His Divinity
Introduction
Here we begin an eight-part study on the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many false doctrines and concepts have sprung up amongst those who refuse to acknowledge that Jesus is God, and usually evident within groups that are unwilling to accept what is written in Scripture. In this section the focus is on the fact that His power is not of a man or an angel, but of God Himself, that is, He is God.
Jesus is equal with God the Father
“But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise” (John 5:17-19).
There are those who wrongly state that Jesus did not claim to be God, yet here we read that not only did He say that God was His Father, but also that He is equal with Him. Is it not strange that those who heard Him speak fully understood His words, but some in our day fail to grasp their significance? Because they understood all too well, the Jews, sought to kill Him for what they considered to be blasphemy. The Lord has exactly the same authority and power as God. The power of Christ is divine because He is who He claims to be. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
The Lord Jesus Christ never acted independently of the Godhead, to do so would prove that He was not God, but as equal to Him, He does exactly the same things as His Father. Genesis 1:1 states that “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”, so we should not be surprised to learn that Jesus created all things in cooperation with the Godhead, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). We shall study Jesus’ role in Creation at a future date.
Jesus is the source of everlasting life
“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one” (John 10:28-30).
Notice that Jesus claims to have the power and to be the source of eternal life. While we can receive eternal life, we cannot give it to anyone else. No angel has ever offered eternal life to mankind. Since only God can give eternal life, Jesus must be God. If Jesus is a created being, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach, it would be impossible for Him to give eternal life to more than one person, in one place, and at one time. Once again the Jews sought to kill Him, for they understood the claim of Jesus, one which the cults desperately try to explain away. “The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God” (John 10:33).
“I and my Father are one” are the words that infuriated the Jews. They were taught from childhood Moses’ statement of faith found in Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD”, so there is no explaining away what Jesus was saying about Himself. He is eternal and the giver of everlasting life. The prophet Isaiah spoke of the coming Messiah in these terms, “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).
Jesus is both God and Man
The Lord Jesus Christ lived on this earth as perfect God and perfect Man. “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 1:14). From the moment He was born as a human child, He was subject to God His Father. He had no divine power outside of His unity with and obedience to the Father’s will. Though He is “the express image” of God (Hebrews 1:3), “yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). Only as a man could He perform His role as Saviour and Mediator, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). For thirty-three years, though He was the Creator of all things, Jesus lived as a man who could hunger, become tired, weep and feel pain.
To teach that Jesus Christ is only an exalted man or an angelic being is a great deception. The Scriptures do not present Him as anything less than God. “What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!” (Matthew 8:27) … “For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?” (Hebrews 1:5). Jesus is the Great “I AM” (Jehovah) of Exodus 3:14, for He said of Himself, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). It is interesting to note that each time Jesus spoke of His divinity the Jews sought to kill Him (see John 8:59).
Conclusion
If we get it wrong about the person of Christ, then we are wrong about God, and to be wrong about God is to be lost. As we proceed with this series of studies it will be crystal clear that the Lord Jesus Christ is truly God. He was God in eternity past and will be through eternity future. He has never ceased to be God. The One born to the virgin Mary over two thousand years ago is the Lord over all, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2).
Page created 1 January 2007