Some Jews WERE expecting the Messiah to be Divine
Jesus As God
One of the common misconceptions about Jesus is that He never claimed to be God, and that the Jews never believed the Messiah would be “God”. The reality is neither of those assumptions are true.
The part about Jesus claiming to be God is easy to demonstrate from the Scripture, since Jesus took the name of God for Himself, made Himself “equal with God” in the eyes of the Jews, accepted worship as only God was allowed, and forgave sins as only God could. In the eyes of the people around Him, Jesus clearly made Himself out to be God, and they specifically tried to kill Him for it a few times.
However, I’ve always believed (because I heard a rabbi say this once) that the Jews never looked for the Messiah to be Divine.
Turns out that isn’t exactly accurate either. The Essenes were expecting it. And here is a link I found describing it. (Take note the reference to Melchizedek, corresponds to the teaching about Jesus in the New Testament book of Hebrews).
Here’s the link. It’s a short read.
Here’s a more detailed look with more evidence.
Cool, Pastor Brian.
That’s interesting–I’d like to pass this on to my Catholic Bible Study group for thought. Thanks for the post. Merry Christmas!
Good morning Brian
I had to read through your item a few times to try and understood the point you are making. I think you are saying that Jesus always claimed to be God and to be fully equal to him, is that true? You also say that Jesus’ attitude of being equal to his Father is easy to demonstrate from the Holy Bible.
As far as I can tell from my study of God’s Word the Bible, Jesus always claimed to be the Son of God and never God himself. He had a consistently subservient attitude and never even taught his own thoughts on a matter, Jesus did perfectly respresent his Father, he is the “image” of, and at “one” with his Father but is not the same person and in context never claimed to be.
(John 7:16, 17) . . .Jesus, in turn, answered them and said: “What I teach is not mine, but belongs to him that sent me. 17 If anyone desires to do His will, he will know concerning the teaching whether it is from God or I speak of my own originality.
(John 5:19) 19 Therefore, in answer, Jesus went on to say to them: “Most truly I say to YOU, The Son cannot do a single thing of his own initiative, but only what he beholds the Father doing. For whatever things that One does, these things the Son also does in like manner.
Can you please show me some scripture, in context, that show Jesus claiming to be fully equal to his Father?
(John 20:17) . . .‘I am ascending to my Father and YOUR Father and to my God and YOUR God.’. . .
If I have misunderstood you then please forgive me.
Thank you Brian
With Kind Christian Regards
Tony
Yes, I said Jesus always claimed to be God and to be fully equal to Him. Let me give you some Scriptures before I say too much that makes you disagree too quickly. Even if we ignore what the New Testament says about Jesus, we can see it from Jesus Himself:
Jesus gave Himself one of the names of God (a famous one for the Jews) in John 8:57-59, and they tried to kill Him for it because they understood what He had just said. It’s the name God gave Himself to Moses at the burning bush.
In Matthew 22:41-46, Jesus proves from Scripture to the Pharisees that the Messiah was not merely a man, but “Lord”
In Mark 2:5-11 Jesus explains He has the power to both heal and forgive sins. When He forgave sins, the Pharisees reaction was telling. “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
In the passage you quoted in John 5, Jesus goes on to say that just as the Father gives life, so also the Son gives life. Then Jesus says the Father, who has authority to judge, has given “all judgment to the Son.” So the “Son” has the authority of the Father, and the power over life as God does. And then He explains the Son will command the resurrection of the dead. Definitely, God-like qualities, and God-like authority.
And Jesus told Philip in John 14 that “if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father”
In John 10:30-38… the Jews, who understood the meanings behind many of the things Jesus said, specifically accused Jesus of claiming to be God. Jesus then answered them by showing them they shouldn’t be surprised or upset by the use of the word “God” or that He called Himself “the Son of God,” BUT then He repeated the same thing He had said before, that He and the Father were “one.” And they tried to kill Him again after He said that.
At the very least, the Jews in Jesus day certainly thought He had claimed Divinity. That was the impression He gave them at various times.
So at some point you have to question… what then is “the Son” if not God? Obviously the Son is not the Father, but together along with the Holy Spirit, are they three manifestations of one God?
Jesus sometimes claimed to be the “Son” of God, and at other times He used the Messanic title “Son of Man”, and at other times He would say things like “I and the Father are one.” etc… He could use all of these titles because He WAS the Messiah (as promised in the Old Testament), and He WAS the Son of God (which is what He was by birth -just as Adam was called the “son of God” in Luke 3:38) and Jesus could say He and the Father were one because of His Divinity.
I would not say, and the Bible does not teach, that Jesus was all-there-was to God. In very simple terms you might say Jesus was a part of God. In religious terms you would say He was the Second Person of the Trinity. And just as your body is part of you, yet could be said to follow the will of your soul or spirit, so too Christ in His human form, can be part of God and yet follow the will of the Father. It’s one reason why Jesus can say that no one has ever seen God, and yet Abraham spoke to God face to face before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Because Jesus was talking about the Father, and Abraham spoke to the part of God we now call… “the Son.” The part of God that John calls “The Word.”
But the idea that Jesus claimed Divinity is unavoidable in my opinion. The deeper you go, the more unavoidable it is.
The fact the Essenes were looking for that type of Messiah, is amazing.
Whoops, sorry about the repeated comment, my mistake!
I got it fixed up. No problem. Hope you’re having a great holiday season.
Good morning Brian
I hope that you are having a peaceful time.
Which Bible translation do you prefer and use please?
I use mostly the ASV, the NIV, the HCSB, the KJV, and the ESV. Which I prefer depends on when you ask, and what exactly I’m doing. If I’m studying I like using the ASV and KJV as a reference while reading the others. If I’m just reading, I like the HCSB the most probably, but the ESV is growing on me.
Hi Brian
Thanks, that is a great selection of Bibles and I agree about looking to various translations to get a better understanding of the text.
We know that the personal name of the Son of God is Jesus of course and we use it routinely and respectfully don’t we, but what is the personal name of the Father in the Bible?
Hello Brian
I am sure that you and I would agree and say that we love God wouldn’t we?
When we really love someone though; we know his name, we freely use his name, we defend his name at every opportunity don’t we?
If we really hate someone, then we never mention his name at all. In fact, if we hate someone enough, and we are powerful, we deny that he even existed and persuade others of the same, and if we can, we will even remove any record of his name.
According to both John and Jesus Christ himself, this world is currently under Satan’s control.
(1 John 5:19) 19 We know we originate with God, but the whole world is lying in the [power of the] wicked one.
(John 14:30, 31) 30 I shall not speak much with YOU anymore, for the ruler of the world is coming. And he has no hold on me, 31 but, in order for the world to know that I love the Father, even as the Father has given me commandment [to do], so I am doing.
As you know, this wicked one, Satan the Devil, hates God and certainly does not want us to love him and use his personal name. He has even arranged for God’s personal name to be completely erased from some translations of the Bible and replaced with Titles like LORD. As Jesus Christ is also referred to with the title Lord, this sounds like the same person.
The devil loves to mislead us by using “doctrines of men”, like the Trinity doctrine.
(Matthew 15:9) 9 It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines.’. . .
Therefore, Jesus said that some people would believe that they are worshipping God but sadly they are being misled and actually worshipping in vain! Misled by whom?
(Revelation 12:9) . . .the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; . . .
The Bible says that Satan is the most persuasive and effective Conman ever and he really hates God doesn’t he Brian!
Who else could so effectively mislead the vast majority of people on Earth?
In your copy of the King James Bible, what is God’s personal name please?