Thousand Oaks Baptist Church
Jesus Is Jehovah
JESUS IS JEHOVAH - CHAPTER FIVE
JESUS CHRIST EXERCISES THE PREROGATIVES OF DEITY
One of the proofs that Jesus Christ is the Almighty God and Jehovah is that He exercises the prerogatives of and exhibits the attributes of Deity. In other words, He does what only Jehovah can do and is what only Jehovah can be. And so, in this chapter we will first see how Jesus Christ exercises the prerogatives or privileges of Deity. And then in the next chapter we will examine how He exhibits the attributes or characteristic qualities of Deity.
Jehovah God exercises certain prerogatives or privileges or works, simply because He is God. Among these prerogatives are creation, maintenance of creation (which we call preservation), caring for His creation (which we call providence), the salvation of the lost, judging unrepentant sinners, raising the dead, and receiving honor and worship.
First among these prerogatives, or works, is creation. Exodus 20:11 states the case for us:
"For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."
Of course, Jehovah is the One Who made heaven and earth, and this is a direct reference back to Genesis 1:1, which says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Of course, here the Hebrew says that Elohiym (the plural of "God") created heaven and earth. This in itself is an unmistakable requirement for the one God to exist in more than one Person.
But coming back to Exodus 20:11, we see the necessity for Jehovah alone to be the only Creator. Jehovah created the entire universe and everything in it. The "Big Bang" didn't create it; the supposed process of evolution didn't develop it; Jehovah created all of it, fully developed and fully functioning.
But then we come to the New Testament; specifically, we come to John 1:3, Colossians 1:16, and Hebrews 3:3-4.
John 1:3 - "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."
Col. 1:16 - "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him..."
Heb. 3:3,4 - "For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God."
Now let's look very carefully at these verses. John 1:3 says that all things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. Who is the Him in this verse? It is the One Who is called the Word in verses 1 and 14. And the person Who is called the Word is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And verse 3 says that He made - or created - all things.
Let me give you another logical syllogism - another truth statement. If A=C and B=C, the A=B.
If Jehovah created all things and Jesus created all things, then Jesus and Jehovah created all things. And our logical syllogism requires that Jesus equals Jehovah.
Now Col. 1:16 says virtually the same thing, except that the Apostle Paul explains for us what the "all things" includes. They include everything in the heavens, everything on earth, visible things, invisible things, earthly powers, heavenly powers, and frankly just everything. And then Paul states by infallible and inerrant inspiration of the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ is the One Who created them all - and He did it for His own pleasure, just as Rev. 4:11 says. This makes Jesus Christ the Creator, and since He is the Creator, He is by necessity also Jehovah.
And then the writer of Hebrews clearly infers that Jesus is the creator in Hebrews 3:3-4, which I’ll let you find and read for yourself.
And so the first prerogative of Deity is Creation. Even the short comparison of the Old and New Testament verses relating to the subject show that only Jehovah can create. The Lord Jesus Christ exercised this prerogative; therefore, He must be considered to be Jehovah, just as much as God the Father.
The second of the prerogatives of Deity is Preservation. What is God's preservation? Preservation is that continuous work of God by which He maintains in existence everything that He has created, along with the properties and powers with which He has endowed them. God created the universe, and God also preserves or maintains or upholds that which He has created.
Three Old Testament passages will serve to portray Jehovah as the preserver of the universe. The first is Nehemiah 9:6...
"Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee."
Here we have the truth that Jehovah created all things, and the twin truth that Jehovah has ever since preserved all things.
The second Old Testament passage relating to God's preservation is Psalm 36:6...
"Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast."
Here the truth God's preservation of mankind and the animals is again displayed for us. [And by the way, just as God for His own reasons suspends His preservation and allows certain nations and groups of people to die, so also He for His own reasons allows certain species and sub-species of animals and plants to become extinct. We’ll see this in the third Old Testament passage below.]
And the third Old Testament passage relating to God's preservation is Psalm 104:29-30...
"Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth."
And, as the rest of the Psalm shows, the they of these verses are the created works of God's hands, human, animal, vegetable, and otherwise.
