This is the one most important questions that can be asked.
There is no way we can answer the intricacies of this question on one web page.
For a concise summary of our belief about Jesus, click here, VII The Mediator
The most reliable source with the most answers to this question is the Bible.
One of Jesus’ best friends, John, said of all the things Jesus did, “Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25). This same principle could apply to the concept of who he is and what he has done. However, the Bible has given us everything we need to know. Many of the questions about Jesus are answered by Jesus himself within the pages of the Bible. (A resource on the Bible’s reliability can be found under the heading, “The Bible Claims Jesus is God.”)
Jesus is one of the most polarizing people ever to walk the earth; He was during his earthly life and still is today. The claims he made were scandalous then and are now, yet if they are true (and we certainly believe they are) they hold grave implications for how are to think and live.
If you would like to take steps to follow the Lord Jesus, contact a member of the leadership at Coram Deo and they will help walk with you as you begin this journey of faith in Jesus.
Jesus claimed to be pre-existent.
John 17:5, “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”
John 8:58, Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
John 3:13, “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.”
John 6:33-35, “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst…”
These verses illustrate Jesus claimed to pre-exist. A great place to read about the claims of Christ is the Gospel of John.
Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of prophecy.
Luke 4:17-20, And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 24:44, Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
(Many may say that Christ manipulated his surroundings to be able to fulfill the prophecies concerning the Messiah, yet those that could be manipulated are outnumbered by the ones outside of his human control.)
John 5: 39-10,46, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.”[/creativ_toggle][creativ_toggle icon=”book” heading=”Jesus claimed to be the Christ, the Son of God.” onload=”closed”]Matthew 16:16-17, Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 26:63-64, But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
John 4:25-26, The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” Claiming to be the Son of God was claiming to be by very nature equal with God. This is what infuriated the Hebrew people and many times after these claims the people picked up rocks to stone him.
Jesus claims were not just related to deity, but clear that he was deity.
Jesus claimed he was God and allowed himself to be worshiped as God.
John 9:35-38, Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
Luke 19:36-40, And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
Matthew 21:15-16, But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
“Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” (Quotation of Psalm 8 speaking of the praise given to Jehovah)
John 20:28-29,Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.
The Bible claims Jesus is God.
If you accept the Bible as truth (if you have your doubts click here [Why I Choose to Believe the Bible. -Dr. Voddie Baucham]) and that ultimately God is it’s author (1 Timothy 3:16) you cannot ignore the claims that Christ is God (Yahweh/Jehovah.)
Psalm 102:25-27,
25 Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you will remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
27 but you are the same, and your years have no end.
28 The children of your servants shall dwell secure;
their offspring shall be established before you.
If you were to read the entire Psalm it is undoubtedly speaking of Yahweh (Jehovah God).
The writer of Hebrews uses this very description of Yahweh (Jehovah God) in his description of Jesus in Hebrew 1:10-12. These passages may vary from version to version, but the principle of the key verses are the same in all.
8 But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”
10 And,
“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
11 they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment,
12 like a robe you will roll them up,
like a garment they will be changed.[a]
But you are the same,
and your years will have no end.”
Another important comparison found in Scripture can be found between John 12 and Isaiah 6.
John 12:41 reads, Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
Him? Him who? Jesus is found to be the subject in verse 36.
When would Isaiah have seen the glory of Jesus?
Isaiah 6:1-5, In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the trainof his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord (Yahweh) of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord (Yahweh) of hosts!”
Jesus is God!
All the claims and testimony of the entire Bible attest to this fact. That is why we worship Jesus as LORD.
Jesus was God clothed in human flesh. John 1:14 says, And the Word (source of all life) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Why is Jesus' humanity coupled with deity so important?
Lyrics of a song entitled, The Hypostatic Union, by Shai Linne (Assistant Pastor of Del Ray Baptist Church) best illustrate its importance.
…Jesus both God and man, two hundred percent(s)
Fully divine, fully human
Introducing: The Hypostatic Union
Our topic of discussion is beyond human comprehension
The infinite God has made a super condescension
The kind of entrance nobody could have anticipated
Precipitated by the evil we participated
In- through Adam and Eve our first kin
Cursed when they committed the first sin
Only if you have the Holy Spirit’s antennas
Can you truly understand fallen man’s dilemma
See, only a human can substitute for human lives
But only God can take the wrath of God and survive
See the humanly unsolvable obstacle?
With God all is plausible, nothing’s impossible
True haters’ll fight it but the story is certain
Two natures united in one glorious person
Jesus, the God-Man, official soul reaper
The hypostatic union- it gets no deeper
The Son of God: 100% divinity
Self-existent second Person of the Trinity
Magisterial Imperial at the helm
Infinitely transcending this material realm
He’s so original, getting to know Him is pivotal
Behold the invincible prototypical Holy Principal
Possessor of all divine attributes
The omni’s, wisdom, grace, beauty, love, wrath and truth
He’s the One that all creation was made through
And by Him, the earth’s foundation was laid, too
Ask the angels, they saw it on pay-per-view
Created Satan too, matter of fact He created you
And nothing can escape Jesus’ sovereign rule
From the farthest galaxy to the smallest molecule
So who deserves to gain fame?
By the word of His power the universe is maintained
In other words, put the cosmos back on the shelf
Without Christ, reality would collapse on itself
Jesus, the marvelous Author of all consciousness
Beyond what the sharpest biologist acknowledges
He needs no archeologists or smart apologists
He sees all hearts: Omnipresent Cardiologist
Master of Logic, Macrocosmic Novelist
Following any other god is just preposterous!
The Son of Man 100% humanity
The mind stretches to understand how can it be?
You gotta see what He does
Becoming what He wasn’t while never ceasing to be what He was
Is your mind flipping? That got you tripping? Me too
But the Scripture is true- peep Philippians 2
By faith we believe this amazing Jesus
Who made Uranus and Venus became a fetus
It’s such a secret that few if anybody knew it
Months later, He’s covered in amniotic fluid
The subject of the gospels, praise of Apostles
Armed with eye sockets, arm pits and nostrils?
Who is this Jesus? God clothed in human weakness
Super sweetness and peace for the true believers
See the One who never tires knocked out sleeping
See the Source of eternal joy weeping
Which one can explain how the Son abundant with fame
Who made thunder and rain now has hunger pains?
See the Creator of water become thirsty
On the cross when He saves from the slaughter the unworthy
My awe should be sky high and I ought to just cry, “Why?”
with water in my eyes when the Author of Life dies
Raised on the third, God man- soul seeker
The hypostatic union- it gets no deeper
In Adam all die.
That’s me and that’s you. Our nature is in Adam. Jesus did not inherit the nature of Adam by virtue of his virgin birth. He was able to pay the penalty incurred by our rebellious nature inherited by our spiritual father Adam. We desire to be the god of our own lives and in so doing rebel against God’s sovereign rule. The Scriptures tell us we are enemies of God, but that Christ has reconciled us to Him by His blood shed on the cross. God validated the sacrificial death of Christ raising Him to life three days after His death. His promise is forgiveness of sin, adoption as sons, and eternal life through faith in Jesus.