“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9: 6
Jesus is called the Wonderful Counselor. He is also called the Everlasting Father. Who then is Jesus? Jesus is God. If you want to know God, know Jesus, He is the human manifestation of the Father.
“I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, for a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; And because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law, I said, ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?” John 10: 30-36
This is one of the most important and intriguing passages in the Bible that deals with the identity of Christ. What offended the Jews, and by extension Satan, was Jesus’ identification with God. Jesus saying, “I and the Father are one” means Jesus is claiming equality with God. To the Jewish mind, a man can never be God. They thought Jesus was a prophet of God to Israel, to deliver them from the hands of their enemies. At this time, they were under the subjugation of Rome, and subservient to Caesar. Thus, they expected the coming Messiah to deliver them from Rome. They liked the miracles and healings that took place, and the food they ate in the wilderness. They had no problems with all the mighty works Jesus performed. But they had a problem with His identity. They taught Jesus overstepped His boundaries when He said He was God. Thus, they picked up stones to stone Him for blasphemy.
There are many people in the church who are in doubt about Jesus’ identity. Because they cannot quite place Jesus, they led themselves into an identity crisis. You cannot know who you are if you do not know Jesus. You can only know yourself in Christ, and until you do, you cannot start to live. The revelation of Jesus unveils the identity of the believer. The Jews had no problem with the works Jesus did, but they could not accept His identity. They said; “For a good work we stone thee not; But for blasphemy; and that because thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” Do you realize that when you start talking like Jesus you run into trouble with the religious world? They think you are proud and arrogant because in their thinking, a man can never be God. Therefore, thinking and talking like God is a sin. What do you do when you come in contact with such people? You deal with them the same way Jesus dealt with these folks here.
Jesus referred them to the book they had always read. It is amazing that the Jews did not know that what they were accusing Jesus of was backed by the law they had always read and used to judge others.
Jesus did not hide the fact that He is God. He is the only God you will ever get to relate to it. But I thought Jesus is a man, you may say. Yes, Jesus is a man as though He is not God, and He is God, as though He was not a man. Jesus is God in a man. No man can know God or get to God without Him. Jesus being a man therefore gave legality to redemption because God is a God of justice. Sin came through a man, and only a man could remove it. But that man that would be qualified to remove sin must be a perfect man. He must be sin-free. Jesus was both sin-free and perfect by Himself.
