The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 1301-A, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 3."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE.  ©1976. All Rights Reserved.

Question

Answer

Now, I know you confront people who want to argue about that. Jehovah’s Witnesses, other people… There are a lot of ways to approach that and we’ve approached that in the Gospel of John; you could sit down and listen to the whole series on the Gospel of John: it’ll come through loud and clear. But let me approach it from a different angle.

Where does it say in scripture that Jesus Christ is God? Now, get your Bible handy. I want to give you a little study here that I think you’ll find very refreshing and exciting. Isaiah 43:10: “‘Ye are my witnesses,’ saith the Lord,” Isaiah 43:10, “‘and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no savior.’” How many saviors? One. “‘I have declared, and have saved, and I have shown that there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses,’ saith the Lord, ‘that I am God.’” How many gods? One God, one Savior.

Isaiah 45:11: “Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, ‘Ask me’”—that is, the Maker of Israel—“‘ask me of things to come concerning my sons’”—that is, Israel—“‘concerning the work of my hands command ye me. I have made the earth, and created man on it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their hosts have I commanded.’” How many saviors? One. How many gods? One. How many creators? One.

Now, go to John 1: “In the beginning was the Word; the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Now, they want to say the Word was a god. Don’t worry about that at this point; go to verse 2: “The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” How many creators are there? One. If there is a creator in John 1 and a creator in Isaiah 43 and 45, it must be the same person, right?

Who is Jesus Christ? God. No other conclusion is reasonable.

Let me take you somewhere else. Jeremiah 10:10, “But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God,” Jeremiah 10:10 says, “and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. Thus shall ye say unto them, 'The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens, He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his understanding. When he uttered his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightning with rain and brings forth the wind out of his treasures. Every man is stupid in his knowledge: every goldsmith is confounded by the engraved image for his melted image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them; they are vanity, and the work of errors. In the time of their judgment, they shall perish. The portion of Jacob is not like them”—that is, the God of Jacob is not like those idols—“He is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance. The Lord of Hosts is his name.”

Now, there is a tremendous statement about God, a fantastic statement about God! You go to Colossians 1 and it’ll knock you over to read this. Here it is talking about the Son. Colossians 1:15: “His Son, who is the image of the invisible God, the ‘prototokos’ of all creation”—the primary one—“By him were all things created in heaven, in earth, visible, invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and by him all things consist.”

Listen, that sounds like an echo of Jeremiah, doesn’t it? Only here it’s referring to Christ. The conclusion is absolute: Jesus Christ and God are one and the same. There is no other conclusion possible.

You go to Isaiah 6. Isaiah is in the temple, he sees the vision of God… A tremendous cry from his lips, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory. Woe is me for I am undone! I am a man of unclean lips; I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts!” Jeremiah says, “I have seen the Lord and He’s holy and He’s high and He’s lifted up and I am unclean.” That’s God. That’s the Lord.

John 12 is interesting. John 12:37: “But though he had done so many miracles before them”—Jesus—“yet they believed not on him.” Why? “That the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, ‘Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?’ Therefore, they could not believe because Isaiah said,” again, “‘He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.’” Listen, “These things said Isaiah when he saw”—what? “His glory.”

Wait a minute! Do you mean to tell me that Isaiah 6, where Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord, he was seeing Christ? That’s exactly what John 12 says.

No other conclusion is possible. Beloved, it goes like that again and again and again and again. In the Old Testament, Isaiah 40, “‘Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,’ saith your God”—that great statement about comfort—and then it says, “The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for’”—whom? “‘Our God!’”

And what did John the Baptist say when Jesus came? The same words. The exact same words. Matthew 3, John the Baptist said the very same thing: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” You see, it all comes down together, people, to say that Jesus is God. It’s exciting to know that you and I both can have a personal relationship with the living God, through faith in Jesus Christ who is God incarnate, who died and rose again for our salvation. That’s exciting. And isn’t it exciting to get into the Bible and study what God has for us? Thrilling to know that we’ve not only been saved, but we’ve been given a chart and a compass to take us all the way through life into eternity with joy? That’s thrilling.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
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