The Identification of Jesus with YHWH;
John 17:1-5
The New Testament ascribes to
Jesus the work of Yahweh. In Psalm
83:18 we see that the Bible clearly asserts that Yahweh is pre-eminent. He is the pre-eminent one in the Old Testament,
he has priority over all creation and is distinct from creation, and he is
unique: NASB “That they may know that You
alone, whose name is the LORD [Yahweh], Are the Most
High over all the earth.”
Along with this there are a
number of other things that the Old Testament affirms about Yahweh. In Zechariah 12:10 we are told
that Yahweh is pierced: NASB
“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the
Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they
have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and
they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”
Here it refers to the one pierced as an only son, and also firstborn. The term
“firstborn” is used in Colossians 1:16, 17 to refer to Jesus, and it doesn’t
mean first in the sense of time but first in the sense of priority. So the
point is that the Old Testament speaks of Yahweh
being pierced and this is fulfilled through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on
the cross, and that is in all of the Gospels.
The Old Testament speaks
of Yahweh as the first and the last.
Isaiah 44:6 NASB “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:
‘I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God
besides Me.” Even here there seems to be a distinction of person in this verse.
When we come to the New Testament we find that this is ascribed to Jesus in
Revelation 1:8 NASB “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord
God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty’.” [17] “When I saw
Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me,
saying, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last’.” So to Jesus in the
New Testament is ascribed the same titles as to Yahweh in the Old Testament.
Isaiah saw and described
the glory of Yahweh in Isaiah chapter
six. Who is this King, the Lord of the armies? We discover that John identifies
Him for us in the Gospel, John 12:41 NASB “These things Isaiah said
because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him.” John is talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. So Isaiah saw the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ, identified as Yahweh.
Yahweh is
described in the Old Testament as the shepherd of Israel. Psalm 32:1 NASB “The LORD [Yahweh] is my shepherd, I shall not
want.” This is an important psalm because the inference is that because the
Lord is my shepherd I have no need. God has supplied everything, He is
sufficient in His grace, His revelation is sufficient, and he has provided
everything in life. So we have no need anymore, no matter what our
circumstances, no matter how difficult is may be, no matter how hard things may
be. He is the great shepherd. Hebrews 13:20 NASB “Now the God of
peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the
blood of the eternal covenant, {even} Jesus our Lord.” This is what He claimed in John 10:11.
Yahweh in
the Old Testament is called Israel’s rock. This is a picture of His steadfastness, of
His omnipotence, His power, and that God is unshakeable, nothing is more
powerful; He is a fortress for us. In Deuteronomy 32:3, 4 NASB “For
I proclaim the name of the LORD; Ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock! His work is perfect, For
all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous
and upright is He.” Psalm 18:2 NASB “The LORD [Yahweh] is my rock and my fortress and
my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My
shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” It is God who gives us the
protection in whatever situation we are in. He is the one who completely
surrounds us and protects us and when we take refuge in Him then there is
nothing greater. Psalm 62:1, 2 NASB “My soul {waits} in silence for
God only; From Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my
salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be greatly
shaken.”
In the New Testament Jesus
is identified as this rock in 1 Corinthians 10:4 NASB “and all drank
the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which
followed them; and the rock was Christ.”
Every creature will bow
down before Yahweh. Isaiah 45:23 NASB
“I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My
mouth in righteousness And will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow,
every tongue will swear {allegiance.}” This is the same thing picked up by Paul
and ascribed to Jesus in Philippians 2:9-11 NASB “For this reason
also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every
name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who
are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Yahweh is
described in the Old Testament as the only saviour. Isaiah 43:10 NASB
“‘You are My witnesses,’ declares the LORD, ‘And My
servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand
that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And
there will be none after Me.
[11] I, even I, am the LORD, And there is no savior
besides Me’.” Isaiah 45:21 NASB “Declare and set forth {your case;} Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced
this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the LORD? And there
is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior;
There is none except Me.”
When we come to the New
Testament Jesus is stated to be the only way of salvation. Acts 4:12 NASB “And there is salvation in no one
else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by
which we must be saved.”
