Paul's Anguish for the Jews, No. 6
Romans 9:1-5
RO125-02

The Apostle Paul finds the rejection by the Jews of Jesus Christ as God's Son and as Israel's Savior King unthinkable in view of the great advantages they possess as Israelites. Those were, briefly: the advantage of adoption, the glory, the covenants, the Mosaic Law, the divine service, the promises, and finally, the fathers. No other nation or race of people in the history of mankind has enjoyed the enormous spiritual adventures of the Jewish people.

Then we come in verse 5 of Romans 9 to a final advantage which the Jews possessed, and that was that Jesus Christ was born of their race. He was one of them. And so, Paul, and verse 5 says, after referring to the fathers, "Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came...."

The word "of" is the word "ek." This indicates source - where He came from. "Of whom" refers to the Jewish patriarchs as concerning. This is the word "kata," a preposition which is really saying "according to." "Of whom Christ came according to the flesh." The word "flesh" is the Greek word "sarx." The word "sarx" refers to the physical ancestry of Jesus Christ. The idea here is as to his human side, as to his human ancestry. The Lord Jesus Christ and his humanity was extended from the patriarch Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So, what an honor to the Jewish people that God chose their race to bear the savior of mankind, and yet they rejected him.

The words, "as concerning the flesh," here in our text, sets up a contrast with what follows, "who is over all God." In verse 5, "As concerning the flesh," then later on, at the end of the verse, "who is over all God." And in those two phrases, Paul is bringing together the fact that Christ was human, He was divine. So that, he is talking about a God man. The word "Christ" is the word "Christos." "Christos" is the Messianic name of Christ to the Jews. This is what they meant when they use the word "Messiah." The word "Messiah" meant, "the anointed one," the Christ, the one that the Old Testament prophets promised would come to the nations to save them, to be their king, to be their ruler. This word has the definite article "the" in the Greek, which stresses that it's the particular Messiah, the particular Christ which was promised in the Old Testament scriptures by all the prophets.

This is referred to, for example, in John 6:69, where we read, "And we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." Here, the disciples declaring their faith in their confidence that Jesus Christ is the Christ that has been promised to them. So, we translate this portion in Romans 9:5 by the words, "and from whom is the Christ according to his human ancestry." But He was not just human, because Paul then it goes on and add the words, "who is." The word is "eimi," the verb for, "status quo." Present tense: this is constantly true of Jesus Christ. Active voice: personally true of Him. Participle: a spiritual principle is going to be annunciated. And we translate this, "the one who [that is, Christ, the one who] is over [Greek preposition "epi," which indicates a position over] all." The word "all" is the Greek word "pas," and this refers to the fact that He is over all things. It is in the neuter sense used here that He is over all things.

In 1 Corinthians 15:28, we have the statement made, "And when all things shall be subdued unto Him [the subjection of everything under Jesus Christ], then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all." The time will come when everything will be subject to Jesus Christ. He himself will subject Himself to the Father, and the Father will be supreme over the whole universe with everything and everyone in obedience to Him.

Now, obviously, this already tells us that if this is a man, and he's already told us what His human ancestry was, that He was a human being, but He was descended from a line of human beings, to say that this human being was over everything immediately indicates to us that he's telling us that this human being is more than human - that He's also divine. But, lest we do not understand that, God the Holy Spirit leads the apostle Paul to throw in the word, "God," "theos." And the word "theos" is used here in the Greek sentence, in apposition, we say, or in contrast, to the word "Christ." In other words, the word, "God," and the word, "Christ" refer to the same person. So, immediately, Jesus Christ is clearly declared here in scripture to be God Himself - not just human, but deity as well.

Titus 2:13 says, "Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ." There you have another example where the scripture connects Jesus Christ with deity. And I stress this hypostatic union it's a pole to you, the union of the human and divine, because this is what the liberal world, this is what the unbelievers reject most of all. If they accept Jesus Christ as a good man, they will not accept him as deity. And the liberals foolishly have actually said, "The Bible never says that Jesus Christ is God."

Now, I'm taking the time to show you that's what Paul is saying here, what Paul says in the passage that he wrote to Titus, is specifically saying that Jesus Christ is God. If the Bible means anything, it means that. You cannot escape that as a principle of scripture.

