WHO IS JESUS CHRIST?

It is important to know WHO Jesus Christ is, before we can believe upon Him to save us from eternal death/separation from Him in a place called hell. A lot of this article has come from Ray Stanford’s ‘How to Witness handbook’ and is especially helpful with those who don’t see Jesus as God or think He is a created being, or one that became God by His behavior.  It is free online and helps Biblically contrast several different religious schools of thought.

This is long study article, so I made a lot of subtitles so that you can search or skip through the areas and find the Scripture you need.  I believe all the Scriptures are linked too, in order to make it easier for you to click on each one and see it in context.

The Deity of Christ

Some think Jesus Christ is not God at all, and was just a good man or a prophet and not the Son of God. Would a good man lie about these things? Would a good man deceive His friends? He is either who He said He is, or He is not good nor a prophet even. I believe Jesus is who He has said He is, and if you don’t believe He is the great I Am, as Jesus said, ‘you will die in your sins’. Jesus Christ is God.

These days I see many denying the Trinity and also teaching Modalism (For simplification, modalism is basically showing them as one personage changing into the other). This is not what Scripture teaches, even though some are confused with verses like Isaiah 9:6 and the words ‘everlasting Father’.

Do you know Him?

JESUS CHRIST is/was/always will be JEHOVAH GOD THE SAVIOUR

The LORD, Jehovah, says, “. . . before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me.” The LORD, Jehovah, says, “. . . beside Me there is no Saviour.” Isaiah 43:10-11 (Also see Isa. 44:6-8; Deuteronomy 4:39.)

Therefore, if Christ is God in any way, if Christ is the Saviour in any way, then according to the LORD God Jehovah, Christ is GOD.

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”  Luke 2:11

• Titus 3:4 says “God our Saviour.”
• Titus 3:6 says “Jesus Christ our Saviour.”
• Isaiah 43:11 says the LORD (Jehovah) is the ONLY SAVIOUR.

Do these verses contradict? No! But they WOULD contradict if Jesus Christ and Jehovah God weren’t one and the same.

Since Christ is the Saviour, then Christ is GOD.

JESUS CHRIST is THE LORD OF GLORY

“I am the LORD: that is My Name: and My glory will I not give to another”. Isaiah 42:8

Only Jehovah God is the LORD of glory. If Christ is the Lord of glory, then He must be Jehovah God.

I Corthians 2:8 says the crucified Christ is the “Lord of glory.”

Since Christ is the Lord of glory, then Christ is GOD.

Do you know Him?

THEY WILL LOOK UPON THE ONE IN WHOM THEY HAVE PIERCED

The LORD, Jehovah, says, “ . . . and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced…” Zechariah 12:1-10

When was the Lord, Jehovah, pierced?

“But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of Him shall not be broken, and again another Scripture saith, They shall look on Him whom they pierced” (John 19:33-37).

Since Christ was pierced, and Jehovah God said He would be pierced, then Christ is God.

IMMANUEL, GOD WITH US

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Is 7:14 

Read Matt 1:18-25. Notice in v. 18, the child was “OF the Holy Ghost . . .” and Mary was with child “BEFORE they (Mary and Joseph) came together.” Again, in v. 20 the angel of the Lord confirms the child is “OF the Holy Ghost.” In v. 21 the child shall be named JESUS because He shall save His people from their sins. The very name Jesus means “God who saves,” etc. And in vv. 22, 23, we learn that “all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken OF THE LORD by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His Name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, GOD WITH US.”

So God Himself says the child Jesus is actually GOD HIMSELF dwelling with man. This is again clearly confirmed in John 1:1-14. “The Word was God . . . And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us….”

”And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: GOD was manifest in the flesh, (GOD was) justified in the Spirit, (GOD was) seen of angels, (GOD was) preached unto the Gentiles, (GOD was) believed on in the world, (GOD was) received up into glory.”  1 Timothy 3:16

When did this happen? When Jesus Christ was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory.