And then we turn to the New Testament passages that teach that the Lord Jesus Christ is the preserver or upholder of all things. And I think three of the many passages in the New Testament will be sufficient for our purpose.
The first New Testament passage relating to Christ's preserving work is Acts 17:28a...
"For in him we live, and move, and have our being..."
In this passage, beginning with verse 16 and ending with verse 32, Paul is preaching to the people in Athens, and he tells the Athenians how he had seen their shrine to the Unknown God, and now he was going to tell them who this God really is (v. 23). In verses 24-30, Paul said that this God is the Creator of everything in the universe, that this God directs the affairs of men, that we are created in His image, and that we live and move and have continuance of our existence only in Him. This, by definition, is God preserving what He has created.
We might also point out that we have already shown that Jesus Christ is the Creator, and so this unknown God of the Athenians is Jesus Christ, Who is also the One in whom we live and move and have our being.
But then we move on to the second New Testament verse relating to Christ's preserving work: Colossians 1:17.
"And he is before all things, and by him all things consist."
Now, verses 12-19 again show us that Paul is talking about Jesus Christ. Starting in verses 12 and 13, in God's Son we have redemption and forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, He created all things for Himself, His position of preeminence is above all else, and He causes everything to be preserved or held together. Again we have the Lord Jesus Christ as both Creator and Preserver of all things.
And then we move on to Hebrews 1:1-3:
"[1] God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, [2] Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; [3] Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high..."
It's really obvious, isn't it? Here again we find Jesus Christ making the universe and then upholding the universe by the word of His power. I want you to notice that the writer of Hebrews assumes that Jesus Christ pre-existed as God the Son when He created the universe. Notice too, that God the Son was upholding all things by the word of His power before, during, and ever since He came to earth to die for us on the Cross. The work of preserving the universe and everything in it is a continuing work, and Jesus Christ has continued to do it since He created it.
What have we discovered so far? We have discovered in the Old Testament that Jehovah preserves or upholds His creation. We have also discovered in the New Testament that it is the Person we know as Jesus Christ Who preserves or upholds His creation. The work of preservation does not belong to anyone or anything but Jehovah God. Therefore, Jesus Christ is Jehovah, just the same way that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are Jehovah. Three Persons, one God, whose combined Name is Jehovah.
But let's move on. The third of the prerogatives of deity is providence. What is God's providence? God's providence covers at least two general areas: In the first area, God's providence is His general care for and government and control over everything in the universe that He has created and that He upholds.
How broad is God's providential care? He takes care of the universe as a whole (Psa. 103:19; Dan. 4:35; Eph. 1:11). He takes care of the physical planet Earth (Job 37:5, 10; Psa. 104:14; 135:6, 7; Mat. 5:45; 6:30). He takes care of the plants and the animals (Psa. 104:21, 28; Mat. 6:26; 10:29). He exercises control over the affairs of the nations (Job 12:23; Psa. 22:28; 66:7; Acts 17:26). He controls man's birth, man's lot in life, and the day of man's death (eg., Psa. 139:16). He has control over the outward successes and failures of men's lives (Psa. 75:6, 7; Lk. 1:52). He controls everything that we carelessly consider to be accidental or insignificant (Prov. 16:33; Mat. 10:30). He protects the righteous (Psa. 4:8; 121:3; Rom. 8:28 [This is the goal of providence]). He supplies for the needs and godly desires of His people (Gen. 22:8, 14; Deut. 8:3; Phil. 4:19). He arranges for the answers to our prayers (Mat. 6:8). And He also arranges for the ultimate exposure and punishment of the wicked (Psa. 7:12, 13; 11:6).
Then there is a second area of God's providence. In the first, God's government and control extend over everything in general. But in the second, God's government extends also to the free actions of men. His providence extends to men's free acts in general (Exo. 12:36; Prov. 16:1; 19:21; 20:24; 21:1; Jer. 10:23; Phil. 2;13; Eph. 2:10; Jas. 4:13-15), and also to the sinful acts of men (eg., 2 Thes. 2:11, 12).
