Jesus was the God of Israel and the angel of the Lord
INDEX FOR THIS SECTION
1. JESUS WAS AND IS GOD.
2. JESUS WAS THE GOD OF ISRAEL IN THE OT AND AUTHOR OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
3. JESUS WAS THE ANGEL OF THE LORD.
4. JESUS AS PRESENTED IN PSALM 2.
5. JESUS CRUCIFIXION WAS PRESENTED IN PSALM 22,
6. EXAMPLES OF HOW JESUS AND HIS GOSPEL ARE PRESENTED IN THE OT AS MODELS.
JESUS WAS AND IS GOD
We have now established several truths about the angel of the LORD including the fact that he was God, but that he was not the Father. This limits our choices as to who he might be. Since we are trying to show that he was Jesus, we must first establish that Jesus was God. We’ll do this in several steps. First, let’s see what the New Testament authors said about Jesus being God.
Matthew reported that Jesus was to be called “Immanuel,” meaning “God with us.” The soldiers at the cross witnessed the earthquake and all of the miraculous signs that followed Jesus death and proclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God.” The term “Son of God,” as applied to Jesus, meant “of the order of God,” and meant that he was God. Prov 30:1-4 implies that some Old Testament authors knew that God had a Son.
Mark starts his gospel with the words, “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
Luke reported that Jesus was called the “Son of God.”
John begins his gospel with these words, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” A few verses later John continues, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” In 1 John 5:20, John says this about Jesus, “He is the true God and eternal life.”
John the Baptist testified that Jesus was the Son of God.
Peter, speaking in Acts 2:36 says that Jesus is both Lord and Christ.
Paul, right after his conversion began preaching that Jesus was the Son of God and proving that Jesus was the Christ…In Rom 1:1-4, Paul says that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead proved that he was the Son of God. In Rom 8:39 Paul says that Jesus is Lord while in Rom 9:5 he speaks of Christ who is God over all. In Phil 2:6 Paul says this of Jesus, “Who, being in very nature God.” In Col 1:15-18, Paul makes a very strong statement about the deity of Jesus, “He is the very image of the invisible God.” He goes on to say that Jesus created everything, that he was before all things, and that he held the very universe together.
The author of Hebrews says in Heb 1:3, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”
James, brother of Jesus, in James 2:1 refers to Jesus as “our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.” This is a strong affirmation of the deity of Jesus in referring to him as Lord, as Christ or Messiah, and associating him with the glory of God.
Peter, in 2 Peter 1:1 refers to Jesus as, “our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” Peter quotes God the Father as saying from his Majestic Glory, “This is my Son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased.”
Jude, another brother of Jesus, says of him, “our only Sovereign and Lord.”
Thus, we see that all of the New Testament authors were consistent in their belief about Jesus. They were eyewitnesses and were convinced that he was the Messiah, the Lord, the Eternal One, the Word, the Savior, the Son of God, the exact image and representation of the Father, and finally the true God.
Next, let’s see what Jesus said about himself being God:
In John 4:25-26, Jesus said that he was the Messiah, the Christ.
In John 5:25-29 and in many other places Jesus referred to himself as the Son of God.
In John 10:30, Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.”
In John 14:9, Jesus says to Philip, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (Have seen the work of the Father who lives in and through the Son, since the Father and Son are one, since they share the same glory and Spirit.)
In John 8:58 Jesus claims to be the “I Am” of the Old Testament. The “I Am” statements are made in several places in the Old Testament. In Ex 3:1-16, a being described both as God and as the angel of the LORD appears to Moses and describes himself as being the “I Am.” This is in the story of Moses and the burning bush. Isa 43 and 44 describe many of the characteristics ascribed to the “I Am.” Let’s look at them and see if we can see the same characteristics ascribed to Jesus in the New Testament.
