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Is Jesus Yahweh/the LORD?

Is Jesus Yahweh/the LORD?

One of the younger ladies in our church asked for some resources to help her dialogue with a friend of hers who left the church and has since become a jehovah's witness (I have intentionally not capitalized their title out of reverence for the true & living Yahweh).

I sent her some good stuff from the ESV Study Bible, which I thought was excellent.

Then I went to Robert Reyburn's Systematic Theology and basically sent her his section on how the NT writers ascribe the divine Name of Yahweh used in the OT to Jesus in the NT.

Here, with a couple of additions, is what I sent her.  I hope it will help us as we contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.  Jesus is God.  Let us remain confident and unashamed of what the Scriptures make so abundantly and gloriously clear.

  1. Moses' description of Yahweh as "King of kings" (Deut. 10:17) is applied by John to Christ (Rev. 17:14; 19:16).
  2. The author of Hebrews applies the entirety of Psalm 102:25-27 to Jesus (1:10-12).
  3. Proverbs 18:10 provides the background for Peter's assertion in Acts 4:12
  4. Joel's summons to trust in Yahweh (2:32) is employed by Paul to summon men to faith in Christ (Rom. 10:13).
  5. When Isaiah looked upon Yahweh (Isa. 6:1-3), according to John he was beholding the glory of the preincarnate Son of God (John 12:40-41).
  6. Isaiah's call to sanctify Yahweh in the heart (8:12-13) is applied by Peter to Christ - He is the One who is to be sanctified as "Lord" in the heart (1 Pet. 3:14-15).
  7. Isaiah's representation of Yahweh as a stone that causes men to stumble & a rock that makes them fall (8:14) is applied by Paul to Christ (Rom. 9:32-33).
  8. Yahweh, whose coming would be preceded by Yahweh's forerunner (Isa. 40:3; Mal. 3:1; 4:5), is equated w/ Christ (Matt. 3:3; 11:10; Mark 1:2-3; Luke 1:16-17; 3:4; John 1:23).
  9. Jesus Himself employs Yahweh's words in Isaiah 43:10 & 45:22 to summon men to be His witnesses & to rest in Him (Acts 1:8; Matt. 11:28).
  10. Isaiah's description of Yahweh as the "first & last" (44:6) is employed by John to describe the glorified Christ (Rev. 2:8; 22:12-13).
  11. Yahweh, "before whom every kneww shall bow & by whom every mouth shall swear (Isa. 45:23) is identified by Paul as Jesus (Rom. 14:10; Phil. 2:10).
  12. Yahweh, the pierced One upon whom men would look & mourn (Zech. 12:10), John tells us is the Christ (John 19:37).
  13. Jesus is given the divine Name, "Lord" (NT) by the Father in Phil. 2:9).
  14. That Yahweh is called "the only Savior" in the OT (Isa. 43:11; 45:15, 21) and applied by multiple NT writers to Jesus shows that Jesus is no mere angel, but divine (see Tit. 1:3 & compare w/ 1:4; 2:10 w/ 2:13; 3:4 w/ 3:6). That Paul does this 3 times in the same context is more than mere coincidence.

There are plenty more examples.  If they deny this much, there is no use giving any more, as their hearts are closed to the truth & hardened to what the Scriptures plainly & repetitively teach.

In Christ, and for His divine glory to the ends of the earth,
Pastor Ryan