In Romans 1:3-4, we may add this, "Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh." Now, what does that refer to: human or divine? Obviously, that refers to His human nature. ".Who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; [and verse 4 swings over to the other side of the hypostatic union] And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." Verse 4 says and he has been declared to be the Son of God with the power of deity, and this confirmed by his holiness and by his being raised from the dead. If he were not a holy man, if he were not all that he claimed to be his God, he never would've been raised from the dead. Jesus Christ is not just a human being; he is also God.

And then, he closes verse 5 by describing this God man as blessed, the Greek word, "eulogetos." "Eulogetos," blessed. And then he writes the words, "eis aion," which means, "unto the ages," which is the Greek way of saying, "forever." "He is blessed forever." So, we translate this, "who [that is, Jesus Christ] is overall God blessed forever," and then Paul puts the final stamp of approval when he puts the word, "amen." The word "amen," which means, "so be it," and is a declaration of confirmation. So, the deity of Jesus Christ is very clearly declared here, and the enormity of what the Jews did is put into perspective by what Paul says here, because what they did was turn their back not just upon a human being. That's what they're trying to say. But what they did was turn their back, Paul says, upon the very God whom they claimed to worship.

The Claim of the Deity of Jesus Christ

Now, because the Bible is inherent, it has upon it the stamp of divine authority. You see, this is why the inerrancy of the Bible is so important. If the Bible is not free from all mistakes, then you might as well forget all this discussion. It doesn't do any good for me to point to verses in the Word of God that claim the deity of Jesus Christ if the Bible has mistakes in it, because we don't know then whether that particular verse is not a mistake, whether that particular verse is not somebody's human invention inserted.

So, you see, the Jews must totally reject the New Testament. The liberals completely rejected the Bible as being anything but a book from men. Liberals were standing up in church quoting the Bible, but it was the Bible that day by human reason processed and decided what part of it they would believe in which part of it they would not - which part of it they would apply to their lives in which part of it they would not. That way, they had the best of both worlds. They could stand up and talk about the Bible that everybody in society respected as the voice of God, yet they could throw things out of the Bible which they did not want. And one of the things they threw out was this idea that Jesus Christ was God.

So now, if we take the premise that indeed the Bible has not been demonstrated to have any errors in it, every challenge has been defeated. It is what it claims to be - the very voice of God. And God is not a stumble bump who cannot put together a book without errors. You do understand that. He can take human beings who themselves are fallible, and he can soak guide them that to the point that they put their pin to the parchment, they will not put down anything that is wrong. He can't do that because he is God, and he has that capacity, and that's exactly what the scripture say is what he did.

So, the liberal's argument that human beings who are fallible cannot write an infallible book is stupid. And you say, "How could intelligent, educated men talk like that?" Well, because they're unregenerate and they hate to be under the authority of God. It's the principle of authority. The principle of subjection to authority. And that is the issue, we will not subject ourselves to the authority of God. And to escape that, they must escape the Bible which expresses His authority. So, we are going to take the Bible for what it has demonstrated itself to be: a book from God without error and therefore when it says something about the deity of Jesus Christ, we can trust it.

In John 9:35-38, "Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said unto him, [this is the man whose blindness Jesus had removed by his miraculous power], 'Dost thou believe on the Son of God?' He answered and said, 'Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him?' And Jesus said unto him, 'Thou hast seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee.' And he said, 'Lord, I believe.' And he worshipped Him."

Jesus Christ did not rebuke the man for worshiping Him. Only God would be worshiped. Now, if Jesus Christ were just a human being - say He was just a sincere Jew who was trying to teach people something better, He was obviously a man who believed in God. He would never have accepted worship.

John 5:18, "Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because He not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God." Now, I don't know what that verse means, if it means anything, except the fact that Jesus declared He was the originator of the Sabbath. He made the rules. He was superior to that, and therefore is equating Himself with God. And the Jews picked up the signal immediately, and for that reason, they proceeded to want to execute Him because for the blasphemy of claiming to be God, the penalty was death under the Mosaic system.

In John 10:30-33, "I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, 'Many good works have I shewed you from My Father; for which of those works do ye stone Me? The Jews answered him, saying, 'For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that Thou, being a man, makest thyself God.'" Well, they clearly understood that Jesus was claiming to be God, and they weren't falsely accusing Him. He did claim to be God. And they caught the picture very clearly.

