Great Verses on the Deity of Christ

Russell Brewer

 

The New Testament uses terms, ideas, and allusions that were exclusively for YHWH, the LORD:

Please note that "LORD", and "YHWH", and "Jehovah" are all the same word in the Hebrew text.

 

God promised that He would come in the form of His Messiah in Isaiah 43:10

Isaiah 43:10 “‘You are My witnesses,’ declares the LORD,

And My servant whom I have chosen,

So that you may know and believe Me

And understand that I am He.”

 

Job looked forward to the day that the God, the Messiah, would stand upon the Earth in John 19:25-26:

Job 19:25-26 “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,

And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.

Even after my skin is destroyed,

Yet from my flesh I shall see God.”

 

In the Old Testament, the prophet Zechariah says that they will look upon YHWH whom they have pieced, yet that was done to Jesus.

Zechariah 12:1 --1 The burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. Thus declares the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him:

 

A few verses later, YWHW still speaks:

Zechariah 12:10 --10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

 

But in the New Testament, we of course know that it was Jesus who was crucified. The Jews themselves understood that this was a fulfillment of Zech 12:10:

 

John 19:34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. ³⁵ And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. ³⁶ For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.” ³⁷ And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.

 

In the Old Testament, YHWH was the only person who could give life and take it, yet in the New Testament this is said of Jesus:

Deuteronomy 32:39 “See now that I am He, and there is no god besides Me; It is I who put to death and gives life. I have wounded and it is I who heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.”

 

Even though Deuteronomy 32:39 says that only YHWH can give life, Jesus says that He too can give life: John 5:21 “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.”

 

Just as in Deuteronomy 32:39 YHWH secures those who are in His hand, so also Jesus uses the same imagery of protection for those who are in His hand: John 10:28 “and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” 

 

 

In the Old Testament we are told that the LORD will bring New Covenant to the people. Certainly, the LORD had brought other covenants to the people himself. Consider the following:

Gen 17:1-2 "I am the Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly."

 

Thus God said through Jeremiah and Ezekiel:

 

Jer 31:31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah

 

Ezek 34:25  “I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.

 

Notice that in the New Testament who actually brings the covenant:

Luke 22:19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying,  “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” ²⁰ Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying,  “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.

 

 

In Isaiah 45:23, YHWH declares that every knee will bow to Him and every tongue will swear allegiance to Him, but the New Testament applies this to Jesus (Note the Greek of the NT and the LXX/Septuagint is clearly a running quote usually using the same vocabulary, grammar, and word order—except that Paul clearly modifies Isaiah 45:23 to point to Jesus):

Is 45:23 “To Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.”

 

Phil 2:10 Phil 2:10-11 “…at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Chris is Lord…”

 

Neither God the Father or Jesus ever change:

Ps 102:27 “But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end.”

Mal 3:6 “For I the Lord do not change.”

Hebrews 13:7 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

 

Is 40:10-11 Predicts that YHWH the chief shepherd will come with a reward. Yet according to 1 Peter 5:4 Christ our Chief Shepherd will appear:

1 Peter 5:4and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.”

 

Yet in the Old Testament, they were awaiting YHWH to bring their reward:

Isaiah 40:10-11 --10 Behold, the Lord God will come with might, With His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him And His recompense before Him. 11 Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.

 

1 Peter 5:4 --4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

 

 

In the Old Testament, YHWH is called the Good Shepherd in Ezek 34

Ezek 34:11 ‘For thus says the Lord God: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. ¹² As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.

 

A sin is an offense against God. Only a the person who is offended can offer forgiveness to another, yet Christ forgave sins by his own authority. Thus if only God could forgive sins because sins are against God, then Christ is God:

Luke 5:20-21 --20 Seeing their faith, He said, “ Friend , your sins are forgiven you.” 21 The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”

 

 

In Ezekial 34:22, the LORD says that He will judge the between the sheep:

Ezek 34.17 “And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats.”

