CreatorWorship

The more I read the Old and New Testaments, the more I think that God is most usually repeating Himself in the New and expanding on the thought.  When He repeats Himself He must have a reason and we had better listen carefully. For instance, we tend to believe Leviticus to be the driest of reading and yet Jesus quotes it several times in the Sermon on the Mount and other places throughout Matthew. Hebrews also frequently uses Leviticus; we should look closer at it.  Among the most repeated Old Testament passages are those of Psalms 110.  I have long been fascinated by the repetition of verse one in the New Testament which reads, “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.’”  It is indeed important and the unfolding of its interpretation in the New Testament is quite interesting.

          In order to understand the train of thought it is helpful to have some understanding of the psalm itself.  In just seven verses it packs in amazing insight on three persons and two groups of people.  The first person in sequence and in priority is the LORD (Yahweh in Hebrew), the Great I AM, who is the covenant-keeping God revealing Himself to Abram in Exodus 3:14-15, and who is declared Creator (Exodus 20:11) as He acts as Law-giver in the conveying of the Ten Commandments.  He is speaking to the Lord (Adonai in Hebrew), who Yahweh declares will rule (v.2) and preside as a permanent priest (v.4) and reside at Yahweh’s right hand.  The third person indicated in the psalm by “my” is David, who wrote the psalm, the present king of Israel. Because he refers to “my Lord” he clearly identifies himself as a servant of Adonai.  He is perhaps standing at the foot of the throne as Yahweh makes these declarations to Adonai in verses 1-4 and Adonai responds in verses 5-7.  And Adonai’s response is just as bold as Yahweh’s declarations as He affirms that He will fulfill His position and role.  From this position of strength, at the right hand of Yahweh, Adonai will act as a warrior king, smashing the enemies among whom He rules (v.2,6).  As a picture of the victorious champion He will lift up His head from drinking (v.7) as He pursues His enemies, fully confident of the outcome, which is, His enemies as a footstool (v.1). His people are those who freely volunteered when He came to power, plentiful as dew and sanctified (holy array) from the inception of His rising (dawn) (v.3).  His people are greatly blessed by walking in the victory He is given by Yahweh and secures by His rule, while His enemies, the kings and their nations will be shattered and their corpses spread over a wide country (v.6).  When the enemies are subdued He will continue as a priest among His people even as Melchizedek, king of peace and righteousness (Hebrews 7:2).  Melchizedek, and therefore Adonai by Mechizedekian priesthood, is clearly greater than Abraham, the father of the Hebrews (Hebrews 7:4-7), because Abraham blesses him.  Thus, He will fulfill being “a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices” (Zechariah 6:13).  But who is this “Branch” (Zechariah 6:12), this Lord, this king, this priest, this champion?  The proclamation of who is laid out in careful sequence with abundant evidence in the New Testament.  I want to write about that another day.

Soon many Christians of the world will celebrate Epiphany (“appearance” of Christ and visitation of the Wise Men, January 6^th).  But to whom were these Magi coming, a mere peasant or the forsaken descendent of a long defunct dynasty?  If the New Testament is to be believed He was and is much more.  My last article demonstrated in part the external, pre-Nicean and internal, scriptural evidence for the New Testament’s reliability.  The presence of each of the 27 books and the absence of others (particularly late, Gnostic writings) is valid apart from accusations that the Council of Nicea and emperor Constantine contrived it. The same Scripture and pre-Nicean church fathers present a clear and strong case for who Jesus is.

          Following are quotes of church fathers from AD 105 to AD 305.¹ Recall that the Council of Nicea occurred in AD 325.

   “God himself was manifested in human form.” (Ignatius)

  “It is fitting that you should think of Jesus Christ as God.” (Clement)

“The Father of the universe has a Son. And he… is even God.” (Justin Martyr)

“He is God, for the name Emmanuel indicates this.” (Irenaeus)

“…Christ our God.” (Tertullian)

“No one should be offended that the Savior is also God” (Origen)

“…He is not only man, but God also…” (Novatian)

“Jesus Christ, our Lord and God” (Cyprian)

“…He truly was and is… with God, and being God…” (Methodius)

“We believe him to be God.” (Lactantius)

“Christ performed all those miracles…the…duty of Divinity.” (Arnobious)

Polycarp, disciple of the apostle John who “was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ”, wrote in his Letter to the Philippians (not the book in the Bible, this having been written between AD 120-140), “to all those under heaven who will yet believe in our Lord and God Jesus Christ and in his Father who raised him from the dead.”  Polycarp was burned at the stake in AD 155 affirming his belief in Christ as his Savior.  These men were not no-names or cronies from a political party.  They were leaders in their churches, different nationalities and generations (independent sources), who affirmed that Jesus is God. 

          How could they do otherwise and be truthful?  The New Testament gives abundant testimony to the nature of Christ as both fully man and fully God.  The most clearly attested New Testament books, the Gospels, record Jesus’ declarations of who He is. “So the Jews said to Him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?’  Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.’  Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him…” (John 8:57-59).  The strongest evidence that this clearly is a declaration of deity by Jesus was given by the Jews who attempted to stone Him. They rightly understood that Jesus was declaring Himself to be the “I AM” of Exodus 3:14 and proceeded to execute the judgment of “anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death” (Leviticus 24:16).  Jesus also said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).  On another occasion Jesus said to His disciple, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:9).  These two declarations of unity with the Father do not mean similarity but congruence of essence and nature.  But why doesn’t Jesus just say He is God?  The reason is clear.  Jesus says of Himself, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me of whom you say, ‘He is our God’;” (John 8:54).  Jesus is giving more than enough information for anyone who hears Him to believe that He is claiming to be God and backs it up with miracles and fulfilled prophecy.  But “The Jews gathered around Him, saying, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense?  If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.’  Jesus answered, ‘I did tell you, but you do not believe.  The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me.’” (John 10:24-25).  What a privilege I have to begin the New Year with the declaration that Jesus is my God and Savior.  What a good time for Him to become yours.

¹A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs, editor David Bercot, 1998.