The Deity of Jesus (Part 4)

The focus of much of the New Testament is the life, sacrificial death, and resurrection of Jesus, and the impact He had on humanity as its Savior. His Incarnation and sacrifice are how we are able to enter into an eternal relationship with God. Scripture also tells us that before God the Son became Incarnate, He was active in the creation of the heavens and the earth. It also informs us that Jesus will be the judge at the end of the world, when all people will come before the judgment seat of God.

Creator

In the opening words of God’s revelation to humanity, He tells us that He created the heavens and the earth, and then He reveals that He created everything that is within them.¹ It is because of this that He is called God, the Lord.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.²

You are the LORD, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them.³

I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.⁴

To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might.⁵

Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself.⁶

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!⁷

The New Testament also talks about God as the creator of the world.

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man.⁸

They lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them.”⁹

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”¹⁰

The New Testament also teaches that Jesus was involved in the creation of the world. In the Gospel of John, we read:

All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.¹¹

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.¹²

Within the Epistles we also read of Jesus’ involvement in creation.

For us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.¹³

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.¹⁴

For by him [Jesus] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.¹⁵

Scripture teaches that God was the creator of all things and also that Jesus created all things. Once again this shows that, like the Father, Jesus is also God.

Judge

The Bible teaches that each of us is accountable before God for our actions.

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.¹⁶

I [Jesus] tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.¹⁷

In the Old Testament we read that God is the one who judges.

Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.”¹⁸

The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge!¹⁹

He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.²⁰

The LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver; the LORD is our king; he will save us.²¹

The New Testament tells us that Jesus will do the judging.

The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father.²²

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.²³

Do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart.²⁴

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”²⁵

Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”²⁶

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.²⁷

The Old Testament calls the day of judgment the day of the LORD.

Behold the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.²⁸

Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.²⁹

The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness.³⁰

Throughout the New Testament, the apostle Paul refers to the day of judgment as the “day of our Lord Jesus Christ” and the “day of Christ.”

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him … so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.³¹

I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.³²

It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.³³

The Bible teaches that on the day of judgment Jesus will be the one who judges all people.

Over All

Scripture teaches that God is sovereign. All things are His:

The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.³⁴

He can do all things:

Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.³⁵ I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.³⁶

He knows all things:

Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.³⁷

I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done.³⁸

God rules over everything:

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.³⁹

From the New Testament we understand that, like His Father, Jesus is also sovereign over “all things.”

Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”⁴⁰ 

The apostle Paul wrote that Jesus was raised from the dead and sits at God’s right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things.⁴¹

Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.⁴²

God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.⁴³

Jesus, like His Father, is sovereign.

These four articles on “The Deity of Jesus” have highlighted how, as Christians, we are called to glorify and honor, worship, love, obey, and pray to Jesus as we do to God. We saw that Jesus shares the names of God—Lord, Savior, King of kings and Lord of lords—and that His word, like His Father’s, is called the Word of the Lord. Jesus also possesses the “omni” attributes of God—omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. From reading Scripture, Christians understand that God is a Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and these articles looked at verses which express that Jesus is God, in the same manner as the Father is God. As Jesus said, I and the Father are one.⁴⁴

Of course, as Christians, we already know that, and it’s core to our faith. The purpose of these articles hasn’t been to prove this point; rather, I thought it might be inspiring to read verses about God and Jesus which point out their oneness. I hadn’t seen these verses set in conjunction with one another before, and when I read them presented this way, I found them to be uplifting and a cause for praise. My prayer is that these have also proved to be an inspiration for you.

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Note

Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.