Is Jesus God?

A lecture delivered By Pst Anthony Ibn Fawole at the Seasoned Apologetic Conference 2019 Edition
                
                NOTE

DISCLAIMER: This is just a note for those who does not have the access to the video it is just but a paraphrase and not word for word textual translation of the video. Here is the link to the original video

A. Three strands from the Old Testament

1. The divinity of the Messiah (the son of man) that accept service Daniel 7:13, Micah 5:2 going forth from eternity, Psalm 2:6-12 a Messianic Psalm, Zechiariah 13:7 also a messianic prophecy talks about a sheperd who is a man and the fellow of God Someone of equal status substance and equal like you. This answers how Jesus can be both God and a Man Philippian 2:6. The Greek word is Isos (equal), Psalm 45:6-7 he was callled |Elohim, David called him Addon Psalm 110:1, Matthew 22:4 it is just a matter of respect but a matter of identification, Isaiah called him El-Gibor which means mighty being Isa 9:6 and also called Yahweh El Gibor in Isaiah 10:21. Jeremiah 23:6 called him Yahweh our righteousness calling the branch, Mal 3:1 Yahweh said He will send his messenger ahead of Himself. if the messenger sent ahead of the messiah was John the Baptist then we need to answer the question who sent John the Baptist as messenger? John confessed he cannot even worthy to remove the sandal( the lowest role for slave in the Jewish culture) of the messiah despite the fact that John was the greatest of all men

2. The personality of the Word of Yahweh. Debah means both words and deed of Yahweh it has a certain dynamic energy and power of His own Hosea 1:1, Joel 1:1 and the word of the word of the Lord came to me saying… the prophet knew what they were saying and Jesus never rebuked the prophets but the. Deut 32:46-47 He gives life John 1:3, Psalm 107: 20 the word Heals people. Psalm 119:105,130, Psalm 19:8 the word is a light unto men. The word also creates Psalm 33:6 and also in the gospel of John John 1:1-3. It exercises independent functions and we have the traces and the thought of a personality who exist with God the father. Study the angel od the Lord he said to Hagar I will bless…. Like Yahweh blesses

3. Targum is the re explanations’ of the old testament books and prophets in Exo 3:12 19:17 the word of the Lord was translated as surrogate a co worker with Yahweh.When John was speaking in John 1:1 downwards he was not speaking
of His own volitions but out of his background as a Jew of Hebrew Descent though we also have Greco Roman ( Hellenistic) background to it However the Hebrew Aramaic background has a better explanation in light of what John said about the word

B. New Testament strands

1. Testimony by others Luke 1:43 Elizabeth by inspiration recognized the fetus in the womb of Mary as My Lord as she spoke as after being filled by the Holy spirit. It is not just a matter of respect or superiority it is a matter of identification. When the angels announced the birth of the messiah to the shepherd he was called Christ the Lord the word the lord is the Greek translation of Yahweh. because of the definite article it means a particular Lord in that context and it cannot just be any other Lord if not Yahweh. John testimony in John 1:23 he said I am the voice of him crying in the wilderness preparing the way of the Lord quoting Isaiah 40:3 He recognized Jesus as Yahweh whom He was preparing the way for

2. The Apostolic testimony, the apostles lived with Jesus and they knew him more and their testimony is authentic and they would have recounted if indeed they were acting and lying about their deeds and sayings instead they wrote and spoke about Him and were willing to die for their claims and they actually died gruesomely about what they attested about Jesus. John 20:26-28 Thomas personalized the deity of the messiah he who was a sceptic who never would never have resurrected confessed and said the Lord of me and the God of me this is the result of his belief about Jesus and he bowed in worship. It is an exclamation and Jesus never rebuked him for this confession and in the court of law silence means consent and we noticed throughout the bible angels often refused to accept worship whenever men want to bow for them but Jesus never rebuked men who bowed in worship unto him, He indeed accepted worship. John also wrote in John 20:31 I wrote so that you come to belief that Jesus is the divine messiah the son of God. The word messiah cannot be defined in our own terms but in the terms of the prophecies revealed in the old testament. John quoted the prophet Isaiah 6:10 in John 12:40-41 saying when Isaiah saw Jesus Glory he said… meanwhile Isaiah said I saw the Lord seated in the throne on the high place. John belief and taught that Jesus is God.
in Zechariah 12:10 Yahweh said they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and it was the crucified Christ. The Messiah who was actually pierced as applied by John. In John 17:3 the quotable quote of Muslims is where the father was called the only true God meanwhile in 1 John 5:20 Jesus was called the true God and eternal life. Jesus is the true God The day I quoted this verse for  JW he stopped chatting me up on WhatsApp. Rev 3:7 also confirms this and we see that in Rev 5:13 the God and the lamb were worshiped together. This buttresses Jesus claim in
John 5:22-23 where he said whoever honor the son honor the father and whoever does not honor the son does not honor the father, therefore it is an equal honor that must be given to both.
Salvation is said to belong to our God and the Lamb Rev 7:10. No mere human can share this divine attribute with God no wonder Peter in 2 Peter 1:2 Jesus is our God and our Saviour. (He explained the Greek grammar)

3. Jesus own statement What a man says about himself is also important. C.S Lewis after considering all Jesus said about himself come to this conclusion that Jesus can not anything lesser than God or that he was mad/insane( God forbid). In the old testament only God comes in the cloud Psalm 104:3 Isaiah 19:1 also tells us about this but Jesus said as the son of man he will come in the cloud and the high priest who was a Jew understood this and accused Jesus of blasphemy as he tore his garment Matthew 26:64 downwards..Jesus set his authority on almost equal terms if not greater in the terms we found in the old testament, He often say you have heard read that it was said to you BUT I SAY UNTO YOU… this has far greater authority IT IS AN AMAZING CLAIM TO AUTHORITY by implication and it greater than the words of Moses and his interpreters who was the mouth piece of God ( direct spoke person of God) in the old testament. Moses was the greatest man in the history of Israel is Moses ( Moses gave them their law and constitution that guide them as a nation) and Abraham but Jesus spoke as one who is greater than Abraham John8:58, Jesus also spoke as one who has prerogative to forgive sins on earth Mattew 9:1-7, Mark 2:5-7, Luke 5:17-26, Luke 7:36-50 in all these passages you see Jesus forgiving sins. Sin is going contrary to God and only God has the prerogative to forgive such sins and if Jesus the Messiah says he has power to forgive sin then he is not only speaking as a representative of God but he is God here on earth.
Peter stopped Cornelius when he wanted to fall at his feet but Jesus never stopped anyone who wanted to fall at his feet. Jesus in John 16:15 sia d all that the father has is MINE. when he said ALL he did not leave anything out there fore we must think we are helping Jesus by exempting things outside his claim therefore we must not leave everything out in the claim of Jesus.

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 “So closely was Jesus connection with God that he equated a man’s attitude to himself with his attitude to God. Thus to know Jesus was to know God John 8:19, John 14:17. To see him was to see God John 12:45 and John 14:19. To belief in Jesus is to belief in God John 12:44 and John 14:1. To receive him is to receive God Mark 9:37. to hate him was to hate God John 15:23 and to honour Jesus is to honour God John 5:23”   John R.W Scotts

We come to the conclusion that Jesus not only in His words but in the words of those who lived in centuries before his incarnation, in the words of those who live with him in his days in the flesh and in the words of Paul who was an arch enemies of this same Jesus we can come  to this conclusion within the biblical text that Jesus is God.