Proofs of Christ's Deity
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© Berean Memorial Church of Irving, Texas, Inc. (1977)

Our subject is "Freedom from Condemnation." This is segment number five in that series.

Salvation

The Bible clearly spells out, we have seen, a divine plan of salvation by which any sinner may secure eternal life in heaven. This biblical plan of salvation is based upon the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. One of the things that the book of Romans has repeatedly stressed is the fact that the unsaved person, who is the beneficiary of this salvation, does not contribute to it in any way. That's the very simple little fact which is largely ignored among the majority of human beings today. It is innate in the sin nature of man to believe that somehow he can contribute something that earns him merit with God, so that he, in some way, deserves salvation on the basis of what he as a sinner is, rather than entirely on what Christ is.

God father, therefore, we have seen, sent God the Son under the power of God the Holy Spirit, to pay for the evil of mankind, thus satisfying the justice of God. The divine Son took on humanity in order to die as the sinless Lamb of God for the sin of all mankind. As the God-man. Jesus Christ has preserved the holiness of God, though the Father is taking sinners into His heaven.

Jesus Christ, we have seen, has come to the earth in the likeness of sinful flesh, meaning that He possessed true humanity. But He did not have a sin nature. As a human being, Jesus Christ was subjected to the full array of temptations from Satan and from the world system of Satan. However, Jesus Christ remained throughout the sinless God-man. The divine plan of salvation then works, very simply, because of the nature of the Savior Jesus Christ.

The Nature of Jesus Christ

So, we have paused in our study to review just who this person is – the nature of Jesus Christ. It's much easier for us, doing it today, than it was in the early church. It literally took several centuries in what are called the Christological controversies, where scholars (theologians) gathered on various occasions after researching the Scriptures, and then they tried to fit all the pieces together, and they said, "This is what is true about Jesus Christ," because nowhere in the Bible does the Bible spell out explicitly, in so many words in one place, all the details about the nature of Christ. It gives us a lot of pieces. So, we are the beneficiaries of knowing specifically who this person is, and, again, what a marvelous provision that only God could come up with, without which salvation simply would not work. It wouldn't be possible.

Jesus Christ is Deity

The first thing, therefore, we are observing about the God-man, Jesus Christ, is that He is undiminished deity. He is viewed, we have seen, in the Bible, as one of the Godhead. The Bible, which was written by God the Holy Spirit, clearly includes the Second Person, Jesus Christ, as part of the God.

Jesus Christ is Eternal

We have seen that Jesus Christ existed eternally. He was God before the incarnation. We have seen that the Bible declares in so many words that Jesus Christ is deity. We have seen that the disciples of Jesus Christ were clearly convinced that He was deity. We have seen that, contrary to what liberals say today, Jesus Christ Himself claimed to be God. Furthermore, we have been observing that the works of Jesus Christ demonstrate that He is deity. He is doing the things that only God could do.

For example, there is the fact that He was the Creator of the universe. Also, as we have seen in reading Scripture, He was able to raise people from the dead – the true and ultimate expression of Godhood and of the power to heal.

There are other works, furthermore, which only the Creator could perform, and we're going to pursue these today. Again, I want to remind you that the vast majority of human beings today deny that Jesus Christ was God. The vast number of religious groups deny that Jesus Christ was God. They do not deny that He was a man. They do not deny that He existed. They do not deny that He was an outstanding person, but they do deny His deity.

Jesus Christ Controls All Elements of the Creation

One of the evidences of His deity, of course, was the fact that he could control all the elements within creation. One of the great controls was that that had to do with the physical body? He, after all, made the physical body, and when illness invaded it, He was able to reverse it.

Healing

So, let's start researching Scripture on the subject of healing. And I want you to notice, as we do read, that what Jesus Christ did in terms of healing is the pattern that was followed later by the apostles when they were temporarily given the ability, through God, to heal people. All of the healings of Jesus Christ are total; perfect; and, lacking nothing. The healings that are claimed and such things as the charismatic movement today are a blasphemous joke, because what healings are attempted are often clearly very short of a complete restoration, indicating that nothing really took place to begin with.

