Jesus Is God’s Full Deity

Friends,
Last Thursday while I was witnessing downtown, a black woman came up to me to ask me some questions. She was a small, sweet, grandma-type, and one thing she asked was how she could know that she was interpreting the Scriptures correctly. She mentioned that she watched a lot of preaching on T.V., but she clarified that she meant concerning when she would also read on her own.

I began to answer by talking about how the Holy Spirit, who is God’s Spirit and Jesus’ Spirit (John 14:17,20,23) and who is in the Word (1:1-4,14 & 6:63) explains Scripture’s teaching to us. (14:26) She looked confused and I wondered if I should warn her that ingesting the doctrine of (most) T.V. preachers can cloud our minds with confusion so as to disable us from understanding the clear words of God; but I refrained in case she was unready to hear that.

Somehow though, Ruby (not her real name) diverted my explanation about how to interpret correctly to what she thought was alarming regarding what I said about the Holy Spirit. “Jesus is the Father’s Son,” she said. “He’s not God.”

“He is God’s only begotten Son,” I responded. “But that is in regards to Him being born as a human. Jesus is fully God and the fullness of God.” (Col. 2:9 says, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form”, but I didn’t get a chance to quote this. Nor did I get a chance to quote Col. 1:15,16 which says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God and that by Him all things were created.)

“Well, He is God with a small ‘g’,” Ruby argued.

I told her that no, Jesus is Himself the One God Most High, and that Isa. 9:6 says that the Son will be called “Everlasting Father”; but I only got halfway through a sentence on this.

Ruby was getting agitated. “Are you saying that when Jesus rose from the grave, He resurrected Himself?!”

I was trying not to agitate Ruby but I had to say yes. (I could have read John 2:18-22 & 11:25 and Rev. 1:17,18 to her for starters.)

“Oh no!” Ruby countered. “The Father resurrected Him.”

Just then another person came up and asked me a question. I tried to answer Ruby first, but off she walked in a huff. I felt really bad for her.

And I feel bad for all the people who have this issue confused.

Let’s go back to the Old Testament. Besides Isa. 9:6 there are many other verses that reveal that Jesus is the LORD / Yahweh / YHWH / YHVH. One is Isa. 45:5 where the LORD says, “Apart from Me there is no God.” So the only other gods there are, are false gods, even demons. (Dt. 32:16,17) In Isa. 45:21 the LORD says, “And there is no God apart from Me, a righteous God and a Savior, there is none but Me.” In Isa. 43:10,11 we read the LORD declaring, “Before Me no god was formed, nor will there be one after Me. I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from Me there is no savior.”

The LORD is stating very clearly that He is the only true God and the only true Savior. Therefore, since Jesus declares this of Himself (John 3:13-18 & 8:58 // Rev. 1:8 & 22:12-16)… since Scripture declares this of Jesus (John 1:1-4,14 // 1 Tim. 2:3-6 // 1 John 5:20)… then Jesus is Yahweh. And Yahweh is the Father, the LORD God Creator (Gen. 2:1-9 // Ex. 20:11), the Spirit who created all things (Gen. 1:1,2 // Ps. 104:30) –He who created all things through Jesus (Heb. 1:2) who is the image of (the bodily form of) and the exact representation of Yahweh. (v. 3) Yes, Jesus is the bodily form of the Father and it is Him, the LORD / Yahweh, who physically ate with, spoke with, and stood with Abraham. (Gen. ch. 18) It is Jesus who Isaiah saw and with whom he spoke. As Isaiah says in Isa. 6:1, “…I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted…” and in verse 5 Isaiah cries, “Woe to me! …my eyes have seen the King, the LORD [Yahweh] Almighty.” John 12:41 confirms for us that He who sat in glory on His throne, whom Isaiah saw and spoke with, was Jesus.

I could go on (like with Mark 12:29 and Eph. 4:4-6 and others), but I encourage everyone to study and grasp who Jesus really is. Jesus says in John 8:24, “If you do not believe that I AM, you will indeed die in your sins.” We do not want to be confused and close-minded like Ruby. We need to know who Jesus is and get to know Him well (which comes through trust in and obedience to the Truth / Him), for Jesus taught that Eternal Life is contingent upon this intimacy. (John 8:31-36 & 17:3) Jesus is fully God, the full image of God, the full and exact representation of God’s whole Deity. Jesus is the only Savior and the only God, always and forever, and this we must believe and take hold of unwaveringly.

Sincerely,
with love,
Rachel

Our 30th Anniversary Trip

Friends,
This last weekend, to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary, my husband and I flew to Arizona to see the beautiful cliffs and mountains of the Coconino National Forest and of Grand Canyon. We had a great time and thanked the Lord for the opportunity (as well as His help in our mile and a half uphill hike to Sterling Pass!). I also thank the Lord for my husband’s commitment to me, all his help in my ministries, and the Lord’s commitment in protecting us, providing for us, and leading us all these years. Here are some photos we took of our anniversary trip:

Sincerely,
with love,
Rachel