THE DEITY OF CHRIST!
By C. O. Griggs
The Bible contains many proofs of the Deity of Jesus of Nazareth. This Jesus who grew up to manhood at Nazareth was conceived by incarnation in the virgin Mary and was born, in an altogether natural manner, at Bethlehem, the city of His father, King David. This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14: "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel." Jesus' humanity came from His mother, Mary, who was a direct descendant of David through his son Nathan.
As strange as it may appear to us, no one ever later called Jesus Immanuel in the Bible. The Hebrew word is not a proper title but a characterization. A study of the word Immanuel in the Hebrew dictionary yields the following: Im-manu-el, where "1m" means complete identity; "manu" means almighty; and "el" means God (I Almighty God).
"Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us" (Matthew 1 :23).
The word "EI" is in the very first verse of our Bible:
"In the beginning God .... " This is Elohim, the Creator, of Whom John tells us "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made" (John 1:3). Only infinite God could create anything. Jesus of Nazareth created time, space and matter and He did this from His own energy, without materials. God is the only source of the material universe-all of its governing laws and all spirit beings.
Our Almighty God is presented to us in our Bible as He appeared to Abram, by the name El Shaddai (Genesis 17:1). As El (God) He is the Almighty, and as Shaddai He is the nourisher, sustainer, comforter; and He is the cause of continuity in His universe. It was the El Shaddai that changed Abram's name to Abraham; changed Sarai's name to Sarah; and supernaturally reversed the biological impotency of Abraham and Sarah.
God's whole plan for man's redemption demanded His intervention in this natural condition. Indeed, it seems that God waited until Abraham and Sarah were too old, for His own good reasons. Undoubtedly God foreknew and foreordained the entire line of descent from Adam to Jesus of Nazareth. The Lord appeared to Abraham over a period of twenty five years and gave to him specific promises concerning a land and a seed. (See Genesis 12:7; 13:15; 15:5; 17:2; and 21:1-3).
When Abraham was one hundred years old and Sarah was ninety, Isaac was born. This was a miracle birth and Isaac was a miracle child. Isaac's birth was both natural and supernatural; it would not have occurred without Divine intervention. Here are God's words:
"And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as He had spoken." "For Sarah conceived, and bore a son ... " (Genesis 21:1,2).
From the time that God clothed Adam and his wife with coats of blood-bought skins (Genesis 3:20,21) until the price of man's redemption was paid by the shedding of the priceless blood of Jesus of Nazareth, (Son of Man, and Son of God) He, the preincarnate Christ, intervened many times in the affairs of mankind. At certain key points in the revelation of the coming of Israel's Messiah and of the plan of redemption, God's intent is prefaced by use of some form of the word visit.
The physical preservation and biological integrity of Abraham's family was essential to God's plans and purposes. This was specially true of the tribe of Judah, for it was from his family that their kings and their Messiah came.
"And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die; and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence" (Genesis 50:24,25).
Surely Joseph's words here are a classic demonstration of his faith in God's promises to his progenitors, to himself, and to his descendants, and on until Christ rules in that land personally. Now, Joseph tells us that God's promises were to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These words were inspired by God, spoken by Joseph, and written by Moses by Divine direction. But look at part A of verse twenty five; it is not from Joseph but from Moses, and he was inspired to use Jacob's new name, Israel. This new name occurs 2542 times in our English Bible. Israel translates into English: "He will rule as God."
Jacob-Israel was the father of twelve sons, who became the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. These twelve tribes eventually became the political entity known to history as the nation Israel.
It is a historical fact that Israel has never, for any extended period, "ruled as God." When God's predetermined time comes He will rule the world as God, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, because He is and has ever been the Almighty God.
Genesis 32:24-32 records the experience of Jacob wrestling all night with a man whom he knew to be more than a man-a theophany. Abraham, Lot and Joshua were visited by this same "Man." Jacob that night contended with "The Angel of the Lord" and prevailed. He won, and he won big. Jacob was never the same after that night. Physically, Jacob limped for the rest of his life; 'spiritually, as Israel, he soared. The preincarnate Christ changed Jacob's name because He changed Jacob, the "heel catcher and supplanter," to Israel as seen here:
"And He (God) said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed" (Genesis 32:28).
The words "called no more Jacob" should have been followed by only. This change is very important, for Jacob occurs 260 times after Genesis 32:28, and in the possessive form 19 times. Hebrews 11:21 records the last mention of "Jacob."
"By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph, and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff" (Hebrews 11:21).
