Jesus claimed to be Yahweh 

We don’t need to spend a lot of time proving that Jesus was a person. Instead we’ll focus on evidence that Jesus was God and is eternally existent. As we saw previously, Yahweh is a special name that God revealed for Himself in Exodus 3:14. There’s a lot of debate that Jesus never said He was God. As we’ll see, He clearly makes the connection that He is in fact God. There are several instances where Jesus uses OT references to Yahweh and connects them to Himself. 

In John’s gospel, Jesus says to the Father, “glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:5). It’s clear from the prophet Isaiah that all glory goes to Yahweh alone (Isaiah 42:8). Jesus makes a powerful statement, claiming to have existed before the world was created. This makes the presumption that God exists outside of space/time/matter and in fact created the world. Then Jesus implies that there was a mutual honor between He and the Father pre-creation. 

In the book of Revelation, Jesus says, “I am the first and the last” (Revelation 1:17-18), which is the same description of Yahweh in Isaiah 44:6. Or when Jesus refers to Himself as the good shepherd who will lay down his life for the sheep (John 10:11), he’s borrowing language from the Psalms. “Yahweh is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters” (Psalm 23:1-2). 

Jesus claims to be the judge of all men (John 5:27), while the prophet Joel attributes this responsibility to Yahweh (Joel 3:12). Jesus spoke of Himself as the bridegroom in the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1). Isaiah describes Yahweh as the bridegroom that rejoices over His bride, Israel (Isaiah 62:5). The prophet Hosea picks up on this language when Yahweh says, “You will call me ‘my Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘my Baal’” (Hosea 2:16). 

Lastly, Jesus says to His disciples, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12), while the Psalms describe Yahweh as our “light and salvation” (Psalm 27:1). Jesus proclaims that whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness, but will have the “light of life.” This light of life is more than just good, moral teaching. Jesus is claiming to be the one that will guide people spiritually and satisfy the deep longing of their souls. He will guide the way to eternal life. Jesus continually describes Himself with metaphors used of Yahweh to make the connection that He is God. 

Jesus claimed to be equal with God 

Jesus professed his deity in other ways. One way was through claiming for Himself the same authority as God. He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven” (Mark 2:5). The scribes responded with, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” To prove that it wasn’t any empty claim, Jesus healed the man on the spot. This proved that what he said about forgiving sins was also true. In fact, this is one of the acts that got the religious establishment so upset that they conspired to kill him. 

Jesus claimed to have the power to raise and judge the dead. After healing the paralytic man, Jesus makes a statement that was heretical in the eyes of the Jewish elite. He says, “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will” (John 5:21). He goes on to say that the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God (not the Father), who will then be directed to the resurrection of life or the resurrection of judgment. 

In all of this, Jesus’s desire is that ”all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him” (John 5:23). 

Just say it 

Why didn't Jesus just come out and say that He was God? Well, He did. While teaching at the temple at the Mount of Olives, Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees and accused of having a demon for His blasphemous teaching. Jesus denies their accusations and says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am”“ (John 8:58 ESV). 

If there was ever uncertainty about who Jesus was, He clears it up right here. He is claiming to be the one who was alive “before Abraham was.” He’s not simply saying that He’s over 2000 years old. He’s using the present tense “I am,” claiming a transcendence over time that could be only true of God. By using the phrase “I am,” Jesus is claiming not only to be eternal but also to be the God who appeared to Moses at the burning bush. The Jews knew exactly what He was saying because they immediately picked up stones to stone him to death for blasphemy (John 8:59). 

The night before His betrayal as He is with His disciples, Jesus prays to the Father saying, “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed“ (John 17:5 ). Jesus is making two claims: 1) God existed eternally before the creation of our material world, and 2) Jesus shared in the glory with the Father prior to creation. He is expressing His divinity and eternity. 

Paul recognized Jesus as fully God in his letter to the Colossians where he says that “in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,“ (Colossians 2:9 ). The slam dunk for me comes in John 10 during the Feast of Dedication. Jesus is walking in the temple and tells the Jews that “”I and the Father are one,” (John 10:30). This statement echoes the Shema as it refers to God as one in nature, yet clearly differentiates the persons of God. 

Christ’s preincarnate state 

If Jesus is God, wouldn’t that mean that He eternally exists prior to creation? John’s gospel points to the presence of Jesus during the creation of the universe. 

”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.“ John 1:1-3 ESV 

Jesus is identified as the Word later in verse 14 later when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul expands on this idea saying that literally all things were created through Jesus and for Him. Everything in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities. Everything (Colossians 1:16-17). As we read earlier in His prayer to the Father, Jesus is calling for the Father to glorify Him with the glory He had with Him “before the world existed.” 

What about the OT? Clearly we see Jesus’s divinity in the NT, but shouldn’t we also see evidence in the OT then? Most OT references to God refer to the one nature of God through the name Yahweh. However, there are a few examples indicating the distinct nature of the three persons of God. 

When God establishes a covenant with David, He proclaims that He will take the heir of David as a Son (2 Samuel 7:14). Hebrews 1:5 makes the connection that the Son is not referring to David’s son, Solomon, or even Israel as a whole. Solomon failed to follow the law and was not established forever. Therefore, the promise can only be fulfilled by the Messiah from the line of David: Jesus. The Father is identifying the Son as the fulfillment of the promise. 

The prophet Isaiah speaks of a Son that will be conceived by a virgin and will be called Immanuel, or “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14). He later on describes this Son as the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Isaiah lived 700 years before the birth of Jesus, making the claim of a coming messianic king so significant. 

The angel of the Lord 

Many scholars believe there are pre-incarnate appearances of Jesus in the OT called Christophanies. The term “angel of the Lord (Yahweh)” seems to be used interchangeably with Yahweh. In Exodus, the angel of Lord appears to Moses in a flame of fire in the midst of a bush. However, when Moses shields his eyes from the flame and asks why the bush isn’t being consumed from the flame, the Lord (Yahweh) calls to him from out of the bush. The angel of the Lord and the Lord seem to be used interchangeably in this story. 

The angel of Lord also takes on the characteristics of Yahweh. Yahweh manifests himself as a pillar of fire to Israel throughout the OT, just like the angel of the Lord does in the bush. The angel then makes a proclamation, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6). This is a designation reserved for Yahweh alone. 

The prophet Zechariah further distinguishes the difference between the Angle of the Lord and the Lord. 

”Then the angel of the Lord (Yahweh) said, ‘O Lord (Yahweh) of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these seventy years?’ And the Lord (Yahweh) answered gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me.“ Zechariah 1:12-13 ESV 

The angel of the Lord serves the same role as Christ does in the NT. The Father is the One who plans and sends the Redeemer, the Son is the One who is the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit Is the One who convicts and applies redemption to those who are redeemed. We see all three persons of God in Isaiah. 

”I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord, the praises of the Lord (the Father / Yahweh), according to all that the Lord has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love. For he said, “Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely.” And he became their Savior. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence (the Son) saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit (the Spirit).“ Isaiah 63:7-10 ESV 

Jesus is the second, unique person of God. Equal in power and authority. He is eternal and we see evidence of Him in both OT and NT. He claimed to be God in the flesh and His disciples unwaveringly testified to this truth. His role is to do the will of the Father and be the Redeemer for all of creation.