Chapter 1

Messiah Foretold

It was foretold in the prophets who Jesus was even before He was born. These announcements should have caused the people to realize who He was when He appeared unto Israel. In Is.9:6 the scriptures read, " For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace ". Now you will note that the child who was to be born, the son who was to be given was also given the name " The Mighty God " in Hebrew El Ghibbor. The Watchtower Society, which denies the Deity of Jesus attempts to argue against this verse by saying that this is the Mighty God, not the Almighty. Thus in their theology they profess two Gods. The Mighty God and the Almighty God. One referring to Jesus, and one referring to Jehovah. However, there is only One person in all of the Bible who is ever called the Mighty God and that is Jehovah only. Deut.10:17 says that Jehovah Elohim is a great, mighty (ghibbor) and terrible God. That is repeated again in Nehemiah 9:32; again the word "mighty" (ghibbor), is used just as in Isaiah chapter 9. Also in Jer.32:18 the Bible says, " Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the great, THE MIGHTY GOD ( El Ghibbor ), the LORD of hosts ( Heb. Jehovah ts'va'ot - ) is his name" .

Jesus is plainly called the Mighty God, as is Jehovah . Jehovah, of course, is also called the Almighty God. There is no mighty God and an Almighty God. First, there is only One God. Is.43:10 says, "...Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me ". In Is.44:8 God asks, " Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any ". Second, Jesus said in Jn. 17:3 as He prayed, "...That they might know thee the ONLY TRUE GOD..." If Jesus was not that true God, and there is and only can be ONE true God, then Jesus is by implication a false God; for He is plainly called God and there are no two Gods. This, of course, raises the question How could the Father and the Son both be God if there is only one God? This is a good question and one that should be asked and answered. It would only make sense if God were a tri-unity and we will cover that doctrine but for now I just want to concentrate on the fact that Jesus is called God by the inspired scriptures.

Is.62:11 is a very interesting verse. " Behold, the LORD [YHWH] hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him ." Note that "Salvation" in this verse is spoken of as a HE; i.e. His, Him. The pronouns refer to the word "Salvation" as being a person. In fact, the word "Salvation" is from the Hebrew word "Yeshua - " which is the Hebrew name for Jesus.

Yeshua HaMashiach means, Jesus the Messiah. The verse can be translated, "...thy Yeshua [Jesus] cometh...His reward is with Him, and His work before Him." Rev.22:12 says, " ...I come quickly, and my reward is with me..." Jn.4:34 says, " Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work." This is certainly descriptive of Is.62:11 concerning His reward and work. Further proof that Is.62:11 is speaking of a person is found in Is.40:10, "Behold, the Lord GOD will come...behold, His reward is with Him and His work before Him." The "Yeshua" of Is.62:11 is "the Lord GOD" of Is.40:10. In this verse, "GOD" is a variant of "Yahweh" () or Jehovah as the name is pronounced in english.

Speaking of Yeshua [Jesus] being the Lord God, or Jehovah we turn now to Jeremiah 23:5-6;
" Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgement and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." The "Branch" is a Messianic title in the old testament refering to the Messiah. Zechariah 6:12-13 says, " And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both." This person called The BRANCH is also given a name, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS; which in the Hebrew is translated Jehovah Tsidkenu, or The Jehovah our Righteousness.

When we compare the prophecy of Zechariah with Mal.3:1 we find again that Jesus is linked with Deity. "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts" . The latter half of this verse is fulfilled in Matt.21:12, " And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves " see also John 2:13-17. Malachai wrote that the Lord would suddenly come to HIS temple which Zechariah and Matthew both call the temple of YHWH or God.

This certainly tells us that in some way the Branch is also Jehovah Himself. Why do I say, In some way? Because there are many who may not understand how such a thing could be. First, may I say, that this is revelation. Revelation is absolute. We are not to try to change revelation to fit it into our understanding. This is how cults are born. Logic or reason cannot replace revelation. I'm sure Isaiah could not relate a virgin birth to the realm of human reason or experience but he wrote of it anyway as God had dictated it to him, going with what was revealed to him instead of what was understandable to him.

In Zechariah we have the crucifixion and betrayal of the Messiah, foretold. Zechariah 12:10 says, " And I ( the context of the chapter indicates the speaker to be Jehovah ) will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon ME ( Jehovah ) whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In connection with this event, also in the book of Zechariah, we find the betrayal of the Messiah prophesied. In Zech.11:12-13 we read, " And I said unto them, if ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD (Jehovah) said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I WAS PRIZED AT of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD." The LORD ( Heb-YHWH ) said, " Give me MY price...so they weighed for MY price... a goodly price that I was prized at..." The fulfillment of that passage is found in Matt.26:14-16 and Matt.27:3-10. It is said that this prophecy was SPOKEN by Jeremiah the prophet but it was WRITTEN by Zechariah ( Matt.27:9). It had its fulfillment in the betrayal of Jesus the Messiah who was betrayed by Judas for thirty pieces of silver which was cast down in the temple ( LORD'S House ) and was used to by a potter's field. Again we find Jesus being addressed as God.

