Jesus is God!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. (John 1:1-2)

Honestly, do you think John could be any clearer? Jesus was in the beginning! He was with God; He was (is) God; He was with God in the beginning. My husband is always laughing at me because I am constantly following a statement I make with, “Do you know what I mean?” Likewise, I can almost hear John saying after these two verses, “Do you know what I mean?”

In a battle for truth to be known in the hearts and minds of his readers, John starts the onset of his gospel by stating clearly the deity of Jesus Christ. Unlike Matthew, Mark, and Luke, who begin their books by focusing on Jesus as a man through birth and his baptism, John begins his unique gospel with a discussion of the eternal existence of Jesus.  John’s goal, stated in John 20:30-31, is to clearly present the signs and wonders performed by Jesus in order that those reading it would believe that He is indeed the Christ, the Son of God.

Jesus, “the Word”

John begins by referring to Jesus as “the Word.” The Jews used this term to refer to God–they taught the “Word of God” was the same with God. Interestingly, the Greeks used the term “Logos”–translated here “Word”–in reference to the governing power behind all things. John commences by stating Jesus’ existence in the beginning–Jesus existed not only before His incarnation but before all time. He was, and is, and is to come.

Indeed, Jesus tells us the same thing about himself in these verses from Revelation:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” (Revelation 22:13)

Jesus, “the I AM”

The Word was with God not from God–He was as ever with God. Jesus also gives us information in scripture confirming His eternal existence:

“You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. (John 8:57-59)

“I AM” was the title of deity to the Jewish people. The Jews knew very well that in stating this Jesus was equating Himself with God hence their desire to stone Him. “I AM” was also the name God used to identify Himself to Moses in Exodus:

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.'”
(Exodus 3:13-14)

In quoting King David from Psalm 110, Jesus plainly tells the Pharisees in Matthew:

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.” ‘

If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.(Matthew 22:41-46)

Take It to Heart

Is it not amazing that the great “I AM”, the One “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” would choose to remove His cloak of glory to don the mere flesh of humanity–humbling Himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross–in order to provide a way for us to be reconciled to God? What great love is this? If He went to such lengths of love to save us, how much more to keep us in this great love?

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)

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