With regard to the evil acts of men, God's providence is described in the Bible as being of four types: Preventive (Gen. 20:6Psa. 19:13), permissive (eg., Baalam; Psa. 18:12, 13; Acts 14:16; Rom. 1:24, 28), overruling (Gen. 5:20; Psa. 76:10; Acts 4:27, 28), and limiting (Job 1:12; 2:6; 1 Cor. 10:13; 2 Thes. 2:7). And perhaps we should also notice that with regard to the evil acts of men, God arranges everything so that His purposes are accomplished without Him ever entering into the decision or the act of the responsible agent of evil.
With regard to degrees of God's providential government, God governs all things equally. But it is also evident that God esteems the sons and daughters of Adam of more importance than a flower or a bird or the entire earth, for that matter. And within the children of Adam, the Bible clearly shows that God has a special care for His earthly people Israel, and another special care for Christians - New Testament believers, who are His heavenly people. And God's special care for His people is usually called special providence. In one way or another, Jehovah controls all things through what we call divine providence.
Well, now you have a short exposition of God's providence. Obviously this is something that only Jehovah God can do. And the question is, is the Lord Jesus Christ actively involved in divine providence? In a word, YES!
The very essence of providence rests in the government of God - in His sovereign kingship, in His lordship, and in His control over all things. The essence of government is control in one form or another.
And all we need to do is to apply what we already know: That Jesus Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords (1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 17:14; 19:16). His government is over all. He controls all things. Therefore, Jesus Christ must be Jehovah.
Moving on, the fourth of the prerogatives of deity is the salvation of the lost. And I really don't need to take this any farther than to remind you that we have already shown that Jehovah is the only Savior, and Jesus is the only Savior, and so Jehovah and Jesus must be one and the same. And I simply refer you to our earlier point in Chapter 4, where we saw that, in the Old Testament (looking at Joel 2:32), Jehovah was the Savior; in the New Testament (comparing Romans 10:9-13), Jesus Christ is the Savior. In fact, Jesus is called Savior at least 14 times in the New Testament. Therefore, Jesus must be Jehovah.
And then the last of God's divine prerogatives is judgment. Only a completely holy and righteous Creator God, Who also has the authority to decide what is morally right or wrong, is qualified to judge His creatures as to their moral and spiritual condition and destiny. And, in fact, God's judgment of the wicked is the vindication of His righteousness.
Now, there is ample declaration and proof from the Old Testament historical and prophetic books that Jehovah is the Judge of the nations, of Israel, and of all men. I'm not going to try to review all of that, except to state that Jehovah is the ultimate Judge of all.
But when we come to the New Testament, we discover something interesting. In John 5:22, Jesus said that God the Father has committed all judgment to the Son of God - that's Jesus. In John 5:27, Jesus says that He has been given the authority to execute judgment - to carry it out. In John 5:30, Jesus says that His judgment is just. In John 8:16, Jesus says that His judgment is true. Acts 10:42 says that God the Father has ordained Jesus to be the Judge of all who are physically and spiritually living and also of all who are physically and spiritually dead.
First we see the living judged. Only those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord are counted as spiritually alive by the Bible. And so in Romans 14:10, 1 Cor. 4:5, 1 Cor. 11:32, and 2 Cor. 5:10, we discover what the Bible calls the Judgment Seat of Christ, where all New Testament believers will be called to account for everything that we have said and done here on earth. And although our salvation and place in Heaven in secure in Christ, nonetheless we shall suffer loss if we have not been obedient and faithful to the Lord, and we shall receive rewards if we have been obedient and faithful.
Acts 17:31 and 2 Thes. 1:5 say that God the Father will someday judge the world in righteousness through the Lord Jesus Christ. Chapters 2 and 3 of Romans repeatedly speak of God judging the world, and then 2 Timothy 4:1 specifically states that Jesus Christ will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and his kingdom. I think this refers to the judgments upon Israel and the nations that survive the Great Tribulation. In this regard, in Rev. 19:11, we discover the glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, coming to put down all evil and to set up His millennial kingdom, and in righteousness He is seen judging and making war against evil-doers. And then, in Rev. 20:11-15, we discover the Great White Throne Judgment, and none other than Jesus Christ will be the final Judge of all of the unsaved who are there.