Micah wrote concerning the pre-existence and eternal state of Jesus in Micah 5:2. " But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth HAVE BEEN FROM OLD, FROM EVERLASTING." As also said the Psalmist, "...From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." The words " From everlasting " can only apply to God seeing as how everything else has had a beginning. The words "from everlasting to everlasting" is a good definition of the word "eternal". We know that the Father is eternal; i.e. without beginning or end. We know from Mic.5:2 that the same is true for the Word of God ( i.e. the Son ). And we also know that it is true of the Spirit of God - Heb.9:14. Only the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost are called eternal in all of the scriptures. Those who are saved are said to have eternal life but that indicates the source of our new life. For only an eternal being can give eternal life.

Isaiah the prophet had seen the glory of Jehovah. Read Isaiah 6: 1-10. In verse three the cry of the Seraphim was " Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD (YHWH) of hosts..." It's interesting that the Seraphim should cry, " Holy, Holy, Holy..." Does the three-fold "Holy, Holy, Holy" refer to God's triune nature? In verse five Isaiah proclaimed, " Mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD (YHWH) of hosts". This, of course, would refer to God the Father. In John chapter twelve, however, John took the vision of Isaiah and ascribed it to Jesus when he wrote " These things said Isaiah, when he saw his [Jesus] glory, and spake of him." - Jn.12:41.

The context of John chapter twelve indicates John understood Isaiah to see the glory Jesus the Messiah. The Apostle Paul mentions the same verse but identifies it with the Spirit of God. " And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them "- Acts 28:25-27. You will notice that I underlined the "I" in the last verse. YHWH plainly said that He would do the healing in the book of Isaiah. But Paul said that it was the Holy Ghost who had made this statement. So we see the words in Is.6, "Who will go for us", we see the Seraphim cry, "Holy" three times. And in each of the three occurrences of this verse in the scriptures we find it attributed to someone else; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost but no one else.

Even the New Testament writers could plainly see that Jesus was God from the Old Testament. For example, when John the Baptist had announced the Lord Jesus' first coming he said, " For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight;" - Matt.3:3 The prophecy being referred to is found in Isaiah 40:3. " The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD (YHWH), make straight in the desert a highway for our God." Interesting that John the Baptist was preparing the way of Jehovah, making straight a highway for our God. Also the Apostle Peter, in that great sermon he preached on the day of Pentecost (Shavuot), said, " For David speaketh concerning him (Jesus), I foresaw the Lord always before my face; for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved;" - Acts 2:25. Read Acts 2:22-36 for the full context. The scripture reference being used by Peter is found in Psalm 16:8-10. In verse 8 the Bible says, " I have set the LORD (YHWH) always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." Here Peter equates the Jesus of Acts Chapter 2 with being the Jehovah of Psalm 16.

The Apostle Thomas was not afraid to say it when he, addressing Jesus, exclaimed, " My Lord and my God;" - John 20:28. Note several things about this statement. First, it was not just an exclamation of surprise for if it were Jesus would most certainly have rebuked Thomas for taking God's name in vain. Second, after Thomas had said this, Jesus did not deny it, nor did He correct Thomas for believing it. Third, Thomas most certainly believed what he said for Jesus said in the next verse, " Because thou hast seen me , thou hast believed." Fourth, instead of being corrected Jesus said that those who have not seen what Thomas had seen would be blessed for believing what Thomas had believed. Thomas had proclaimed Yeshua to be his Lord and his God.

In Revelation 22:6 it is written, " And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done." Verse 16," I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star." The Lord God of the holy prophets identifies Himself as " I Jesus ".

Again, from Revelation 22:16 we back up just a few verses to Revelation 22:13 where Jesus said, " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." Notice those last words " The first and the last ". This person called " the first and the last " is also called " Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end ". This title " Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, is further extended in Revelation 1: 8, " 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." Here we see that The " first and the last " is called not only Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, but is furthermore said to be the Almighty.

So who is this " first and last " ? Revelation 1:17-18 tells us, " And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." Again in Rev.2:8, " And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write, These things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive." There can be no mistake about it that the " first and the last " is the crucified and resurrected Jesus the Lord. Jesus is therefore declared to be the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, and the Almighty.

Furthermore Isaiah 44:6 says, " Thus saith the LORD (YHWH) the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD (YHWH) of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." Again in Is.48:12-13, : Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together." This verse not only teaches the First and the Last to be Yahweh Elohim, but also ascribes the work of creation to Him. Yet Revelation applies the same to Jesus. This leads us into the next chapter.

Creation Declares The Deity Of Messiah

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