The Bible says, “God was manifest in the flesh,” etc., because Christ is GOD WITH US.

ONLY GOD CAN FORGIVE SINS

Mark 2:5 records that Jesus forgave people’s sins. The scribes heard Christ doing this and said (v. 7), “Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but GOD ONLY?” They failed to realize that Christ wasn’t doing anything blasphemous at all. HE WAS GOD!

Luke 1:68 records at the time of the birth of Christ, “Blessed be the LORD GOD of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people.”

CHRIST IDENTIFIED HIMSELF AS GOD

Luke 8:39 – Christ had just cast out demons and told the person,

“Return to thine own house and shew how great things GOD hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things JESUS had done unto him.”

This is not a contradiction. Christ did it and said God did it. Christ told the man to say God did it and the man said Christ did it. It is not a contradiction because Christ is GOD.

WORSHIP IS DUE TO GOD ALONE

Jesus didn’t ever transgress the law (sin).  John 9:33-38 recorded Christ’s conversation with a man who wanted to know who Christ was.  Christ said He was the Son of God and the man (v. 38) “worshiped Him.” Christ did not reprove this man for worshipping Him, and yet Christ knew the clear commands of the Old Testament law not to worship any God but Jehovah God.

“For thou shalt worship no other god; for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” Exodus 34:14

If Christ were not truly God and accepted the worship from a man without even rebuking the man, then Christ would not even have been an honest man.

Christ did accept worship, For Christ is GOD. (Also see John 5:23)

Do you know Him?

CHRIST CLAIMED TO BE GOD BECAUSE HE IS

John 14:7 – Christ says,

“If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him and have seen Him,” and vv. 8-9 “Philip saith unto Him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen ME HATH SEEN THE FATHER: and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” (See also John 12:45.)

In John 15:24 Christ again says people have “both seen and hated both Me and My Father.”

The reason Christ can say that when someone has seen Him he has also seen the Father is that Christ is GOD, one and the same as the Father.

John 10:30-33 tells us the same thing. Christ said in v. 30, “I and My Father are ONE.”And “Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him” (v. 31). In answer to Christ’s questions of why they were stoning Him they replied in verse 33, “. . . for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself GOD.”

The Jews KNEW Christ was claiming to be God. They were so sure of His claims that they wanted to stone Him for what they SUPPOSED to be blasphemy.

But Christ didn’t commit blasphemy. Even a good, godly human being would know better than to commit blasphemy, time after time, especially when he was constantly being accused of it.

Christ could say “I and My Father are One” because it is true. Christ is GOD.

GOD PURCHASED THE CHURCH WITH HIS OWN BLOOD

Acts 20:28 says, “. . . to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood.”

When did God shed His blood? God shed His blood when He took on flesh in the person of Jesus Christ and shed His blood for our sins. Christ said in Luke 22:20,

“. . . This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you.” Revelation 1:5 says, “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.”

God shed His blood when Jesus shed His blood because Jesus is GOD.

JESUS IS THE GOD OF ISRAEL

”Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.” Ezekiel 44:2

This is the gate that the LORD God, the LORD JESUS CHRIST, entered at His “triumphal entry” spoken of in John 12:12-16 and each of the other Gospels. The Mohammedans closed the gate soon after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., and it shall remain shut.

CHRIST SAYS TO SERVE HIM AND BE HONORED

In John 12:26 Christ says,

“. . . if any man serve Me (Christ), him will My Father honour.” And yet in Matthew 4:10 Christ affirms the Old Testament command, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and HIM ONLY shalt thou serve.”

Christ, knowing and upholding the Old Testament teaching, would not tell people to serve Him, and would not tell people God the Father would honor their lives when they do serve Him . . . in direct contradiction to the command in the Old Testament to serve only the LORD THY GOD.

Man is honored by God the Father when man serves Christ because Christ is GOD.