In Matthew 4:23, we read, "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of diseases among the people. And His fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought onto Him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments, and those who were possessed with demons, and those who were epileptics, and those who had the palsy, and He healed them." This is the evidence of the power of God in action.

Move on to Matthew 8:1: "When He was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, there came a leper and worshiping him, saying, 'Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.' And Jesus put forth His hand and touched him, saying, 'I will. Be clean.' And immediately, his leprosy was cleansed." Now, that, folks, is a demonstration of deity in action. That is the gift of healing.

Notice verse 14: "And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother lying, and sick of a fever. And He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and administered to Him." You notice that she didn't even have to recuperate. This lady was down. She had a fever. She was out. She was knocked out. Now, suddenly, she has guests in the home, and she's not in any mood to get up to be hospitable to them. Jesus Christ reaches over, and He removes the fever. She stands right up. She has full capacity. She's fully operational. That is the only kind of healing you find in the Word of God.

Matthew 9:27: "And when Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying and saying, 'Son of David, have mercy on us.' And when He was come into the house, the blind men came to Him, and Jesus said unto them, 'Do you believe that I am able to do this?' They said unto Him, 'Yea, Lord.' Then He touched their eyes, saying, 'According to your faith, be it unto you.' And their eyes were opened. And Jesus strictly charged them, saying, 'See that no man knows it.'" Here again, their sight was completely and totally restored. This was real, genuine healing.

Move over to Mark 6:53: "And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore. And when they were come out of the boat, straightway they knew Him, and ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry about in beds those who were sick, where they heard He was. And wherever He entered into villages or cities or country, they laid the sick in the streets and besought Him, that they might touch, if it were, but the border of His garment. And as many as touched Him were made well." Here Jesus comes into town, and the word goes out. And what do they do? They empty the hospitals, so to speak? They just run in; they move every bed; they carry every patient; and, they get them out in the street where they know Jesus is going to pass, and they know that all they have to do is reach out and just touch his garment.

Don't you know that Oral Roberts eats his heart out when he reads this here? Here he's building his huge hospital with 777 rooms, that magic and sacred number. And to fill it with what? Why does somebody who has the marvelous capacity to bring healing have to build a hospital? When Jesus Christ, the prototype healer, came along, they emptied the places where the sick were kept, and put them out where Christ would heal them as that gift passed by. What a joke.

Mark 7:31: "And again, departing from the borders of Type and Sidon, He came into the Sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis. Then they brought unto Him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech, and they beseeched Him to put His hand upon him." Here was this poor man who could not here. Furthermore, he could not even speak: "And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His finger into his ears, and spat and touched his tongue, and looked up to heaven inside and sighed, and said unto him, 'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.' And straightway, his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly."

I have seen some of the charismatics heal tongues. And they would ask the person to speak, and the person was unintelligible. Then they would do their hocus-pocus, and then they would ask the person to speak again. And then he would speak, and he still was unintelligible, or maybe a little better, but still stumbling.

When you listen to this in Scripture, here was a man who could only grunt like an animal. But when Jesus got through with him, he was lucid. You could understand him. He could speak very clearly. That is the gift of healing.

Move over to Luke 4:40, in our survey of healing: "And when the sun was setting, all they that had any who were sick with various diseases brought them unto Him. And He laid His hands on every one of them, and healed them. And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, 'You are Christ, the Son of God.' And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was Christ." Here was the terrible, terrible condition that was so prevalent (openly prevalent) in New Testament times – people were possessed by demons. And when you saw people in New Testament times possessed by demons, they didn't have the cultural veneer that the people possessed by demons in our society today have. They were clearly demonically possessed. Here Jesus comes along, and He has the capacity to throw out the agents of Satan. Now who but God to do a thing like that? And the demons knew that it was God. They clearly identified Jesus Christ as deity, and the Lord rebuked them. He didn't need their testimony, and He didn't want it.