The Bible writers, furthermore, themselves declared that Jesus Christ is God. And I must remind you that they declare this under the inspiration of the guidance of God the Holy Spirit. Therefore, what we read on that subject is true. John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word." That refers to Jesus Christ, the Greek word, 'logos," referring to Jesus Christ. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word [Jesus Christ] was God." Absolute clear declaration of who He was. A repetition of what we read in Titus 2:13.

Now, if Jesus Christ is God, one of the ways that you can test anybody who comes along and says he is God is to see whether he has the powers of deity, whether he has the attributes, the capacity of deity. Now the question legitimately we may ask when people say, "You're very wrong; Jesus Christ is not God," we must ask, "does he have and demonstrate the capacities of deity?"

Attributes of Jesus Christ

The Lord Jesus Christ, furthermore, had omnipresence. He could be everywhere at the same time. Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." How could a mere human being be in all the churches that are gathered in His name this morning? He could not. Only a Godman could be in that kind of a situation. So, Jesus Christ is everywhere at the same time.

He has, furthermore, omnipotence. He has absolute, all power. There is nothing restricted from His capacity. John 2:23 teaches us that. "Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in His name, when they saw the miracles which He did." The Lord Jesus had true, genuine miraculous power.

But if He was God, He could not have a beginning; He had to be eternal. He had to have eternal life. And again, the Bible comes to us and says that is exactly what He had. John 8:58, "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, 'Before Abraham was, I am.'" The Jews understood this term, "I am." They knew immediately that it referred to Jehovah God. And when Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I am," they made the connection that He was claiming to be a possessor of eternal life. And again, they wanted to destroy Him for that.

If Jesus Christ is God, He cannot be changeable. He cannot be fluctuating. He has to be immutable. That is, He has to be consistent so that we can trust Him. In Hebrews 13:8, it says, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." The verse says that Jesus Christ as a person is consistently the godly, holy person that He has always been. He is immutable.

Furthermore, if He is God, He must be holy. He must have absolute righteousness. He must have perfect justice. Those are the two qualities that consist of holiness. Hebrews 7:26 declares that very thing, speaking of Jesus Christ, "For such an high priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens." So that, Jesus Christ is clearly declared to be a holy person.

And of course, the key, perhaps the key quality that identifies deity, true God is the quality of love. 1 John 4:8-10, "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

In the book of Ephesians 5:2, "2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour."

One more. 1 John 3:16, "By this perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." So, it is very clear that the Lord Jesus Christ was a person who had all the basic qualities, all the basic attributes of deity.

But, could he act like God? When men try to act like gods, they come off looking like clowns. Was Jesus Christ able to function as deity? For example, could He create? Now, if you're a God, you can create. If you're a God, you can just speak things into existence. And again, the inerrant Bible gives us the evidence.

Colossians 1:16-17, "For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers [angelic spirit beings, he means]: all things were created by Him, and for Him: And he is before all things [That is, He was not part of the creation. He is deity. He existed before all things.], and by Him all things consist."

So again, we have clear evidence that Jesus Christ has the capacity that deity has, which is the capacity of creation. Certainly, one of the prime evidences of having the power of deity is the capacity to cause a dead body to rise back to life. The Lord Jesus clearly had this power - not faking it but for real.

John 5:28-29, "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [they that have the divine good of faith in Christ]; and they that have done evil [who lack the divine good, have nothing but the human good of faith in themselves], unto the resurrection of damnation." So, Jesus Christ is going to raise people from the dead, both the saved and the unsaved.

And one other thing, John 5:22 indicates that He has the right to judge people, to determine their destiny. "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." Verse 27, "And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man." He who is the Godman is the one who will determine whether people will go to heaven or hell. Now, only God has the right to make that kind of judgment.

Furthermore, the deity of Jesus Christ is certainly evident in the Trinitarian formula. That is, that He is included - Jesus Christ is included in the trinity statement. Matthew 28:19, "Go ye therefore, and [as you go] teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." You see why the liberals hate an inerrant Bible? What are you going to do with that verse that clearly talks about baptizing people in the name of God, in the name Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so that Jesus Christ is included?

In 2 Corinthians 13:14, we read, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ [there is the Son], and the love of God [there is the Father], and the communion of the Holy Spirit [there is the Holy Spirit], be with you all. Amen." Again, He's in the trinity.

Jesus as "YHWH"

You can see the connection. If this is the name of the living, sovereign Creator God, if we can find in the Bible that Jesus Christ, the Godman is also called "YHWH," the implications are obviously clear: He is deity.

