But whom say ye that I am?
Part 1
The title of this teaching is a question Jesus asked his disciples. Even those who walked with Jesus and were directly taught by Him were not clear as to whom Jesus was/is. That same question asked today, likewise, will elicit a variety of answers. Many say Jesus was just a great teacher, a prophetic statesman, a godly man. Or as someone very near and dear to me said in a Bible study: “Why should I pray to Number Two (meaning Jesus) instead of going directly to Number One: God?” Others do not understand how Jesus could be God because the New Testament tells us that the Risen Saviour, Jesus, is sitting at the right hand of God. Many will argue that Jesus could not be God for a variety of other misunderstood reasons.
The New Testament is hidden in the Old Testament, and the Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament.
It’s understandable why some are confused. First of all, the name Jesus does not even appear in the Bible until the book of Matthew in the New Testament. And knew her [Mary] not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he [Joseph] called his name JESUS. Matthew 1:25
The Old Testament begins: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. However, In the beginning God created … does not tell the whole story. The Bible is one book divided into two groupings: the Old Testament and the New Testament. One of the underlying miraculous, supernatural aspects of the Bible is that the New Testament is “hidden” in the Old Testament, and the Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament. That sounds like double-talk. Yet, the fact that Jesus is God (manifest in the flesh) is a prime example: And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh … 1 Timothy 3:16 Both God and Jesus are revealed through a number of different titles or names including God, LORD, Jesus, the Word, Son of God, Angel of the LORD, Godhead, Redeemer, Saviour, etc.
Even though Genesis 1:1 says that God created …, as the New Testament is studied, readers will discover that it was Jesus Who created everything. That does not insinuate that the Scriptures are inconsistent or in conflict. It’s that the two divisions, and every Word of the Bible are supernaturally designed by God outside the dimension of time and such facts are revealed to those who study as workmen and follow Jesus as their LORD and Saviour, through repentance and faith.
For by him [Jesus] 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: And he [Jesus] is before all things, and by him all things consist. Colossians 1:16-17 He [Jesus] was in the world, and the world was made by him … John 1:10
A grammatical idiosyncrasy is a key to some of the complexities of God.
In the Old Testament, we are, early on, introduced contextually to a grammatical idiosyncrasy that is vital to understanding the three major “personifications” of God (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost/Spirit). Those who study the Hebrew language (from which the Old Testament is translated into English) know that Hebrew words ending with “im” are usually plural and thus grammatically would demand a plural verb. However, the Hebrew word for God is the plural word Elohim, and Elohim is often also used for false gods as well as for the God of our Christian faith. Context will always distinguish between the two: God or gods. See below. The first example is from Genesis 1:1; the second is from Exodus 20:2.
When the Hebrew Elohim references our LORD God and Saviour, it is translated as a singular noun, God. For example, the Scripture in Genesis 1:1 appears to tell the reader that God in essence is ONE: In the beginning, God created … However, in other verses, God appears to represent more than one. Study the following statements made by God: And God [Singular] said, Let us [plural] make man in our [plural] image, after our [plural] likeness. Genesis 1:26 In Genesis 11:1, the Scripture tells us And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. Man had become so prideful that he felt he could usurp God. Thus God, the LORD, stated as recorded in Genesis 11:6-7: … and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down and there confound their language. Yet, this same Elohim appears to be singular in most other verses: And God said … Genesis 1:3, 6, 11, etc. (Take note that in the table above, there is another Hebrew noun that can be either singular or plural depending—as with Elohim—upon the context. That is the Hebrew word for heaven, hasshamayim.)
How does the New Testament reveal or expand the understanding of Whom God is?
The first verse of the Bible was quoted above: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Following that, Scriptures were quoted that showed that God, a singular noun, was recorded as being more than one when He said such things as, Let us … Furthermore, in Isaiah 44:24, God makes this statement: … I am the LORD that maketh all things; that srtetcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself.
Yet, in the New Testament acts of creation (including those listed in Genesis 1:1) are attributed to Jesus: All things were made by him [Jesus]; and without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:3 For by him [Jesus] 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. Colossians 1:16 [God] Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son [Jesus], whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. Hebrews 1:2
In the Old Testament it’s the LORD Who can blot out man’s sins (Isaiah 43:25, 44:22), and in Isaiah 63:16, we’re told: … thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting. Micah, another Old Testament prophet, confirms He Who is from everlasting will “come forth” from Bethlehem: But thou, Bethlehem … out of thee shall he [Jesus] come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Micah 5:2 Thus, both the Old Testament and New Testaments affirm that not only the LORD but also that Jesus is from everlasting—neither created—neither having a beginning.