CHRIST IS THE LAMB IDENTIFIED AS GOD IN THIS SONG

 ”. . . Great and marvellous are Thy works, LORD GOD ALMIGHTY; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy Name? For Thou ONLY art holy.” Rev 15:3-4

 But Luke 1:35 records the words of the angel Gabriel, who was sent from God, saying,

“. . . that HOLY thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

Only the Lord God Almighty is holy . . . but the Son of God is Holy because He lS the Lord God Almighty.

JESUS CHRIST IS CREATOR, THE TRUE GOD, ALPHA & OMEGA, THE ALMIGHTY

Genesis 1:1 says,

“God created the heaven and the earth.” Hebrews 1:2 and Colossians 1:15-17 say Christ created the worlds and ALL THINGS. John 1:1-5 says all things were made by Him.

I John 5:20 calls Christ “the true God.” Hebrews 1:8 refers to the Son of God as “O God.” In Revelation 1:8 Christ is speaking (see v. 5) and says He is the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the ALMIGHTY.”

Colossians 2:9 – ”For in Him (Christ, v. 8) dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Everything that is in the Godhead, everything that is God, was in Christ in a bodily form. “For it pleased the Father that IN HIM (Christ) should all fulness dwell” (Col. 1:19).

JESUS IS LORD JEHOVAH

In Romans 10:9 and vs. 13 the Apostle Paul quoted from an Old Testament prophet saying,

“For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Of course, Paul was speaking of Jesus as Lord (Romans 10:9) . But the verse he was quoting in the Old Testament is Joel 2:32 which says,

“. . . whosoever shall call on the Name of the LORD (Jehovah) shall be delivered (saved).”

Why did the Holy Spirit give the Apostle Paul the liberty to use an Old Testament verse which speaks of JEHOVAH and apply it to the LORD JESUS CHRIST? Because the Lord Jesus Christ is Jehovah.

JESUS IS FROM EVERLASTING

Micah 5:2, also prophesying of the coming Messiah, says,

“whose goings forth have been from of old, from EVERLASTING.”

Psalm 90:2 says,

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from EVERLASTING to everlasting, thou art GOD.”

Christ was from everlasting, was in existence and one with God before the world was formed (John 17:5) because Christ is GOD.

Ye are my witnesses says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. Isaiah 43:10 

THE GREAT I AM

When Moses asked God, “Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His name? What shall I say unto them?” (Exodus 3:13) God answered unto Moses (Exodus 3:14), “I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Christ, revealing Himself unto the Jewish people, made this life and death statement unto them in John 8:24,

“I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I AM (he), ye shall die in your sins.”

THE TRINITY TAUGHT IN SCRIPTURE

We’ve already shown The Son, Jesus Christ, is God.

The Father is God: 2 Timothy 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 1:1.

The Holy Spirit is God: Acts 5:1-4; Isa. 48:16; Job 33:4; Isa. 63:7-10.

Matthew 28:19 says, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the NAME (singular in the Greek) of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

If there were three gods, or if one were God, and one were a created being, and the other were just God’s “power” ( as the J. W.’s say), then the verse would have to say to baptize in the “names” of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

God is very exact and lets us know in this verse that though there is only one God, He is a triune God.

Even in Deuteronomy 6:4, where it says that “Our God is one LORD (Jehovah),” the Trinity is proven. In Hebrew there are at least two words translated “one.” The word “one” in this verse is “echod” and means “a unity.” The Hebrew word “yachid” is the word meaning “an absolute one.” The word translated “God” in the Hebrew is “Elohim” and means three or more. God says precisely what He means.

There are many who will try to undermine the Deity of Jesus Christ. If one does not know WHO Jesus is, then who is it you are believing in? There is only one name under heaven whereby one may be saved, but you have to know who He is before you can believe in Him to save you.

Do you know Him?

If you need a church or pastor to follow up with, consider starting here at Northland Bible church, and maybe he can direct you to someone in your area.