Luke 7:22: "Then Jesus, answering, said unto them, 'Go your way and tell John what things you have seen and heard.'" These are the disciples of John coming to Jesus saying, "Are you really the Messiah? Tell us. John is in doubt." So, how does Jesus prove it? What's the evidence? These very works – because what John wanted to know was, "Are you Jesus, my cousin, just a human being like myself, or are you God?" That's what John wanted to know. So, what does Jesus do? He says, "Tell John the things you've heard: how the blind see; the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed; the deaf hear; the dead are raised; and, to the poor, the gospel is preached."

Luke 18:35: "And it came to pass that, as He came near unto Jericho, a certain blind man said by the wayside begging. And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. And they told him, 'Jesus of Nazareth passes by.' And he cried, saying, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.' And they who went ahead rebuked him that he should hold his peace. But he cried so much the more: 'Son of David, have mercy on me.' And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto Him. And when he was come near, He asked him, saying, 'What do you want Me to do unto you?' He said, 'Lord, that I may receive my sight.' And Jesus said unto him, 'Receive your sight. Your faith has saved you.' And immediately, he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God." Here was an act over human sight, which only deity could control.

Luke 22:50: "And one of them smote the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear." Here Jesus is being taken in the Garden of Gethsemane upon the betrayal of Judas. Peter whips out his sword, and said, "Nothing doing boys. You're not taking my Lord. And he takes a swipe at Malchus, and . . . knocks off his right ear: "And Jesus answered, and said, 'Permit you thus far.'" He said, "Knock it off, Peter. This is the way it's got to go: "And He touched his ear, and healed him." He reached up there, and He put that ear back. Now, who but the God who made that ear in the first place could have the capacity to simply put it back? This is the drama of genuine healing that you're reading about.

Let's go to . . . John 4:46: "So, Jesus came again unto Cana of Galilee, where He made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was coming out of Judea into Galilee, went up to Him, and besought him that He would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then said Jesus unto him, 'Except you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.' The nobleman said to Him, 'Sir, come down before my child dies.' Jesus said unto him, 'Go your way. Your son lives.' And the man believe the Word that Jesus had spoken up to him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, 'Your son lives.' Then he inquired of them the hour when he began to improve. And they said unto Him, 'Yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever left him.' So, the Father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said unto him, 'Your son lives,' and he himself believed, and his whole house. It was clear to this man that Jesus was God.

John 5:5: "And a certain man was there who had an infirmity 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there, He knew that he had been thus now a long time. He said unto him, 'Will you be made well?' The impotent man answered him, 'Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool. But while I am coming, another steps down before me.' Jesus said unto him, 'Rise. Take up your bed and walk.' And immediately the man was made well; took up his bed and walked; and, the same day was the Sabbath." Notice again. This is full, complete healing. There was no getting up and learning to walk again. He was completely restored.

One more: John 9:1: "And Jesus passed by, and He saw a man who was blind from his birth. And His disciples said unto Him, saying, 'Master, who did sin? This man or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus answered, 'Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of Him that sent Me. Therefore, it is day. The night comes, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.' When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said to him, 'Go wash in the pool of Siloam (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went his way, therefore, and washed, and came seem completely." He was totally restored.

So, it is very clear from the works of healing of the Lord Jesus Christ that He is deity.

Control over Laws of Nature

Another evidence through His works is the fact that He exercised control over natural laws – over the laws of nature. In Matthew 14:22, we have an example of this control over nature: "And straightway, Jesus constrained His disciples to get into a boat, and to go before Him onto the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain privately to pray. And when evening was come, He was there alone. But the boat was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea." Now, who the God could walk on the sea, because, obviously, He created that element. He can do that.

