Who do you say I AM

500 years before Jesus Christ came, Isaiah said of Him,; Isa 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. and also,;

Isa 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

500 Years later, ;Then Matthew concerning Jesus at His birth,; Mt 1:23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."(NKJV)

IS JESUS GOD?

A. WHY DID JESUS NOT OPENLY REVEAL HIS FULL IDENTITY?

Why didn't Jesus ever say clearly, "I am God. Worship Me!"? (He did say it indirectly - John 6:41,42; 8:58; 17:4,5; etc.)

Why didn't He say publicly, "I am Messiah; Believe in Me!"? (Privately he did - John 4:28.) The Jews demanded that Jesus clearly declare whether or not He was the Messiah (Luke 22:67-70).
Why did He very seldom call Himself "the Son of God"? (See John 5:25; 10:36; 11:4) Although by calling God His "Father"He certainly implied it (Matt. 27:43). The Jews still demanded that He say so clearly (Luke 22:70). The term, "Son of God" is used synonymously by Jews to mean Messiah, so this is the same as b. above. (The SON of man?

DANIEL God's prophet said 470 years before the Son of man came,;Da 7:13 "I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.

Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.)

Instead, why did He almost always called Himself, "The Son of Man?"

Furthermore, why did He forbid those who knew His true identity to tell anyone?:

A. His disciples: - "'But what about you? Who do you say that I am?' Simon Peter answered, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!' ... Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ." (Matthew 16:15,16,20; see also Mark 8:29,30)

B. the demons: - "... He also drove out many demons, but He would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was." (Mark 1:34 - see also verses 24,25); "Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him, and cried out, 'You are the Son of God.' But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was." (Mark 3:11,12); "Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, 'You are the Son of God!' But He rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew He was the Christ." (Luke 4:41)

C. those He healed: - "... and he healed all their sick, warning them not to tell who he was." (Matthew 12:15,16); "Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, 'See that you don't tell anyone ...'" (Matthew 8:3,4); Immediately the (dead) girl stood up and walked around. At this they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this." (Mark 5:42,43)

Why did He refuse to accept challenges to prove His identity?:

A. by Satan: - "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread ... If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down ..." (Matthew 4:3,6)

B. by the common people: - "Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, '... Save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God.'" (Matt. 27:39,40)
by the chief priests, teachers and elders: - "He saved others, but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him ... for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" (Matthew 39:41-43)

Why did He always speak to the people in parables?:

"The disciples came to him and asked, 'Why do you speak to the people in parables?' He replied, 'The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them ... This is why I speak to them in parables: "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand." In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: "You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving ..."' Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: 'I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.'" (Matthew 13:10,11,13,14,34,35)

"He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him." (Jn.1:10)

B. BECAUSE THIS IS A SPIRITUAL TRUTH; NOT A HUMAN ONE:

Because there are two things about Christ a person cannot understand by himself:
Who Jesus really is - "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." ... "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in Heaven." (Matthew 16:15-17)

The Atonement Jesus provided - "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing . . . The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 1:18; 2:14)

Because God's secret wisdom is known only by revelation:

"The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law." (Deut. 29:29)

"... He brings hidden things to light." (Job 28:11)

"Truly you are a God who hides himself." (Isaiah 45:15)

"From now on, I will teach you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you." (Is.48:6)

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." (Jeremiah 33:3)

"He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him." (Daniel 2:22)

"It is written in the prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.'" (John 6:45)

"When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence of superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified ... My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words . . . not the wisdom of this age . . . we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden . . . " (1 Corinthians 2:1-8)

"... that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ... the mystery of Christ ..." (Colossians 2:2,3; 4:3 - see also 1:26,27)

C. Because a person cannot believe in Jesus unless:

A. he/she is drawn to the Father - "All that the Father gives me will come to me . . . No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him ... This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him." (John 6:37,44,65)

B. The Holy Spirit reveals Christ to him/her - "' . . . no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him' but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit . . . we have . . . received . . . the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us." (1 Corinthians 2:9-13)

