The Doctrine of the Deity of Christ, No. 4
Colossians 1:15-20

COL-116

Our subject is "Hymn in Honor of Christ," number 6 in Colossians 1:15-20.

For most of the human race, Jesus Christ is a nobody – useful only as a curse word. However to God the Father, Jesus is the divine Son of God incarnate, as the God-man. Those who believe the biblical teaching about the deity of Jesus Christ will accept Him as Savior. Those who do not, will not accept Him. Sometimes when I baptize people, I ask them just before the baptism, "Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?" If He is the Son of God, then He is deity. And that is essential. Anybody who doesn't believe that, shouldn't be in that baptismal tank, because he has no salvation to which he is demonstrating or to which he is testifying. Those, however, who do understand that Christ is deity, and who understand the principle of His presence, living within us, will turn every one of us into a person who will live with great concern for our personal integrity. The Christians who shock us with the lives that they live and the things that they do are those who have clearly forgotten Christ in us, the Hope of Glory. And they have forgotten that Christ indwells us as deity.

The Doctrine of the Deity of Christ

So, we have been studying the Bible doctrine of the deity of Christ. We have learned:

1. The Godhead

   Jesus Christ in the Bible is declared to be a member of the Godhead. That is, he is the part of the Trinity of: Father; Son; and, Holy Spirit. If He were not God, that would not be true. He could not be part of the Godhead.

   Now you may say, "Well, that's self-evident. Yeah, I know that." In fact, you might be inclined to say about the whole subject of the deity of Christ: "Sure, who would object to that?" Well, most of those who say they follow the Bible deny the deity of Jesus Christ. For most of them, it's unbelievable what is being done to the authority of Scripture.

   As we went through Waco on our campout, I saw my old school, Baylor University, and I looked at that Pat Ness Hall, and those old towers that characterize the school. One of our young men who attends there recently said that he was sitting in Bible class, and the professor was teaching the lesson. And he is telling the class that we cannot take the Bible literally in all respects. And he said that the account of Adam and Eve and the origin of sin in the human race is a fable. It's not something that actually happened. Well, our man raised his hand and said, "Woo! Wait a minute. If we can't trust that the Bible says something like that as being literally true, what part of it can we read and know that it's true? How do we decide which is true and which is not?" And that is a ridiculous, horrible statement to hear at a school which is based upon the Bible – teaching the students that it's a myth: "There was no Adam. There was no eve, which means that man is not basically sinful, which means that you don't need a Savior." Now that's very serious business, because it also implies the question of the deity of Jesus Christ.

   That same professor raised the issue of the reality of demons – that this was something that people had sort of assumed, but that certainly God was not going to let a bunch of demons running around countering His purpose and so on." So our young man said, "Whoops! Wait a minute. The Bible says that there are evil spirits who follow Satan. They are demons. On what basis do we suddenly say, 'Well the Bible is not literal there?'"

   Now this isn't down at SMU. I would expect them to do that – United Methodists. They don't accept the Bible as the Word of God in its literal meaning and impact. So, that's what I would expect. But not at Baylor University. And it all begins because they lose track of the nature of Christ as the God-Man.

   So, we have learned, first of all, that Jesus Christ is a member of the Godhead.

2. Creation

   Secondly, Jesus Christ existed before His creation work, indicating by His preexistence, that He is divine.

3. The Biblical Claim

   Third, we have learned that Jesus claimed that He was God, and others who knew Him confirmed that claim. One time, he faced off with the Pharisees, and did something that none of us would dare to do. He said, "Who of you can accuse me of any sin? You have a big crowd here. Sound off." And they couldn't touch Him. They had to slink away, and figure out how to kill Him. His deity with His humanity made Him the perfect man.

4. The Angel of the LORD

   And then the fourth thing we have learned (a very significant thing) is that the Old Testament repeatedly speaks about the Angel of the LORD, which is "LORD" in capital letters in your Bible. And this was the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ. He is referred to as the Angel of the LORD in the sense that the word Angel means the messenger of the LORD. The Angel of the LORD is identified in Scripture as being God Himself; that is, He is the Lord God. This is the highest name, the most sacred name of God, the name "Yahweh" in the Hebrew. And this indicates that Jesus Christ is divine because He is called the Angel of the LORD.

