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SEED & BREAD
Number 2
THE LORD JESUS IS JEHOVAH
In order to qualify as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ one must
believe the record God has given of His Son. To believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ is to believe what the Bible says concerning Him. The
central and most important feature of divine revelation in regard to Him
is that the Jehovah of the Old Testament is the Lord Jesus Christ of the
New Testament. There is no fact concerning the man Christ Jesus that is
declared more emphatically or that is set forth in more detail than that
He is Jehovah.
In spite of this preponderance of testimony, a denomination that calls
itself "Jehovah's Witnesses" is most aggressive in the denial of this
great Biblical fact. However, in their house to house canvassing they
seldom come upon one who is familiar with all the facts of Scripture
bearing on this great truth, and this results in many triumphs for them
over these ignorant ones. This situation demands that the facts should
be made known, so "To the law and to the testimony: If they speak not
according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Isa.
8:20.
In examining the evidence the student will need to remember that every
time he comes upon the name LORD in the King James Version spelled out
in capital letters, that this represents the Hebrew word Yahweh which we
translate Jehovah. He will also need to note that due to an extreme (but
mistaken) reverence for the ineffable name "Yahweh" the ancient
custodians of the sacred text, the Massorites, substituted in 134 places
the name Adonai. The Companion Bible gives a complete list of these
(Appendix 32). They committed no sin in doing this as it was merely the
substitution of one name of God (Adonai) for another (Yahweh).
In Genesis 15:2,8 Abraham twice called Jehovah (The One who spoke to
him) "Lord GOD", which in the Hebrew reads Adonai Jehovah . This
presents a great difficulty for those who try to tell us that Jehovah
refers only to "the Father," and Adonai refers only to "the Son." This
bit of misinformation is constantly being thrown out by those whose
conversation shows that they have never made a personal study of the
Hebrew titles given to the Deity. Even a superficial acquaintance with
the use of these names in Scripture would show that such an idea is
impossible. Can we deduce from the two passages cited above that two
distinct beings or personalities dealt with Abraham? Certainly not! The
titles Jehovah and Adonai are so inextricably interwoven that no one
with knowledge would think of applying them to two separate beings. They
are many times used in combination; the prophet Ezekiel alone does so
almost two hundred times.
* In Isaiah 6:1-3 the prophet declares: In the year that king Uzziah
died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and
his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had
six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his
feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said,
Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD (Jehovah) of hosts: the whole earth is
full of his glory.
This vision was so overpowering that it caused Isaiah to cry out: "Woe
is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell
in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the
King, the LORD (Jehovah) of hosts. (Isaiah 6:5)
Thus in verse one the prophet says, "I saw the Lord" (Adonai), and in
verse five he says, "Mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD (Jehovah) of
hosts." This presents an insuperable difficulty to those who would tell
us that these two names represent two different beings, since they show
that Jehovah and Adonai are one and the same.
In John 12:38 to 41 a part of this passage is quoted and it is declared
that this was a vision of the glory of Christ; "These things said Esaias
(Isaiah), when he saw His glory, and spake of Him." (Jn. 12:41).
In Isaiah 40:3 the prophet speaks of the preparation of a path for
Jehovah. "Prepare ye the way of the LORD (Jehovah)," are his stirring
words. Seven hundred years later John the Baptist adopts this passage,
applies it to himself as the forerunner and to the preparation for the
public appearance of the Lord Jesus. See Mt. 3:3, and Jn.1:23. Truly the
One whom Isaiah spoke about (Jehovah) is the One who John heralded
(Jesus).
Again in Isaiah, in a passage that begins with the majestic words, "Thus
saith the LORD (Jehovah) that created the heavens, God (Elohim) that
formed the earth and made it" (Isa. 45:18), Jehovah the Creator declares
that "unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear" (Isa.
45:23). This is a part of His future glory -- the honouring of One who
repeatedly declares that "My glory will I not give to another" (Isa.
42:8). Yet in Philippians 2:9-11 it is declared of the one who died "the
death of the cross:"
* Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of
things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father.
What else can "Lord" mean in this passage except Jehovah? The universal
confession that is yet to be made is that Jesus Christ is Jehovah, a
confession that is forced upon men by the unveiling of Jesus Christ.
