Is Jesus God?

Scripture is extremely clear that Jesus is the Messiah (anointed One), the Christ (Anointing), the Son of God, (John 3,16-18). He is the Word (the Logos) of God (John 1:1-14, Rev 19:13), the sacrificial Lamb of God (John 1:1-14) slain from before the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8 Lit.) and the Gift of God (John 4:10), our High Priest, the Sin Offering (perfect lamb without blemish), the Propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10) , the Mediator of the New Covenant (Heb. 9 & 10) and He ever lives to make intersession for us (Heb 7:25). He is the Good Shepherd (Psa 23, John 10:11,14, Heb 13:20), the Door (John 10:9) the blessed and sovereign King of Kings and the Lord of lords (1 Tim 6:15, Rev.17:14, 19:16). He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5), the Seed of David, the Bright Morning Star (Rev 22:16) and the Captain of the Host (Josh 5:13-15).

He is the Redeemer (Titus 2:14, Rev. 5:9) and the Saviour of ALL, especially them that believe (1Tim 4:10) the Head of the Church and our heavenly Husband (Eph 5) and Bridegroom of the bride (Mar. 9:15, Matt. 25:1-10, John 3:29-30, Rev 19). He is THE Way, THE Truth and THE Life, (John 14:6) and is the Tree of Life in the garden of Eden. He is the Light of the world (John 8:12, 9:5), He is (the essence of) Love (1 John 2:5, 4:9) and He is the Servant of all. He is the Firstborn or beginning of the New Creation (Col 1:15, Rev 3:14), the First Fruits (1 Cor 15:25) the Faithful Witness, the Amen of the Father (Rev 1:5, 3:14). He has become unto us (all who put their faith and trust in Him) Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).

He is Judge of all (Acts 17:31, 2 Tim 4:8, Heb 12:23 in conjunction with John 5:22) and at, in, and by, HIS name every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that He is LORD to the glory of God the Father (Rom 14:11, Phil 2:11). He is The Rock of offense and stumbling stone [to the legalistic, religious, carnal, unbelieving mind] (Rom 9:33, 1 Pet 2:8), was The Rock that was in the wilderness which gave spiritual water (substance) to Israel (1 Cor 10:4) and is The Rock which is the Foundation and Chief Corner Stone of the habitation of God in the Spirit, the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem (1 Pet 2:4-8). He is the Bread of Life and was the Manna that also fed the children of Israel in the desert given by God, not Moses (John 6:31-51).

He is the exact image and representation of the invisible God. (Col 1:15, Heb 1:3). He is the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father and the Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6). He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, who IS and who WAS and who IS TO COME, the Almighty holding the keys to death and Hades (Rev. 1:8, 17-18, 22:18 compare these with Isa. 44:6). He is the I AM (John 8:58), He existed in and with God, shared the glory of God the Father before the world was (John 17:5) and by/through Him creation came into being (John 1:1-3, 1 Cor. 8:6, Col 1:16, Heb 1:5-10),. He is the LORD ALMIGHTY (Matt 22:42-45, Rev 1:8).

The real question is….

Is being the only begotten Son of God, the Lord, the same as being, or make Him equal with, or the same as, God?

The logical, intellectual answer to this question is found in another question; what Father would give birth to someone inferior to Himself, much less our heavenly Father? But, beyond that, Phil 2:6 states that Jesus didn’t think it was robbery to be equal with God, AND the Jews condemned Him for blaspheming, precisely because; by calling Himself the Son of God, He was making Himself EQUAL WITH GOD even while in human form. He went on to say that He and The Father were ONE!

“For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.” (John 5:18)

“The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. “I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I SAID, YOU ARE GODS’? “If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God‘? “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp.” (John 10:24-39)

I am certain these references are not at all exhaustive and certainly one must take into account the whole tenure of scripture to fully understand the heart of God in regard to Jesus Christ. Anyone reading through these passages with the inspiration, guidance and revelation of the Holy Spirit could never deny the truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and therefore is one with (equal/the same as) God, the Father and therefore shares His glory and divinity.