"And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, 'It is a ghost.' And they cried out for fear. But straightway, Jesus spoken to them saying, 'Be of good cheer. It is I. Don't be afraid.' Peter answered Him, and said, 'Lord, if it be You, bid me to come unto you on the water.' And He said, 'Come.' And when Peter was come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus." Now here again, who but God did say, "I'll let you walk on the water." Only God can give the capacity to somebody else to do what only deity can do. So, here was the amazing thing. Not only could Jesus walk, but he said, "I can enable you to do it."

"And when he (Peter) saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried, 'Lord, save me.' And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him, and said unto him, 'O you of little faith. Why did you doubt?' And when they were come into the boat, the wind ceased, and they that were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, 'Of a truth, you are the Son of God,'" because only God could, obviously, control nature.

In Mark 6:32, we have another example of Christ's is power over the laws of nature: "And they departed into a desert place by boat secretly. And the people saw them departing, and many knew Him, and ran afoot out of all the cities, and went before Him, and came together unto Him. And Jesus, when He came out, saw many people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things. And when the day was now far spent, His disciples came up to him, and said, 'This is a desert place, and now the time is far past. Send them away, that they may go into the country roundabout, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat.'

"And He answered and said unto them, 'You give them something to eat.' They said to Him, 'Shall we go buy 200 denari worth of bread, and give them to eat?' And he said unto them, 'How many loads have you? Go and see And when they knew, they said, 'Five, and two fishes.' And He commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties. And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, He looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them. And He divided the two fishes among them all. And they did all eat and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments of the fish. And they did eat of the loaves were about 5,000 men." Plus: how many women were there; and how many children? Now, who but God is capable of taking what He has created, and in this marvelous way, being able to multiply it simply by his power. Only God could do that – but Jesus Christ could do it.

You have another example in Mark 8. That was 5,000 fed. Here you have 4,000 more. The Lord said, "Just to be sure that you understand that that wasn't an accident, I can do it again: "In these days, the multitude, being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples unto Him, and said unto them, 'I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and they have nothing to eat.'" It was not their fault that they were without food. It was the conditions at the moment. They were being taught spiritual things. They were in an out-of-the-way place.

"'And if I send them away, fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way, for some of them came from far.' And His disciples answered Him, 'From where can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness?' And he asked them, 'How many loaves do you have?' And they said, 'Seven.' And He commanded the people to sit down on the ground. And He took seven loaves, and gave thanks, and broke, and gave to His disciples to set before them. And they did set them before the people. And they had a few small fish. And He blessed them, and commanded them to set them also before them. So, they did eat and were filled, and they took up the broken pieces that were left: seven baskets. And they did had eaten were about 4,000, and He sent them away." Only God could multiply food in that way.

Luke 8:22 also illustrates Christ's powers over the laws of nature: "Now it came to pass, on a certain day, that He went into a boat with His disciples. And He said them unto them, 'Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. But as they sailed, he fell asleep. And there came down a storm of wind on the lake, and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, 'Master, master, we perish.' Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water, and they ceased, and there was a calm. And He said unto them, 'Where is your faith?' And they, being afraid, marveled, saying one to another, 'What manner of man is this, for He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?'" What manner of man" They knew. He's a God-man. That's the kind of man.

He also rebuked them for their lack of faith, meaning: "I said, gentlemen, let's go across to the other side of the Sea of Galilee." The sailors hopped in and put up the sail. He went up forward; lay down; and, fell asleep. He did not say, "Gentlemen, let's go out to the middle of the lake, and sink." Jesus said, "When I said, 'Let's go cross to the other side, I mean the other side.'" But He, nevertheless, calmed the storm to put them at ease. They were going to go anywhere but to the other side. When God says, "This is where I want you to go," and you say, "OK, let's go," that's where you're going to go.