   Furthermore, the Angel of the LORD is distinguished from God the Father. The LORD, the Father, sends His Angel of the LORD to perform certain tasks, so that the two are separate. That's one of the early evidences in the Old Testament of the doctrine of the Trinity. The Jews try to slither out of that. But the problem is that the wonderful language of the Hebrew Bible, right off the beginning, in the very first verse of the Bible, says, "In the beginning, God ('Elohim')." And it's a plural word: "created the heavens and the earth." And when I point that out to Jews, I say, "You know very well that this Hebrew word is a plural word. How can you deny the fact that even in the Old Testament, there was one God in essence, but a God in multiplicity of the three persons?" And they have some kind of a weak explanation, but it's always getting away from what? From what the Bible says.

   I heard of a man recently who had been reared in a church that said, "If you don't have water baptism, you will go to the lake of fire. If you have no water baptism, then you have no salvation. And it is amazing how many of the churches that came out of the Protestant reformation picked up that same contamination about the work of water baptism.

   I remember Mrs. Danish telling me one time, in her background as Lutheranism, and her catechism classes as a teenager, she was told, "If you're ever in a situation where a child has been born, and the baby is about to die, rush to the kitchen sink, and turn that faucet on, and sprinkle that baby three times." And that isn't even baptism. At least if they said, "Pour him under there three times," that would be closer to it, as being baptism.

   Well, the Greek Orthodox church, what do they do? They know the Greek language, and they know that the word "baptizo" means "to put under." It means "to get under and to bring it back up:" down; and, in and out. So, when they baptize a baby, that's what they do. They take that little sucker, and they say: "In the name of the Father (then they dunk him in); in the name of the Son (then they dunk him again); and, in the name of the Holy Spirit (and they even dunk him a third time), and this kid comes out yelling and fighting. You never have a quiet baptism in the Greek Orthodox Church, but that's what they do. They give them the full biblical treatment.

   Well, here's this church making a big thing of their water baptism, and these legalistic things. Why? Because they don't have to take the Bible literally. And those verses that deal with baptism in connection with salvation – that is talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That's totally different. They have no idea that there are seven different baptisms in the Bible. Four of them are wet baptisms, and three of them are dry. But I read about this young man's story. He grew up in this denomination. Suddenly, he got to studying prophecy. And I was conveying to our kids on the campout how important prophecy is. Those kids will never be the same. It was a dramatic excursion for them in areas that they had a lot of stuff buzzing around in their head, but they hadn't anchored it down. Well, they have now.

   This guy said that when he brought up the subject of the fact of the coming of Christ to rule over this earth, and a period when Satan would be bound, he said, "You've always taught me that Jesus is going to come to this earth, and the dead will be raised, and the sheep and the goats will be separated (the saved and the unsaved), and we'll go out into eternity. And eternity begins. But wait a minute. Here's this 1 Thessalonians 4 passage. It says that Christ is going to take us in the air, and then here is the passage that says that Satan is going to be bound." And the preacher said to him, "Listen. I'll tell you one thing about prophecy. It doesn't mean what it says. What you read in the Bible is not what it means." Well, they think that they have to spiritualize this, saying that these are all symbols.

   When I, as a child, in my own Lutheran background, began to discover that there wasn't just one big judgment day, but that there was a period of these prophetic things, it didn't enlighten me. That's why I knew what these kids needed on this campout, and what it was going to do for them – the transformation of enlightenment, of knowing God's plan, and how the thing is going to work out, so that I will not be a ninny. We don't have to be ninnies, in our youth especially, running around, following the crowd, and missing the boat.

