GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH

JESUS CHRIST IS GOD
Romans 9:5

Don Fortner

Here are two, indisputable foundation truths of the gospel. These two things are plainly revealed in the Book of God. They are matters about which all Christians are in total agreement. See that you understand them clearly.

We worship one great and glorious eternal God in three distinct but equal Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Some say that Christ was "created, or made to be, God." Others say that he is "officially God", God by office only. And others declare that "he is not God at all." But the Word of God declares that Jesus Christ, the Man, is himself almighty God (Acts 20:28; 1 Tim. 3:16); and all the names he bears show that he is. That God who spoke to and was worshipped and obeyed by the saints of the Old Testament era is Jesus Christ our Savior, the God who loved us and gave himself for us (1 John 3:16). That Man who was called "Jesus" from his birth is the very same Person who was worshipped from the beginning as Jehovah.

Jesus Christ is the great I AM, by whom Moses was sent to deliver Israel (Ex. 3:14; Cf. John 8:58; 18:5, 8). Jesus Christ is the great God whom Abraham knew and worshipped as JEHOVAH-JIREH, the substitutionary Lamb of sacrifice (Gen. 22:8, 14; Cf. John 8:56). Jesus Christ is the God whom Israel tempted for forty years in the wilderness (Ex. 17:7; Cf. 1 Cor. 10:9). Jesus Christ is that great God, called Adonai and Jehovah, whom Isaiah saw in his glory (Isa. 6:1-8; Cf. John 12:39-40). Jesus Christ is Jehovah God whose way was prepared by John the Baptist (Isa. 40:3; Cf. Matt. 3:1-3). Jesus Christ is Jehovah's Fellow, smitten in justice for the redemption of his people (Zech. 13:7). And Jesus Christ is Jehovah, who was wounded and pierced as our Substitute, by whose death we are saved (Zech. 12:10; Cf. John 19:34, 37).

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who spoke to them, whom they worshipped and obeyed, was and is our dear Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Man who redeemed us. Yes, that Man who died at Calvary and now sits upon the throne of universal monarchy is himself the mighty God, God over all and blessed forever. This is God our Savior. Blessed are those who know him. They, and they alone have eternal life (John 17:3).