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IS
JESUS GOD?Is Jesus really God? Yes, He is. I'll admit I don't fully comprehend it all myself, but take a look at the verse below:
And without controversy great is the mystery of
godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received
up into glory.
1 Timothy 3:16
So what does this say? It says that there is no doubt about it, great is the mystery of godliness. What else does this say? "God was manifest in the flesh", God became human, "believed on in the world", many believed in who Jesus is/was (Lord and Savior), "received up into glory", Christ's ascension into Heaven. Great is this mystery, it's somethig we as human beings can't fully comprehend, it's much bigger than our brains can handle. We can't explain some things of God in our terms, because it doesn't appeal to logic. So many things God has done we can't fully comprehend. God created everything from nothing, how do we understand that? Man was formed of dust, what? Eve was created from one of Adam's ribs, makes perfect sense, right? Jesus is God? See, so many things really don't make sense when you think about them, so why do we feel we have to explain in a neat little package that Jesus is God? We can't. Why? Because we don't fully understand. Just as we really don't fully understand how everything can be created from nothing, yet we have no problems with that.
So you might be asking, how can Jesus be Jesus and God at the same time? The best way I can explain this is what a good friend of mine used as an analogy. Picture a ray of light coming through parted clouds on a cloudy day. The light is God, but the actual ray is Jesus. They are both the same, and yet they are different. Make sense? Let's look at some verses below.
Who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature:
For by him were all things
created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all
things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things,
and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the
church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all
things he might
have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should
all fulness dwell;
Colossians 1:15-19
Remember this one from the previous section? The "Who" in the first verse is Jesus (established in verses 13 & 14). "For by him were all things created" and "all things were created by him and for him". The "him" is Jesus. He created all things. Please don't just take my word for it, read the entire chapter of Colossians 1 and look at it for yourself, this way you can get the entire context leading to these verses. As you can see, as the above passage goes on, "And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead" which is undeniably Jesus. Jesus is the head of the body, the church. the entire passage is speaking of Jesus Christ. Here's another that's a little more involved, so I'll try to break down into sections. This will cover the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verses 1 through 15.
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in
the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without
him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the
life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and
the darkness comprehended it not.
John 1:1-5
John
opens with the subject of the Word, then states what that is:
1. The
Word was in the beginning
2. The
Word was with God
3. The
Word was God
So we know that the Word is eternal,
was with God, and is God. All things were made by the Word who is
God. In the Word was life which is the light of men. So now
we can see that something (the Word) has been since the beginning, was
with God and is God. There is something that is seperate from God
yet is God. Let's keep going.
There was a man sent from
God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness
of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not
that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was
the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew
him not.
He came unto his own, and
his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave
he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God.
John was sent to be a witness of the Light referred to in verses 4 and 5. John was not the Light, just a witness to it. Who is the Light? The true Light was in the world and made the world yet was not received by the world or His own. But those that did receive Him and believed on His name received the power to be sons of God.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
Remember from above that the Word is eternal, was with God and is God. Now we see that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us". God, who is the Word, was made flesh and dwelled among us. John was then a witness of Him, a witness of the Light, of the Word that was made flesh, of Jesus Christ! It may be difficult to comprehend, but the verses above state that the Word is God and also with God. Two separate things yet the same. I haven't found anywhere else in the Bible that puts it so matter of factly as the first chapter of John does. I may not fully be able to grasp the magnitude of it, but I have a hard time denying what I read in the first chapter of John. Ready to look at some more?
But unto the Son he saith,
Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is
the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated
iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil
of gladness above thy fellows. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning
hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of
thine hands:
Hebrews 1:8-10
The verses that lead up to these are speaking about Jesus Christ, and how he is above the angels. But please, just because I say this, do not take my word for it, please read it for yourself. The verse starts of with God speaking to Jesus, and calling Jesus God. You could say that the beginning says "But to the Son He(God) says, Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever". God has referred to Jesus as God. Remember, "great is the mystery". This passage above concludes with God still speaking to Jesus(Lord), and how in the beginning Jesus "laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands". Let's look at some more.
Look
unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and
there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out
of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every
knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
This is God speaking to the prophet Isaiah. Compare this to the verses below:
But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost
thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment
seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every
knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then
every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Romans 14:10-12
Every knee shall bow to God in the verse from Isaiah, and every knee shall bow to Christ in the verse from Romans. Also, these verses from Romans state that we "stand before the judgement seat of Christ" and give an account of ourselves to God. This is again stated in these next verses:
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and
given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things
under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father
Philippians 2:9-11
Again we have every knee bowing to Christ, to God, the same. It's not like every knee will bow to Christ and then to God. We serve one Lord, Jesus Christ. We serve one Lord, God. If we serve anything else but God we commit idolatry. God told us this in the Ten Commandments.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exodus 20:3
So we are not to worship anything but
God, right? If you answered yes, please continue. If we worship
anything else but God we are violating a commandment from God. Then
why when people worshipped Jesus in the Gospels was it ok? If these
people were breaking a commandment of God, wouldn't Jesus have informed
them? I looked up in the Strong's Concordance of the Bible the instances
in the Gospels where people worshipped Jesus. In all these examples,
they were never told not to. Please look at these, they are:
Matthew
2:2
Matthew 2:11
Matthew 8:2
Matthew 9:18
Matthew 14:33
Matthew 15:25
Matthew 20:20
Matthew 28:9
Matthew 28:17
Mark 5:6
Mark 7:7
Luke 24:52
John 9:38
This is not a complete list, but in all this circumstances that Jesus was worshipped, He never told them to stop. But when one of His disciples received worship, the disciple corrected the person.
And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and
fell down at his feet, and worshipped him.
But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself
also am a man.
Acts 10:25-26
Peter was receiving worship and corrected Cornelius by telling him he was just a man like Cornelius. Jesus didn't make this correction to others. Some think Jesus was an angel (this is addressed in more depth in the first chapter of Hebrews), but angels also are not entitled to worship from men.
And I John saw these things, and heard them. And
when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the
angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou
do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets,
and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
Revelation 22:8-9
An angel was receiving worship from John. The angel told him to stop and corrected John by saying "worship God". God is the only one to be worshipped. For Jesus to be worshipped, doesn't He have to be God as well? I'll leave that answer up to you. There are a couple of other things I would like to quickly share before I close this out. Look at the few verses below.
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of
God our Saviour;
1 Timothy 2:3
But after that the kindness and love of God our
Saviour toward man appeared,
Titus 3:4
Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ
our Saviour,
Titus 3:6
Our Savior is referred to as God and Jesus Christ.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince
of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6
Here we have a child that will be born that will be called, among other things listed here, "The mighty God". I know this may be confusing and hard to fully grasp, but remember that this is without controversy, a great mystery. I surely don't have all the answers, and I'd be a little leery of anyone who says they do. But what I hoped to do was share some of the items I've looked at to achieve a better understanding and a better appreciation for the magnitude of it all. If you have any specific question, I'll see if I can be any help. Just use the email address on the main page. If your mind is still spinning a bit, don't worry, just look over the above verses yourself and read them in the context they are written. Again, do not take my word for it, decide for yourself.
So why was He crucified? Please
continue on to section 3: Why was He crucified?