Jacob died in possession of two things, his old nature with its infirmities, and his true faith in God who changed him to Israel. True faith is obedience to God and the truest form of worship. Jacob, with his old nature and his infirmed body, died. He shall be resurrected with a perfect body and perfect nature because he believed God. The reason God could give this incomparable blessing to wholly undeserving Jacob is seen in the last use of the word "Jacob's."
"Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat by the well; and it was about the sixth hour" (John 4:6).
This verse is from one of the most beautiful and significant stories of the Bible (read it, John 4:5-26). Jacob left his twelve sons in possession of God's promises, but before he died he gave a parcel of land and a well to his son Joseph. Why to Joseph only? Joseph and his experiences were in m~ny ways typical of Jesus' life on earth. "Joseph" means "to act a part." Joseph's brothers (Benjamin excepted) hated him and in their hearts murdered him when they put him in a dry well. Jesus' brothers likewise murdered Him in their hearts. The proof of the death of Jesus is His poured out blood and His burial in a tomb. Hatred for Joseph and Jesus alike was without a cause.
Jacob's well was a source of life-giving water. At the time Jesus sat by that well and met the woman of Samaria, it had been supplying life sustaining water for eighteen centuries. But it never gave to anyone the "living water" which Jesus offered her.
"But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be In him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14).
God alone, in all the universe, could give everlasting life to anyone. Jesus of Nazareth was God, the only source of life! Jacob gave the well, the source of life, to Joseph as if he had only one son. God gave mankind His only Son, Himself, Life!
From a thorough study of this subject throughout the Bible, it becomes apparent that God's visits are not only to bless but also, many times, to chastise and even to curse.
Exodus 13: 19-Moses led some two million five hundred thousand men, women and children with all their animals, out of Egypt. Now imagine leading this worldclass menagerie, pursued by a hostile army on a detour to a cemetery to dig up two hundred year old bones. Joseph said that God would visit his descendants. Moses knew that their deliverance from the powers of darkness and out of the land of Egypt was due entirely to God's visitation. This is no less than a graphic view of God's rescue of.a person from his slavery to sin; from the blinding influences of this present satanic world system, and God's ultimate translation and transportation into His own presence. This God is Jesus of Nazareth, Israel's Messiah, the Christ for all mankind.
Exodus 32:34-It seems that a large majority of the Israelites had participated in the making and worship of the golden calf "which Aaron made." Moses interceded with God on their behalf. God gave Moses two very important revelations at that time:
" ... Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him willi blot out of My book .... when I visit I will visit their sin upon them" (Exodus 32:33,34).
The first Scripture makes it very clear that God cannot tolerate any sin and must punish all offenders. If the second Scripture is an absolute decree without recourse, then every member of Adam's race is forever doomed. But such is not the case! This decree is restated in Ezekiel 18:20: "The soul (Lit. person) that sinneth, it shall die." This decree is most certainly an irrevocable law but God has provided a recourse for man. We simply must understand that this law is neither capricious nor arbitrary. It is an expression of the holiness, righteousness and justice of infinite God. This law is not, in a primary sense, a warning not to sin. The Man, in "what is man", is from a Hebrew root meaning frail, feeble, melancholy, desperately wicked, incurable, sick and woeful. Jeremiah 17:9 says offallen man, "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." But this cannot be descriptive of "man" in David's second question, for there the Hebrew word is Adam. The Apostle Paul tells us that "the second Man is the Lord from Heaven" (See I Corinthians 15:45-47).
"The first man, Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam ... A quickening Spirit" (Verse 45).
Now we have this: The first man is the first Adam; the second man is the last Adam. He is the last in the sense that there shall never be another. And He is the last Adam in the sense of federal headship, and this position He holds by right of redemption. The last Adam is the uncreated Creator of the first Adam.
"Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat by the well; and It was about the sixth hour" (John 4:6).
This verse is from one of the most beautiful and significant stories of the Bible (read it, John 4:5-26). Jacob left his twelve sons in possession of God's promises, but before he died he gave a parcel ofland and a well to his son Joseph. Why to Joseph only? Joseph and his experiences were in many ways typical of Jesus' life on earth. "Joseph" means "to 'act a part:' Joseph's brothers (Benjamin excepted) hated him and in their hearts murdered him when they put him in a dry well. Jesus' brothers likewise murdered Him in their hearts. The proof of the death of Jesus is His poured out blood and His burial in a tomb. Hatred for Joseph and Jesus alike was without a cause.
Jacob's well was a source oflife-giving water. At the time Jesus sat by that well and met the woman of Samaria, it had been supplying life-sustaining water for eighteen centuries. But it never gave to anyone the "living water" which Jesus offered her.
