Jesus Christ Is God
Romans 9:5
Here are two, indisputable foundation
truths of the gospel. (1.) Jesus Christ is himself almighty God; and (2.) the
Son of God is a distinct Person in the Holy Trinity. We worship one great and
glorious eternal God in three distinct but equal Persons, the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit.
Some say that Christ was "created, or made to be,
God." Others say that he is "officially God", God by office
only. And others declare that "he is not God at all." But the Word of
God declares that Jesus Christ, the Man, is himself almighty God (Acts 20:28; I Tim. 3:16). And all the names he bears show that he
is. That God who spoke to and was worshipped and obeyed by the saints of the
Old Testament era is Jesus Christ our Savior, the God who loved us and gave
himself for us (I John 3:16). That Man who was called "Jesus" from
his birth is the very same Person who was worshipped from the beginning as
Jehovah.
Jesus Christ is the great I AM, by whom Moses was sent to
deliver Israel (Ex. 3:14; Cf. John 8:58; 18:5, 8). Jesus
Christ is the great God whom Abraham knew and worshipped as JEHOVAH-JIREH, the
substitutionary Lamb of sacrifice (Gen. 22:8, 14; Cf. John 8:56). Jesus Christ is the God whom Israel tempted for forty years in the wilderness
(Ex. 17:7; Cf. I Cor. 10:9). Jesus Christ is that great God, called Adonai and
Jehovah, whom Isaiah saw in his glory (Isa. 6:1-8; Cf. John 12:39-40). Jesus Christ is Jehovah God whose
way was prepared by John the Baptist (Isa. 40:3; Cf. Matt. 3:1-3). Jesus Christ
is Jehovah's Fellow, smitten in justice for the redemption of his people (Zech.
13:7). And Jesus Christ is Jehovah, who was wounded and pierced as our
Substitute, by whose death we are saved (Zech. 12:10; Cf. John 19:34, 37).
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who spoke to
them, whom they worshipped and obeyed, was and is our dear Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Man who redeemed us.
Don Fortner