CHRISTIANS APOLOGETICS: Defending The Christian Faith By JOSHUA NAABU

JESUS AS GOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Both Muslims and Christians believe in prophecies and also believe that Jesus is the Messiah (Surahs 3:45, 4:171, John 1:41, 4:25-26). There is a little difference between them though in the way they view the Messiah. Why do the Christians view the Messiah as God? Is it based on unscriptural ideas, castles out of thin air? To present our case in this Biblical Court of Law,

Firstly, let’s examine some of these Messianic prophecies under a Biblical microscope, looking for forensic evidence to support our claim. May I proceed? [Yes you may.] Thank you.

Zechariah 2:8-10 NKJV[emphasis made] “For thus says the LORD of hosts: . . . . . the LORD of hosts has sent Me. "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst," says the LORD.

It is evident here that the LORD of hosts is sent by the LORD of hosts. Wow, that’s deep! This becomes clearer in the light of John 1:1-14 NKJV [emphasis made] “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 nothing was made that was made. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

For the Word to be used for creation implies He existed before creation and is the Creator. Note that the Bible didn’t say the Word was flesh but rather, the Word became flesh implying that the Word had pre-existence, agreeably to John 1:1. I love John so much because of his choice of words! He said in John 1:1 ….and the Word was God because now the Word is the Godman as vs. 14 puts it. Remember, when John was writing the gospel at that time, the Word had already become flesh as Jesus, died in the flesh for our sins, resurrected and ascended back to God, the Father in heaven.

Now, we know that this Word who became flesh and dwelt among us is Jesus, since He was the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Moving on from there, the Greek word for ‘dwelt’ as used here is ‘skeno’ which means ‘tabernacled’. In other words, the Word tabernacled amongst us. This is an allusion to Exodus 40:34-35 “Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. .” So John also said “And the Word became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) among us, and we beheld His glory.” This makes a representation that the body of Jesus is the Temple or Tabernacle of God.

So Jesus knew and understood that His body was the living temple of God that’s why He said in John 2:19-22 “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days? But He was speaking of the temple of His body.”

2. In Zechariah 12:4-10 emphasis made “In that day,” says the LORD, "I will strike every horse with confusion……… And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

Firstly, the Lord says they will pierce Him and look upon Him whom they pierced. The Hebrew word used for pierce here is “daqar” which means “to stab, to pierce through, to thrust through [as with a spear, javelin, etc.]” It was used in;
Num 25:7-8 “Now when Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust<daqar> both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel.” 
and
Judges 9:54 Then he called quickly to the young man, his armorbearer, and said to him, "Draw your sword and kill me, lest men say of me, 'A woman killed him.'" So his young man thrust him through<daqar>, and he died.
So understanding this, John wrote in John 19:33-37 that the piercing of Jesus on the cross fulfilled Zechariah 12:10.

In Hebraisms, beating of the breasts is a sign of mourning or sorrow as in Isaiah 32:12;
KJV - They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
NKJV - People shall mourn upon their breasts, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.    
NLT - Beat your breasts in sorrow for your bountiful farms and your fruitful grapevines.

One of the examples of a man doing it would be in Jesus parable of the two men who went to pray in the temple in Luke 18:9-14. According to Luke 23:47-48, when the people saw what was done, mourned for Jesus, the Firstborn Son of God, by smiting their breasts, in fulfillment of the same scripture, Zech 12:10. Also this will be fulfilled again in the last day according to Rev 1:7.

3. Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”
Also in Psalms 90:2 “Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God” It is only God who is from everlasting to everlasting so this Messiah is actually God.

4. In Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
This prophecy of the birth of the Messiah proves that He is God.

I AM, the name of the God of Moses as used in Exo 3:13-14, means Self-Existing One or Eternal One. He is from everlasting to everlasting (Micah 5:2). He has neither past nor future but is the Present One, the I AM. God said to Moses “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.”
So in 1st and 2nd prophecy I quoted, it was the Word, the LORD of Hosts, speaking.

Joshua, if the Word who became flesh as Jesus is God then He should have no beginning nor end, so can you show me where He is in Genesis chapter 1? Sure, I can!

In Colossians 1:15-19 of the Greek Transliterated English Bible, ABP, Paul talking about Jesus said, “ [He] is the image of the unseen God, first-born of all creation; for in Him were created the whole, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth -- the visible and the unseen; whether thrones, whether lordships, whether sovereignties, whether authorities; the whole through him and in him have been created.”

Going to read Genesis 1:1, the Bible says “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
So from these two verses, Jesus Christ, is the Beginning in whom God created the heavens and the earth. You see! So Genesis 1:1 talks about “the Beginning” of creation who is the person Jesus Christ and John 1:1 talks about the beginning of Beginnings. This is further confirmed in Rev 3:14, “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:” Hence Jesus Christ is the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, “the Beginning” of the creation of God. This means that He is the originator and instrument for creation. Now, in Rev 22:13, Jesus said, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.". So Jesus, who is God, is the Beginning and the End, He is all in all. Interesting, I see!

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