   But I remember telling the Lutheran pastor that I know that there's a time here in history when Satan is going to be bound, and that hasn't happened. And he said, "Oh, Yes. I believe that Satan is bound now." So, I, in my great wisdom as a teenager said, "You do. Well, I wonder who's doing his work so well then – all the evil we have on this earth." I was being a smart-alec. I shouldn't have said it, but I thought to myself, "Who's doing that job so well for him?" Well, the truth of the matter is that he was trying to spiritualize the binding of Satan. I found out later (I learned out what he meant) was that when Satan was defeated on the cross, he was bound. Now that's true. But that isn't what the Scripture means that deal with Satan being put into the pit of the abyss for the 1,000-year reign of Christ.

   So, the Word of God is very explicit, and is the only source of information that we have. And if we don't get straight about Jesus Christ, we will go far afield. The Bible is a book which was written in ordinary everyday English (when it comes to a translation) so that anybody can read it and understand it. And Jesus Christ was in the Old Testament, in the very first mention of the name of God – the name "Elohim." And Genesis 1:1 makes that very clear. And those who do not want to believe it are always twisting and getting rid of Scripture to disentangle themselves from what God has said. But when you take it for its face value, you discover that the Angel of the LORD was a very distinguished person. He was the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. When the New Testament begins, you never hear about the Angel of the Lord again, because now Christ has taken on the God-Man form.

5. LORD

   The next point that I need to show you about the doctrine summary of the person of Jesus Christ (the deity of Christ), is that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is directly called by the most sacred name of God – this name "LORD," which is always in those capital letters. We have this, for example, in Jeremiah 23:5-6: "'Behold, the days are coming.' declares the Lord." There's the sacred four-letter Hebrew word, the Tetragrammaton: "YHWH:" "'When I shall raise up for David a righteous branch (that is, Jesus Christ), and He'll reign as King, and act wisely, and do justice and righteousness in the land.'" Now probably all of you could explain what that means. That's the Millennial Kingdom reign of Jesus Christ. But the amillennialists say, "Oh no. That's the reign up in heaven." But that isn't what Jeremiah was talking about at all. That was not the comfort that he was bringing.

   Jeremiah 23:6 says, "In his days, Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely, and this is His name by which he will be called: the LORD our righteousness." Who is going to be called the LORD? It is the person that he has just described as the branch which is going to be born from the line of David, which is Jesus Christ. And He is the one who is directly called the Lord our righteousness, "YHWH." . . . This is a very dramatic statement of the deity of Jesus Christ.

   We have another one in Isaiah 40:3 says: "A voice is calling. Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness. Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God." Who is saying that? If you consult Luke 3:4-6, you'll see that it was John the Baptizer who was saying that. And who was he addressing when he said, "Clear the way of the Lord?" He was talking about Jesus Christ. So, there you have, in the Old Testament, Christ, before He arrived as the Messiah, being called by the most sacred name of God, the name "LORD."

   So this point number five in our summary is that Jesus Christ is actually called by the sacred name of God.

6. The Qualities of God

   Now, there's one evidence that would be clear to everybody if you were going to discuss the deity of Christ. And that is: does He have the characteristics of God? Does he have the attributes (the qualities) that belong to deity? Does He have those major 10 basic qualities of the essence of God? Throughout the Bible, the attributes of deity are ascribed to Jesus Christ. Let me show you.

   Eternal Life

   One of the qualities of God is eternal life. Micah 5:2: "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah: from you, One will go forth for Me to be the Ruler in Israel. This is speaking about Jesus Christ to be born in Bethlehem: "His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity." So here Christ is described as having eternity (eternality). What it is saying is: "From long ago (from the days of eternity), he had no beginning, and no ending." He had the eternality that belongs only to deity. This is a very clear statement of the deity of Christ.

   Then there is the book of Isaiah 9:6: "For a Child will be born to us; a Son will be given to us, and the government (of the millennium) will rest upon His shoulders, and His name will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, eternal father, prince of peace." Of whom is this speaking? This is speaking about Jesus Christ. He is called "the eternal Father" here. He is the eternal one – the eternal ruler. And you can see how explicit Scripture is. Isaiah 9:6 says, "A child will be born." That is the incarnation of Jesus Christ. That is what His mother Mary gave him: a physical body: "But to us, a son will be given." Jesus Christ was already a Son because He is the eternal God. There never was a time when He was not the Son of God. He was always part of the Trinity: "And He is given to us." It doesn't say that the Son is born then. It only says that the child Jesus was born then. But the Son of God simply took on that human body as one who had always existed.