Let's rush through a few of these. These are worth looking at, because this clinches, I think, the argument. Isaiah 40:28 and match that up to John 1:3.

Oh, and I should tell you something else. Let me tell you this first. In the English translation of the Bible, this sacred Tetragrammaton, this sacred name of God is so important that the English translators wanted to identify it every time they came to it. And they did it by translating it by the word "Lord," but all in capital letters: "LORD." Therefore, every time you see the word "LORD" all in capital letters, you know it is the sacred name of God, the sacred four-letter word, the Tetragrammaton.

So, that's what I want you to notice. Isaiah 40:28, "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord [the YHWH], the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding." So here, "YHWH" is called "Creator." John 1:3, referring to Jesus Christ, "And all things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made." Here, Jesus Christ is also called the "Creator," and the same name, therefore, is applied to Him. The Old Testament says, "YHWH" was the Creator. The New Testament says, "Jesus Christ was the Creator." Same person.

Take a look at Isaiah 43:11 and compare that to John 4:42. Isaiah 43:11 says, "I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no Saviour." The Old Testament says that "YHWH" is the Savior. John 4:42, "And said unto the woman, 'Now we believe, not because of thy saying." That is, the fellow citizens of the Samaritan woman. "And said unto the woman, 'Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard Him ourselves, we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.'" In the Old Testament, "YHWH" is called the Savior of the world. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is called the Savior of the world.

1 Samuel 2:6. Compare that with John 5:21. In 1 Samuel 2:6, we're told that "YHWH" raises people from the dead. "The Lord." And you see the word "YHWH" there. "The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the sheol [or to Hade], and bringeth up." That is, He puts people to death. He brings them back to life. John 5:21, "For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and giveth them life; even so the Son giveth life to whom He will." So, in the New Testament, Jesus Christ is said to raise people from the dead.

In the Old Testament, we have in the book of Joel 3:12, "Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about." Notice verse 17. Who's going to do this judging of the Gentiles? "So shall ye know that I am ["YHWH"] the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no stranger pass through it any more." The Old Testament says that "YHWH" is going to judge the Gentile nations of the world.

In Matthew 25:31-33, that is attributed to Jesus Christ. "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on his left." This is the judgment of the Gentile nation. The Old Testament attributes that to "YHWH;" the New Testament attributes that to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Exodus 3:14, "And God said unto Moses, 'I Am That I Am:' and He said, 'Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, 'I Am hath sent me unto you.''" Compare that to John 8:58, "Jesus said unto them, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, 'Before Abraham was, I am.''"

You may add to that John 18:5-6, and so, here, Jesus is declared to be the eternal God. Let's look at Psalm 23:1, a very familiar passage. Psalm 23:1. Compare that to John 10:11. Psalm 23:1 says, "The Lord ["YHWH"] is my shepherd; I shall not want." And in John 10:11, that's attributed to Jesus Christ, "I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." So, here, the Old Testament, "YHYH" is called "the Good Shepherd," that is attributed to Jesus Christ in the New Testament.

The book of Isaiah 42:8 speaks about Jehovah possessing glory, the glory of deity. Isaiah 42:8, "I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." Compare that to John 17:5, which says, "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." Jesus says, "Now, return me, Father, to the glory which I had before I came to this earth." So that, here, Jesus is again called by the name of "Jehovah," in terms of the glory that He possessed.

There's the quality of being the first and the last. Isaiah 41:4 says, "Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first, and the last; I am He." The same thing in Isaiah 44:6, "Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his Redeemer the Lord of hosts; 'I am the first, and I am the last; and beside Me there is no God.'"

Now, immediately, our minds go to the book of the Revelation where this concept, being the first and the last, which is attributed in the Old Testament to "YHWH," is attributed to Jesus Christ. Revelation 1:17-18, "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And He laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, 'Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore [and so on]." And in chapter 2 of Revelation, verse 8, the same thing, "And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; 'These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive.'"

Hosea 13:4 declares that "YHWH" is the Redeemer. "'I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but Me: for there is no Saviour beside Me.'" Verse 14, "I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plague; O Sheol, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hidden from mine eyes." That "repentance shall be hidden from mine eyes," means that God will not change His promise.