We have one more example in John 2. This is the dramatic first demonstration of his miraculous power over the laws of nature: "And the third day, there was a marriage in Cana Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there. And both Jesus was called, and His disciples to the marriage. And when they lacked wine, the mother of Jesus said unto them, 'They have no wine." Jesus said to her, 'Woman, what have I to do with you? My hour has not yet come.' His mother said unto the servants, 'Whatever He says unto you, do it.' And there were set there six water pots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus said unto them, 'Fill the water pots with water.' And they filled them up to the brim. And He said unto them, 'Draw some out now, and bear it unto the governor of the feast.' And they bore it. And when the ruler of the feast tasted the water that was made wine, they did not know where it had come from. But the servants who drew the water knew. The governor of the feast, called the bridegroom, and said unto him, 'Every man at the beginning sets forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, that which is worse. But you have kept the good wine until now.' Jesus did this beginning of miracles in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory, and His disciples believed on Him."

The juice, which is in grapes, is primarily water. Jesus, because He is God, took the element of water, and converted it into wine. Who but God could do a thing like that?

Prophecies

One of the things that amazed the Pharisees, his opponents, and which shut their mouths every time they tried to challenge His deity was the fact that He could predict future events. We have a demonstration of this in Mark 14:26. Why do we believe the Bible? For many reasons. But one of the reasons we say that the Bible is indeed a supernatural book written by God is because of its prophetic element. The Bible makes prophecies that are never fulfilled until hundreds and hundreds of years in the future. Who can do that? What human being can write prophecies like that? Here again, the charismatics love to go around in their meetings and say, "God just gave me a prophecy. I was riding out on the freeway, and I was driving along, and this prophecy came on to me." Then they start spewing off in something that sounds like Elizabethan English: "O thou sinners, and thou corrupt, let this be known unto thee. The God who is searching and watching over thee will not permit you to tolerate and to act like you do, like a bunch of . . . do-dos. And I will come upon you, and I will cut . . . And they carry on, and they call that a prophecy.

Now, the prophecy in the Word of God was God giving information to the writer. And He said, "Now, I'm going to tell you something that's going to happen way down there, because I, the God who is in charge, am going to make it happen way down there now."

Now here comes the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is constantly making these predictions about the future. We have one of those in Mark 14:26: "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, 'All you shall be offended because of Me this night. For it is written, 'I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.'" He was about to be crucified. Jesus said, "All of you are going to desert Me. But after I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee.' But Peter said unto Him, 'Although I shall be offended, yet I will not.'"

Ah, Peter was so confident. Peter says, "I don't know about the rest of these yo-yos, Lord, but I want to tell you that you can count on me. I'm not going to desert You." Then Jesus turned and looked square at Peter: "And Jesus said unto him, 'Verily I say into you: this day, even in this night, before the cock (before the rooster) crows twice, you shall deny me thrice.' But he (that is, Peter) spoke more vehemently: 'If I should die with You, I will not deny You in any way.' Likewise also said they all." When the rest of them heard Peter, they weren't going to be left out. They said, "Yep, Peter speaks for me. I'm not going to desert You.'"

Now, how did Jesus know that – that before the rooster would be heard to crow two times, Peter would, on three occasions, deny having anything to do with Jesus Christ. Well, you know the story. As he sat around the fire, his Galilean accent gave him away. And he was accused of being one of the followers. And three times, he even swore that he was not a follower of Jesus. He had nothing to do with Him. And about that time, Jesus comes by, and Peter hears the rooster crowing. And Jesus looks down at him, and their eyes tell the story: "Didn't I tell you, Peter? And Peter goes out in tears, crushed. He realized that he was not as bold and as courageous as he was so sure he was going to be. Now, who but God could know what somebody is going to do so explicitly and precisely within a matter of hours.

In John 7:37, we have another example: "Then said the Jews among themselves, 'Where will He go that we will not find Him? Will He go unto the dispersed (among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks)? What manner of saying is this that He said, 'You shall seek me, and shall not find me?' and 'Where I am, you cannot come?'" And what Jesus was telling them was that He was going to go back to His Father; He was going to ascend; and, they were not going to be able to come to be where He is.

