Yeshua (Jesus) is GOD!

by Daniel Yahav

From time to time we hear voices which question or even reject completely the divinity of Yeshua (Jesus) our Messiah. Unfortunately, such attacks on the divinity of Yeshua are nothing new. It is an old tactic of the enemy of our souls, to try and crack our faith and insert the seeds of doubt, in order to rob us of God's gift to mankind, the gift of eternal life through Yeshua our saviour. Therefore, it is crucial for us to be alert, to stand on guard against the lies of the enemy, and to hold fast to the whole truth of the Word of God. This question of Jesus being the divine Son of God, (or not), is one of the fundamentals of our faith, and not some unimportant side issue. It is not a matter of being charismatic or non-charismatic, of being more traditional or less traditional, or a matter of one expression or the other. It is an existential question of "to be or not to be", to have eternal life or to lose our life for eternity. It is a matter of building our house of faith on the rock of Yeshua, who is God who came down from heaven and took upon Himself the form of man (Heb. 2:14); or building our house on a fake cardboard "rock", of a Yeshua who is no more than a "good man". Let us remember, that Yeshua was sentenced to death by the Sanhedrin, for His claim to be the Son of God Matt.26:63-66. They understood well, that this was a claim of divinity. Till today, proclaiming His divinity requires our willingness to pay the price of being rejected.

Every true believer, and especially every Jewish believer, needs to answer the question: Am I ready to go outside the camp and join the crucified Yeshua, who was Himself rejected by His own, and was cast outside the camp. Am I ready to bare the shame together with Him?" If we try to be accepted by Judaism, or by any other religious system, by denying the deity of Yeshua (Jesus), we will lose everything! It is better for us to lose our physical life than to lose the life eternal (Luke 12:4-5). This issue is a point of division, on which we cannot, and should not, by any means, compromise (1 Cor.15:1-2, 11:19).

In order for us to have a clear understanding of the word of God on this issue, let's examine several passages:

1) He is God who is the Word . John 1:1-14, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth". It says here very simply, that the word was God, and He was made flesh and dwelt among us. Isn't this statement alone already clear enough?!

2) He is God the creator . In Genesis 1:1 it is clearly written that God created heaven and earth. In the New Testament we read that all of creation was created by Yeshua: Col.1:15-17, "Who is (referring to Yeshua) the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by Him were all things created... all things were created by Him, and for Him". Heb.1:2, "...has in these last days spoken unto usby His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds". Gen.1:25, And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness..." God the Father is speaking here with God the Son, Jesus: "Let Us..."

3) He is the true God and eternal life. 1 John 5:20 , speaking about Yeshua, John said: "... This is the true God, and eternal life".

4) He is one with God the Father. John 10:30, "I and My Father are one".

5) He is God, whom the wise men worshipped. Matt.2:11 "And when they came into the house, they saw the young child with Mary, His mother, and fell down, and worshipped him...".

6) He is God, whom the disciples worshipped. Matt.14:33 "Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped Him, saying, of a truth Thou art the Son of God".

7) He is God, whom many other people worshipped during His ministry on earth. Matt.9:18 , "While He spoke these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped Him, saying...".

8) He is God, whom the four beasts and the twenty four elders and every creature in heaven and on the earth worship. Rev. 5:5-14, "... And when He had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb... Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof:for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood... and every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying, ''Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever", and we already read that Jesus said: "I and My Father are one".

God commanded us to worship Him only. Yeshua allowed people to worship Him from the cradle to His resurrection. Even in heaven, where only God is worshipped, (Rev19:10, 22:8-9), Yeshua and the Father are being worshipped:

If Jesus is not God, and only a mere man, why would he allow people to bow before Him and worship Him?! As He, Himself refused to bow down to Satan and said to him: "Go away from me, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve". If Jesus is not God, then He sinned, God forbid, when He allowed others to bow down before Him.

Further more, we would then have to conclude that the Sanhedrin were right, God forbid, when they sentenced Jesus to death, for His claim to be the Son of God Matt.26:63-66. It seems that even they, the enemies of the Gospel, understood what a number of Messianics today do not understand - that the title of "Son of God", was a declaration of divinity, in the case of Jesus, and the Sanhedrin indeed understood it well. John 10:33-36 , "The Jews answered him, 'It is not for a good work that we are going to stone You but for blasphemy, because You, being a man, make Yourself God'. Their charge against Him was: ' You, being a man, make Yourself God'.

The sowing of doubts, and introducing of the false teaching, that Jesus is not God, is the working of the fierce wolves, from which Paul warned the true followers of Jesus: Acts 20:29-30, "I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock ; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them".

In 2 John 7-11, we have a serious warning to be aware of another party of deceivers who denied another aspect of Yeshua's identity: "For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for , but may win a full reward . Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God . Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son .'' Today we see in the Christian world a move to compromise God's truth for the sake of a false, deceptive, ecumenical unity. We need to be very careful not to fall into this trap and encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ to hold fast to the fundamental truths of our faith. John writes: ''If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works". These false teachings come to deceive us concerning the true identity of Jesus, our Redeemer and Saviour. John calls us to watch ourselves, so that we may not lose what we have worked for, because, everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God: neither the Son, nor the Father! And anyone who does not bring the full teaching of Christ, we should have no fellowship with him, nor even greet him, lest we be found partaking in his wicked works. Yes, this is a point of division, where we should have no unity and no fellowship, but separation, for the sake of the truth.

This is also not a matter of Christian theology or Jewish theology, It is about the identity of the LORD our righteousness, and about the truth of the word of God, as it is written in Jer.23:5-6, "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which He will be called: 'The LORD (YAHWEH) our righteousness", in this passage Yeshua is called (YAHWEH). and inIsa.9:6, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace", and in Isa.7:14, "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanu-El" (which literally means in Hebrew: God with us).

This attack against the truth of the Gospel will not prevail. But the danger is out there, for anyone who is not standing fast on the rock - on the word of God - to be washed away by the waves of deception into eternal darkness. Our responsibility as pastors and teachers is to sound a clear and strong voice in this matter: to lift high the banner of the truth of the Word of God, teaching the flock committed to our care, so that they be well grounded, and so that no winds of deception will be able to deceive them. (Eph 4:14)

And in this way there will be peace in the household of God!