“This I command you, that you love one another. If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, A slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this in order that the word may be fulfilled that is written in their Law, they hated Me without a cause” (John 15:17-25).

Thoughts of forgiveness floods the mind of a compassionate Christian at the hearing of the most heinous remarks of hatred unleashed by an angry sinner towards the One who gave them life, sustains their life, and freely offers them eternal life. It is certainly not uncommon for such animosity to greatly increase when, without any warning, a missionary knocks at the hater’s door to emphatically inform him or her that Jesus-Christ is God. Some respond by slamming the door, others unzip their bag of profanity. Some pretend that He doesn’t exist or, if He does, He’s a mythical figure just like the Greek gods and goddesses. Some openly voice their hostile thoughts by wearing T-shirts specifically designed by ‘Jesus Hate Groups’. A poster, proudly carried by an unbeliever, was seen during a street protest with the following words: “If Jesus returns, kill him again”. The same type of resentment is widely shared on the net: (1) a photo shouts in all capital lettering: “Hitler, y u no kill Jesus?!” (2) A homeless sits on a street corner holding a cardboard which says: “I hate Jesus” (3) “if Jesus comes back, we will kill him again”.

It is one thing for the world to reject the divinity of Jesus but it is another when it is also done by certain religious groups. A greater love for the pleasures of the world compels fallen man to mock the story of Calvary. One may ask: ‘why would an all-knowing God give birth to such individuals or even die for them?’ Only the perfect love of God is able to endure the ‘punches of hate’ thrown with the hands of the heartless. The Messiah put on human perfection, suppressed divine intervention, and expressed the most unbiased affection for the benefit of a lost world.

The greatest mystery that confronts all readers of the Bible is the ‘plurality’ that is present within the ‘oneness’ of the Godhead. For some it is easily digested by faith but for others doubt and logic continues to linger their minds for the quest of a rational explanation. The complexity of this mystery cannot be solved nor understood in the same manner a puzzle finds its solution. As a matter of fact, is has been for quite sometime and continues to be the most controversial theological doctrine. Does one need to be a certified biblical forensic to detect the undeniable divinity of the Messiah? This article is not the first nor will it be the last to point it out.

Christ’s divinity continues to be unsuccessfully suppressed by the following frail argument which stands on one notion: the Messiah has a beginning—His birth. If we travel back in time, prior to the birth of Christ, when there were no biblical scholars, no theological seminaries, no Pharisees, no doctors of the law, the possibility of disputing or rejecting the nature of Immanuel was practically none existent. Perhaps at that time no one even questioned the identity of « The Angel of the Lord ». Perhaps every first-time reader of the Bible is fascinated upon discovering that God appeared as a man to Abraham (Genesis 18:1-13, 16-17). Some may argue that it was the Father who appeared to Abraham but the Bible begs to differ for Christ Himself confirms the He is the One who appears to man whenever God encounters the latter: “No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only He has seen the Father” (John 6:46).

Not only did God appear to Abraham as a man but He also ate as a man (Genesis18:8). Meanwhile, when the Lord appeared to Samson's father in the form of a man (Judges 13:11), He refused to eat the meal offered Him: “Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, ‘We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you.’ The angel of the LORD replied, ‘Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD.’ [Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the Lord] (Judges 13:15-16).

All prophecies that pointed to the coming of the Savior made reference to His birth: Genesis 3:15; 12:3; Daniel 9:25; Numbers 24:17; Micah 5:2; Isaiah 7:14; Revelation 12:1-5. The word “birth” indisputably makes reference to the notions of ‘creation’ and ‘beginning’. However, the fallen angels (demons, evil spirits) are fully aware that the Messiah’s incarnation is a transition that differs greatly from the process of ‘creation’. They knew who Christ was in heaven (Revelation 12:7) and they certainly acknowledged who and what He was on earth (Matthew 8:29).

