Jesus' deity

   Jesus is God. This statement is the necessary beginning point in our understanding of the identity and power of Jesus Christ. Jesus is God.

People around us describe Jesus in many ways. Some say that He was a great teacher, a great caregiver, a great man, or even a great revolutionary. Recently I saw a book that described Jesus as a great therapist! While Jesus was a great teacher, caregiver, man, revolutionary, and even the greatest therapist, if we stop with these descriptions we fail to understand who Jesus really is. Jesus was great in many ways, but greatest of all is the fact that Jesus is God.

In John 10.30, Jesus told His critics, “I and the Father are one.” He was claiming to be uniquely related to God the Father, equal to God in every way. We know that this was what Jesus was saying, because His critics attempted to stone Him to death for claiming to be God. This wasn’t the only time that Jesus claimed to be equal with God the Father. He said that to honour Him is to honour the Father (John 5.23), to believe in Him is to believe in the Father (John 12.45), to know Him is to know the Father (John 14.7), to hate Him is to hate the Father (John 15.23), and to receive Him is to receive the Father (Mark 9.37). Clearly, Jesus believed that He was God and made this claim over and over again.

It’s one thing to claim that you’re God. It’s quite another to actually be God, but He backed His claim with His miraculous power. He healed the sick, walked on water, fed the multitudes, and even raised the dead. God the Father would never give such amazing power to someone who falsely claimed to be God. Jesus claimed Himself to be divine, and His miraculous power verified His claim.

Furthermore, because Jesus is God, He rightly accepted expressions of worship. For example, the disciple Thomas fell on his knees before the resurrected Jesus and, according to John 20.28, declared, “My Lord and my God.” Jesus affirmed this declaration of worship, and His resurrection powerfully proved His deity.

In Colossians 1.15-16, the apostle Paul described Jesus as “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation,” and states that Jesus made all created things. Therefore, Jesus could not have been created. He is eternal. He is God.

Because Jesus is God, He is well capable of tackling our greatest needs. Of course, our greatest need is for salvation, the eternal forgiveness of our sins. Jesus met that need by dying on the cross. You can turn to Jesus today for salvation, and you can trust Him with your life. After all, Jesus Christ is God.