 

Ezekiel 34:22 --22 therefore, I will deliver My flock, and they will no longer be a prey; and I will judge between one sheep and another.

 

Yet Christ alludes to this very same incident but says that it is He that will do it:

Matthew 25:31-32 --31 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory , and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne . 32 “ All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another , as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats

 

 

James encourages to endure until the "coming of the Lord" which can only mean Jesus, but then in verse 10 he cites the prophet's own example who "spoke in the name of the Lord." Since the prophets spoke in the name of YHWH, and they are to await the coming of the Lord, it is such that Jesus was YHWH in the Old Testament speaking through the prophets.

James 5:7 --7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.

 

In Zechariah 14:9 it is said that YHWH shall be king over all the Earth

Zechariah 14:9 --9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one.

 

Yet Christ is spoken of as the King over all the earth:

Revelation 11:15 --15 Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”

 

Both Jesus and YHWH use the same "I am the first and the Last" terminology of themselves:

Is 44:6     “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,

                And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:

                ‘I am the First and I am the Last;

                Besides Me there is no God.

 

Rev 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

 

Rev 22;13  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”

 

 Christ is the one who sent the OT prophets

Matt 23:34  I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, ³⁵ that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

 

Quotes from OT speaking of God are ascribed to Christ

Hebrews 1:10 --10 And, “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of Your hands;

 

We are the sheep of YHWH  (Ps 95:7) and we are Christ’s sheep (John 10:11-17)

Psalm 95:7 --7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice,

 

John 10:11-17 --11 “ I am the good shepherd ; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep . 12 “He who is a hired hand , and not a shepherd , who is not the owner of the sheep , sees the wolf coming , and leaves the sheep and flees , and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 “ He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep . 14 “ I am the good shepherd , and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father ; and I lay down My life for the sheep . 16 “I have other sheep , which are not of this fold ; I must bring them also , and they will hear My voice ; and they will become one flock with one shepherd . 17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again .

 

The Old Testament promises that we shall know He is YHWH when He opens the Jew's graves:

Ezekiel 37:13 --13 “Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people.

 

Matthew 27:51-52 --51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;

 

Total acts of creation are applied to both God and Jesus:

Speaking of Jesus, John 1:3 says, "All things were made though Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made."

 

Col 1:15-17 "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things and in Him all things consist."

 

Heb 3:4 says that God created everything, "For every house is built by someone, but he who built all things is God."

 

Jesus does the same things that God does:

John 5:19 “…for whatever the Father does, these things he Son also does in like manner.”

 

In the Old Testament believers are commanded to fear God, yet in the New Testament believers are commanded to fear Christ.

Psalm 33:8 says, “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.”

 

Ephesians 5:21 says, “Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.”

 

People in the New Testament understood that Jesus was God:

Mary calls her savior “God”

Luke 1:47 --47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

 

The people say to themselves “God has visited His people” Luke 7:16

Luke 7:16 --16 Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited His people!”

 

Son of an has authority to forgive sins Mark 2:10

Mark 2:10 --10 “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins ”—He said to the paralytic,

 

Throughout the book of Acts, healings are interchangeably attributed to Christ and God

Acts 3:8-10 --8 With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God; 10 and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Acts 9:34 --34 Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; get up and make your bed.” Immediately he got up.

 

Acts 15:12 --12 All the people kept silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

 

God purchased the church with His own blood

Acts 20:28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

 

Thomas acknowledges that Jesus is God

John 20:28 --28 Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

 

Jude calls both God and Jesus Lord in Jude 4,5,14,17, 21,*25

Jude 4 --4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Jude 5 --5 Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.

Jude 14 --14 It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones,

Jude 17 --17 But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Jude 21 --21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.

Jude 25 --25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

 

Jesus is called Immanuel meaning God with us Matt 1:23

Matthew 1:23 --23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”

 

Mary calls her God her Savior (Luke 1:47).