And the same things that the Old Testament says about Jehovah as the Judge of the nations, of Israel, of believers, and of non-believers is said about Jesus Christ in the New Testament. And the only reasonable conclusion that I can see is that Jesus has to be Jehovah.
Now, up to this point, we have been showing that the prerogatives of God prove that God the Son (the Lord Jesus Christ) is just as much to be called Jehovah as God the Father or God the Holy Spirit are to be called Jehovah. And that's what I mean when I say that Jesus is Jehovah; He is just as much Jehovah as are God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
But there's more! Not only are there the philosophical considerations that whet our appetites. Not only are there the clear New Testament passages that declare the Deity of Jesus Christ. Not only are there definite correlations between passages referring to Jehovah in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament. Not only are there correlations relating to the prerogatives of God. But we also have the undeniable fact that Jesus Christ exhibits the attributes of Deity.
What are the attributes of Deity? The attributes of Deity are those qualities that inhere in God as God. Let me put that another way. The attributes of God are those distinguishing characteristics of God's deity - of His divine nature - that cannot be separated from the idea of His being God. These are God's inherent characteristics that form the basis and foundation for His various manifestations of Himself to His creation and to us.
We call these characteristics attributes, because we are compelled to attribute them to God as fundamental and essential qualities or powers of His very being, so as to rationally account for certain consistent facts relating to God's revelation of Himself to His creation.
Henry Thiessen, in his Lectures in Systematic Theology, claims that he finds "five distinctively divine attributes." And he lists eternality, omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence, and immutability (unchangeability).
Augustus Strong (not the same Strong as the James Strong of Strong's Concordance), in his 1166 page Systematic Theology, got a little bit more detailed. He listed two basic categories of God's attributes: Absolute and Relative. Within each of the two basic categories, he listed three sub-categories. And then, under each of the three sub-categories, he listed two or three or more of God's actual attributes.
Now then, I would love to take you through each of the 18 possible attributes of God that I've discovered in the Bible, and to relate each of them to Jehovah and to Jesus. And it's easily done. But to preserve your sanity and keep the length of this web page down a bit, I've decided to just go with Thiessen's five distinctively divine attributes. The Lord Jesus Christ possesses all of these.
The first distinctive attribute of deity is eternality. God is eternal and Jesus Christ is eternal.
John the Baptist was born before Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, and yet Jesus Christ existed before John the Baptist was born.
John 1:15 - "John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me."
Abraham lived some 2100 years before Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, and yet Jesus Christ existed before Abraham was born.
John 8:58 - "Jesus said unto them, Verily,verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am."
The world came into existence some 4,115 or so years before Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem (according to the internal chronology given in the Bible), and yet Jesus Christ existed before the world was created.
John 17:5, 24 - "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. ... Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world."
The Bible states clearly that Jesus Christ was already existing at the time of creation that God calls the "beginning."
John 1:1 - "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." 1 John - "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life..."
As far as eternity past is concerned, the Bible says that Jesus Christ has existed from everlasting - forever!
Micah 5:2 - "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
And as far as eternity future is concerned, Jesus Christ will continue to exist forever (italics in the following verses are mine for emphasis).
Rev. 1:4 - "John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne..."
Rev. 1:8 - "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."
Heb. 1:11 - "They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment..."
Isa. 9:6 - "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
Rev. 1:18 - "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."
By the way, this relates to God's promise of eternal life in Christ. We shall live forever because we are now in Christ, and Christ shall live forever. He is able to give us life, because in Him is life, and He has life in himself (John 1:4; 5:26). And that life is eternal and everlasting.
Jesus Christ is eternal. He always has existed, from eternity past, and He exists right now, and He will exist out into the ageless reaches of eternity yet to come. He possesses the attribute of eternality, and that's proof that Jesus is Jehovah.
The second and third distinctive attributes of deity are omnipresence and omniscience. Omnipresence is the quality of being equally everywhere present at the same time, all the time. Omniscience is the quality of having infinite knowledge - of knowing all things. Omnipresence and omniscience really go together, if you carefully think about them. After all, if you are truly and fully present everywhere for all eternity, then you must by necessity know everything. God is both omnipresent and omniscient, and Jesus Christ is both omnipresent and omniscient.