Then He gave the great prophecy that follows concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit. Verse 37: "In the last days, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believes upon Me, as the Scripture has said, out of His heart shall flow rivers of living water. 'But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom they that believe on Him should receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified." This was the great event predicting the day of Pentecost.

Jesus Christ Could Invade the Realm of Satan with Impunity

One of the great demonstrations of the deity of Jesus Christ, was that he could invade the realm of Satan with impunity. He had complete control over every dominion of Satan relative to the demonic world.

One example is in Matthew 8:16: "When the evening was come, they brought onto Him many that were possessed with demons, and He cast out the spirits with His Word, and healed all that were sick."

Matthew 8:28: "And when He was come to the other side, into the country of the Gadarenes, there met him two possessed with demons, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce so that no man may pass that way. And behold, they cried out, saying, 'What do we have to do with You, Jesus Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?'" These demonic spirits immediately recognized him as what? Deity – the Son of God. And these demons were terrible demons. They were a terror to the countryside. Demons, as you know, have tremendous physical capacity. And anybody that they could get their hands on was in deep trouble.

"And there was a good way off from them a herd of swine feeding. And these demons shouted out to Jesus, 'Why are you coming here to torment us before the time?'" Before what time? Before the time that they knew was ahead of them, of their doom. They said, "Are you coming to move us to the abyss before it's time for us to go there?" Who could send them to a place like that except God?

So verse 31 says, "So, the demons besought Him, saying, 'If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine.' And He said to them, 'Go.' And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine. And behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place, into the sea, and perished in the waters.' How interesting. These people had no business raising pork to begin with. It was a violation of the rules. The demon said, "Send us into the porkers." Jesus said, "That seems fitting. Go." And demons don't like to be disembodied (these guys like to be in some kind of an entity). So, Jesus said, "Okay, go ahead. Get in the pigs." And when they got into the pigs, the pigs went crazy; ran down; went over the cliff; and, drowned. That got rid of the pigs, and the demons were still bodiless. How clever of the Lord.

Matthew 9:32: "And as they went out, behold, they brought him a dumb man possessed by a demon" – a man who could not speak because a demon held his tongue. "And when the demon was cast out, the dumb spoke, and the multitudes marveled, saying, 'It was never so seen in Israel.'" Again, this shows His power over demons.

In Matthew 17:14 is another example. These are not isolated incidents: "And when they were come to the multitude, there came to Him a certain man, kneeling down and saying, 'Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is epileptic, and greatly vexed. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.' Then Jesus said, 'Oh, faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.' And Jesus rebuked the demon, and He departed out of him, and the child was cured from that hour."

Let's look at one more in Luke 4:31 that shows Jesus' power over the demonic world. Only God could do that: "And (He) came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath day. And they were astonished at His doctrine, for His Word was with power. And in the synagogue, there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and cried out with a loud voice saying, 'Let us alone. What do we have to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are, the holy one of God' (a sign of deity). And Jesus rebuked him, saying, 'Hold your peace, and come out of him.' And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst, he came out of him, and did not hurt him. And they were all amazed, and spoke among themselves saying, 'What a word is this? For with authority and power, He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.'" Indeed, that is exactly what He did. He had the authority to command the spirits, because He was God.

Jesus Christ Forgave Sins

One of the things, as we have seen, that certainly distressed the opponents of Jesus Christ was that he forgave sins. And we've looked at one incident. You have, in Luke 5:18-26, the record of Jesus perceiving the reasoning in their hearts, and their opposition to forgiving sins.

We have been told already in Scripture that these works were done to verify the claims of Jesus Christ. But we have spent time today reading quite a few works of Jesus Christ directly from Scripture, which demonstrate clearly, to an unprejudiced mind, His deity. And we haven't covered them all. We've covered quite a few. But I want to remind you that the Bible is an incomplete book relative to works demonstrating the deity of Jesus Christ. We are told this at the end of the gospel of John in John 20:30, where John says, "And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." Son of God is the term for deity: "And that, believing, you he might have life through His name.