   Certainly, John 1:1 is a very dramatic confirmation of the eternal life possessed by Jesus Christ: "In the beginning was the Word." This is a reference some kind of concept. The concept here is Christ. He is the Word. He is the expression of God, as a Word is the expression of an idea: "In the beginning," and that's a beginning that had no beginning: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." So, here you have again the eternal life of Jesus Christ.

   Certainly, this is buttoned down very clearly in John 8:58. When Jesus is being confronted by His enemies, He says to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." Now, I told you that the sacred name of God, "Yehowah," comes from the Hebrew word for the verb "to be: "I am." And the Jews understood that when anybody stood up and said, "I am," he was claiming to be eternal God. And that's, of course, what these people did. They, immediately, as you see by the next verse, wanted to stone Him to death because they considered that he had performed an act of blasphemy.

   So, the Bible is very clear that Jesus Christ has eternal life. Eternality is the way we described it: no beginning; and, no ending. You and I, upon our salvation – we have eternal life. But our eternal life had a beginning. We share the eternal life of God, which is now imputed to us, but Christ always was divine, so He has an eternal life of a different kind.

   Righteous and Justice (Holiness)

   Then there are the factors (the attributes) of absolute righteousness and justice. When you put absolute righteousness and perfect justice together, that is described by the word "holiness." Every time the Bible talks about something being holy, the idea is to be set apart. But holiness in a person is the fact that he has the absolute righteousness of God, and he has the perfect justice of God upon him. Luke 1:35 points this out under the word holy: "And the angel answered and said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you (speaking to Mary about her conception), and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And for that reason, the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God." What was to be born from Mary was a human being, but one without a sin nature. He would have absolute righteousness from the moment of His birth. And He would be perfectly in tune with the justice of God.

   This is also pointed out to us in the book of Hebrews 7:26: "For it was fitting that we should have such a High Priest (speaking about Jesus): holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens." Here again, He is described by the word "holy," which means that He has absolute righteousness of God, and He has absolute perfect justice.

   Love

   Another quality that is characteristic of Jesus Christ is love. Ephesians 5:2 says, "And walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us – an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma." Walk in love, just as Christ also loved. He loved because that is the character of God.

   This is further reinforced in 1 John 3:16: "We know love by this: that He (Jesus) laid down His life for us, that we might lay down our lives for the brethren. Christ laid down His life while we were yet sinners." Why did He do that? Because He was compelled to do that by the fact that He was love. This is not the kind of a love that we create, but the love that God creates: that which characterizes God Himself. Yes, we do share this love. This is what the Holy Spirit produces in us if we have the fruit of the spirit.

   Immutability

   Then Christ has immutability. That means that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 is the classic verse on that: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today; yes, and forever." Charismatics like to quote this verse in order to defend the claims to miraculous works: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever," but His works are not the same. He does different things in different eras. And he's not working through people through miracles.

   Omniscience

   Now, certainly the three the three "omnis," if anything, are evidence that a person is deity. First, there is omniscience. John 1:47-48 point this out, "Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to Him, and said of him, 'Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile.' Nathaniel said to Him, 'How do you know me?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.'" This is the expression of the omniscience of Jesus Christ. He said, "I know all about you."

   John 2:23-25: "Now, when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His Name, beholding His signs which He was doing" (speaking here of Jesus). But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man." The reason Jesus could look at a person and know exactly what was in that person is because He was God. That made the Pharisees very uneasy, because He proved it again and again. He said, "I know exactly what you're thinking. I know what's in your heart. I know what your attitude is." Wouldn't that be a terrible power to have over people? Wouldn't you hate to be in the person of some human being who always knew what was going on in your head; what your attitude was; and, what you were up to? That's omniscience, and Christ had it. Clearly, He was God.