The very first prophetic announcement of the fist coming of Christ made use of a term associated with birth: ‘seed’. A seed comes from another creature as a means of reproduction. With that in mind, how does one internalize the presence of the sinless One within the womb of the sinful Virgin Mary? Such crossbreed amplifies the complexity of Christ's nature. Furthermore, Scripture notifies us that the Messiah is the seed of David: (Matthew 9:27; 12:33; 15:22). How do we rectify this apparent discrepancy? We need to call upon I Corinthians 2:14 - “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.”

David died long before the birth of Mary? To make matters worst, He is also entitled the ‘Son of God’ (John 1:34), the ‘Son of Abraham’ (Matthew 1:1). Hasn’t God inspired Micah to present the dual nature of Christ (man and God)? “Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you [man] will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times [God]” (Micah 5:2). ‘Out of you’ conveys that the Messiah will receive birth from a descendant of the tribe of Judah while the term ‘ancient times’ echoes the well known title given God—‘the Ancient of Days’—(Daniel 7:9,13,22). Christ, the central figure of Scripture, the key of salvation, the embodied ‘tree of life’, is such a mystery that we must expose how supernatural even His humanness is.
• He lives the first 40 days of His mission in constant temptations without food: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry” (Luke 4:1-2).

• At the age of twelve, He survives through the streets of Jerusalem for 3 days without His parents: “Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions” (Luke 2:41-46).

• He has the ability to feel a human touch through His garment as though it had sensors connected to His nervous system: “When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?’” (Mark 5:27-30).

• He perceives the thoughts of man without their knowledge: “Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ‘Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, ‘Why are you thinking these things?’” (Mark 2:6-8).

• He is able to justly describe the persona of any man: “When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, ‘Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.’ ‘How do you know me?’ Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, ‘I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ Then Nathanael declared, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel’” (John 1:47-49).

God the Father, unseen by no one, exists for many. Yet, Christ who came and visibly lived in the flesh is undermined as having a divine nature. Is divinity strictly correlated with invisibility? If this notion validates then the divinity of the Holy Spirit shall not be contested. To be God is to know the beginning from the end [Jesus does not know the day of His second coming (Matthew 24:36)]. To be God is to sustain life in one’s self independent of the living cells of the universe [Jesus went to the birth process and was dependent upon all human needs to survive (Isaiah 7:14)]. To be God is to exist without being the result of creation. To be God is to not be subjected to hunger, pain, and fatigue [Jesus went through all these symptoms (Matthew 4:2; John 4:6)]. To be God is to have the ability to transport one’s self without the use of a terrestrial, aquatic, nor aerial vehicle (Jesus was bounded to walking in order to reach all His destinations).

Because biblical evidence shows that these attributes can only be applied to the Ancient of Days it is thus acceptable to reject the divinity of Christ for He does not conform to them. Really? The creator of heaven and earth cannot be contained only and explicitly within these listed aptitudes. He who says that he configured God in His vastness is in fact implying that the Bible contains all there is to be known of and from Him (Isaiah 40:28; Deuteronomy 29:29). Having provoked your mind with the apparent finite characteristics of Christ, it is now time to let the Bible present us God in the flesh.

Jesus Christ Is God in the Flesh

1. Isaiah 7:14 is accomplished in Matthew 1:23, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
2. “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness : He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory” (I Timothy3:16).
3. John 1:14 tells us that “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us...”

Jesus Christ Is Eternal

1. Micah 5:2 and Psalm 93:2 are shaking hands for they both agree Christ-Jesus, who is born of a woman, has no beginning and no end; thus He is ‘from everlasting’! “Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity.” “From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity .”
2. In John 8:58, Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.” The term, “I AM”, which is synonymous with ‘everlasting’ is used by the Almighty God to cast His infinite existence over the finiteness man.
3. In Isaiah 44:6 God says, “...I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.” In Revelation 1:17 Jesus Christ says, “...Fear not; I am the first and the last.”