Having said that, “God the Father” is a perfectly scriptural term whereas “God the Son” is not found. So why then do we so often hear this reference to Jesus…. “God the Son”, or for that matter; “God the Spirit” also not found in the scripture? These terms have been coined to support the Church’s doctrine of the “Trinity”, which, by the way, although deeply ingrained in the minds of the majority of Christians is not a scriptural word either.

I believe it is because “Father (God)” is the SOURCE of everything whereas the “Son” came from the Father and through His earthly experience BECAME all that God IS upon returning (ascending) back to the Father. Through the process of spiritual birth, growth and perfection, He was anointed, appointed and made the heir of ALL things (Heb 1:2).

“…Jesus Christ who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God (The Father) highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
(Phil 2:6-11)

The question that was asked was….. “IS Jesus God?” The question was not…. “WAS Jesus (the man, while on earth) God?” This may sound like mere semantics, but I assure you it is not! Why is this so important to clarify? Because Jesus is the pattern, the prototype, for many sons (you and I) to follow as we embrace and obtain OUR inheritance as Sons also. The revelation of what/who He was before He came to earth, what/who He was and manifested while on earth as a man, and MOST IMPORTANTLY what/who He now is IN us, are the summation of all that God desires to reveal to His own, IN His own and ultimately to all of creation. It is the revelation of this mystery that is the foundation of Paul’s message and ministry, which is “Christ IN YOU, the hope of glory”! (Col 1:25-28)

Further more, it is the revealing of the sons of God that all of creation is longing and waiting for. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to, in and through us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”
(Rom 8:18-21)

To this end I believe what the scriptures reveal; that Jesus was/is the first God/man. He is 100% God and was/still is 100% human. In His humanity (as the Son of Man) He was every bit a man as we are, with the one exception, that He was without sin (Heb 4:15). He was, and could be, sinless for the simple reason that He was born of the seed of the Spirit (through the virgin birth) and not of the seed of Adam (through natural human insemination). Therefore He did not have the same fallen Adamic nature that we were born with from our earthly fathers.

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”  (John 3:6)

No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (1 John 3:9)

As He lived out His sojourning on this planet and would speak in terms of His humanity He would say things like…. “I of my own self can do nothing” or “I can do nothing on My own initiative” or “I do not seek my will, but the will of Him who sent me” or “Not my will, but thine be done”.

It is clear that Jesus, the man that John walked with and came to know in the flesh, after His resurrection became much, much more than just a man with an anointing. John was only able to receive this revelation of Christ after the Holy Spirit had come and he (John) was taken up in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day to see the risen, glorified Christ through the eyes of the Spirit. He was instructed to write what he saw in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. He then had, like Saul of Tarsus, received a divine revelation of Jesus Christ the risen Lamb of God. Paul also received a revelation of The glorified Christ and was transformed. In the same way we also are not to merely “follow ” the historical figure, Jesus the man (with a WWJD “What would Jesus do” mentality), trying in vain to religiously fashion our lives after the way we perceive Jesus would have lived. This is the epitome of religiosity and fleshly striving!

“Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.” (2 Cor 5:16)

BUT, we were made to DIE with Christ and rise again in newness of Life wherein the risen, glorified Christ now lives and abides within us, living His divine life IN us, AS us, the innner man (Christ) increasing while the outer man (that which is still self-centered) decays/decreases, until with Paul we can emphatically declare, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Gal 2:20)

We join with Paul and John in our bold assertion that we have seen (by faith in our spirits) the glorified Christ Jesus, sitting at the right hand of God on high and know also that we have been seated together with Him in heavenly places! And now, we too are on that same path into oneness with The Father until eventually, like Jesus, we can truly say, “I and my Father are one!” and “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen The Father!” that our elder Brother’s high priestly prayer may be fulfilled….

“…that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” (John 17:21-23)

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Arguments that Suggest that Jesus is NOT God

1) No one has seen God at any time. God is invisible. (1Tim 6:16, John 1:18, 1 John 4:12)

No one had seen God up to the point when Jesus came to earth and manifested/revealed the nature of God to us. The closest anyone had come was Jacob who wrestled with God (an angel of God) and Moses who saw His fading glory as He passed by. But, it is the Father’s desire that we (mankind) will ALL see God, and come into right relationship with Him, through Jesus Christ.

“Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One (Jesus) who is from God; He (Jesus) has seen the Father.”  (John 6:46)

How, therefore, did Jesus see God, the Father, if He was only ever a mere man? He had to have been with/in Him prior to His earthly experience and/or was able to see Him through the eyes of the Spirit the same way we are able too, now that He indwells us.

Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (Joh 14:9)

Look again at the 1 Tim. 6:16, but this time take it in context with verses 14 & 15….

“…until the appearing of our (glorified) Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time–He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man (in his flesh) has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.”  (1 Tim 6:14-16)

Paul is referring to the GLORIFIED Christ Jesus, not merely the man, Jesus who walked the earth. Of course men saw and touched the Son of Man, but no man has seen the risen, glorified Christ with their natural, physical eyes. John got a revelation of the risen, glorified Jesus Christ while he was caught up “in the spirit” on the Lord’s Day. He saw Him with spiritual eyes. Saul of Tarsus saw a blinding light and heard a voice and was later caught up into the third heaven to see things in the spirit that he could not speak of. Moses could only look upon his fading glory as He (God) passed by. The closest any man has come to seeing Him in a transcendent state was when He took John and Peter to the mount of transfiguration and they got a glimpse of the glorified Christ. It is the Glorified Christ Jesus who is One with the Father and has been given ALL power, ALL authority, ALL dominion, ALL rule. It is out of this state of being that Jesus the man lived while He was in the earth and it is out of this same state of being that we are also to now live. (Rom 8:13, Gal 3:3, 5:16,25)

2) God cannot die. God is immortal, and God is eternal. Jesus was a mortal man and physically died on the cross. How can a mere mortal be God?

Jesus, the man, certainly did die (physically) that He might be raised up and in being raised up out of physical death overcame death and the grave and now is able to dwell in us by His Spirit. It is appointed for every man once to die and Jesus was all man, but because He also had the Spirit of the living God dwelling IN Him, He was able to overcome death for and on behalf of Himself as well as for ALL mankind. This is the mystery, the glory and the hope of the resurrection. This is the glorious good news, the Gospel…. That….. “as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” (1 Cor 15:22)

“And if (since) the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”  (Rom 8:11)

“…and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”  (2Co 5:15-19)

3) God has no Gods over Him. Jesus called God “my God and Father” I go to my God and your God. My Father and your Father. (Joh 20:17)

Jesus, the Son of Man, had been resurrected at this point and was returning, in His ascension, back to His Father where He would be handed ALL power and ALL authority by God the Father (Mat 28:18, John 17:2, Jude 1:25). Becoming one with God was His destiny and He was in the very transition from the terrestrial realm to the celestial realm when He met Mary in the Garden. For purposes of giving her (and us) understanding of what was actually happening, He spoke in these terms and by inference was showing her/us the way that SHE/WE would take also because of the glorious act of sacrifice He had just demonstrated. Mary was an eye witness that He had in fact fulfilled His destiny and was everything He said He was… the Messiah! Notice also that at this point He commanded her not to touch Him as He did not want ANY earthly desire kindled in Him to remain earth bound, until He had be “fused” back into oneness with the Father and finish the work He had started.

Also look carefully at this passage and what Jesus is asking the Pharisees…

Then He said to them, “How is it that they say the Christ is David’s son? “For David himself says in the book of Psalms, ‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET. Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord,’ and how is He his son?” (Luk 20:41-44)

As mentioned above, this is precisely what provoked the Jews to anger causing them to desire to crucify Him, because He was claiming to be EQUAL with God. They were well aware that the Messiah, the Christ would be one with and equal to God (John 10:24-39).  What they were blinded to was that THIS “man” Jesus, could possibly be THE One, the very Son of God Himself. We know through Paul’s teachings in Romans that the Jews were blinded by a sovereign God who foreordained and planned that His Son would be crucified by them (Acts 2:23).

And again in Acts Peter picks up on this passage and makes the same point that Jesus was the descendant of David prophesied by David in Psalms that God has made Him (Jesus) LORD and CHRIST….

“Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. “For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET.”‘ “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ–this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Act 2:33-36)

 

4) God doesn’t need to overcome anything (Rev 3:21). How is Jesus God when He had to overcome?

True, but Jesus, the Son of Man, while in His earthly sojourning, was fully human whose destiny it was, as a fully human being, to overcome so that we too might be more than conquerors in, by and through Him. It was by living according to the Spirit of God, fully dwelling in and empowering Him, that He was able to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil…. even death and the grave, in order to not only be the propitiation for our sins, and the sins of the whole world, but to also open the way, to blaze the trail, for all who believe in Him and are birthed by that same Spirit to follow in His same steps (Rom 8:23, James1:17-18). We NOW have the same power, by that same incorruptible seed of Christ within us, to also overcome sin, the world, the flesh and the devil…. even death itself (to be resurrected) because, through Christ, we ALSO potentially contain the fullness of God in US. Hallelujah!

This is the focus of my blog (www.IntoHisLikeness.info) …. being transformed, from glory to glory, by the power of Christ within!

5) Acts 2:22 says that Jesus of Nazareth was “a man” approved BY God. God is distinguished as being different that Jesus; a human who was approved by God the Father.

I trust it is your spirit is witnessing to the truth that Jesus WAS fully human (born of an earthy mother), whom God birthed by His own Spirit. He did so that He might become the Son of God according to divine appointment and was anointed by the Holy Spirit at His baptism in the Jordan river, manifested to the world as God’s approved Son.

At this point He was declared by His Father (God) that He was “My Son in whom I am well pleased!”. This set Him on a journey toward fulfilling His destiny as the Messiah, the Christ (anointed one), who would take away the sins of the whole world and be manifest as FULLY God, receiving back the glory which He had with the Father before the world was. (John 17)

6) Num 23:19 states that… God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent.

The mystery and the miracle of the incarnation is that God (the Word) became flesh (a man) and dwelt among men. “…the Word (God) became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  (John 1:14)   He did this in order to fulfill the New Testament (covenant) that He could transform (glorify) that Man (Jesus) into the very likeness, image of Himself, endowing Him with ALL the power and authority, light and life of God, until there is no differentiation or distinguishable difference between the two in terms of Godly attributes or character. “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him (Jesus)” (Col 1:19). And the glorious truth and hope for us is that, since God did this in, to, and for, our elder brother, the Captain of our Faith, He can certainly AND WILL do it to, in and for all those who are called to that same high calling in Christ Jesus! (Heb 2:8-10)

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him (God) who fills all in all.” (Eph 1:18-23)

7) God is perfect. Jesus had to become perfect (Heb 2:10)

“For it was fitting for Him (God the Father), for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation (Jesus) through sufferings. For both He (Jesus) who sanctifies and those who are sanctified (us) are all from one Father; for which reason He (Jesus) is not ashamed to call them (us) brethren,” (Heb 2:10-11)

The point is HE WAS PERFECTED! Therefore HE IS NOW PERFECT and He was made perfect for one glorious reason.,……so WE can, in Him, be glorified (made perfect) ALSO! Hallelujah!

“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3)

“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” (Col 3:1-4)

CONCLUSION

“In the beginning was The Word, and The Word was with God, and The Word WAS God. HE (Christ Jesus) was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” (John 1:1-3)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  (Gen 1:1)

Regardless of the mountain of scripture that I believe reveals the divinity of the risen Christ, what scripture did Peter need to read in order to know who He was (Matt 16:16,17)?

The sobering reality is that without a divine revelation of this truth, no man can even hope to enter the Kingdom of God or receive eternal life!!!  Unless, like Peter, we have the witness in OUR own spirit, as revealed by the Father to US personally, and scripture serves to bear witness of THAT vital revelation as to precisely who and what Jesus truly is…  The Only Way to The Father, THEN our persuasion is nothing more than mere intellectual reasoning, which serves in no way to transform us within, or birth us by The Spirit!

There is so much more that could be said as we ever grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and we begin to grasp with all the saints what is the length and breadth and height of the love that He has toward us who believe, and the scope of the glorious inheritance that is ours in Him.

May this be a blessing to all who read it.

Tim Moores

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