   Omnipresence

   Then there is omnipresence. This is another great evidence of deity. John 1:48-50 is the same passage that we read concerning Nathaniel. Jesus says, in John 2:50, "'Nathaniel, I saw you.' Nathaniel answered Him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God. You are the king of Israel.'" And in John 1:50: "Jesus answered, and said to him, 'Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe you? You shall see greater things than these." Christ was there, omnipresent, with him, and even when he was under the fig tree elsewhere.

   Matthew 18 is also a demonstration of the omnipresence of Christ. Matthew 18:24: "For where two or three have gathered together in My Name, there I am in their midst." Who is in our midst tonight? We certainly have two or three gathered in the name of Jesus Christ here. Who is in our midst, in His omnipresence? Christ. But where is His physical presence? In heaven, seated at the Father's right hand, sharing the Father's throne, until He comes to this earth to take over His Own throne, the throne of David, in the Millennial Kingdom. But this is another thing that we should become more and more conscious of. When we gather like this, it's because Jesus Christ is here. And I know very well that if He were walking up and down here, and up and down the aisles, some of you would be acting a lot differently. You wouldn't be thinking about those wonderful sales that you're going get at Minyard's tomorrow that you saw in the paper today. You wouldn't be sitting there feeling faint, and unwrapping your little candies that you have brought to be able to sustain yourself until the service is over. I mean, you wouldn't be looking around.

   Remember that poor girl in that movie "The Exorcist" – her head would go all the way around. We have several people here that are able to do that. They come to church, and they sit here, and I watch them, and their heads are going almost all the way around: "Look at that hat she's wearing. I wish he'd get a haircut. I wonder why Glen Wright's hair is so white when he's so young." I mean their heads are swiveling, looking over: "Look at that dress. Where'd she get that rag?"

   Well, this is the way we act when we are not conscious that we are in the presence of the Son of God: "Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there I am in their midst. Yes, the angels of God are here. And the Lord Jesus Christ, in His omnipresence, is here.

   Now that's different than the Holy Spirit, isn't it? The Holy Spirit is not among us in His omnipresence. He is here in His actual person. He has the quality of omnipresence, but he is with us, within our bodies (His temple) as a person. When the rapture takes place, what happens to the Holy Spirit? He leaves. And that's when the Bible says: "When the Restrainer is removed from this earth (which is God the Holy Spirit Who restrains evil), then evil will run its full course. There won't be anybody holding back evil. Now it is the Christians. It is the Bible believers. It is the people who are sounding off and acting according to Scripture that are holding back evil. But that won't be held back once the Holy Spirit is gone. Will the Holy Spirit still be here in this world? Yes, He'll be here in His omnipresence, but He'll be gone in His personal presence. But right now, the Lord Jesus Christ, while He is in heaven, is here with us in His omnipresence on this earth.

   Then there is the book of Matthew 28:20: "Teaching them to observe all things I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." He is with us always, every one of us, wherever we are.

   Omnipotence

   Then there's the third "omni" – omnipotence. Does Jesus Christ have that quality of deity? He certainly does. Matthew 24:30: "And then the sign of the Son of man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory." When He returns, in His Second Coming, and you and I are returning with Him, He will come with great demonstration of brilliance; of light; and, of glory. People will see Him in outer space, coming down, and they will see this mass of what is called "the Host of the Lord" (the army of the Lord) – we who are believers, coming with Him. And He will come with great power – the power of the omnipotent God.

   How about Philippians 3:21? "Who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power He has, even to subject all things to Himself." He will raise us from the dead. And when He does, He's going to change our bodies; remove every imperfection; flush out the sin nature; and, He will make us totally conformable. He will conform us totally to Himself – to His body of glory. It's the omnipotence of God who will do this.

   In Colossians 1:17, we have appointed this out to you before – "That Jesus Christ is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." It is the omnipotence of Jesus Christ that keeps the molecular structure (out of which everything is made) from flying apart. He's the magnetic quality that holds it together. Clearly this is a power of deity.