"But whosoever drlnketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14).
God alone, in all the universe, could give everlasting life to anyone. Jesus of Nazareth was God, the only source of life! Jacob gave the well, the source of life, to Joseph as if he had only one son. God gave mankind His only Son, Himself, Life!
From a thorough study of this subject throughout the Bible, it becomes apparent that God's visits are not only to bless but also, many times, to chastise and even to curse.
Exodus 13:19-Moses led some two million five hundred thousand men, women and children with all their animals, out of Egypt. Now imagine leading this world class menagerie, pursued by a hostile army on a detour to a cemetery to dig up two hundred year old bones. Joseph said that God would visit his descendants. Moses knew that their deliverance from the powers of darkness and out of the land of Egypt was due entirely to God's visitation. This is no less than a graphic view of God's rescue of a person from his slavery to sin; from the blinding influences of this present satanic world system, and God's ultimate translation and transportation into His own presence. This God is Jesus of Nazareth, Israel's Messiah, the Christ for all mankind.
Exodus 32:34-1t seems that a large majority of the Israelites had participated in the making and worship of the golden calf "which Aaron made." Moses interceded with God on their behalf. God gave Moses two very important revelations at that time:
••... Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book .... when I visit I will visit their sin upon them" (Exodus 32:33,34).
The first Scripture makes it very clear that God cannot tolerate any sin and must punish all offenders. If the second Scripture is an absolute decree without recourse, then every member of Adam's race is forever doomed. But such is not the case! This decree is restated in Ezekiel 18:20: "The soul (Lit. person) that sinneth, it shall die." This decree is most certainly an irrevocable law but God has provided a recourse for man. We simply must understand that this law is neither capricious nor arbitrary. It is an expression of the holiness, righteousness and justice of infinite God. This law is not, in a primary sense, a warning not to sin. The primary warning was given to Adam by his Creator, "Thou shall not," but he did. The relationship of all mankind to Adam was so complete that this curse of death came upon all his descendants. This means that each and every person is born without a proper relationship to God because of their relationship to Adam.
"Wherefore, as by one man sin (the condition) entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, lor that all have sinned (in Adam)" (Romans 5:12).
As a result of ou~ relationship to Adam we are sinners. "For all have sinned, and come short 01 the glory 01 God (His glorious standard, Christ)" (Romans 3:23).
Now we have seen that man must lose his relationship to Adam and gain a relationship to another Adam, the last Adam, Christ. Dear reader, please understand that to accomplish this task of extracting any member of Adam's race out of his lost condition and translating him into an eternal relationship with Himself is the most difficult demand ever made of the Almighty God. The following Scripture contains proof ofthe means and person God used to accomplish this translation
"When I consider thy heavens, the work 01 thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, What is man, that thou art mindful 01 him? And the Son of Man, that thou visitesl him?" (Psalms 8:3,4).
The term "Son of Man" occurs about ninety times in the New Testament. "Son" in this term is from the Greek "Huios" which means just that--a son. But the term as a whole with "Son" capitalized is always and only, applied to our Lord and Saviour. It was as "Son of Man" that He came down from Heaven, and it was as "Son of Man" that He ascended up into Heaven.
Man, in "what is man", is from a Hebrew root meaning frail, feeble, melancholy, desperately wicked, incur. able, sick and woeful. Jeremiah 17:9 says offallen man, "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." But this cannot be descriptive of "man" in David's second question, for there the Hebrew word is Adam. The Apostle Paul tells us that "the second Man is the Lord from Heaven" (See I Corinthians 15:45-47).
"The fIrsl man, Adam was made a living soul: The lasl Adam ••. A quickening Spirit" (Verse 45).
Now we have this: The first man is the first Adam; the second man is the last Adam. He is the last in the sense that there shall never be another. And He is the last Adam in the sense of federal headship, and this position He holds by right of redemption. The last Adam is the uncreated Creator of the first Adam.
The second man is the pattern Man of eternity (the prototype) but He became a true member of the human family by a special creative act of God. He did not become man by mundane biological process-He had no human father. The first Adam was a son of God only because he was a direct creation. The last Adam is and always has been God the Son. Only as man did the Son of God have a beginning and this entirely supernatural act of God formed an everlasting union between Himself and mankind in the historical Jesus of Nazareth.
"Thou art my Son: this day have I begotten Thee" (Psalms 2:7).