Jesus Christ was in Heaven while He was on the earth.
John 3:13 - "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." [These words were spoken by Jesus Christ while He was standing on earth in the presence of Nicodemus!]
Furthermore, Jesus is right now here in earth while He is in Heaven.
Mat. 18:20 - "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
Mat. 28:20 - "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
Jesus Christ fills all things. Paul the Apostle proclaimed this three times in his letter to the Christians at Ephesus.
Eph. 1:23 - "Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all."
Eph. 3:19 - "And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."
Eph. 4:10 - "He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things."
Jesus Christ knows all things. His disciples recognized this and testified to it.
John 16:30 - "Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God."
John 21:17 - "He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep."
Jesus Christ knew what was in men.
John 2:25-25 - "But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man."
He saw Nathaniel under the fig tree.
John 1:48-50 - "Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these."
He knew the history of the Samaritan woman.
John 4:29 - "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?"
He knew the thoughts of men's hearts.
Mat. 12:25 - "And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand..."
Luke 6:8 - "But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth."
Luke 11:17 - "But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth."
He knew beforehand the time and manner of His exit from this world.
Mat. 16:21 - "From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day."
John 12:33 - "This he said, signifying what death he should die."
John 13:1 - "Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end."
Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas would betray Him.
John 6:64 - "But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him."
In Matthew 24 and 25, and in the book of Revelation, Jesus gave His disciples a detailed description of the character of the events and the termination of this age of the world.
Mat. 24:25 - "Behold, I have told you before."
Jesus knew all about God the Father.
Mat. 11:27 - "All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."
In fact, Col. 2:3 says that in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Col. 2:3 - "In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
Jesus Christ is both omnipresent and omniscient. He knows all things and has all wisdom. He possesses the attributes of omnipresence and omniscience, and that's another proof that Jesus is Jehovah.
The fourth distinctive attribute of deity is omnipotence. Omnipotence is the quality of being almighty - not limited with respect to authority or ability - having and able to express unlimited power! Jehovah God is omnipotent, and the Lord Jesus Christ, as the second Person of the Trinity, is omnipotent.
It's interesting to note that God's name of Jehovah was not known to God's people in its covenant sense before God revealed it through Moses in Exodus 6:3...
"And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them."
God had certainly been known as the LORD, or Jehovah, to mankind ever since the beginning. Eve responded to the birth of Cain by saying that she had made a man from the LORD - from Jehovah (Gen. 4:1).
"And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD."
In Genesis 4:26, men began to call on the name of the LORD.
In Gen. 5:29, Lamach called his son's name Noah, saying,
"This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed."
Abraham called on the name of the LORD - of Jehovah - in Gen. 12:8.
"And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD."
And then, beginning in Genesis 17:1, God revealed Himself to Abraham as the Almighty God.
"And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect."
And then, beginning in Genesis 28:3, God secondly was known to His people as God Almighty.
"And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people..."
But then God told Moses in Exo. 6:3 that the name Jehovah was now going to have a special covenant relationship to the children of Israel.
But Jehovah was known as the Almighty or Omnipotent God. That was one of His well-known names in the Old Testament. And now, in the New Testament, we are about to see the Lord Jesus Christ calling Himself the Almighty One.
In fact, let's look first at Rev. 1:8, and this is the resurrected and glorified Lord Jesus Christ speaking here:
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."
Obviously, Jesus Christ Himself claimed to be omnipotent!
In John 5:19, Jesus said something that at first glance seems to contradict this:
"Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise."
But then we begin to take a look at the things that the Father does that Jesus the Son of God also does.
First, the Lord Jesus Christ upholds all things with the Word of His power (Heb. 1:3).
"Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high..."
Second, all authority has been given to the Lord Jesus Christ (Mat. 28:18).
"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."
Third, Jesus has power over demons (eg., Mark 5:11-15).
"Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea. And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid."
Fourth, Jesus has power over disease (eg., Luke 4:38-41).
"And he [Jesus] arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon's house. And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her. And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them. Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ."
Fifth, Jesus has power over death.
In Matt. 9:25, Jesus raised a girl who had been pronounced dead. "But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose."
