Mission Venture Ministries

John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” and continues, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). 

Jesus is God in the flesh and for that reason as God, Jesus could satisfy God’s wrath. As a man, Jesus had the capability of dying, and as the God-man, Jesus is the perfect Mediator between heaven and earth (1 Timothy 2:5). 

The key statement to focus on is that salvation is available only through faith in Jesus Christ. As Jesus proclaimed, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). 

In Colossians 1:15, Paul states that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, since “the Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being” (Hebrews 1:3). Those who have seen Jesus have seen the Father (John 14:9). 

Jesus is not only the perfect image or representation of God, but He is God as well “for it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him” (Colossians 1:19). The Son, being “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15) makes visible the One who is by nature invisible. The Son’s power, wisdom, and goodness fully and accurately reveal to us the character and perfections of God. 

God the Father bears witness of Jesus’ identity as well: “But about the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom” (Hebrews 1:8; cf. Psalm 45:6). 

Old Testament prophecies such as Isaiah 9:6 announce the deity of Christ: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” 

In John 8:58 Jesus claims pre-existence which is an attribute of God: “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” In response to this statement, the Jews picked up stones to stone Jesus (John 8:59). In claiming pre-existence, Jesus applied a name for God to Himself, “I AM” (Exodus 3:14). The Jews rejected Jesus’ identity as God Incarnate, but they understood exactly what He was saying. 

Again in John 10:30 Jesus said, “I and the Father are one,” and again they tried to stone Him “for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God” (John 10:33). The Jews understood Jesus’ statement that He truly was claiming equality with God and they could not bear the truth. 

The true nature and identity of Jesus Christ has eternal significance and every person should answer the question Jesus asked His disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15). 

This is what some of those who were close to Him said: 

• Thomas declared to Jesus, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28), Jesus does not correct him.
• Paul describes Jesus as “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). And,
• Peter says the same, calling Jesus “our God and Savior” (2 Peter 1:1). 

In John 14:9-10, Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in Me, who is doing His work.”

The Bible is clear about the divine nature of the Lord Jesus Christ as Philippians 2:5-7 also confirms it: “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men.”

Jesus is fully God and fully man and the fact of His incarnation is of utmost importance. He lived a human life but did not possess a sin nature as we do. He was tempted but never sinned (Hebrews 2:14-18; 4:15). Sin entered the world through Adam, and Adam’s sinful nature has been transferred to every baby born into the world (Romans 5:12), except for Jesus. Because Jesus did not have a human father, He did not inherit a sin nature; He possessed the divine nature from His Heavenly Father. 

Mary was the human body that nurtured Jesus until He was ready to be born since the placenta provides oxygen and nutrients to a growing baby. The mother’s and baby’s blood never mix, so Jesus’ blood was not only unique but was His own sinless blood that was shed for us on the cross.

Jesus’ divine nature made Him fit for the work of Redeemer; His human body allowed Him to shed the blood necessary to redeem us. No human being with a sin nature could pay such a debt. No one else could meet the requirements to become the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world (Matthew 26:28). 

If Jesus is not God, His death would have been insufficient to pay the penalty for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). Only God Himself could provide an infinite, eternally valuable sacrifice (Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Because Jesus was God in the flesh, He alone could pay the debt we owed to God. His victory over death and the grave won the victory for everyone who puts their trust in Him (John 1:12; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 17). 

Jesus Christ has always existed as He personally states: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 22:13). He is “the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God” (1 Timothy 1:17). He existed before the creation of the world and is the Creator, our source of life, and first in everything (Revelation 1:8). Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, the only One sufficient to reconcile sinners to God. “And He is God, the One who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen” (Romans 9:5). 

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