“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was WITH God, and the Word WAS God….and the Word was made flesh….” (Jn 1:1, 14 KJV).
JEHOVAH is named the Rock
The inspired saints of the Old Testament rejoiced in God, their Rock. Moses sang: “ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he” (Deut 32:3-4). Godly Hannah prayed: “…neither is there is any Rock like our God” (1 Sam 2:2). David also sang to God: “The LORD is my rock….the God of my rock….who is a rock, save our God?” (2 Sam 22:2-3, 32).
And again, in the song which God gave to Moses for Israel to sing, that it would be a witness for God against Israel (Deut 32:19, 22), we see God and the Rock being equated and identified with each other. “Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee….How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up? For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges” (Deut 32:18, 30-31).
JESUS is named the Rock
Jesus Christ is not a god, nor an angel, a demigod, demiurge, or super being of whatever nature; he is not some kind of lesser divinity or divine being, more than man or angel but less than God. Jesus Christ is Jehovah, creator of the universe and judge of all mankind. This is stated clearly by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians. He writes, “they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Cor 10:1-4).
“The spiritual Rock” in this passage refers to passages in the OT that show the presence and working of Jehovah. For example, when Moses heard the voice from the burning bush (Ex 3:1-4:17), he discovered it was God (Jehovah) who spoke to him. He is first described as “the angel of the LORD”. This being makes his appearance on several occasions in the OT, and on at least two of them he is identified as Jehovah; i.e. here, in this passage which we’ll consider in a moment; and in Judges, where the angel of the LORD appeared to the wife of Manoah and announced to her that she would give birth to a son, whom we later discover was Samson. She told her husband about the angel and he prayed that “the man of God” would return and give instructions how they were to care for this son. The angel did return and spoke to Manoah and his wife, and then ascended toward heaven in the flame of the sacrifice. Manoah’s awed and terrified response to this was that he and his wife “…fell on their faces to the ground. But the angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord. And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God” (Jud 13:20-22).
And likewise in this passage of the burning bush, the first description of the speaker of the voice emanating from the flames was “the angel of the LORD” (Ex 3:2). Then, in verse 4, he is identified as the LORD (Jehovah), and God. Again, in verse 6, he says, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God” (Ex 3:6). And when Moses asked God his name, he said, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you….this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations” (Ex 3:14-15). This was none other than Jehovah.
It was Jehovah, the speaker from the burning bush, who went before the children of Israel as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night when they were leaving Egypt (Ex 13:21-22); it was Jehovah who dried up the Red Sea so that Israel could cross, and destroyed Pharaoh and his army as they tried to follow them (Ex 14:1-31); it was Jehovah who led Israel through the wilderness in the books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy; and it was Jehovah who, during this time, gave them manna to eat (Ex 16:14-26 cf Ps 78:25 where it is called “angels’ food”), and “spiritual” water to drink (Num 20:2-13).
And who does the apostle himself identify with Jehovah? None other than Jesus, as we see in 1 Corinthians 10:4: “the spiritual Rock that followed them….was Christ”. Paul was saying that the one God of Deuteronomy 6:4, the same who was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob whom the Jews worshipped, the God of the Old Testament, was Jesus Christ whom the Jews had put to death.
And Jesus identified with Jehovah in many places. For example, when he was disputing with the Jews and they challenged him as to his identity, he told them, “Before Abraham was, I am” (Jn 8:58). Here, Jesus takes the most sacred name of God – Jehovah – the name by which God identified himself to Moses and the people of Israel, and claims it for himself. If he wasn’t God, this was the height of blasphemy; God had struck men dead for less (Acts 12:22-23). But what Jesus did when he claimed the name “I am” was far more significant; and no Jew, even the most degenerate among them, would ever dare utter that name and claim it as his own. It was no wonder that the Jews tried to stone Jesus for it (Jn 8:59).
“The Good Shepherd” – Jesus identifies as Jehovah
And on another occasion, he again claims deity. John relates it for us: “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep…..My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God” (Jn 10:11, 27-33).
Jesus’ twice claims deity in this passage. The first claim is not as well recognised as the second. In the first he calls himself “the good shepherd”, thus identifying and equating himself with, and claiming to be, Jehovah; and at the same time the Messiah (David) who was now come. In this claim he alludes to Ezekiel 34 where God rebukes the Israelite leaders, whom he calls “the shepherds of Israel”, in reality false shepherds, for abusing the people of Israel, God’s people, and robbing and exploiting them (Ezek 34:1-10). Jehovah then reveals that HE is the shepherd of Israel: “Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them…” (Eze 34:11-12). And then says he will set up one shepherd: “I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd” (Ezek 34:23).
And Jesus describes himself as the shepherd of Israel, caring for his flocks and pronouncing judgement on the false shepherds, just as Jehovah, his Father did (Ezek 34:11-22 cf Jn 10:1, 5, 8, 10, 12-13; see also Isa 40:10-11 cf Lk 15:3-7).
In the second statement he claims deity and equality with Jehovah: “I and the Father are one” (Jn 10:30).
“Alpha and Omega” – Jesus identifies as Jehovah
And when we read of the resurrected Jesus in heaven, he speaks as God himself, once again taking to himself the names and titles of Jehovah: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Rev 1:8); and: “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last” (Rev 1:11). And when he appeared to John, the description of him is the same as the vision of God seen by Daniel (Dan 10:4-9); and when John fell at his feet as dead, as did Daniel when he saw the same God, Jesus assured him, saying, “‘Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death” (Rev 1:17-18). These titles are those by which Jehovah refers to himself (Ezek 1:26; Isa 41:4; 44:6; 48:12).
In another place, Paul writes, “…without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1 Tim 3:16).
And to the elders of the church in Ephesus, he said, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).
And again, he writes of the Jews and of the deity of Christ: “…Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen” (Rom 9:5).
Many more passages could be added to these, but if these aren’t enough, nothing will be. The fact is that scripture teaches that Jesus is none other than Jehovah and that he took on flesh and became a true man, born of a virgin, and died on a cross as true man while still being deity. This is who the New Testament is all about.
“Philip saith unto him: Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father’” (Jn 14:9).
All scripture references taken from the King James Version of the Bible.