Jesus Christ is Called “GOD”

1. The Father addresses the Son as God: “But about the Son he says, Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. He also says, In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands” (Hebrews 1:8-10).
2. John purposefully begins his gospel with the divinity of Jesus “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1) then he literally informs us that He is also in the flesh “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
3. Thomas called Jesus “'My Lord and My God” in John 20:28.
4. The divine names of the Messiah does not go unnoticed in Isaiah 9:6 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Jesus Christ is Omnipresent

1. “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20).
2. “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

Jesus Christ Is Omnipotent

1. “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority” (Colossians 2:9-10).
2. “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. ‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing ’” (John 15:4-5).

Jesus Christ Is Omniscient

1. Christ's all-knowing ability caused the Samaritan woman by the well to discover that the Man before her was a Prophet: “Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come here.’ The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, I have no husband; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet’” (John 4:16-19).
2. Jesus proves His omniscience to Nathaniel: “Nathanael said to him, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit! Nathanael said to him, How do you know me? Jesus answered him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:47-49).

Jesus Christ Has Creative Powers

1. John 1:1-3: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
2. “For by Jesus all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17).
3. “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:1-3).

Jesus Christ Received Worship

The godliness of Jesus was publicly professed by a variety of believers who acknowledged He was the Creator in human flesh.

a. From the wise men – “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him” (Matthew 2:11).
b. From the leper – “A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean” (Matthew 8:2).
c. From His disciples – “Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, truly you are the Son of God” (Matthew 14:33).
d. From the Canaanite woman – “The woman came and knelt before Him. Lord, help me!” she said (Matthew 15:25).
e. From the man born blind – “Jesus heard that they had thrown…” the blind man out of the synagogue, “and when he found him, he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man? Who is he, sir? the man asked. Tell me so that I may believe in him. Jesus said, You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you. Then the man said, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him” (John 9:35-38).
f. From the witness of His resurrection – “So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. Greetings, he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. Whenthey saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted” (Matthew 28:8-9, 17).
g. From the disciples during His ascension – “When Jesus had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy” (Luke 24:50-52).

Jesus Christ Forgave Sins

Mark 2:5-11: “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven. Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone? Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say, Get up, take your mat and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins... He said to the paralytic, I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” God only has the power to forgive man his sins.

Jesus Christ Had Power over His Own Life and Death

“… I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again” (John 10:17-18).

Notice that the unexplainable dual nature of Christ compelled Paul to present Him as the ‘Mystery of God’ to the believers of Colossae in (Colossians 2:2) after having established His supremacy in the previous chapter (Colossians 1:15-19). The apostle who also did not want to leave it up to the saints of Philippi to question the full divinity of the ‘King of Glory’ wrote the words of Philippians 2:5-11 in order to expose this unexplainable phenomenon: “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

“I and the Father are one. The Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me? The Jews answered Him, for a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God. Jesus answered them, has it not been written in your Law, I said, you are gods? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, You are blaspheming, because I said, I am the Son of God?” (John 10:30-36).

A short analysis of the first verse unpacks a truth which, despite its simplicity, is denied by one whose ego causes resistance to the infallible light of Scripture. To be ‘one’ in worldly language is to be a single item or being. Just as we learned in basic math that ‘one’ added to another ‘one’ results in another value besides ‘one’. In other words, the value changes when it is either supplemented or complemented. However, in the realm of divinity, which supersedes mathematical equations and algorithms, a supernatural understanding is called for in the light of faith. No other phrase can better depict the equality that exists between the Father and the Son: “I and the Father are one.” This statement, which crumbles all disagreeing theories, is better worded for the faithless: “There is no difference between me and the Father.” The key that unlocks the agreeing door to this fact lies in one notion—Jesus is either created or the Creator.

“Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, what do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he? They said to him, the son of David. He said to them, how is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son? And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions” (Matthew 22:41-46).

Christ did not refrain from provoking the thoughts of the doctors of the Law by proving His full identity to them: ‘whose son am I?’ He foreknew their answer and He corrected it by quoting a portion of Scripture with which they were familiar: “The Lord said to my Lord.”

Jesus has, is, and will forever remain the Almighty God! May He be crowned with glory as the Sovereign Lord! Hallelujah!

Psalm 24

“The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob. Selah Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty-- he is the King of glory.”