We all know John begins with a declaration that the “Word is God.” We have previously explored the first chapter of Hebrews (1:6) to find the Lord God, commanding the angels to worship the Son. Only God is worthy of worship, so if the Father commands it, and I want to honor the Father, I will worship, and honor, the Son. Then v. 8 has God directly addressing Jesus, the Son, as God. I am not going to argue with Jehovah. That is two.
I have had Matthew pointed out as the third book that affirms Jesus as God. First, the virgin birth, orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. (v. 18 and 23 ) Verse 23 identifies the Baby as “God with us.” Later on in Matthew (3:3) the book of Isaiah is quoted. “Prepare ye the way of the Lord," Yahweh. (40:3) We now have three.
Mark,(1:3) Luke, (3:4) and John (1:23) again echo that declaration. Four is the count now. And Luke waits until chapter 3 to address it. But chapter 1 references the virgin birth and Zacharias refers to John going before the Face of the Lord. We are now up to five.
(I may need to study more on this. I may find more. In fact, I have.) Revelation, another work from John blatantly proclaims Jesus is the First and the Last, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, which are Old Testament names for Jehovah. (Isaiah 41:4, 44:6, and 48:12 ) Then verses 7 and 8 declare Jesus to be Jehovah. Six books begin with the deity of Jesus.
7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Jesus (v. 7) is the coming One, identified as the One whom they pierced. Verse 8 quotes the A and the O, and identifies Him as the Almighty, and the coming One. (Different A and O) Jesus. God. One.
In conclusion, every author* in the New Testament has affirmed that Jesus is God as He Himself claimed. And at least six of them put that at the very front of their writings. (They did not have chapters. Those, and verses were added later for convenience.)
It is ironic that modern skeptics claim that the deity of Jesus was added to the story as time moved away from the original witnesses and His followers tended to mythologize and enhance Him. In actuality, the reverse is true. His deity was claimed by Jesus, Himself, His immediate followers and brother (James), and later chroniclers (Paul and Luke). The layers of doubt and ultimately denial came as the access to original witnesses dissipated.
It became so acute that the Council of Nicea (AD 325) was called to deal with the heresies that had arisen. It did not “invent” or impose the deity of Christ on church doctrine (per Dan Brown), but instead reaffirmed the original doctrine. The heresy has persisted until the present time, with even organized religions being based on this error.
They perpetuate the lie that Jesus is not God, and do so in the Name of Jehovah. I personally confronted one of their leaders with the Hebrews 1 declaration from Jehovah that Jesus, the Son, was God and that even the angels were to worship Him. This was from his own flawed translation.
And his response? “Well, I don’t believe that it really means that.”
“What does it mean then?” I queried.
“Not that.”
I persisted. “If it does not mean that, what does it mean? It has to mean something.”
“We will just have to agree to disagree,” was his rejoinder.
“No,” I responded, “that implies two equal and believable interpretations. That is totally incorrect. I will only agree that you are refusing to accept from even your own translation the testimony of all the New Testament authors, the rest of the Bible, and even the One you claim to revere, Jehovah.”
Think that was too harsh? Did I mention that this was his third visit to attempt to convert me? Maybe he saw the light. He has not been back. I pray that he did.
Jesus, the central figure of the entire Bible has been identified and acclaimed as Jehovah God. I can understand an unbeliever, as Brown, not accepting this, especially when it gives him a lucrative novel. But for people who supposedly base their beliefs on the Scriptures to deny that, is simply a contradiction in terms. You cannot claim to believe the Bible then deny that it is believable.
Jesus is Lord. Jesus is God. We jeopardize our eternal destiny, no completely compromise it, by disbelief.
*Hebrews included, but not attributed.
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