Understanding the Divinity of Jesus: Our Cornerstone of Faith

And in both of these instances, the phrase did not convey personal deity. Actually, it excluded it. So John wanted to make sure that when he wrote of Jesus as the son of God, that he would not be misunderstood. He wanted to make it clear from the outset that the sonship which Jesus claimed, the sonship which Christians ascribe to Jesus, was precisely a matter of personal deity and nothing less. He wanted it clear to all of his readers that Jesus is the eternal God, the Son, who has always existed as God. [00:10:21] (36 seconds)


Not only did he refer to him as the Word to prove his divine nature, he takes us back to the beginning to make it clear that God the Son was not a created being. There never has been a time when God the Son was not. By beginning his gospel with these familiar words, in the beginning was the Word, John's making it clear that Jesus, God the Son, had no beginning. [00:11:09] (27 seconds)


Years ago, as I was maturing, I guess you'd say as a Christian, I often wondered how you reconciled this God the Son always existing, and what about this God the Jesus? And I had somebody explain it to me this way, and it helped me a lot. This pastor and theologian said, there was a time when Jesus was not. In other words, there was a time when God the Son had not put on flesh. [00:11:41] (27 seconds)


Genesis 1, in the beginning, think about this. There was nothing, no heavens, no earth, no light, no sand, no land, no seas, no vegetation, no plants, no seasons, no sun, no moon, no stars, no animals in the water, no animals on the land, no man, no woman, no heavenly beings. In the beginning, there was nothing except God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. [00:13:13] (23 seconds)


hang on to that truth as we get a little further into the christmas story this year and you think about him stepping down from glory and putting on humanity and what he set aside or it's just amazing to see the love he has for us in the beginning was the word and the word was with god next john tells us the word was god now don't misunderstand john's not saying jesus was god and he's now no longer is you got to remember that greek imperfect tense of the word was he's saying the word was continuing as god he is god one pastor put it this way though personally distinct from the father he jesus is not a creature jesus was not created he is divine in himself as the father is another pastor said the exact meaning of the word was god and he's now no longer is you got to remember that greek imperfect tense of the word was god is that god the son is god in essence and character he was god in every way though he was separate person from god the father the phrase here perfectly preserves jesus's separate identity while also stating that he is god one pastor said the simple statement is perhaps the clearest and most direct declaration of the deity of jesus to be found anywhere in all of scripture jesus is god scripture confirms this in more places than just this gospel the author of hebrews said this long ago and many times and in many ways god spoke to our fathers by the prophets but in these last days he's spoken to us by his son whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom also he created the world talking about the son he said this he is the radiance of the glory of god he's the exact imprint of his nature [00:14:16] (120 seconds)


Before God the Son became flesh, he eternally existed as God the Son. He was in the beginning. He was with God. He was God. Are you beginning to see the divine identity of the baby that was born in Bethlehem? If not, John wants to make something. He just wants to put the nail in the coffin here. [00:16:51] (19 seconds)


He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything that was made. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Six days he created everything. Sun, moon, stars, plants, trees, sea creatures, land animals, man and woman. Well, John tells us that God the Father created all of this through God the Son. [00:17:15] (27 seconds)


That baby born in Bethlehem, he created everything. He created the sun, he created the moon, he created the stars. When is the last time you, stood out at night and looked up at the stars? You tried to count them? I've included some of this in your notes because seeing it makes it more understandable. I was reading this week in one of my commentaries, and this pastor shared this. He said there are 100 billion stars in the average galaxy, and there are at least 100 million galaxies in our known space. [00:19:04] (35 seconds)


Believe it or not, Jesus being God, makes salvation possible. One man said, Only someone who is the infinite God could bear the full penalty for all the sins of all those who would believe in him. A finite creature, a man, could not do this. Only God could do it. He said the whole message of scripture is designed to show that no human being, no creature could ever save man. Only God could save us. Thank God that Jesus is God. [00:21:45] (33 seconds)


He's the only one who could live a perfect life, the only one who could be the perfect sacrifice, the only one who could pay that price, the only one who can forgive sins. Only God can do that. He's the only one who could bridge the gap that exists between God and man, and he did. Jesus' divinity is of the utmost importance to Christianity. If Christ was not divine, we are not saved. [00:22:59] (26 seconds)


His divinity is also important because Jesus being God makes worship of him proper. I mean, according to scripture, we are not supposed to give our worship to anyone save God. According to John, Jesus is God, which means the proper response to him for us is worship. I hope that is your response to him. [00:25:13] (27 seconds)


As you encounter the miraculous through the reading of God's Word, remember this, Jesus being God makes every other teaching about Him plausible. As I was in Puerto Rico, I was reading through a book I've had for a had for years and read through way too much other than the Bible, but it's called Knowing God. It's written by J .I. Packer. In the fifth chapter of that book, he focuses on the word becoming flesh. [00:28:00] (29 seconds)