Jesus is God

[dwight92070]

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Mark 8:34-38

Can you imagine anyone else saying these words besides Jesus?

What if Billy Graham or John the Baptist or even Paul said these words?

If anyone wishes to come after me, Paul, he must deny himself and put me first and be willing to die for me and follow me. For whoever loses his life for me, Paul, and the gospel, will save it. For unless you follow me, Paul, you will forfeit your soul. For whoever is ashamed of me, Paul, and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, I, Paul, will also be ashamed of him when I come in the glory of my Father with the holy angels.

That would be the height of arrogance and idolatry. Paul would be saying that the purpose and meaning of life is not to put God first, but to put himself, Paul, first. We should be willing to die for Paul. To refuse to follow Paul would mean that we would be lose our souls, when we leave this world. If we are ashamed of Paul and his words, then the Father and even the angels will be ashamed of us.

Only God can rightfully demand such devotion. No man can - unless that man is God in the flesh.

[darinhouston]

1 Timothy 1:17 - "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen."

1 Timothy 6:14-16 - " ... until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time - He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

Revelation 17:14 - "These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, ..."

Revelation 19:11-16 - "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is call The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KINGS OF KINGS, AND LORD OR LORDS."

Every verse is speaking of Jesus. He is the ONLY King who is eternal, who alone possesses immortality, and who alone is invisible. He alone is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He alone shed His blood for us and He alone is called the Word of God, who John tells us is God. He is the only Sovereign. He alone dwells in unapproachable light, which no man has seen or can see.

There's only One who could possibly fit this description - God.

Each verse is not talking about Jesus - I'll try to find time to explain. I believe we've discussed these before.

[dwight92070]

Ellicott's Commentary explains 1 Timothy 1:17 this way: This doxology is addressed to no one Person of the ever blessed Trinity, but is — as has been said with great truth — “a grand testimony to the monotheism of St. Paul: the Godhead, the Trinity of his worship, is a sublime unity. To this Eternal, Incorruptible One be glory and honour unto the ages of the ages. Amen.”

He could be right, because all of the adjectives given apply to the Son as well as the Father.

But also look at the context: Each of the five verses before verse 17 mentions Jesus, or in verse 13, refers to Him . Verse 12 - Paul thanks "Christ Jesus our Lord"; verse 13 - Paul "was shown mercy" by Who? Jesus, who appeared to him. verse 14 - "the grace of our Lord", "grace and truth were realized through our Jesus Christ" - John 1:17; "with the faith and love in Christ Jesus"; verse 15 - " ... Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, ...", verse 16 - " ... Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience ..."

Jesus strengthened him - verse 12. Jesus showed mercy toward him - verse 13. Jesus gave him grace and faith and love - verse 14. Jesus saved him from his sins - verse 15. Jesus demonstrated His perfect patience toward him - verse 16. So after mentioning Jesus and honoring Him throughout these previous verses, it seems unlikely that the doxology given in verse 17 would not be referring to Jesus as well. Of course, as Ellicott says, it could also be a reference to all three: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As Ellicott said, Paul believes in One God, yet he continually refers to and praises the "sublime unity".

[dwight92070]

The other three references are obviously speaking of Jesus, because each of them refer to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and also to the Lamb.

[darinhouston]

The other three references are obviously speaking of Jesus, because each of them refer to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and also to the Lamb.

No, 1 Tim 1 and 6 reference God, and are not referencing Jesus. The revelation passages do, but that term is also used to refer to the Persian king Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:12) and Nebuchadnezzar (Ezek 26:7; Dan. 2:37). That's not a unique reference for God. It is a highly estimable epithet/reference to one of high authority, but not uniquely attributable to God.

[dizerner]

To me, that's like arguing that because God said he would judge the "gods" of Egypt, therefore the Bible is validating there is more than one god.

Ezra 7:12 is a self-appellation by Artaxeres in his letter. Because the Bible records someone said or did something, it is not giving approval of it.

Daniel 2:37 is Daniel talking to the king, giving honor to whom honor is due, as it was probably demanded of him.

Ezekiel 26:7 is the only reference actually used by God. And of course a "king of other kings" is not the same thing as "a king of all other kings" depending on the context.

Meditate on this closely:

5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords),
6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. (1 Cor. 8:5-6 NKJ)

It posits the existence of something that is "so-called," that uses a title in name only but not substance. There is only room for one Lord here in this passage.