   Hebrews 1:3 declares His omnipotence also: "And He is the radiance of His (that is, God's) glory, and the exact reproduction of His (that is, God's) nature, and upholds all things by the Word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of majesty on high. Here, this verse in Hebrews says that Jesus Christ is deity. He has the radiant glory exactly like the Father does. He's the exact nature of the Father. And He upholds all things by the Word of His power. He speaks; and, things happen. Now, that is a great thing to know.

   Do any of you people have any problems that you need to deal, such with that a word spoken by the omnipotent Christ would stand you in good stead? I have quite a few lined up for tomorrow.

   Revelation 1:8: "'I am the Alpha and the Omega (the beginning and the end),' says the Lord God: Who is; Who was; and, Who is to come – the Almighty." Here, it is Jesus Christ speaking. He is called the Lord God: Who is; Who was; and, Who is to come – the Almighty.

7. Does He Act Like God?

   Then there's another point to identify the deity of Jesus Christ. And that is: does He act like God? Does He exercise the prerogatives of God? Yes, He does. For example, only God is entitled to be worshiped. Jesus, the sinless one, accepted worship, which shows that He could not have been sinless and accepted worship (that would've been blasphemy) if He were not Himself deity. In John 9:38, we have the man who was born blind. Jesus had given Him sight: "And he said, 'Lord, I believe,' and he worshiped Him." And Jesus did not rebuke Him. He accepted the worship.

   John 20:28 is another example of the acceptance of worship. "Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and My God,'" which was an expression of worship. So Jesus Christ shows his deity by the fact that He accepted worship.

   He also shows his deity by the fact that He forgives sins. Certainly, no one can forgive sins except God. And it is an act of blasphemy for anybody else to tell a human being that He is capable of forgiving that individual's sins, because he is not. We have, in Mark 2:1, the paralytic man which was healed. And when He (Jesus) came back to Capernaum, several days after, it was heard that he was at home. And many were gathered together so that there was no longer room, even near the door, and He was speaking the word to them." Every time Jesus was with people, he wasn't drinking tea, and he wasn't socializing, although sometimes he did that. He wasn't sitting around chewing the fat and sharing stories. People needed one thing, and he had it – Bible doctrine. So, repeatedly, you find when He's with people, He's teaching them the Word. And those who were smart came to His services. They listened, and they believed what God said.

   "And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. And being unable to get him, because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him. And when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying." Jesus was in this house. It's a flat-roof building, as they often are. These people can't get this paralytic friend in, because they want Jesus to heal him. Why would they do that? Because He has the power to do that with His omnipotence. They recognized His deity. So, they cut a hole in the roof, and let him down. Now that'll distract your service every time.

   "And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, 'My son, your sins are forgiven.'" Sin has a great deal to do with illness. The apostle Paul says, "Don't even come to the Lord's Supper with unforgiven sins. It's a very simple ceremony. We're just remembering what Christ has done for us. But don't you dare come to the Lord supper, first of all, if you're not a Christian. That's a very contemptuous thing to do toward the blood of Christ and the person of Christ. And if you're a Christian, don't you dare come to the Lord supper if you're a sneaky, little, two-time, double-dealing fake, such that you have things in your life that you know are out of the will of God, and that you are in violation of the moral code of God, whatever it is, until you confess it, and cease and desist the sin, and confess it, and admit it, and get things straightened out – don't come to the Lord's supper. It's a very serious thing. If you do, it says that you will become weak. You'll have emotional problems. It says that then the sin will develop from the emotional to the physical. People who are distraught emotionally trigger bad things in themselves physically. And if you keep pushing it, the Lord will put you to sleep. He will take you to heaven. He'll put you to death.

   Jesus says to this man, "Your sins are forgiven." Why? Because the sin is what caused his problem. His paralysis is an expression of Satan's attack upon him, because of sin in this man's life, for whatever it is, one way or another: "But there were some of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, 'Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone?'" That's true. "And immediately, Jesus, aware in His spirit (His omniscience) that they were reasoning that way within themselves – He said to them, 'Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic: 'Your sins are forgiven;' or, to say, 'Arise, and take up your palate and walk.''" Now, it's a whole lot easier to say "Your sins are forgiven." . . . But it's really tough to say, "I'll fix your paralyzed leg." So Jesus says, "You don't think I can forgive him his sins? And you say that only God can forgive sins? Well, you're right about that. How about fixing paralytic legs? Jesus says, "Bob Tilton is out of business. Now what are we going to do? Do you want me to show you how to fix our paralytic? Do you want me to show you deity? Do you want me to show you that I am God, and therefore, if I forgive this man his sins, they are forgiven?" Well, he had them with that remark. He had them up on the ropes with that question.

