Is Jesus God? (Part 2)

Witnesses To The Deity of Jesus Christ

It is our belief that Jesus Christ is God – not “a god” as many religions would have us believe – but The GOD of Creation. We saw in our previous study from the Old Testament that many people saw Jesus Christ before His Incarnation and responded to Him as God, but what about in the New Testament – did any witnesses acknowledge that He is God? The answer is – YES!

The first witnesses we see in the New Testament are God’s angels. God Created them before human beings. They’ve been with God in Heaven for a long time and would know Who is God and who is not. They stood in the Presence of God, heard Him Speak and received assignments directly from Him. The Bible says there are millions of angels in Heaven, which is a large number of witnesses. Their testimony would certainly be accepted in a court of law.

In Luke 1 we see the angel Gabriel appearing to an elderly Hebrew priest named Zacharias. The angel told Zacharias that he and his barren wife would have a son (John the Baptist) and that he would go before the Lord in the spirit and power of the Prophet Elijah and “make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:17) As we will see, John the Baptist was preparing people to meet Jesus Christ.

Also in Luke 1, we see the angel Gabriel going to a city in Galilee named Nazareth. Gabriel’s assignment was to visit a young girl named Mary and deliver a special message to her. Mary was a virgin who was promised in marriage to a man named Joseph. Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that she would conceive a child Who would be called Jesus. Gabriel said  “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:32-33) Gabriel explained further that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and the Power of God would overshadow her. Gabriel called Jesus “that Holy One” and said He would be called the “Son of God.”

In Matthew 1, an angel of the Lord also appeared to Joseph in a dream. Joseph was Mary’s espoused husband. The angel told Joseph that the baby Mary carried in her womb was conceived of the Holy Spirit of God and that His Name would be Jesus because He would save His people from their sins. The angel of God came to Joseph with an unusual message. Mary, Joseph’s wife to be, was pregnant with a child that the Holy Spirit of God had conceived in her. That is a supernatural occurrence. Something else supernatural was that Jesus would save His people from their sins. Saving the people of Israel from their sins is something only God can do, so the angel attributed the Character and Work of God to Jesus. Another thing to ask is how did the angel know the baby was conceived of the Holy Spirit and that Jesus would save His people from their sins? Only God would know these things. The angel’s message was from God.

An angel of God appeared to a group of shepherds and told them about Jesus’ birth. The angel said, “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11) The angel called Jesus three things – Savior, Christ, and Lord. The shepherds would have understood the angel to say that the baby born that day in Bethlehem would be the promised Messiah of Israel Who came with the Authority of God to save Israel. The next thing the shepherds saw was a large number of angels praising God by saying – “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:13-14)

We also see angels in the New Testament serving Jesus after Satan tested Him in the wilderness (Mark 1:13), witnessing Jesus’ Crucifixion (1 Corinthians 4:9), appearing to Jesus when He was on the Cross (Luke 22:43), being witnesses to Christ’s Resurrection from the dead (Matthew 28:2-7), witnessing the Ascension of Jesus to Heaven (Acts 1:9-11), helping those involved in the early ministry of preaching that Jesus is God (Acts 5, 8, 10, 12), responding to God’s command that they worship Jesus (Hebrews 1:5-7), and witnessing the great Glory of Jesus as the God of Heaven (Revelation 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22).

The angels of God are a powerful and continual witness to the world that Jesus is God and that faith in Him and submission to Him are required of all men.

“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:  God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.” 1 Timothy 3:16

In our next study, we will look at the witness of Jesus’ earthly family to His Deity.