ISA 43 CHARACTERISTICS JESUS' NEW TESTAMENT
OF THE “I AM” FULFILLMENT
Isa 43:11 Savior Lk:2:11; Jn 4:42; 2 Pet 3:18
Isa 43:11 Lord Rev 17:14, 19:16
Isa 43:12 Proclaimer Matt 12:18; Lk 4:18; (Zech 9:10; Ps 2:7)
Isa 43:12 God Titus 2:11-14; Jn 14:9; Phil 2:5-11
Isa 43:15 Holy One Mk 1:24, Acts 2:23-28; (Ps 22:3, 16:8-11)
Isa 43:15 Creator Jn 1:3. Col 1:15-18, Heb 1:2, 10
Isa 43:15 King Rev 17:14, 19:16
It seems that we were very successful. Jesus fulfilled all of the characteristics ascribed to the Old Testament “I Am.” Another characteristic used of God in Isa 43 is in verse 25 that says that he “remembers your sins no more.” Jesus forgave sins in Matt:9:1-8, and angered the Pharisees in so doing. Another “I Am” statement is given in Isa 44; “I am the first and the last,” which is fulfilled in Rev 1:8 and 22:12-16.
Jesus made many “I am” statements concerning himself. The book of John is supernaturally designed around three heptadic features, seven miracles performed by Jesus, seven discourses given by Jesus, and seven “I am” statements made by Jesus. The seven “I am” statements given in John are:
I am the bread of life John 6:35, 41, 48, 51
I am the light of the world John 8:12, 9:5
I am the gate John 10:7, 9
I am the good shepherd John 10:11, 14
I am the resurrection and the life John 11:25
I am the way, the truth and the life John 14:6
I am the true vine John 15:1, 5
It’s interesting that Isa 43 also had seven “I Am” statements. Seven is the number of “completeness” in the Bible. This completely and conclusively shows that Jesus was the “I AM” of the Old Testament and was therefore God.
Next, let’s briefly look at what God the Father said about Jesus being God.
In Matt 3:17, at the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, the Father speaking from heaven said “This is my Son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased.”
Hebrews 1:4-14 is a discourse by God the Father about Jesus. Here we see the Father calling Jesus his Son, the one whom angels worship, the creator, the one who remains the same and is eternal, the one who sits at the Father’s right hand, the one who will control the end of the universe as we know it, and most important of all God the Father calls Jesus “God.”
We have shown that Jesus was God. He said it, the authors of the New Testament said it, God the Father said it, and fulfilled prophecy also proved it. Now let’s see if Jesus was the God of the Jews. We’ll see many other strong indications that Jesus was and is God.
JESUS WAS THE GOD OF ISRAEL IN THE OLD TESTAMENT AND AUTHOR OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
What I would like to show next is that Jesus, God the Son, appears throughout the Old Testament and in fact was God of Israel, just as God the Father was God of Israel. I’ll also show that Jesus was author of much, if not all, of the Old Testament.
What does the word “God” mean? What does the Bible mean when it uses the word “God?” What do we usually mean when we say the word “God?” I think that we usually mean God the Father when we say the word God, and that’s become common usage of the word. But that’s not the extent of the meaning of the word and that’s not exclusively what the Bible means. God is a plural word (in the original language) that is used with a singular verb. When we say “God,” we are referring to all three persons of the Trinity. If we want to distinguish between the three persons we say Father, Son (Jesus), or Holy Spirit. If I might use an analogy, Americans usually have a first and a last name. Three people in the same family have different first names but the same last name. Likewise, we might refer to Father God, Jesus God and Holy Spirit God (or as we more commonly say God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit). If we are in the same room with three people with the same last name and yell out the last name, all three will respond. If we yell out only the first name, then only one will respond. Likewise, if we call upon God we are really calling upon all three persons. If we call upon the Father, we are then only addressing him and not the Son or Holy Spirit. Jesus taught us that as we pray we are to call upon the Father and to do so in his (Jesus) name. He may then send the Spirit to answer our prayer.
The main point that I’m trying to make is that the Son is God and has always been God. In fact, he was also God of Israel of the Old Testament. The speaker in Isa 43 and 44 refers to himself as “King” and the “Holy One,” terms used of the Son. In Isa 43:25, the author says that he forgave the sins of the Israelites, and in Matt 9:1-8 Jesus said that he forgave sins. Then the clincher is found in Isa 44:6 where it says “Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty” says, “I am the first and the last.” Jesus says the same thing of himself in Rev 1:8 and 22:12-16.