13 I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate,
14 that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing,
15 which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
16 who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. (1 Tim. 6:13-16 NKJ)

And notice here that God is the "only" Potentate even though obviously there have been many of them, the context making the title specific rather than generic, "THE King of ALL OTHER Kings," not "A king that is king of some other kings." And notice too that there is a title not given to anyone else in the Bible by man or by God, "King of kings and Lord of lords," obviously used as a unique qualifier to avoid any generic or lower "king above some other kings" ideas. This kind of superlative is how something would be distinguished as absolutely unique.

And notice this title is used in direct conjunction with my earlier proof that God clearly says he alone treads the winepress of his wrath, and reinforces it with "no one was with him," not even his greatest creation.

15 He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
(Rev. 19:15-16 NKJ)

Two absolutely unique identifiers not shared with any other king of kings or greatest of creations.

[dwight92070]

All excellent points, Dizerner, and Revelation 19:13 also calls Him "The Word of God", clothed with a robe dipped in blood. Jesus was the One who ALONE shed His blood for all mankind. He alone is called "The Word of God" and "The King of kings, and Lord of lords".

Also, Psalm 95:7 says: "For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand."

Peter said in 1 Peter 5:2-4: " ... shepherd the flock among you, ... proving to be examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, ..."

Psalm 95 tells us that GOD is our SHEPHERD.

Peter tells us that Jesus is our CHIEF SHEPHERD. There is ONLY ONE SHEPHERD over the Israel of God, the body of Christ, and ONLY ONE CHIEF SHEPHERD over the same, and that is Jesus, and that is God.

[dwight92070]

We all know that, ultimately, peace comes from one source - God.
We also know that, ultimately, mercy comes from one source - God.
And, of course, ultimately, grace comes from one source - God.

Paul recognized this. In each of his 12 letters to the churches (not including Hebrews here), he opens with: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." or a very similar statement. In 1st and 2nd Timothy, he adds the word "mercy". In Titus, he adds the title "Jesus our Savior".

Also in 9 of those letters, Paul closes with: "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all." or with a similar statement. In Galatians, Philippians, 2 Timothy, and Philemon, he adds "be with your spirit".

So it's clear that grace, mercy, and peace, which only comes from God, also comes from Jesus. Whatever comes from God comes from Jesus. Whatever comes from Jesus comes from God. "Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me."

I love how Paul closes 2 Corinthians: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all." He mentions 3 "persons" here. The 2nd and 3rd "persons" are obviously God. But some would have us believe that the 1st "person" here, the Lord Jesus Christ is not God. So, if that's true, then Paul is "blessing" the Corinthians with "gifts" from two "persons" who are God and one "person" who is not God.

Simply unbelievable.

[dwight92070]

James said: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights ...". But if grace, mercy, and peace (all good and perfect gifts) also comes from the Lord Jesus Christ, then clearly, He is the Father, He is God. "I and the Father are One."

[dwight92070]

Mark 10:29-30 - "Truly I say to you, there is no who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, FOR MY SAKE, and for the gospels sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life."

If Jesus was an agent for God, then why did He say "for My sake"? Why wouldn't He give glory to His Father and say "for the Father's sake" or "for God's sake"? If He deflected all glory back to the Father, then why did He not do that here? Once again, He is asking for a 100% commitment and love FOR HIMSELF here, because He knew He was the Father. Only God deserves 100% of our love and commitment. The answer is obvious: He is the Father, He is God.

He claimed that He was God when one of the ten lepers, who He healed, returned and "fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him". How did Jesus describe what this healed leper was doing? "Was no one found to GIVE GLORY TO GOD, except this foreigner?" Jesus is saying that to bow down at His feet IS TO GLORIFY GOD AND TO WORSHIP GOD, because HE IS GOD.

Psalm 95:3-7 makes it clear that we are to bow down to no one but our Creator: "For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods, in whose hand are the depths of the earth. The peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it, and His hands formed the dry land. COME LET US WORSHIP AND BOW DOWN, LET US KNEEL BEFORE THE LORD OUR MAKER, FOR HE IS OUR GOD, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.

Psalm 96:5 says: "For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens."

When many bowed down to Jesus, they were bowing before their Creator and the Creator of the heavens and the earth, God in the flesh.