Study carefully the consistent message as recorded by the Apostle John. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. John 1:1-2 The Word is Jesus Who WAS present—in the beginning—and it was this same Jesus Who was born through the body of a virgin in the town of Bethlehem. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem … Matthew 2:1 And it is Jesus (the Son) whom God calls God: But unto the Son [Jesus] he [God] saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever … (For ever and ever is another way of expressing everlasting) Hebrews 1:8
Very important to our eternal “being” is the fact that Jesus is revealed in the New Testament as our redeemer: … Thou [Jesus] … hast redeemed us … Revelation 5:9 What that means is that it is only through the blood that Jesus shed (redeemed us) when He was nailed to a cross that the sins that each of us commit can be wiped away—atoned for. This is called redemption, and Jesus has this power of salvation/redemption—to blot out man’s sins. However, this only happens when we receive Jesus as our LORD and Saviour and repent of our wrong-doings: sins. … JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Matthew 1:21 In Acts 4:12, salvation is again accredited to Jesus: Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name [Jesus] under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. It’s a free-will choice of every person: Heaven for eternity or Hell for eternity. God sends no person to Hell. Man chooses his eternity through rejection or acception of Biblical precepts: … And many … shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Daniel 12:2
It would take pages to list the attributes ascribed to Jesus, the Son of God, the LORD, the Word, and God, including those above; notwithstanding that both God and Jesus are to be worshipped. They are given this distinction from angels and humans who are never to be worshipped.
Are you seeing a pattern of like attributes being ascribed to God, to the LORD, and to Jesus?
YET, no man has seen God; but thousands saw Jesus.
However, strange as it may seem to some, no man has seen God. Why is this? It’s because God is a Spirit, and men cannot see spirits: God is a Spirit and they which worship him must worship him in spirit and truth … John 4:24 Review the chastisement Jesus gave to the disciples when He appeared to them as recorded in Luke 24:36: But they [the disciples] were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. Jesus rebuked them saying, as recorded in verse 39: Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
Worshipping God in spirit and truth has nothing to do with man-made rituals, traditions, or practices. It’s in our heart that this process takes place.
God, being a Spirit, does not have a human body. However, it was God Who sent Himself to this earth in a “form” (manifest) that man could better understand Who He is; that is, He was manifest in human form or likeness through the human body of the Jesus, and it was Jesus, in the likeness of man who had flesh and blood and could shed blood never tainted by sin. Not only did Jesus never sin, but His “bloodline” was without sin. He was “manifest” though the Holy Ghost and not through man.
The physician Luke, who penned the gospel of Luke, gives us this important, yet difficult-to-understand information. This was after Mary, the birth mother was told she would … conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name JESUS. Luke 1:31 When Mary asked … How can this be, seeking I know not a man? She was told: … The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God [Jesus]. Luke 1:35
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. 1 Timothy 3:16 Notice that this Scripture in Timothy summarizes major activities of God THROUGH Jesus including His resurrection: received up into glory.
In Colossians 1:15, it is revealed that [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God … And in John 1:18 we’re told that Jesus was sent to declare or reveal God. This verse (John 1:18) is one of many Scriptures helping readers to understand the deity of Jesus—the one true God in human form—fully human and fully God. John 1:18 is one of many verses which new version authors egregiously reword doctrinally incorrectly. God sent His Son Jesus, not Himself, as God is a Spirit. Study carefully the Scriptures in the table below:
What God did for you and me was encased in a love that man cannot understand.
A succinct statement in the book of Philippians summarizes this miraculous, transformational love by God in which He gave Himself through the physical body of Jesus. He LOWERED Himself to be subject to man’s cruel treatment so that He could redeem man’s sins (yours and mine) by willingly permitting man to beat, mock, and crucify Him. It was NOT the nails that held Jesus on that cross. He had the power to come down but chose not to do so.
Thus Paul, the penman of Philippians, first asks the reader to somehow understand what Christ Jesus did. This is succinctly recorded in Philippians 2:5: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Then Paul tells us in verses 6-8 briefly what God did through Jesus: Who [Jesus], being in the form of God … made himself of no reputation [humbled/lowered Himself], and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
No human can accurately depict the “visage” of Jesus after the brutal beatings He endured to “redeem” man’s soul. As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. Isaiah 52:14 I [Jesus] gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. Isaiah 50:6
If any person believes that someone other than the LORD “wrote” the Scriptures through Holy men as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (Review 2 Peter 1:21), consider that these details, found in the book of Isaiah, were penned some 700 years BEFORE they took place. They were written between 739 and 681 B.C
Part 2 of this study will reveal more facts about the I Am, and Who He is.
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In Christ’s Service,
Judith Brumbaugh
Founder/President: Restoration Of The Family, Inc.
PO Box 621342 Oviedo, FL. 32762 www.RestorationOfTheFamily.org RestorationOfTheFamily@gmail.com
