During Christmas time we celebrate the fact that God became man, and that He dwelt among us. Think about this statement for a moment: God became one of us. God. Christians, as welll as Jews, believe that there is only one God, and that God is one. Therefore, if God became man, and that man is Jesus, then Jesus is God – the one and only God. It’s easy to get so focused on the fact that Jesus is God’s Son that we lose sight of the other fact that Jesus is also God. This is just as important to keep in mind. But, you may ask, can we prove that point in Scripture? I believe we can. Let me walk through this easy Bible lesson – which incidently may work well for you the next time a Jehovah’s Witness comes knocking at your door.
Take a look at John 12:37-41:
37 But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, 38 that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:
“Lord, who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”[a]
39 Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:
40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,
Lest they should see with their eyes,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.”[b]
41 These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.
John is recording something from very near the end of Jesus’ ministry. He said that many still did not believe in Jesus in spite of the miracles that He had done. John then tells us that this is a fulfillment of what the Old Testament prophet Isaiah said – and then he quotes Isaiah. Then, look again what John writes, “…These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.” Clearly, the “Him” is a reference to Jesus, who is the subject of verse 37. But, when did Isaiah see Jesus?
Most Bibles will have a footnote that leads you to Isaiah 6 – and this is where it gets interesting.
Isaiah 6 records the prophet’s famous vision, and his call to the ministry. As the vision unfolds, Isaiah cries out in verse 5: “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 my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”
Now, the reason that the word “LORD” is in capital letters is because the Bible editors are trying to tell us something. They are trying to tell us that the word found here in the Hebrew is “Yahweh,” sometimes pronounded “Jehovah,” and sometimes written, “YHWH.” This is the God who led Isreal out of Egypt, and who is the God of Abraham. So, Isaiah saw Jehovah.
But wait. We just noted that John quoted this passage and, by the Holy Spirit, showed us something else. That is, John showed us that when Isaiah saw the vision of Jehovah, he actually saw Jesus. Jehovah is Jesus. YHWH = Jesus.
These passages, and others like it, make it clear to us that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament. At Christmas we truly celebrate the event of God becoming us in Jesus.
Merry Christmas!
dane