C. He is revealed through the Scriptures - " . . . these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:31) (see also John 5;39,40; Rom.16:25,26; Eph.3:4,5)

D. Because Satan has blinded the minds of people: "The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ . . . " (2 Corinthians 4:4)

General Observations

This brings to an end our brief survey of these seven crucial passages. Seen as a whole, they prompt some general observations. First, the ascription of the title God to Jesus is found in four New Testament writers - John (three uses), Paul (two), Peter (one), and the author of Hebrews (one). Second, this christologica] use of the title began immediately after the resurrection in 30 (John 20:28), continued during the 50s (Rom. 9:5) and 60s (Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:8; 2 Pet. 1:1), and then into the 90s (John 1:1, 18). Third the use of "God" in reference to Jesus was not restricted to Christians who lived in one geographical region or who had a particular theological outlook. It occurs in literature that was written in Asia Minor (John, Titus), Greece (Romans), and possibly Judea (Hebrews), and Rome (2 Peter), and that was addressed to persons living in Asia Minor (John, 2 Peter), Rome (Romans, Hebrews), and Crete (Titus). Also, the use is found in a theological setting that is Jewish Christian (John, Hebrews, Peter) or Gentile Christian (Romans, Titus). Fourth, the three instances in John's Gospel are strategically placed. This Fourth Gospel begins (1:1) as it ends (20:28), and the Prologue to this Gospel begins (1:1) as it ends (1:18), with an unambiguous assertion of the deity of Christ: "The Word was God" (1:1); "the only Son, who is God" (1:18); "my Lord and my God!" (20:28).[18] In his preincarnate state (1:1), in his incarnate state (1:18), and in his postresurrection state (20:28), Jesus is God. For John, recognition of Christ's deity is the hallmark of the Christian.

But, you may ask, why are there so few examples of this usage in the New Testament? If Jesus really is God, why is he not called "God" more often? After all, there are over 1,300 uses of the Greek word theos in the New Testament. Several reasons may be given to explain this apparently strange usage.

First, in all strands of the New Testament the term theos usually refers to the Father. We often find the expression God the Father, which implies that God is the Father.[19] Also, in trinitarian formulas "God" always denotes the Father, never the Son or the Spirit. For example, 2 Corinthians 13:14 reads, "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." What is more, in the salutations at the beginning of many New Testament letters, "God" is distinguished from the Lord Jesus Christ." So Paul's letters regularly begin, "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." As a result of all this, in the New Testament the term theos in the singular has become virtually a proper name, referring to the trinitarian Father.[20] If Christ were everywhere called "God," so that in reference to him the term was not a title but a proper noun, like "Jesus," linguistic ambiguity would be everywhere present. What would we be able to make of a statement such as "God was in God, reconciling the world to himself," or "the Father was in God, reconciling the world to himself" (cf. 2 Cor. 5:19)?

Second, another reason why "God" regularly denotes the Father and rarely the Son is that such usage is suited to protect the personal distinction between Son and Father, which is preserved everywhere in the New Testament. Nowhere is this distinction more evident than where the Father is called "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph. 1:17) or "his God and Father" (Rev. 1:6), and where Jesus speaks of "my God."[21]

Closely related to this second reason is a third. The New Testament clearly indicates that Jesus is subordinate to God. Although they both possess the divine nature, there is an order in their operation. It is the role of the Father to direct, of the Son to obey. Theologians refer to a functional subordination alongside an essential equality. Consequently, Christ can be said to belong to God (1 Cor. 3:23) and to be subjected to God (1 Cor. 15:28). So, then , by customarily reserving the term theos for the Father, New Testament writers were highlighting the Son's subordination to the Father, but not the Father's subordination to the Son. We often find the expression Son of God where God is the Father, but never Father of God where God is the Son. Fourth, if Jesus had been regularly called "God" by the early Christians, problem would have been created for their evangelistic efforts. Their Jewish friends would have been convinced that Christians had given up monotheism, for there were now two "Gods": Yahweh and Jesus. On the other hand, their Gentile neighbors would have viewed Jesus as simply another deity to be added to their roster of gods.

