Some time
ago, I wrote a post about Jesus' true nature and divine identity. My
goal was to point out the simple fact that Jesus is God. He was not
just a good man. He wasn't some revolutionary teacher from the past.
He wasn't even just the “son of God” (in the same way that you
and I are sons and daughters of God). Bethlehem wasn't the beginning
of His story, because His story has no beginning. As part of the
God-head, Jesus isn't simply a man who was “the son of God” - He
is “God, the Son” who made Himself a man!
I thought I
covered most of what scripture has to say about this in my post. But
recently, the Holy Spirit walked me through the New Testament again
and pointed out each reference to Who Jesus really is. I found that I
didn't even scratch the surface last time.
Most
believers would agree with me on this – Jesus is God. But if they
were ever challenged on this point, I'm not sure they could
biblically defend this faith of theirs. Why do we believe that Jesus
is God? Do we believe this because it's what the church has always
believed, or do we know this from Scripture? Let's
walk together through the New Testament and find out why
we believe what we believe.
What's in a Name?
I
want to start at the beginning, the first two chapters of Matthew.
Here we see the story of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, as seen from the
eyes of Joseph. When Joseph learned that His fiance was pregnant –
with someone else's child – he decided to do what any man would,
break the whole thing off. But before he could do anything about his
decision, God sent a messenger to inform him of what was really
happening. Let's look at what this angel told Joseph:
Matthew
1:20-21 But while he
thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to
Him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to
take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of
the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call
His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”
The
angel told Joseph to name the boy “Jesus”, which means “Yahweh
saves”. Why was Joseph told to name him “Yahweh saves”? Because
this little boy would save His people from their sins. So He was
going to be called “Yahweh saves”...because He was going to save!
Who was this angel declaring that unborn child to be? Yahweh! And if
that isn't clear enough, look at the very next verse:
Matthew
1:22-23 So all this
was done that in might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord
through the prophet, saying, “Behold the virgin shall be with
child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,”
which is translated, “God with us.”
Now
we have another name for this yet-to-be-born child, “Immanuel”.
This a powerful name in and of itself, but it also tells us why the
name of Jesus is so powerful. Immanuel means “God with us”! So
everything that God is, everything that He revealed Himself to be as
Yahweh, is all wrapped up in the name “Yahweh saves”! Jesus is
God!
Wow!
Scripture doesn't hold back on this point. At the very start of the
New Testament – Matthew chapter one – the Bible makes Jesus'
identity clear.
Since
Matthew quoted from the book of Isaiah already, I would also like to
point out a passage in that book:
Isaiah
9:6 “For unto us a Child
is born,unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His
shoulder.” We hear
this verse quoted every year about this time. It's usually used to
show what we're celebrating on Christmas, that God sent us the gift
of His only Son to save us. That's certainly true...but it's not the
whole truth of this verse. Let's finish verse six:
“And
His name shall be called Wonderful...:
This is not simply saying that Jesus is a good name. The Hebrew word
for “wonderful” means “beyond understanding”. That is to say,
you'll never be able to wrap your mind around the meaning of the name
of Jesus -
that He is actually Yahweh Himself, come to save His people from
their sins!
“...Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince
of Peace.” this child
that was both born
(speaking of the human nature He would be born into) and given
(speaking of His adoption as part of the human race) is called
“Mighty God” and “Everlasting Father”! Who was Isaiah
claiming this child was? He is God!
Without a Beginning
Matthew's
account of Jesus birth goes on, and we find a group of rich and
powerful men traveling to see the newborn Ruler of God's people. When
they arrived in Israel, they went to the place where you would expect
to find a king – the capital. As they traveled through the streets
of Jerusalem, they announced that they were there to see the young
king. Understandably, the people were alarmed. King Herod didn't have
a baby, yet these men seemed to be informed by God Himself that there
was a new king. That could only mean one thing, that the long-awaited
Messiah had been born! He was the one who was to bring deliverance
and freedom to Israel.
Herod,
being appointed as king by the Roman empire, did not want the kind of
deliverance that the people thought the Messiah was bringing. So he
called the scribes together to try and locate the newborn Messiah.
When King Herod demanded to know where the Messiah was supposed to be
born, the scribes of Jerusalem said this:
Matthew
2:5-6 So they said to him,
“In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: “But
you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the
rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a ruler Who will shepherd
My people Israel.”
Now
let me show you where these scribes were quoting from:
Micah
5:2 But you, Bethlehem
Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet
out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.
Do
you see that? Micah just told us that the birth in Bethlehem wasn't
the beginning of this child's story. This young Ruler – the one who
would shepherd God's people – came from the everlasting! He may
have been born in Bethlehem, but He had no beginning!
Now Who does that sound
like to you?
The Object of Worship
When
the wise men found the boy's house, they came in and saw Him with his
family. Then they did something that must have been shocking to Mary
and Joseph:
Matthew
2:11 And when they had come
into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and
fell down and worshiped Him...
These
rich and powerful men dropped to their knees and worshiped a little
boy!
In
Acts 8:25, we see Cornelius mistakenly worshiping the apostle Peter,
as if he were more than just a man. In response, Peter corrects the
commander's misguided reverence. In Acts 14, the Lycaonians began to
worship Paul and Barnabas. Again we see these two men begging the
crowd of worshippers to stop. Twice in Revelation (19:10 and 22:8),
the apostle John was rebuked for falling down to worship an angel.
This
correction is only right. We find in Deuteronomy 6:13 that Yahweh
alone must be the
focus of our worship. And yet, here we see a group of men that
worshiped young Jesus, and were never corrected for it. But this one
incident isn't the only time this happened:
Matthew 8:2 And
behold, a leper came and worshiped Him...
Matthew 9:18 While
He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped
Him...
Matthew 28:17 When
they saw Him, they worshiped Him...
Mark 5:6 When
he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him...
Luke 24:52 And
they worshiped Him...
John
9:38 Then he said, “Lord I
believe!” And he worshiped Him...
Jesus
knew what Deuteronomy 6:13 said – He quoted it Himself in Matthew
4. But not one time did Jesus ever stand these people up and correct
them for worshiping Him. Not once do we ever see that their worship
was misguided. In fact, in a few of these stories it was their
worship that moved Jesus
into action! Who did
Jesus think He was to allow people to worship Him like that?
Worshiping
Jesus is only right if He is God. The worship of any man – no
matter how great he was – is idolatry; and to teach the worship of
a man is heresy. But look at what the Father Himself commands in
Hebrews:
Hebrews
1:6 But when He again brings
the firstborn into the world, He says, “Let all the angels of God
worship Him.”
The
heavenly hosts of angels are commanded to worship the Son – the One
that was born in Bethlehem, the One who was called “God
with us” and “Yahweh
saves”, the One that
never had a beginning, and the One Who is referred to as “Mighty
God”!
There
is so much more in the New Testament that we haven't gotten to yet.
We've only looked at the first two chapters of Matthew! And yet we
see very clearly that Jesus was not just a prophet, not some
revolutionary leader, and not simply a good teacher. He was, is and
always has been – God Himself!