I don’t think that anything makes it clearer that Jesus was the God of Israel than Psalms 22:3-5. This Psalm is a recording of Jesus on the cross, made supernaturally about 1000 years in advance. Many of the Psalms were designed to be performed as plays or musicals with several characters participating in them. I have made an attempt to reconstruct how this might have been done for Psalm 22 and it is included as Psalm 22 in Proof thru Prophecy. Note that verses 3-7 make it very clear that Jesus was God of Israel.
Ex 24:9-12 uses language that certainly implies that Jesus was the God of Israel. Here it says that Moses, Aaron and others went up on the mountain of God where they saw God and ate and drank with him. This must have been Jesus since as we read earlier, man could not look upon the Father and live. This passage goes on to say that the person that they saw was “the God of Israel.”
All of Isa 48 seems to be Jesus speaking. In fact, the whole Trinity is mentioned in verse 16 and it seems clear that the speaker is the Son. Verse 17 makes it clear that the speaker, Jesus, is the God of Israel.
Now, for the real clincher. In Ex 3:1-6, 13-16, we see the following:
The angel of the Lord is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In the next section we will show that The angel of the Lord is Jesus. This will prove that Jesus is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and therefore the God of Israel.
However, there is an even stronger argument than this that Jesus was the God of Israel in the Old Testament. Paul makes the direct statement in 1 Cor 10:1-5 that Jesus was the “rock” of Israel in the Old Testament, the spiritual rock that accompanied them and from which they drank. In Psalm 62:1-2, David said that God was the “rock of my foundation,” Gen 49:24 speaks of the “Mighty One of Israel, the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,” and 2 Sam 22:1-3 says “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.” Zech 3:8-4:7 speaks of the stone and the capstone, which obviously refer to Jesus. 1 Pet 2:4-8 says that Jesus is the stone and rock, and again 1 Cor 10:1-5 says that Jesus was the rock of Israel, the rock spoken about in the wilderness experience written about in Exodus, as well as the rock described in the above scriptures. Exodus 17:6 says that the Israelites drank from the rock in the wilderness. John 4:13-14 says to drink from the water that Jesus provides and we will never become thirsty. John 7:37-39 says that the living water that Jesus gives us is the Spirit he provides within us. Jesus is spoken about as the ‘rock or stone’ throughout the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. Could it be any clearer that Jesus was and is the God of Israel. We have proven that Jesus was God of Israel in the Old Testament, the one who revealed God to the Israelites, so let’s go on to show that Jesus authored much of the Old Testament.
It seems clear to me from Psalm 22, Proverbs 8:32-36, Isa 43, 44, Zech 12:10 and many of the other Old Testament scriptures, that Jesus authored much, if not all, of the Old Testament. Psalm 2 is another example of a Psalm that seems to have been used as a musical or play. I have again tried to construct how this might have been done. To me the proof lies in verse 7 where the narrator or author refers to himself as the son.
Isa 63:8-10 is speaking of Jesus as “the angel of his presence,” likely a reference to the angel of the Lord. It says that “he lifted Israel up and carried them all the days of old.” It also says, “He said, Surely they are my people, sons who will not be false to me; and so he became their Savior.”
There are many, many New Testament scriptures that tell us very plainly that the Old Testament spoke about Jesus or quote Old Testament scriptures as the words of Jesus. Let’s read a few of them.
John 1:45: Philip told Nathanael that he had found the one written about in the law and by the prophets.
John 5:39-47, Lk 24:25-27: Jesus says that the Old Testament scriptures testified about him.
John 5:46: Jesus says that Moses wrote about him.
John 8:54-59: Jesus says he saw Abraham, and existed before Abraham, as the “I AM.”
John 12:41: John says Isaiah saw Jesus glory and spoke of him.
John 15:25: John says that Ps 35:19 and 69:4 are Jesus speaking.