Finally, the New Testament authors generally reserve the term theos for the Father in order to safeguard the real humanity of Jesus. If "God" had become a personal name for Christ, interchangeable with "Jesus," the humanity of Jesus would tend to be eclipsed; he would seem to be an unreal human being, a divine visitor merely masquerading as a man.

Conclusions
If, then, the word God does not become a personal name for Jesus anywhere in the New Testament, what is the actual significance of the seven uses? As used of Jesus, the term theos is a generic title, a description that indicates the class or category (genus) to which he belongs. Jesus is not only God in revelation, the revealer of God (an official title) - he is God in essence. Not only are the deeds and words of Jesus the deeds and words of God - the nature of Jesus is the nature of God. By nature, as well as by action, Jesus is God. Other New Testament titles of Jesus such as "Son of God" or "Lord" or "Alpha and Omega," imply the divinity of Jesus, but the title God explicitly affirms his deity.

It may help to illustrate the distinction I am making between a proper noun (in this case, a personal name), a generic title, and an official title. Consider these two sentences: Winston Chruchill was a Britisher and a prime minister of the United Kingdom. John Kennedy was an American and a president of the United Sates. In these sentences "Winston Churchill" and "John Kennedy" are proper nouns (personal names); "Britisher" and "American" are generic titles; "prime minister" and "president" are official titles. The parallel sentence relevant to our discussion would be "Jesus is God and the Revealer of God."

Can we, therefore, claim that the New Testament teaches that Jesus is "God"? Yes indeed, provided we constantly bear in mind several factors. First, to say that "Jesus is God" is true to New Testament thought, but it goes beyond actual New Testament diction. The nearest comparable statements are "the Word was God" (John 1:1), "the only Son, who is God" (John 1:18), and "the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever" (Rom. 9:5). So we must remember that the theological proposition "Jesus is God" is an inference from the New Testament evidence - a necessary and true inference, but nonetheless an inference.

Second, if we make the statement "Jesus is God" without qualification, we are in danger of failing to do justice to the whole truth about Jesus - that he was the incarnate Word, a human being, and that in his present existence in heaven he retains his humanity, although now it is in a glorified form. Jesus is not simply "man" nor only "God," but the God-man.

Third, given English usage of the word God, the simple affirmation "Jesus is God" may be easily misinterpreted. In common English usage God is a proper name, identifying a particular person, not a common noun designating a class.[2] For us God is the God of the Judeao-Chrisitan monotheistsic tradition, or God the Father of Jesus and of the Christan, or the trinitarian Godhead. So when we make the equation in English, "Jesus is God," we are in danger of suggesting that these two terms, "Jesus" and "God," are interchangable, that there is a numerical identity between the two. But while Jesus is God, it is not true that God is Jesus.[*] There are others - the Father and the Spirit - of whom the predicate God may be rightfully used. Jesus is all that God is, without being all there is of God. The person of Jesus does not exhaust the category of deity. So then, when we say, "Jesus is God," we must recognize that we are attaching a meaning to the term God - namely, "God in essence" or "God by nature" - that is not its predominant sense in English.

My analysis of the New Testament evidence for the deity of Christ is now complete. The three branches of evidence we have examined all point in the same direction. Whether we consider the status Jesus enjoys, the functions he performs, or the title he bears, there can be no doubt that the early Christians believed in his full divinity as an essential ingredient of their teaching. Consequently, any modern form of Christianity that has surrendered a wholehearted belief in Jesus' deity has drifted from its moorings and is at sea in a vessel that has forfeited its rating as "Christian." On the other hand, when we bow the knee before the risen Jesus and make the confession of Thomas our own, we are securely moored to uniform Christian tradition and, more importantly, to the divine Person who is at the center of that tradition. Can you - will you - address Jesus with the words "My Lord and my God"?

Thanks to my friend Linda Sheets to Provide these great Bible Study.