Friends: Jesus is pretty clear in the Bible about who He is. This is for the “He never says He’s God” crowd. Uh, yes, He does. See the column below. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #924

July 30, 2024

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Who Is This Guy?

By Bob Walters

“[Jesus] asked, ‘Who do you say I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’” – Matthew 16:15-16 NIV

Number One on my list of pet theological peeves is when I hear someone, anyone, assert, “Religions are all alike.” No, the major religions are all very different from each other, and any assertion to the contrary reveals ignorance, not understanding or scholarship.

But that’s a topic for another day.  My Number One scriptural pet peeve is the surprisingly common assertion that, in the Bible, “Jesus never says He is God.” After reading the Bible, I don’t know how one can have any notion other than “Jesus is God.”

My longtime Bible mentor George Bebawi made the point of agreement that, no, Jesus didn’t go around promoting Himself saying “I am so and so” and “I am going to do this and that.” His mission was to shine the light of the love, goodness, righteousness, and forgiveness of His Father God into the stumbling fallenness of humanity. And Jesus was to accomplish that mission by the unexpectedly true, saving grace of servanthood and sacrifice. Mercy, not wrath.

Jesus’s mission was not to ring His own bell, but to awaken mankind to eternal life in heaven in fellowship with our Creator Father and Eternal King; the restoration of our divine roots and relationship. Jesus immediately followed Peter’s affirmation with a warning, “Tell no one.” Jesus knew he must show the world, not merely tell the world.

We see Peter affirm Jesus’s identity in all three synoptic Gospels, Matthew 16:16, Mark 8:30, and Luke 9:19. “Yeah, but,” one might notice, “Peter says Son of the living God, not You are God.” And, “Messiah,” one could argue, means savior sent by God, not God Himself.

But that misses the point, as most Jews missed the point. Look ahead into John 9:58.

There, in a tense conversation with the doubting, threatened, heresy-charging Jewish leaders who called Jesus a liar for claiming to “have seen” Abraham, Jesus drops the big one. He says, “Before Abraham was born, I AM.” That’s Hebrew for “I Am God.”

You can find Jesus on virtually every page of the Bible, Old Testament and New, if you know you are looking for the earthly actions of God in Human history.  Satan is running around, too, but with the mission of destroying man’s relationship with God. Jesus heals and restores.

This month (July 2024) my daily online Ray Stedman devotionals (LINK) have centered on Revelation and, through John, Christ’s seven letters to seven tightly-placed churches in Asia Minor.  Revelation 1,2,3, give us a bounty of Jesus – talking through John – identifying himself in several ways, in words, that He was and is the incarnate God.  Take a look:

Rev. 1:8: “I am the Alpha and Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” John 1:17-18: “I am the first and the last. I am the Living One; I was dead, behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys to death and Hades.”

Rev. 2:1 (Ephesus): “These are the words of him who holds the seven stars (angels) in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands (churches).”

Rev. 2:8 (Smyrna): “the words of him who is First and Last, who died and came to life again.”

Rev. 2:12 (Pergamum): “the words of him who has the sharp double-edged sword.”

Rev. 2:18 (Thyatira): “the words of the Son of God…”

Rev. 3:1 (Sardis): “the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God …”

Rev. 3:7 (Philadelphia): “the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts, no one can open.”

Rev. 3:14 (Laodicea): “the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.”

Those with “an ear to hear,” Jesus repeatedly says, must listen to “what the Spirit says to the churches.”  Repent, overcome, and know you know who Jesus truly is.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is refreshed reading these words of not only instruction but affirmation of truth. Faith grows strong in the reality of God’s love and righteousness.