Yahweh
Himself will reign personally in Jerusalem in the promised kingdom. Isaiah 24:23 NASB
“Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, For the LORD of hosts
will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And {His} glory will be before His
elders.” This is also expressed in Zephaniah 3:15-17 NASB “The LORD has taken
away {His} judgments against you, He has cleared away
your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; You will
fear disaster no more. In that day it will be said to Jerusalem: “Do not be afraid, O Zion; Do not let your hands fall
limp. The LORD your God is
in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult
over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with
shouts of joy.” This is the victory of Jesus Christ at the battle of Armageddon
as he comes at the second advent to establish His
kingdom on rhe earth. This is spelled out in Revelation 19:11ff NASB
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it {is}
called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.
His eyes {are} a flame of fire, and on His head {are} many diadems; and He has
a name written {on Him} which no one knows except Himself. {He is}
clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white {and} clean, were following Him on white horses. From
His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations,
and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the
fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His
thigh He has a name written, ‘KING OF
KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS’.” Revelation
20:4 NASB “Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment
was given to them. And I {saw} the souls of those who had been beheaded because
of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had
not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their
forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a
thousand years.” So clearly the New Testament ascribes to Jesus the ruling and
reigning of Yahweh in the Old Testament, they are viewed as one and the same
person.
Furthermore, the coming of
Yahweh in the Old Testament, the
foretold coming of Yahweh, was
announced by a forerunner. Isaiah 40:3 NASB “A voice is calling, ‘Clear
the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a
highway for our God’.” In the Gospel of Mark this passage in quoted and applied
to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and to John the Baptist.
Yahweh is
prophesied in the Old Testament to be a stumbling block to Israel. Isaiah 8:13,m 14 NASB
“It is the LORD of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall
be your fear, And He shall be your dread.
Then He shall become a sanctuary; But to both
the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, {And} a snare and a trap
for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” 1 Peter 2:7 NASB “This precious value,
then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE
VERY CORNER {stone,}’ and, ‘A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE’; for they stumble because they are disobedient to
the word, and to this {doom} they were also appointed.” What we have seen here is
how many times we see Old Testament ascriptions to Yahweh applied in the New Testament to Jesus Christ.
When did Jesus become the
Son of God? Did He become the Son of God or has He always been the Son of God? The
Scriptures ascribe to Jesus three different titles. He is called the Son of
God, the Son of Man, and the Son of David. It is clear that he becomes the Son
of Man and the Son of David at His incarnation. Son of Man indicates His
humanity. Son of David is a title for His Jewish royalty and identifies Him
with the Davidic covenant. When Jesus is called the Son of God it is not
talking about physical descent, it is not talking about birth. It is talking
about deity, about what is ascribed to Him, i.e. full deity. The emphasis is on
the fact that He shares the same attributes as God. So the question we have to
ask is: when did He become the Son of God?
Scripture defines God as
existing eternally as a Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They share the
same identical essence. They are one in essence but three indistinct persons. How
do they relate to one another throughout all eternity? We know that when Jesus
becomes a man He is subordinate to the Father. We know that in terms of the
Holy Spirit’s ministry that He proceeds from the Son and he proceeds from the
Father. But is this just something that is related to their function toward man
or is it related to the eternal relationship of the Trinity? The reason this is
important is because it defines and provides a basis for understanding role
relationships in almost every sphere in human society.
Psalm 2 is a royal psalm
related to the coming of the King, the royalty of the Messiah and His
relationship to the nation. It pictures the time when Jesus comes back at the Second
Advent and establishes His rule and reign at the beginning of the Millennium.
Psalm 2:1, 2 NASB
“ Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples
devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against
His Anointed, saying…” Our whole view of history should be transformed once we
read that passage because what we see is when nations are establishing themselves
in independence they are doing it against God. The divine view of history is
that they are taking their stand against the Lord, whether they realise it or
not. When you start rejecting divine absolutes you are in rebellion against
God.
They say: [3] “Let us tear
their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!
[4] He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.
[5] Then He will speak to them in His anger And
terrify them in His fury, saying, [6] ‘But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My
holy mountain.’ [7] “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to
Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You’.”
What does this mean? “Today I have begotten you.” When we get into the New
Testament we are going to discover that that is applied at different phases in
the Lord’s life.