From Solomon to Isaiah, from Moses to John, the message is clear: Jesus is God. Here is a word from Solomon in Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes 11:14, Revealer of secrets. "For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." (11:14) The revealer and judge of every secret. Reminds me of something Paul said about Jesus: (Romans 2:16) "God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel." Everything that "God" is seen doing or being "alone" in the Old Testament, He is seen doing or being in association with one called Jesus in the New. What a unity!
And from Isaiah the prophet, many such words match with a New Testament counterpart.
2:2-4, Lord of the New Jerusalem. What a precious preview of events is given by Isaiah in his 2nd chapter, verses 2-4: "...the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains...and all nations shall flow unto it...and ...people shall say, Come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob...for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."But where is Jesus in all of this? When John sees this final City in Revelation 21, he first is told , "The tabernacle of God is with men...and God Himself shall be with them..."(v. 3) So far, the same scenario as Isaiah. A location in a City, with God as its head. But look closer, in verses 22-23. There is no temple. Why? Because "The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." There is no sun. Why? "For the glory of God...and the Lamb" lighten it
You've heard perhaps of the " parallelism." It's a way of saying two things but meaning only one. Thomas didn't mean to say there were two persons in front of Him when he exclaimed to Jesus, "My Lord and My God!""God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" is another one. God and Father here are the same person, not two. I suggest that the only way "The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb" can make any sense is to consider them the same person. I have already shown that "Almighty God" is a title worn by Jesus! And we know Jesus is the Lamb. Something wonderful here!
7:14, Immanuel. The Name says it all. Isaiah 7:14, golden verse of the Old Testament, "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name, Immanuel." Brother Matthew, in relating the fulfilment of the prophecy in the birth of Jesus (1:23) goes on to add the meaning of the Name: "God with us." Now, how better can God tell us who this Jesus is?
9:6, Father and Son. I guess this is my favorite of the declarations of Scripture regarding the Deity of Jesus Christ. Read carefully: "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."(9:6) I can hardly stand it! Time to dance in the aisles. Time to rejoice in our spirits, though the brain has been dealt another curve. This precious Baby, Jesus, is the Son. But in a way that I hope is becoming clearer through the reading of the Scriptures I have assembled, He is also the Father! Enough said.
41:4, First and Last. "...I, the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am He." says God.And,these are the very words of our Jesus: "Fear not; I am the first and the last." (Revelation 1:17)
41:14, Redeemer. "...I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer..." But we have always looked to Jesus as our Redeemer, Galatians 3:13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law..." Indeed! The chorus in Heaven praises the Lamb Who "redeemed us to God by Thy blood."So here is God, redeeming us to Himself. We still want to see two People here, but our confusion comes because God became a Man. That Man is the one we see and know, because He is one of us. But we must constantly keep the eyes of the spirit open to seeing all that He is. He's one of that other race, too. The race known as the "Godhead."
43:10-11, The One and Only. This one is addressed to witnesses only! "Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen...understand that I am He: before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I even I, am the Lord; and besides Me there is no Saviour." I love it! For all time we are told that anyone claiming to be God, Lord, or Saviour is either blatantly false, or to be identified with this God. There simply is no other God. And Jesus, of course, claimed to be all three!
45:23, The One to Whom every knee shall bow. Yet another solemn vow from Yahweh: "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." Then Who is this accepting such obeisance in the New Covenant, if He is not God Almighty? Fill us in, Paul:(Philippians 2:9-11) "...at the name of Jesus every knee should bow...and...every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Jesus is worshipped as God so that God can be glorified. Baffling unless we see them as one.
65:2-3, Spurned by Israel. "I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people...a people that provoketh me to anger continually to My face..." Such horrid treatment was given to Yahweh by the Jews throughout their history. Was Jesus involved in this? In a revealing statement recorded by Matthew (23:37), we see that the Word was indeed there: After a full list of denunciations of Israel's religious professionals, it is as though Jesus is overcome by an emotional flood of memories. He could have learned some of this from reading His Bible, but the use of the pronoun "I" rivets our attention...He was there! He knew these people forever! "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" This is the same God who complains through Isaiah of being treated so pitifully poor. The same.
http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. I have created over 200 blogs and the site features a live news feed, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosen together! Contact me any time at diakonos5@yahoo.com
And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. I love to write Scriptural works. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond.
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