Jesus is God - Part 1

Exodus 3:14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

 

My Wednesday evening Small Group Bible study are viewing a video lesson that deal this coming week with the Bible declaring that Jesus is God. Of course, the fallen secular world would take issue with such a statement, but I never knew that there was any issue among Christian Believers that Jesus is God incarnate. In talking to my 95 year old father, I was surprised that he thought that Jesus was the Son of God, but not God. It seems that many are confused and do not understand that Jesus is God with us.

 

In Exodus 3:14, the Hebrew word for “I AM” (which God states what is His name) is  “Hāyâ”, meaning to exist, be in existence. God is real. Let’s look at a couple passages in the Book of John and see what Jesus said about being God. John 1:1-4,14 in speaking of Jesus tells us “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the Word became 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.”

 

In John 8:31-45 Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?” Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.”

 

Jesus explains that the natural man in their fallen state is a slave and in bondage to their sin, by believing in Christ the Savior and obediently living in His teaching and command, they would then no the truth and be set free. The people thought that being the children of Abraham, they were born the people of God and never in bondage (even through they were once in bondage to Babylon and currently in bondage to Rome). They were adopted into the family of God, but Jesus was the only begotten Son of God and lives in the house of God, therefore had the power to forgive sin and set them free. But, they operated by a different authority.

 

In John 8:39-45 they answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.  

Abraham was their biological father bloodline, but they did not follow the family works of their father. They wanted Jesus dead for what He was saying. Then, the people changed and appealed that God was their Father. Jesus explains that if God was their Father then they’d love Him because was sent by God to them. But, their ears could not hear Jesus because their desires were aligned with the devils, the father of lies. They could not believe the truth or believe the Word. What do we see in the world still today?

Let's continue this vital message for this day and age about Jesus in the next post.

In Christ, Brian