Some of us willingly confess this now.
The "Jehovah Witness" people claim that they find their name in Isaiah
43:10,12, and 44:8. If so one would think that these witnesses would be
patently familiar with everything declared in these two chapters, also
with those chapters which form the context, chapters 42 and 45. However,
in conversation with quite a few of them I have found them to be
ignorant of this quartet of chapters as a whole and to have very little
interest in what is said in them outside of the three small fragments
they use for their name. Yet, these four chapters contain some of the
greatest declarations to be found in Scripture. Consider these words:
* Thus saith God the LORD (Jehovah Elohim), he that created the heavens,
and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which
cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and
spirit to them that walk therein: I am the LORD (Jehovah): that is my
name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to
graven images. (Isaiah 42:5,8)
* Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD (Jehovah), 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 (Jehovah); and beside me there is no saviour.
(Isaiah 43:10-11).
* Thus saith the LORD (Jehovah) the King of Israel, and his redeemer the
LORD (Jehovah) of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside
me there is no God. (Isaiah 44:6) Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have
not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my
witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not
any. (Isaiah 44:8).
* Thus saith the LORD (Jehovah), thy redeemer, and he that formed thee
from the womb, I am the LORD (Jehovah) that maketh all things; that
stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by
myself; (Isaiah 44:24).
* I am the LORD (Jehovah), and there is none else, there is no God
beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may
know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none
beside me. I am the LORD (Jehovah), and there is none else. I have made
the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out
the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. (Isaiah 45:5,6,12).
* Who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that
time? have not I the LORD (Jehovah)? and there is no God else beside me;
a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be
ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none
else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in
righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear. (Isaiah 45:21-23).
The above passages should be read carefully once again noting exactly
what Jehovah declares concerning Himself. He declares that He is the
Creator of the heavens, the earth, all that comes out of it and man upon
it. He declares that He is the maker of all things, that He alone
stretched forth the heavens, that He spread abroad the earth by Himself.
Words could not be stronger or more explicit in claiming that He acted
alone in the creation. Therefore, when we are told by the Spirit of God
in John 1:3 that the Word, the very Word who be came flesh, made all
things and "without Him was not any thing made that was made," only one
conclusion is possible. The one set forth as the Creator in Isaiah is
the One set forth as Creator in John. Jehovah is Jesus.
Jehovah proclaims that He is the redeemer of Israel, yet in the New
Testament redemption is predicated over and over again to the Lord
Jesus, the Christ "in whom we have redemption through His blood" (Eph.
1:7). Surely, Jesus is Jehovah.
It is the word of Jehovah that He alone is God, that there is none
beside Him, that there is none like Him, that before Him there was no
God formed, neither shall there be after Him. Yet in spite of these
declarations the "Jehovah Witnesses" would explain away the explicit
statement found in John 1:1 that "the Word was God" by inserting the
indefinite article and saying that Jesus was a God. This cannot be true
for it results in a second God who is not Jehovah. Jesus and Jehovah are
one and the same God.
Jehovah declares three times that beside Him there is no Saviour: Isa.
43.11, 45:21, and Hos. 13:4. And yet the angels declared at the birth of
Jesus that a Saviour had been born which Christ the Lord. These words
can mean nothing but "Messiah Jehovah". Jesus cannot be a Saviour unless
He is Jehovah.
Jehovah declares that He is the "First and the Last". All must agree
that there cannot be two firsts and two lasts. How can it be then that
the resurrected Jesus declares in Revelation 1:11, 17 and 18 that He is
"the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last". There is no way this
could possible be true unless the speaker Himself is Jehovah.
Jehovah declares that there is none like Him, none to whom He can be
likened, none equal to Him, yet the Lord Jesus declared that those who
had seen Hi m had seen the Father, that those who knew Him knew the
Father, that men should honour Him even as they honoured the Father.
John 5:23, 8:19, and 14:7 and 9. Paul declares that Christ Jesus is the
image of the invisible God. Not one word of this can be true if Jesus is
not Jehovah.
Again, I repeat, there is no fact that is declared more emphatically or
that is set forth in more detail than that the Lord Jesus is Jehovah.
This is the record God has given. Salvation becomes ours when we believe
the record God has given of His Son.
INDEX
Issue no. 002
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