His deity. However,
that knowledge did not
hinder Satan from tempting
the Lord and in so doing,
having the Lord separate His
deity from His humanity.
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d) |
The question under
consideration is not “Is
Jesus the Son of God” or the
Messiah? To these many
would readily say
“yes”.
However, if one were to
ask, “Was the man Jesus
God’s co-equal, co-eternal
Son, that is He was as fully
God when here on earth as
when in Heaven?” Putting it
another way, when He was a
babe in the arms of Mary,
working as the carpenter, or
hanging on the cross, was He
still the fulness of deity?
(Col. 2:9). That is,
possessing all the
attributes of deity and
being co-eternal co-equal
with God in every way.
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The question is:
Was Jesus the human being
during His earthly sojourn,
everything that God is in
every way
without diminishment, and a
lessening of His
deity?” |
Biblical Truths Bearing Evidence to
His Deity
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Nathan Busenitz presents the
following pieces of evidence
for His deity with biblical
references: |
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a) |
The Old Testament predicted
that the Messiah would be
God (Isa. 9:6; Matt. 1:23). |
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b) |
Jesus claimed: |
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i) |
A heavenly preexistence (Jn.
6:62; 8:23; 16:28; 17:5). |
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ii) |
Divine authority: |
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1. |
Over the Sabbath (Matt.
12:8; Mk. 2:28; Lk. 6:5). |
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2. |
Over the forgiveness of sins
(Mk.
2:5–11). |
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3. |
In determining people’s
eternal destinies (Jn.
8:24; cf. Lk. 12:8–9; Jn.
5:22, 27–29). |
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c) |
Jesus exercised divine
authority: |
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i) |
Over demons (Mk.
1:2–27;
3:11; 5:1–20). |
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ii) |
Over disease and death (Mk.
1:29–31;
40–45; 5:25–43; 8:22–26). |
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iii) |
Over the natural world (Lk.
5:1–11;
8:22–25; 9:10–17). |
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d) |
Jesus claimed ownership over
that which belongs only to
God: |
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i) |
The kingdom of God (Matt.
13:41; 16:28; cf. Lk.
1:33). |
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ii) |
The elect of God (Matt.
24:30–31). |
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iii) |
The angels of God (Matt.
13:41; 24:30–31). |
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e) |
Jesus claimed: |
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i) |
The right to receive worship
and the ability to answer
prayer (Jn. 14:13–14; cf.
Acts 7:59; 9:10–17; Rev.
1:17). |
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ii) |
Absolute unity with the
Father, such that He could
tell His disciples,
“If
you’ve
seen Me, you’ve
seen the Father” (Jn.
14:9–10;
cf. 10:30; 12:45). |
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f) |
Jesus called Himself: |
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i) |
The Son of Man, a title with
divine implications from the
Old Testament (cf. Dan.
7:13–14). |
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ii) |
The Son of God, a title His
opponents understood as a
claim to deity (Matt. 27:43;
Jn. 5:18; 10:30; 19:7). |
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iii) |
"I Am," thereby applying the
Old Testament name Yahweh to
Himself (Jn. 8:58; cf. cf.
6:51; 10:9, 11; 11:25; 14:6;
15:1). |
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If I were to ask many
individuals, “What is an
ichthyostega?” There would
possibly be a look of
bewilderment from them. This
illustration focuses one's
attention on the necessity
of clarification of the
subject under
consideration. John wrote
his entire gospel to enable
readers to understand what
is meant by the terms, “the
Christ” and “Son of
God”. “But these are
written, that ye might
believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God; and
that believing ye might have
life through his name” (Jn.
20:31). Such is its
essentialness that he writes
in his first epistle, “Who
is a liar but he that
denieth that Jesus is the
Christ? He is antichrist,
that denieth the Father and
the Son (1 Jn. 2:22) and,
“Whosoever believeth that
Jesus is the Christ is born
of God: and every one that
loveth him that begat loveth
him also that is begotten of
him” (1 Jn. 5:1). To deny
the deity of the Lord, he is
a liar, a child of Satan and
certainly not saved. “Ye
are of your father the
devil, and the lusts of your
father ye will do. He was a
murderer from the beginning,
and abode not in the truth
because there is no truth in
him. When he speaketh a lie,
he speaketh of his own: for
he is a liar, and the father
of it” (Jn. 8:44). |
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Therefore, when we sing,
talk, or discuss the deity
of the Lord, what do we
mean? It is an
acknowledgement that the
descriptive term “Son of
God” is a declaration of the
fullness of equality with
the Father, who is God. Our
task is to determine what is
meant by the term “God?” |
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a) |
The task that God had to do
was to seek to communicate
to man the gloriousness of
His position, power, person,
perfection, and
preeminence. A living
illustration of this
difficulty is a family in
the town of “Odd” in West
Virginia who are all
inbred. The result is that
since only one ever went to
school they just give grunts
for communication. To try
to communicate with them in
English would be virtually
impossible. Most of the
family would not understand
what is being conveyed so it
is impossible for a human
being with limited
understanding and earthy
measurements to comprehend
the nothingness in which God
dwelt before he made
Heaven. Human beings cannot
grasp the non-beginning or
non-ending of God in
existence or His unchanging
person. |
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b) |
In grace, God gave man
language skills by which He
sought to convey to man what
is meant by the disclosure
of His names. Names in the
scriptures are very
important because they tell
something about the
individual. For instance,
Moses was named “Moses”
because he was drawn out of
the water. Therefore what
names does God seek to
reveal Himself? |
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His names: |
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a) |
“And Moses said unto God,
Behold, when I come unto the
children of Israel, and
shall say unto them, The God
of your fathers hath sent me
unto you; and they shall say
to me, What is his name?
what shall I say unto them?
And God said unto Moses, I
AM THAT I AM: and he said,
Thus shalt thou say unto the
children of Israel, I AM
hath sent me unto you. And
God said moreover unto
Moses, Thus shalt thou say
unto the children of Israel,
The LORD God of your
fathers, the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the
God of Jacob, hath sent me
unto you: this is my name
forever, and this is my
memorial unto all
generations “(Ex. 3:13-15). |
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b) |
“The LORD is a man of war:
the LORD is his name” (Ex.
15:3). |
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c) |
“For thou shalt worship no
other god: for the LORD,
whose name is Jealous, is a
jealous God” (Ex. 34:14). |
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d) |
“In his days Judah shall be
saved, and Israel shall
dwell safely: and this is
his name whereby he shall be
called, The Lord our
righteousness” (Jer. 23:6). |
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Other ways in which God
seeks to enlighten humanity
as to His greatness: |
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a) |
God seeks to exhort humanity
to open their eyes to the
infinite greatness of God
by: |
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i) |
His declarations of
absoluteness. |
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1. |
Clearly, it is only one who
knows everything and has all
ability who can without
reservation say, “I will”.
Satan said “I will” but he
did not have the ability.
Hitler said “I will” but he
neither knew the turns war
would take nor the ability
to fulfil his will of world
domination. |
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2. |
But God says: |
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(a) |
“And the LORD said, I will
destroy man whom I have
created from the face of the
earth; both man, and beast,
and the creeping thing, and
the fowls of the air; for it
repenteth me that I have
made them” (Gen. 6:7), and
He did with the flood.
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