Worthy is the Lamb

“Jesus is not equal to God.”

“Jesus has a God.”

“The Spirit and Jesus and Jehovah are equal and one?”

These are the statements and questions that were recently posed to me by a Jehovah’s Witness. 

Without a shadow of doubt, I believe Christ is God.  I believe He is the Son of God.  I believe He is equal with God.  Yet sometimes it is hard to defend what I believe in such a way that it is clear and concise. 

This morning I started down a trail of references in search of what the Bible says about Christ being God. 

Colossians 1:16 declares Christ to be the creator of all things. 

Jehovah’s Witnesses agree that Christ created all things (yet insist that Christ Himself was also created.) Anyway, let’s lay aside this point of disagreement and focus on Christ as Creator. 

Isaiah 48:13 reveals One who says “Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens.”

Looking back one verse to see exactly who is speaking here we find the declaration:

“I am he; I am the first, I am also the last. (Isaiah 48:12)

Ok, we must now follow references to “The First and the Last”  for it is agreed that Christ is Creator.  However, is He also the first and the last? 

Revelation 1:1-18 builds a case for Christ being the First and the Last (also referred to as The Alpha and Omega.)

How do I see this?

The most direct statement is found in verses 17 & 18:

“…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.”

 

Of two things we can be certain concerning this passage:

1. Christ is the One who died and is now alive (which is also referred to back in 1:5.) 

2.  Christ declares that He is the first and the last. 

Yet we still do not necessarily have the correlation between Christ being the first and the last and God the Father being the first and the last. (Which is the issue at hand: Is Christ God?) 

Isaiah 44:6 gives a little more information: “Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.”

Whether or not you agree on who “his redeemer the LORD of hosts” is and whether or not you think there should be an “and” in the verse, the unquestionable conclusion of the verse is that He who has declared himself to be the First and the Last has also declared that “beside me there is no God.”

The First and the Last is the only One who is God.

This statement is mutually exclusive: the first and the last must be God.  Conversely, He who is not God cannot be the First and the Last.

Okay, now look at Revelation 22:12-13:“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”

Who is the “I” in these verses?

Revelation 22:20 says “He which testifieth these things saith, ‘Surely I come quickly.’  Amen.  Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” 

With just looking at these few passages that barely scratch the surface of the evidence pointing towards Christ as Creator, while also being the Beginning and the End, God’s Word is clear:

1. Not only does Christ possesses attributes that only God has,

2. Christ is God, and,

3. We must give Him the worship and praise that is due to God!

 “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.  And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.  And the four beasts said, Amen.  And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever.”  Revelation 5:12-14