 

Luke uses tou kuriou to describe the temple of the LORD (1:9) and the Angel of the LORD (aggelo" tou kuriou) (1:11). Mary is called the Mother of the kuriou (1:43). May's prayer is that she may magnify the LORD (kurio"). John the Baptist was to go before the kurio" to prepare His way (1:76).

 

 

Certain aspects of Jesus can only be true if he is God:

Peter will not let anyone worship him because he is only a man (Acts 10:26) yet Christ let people worship him. (Matt 2:11; 8:2; 9:18; 14:33; 15:25; 28:9)

Acts 10:26 --26 But Peter raised him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am just a man.”

Matthew 2:11 --11 After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Matthew 8:2 --2 And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

Matthew 9:18 --18 While He was saying these things to them, a synagogue official came and bowed down before Him, and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.”

Matthew 14:33 --33 And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!”

Matthew 15:25 --25 But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”

Matthew 28:9 --9 And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.

 

Jesus can do the same things as God

John 5:19 --19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “ Truly , truly , I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself , unless it is something He sees the Father doing ; for whatever the Father does , these things the Son also does in like manner .

 

They should honor Jesus is the same way they honor God

John 5:23 --23 so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father . He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

 

Jesus was with God before (i.e. eternity past)

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

 

John 6: 62 “What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?”

 

Jesus made Himself equal to God

John 10:33 --33 The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.”

 

Seeing Jesus is seeing God

John 12:45 --45 “ He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.

 

Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Him

John 14:9-11 --9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip ? He who has seen Me has seen the Father ; how can you say , ‘ Show us the Father ’? 10 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father , and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative , but the Father abiding in Me does His works . 11 “ Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves .

 

John 14:20 --20 “ In that day you will know that I am in My Father , and you in Me, and I in you.

 

Christ says the He is the Alpha and Omega and to those who overcome, he shall be their God

Revelation 21:6-7 --6 Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. 7 “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.

 

Christ and God are One

John 17:22 --22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one.

 

Christ is the image of God

2 Cor 4:4  the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

 

Christ, as God, has a throne forever Heb 1:8

Hebrews 1:8 But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.

 

The builder of all things is God Heb 3:4

Hebrews 3:4 --4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.

 

God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus 1 Thess 4:14

1 Thessalonians 4:14 --14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.

 

Paul says in 1 Tim 6:14 –16 says that Christ alone posses immorality, yet we also know that God possess immorality too. If only Christ possesses immortality, and God is immortal, again it is because Christ is God: 

1 Timothy 6:14-16 --14 that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

 

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

 

Jesus is the true God of Eternal life

1 John 5:20 --20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

 

1 Cor 10:9 In the Greek here it indicates that Jews in the wilderness tempted Christ, not YHWH

1 Corinthians 10:9 --9 Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents.

 

 

POWER VERSES

 

John 1:1 --1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

 

1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; ans we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. THis is the true God and eternal life.

Col 2:9 "For in Him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form."

 

Titus 2:13 --13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus

 

2 Peter 1:1 --1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:

 

1 Timothy 3:16 --16 By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.

 

2 Corinthians 5:19 --19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

 

 Luke 7:16 --16 Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited His people!”

 

1 Tim 4:10 – "For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially believers."

 

Verses that add fuel to the fire

Christ Himself stood in the midst of the throne

Revelation 5:6 --6 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.

 

Paul proclaimed Christ as God

Acts 17:18 --18 And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, “What would this idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

 

Peter declares that he preaches by the Authority of Christ Acts 4:10

Acts 4:10 --10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health.

 

If Christ wasn’t God, what did the taunting elders thing he could do as a man to save himself on the cross? Matt 27:43 They link his power to being the Son of God

Matthew 27:43 --43 “He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if He delights in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”

 

Peter calls Jesus the Holy One Acts 3:14

Acts 3:14 --14 “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.”

 

It was seem that only God should sit upon the throne in the millennial kingdom, but notice that the lamb is on the throne throughout Revelation 22:4

 

He is the Alpha and Omega: Rev 22:13 "I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last"