John said, "I have not written nearly all of the things that Jesus did that demonstrated His deity. I've just taken sample cases," and we have run through some of those today. Now, unless you are just absolutely spiritually dull, you cannot help but realize that this man, Jesus of Nazareth, while human, was indeed undiminished deity.

Then John closes his gospels. The last verse, John 21:25, is making a point of that once more, when John says, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they should be written, every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written," meaning that every day of those three-and-a-half years of His ministry, Jesus Christ, was doing what we have looked at in terms of few samples. So, you do wonder indeed, when you look at Jesus Christ, and you realize that here He stood before these people, doing the things that only God could do, and yet they rejected His claims to be the Son of God. And, in fact, those who lived in that day performed what is called the unforgivable sin; that is, they attributed the works of deity, which he was performing, as the Spirit of God empowered Him, to Satan. And only they who lived in that day are capable of the unforgivable sin – that they could see these evidences, such as we've read today, and attribute them to . . . the devil. For that, they were immediately doomed for all eternity to hell.

Jesus Christ Possesses the Attributes of Deity

A few more things we may add in closing. We will not take the time to read these Scriptures, but you may take them on your own (in order to stress) that Jesus Christ possesses the attributes of deity. We're told that he is eternal life (John 8:58). We are told that He is holiness. You know that the two elements that make up holiness are absolute righteousness and perfect justice. Hebrews 7:26 tells us that he possesses the holiness of God. 1 John 3:16 tells us that he possesses the love of God. Hebrews 13:8 tells us that he is immutable. He never changes. That's only true of God. Luke 5:1-8 and Matthew 17:27 tell us that He has omniscience. Matthew 18:20 tells us that He has omnipresence. Philippians 3:21 tells us that He has omnipotence. John 14:6 tells us that He has veracity (absolute truth). And John 10:17-18 tells us that He is sovereign. All those things are true only of God.

Jesus Christ Accepted Worship

We must recognize that the Lord Jesus Christ, in contrast to what the liberal theologians and the liberal preachers tell us today, did accept worship, and worship only goes to God. Matthew 14:33 is an example of that: "But they that were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "Of a truth, You are the Son of God." And the Scripture does not indicate that Jesus rebuked them and said, "No, don't worship Me because I'm not the Son of God." But if He is the Son of God, then He should be worshiped. As we shall find later, in the book of Revelation, John sometimes became so awed by what an angel was showing him that he fell down he worshiped the angel. And the angel reached over and said, "Don't do that, John. I'm not God. You must not worship me. I am a creature made by God. Worship only God.

Another example is in Matthew 28:9-10: "And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, 'All hail.' And they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped him." This is after his resurrection: "Then said Jesus unto them, 'Be not afraid. Go tell your brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see Me." They held Him by the feet; they worshiped Him; and, Jesus did not rebuke them.

Jesus Christ was Called "Jehovah"

Furthermore, the Lord Jesus Christ is given the highest name of deity. He is called "Jehovah." In Jeremiah 23:5-6, referring to Jesus Christ in the future, He is called Jehovah. In Isaiah 40:3, looking into the future, concerning the Messiah Savior, He is called Jehovah. And the title "Son of God" in itself declares the deity of Jesus Christ. We have seen that several times. We have that in Matthew 3:16-17, Luke 1:32-35, and Luke 4:41.

To sum it all up, Colossians 2:9 puts it very beautifully. Jesus Christ possesses the fullness of the Godhead. He is undiminished deity. Therefore, it says, "For in Him (Jesus Christ) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." In Him dwells everything that is divine, but in human form. That beautiful Scripture sums it all up.

We close with Hebrews 1:3, which reiterates this same point that He possesses the fullness of deity: "Who (referring to Jesus Christ), being the brightness of His glory (God's glory), and the express image of His person (God's person), and upholding all things by the Word of His power (the omnipotence of His Word, because He is God), when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." Whatever the unbeliever says, it is very clear from the Word of God that the Lord Jesus Christ was undiminished deity.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1977

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