A missionary, returning home from a witnessing campaign, ran out of fuel in a Muslim village of Sri Lanka. While a young man was cycling some miles to get a can of gasoline, the missionary and his companion decided to speak to the people about Jesus. Not knowing the Sinhalese language of the village, this seemed impossible, but a villager who knew a minimal amount of English agreed to interpret.
Now, in the Sinhalese language when one speaks of a divine person he uses the name and adds the word vihansa. Therefore Jesus would be called Jesusvihansa. However, the Muslim interpreter refused to add this title each time Jesus was referred to. The missionary, getting somewhat annoyed at the man's stubbornness, explained that if the man wished, he could tell the people that he was only saying what the speaker was saying. Even that did not work, for he refused this offer.
So each time the name of Jesus was spoken, the man would only say, "Jesus." The missionary would stop him and say, "No! Jesusvihansa."
At the end of the meeting the missionary had to apologize for the fact that he had run out of literature to pass out, but he would be happy to send each one who would give his name and address a copy of the Bible so that they could learn more about Jesusvihansa.
Imagine his surprise when 25 men asked for copies of the Sinhalese Bible, 2 others asked for a copy of the Bible in Tamil, and 1 asked for an Arabic Bible! God used the refusal of the interpreter to refer to Jesus as divine as the occasion for the missionary to emphasize this in correcting the man repeatedly. The audience wanted to know why there was this difference between the 2 men. In subsequent months a Bible study was begun in the village, and a small church had its beginning.
I Jesus is True Eternal God
A The burning question of all ages is, "Who is Jesus?" Or, as Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do you say I am?"
In response to this question, the Apostle Peter gives a beautiful profession of his faith: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus is the Christ – the anointed and looked for Messiah. He is the Son of the living God – the promised One who would sit on David's throne and rule heaven and earth. Peter looks at the man in front of him, a man of flesh and blood, a man Who eats and drinks, a man Whose family he has met – and he calls this man God. He is Jesusvihansa.
As our Bible reading makes clear, not everyone agreed with Peter's assessment of Jesus. Who is Jesus? Replying to Him, the disciples said,
(Matt 16:14) "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
This confusion existed well into the first couple of centuries after Christ's death.
B Who is Jesus? In answering this question, the early church was faced with 2 erroneous streams of thought. The first stream, which does not concern us today, said that Jesus is not full and complete man. The second stream, which I want to spend a few moments looking at, said that Jesus is not and cannot be God. Representative of this view are the Ebionites who, under Jewish influence, denied the deity of Christ in order to preserve the belief that there is one only God. Another representative is Arius. He said that God made Jesus just as He made us. The Son was God's first creation, made even before the world was created. Because He was created, the Son cannot have God's essence or substance. Instead, Jesus the Son is inferior and subordinate to the Father, certainly not His equal. Jesus is only a creature. Today, the Jehovah's Witnesses say essentially the same thing. Another representative of this view is Paul of Samosata. Paul taught that at His baptism, Jesus was adopted by God as Son. In other words, Jesus is not the eternal Son of God. He is subordinate to the Father and not His equal.
It is easy enough to understand why people denied the divinity of Jesus. While here on earth, Jesus was like all other men: He ate, drank, slept, needed clothes, and shed tears. Like all other men, He was born. Like all other men, He had parents, brothers, sisters, and a home-town. Like all other men, He grew and developed in size, maturity, wisdom, and knowledge. Like all other men, He faced temptation, He prayed, He read the Bible. So it is fair to ask and wonder, "How can someone just like us be God?" Or consider Jesus upon the cross. There He was, hanging, bleeding, wounds in His side and on His hands and feet, hard blood coagulating to His flesh. When He died, His body – like all others – became hard and stiff. Can this be God?
C Who is Jesus? What does the Bible say? Over and over again, the testimony of Scripture is so very clear: namely, that Jesus is part of the triune Godhead, that He is Jesusvihansa. The Apostle John starts his Gospel by saying,
(Jn 1:1-2) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was with God in the beginning.