   So, He turns to the man, and He says, "Arise, and take up your palate, and walk." Verse 10: "But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive this,' He said to the paralytic, 'I say to you, Rise; take up your palate; and, go home.' And he rose, and immediately took up the palate, and went out into the sight of all so that they were all amazed, and were glorifying God, saying, 'We have never seen anything like this.' And when God works, you're going to see something that you have never seen before. And you'll see that every time in your own life. So, Jesus clearly was qualified to forgive sins. He could not have done that if He was not divine.

   The liberal theologians must really have some mental processes to stretch in order to read a passage like that and say: "Jesus never claimed to be God. Only His followers said that of Him."

   Jesus is able to bestow rewards that you'll have for all eternity for your Christian service to Him. Revelation 22:12: This is the most amazing verse in the Scriptures. Jesus says, "Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what He has done." He says, "I'm coming quickly: imminently – on the horizon. My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done." The verse before says, "Let the one who does wrong still do wrong. Let the one who is filthy still be filthy. Let the one who is righteous still practice righteousness. And let the one who is holy still keep himself holy." There you have the distinguishing mark of the saved and the unsaved.

   So, the last comments He makes, as He closes this book of the Revelation, are on salvation. And then He says the final thing of all things. What's the last emphasis? Rewards in heaven. Some people think it's terrible to talk about serving God because you want to get rewards. The Bible doesn't think so. Jesus constantly said, "Store your treasures in heaven," because if you are not earning rewards, then you are not doing the Lord's work. But if you are doing His work, He'll never forget your labors of love.

   So, Jesus is capable of offering and of delivering these rewards, because He is God. And He is properly the object of faith in salvation. John 1:12, "But as many as received Him (Christ), to them gave He the power (the right – it's the authority in the Greek, meaning that He has the authority to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name."

   I heard a very famous evangelist who preached a sermon that badmouthed this "believeism" – just believing the gospel. He said that it takes more than believing the gospel. Then he quoted this verse. He said, "As many as received Him – to them gave He the right to become the children of God." He said, "You have to receive Christ. It's not just believing. You have to receive Him." So I said, "Oh boy, is he in trouble? Because I thought that he was going to read the rest of the verse, but he didn't. He stopped right there, at "the children of God," because the rest of the verse says, "Even to those who believe in His name," which explains how you receive Him. The only way you receive Christ is by believing that He is who He says He is, and that He has paid the price for your sin, the way He said He did. Certainly, Acts 16:31 makes it very clear: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

8. God Manifest in the Flesh

   There is one other point of great importance in our summary. Jesus Christ is declared in Scripture to be God manifest in the flesh. That, of course, is the bottom line. 1 Timothy 3:16: "And by common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh; was vindicated in the Spirit; beheld by angels; proclaimed among the nations; believed on in the world; and, taken up in glory. Here's a very concise summary about Jesus Christ. And what does it say? "By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness. He who was revealed in the flesh, indicating He, Who is deity, revealed in the flesh, and ultimately taken up in glory.

9. He Performed the Works of Deity

   The next point of the evidence of the deity of Jesus Christ is that He performed the works of deity. First of all, He is the Creator (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16, Hebrews 1:2, Hebrews 1:10, 1 Corinthians 8:6). All of those verses repeatedly indicate that He is the agent of the creation.

   Secondly, we're also told that Christ is the provider of providence; that is, He is the one who provides the care of all that the creation. That's where Colossians 1:17 comes in. He holds it together. Hebrews 1:12 also indicates His work in providence.