Now, we compare that again to Revelation 5:9, where the same capacity is now attributed to Jesus Christ, "And they sung a new song, saying, 'Thou art worthy to take the scroll, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.'" So here, Jesus Christ is presented as the Redeemer; that same one described as such in the Old Testament.

Isaiah 40:3. Here in the Old Testament, "YHWH" is the called, "the Christ," given the very name that Jesus has in the New Testament. Isaiah 40:3, "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, 'Prepare ye the way of the Lord ["YHWH"], make straight in the desert a highway for our God.'" That same concept now is taken up by John the Baptizer, and in Luke 3:3-4, we have it applied to the Lord Jesus. "And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.''" And there, he is referring to Jesus Christ. You can add Luke 7:19-22 to that.

Then, there is the basic quality of righteousness that is being attributed to "YHWH." In Jeremiah 23:5-6, we have this attributed, "Behold, the days come,' saith the Lord, 'that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby he shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness.'"

And in 1 Corinthians 1:30, we read, "But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, [who is of God] who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness." And in Philippians 3:9, we have this same characteristic applied to Jesus Christ, the quality of righteousness. Philippians 3:9, "And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith."

Psalm 18:2 refers to "YHWH" as "the Rock." Psalm 18:2, "The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower." Compare that to 1 Corinthians 10:4. You see that the same thing is applied to Jesus Christ, "And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ."

Then, there is Jeremiah 31 [which] attributes the capacity to forgive sin to "YHWH." Jeremiah 31:34, "'And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord:' for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them,' saith the Lord: 'for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.'" That is the quality of deity.

In the New Testament, the one who is forgiving sins is called Jesus Christ. Mark 2, beginning at verse 7, "Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? [Here's the paralytic man. Jesus has told him his sins are forgiven, but He has not healed him.] And immediately when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, He said unto them, 'Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, 'Thy sins be forgiven thee;' or to say, 'Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?'?"

Well, obviously, it's easy to say, "Oh sure, your sins are forgiven. Who knows whether they really are? Jesus says, "Ok, it's a little harder, isn't it, if I tell this man to get up and walk? If I can tell him to get up and walk, it should confirm that I can also forgive his sins."

"But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.' And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, 'We never saw it on this fashion.'" Indeed, Jesus Christ thereby proved that He did truly forgive the man's sins and that He had the right and the authority to do that, as was attributed to "YHWH" in the Old Testament.

Psalm 148:1-2, worshipped by the angels. Now, when the angels start worshipping (that is, the elect angels worship an individual), you know that that individual is God. Psalm 148:1-2 says, "Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise Him in the heights. [And there, you see, it's the sacred Tetragrammaton, the name for the Lord, "YHWH."] Praise ye Him, all His angels: praise ye Him, all His hosts." The word "praise" there is speaking about an act of worship.

Now, notice Hebrews 1:6 to whom in the New Testament this worship of angels is attributed. "And again, when He bringeth in the firstbegotten [when God the Father brings the firstbegotten, God the Son, Jesus Christ] into the world, He saith, 'And let all the angels of God worship Him.'" Now, God would not have done that if Jesus Himself were not also divine.

One more, Isaiah 45, the total subjection of all the universe to "YHWH" in the Old Testament is the total subject to Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Isaiah 45:20-23, "Assemble yourselves and come near together, ye who are escaped of the nations [of the Gentiles]: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their carved image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, take them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside Me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside Me. Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear."

In the Old Testament, "YHWH" says, "The time is going to come (because I'm the only God that there is) that every knee is going to bow to me, and every tongue is going to swear allegiance to Me." Now, of all things, what do we find when we go to the New Testament, to the book of Philippians 2:9-11, but to find this identical scripture applied to "YHWH" in the Old Testament being applied to Jesus Christ in the New?

Philippians 2:9-11, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." The identical statement.

All of these scriptures that we have used where the sacred name of God is applied in these various relationships, Jesus made clear were being applied to Him. The writers of scripture, the apostles, made clear they were applied to Him. So, that is why the Jews who rejected Him were guilty of an enormous crime that they had all this information, which you and I had to piece together. Yet, when we piece it together, there it is, on the pages of their own scripture, that they should have turned against Him was indeed a very great crime.

So, until the Jews accept Jesus Christ as God's Messiah Savior, they're going to lose it all. And one after another continues to march into the lake of fire. And that, indeed, is very sad.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1977

Back to the Romans index