Later on, he clearly identifies this Word as being Christ Jesus.
Consider Christ's names or titles, they reveal Him to be part of the deity: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Is 9:6), one and only Son (Jn 3:16), the Word (Jn 1:1), Immanuel – which means "God with us" (Mt 1:22). Furthermore, His miraculous birth, His baptism, and His transfiguration – they too announce Him to be God.
To His disciples, Jesus can say, "I and the Father are one" (Jn 10:30). When the Sanhedrin asked Him, "Are you then the Son of God?" Jesus replied, "You are right in saying I am" (Lk 22:70).
Many of the people who witnessed Jesus' miracles and heard His teachings proclaimed Him to be the Son of God. When Jesus raised the widow of Nain's son from the dead all the people said, "God has come to help his people" (Lk 7:16). When Jesus walked on water, saved a drowning Peter, and calmed the storm, the disciples worshiped Him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God" (Mt 14:32).
Satan knew exactly Who Jesus was. Remember on what basis he tempted Jesus: "If you are the Son of God ..." (Mt 4:3,6). And Satan's helpers, the demons, they too knew the answer to the question, "Who is Jesus?" One Sabbath day in the synagogue of Capernaum, a man possessed by a demon cried out at the top of his voice,
(Lk 4:34) "Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God!"
After the service, Jesus went to Peter's house. The people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness and Jesus healed them. The demons that Jesus drove out of many people at that time shouted, "You are the Son of God!" (Lk 4:41; cf Mk 3:11; Mt 8:28-29).
Jesus' enemies understand Him better than do the Jehovah's Witnesses, Arius, Paul of Samosata, and the Ebionites. When Christ said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven," some of the Jews fumed because only God can forgive sins. "This fellow is blaspheming," they said (Mt 9:2-3). "You, a mere man, claim to be God," said the Jews (Jn 10:33). For that reason Jesus' enemies wanted to stone Him, and for that reason they later crucified Him (Jn 19:7).
The Pharisees correctly realized that Jesus claimed to be God. But they also failed to understand something: that Jesus had to be God, for if He wasn't no sins could be forgiven. If Jesus Christ is not God, then I cannot be sure of my salvation. In fact, if Jesus Christ is not God, then I have no salvation.
An artist once made a sketch of a wintry twilight. The trees were laden with snow; and a dreary-looking house, lonely and desolate, stood in the midst of a drifted field. It was a bleak and depressing picture. Then the artist took some yellow chalk and with a few quick strokes put a light in one window of that home. The effect was almost magical. The entire scene was transformed into one of comfort and cheer.
The birth of Christ has brought light to this dark world. But people, like the Pharisees, prefer the darkness to the light (Jn 3:19). They can't accept a Jesus Who is part of the triune Godhead, so they remain lost in the darkness of their sins.
D Who is Jesus? Based upon Scripture, the Belgic Confession affirms the divinity of Christ. Relying heavily upon the teachings and language of the Nicene Creed, Article 10 tells us three things about Christ's deity.
First of all, it tells us that Jesus is "eternally begotten, not made nor created, for then he would be a creature." Or, using the language of the Nicene Creed, we would say that Jesus is "begotten, not made." We don't use that word begotten anymore. What does it mean? It means "of the same kind or essence." In having a son, a human father, for instance, does not create something essentially different from himself; rather, he produces a son of the same kind or essence as himself. This is a natural law that God has put into His Creation. Genesis 1 tells us that God made sea creatures, fish, birds, livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals "each according to its kind." There is no mingling or confusion among different species. Each was made and each reproduces according to its kind. In some deeply mysterious way God begets, not makes, a Son – someone of His own essence or kind.