In Luke 7:14-15, Jesus raised a young man who had been dead for long enough to be prepared for burial and put into his coffin and on the way to the cemetery. "And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother."
In John 11:43-44, raised a man who had died, had been dead for four days, had been embalmed, and whose dead body had been placed in a cave, with the stone sealed to the opening. "And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go."
Sixth, Jesus has power over atmospheric forces and the energy imparted to water by wind - basically, He has power over the elements (Mat. 8:26-27).
"And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!"
Seventh, Jesus has power over what we call nature.
In John 2, Jesus transformed ordinary water into the purest fruit of the vine, just by declaring it to be so.
In Mat. 21:19, Jesus caused a tree to wither away by speaking to it. "And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away."
And we've already discovered that Jesus has all power (Mat. 28:18) and that He is Almighty (Rev. 1:8).
Some folks might object that Jesus did the miracles that He did through the Holy Spirit (Mat. 12:28 – casting out demons), just as Moses and the prophets of old did various mighty works. But in answer, all we have to do is show that the New Testament cites these same miracles as proof of the deity of Jesus Christ.
In John 5:36, Jesus said, "But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me."
In John 10:25, "Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me."
In John 10:38, Jesus said, "... though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him."
In fact, the entire Gospel of John was written to prove to unbelievers that Jesus really is deity - that He is God the Son (Jn. 20:30, 31).
"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 ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name."
I think we've seen enough to prove to the open mind that the Lord Jesus Christ claimed to be omnipotent, demonstrated His omnipotence over nature, over life and death, over the spiritual world, and over the entire physical universe. He has both the authority and the ability to do whatever He desires, wherever and whenever and however He wants to do it. In my book, that's omnipotence. By definition, only God is omnipotent. If Jesus Christ is omnipotent - and He is - then He has to be God. Jesus is Jehovah, the Almighty God.
The fifth distinctive attribute of deity is immutability (unchangeability). God never changes. He is always the same. He is always loving, true, just, gracious, righteous, holy, eternal, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, and unchanging. He never changes His moral standards. With God, right is always right, and wrong is always wrong. With God, what is good is always good, and what is sin and evil is always sin and evil.
God's plans never change, God's promises never change, and God's character never changes. Psalm 102:25-27 is one of the key Old Testament passages dealing with this truth:
"Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end."
Another key verse is Malachi 3:6...
"For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed."
Everything and everyone else is subject to change, but not God. Of course, this does not preclude the possibility of God presenting Himself in a variety of manifestations, such as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, or in a burning bush or as the Angel of the Lord or in a still, small voice in the Old Testament, or as Jesus Christ in the New Testament.
Likewise, this does not mean that God does not restrict or limit some of His instructions and purposes during various ages or dispensations, or to various people.
The point is that God - in order to be God - must be immutable (unchangeable), and no one and nothing else in all of creation is immutable.
Now then, we ask the question: Is the Lord Jesus Christ immutable? Is Jesus unchangeable in the same way that Jehovah of the Old Testament is unchangeable? The answer is: YES! And two verses in the New Testament completely bear this out.
The first is Hebrews 1:10-12...
"And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail."
Of whom does the author of the book of Hebrews write these things? He specifically tells us in verse 8:
"But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom."
And everything from verse 8 to verse 12 is specifically related to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Once again, we see an Old Testament passage that talks about Jehovah now being referred to Jesus Christ by a New Testament writer. The writer of the book of Hebrews says that the Son of God (Who is Jesus Christ) is the same, unchanging, immutable.
The second New Testament verse showing Jesus Christ to have the attribute of immutability is also in the book of Hebrews, chapter 13, and verse 8:
"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever."
If the definition of immutable is to be unchanging, and to always be the same, then Heb. 13:8 simply says it all. Jesus Christ is the same, unchanging, immutable, yesterday, today, and forever.
In all five of the essential attributes of deity, Jesus Christ is proclaimed by the New Testament to be fully God, and in every case, the same verses in the Old Testament ascribing these attributes only to Jehovah are repeated in the New Testament ascribing these attributes to the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ of the New Testament must be the Jehovah of the Old Testament.