   Then He performs the work of resurrection. In John 10:17-18, "Jesus says, 'For this reason, the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative." I have authority to lay it down. I have authority to take it up. This commandment I received from My Father. When Jesus finally set His life down in death, it was by His choice. He had control over His own death, and ultimately the resurrection.

   Also, you may add to that John 5:28-29, and then that very wonderful passage in Luke 7:11-15. This is the funeral procession that He breaks up. This was certainly the evidence of the act of deity: "It came about soon afterward that He went to a city called Nain, and His disciples were going along Him, accompanied by a large multitude. Now, as He approached the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother. And she was a widow. And a sizable crowd from the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and He said to her, 'Do not weep.' And he came up and touched the coffin, and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, 'Young man, I say to you, arise.' And the dead man sat up, and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother."

   Now, if the famous television evangelist who claimed to perform miracles would do this, I'd become impressed. And that crowd was certainly impressed. Jesus demonstrated that He was not some country bumpkin as they were trying to treat Him as, but He was Very God of Very God. And He demonstrated that by raising this man to life.

   There is also the fact that only Jesus Christ can give us revelation of biblical truth. He tells us the things that only God knows, and God must reveal to us. This is demonstrated in John 16:12-13. "Jesus said, 'I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth (the Holy Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His Own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will disclose to you what is to come." The Holy Spirit has done that. We have it recorded in Scripture. And now the Holy Spirit indwells you. As the Word of God is explained, He teaches that to you and makes it clear.

10. Judgment

    The final point demonstrating the deity of Christ is that He's the one who's going to judge everybody. John 5:22: "For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son." Do you understand what this is saying? Jesus Christ is going to decide who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. That decision will be made upon the basis of whether He has been accepted in your behalf as your substitute in death for your sins.

    John 5:27 also says, "And He gave Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man. He is the God-Man.

    And one final verse: His authority of judgment in Acts 17-31: "Because he has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man Whom He has appointed (God the Father has appointed the God-Man, Jesus, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead." Jesus Christ said, "I'm going to die. I'm going to be in the grave for three days and three nights." That's why we know that Good Friday is not Good Friday. It's good Wednesday. He died on Wednesday. Therefore, if you are an employee of some company that gives you Good Friday off, you tell them that it's really good Wednesday, and they should give you the whole thing through the weekend off, to commemorate the event. There is no use interrupting the week after you're off once. But in any case, He has been the one who has been given the authority that He would raise Christ from the dead if what He claimed was really true – that justification has been provided. If Jesus Christ dies, He stays in that grave three days and three nights (a full 72 hours), and then He is raised early Sunday morning. That is God's proof that salvation has been provided.

    That's why people didn't go to heaven before the resurrection of Christ. Before the Crucifixion, they didn't go to heaven. They went to the paradise part of Hades. Then after Jesus was raised from the dead, the first thing He did was that He went down to Hades. He comes in and He welcomes all those people: Adam; David; and, all the people who have been believers over the centuries. And He said, "I'm happy to announce you that your sins have now been paid for. Up to now, they've been covered, and I have covered you temporarily, but now your sins have been paid for. Please gather up all your belongings, and take all the things you have: we're going to heaven." And He turns right around, and He leads this majestic company into heaven. And all these people, who up to now, were in the paradise side (the saved side) of Hades (or Abraham's bosom, as the Jew called it), were looking with great awe as they entered the new Jerusalem and the realm of heaven.

    That's why now in Hades, only the Torments side is left. Only unbelievers go to Hades now. For Christians now, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, because He has fixed the day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man Whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead. That day will be the will be the great white throne judgment.

So, we have ample evidence, and I hope you have been impressed with it because it is from Scripture, that Jesus Christ is indeed true God, as He is true Man. He is undiminished deity, and perfect humanity. That is the Person Who lives within you. That is the person with Whom you will walk this week. Please act accordingly. That's an admonition to us all.

Our Father, we thank You for this time in the Word, and we thank You for what we have learned. We have a great deal to absorb, but the bottom line is that Jesus Christ is our Hope of Glory because He is the God of Glory. Thank you that He has related Himself to us, and that our week is going to be better now because we will live in the consciousness of His presence. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1995

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