In the early centuries, Christians argued whether Christ was of the exact same substance of the Father (a view expressed by the Greek word homoousios) or was merely of similar or like substance (a view expressed by the Greek word homoiousios). In other words, was Christ God or was He merely like God, was He homoousios with God or was He homoiousios with God? Arguments over this threatened to tear the Roman Empire apart. The Belgic Confession – and this is the second thing it tells us about Christ's divinity – affirms that Christ is homoousios with God. He is of the exact same substance:
He is one in essence with the Father;
coeternal;
the exact image of the person of the Father
and the "reflection of his glory,"
being in all things like him.
The third thing the Belgic Confession wants to affirm about the deity of Christ is that it is eternal. He is and was and always will be the Son of God. Remember the teachings of Paul of Samosata? He said that at His baptism Christ was adopted by God as Son. Not so, says the Confession.
He is the Son of God
not only from the time he assumed our nature
but from all eternity ...
Who is Jesus? Based upon Scripture, the Confession says He is the eternal, homoousios, begotten Son of God. He is divine, part of the Godhead. He is Jesusvihansa.
II Whom We Invoke, Worship, and Serve
A Notice how the Belgic Confession concludes article 10? It says,
So then,
he is the true eternal God,
the Almighty,
whom we invoke,
worship,
and serve.
If Jesus is God – and He is – then we ought to invoke, worship, and serve Him.
Jesus is God. Therefore, His name ought to be invoked, used in prayer and blessing. Jesus tells us, for instance, to pray in His name.
(Jn 14:13-14) And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. (14) You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
(Jn 16:23-24) In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. (24) Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
Jesus also tells us to welcome each other in His name and to come together in His name (Mt 18:5,20). And, in that ending to the Gospel of Mark loved so much by sects and cults, Jesus says,
(Mk 16:17-18) And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; (18) they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."
Finally, before He ascended into heaven, Jesus tells the church to baptize the nations in His name, as well as in the name of the Father and the Spirit (Mt 28:19).
With one exception, this invocation of Jesus' name is something that was not done until after Easter. The one exception concerns someone who was not even in the circle of disciples (Mk 9:38-39). However, after Easter, after His resurrection from the grave, men realized that Christ was Someone Whose name could and should be used with the Father's in prayer and in blessing. Remember the crippled beggar before the temple? Peter looked at him and said,
(Acts 3:6) "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." (cf Acts 9:34)
After his conversion and return to Jerusalem, Paul spoke boldly "in the name of the Lord" (Acts 9:28). And, in his dying moments, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" (Acts 7:59).
B Jesus is God. Therefore, He ought to be praised, worshiped, and glorified. However, it wasn't until after Easter, after His resurrection from the grave, that man realized that in Christ was Someone worthy of their praise and worship. It was then that the women "clasped his feet and worshiped him" (Mt 28:9). It was then that a doubting Thomas fell to his knees and said, "My Lord and my God!" (Jn 20:28). Don't forget, Thomas and the women were Jews. Every day they recited the Shema, "The Lord our God, the Lord is one." But when they were confronted with the resurrected Christ, they confessed that He too was God. Ever since Easter the church has confessed that He Whose human ancestry is Jewish is also "God over all, forever praised!" (Rom 9:5; cf Rom 1:3,4).
We turn to the book of Revelation and there we see scene after scene of the resurrected Christ being praised, worshiped, honored, and glorified:
(Rev 5:12-13) In a loud voice [the angels] sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" (13) Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!"
(Rev 7:12) "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"
C Jesus is God. Therefore, He ought to be served. The Apostle Paul speaks of this. He says that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth" (Phil 2:10). The Book of Hebrews says, "you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet" (Heb 2:7). Many Christians realize that Psalm 2 speaks of Christ when it says:
(Ps 2:7-11) I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father. (8) Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. (9) You will rule them with an iron scepter ; you will dash them to pieces like pottery." (10) Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. (11) Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling.
Notice, the service that was due Christ did not happen until after both the resurrection and the ascension.
Conclusion
Who is Jesus? "Who do you say I am?" He is Jesusvihansa. He is the eternal, homoousios, begotten Son of God. He is divine, part of the Godhead.