Today, we focus on God the Son, the incarnated one, Jesus of Nazareth. Many people, even those who don’t claim faith in God, believe that a person named Jesus existed roughly 2,000 years ago. But how do we know He is God?
One of the best chapters in the Bible to read on this subject is John 1. We learn so many things there about the Son:
1) He has eternally existed (1:1–2).
2) Everything was created through Him (1:3), and all life exists in Him (1:4).
3) He cannot be overcome (1:5).
4) He became like us, incarnated, having a body, therefore living an embodied life here on the earth (1:14).
5) Through His life, He revealed God to the world (1:18), because He Himself is God (1:1).
John did not make these claims in a vacuum. He was not the only one to provide witness to the divinity of Jesus. We find support for these same ideas throughout the rest of Scripture. Colossians calls the Son the “image of the invisible God,” having eternally existed as the “firstborn over all creation” (1:15). It also acknowledges that “all things have been created through him and for him” (1:16). And if we go to the creation story in Genesis 1, we see where God declared, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness” (1:26). The Father was clearly not alone.
We also know Jesus is God because of His work. His death on the cross was a sacrifice made for the sins of the whole world (1 Jn. 2:2). Because of that, we get to live not as lawless people far from God, but as people reconciled to God, in unbroken relationship with him, and righteous before Him (Ti. 2:14; Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:21). Through the power of his resurrection, we are also promised our own resurrection, and hope of eternal life with Him (Jn. 11:25; 1 Pt. 1:3; Dan. 12:2; Rom. 6:8–11). No ordinary human could accomplish that. Only God is able to do something like that.
There is no one else like Jesus. This is why, throughout the history of the Church, His followers have consistently affirmed that the Son is God.
If you want to check out any of our other resources about God, please check out our previous 40 Day Fast devotionals here.
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4 Comments
This has always been confusing for me until recently. Jesus being God and not seperate of him. I look forward to the day I can stand infront of him and thank him for the good and bad that life has handed us. Through him I’ve found joy in both.
Still confusing as Jesus often prayed to the Father. Was he praying to himself? I don’t fully expect to understand it. I just accept it.
Thank you for sharing, Michael! That is a great attitude to have, because we won’t understand everything, and being willing to trust what God has revealed to us is important. Trying to understand how the different persons of the Trinity interact with one another is part of the mystery that we talked about in our post a couple of weeks ago. I do want to say, though, that I don’t think we’re meant to understand Jesus as praying to himself. The Father and Son are distinct, even though they are one. So even though we can’t completely understand how that dynamic works, we know that Scripture clearly states Jesus prayed to the Father, not that he prayed to himself, and we affirm what Scripture makes clear to us.
Keep wrestling with these things! It’s good to ask these kinds of questions, and I (Emily Harmon) am really grateful you asked it here in a place where others can join in the conversation.
I am so grateful to Jesus who allowed us to be reconciled to God, in this unbroken relationship with him, and with his free gift of imputed righteousness. Perfect righteousness is God. Comparative righteousness is an inaccurate deception that cannot define us. We are declared righteous by His wounds. Praise to you, the name above all names. Through the mighty healing power of Jesus, we are seated in the heavenly places! Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ!