WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:03.700 The day we can fully wrap our minds around the nature of God is the day we've reduced 00:03.700 --> 00:06.800 Him to our level, thereby making a God in our own image. 00:07.480 --> 00:10.740 The God of the Bible is marvelous and transcendent, without beginning, 00:10.840 --> 00:15.420 without end, rightly called in Judaism the Ein Self, the Infinite One, and according 00:15.420 --> 00:18.340 to the Scriptures, clearly complex in His unity. 00:18.920 --> 00:22.540 Will we accept the biblical witness or will we try to create a God based on our 00:22.540 --> 00:24.400 own limitations and perceptions? 00:25.080 --> 00:29.020 In the Old Testament, the Lord stated categorically that He would share His 00:29.020 --> 00:30.600 glory with no one. 00:31.020 --> 00:36.940 As written in Isaiah 42.8, I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory I give to no 00:36.940 --> 00:39.880 other, nor my praise to carved idols. 00:40.620 --> 00:45.000 Yet we see in the New Testament, Revelation 5, that massive glory and honor 00:45.000 --> 00:45.740 are given to the Son. 00:45.820 --> 00:49.320 As Revelation records, then I looked and heard around the throne and the living 00:49.320 --> 00:52.880 creatures and the elders and the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads 00:52.880 --> 00:57.420 and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb who was 00:57.420 --> 01:02.760 slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and 01:02.760 --> 01:03.180 blessing. 01:03.720 --> 01:06.700 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the 01:06.700 --> 01:10.560 sea and all that is in them saying, to Him who sits on the throne and to the 01:10.560 --> 01:14.840 Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. 01:15.240 --> 01:19.120 And the four living creatures said Amen and the elders fell down and worshipped. 01:19.860 --> 01:25.240 Either God has gone back on His word and another created being is sharing in His 01:25.240 --> 01:28.980 unique honor and glory or the Son is one with the Father, equally God. 01:29.520 --> 01:34.380 And note here that all creation worships the Lamb, meaning that He Himself is not 01:34.380 --> 01:34.820 created. 01:35.780 --> 01:40.280 Having interacted with religious Jews for the last 47 years, I can assure you that 01:40.280 --> 01:44.520 if the Son did not share in the divine nature, to worship Him like this would be 01:44.520 --> 01:45.400 blasphemous. 01:45.400 --> 01:49.900 That indeed would be detracting from the worship of the only God and engaging in 01:49.900 --> 01:51.120 some form of idolatry. 01:51.840 --> 01:56.100 This is not like one candle lighting another candle without the first candle 01:56.100 --> 01:56.820 losing its light. 01:57.060 --> 01:59.460 This is like the second candle becoming predominant. 01:59.560 --> 02:03.780 In this case, having millions of people praising and glorifying Jesus and to this 02:03.780 --> 02:06.660 day, around the world, often without mention of the Father. 02:07.160 --> 02:11.740 If the Son is not God, then He has taken glory from the Father. 02:12.560 --> 02:16.720 What makes this all the more interesting is that throughout Isaiah 40-48, 02:17.180 --> 02:21.780 God repeatedly says of Himself, I am, or I am He, translated into Greek as 02:21.780 --> 02:22.260 egoimi. 02:23.040 --> 02:28.220 Yet that is the very language Jesus uses of Himself in John, most decisively in 02:28.220 --> 02:32.980 John 8-58, truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. 02:33.580 --> 02:35.900 Not I was, but I am. 02:36.500 --> 02:40.620 So not only does Jesus share in the Father's glory, but He identifies Himself 02:40.620 --> 02:45.980 with the eternal God saying, I am, or I am He, also declaring His eternal 02:45.980 --> 02:46.880 pre-existence. 02:47.480 --> 02:54.120 And just as the Lord says in Isaiah 48-12, I am He, I am the first, and I am the 02:54.120 --> 02:59.200 last, so also in the book of Revelation, both the Father and Son are called the 02:59.200 --> 03:02.160 Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. 03:02.280 --> 03:07.340 So Revelation 21-6, speaking of the Father who says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, 03:07.660 --> 03:08.720 the beginning and the end. 03:08.860 --> 03:14.960 Then Revelation 22-13 where Jesus says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first 03:14.960 --> 03:16.900 and the last, the beginning and the end. 03:17.160 --> 03:18.860 Also see Revelation 1-8. 03:19.580 --> 03:23.800 He is clearly and unequivocally identifying Himself with Yahweh. 03:24.400 --> 03:27.320 No created being could utter such words. 03:27.820 --> 03:32.660 Only the eternal God could say, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first 03:32.660 --> 03:34.440 and the last, the beginning and the end. 03:34.580 --> 03:37.260 The Son is the eternal God. 03:38.260 --> 03:41.440 That's why in the Old Testament, Yahweh's words remain forever, 03:41.600 --> 03:45.860 Isaiah 40, but in the New Testament it is Jesus' words that will remain forever, 03:46.180 --> 03:46.980 Matthew 24. 03:47.880 --> 03:53.960 The Lord declared in Isaiah 43-11, I, I am the Lord, and beside me there is 03:53.960 --> 03:54.800 no Savior. 03:55.420 --> 03:58.480 Yet throughout the New Testament, Jesus is hailed as our Savior. 03:58.920 --> 04:02.380 Either He is one with God, or there is more than one true Savior. 04:03.060 --> 04:10.040 Paul leaves us no doubt, referring to, quote, our great God and Savior, 04:10.460 --> 04:12.920 Jesus Christ, in Titus 2-13. 04:13.420 --> 04:16.040 That's the most obvious and clear sense of the Greek. 04:16.660 --> 04:20.140 Jesus is our great God and Savior. 04:20.880 --> 04:24.460 We also learn from the same section in Isaiah that when Yahweh created the 04:24.460 --> 04:26.500 universe, He did it alone. 04:27.200 --> 04:33.780 As written in Isaiah 44-24, I am the Lord who made all things, who alone stretched 04:33.780 --> 04:38.140 out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself. 04:38.940 --> 04:44.720 Yet the New Testament tells us explicitly that the Son was involved in creation. 04:45.640 --> 04:50.980 In John 1-1, Jesus, John uses the language of Genesis 1-1 in the Septuagint, 04:51.260 --> 04:55.920 saying that the Word was in the beginning, N-R-K, just like in the beginning God 04:55.920 --> 05:01.360 created, Genesis 1-1, and explaining that what God was, the Word was. 05:01.820 --> 05:07.460 And He continues, all things were made through Him, and without Him was not 05:07.460 --> 05:09.740 anything made that was made. 05:10.120 --> 05:12.400 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 05:13.040 --> 05:18.400 And John tells us it is this preexistent Word, this Word through which all things 05:18.400 --> 05:23.080 were created, which became flesh and dwelt among us, John 1-14. 05:23.760 --> 05:28.780 That's why John the baptizer explained that Jesus ranks before me because He was 05:28.780 --> 05:30.040 before me, John 1. 05:30.380 --> 05:34.720 That's why Jesus said He was from above, that He came down from heaven, 05:35.100 --> 05:39.820 that He came from God and was returning to God, John 3, John 6, John 8, John 13. 05:40.680 --> 05:45.560 That's why Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 8-6, yet for us there is one God, 05:45.840 --> 05:50.220 the Father, from whom all things, from whom are all things, and for whom we 05:50.220 --> 05:56.620 exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through 05:56.620 --> 05:57.900 whom we exist. 05:58.580 --> 06:03.060 Even more emphatically he wrote, Colossians 1, for by Him, speaking of the 06:03.060 --> 06:08.820 Son, all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, 06:09.260 --> 06:14.540 whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created 06:14.540 --> 06:16.780 through Him and for Him. 06:17.080 --> 06:22.200 And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 06:22.780 --> 06:24.060 The text is clear. 06:24.600 --> 06:26.580 The Son is eternal. 06:27.180 --> 06:29.000 The Son is uncreated. 06:29.720 --> 06:32.940 All things were created through Him and for Him. 06:33.580 --> 06:39.480 You really have to engage in a hopeless series of exegetical gymnastics to deny 06:39.480 --> 06:41.480 the plain sense of these words. 06:42.160 --> 06:48.300 And remember, in Isaiah, Yahweh said no one was with Him when He created the 06:48.300 --> 06:48.820 universe. 06:49.140 --> 06:52.720 Yet these texts say He created all things through His Son. 06:53.300 --> 06:54.500 That can only mean one thing. 06:54.820 --> 06:57.140 The Father and Son are one God. 06:57.620 --> 07:02.720 And that's why Jesus explained that it was His Father's will, John 5, that all may 07:02.720 --> 07:07.340 honor the Son just as they honor the Father. 07:08.060 --> 07:13.060 There are other texts which explicitly point to the Son's eternal pre-existence. 07:13.320 --> 07:18.800 In John 17, 5, Jesus prays to the Father, And now, Father, glorify Me in Your own 07:18.800 --> 07:24.820 presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed. 07:25.460 --> 07:26.860 Once again, the text is clear. 07:27.580 --> 07:31.920 John also tells us in chapter 12 that when Isaiah saw the Lord's glory, meaning 07:31.920 --> 07:37.600 Yahweh in His glory, in Isaiah 6, it was the Son of God he saw, the one who 07:37.600 --> 07:39.460 suffers and dies in Isaiah 53. 07:39.980 --> 07:43.760 Isaiah saw the Son of God and the Son was called Yahweh. 07:44.580 --> 07:50.700 That's why Paul tells us explicitly in Philippians 2 that Jesus existed in the 07:50.700 --> 07:54.900 form of God, yet emptied Himself and became a servant, dying for us. 07:55.340 --> 08:00.800 And that's why Paul uses a text speaking of Yahweh in Isaiah 45, 23, where God 08:00.800 --> 08:06.260 swears that every knee will bow to Him and every tongue swear to Him and applies the 08:06.260 --> 08:11.200 verse to Jesus, saying that every knee will bow to Him and every tongue confess 08:11.200 --> 08:12.180 that He is Lord. 08:12.720 --> 08:18.420 If the Son is not deity, that's blasphemous and it cannot possibly be to 08:18.420 --> 08:19.320 the glory of the Father. 08:19.940 --> 08:23.520 Just think if the verse were referred to an angel rather than Yahweh, it's 08:23.520 --> 08:24.780 unimaginable. 08:25.460 --> 08:31.540 Note also that Paul uses the example of Jesus in Philippians as an example of 08:31.540 --> 08:32.640 humility. 08:33.460 --> 08:37.680 He didn't take what rightly belonged to Him, namely the privileges of deity, 08:38.220 --> 08:40.580 but rather emptied Himself on our behalf. 08:40.960 --> 08:46.580 He who was eternally God came to earth as a servant to die for us. 08:47.240 --> 08:52.300 That's why Jesus said that He often longed to have mercy on Jerusalem, but He was not 08:52.300 --> 08:54.020 willing, Matthew 23. 08:54.640 --> 08:58.760 He was the one moving His people throughout Old Testament times. 08:59.680 --> 09:05.720 That's why Hebrews 1, 8, quoting from Psalm 45, 7, says to the Son, Your throne, 09:06.020 --> 09:08.280 O God, is forever and ever. 09:09.060 --> 09:12.780 Yes, the Son is God and has an eternal throne. 09:13.440 --> 09:17.560 And no one in the New Testament is designated like this other than Almighty 09:17.560 --> 09:18.380 God Himself. 09:20.540 --> 09:24.860 By the way, the plain sense of the Hebrew and Greek is apparent and I'll gladly get 09:24.860 --> 09:27.040 into that if there's any debating of the translation. 09:27.820 --> 09:32.540 And not only so, Hebrews continues, quoting from Psalm 102, a psalm about 09:32.540 --> 09:35.460 Yahweh, the creator of the universe. 09:36.800 --> 09:42.580 Hebrews continues, quoting from Psalm 102 and applying these words to the Son. 09:43.300 --> 09:48.740 And You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens 09:48.740 --> 09:50.200 are the work of Your hands. 09:50.560 --> 09:52.720 They will perish, but You remain. 09:53.140 --> 09:55.820 They will all wear out like a garment, like a robe. 09:55.840 --> 09:57.300 You'll roll them up like a garment. 09:57.440 --> 10:01.360 They'll be changed, but You are the same and Your years will have no end. 10:01.820 --> 10:06.820 The Son is the eternal creator, the one who always was and always will be. 10:06.920 --> 10:09.200 That's what Scripture states. 10:09.740 --> 10:13.160 We don't need to play games with this text and try to make it say something it's not 10:13.160 --> 10:13.540 saying. 10:14.120 --> 10:17.660 The text clearly and indisputably speaks of the Lord creating the heavens and the 10:17.660 --> 10:21.620 earth, which will ultimately wear out, but He, the eternal Lord, will remain the 10:21.620 --> 10:22.060 same. 10:22.680 --> 10:24.540 Hebrews applies this to the Son. 10:25.200 --> 10:29.800 Psalm 102 makes frequent reference to Yahweh, yet the psalm is referred to the 10:29.800 --> 10:30.940 Son in Hebrews 1. 10:31.780 --> 10:35.040 Not only so, but the Greek speaks of the Lord creating the universe in the 10:35.040 --> 10:36.000 beginning, arkos. 10:36.410 --> 10:38.560 There's no denying the plain truth of these words. 10:39.400 --> 10:43.200 And Hebrews makes the consistent argument that the Son is greater than the angels, 10:43.640 --> 10:47.440 yet in first century Judaism, the very context of these words, there is no one 10:47.440 --> 10:48.900 higher than the angels and God Himself. 10:49.800 --> 10:54.460 That's why Isaiah said in 9.6 that one of the Messiah's titles would be Mighty God, 10:54.900 --> 10:58.180 yet it's Yahweh in Isaiah 10.21 who's called Mighty God. 10:58.660 --> 11:02.780 That's why Thomas said to the risen Jesus, My Lord and My God. 11:03.320 --> 11:04.600 The text is totally clear. 11:05.280 --> 11:10.960 And that's why Paul wrote in Colossians 2.9 that the whole fullness of deity dwelt 11:10.960 --> 11:12.580 in bodily form in Jesus. 11:13.380 --> 11:19.020 Peter is clear as well, writing in 2 Peter 1.1 about the righteousness of our God and 11:19.020 --> 11:20.120 Savior, Jesus Christ. 11:20.520 --> 11:24.900 And it's very likely that Paul speaks of Jesus as God in Romans 9.5, while it's 11:24.900 --> 11:30.380 most likely that in 1 John 5.20 John states that Jesus Christ is the true God. 11:30.860 --> 11:34.660 That's why Jesus could say that the Father was in Him and He in the Father, 11:34.780 --> 11:35.320 John 14. 11:35.920 --> 11:40.240 That's why Paul identifies the Spirit of God with the Spirit of Christ in Romans 8. 11:40.760 --> 11:46.360 That's why Paul could pray to the Father and Son together in 1 Thessalonians 3.13 11:46.360 --> 11:51.300 saying, Now may our God and Father Himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. 11:51.520 --> 11:55.240 And he uses a singular verb in the Greek for the Father and Jesus. 11:55.840 --> 12:00.180 And why else would Paul include Jesus in a prayer to the Father, let alone pray to 12:00.180 --> 12:03.540 the Father and Son using a singular verb in the Greek, unless they're one? 12:04.220 --> 12:09.960 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul puts Jesus first, uses the singular verb again, Now may our 12:09.960 --> 12:14.300 Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father who loved us and gave us eternal 12:14.300 --> 12:17.020 comfort and good hope through grace comfort your hearts. 12:17.640 --> 12:21.440 That's why prayer is offered directly to the Son in the New Testament. 12:22.160 --> 12:25.660 Stephen prays to Him in Acts 7, Lord Jesus receive my spirit. 12:26.140 --> 12:29.900 We're taught to pray Maranatha, which in Aramaic means our Lord come. 12:30.420 --> 12:34.820 And John calls out to Him in Revelation 22, even so come Lord Jesus. 12:35.440 --> 12:39.320 Jesus even told us to ask Him for anything and He'd do it in John 14. 12:39.980 --> 12:44.800 That's why in Revelation 22, we read that the throne of God and of the Lamb will be 12:44.800 --> 12:48.900 in the New Jerusalem and His servants will worship Him, not them, but Him, 12:49.260 --> 12:51.880 God and the Lamb, one divine being and one throne. 12:52.340 --> 12:57.060 That's why in Revelation 22, we read that the throne of God and of the Lamb will be 12:57.060 --> 13:00.960 in the New Jerusalem and His servants will worship Him, not them, but Him, 13:01.440 --> 13:05.740 God and the Lamb, one divine being and in the end, one throne, not two. 13:06.660 --> 13:10.960 They will see His face, not their faces, and His name, not their names, 13:11.220 --> 13:12.700 will be on their foreheads. 13:12.980 --> 13:18.700 To review, there's no question whatever that the Son is eternal, preexistent and 13:18.700 --> 13:23.040 fully divine, the one through whom all things were created and the one who is 13:23.040 --> 13:26.700 worthy to receive praise, honor and glory and to whom prayer can be directed. 13:27.240 --> 13:31.200 That's why He's called God in a number of texts and that's why we worship Him as 13:31.200 --> 13:32.360 God, one with His Father. 13:33.080 --> 13:36.680 And that's why when Jesus returns to the earth and His feet touch the Mount of 13:36.680 --> 13:40.760 Olives, as promised in Acts 1.11, Zechariah tells us that it will be 13:40.760 --> 13:44.000 Yahweh's feet that touch down, Zechariah 14. 13:44.440 --> 13:48.800 And that's why we baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 13:49.400 --> 13:52.580 A glorified man has no place between the Father and the Spirit. 13:53.160 --> 13:57.100 In fact, as we look at the scriptural evidence, we see that lying to the Spirit 13:57.100 --> 14:02.380 is lying to God, Acts 5, that the Spirit can be grieved, Isaiah 63, Ephesians 4, 14:02.820 --> 14:06.480 that the Spirit teaches, guides, speaks, intercedes, appoints leaders and 14:06.480 --> 14:10.740 bears witness, many scriptures for all of that, that the Spirit is manifest through 14:10.740 --> 14:13.240 wisdom and knowledge and that the Spirit is eternal. 14:13.860 --> 14:16.000 The Spirit is also God. 14:16.600 --> 14:19.160 That's why Paul could speak of the love of the Spirit. 14:19.700 --> 14:23.660 And that's why Paul could invoke this benediction, the grace of the Lord Jesus 14:23.660 --> 14:28.300 Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you 14:28.300 --> 14:29.980 all, 2 Corinthians 13. 14:30.180 --> 14:33.420 And note, you have fellowship with a person, not with a thing. 14:34.140 --> 14:38.560 That's why Christians concluded that God was triune, one God, made known to us as 14:38.560 --> 14:39.960 Father, Son and Spirit. 14:40.680 --> 14:44.980 In the New Testament, the Father is primarily known as God, the Son is 14:44.980 --> 14:49.300 primarily known as Lord and the Spirit is given various titles to explain His work 14:49.300 --> 14:53.720 and mission, although He's sometimes called Lord too, as in 2 Corinthians 3. 14:54.540 --> 14:59.620 That's why Jesus could say things like this in John 15, 26, but when the Helper 14:59.620 --> 15:04.240 comes, whom I'll send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds 15:04.240 --> 15:08.140 from the Father, He will testify about me. 15:08.760 --> 15:12.800 And that's why blasphemy against the Spirit, not against an impersonal force 15:12.800 --> 15:15.360 but against God Himself, was a damnable sin. 15:15.960 --> 15:19.800 You were damned for sinning against a divine someone, not just a powerful 15:19.800 --> 15:20.360 something. 15:21.000 --> 15:24.720 And it's only when we understand God's triunity that we can understand how people 15:24.720 --> 15:28.560 saw God in the Old Testament, yet the Bible says no one's ever seen God. 15:29.080 --> 15:32.380 The Father remains hidden, it is the Son who makes Him known. 15:32.880 --> 15:36.160 That's why Jesus could say if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. 15:36.700 --> 15:40.280 And that's why He could say all things have been handed over to me by my Father, 15:40.720 --> 15:44.940 and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the 15:44.940 --> 15:48.840 Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. 15:49.860 --> 15:54.620 You cannot say that God created the world through a glorified man, or that a 15:54.620 --> 16:00.320 glorified man, Hebrews 1, is the radiance of God's glory and the exact expression of 16:00.320 --> 16:00.820 His nature. 16:01.680 --> 16:07.120 That's why Jacob in Genesis 48 described God as the God before whom my fathers 16:07.120 --> 16:12.700 Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this 16:12.700 --> 16:16.800 day, the angel who redeemed me from all harm. 16:17.440 --> 16:21.540 Yes, Jacob had created the one true God with the angel who redeemed him. 16:22.020 --> 16:27.920 This was his way of describing the preexistent Son, who appeared sometimes in 16:27.920 --> 16:29.740 the Old Testament as the angel of the Lord. 16:30.420 --> 16:31.580 Jacob encountered Him too. 16:32.000 --> 16:37.040 And just as Paul prayed to Jesus and the Father as one, using a singular verb, 16:37.300 --> 16:42.460 so also here Jacob appeals to God and His redeeming angel, one being in the singular 16:42.460 --> 16:43.120 as well. 16:44.440 --> 16:48.040 As a Jewish follower of Jesus, there's always been pressure on me to deny 16:48.040 --> 16:51.920 what Scripture plainly teaches, namely that Jesus the Son is eternal 16:51.920 --> 16:54.440 deity, and that God's unity is complex. 16:55.120 --> 16:59.340 But because the Word is so clear on this, I could not and would not yield to this 16:59.340 --> 16:59.680 pressure. 17:00.520 --> 17:03.600 And by the way, there's far more evidence I could bring from the Old Testament to 17:03.600 --> 17:04.220 support this. 17:04.600 --> 17:05.400 Time doesn't permit. 17:06.020 --> 17:10.080 So I urge each of you to fall down at the feet of the glorious Son and worship Him 17:10.080 --> 17:10.540 as God. 17:11.120 --> 17:15.560 This will please the Father, who sent His Son to be the Savior of the world and who 17:15.560 --> 17:17.440 continues to work among us by His Spirit. 17:18.360 --> 17:21.920 And after Paul laid out God's extraordinary plan to save both Jews and 17:21.920 --> 17:26.760 Gentiles in Romans 9-11, he wrote these incredible words from the Old Testament as 17:26.760 --> 17:27.020 well. 17:27.620 --> 17:31.100 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! 17:31.460 --> 17:34.760 How unsearchable are His judgments, and how inscrutable His ways! 17:35.200 --> 17:37.920 For who has known the mind of the Lord, and who has been His counselor? 17:38.380 --> 17:41.980 Who has given Him a gift to Him that might be repaid? 17:42.440 --> 17:45.560 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. 17:45.620 --> 17:47.000 To Him be glory forever. 17:47.280 --> 17:47.660 Amen. 17:48.340 --> 17:54.120 So let's stop trying to put the infinite and eternal God into the tiny box of our 17:54.120 --> 17:58.720 limited minds as if we ourselves could figure out or define Him or reduce Him to 17:58.720 --> 17:59.860 a mathematical formula. 18:00.500 --> 18:04.520 And let's instead worship our triune God with reverence and awe. 18:04.920 --> 18:07.920 That is humility, and that is wisdom. 18:08.280 --> 18:08.680 Thank you.