This does not refer to the birth of Jesus. The word begotten is used in several ways in the English Bible. The Hebrew word translated begotten in this Scripture means "to bring forth." He, our Lord and Saviour, was brought forth out from among the dead. Christ's resurrection is God's proof to mankind and to all beings throughout the universe that the all sufficient death of Christ has accomplished redemption. The debt is paid and it was paid by God, to God. Christ's resurrection is the receipt and it was given by God to God. The facts have been published by God in the Word of God. PSALMS 8:4
What is man? Man is a lost and helpless creature living in a condemned world system which cannot lend help. The world has nothing to offer of value beyond the grave-not even its religion can help. Man's reli. gions are actually harmful, for their function is as a sedative and thus blind him to his need of a Saviour. Man's help must come from a source outside of himself and his environment.
Who is the Son of Man? He is the incarnation of the eternally existent God. Man is not God, God is not man, but a supernatural reality brought man and God into union in the Person of Christ Jesus. And this union of God and man did not, in the least, violate either person or his personality.
What is the Son of Man? He is the ultimate goal to whom the God ordained law and religion led. He is the Seed of the Woman (Genesis 3:15). He is the covenant maker. He is the eternal Word (John 1:1). He is David's Lord. He is the Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon, the Morning Star, the Rock of Ages, the Mighty Fortress, the High Tower, the Hom (Source) of David's Salvation. He was, and is, the way shower, the way maker and "the Way."
"Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (John 14:6).
These words of Jesus, the Son of Man, are preceded by this: "1 and My Father are one" (John 10:30); and because in His humanity He was Son of Adam. And this He was by way of the "Seed of the woman." Beyond this, man's finite mind cannot go.
Because of the identity of Jesus of Nazareth as both infinite God (The Creator of the First Adam) and perfect man, He is the Last Adam. And as such He is the only Being in the universe who could head up the redeemed from the lost and condemned race of the first Adam. The identity of Jesus the Christ is very important. And His identity with mankind is supremely important to God and to us mortals.
God, by incarnation, identified Himself by becoming one of us. And by every facet of His life on earth He became increasingly more identified with mankind. The final humiliation was His submission to death on the cross, at the instigation of His own people whom He had come to rescue from certain and eternal doom. In the infinite wisdom of God and motivated by His infinite love, He devised His plan of redemption. The price to be paid was, like God Himself, infinite. He gave Himself for our sins (Galatians 1:4); for me (Galatians 2:20); for the Church (Ephesians 5:25); gave Himself for us (Titus 2:14).
"For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time" (I Timothy 2:5,6).
This Christ Jesus, this one Mediator is mediator because He is the perfect union (oneness) of God and man. Because Christ perfectly identified Himself with man in his lost and sinful condition, He the sinless One could and did accept man's guilt upon Himself. This Christ gave Himself into our condition and position before the just and holy God. The inevitable result was: "Christ died for (on account of) our sins." When any person accepts, by simple faith, this provision which God in Christ made for him so freely, God saves him and identifies Himself with the believer. So complete is the identity of all believers with Christ, that they are repeatedly said to be in Him. There can be no closer union, nor any other secure position.
We are now in a position to understand a previously inexplicable thing in Paul's quotation of Psalms 8:4 in Hebrews 2:6. In the Old Testament, two different Hebrew words were translated as "man" in Psalms 8:4:
The first, "what is man" is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek anthropos, or the common word for man; the second "the Son of Man" is from the Hebrew word "Adam." Paul was inspired to use "anthropos" both instances in his quote of Psalms 8:4. The second usage of the word man in Psalms 8:4 is literally "son of Adam." Some words are best Romans 5:14 tells us that Adam was the figure of Him (Christ) who was to come. Figure is the Greek word tupos. In this sense Christ was the antitype, but He is much more. He is the prototype--the pattern Man of eternity.
Paul used no fewer than seven Greek words which are properly translated man, but he was divinely inspired to use one common word in his quotation of Psalms 8:4. Why? God and man had become one; redemption had been completed by Christ in His substitutionary death; the price had been paid in full; the way to God had been made as free and clear as infinite power, wisdom and love could provide. The results: (1) the resurrection of Christ, whom death could not hold because He, in His death, conquered all death, and (2) eternal life for all who will accept Him and His provision for them. God provided the (all-sufficient) Christ.
"Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (I Corinthians 15:3).
The reason there is perfect accord and harmony in all Scriptures and every facet of the sacrificial religion of Israel with the death of Christ is because of the sinfulness of mankind. This accord within the Scriptures holds true because man's lost condition and his need never changes, and because God has only one plan of redemption which was revealed progressively. God required man's acceptance of, and obedience to, His revealed will at whatever time he may have lived.
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