Acts 28:23-24: Paul tried to convince the Romans about Jesus using the Law of Moses and the prophets.
Heb 2:11-12: Says that Psalm 22 is Jesus speaking.
Heb 2:13: Says that Isaiah 8:17-18 is Jesus speaking.
Heb 10:5-7: Quotes Ps 40:6-8 as the words of Jesus saying the whole book is about him.
Heb 11:2-13: Contains multiple Old Testament quotes referring to Jesus.
The sheep-goat judgment is a judgment of all people still living on earth at the Second Coming of Jesus. Only those who have expressed belief in Jesus and his gospel will be allowed to enter the millennium. Jesus is the judge and conducts the judgment during the 75 day period between the Second Coming and the beginning of the millennium. Those who are not believers will be immediately sent to Hades to await their final judgment at the end of the millennium. This judgment is described in the New Testament in Matt 25:31-46 and in the Old Testament in Ezek 34:20-24. A comparison of Matt 25:31-32 with the passage in Ezek proves that Jesus is God, was LORD of the Old Testament period and the “I Am” speaking in Ezekiel. We will next look at these passages to confirm this.
Matt 25:31-32
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.
32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. (NIV)
Ezek 34:20-24
20 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says to them: See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, 22 I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. 23 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. 24 I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken. (NIV)
Finally, let’s do a word use study to show that Jesus was the LORD and YHWH of the Old Testament. In the New International version of the Bible, the word YHWH in the Old Testament is translated as LORD, with all capital letters. In the New Testament, the word Lord, with only the letter l capitalized is used many times for Jesus. If we compare Rom 10:9-13 with Joel 2:32 we see that both refer to Jesus. In Rom 10:13, Paul is quoting Joel 2:32 and implying that it is speaking of Jesus. Thus, Jesus is both the LORD of the Old Testament and the Lord of the New Testament. It seems clear to me that Jesus was God of Israel and author of the Old Testament.
JESUS WAS THE ANGEL OF THE LORD
It’s already abundantly clear that Jesus was the angel of the LORD, but we’ll make one or two summary arguments and conclude.
In John 8:58 Jesus claims to be the “I Am” of the Old Testament. In Ex 3:1-16, a being described both as God and as the angel of the LORD appears to Moses and describes himself as being the “I Am.” Thus we see that
The angel of the LORD is the I AM, and Jesus is the I AM. We can therefore conclude that Jesus is the angel of the LORD. We could make many more arguments from scripture that Jesus is the angel of the LORD, but I believe that we have already done more that is necessary to prove the point.
However, let me make one more argument in conclusion. Ex 23:20-24 is apparently God the Father speaking and he said that he was sending the angel of the Lord to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. He said that this angel shared his Name and was the one who could forgive sins. Who is the one who shares the name of God and forgives sins? It is Jesus. We saw in the section on Jesus being God that both the Son and the Father are called LORD and YHWH. In 1 Tim 6:13-16, God the Father is associated with the following names, “Ruler, King of kings and Lord of lords.” In Rev 20:6, 16 these same names are associated with Jesus. In Isa 43:25 and Matt 9:1-8, we see that Jesus had the authority to forgive sins. Thus we see that Jesus is the one who shares a name with God the Father. Jesus and Jesus alone is the “angel of the LORD!”
Finally, we showed earlier that the angel of the Lord was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We then showed that the angel of the Lord was Jesus. This clearly proves that Jesus was and is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and therefore the God of Israel.
The bottom line is that it seems that Jesus appeared in the Old Testament as a man, was God and YHWH, was Israel’s God in the Old Testament including their protector and covenant maker, presented his gospel in the Old Testament through models and patterns, and repeatedly presented his plan to one day rescue Israel from total destruction after they finally recognize him and call upon him to save them.
It seems that the Father used Jesus to create the earth and to reveal himself to the people of the earth throughout history. One day the Father will use him to judge the people of earth and will then set him up as earth’s King of kings for eternity.
PSALM 2
A SUPERNATURAL PROPHETIC RECORDINGS OF JESUS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
PSALM 2:
A 3000 YEAR OLD SUPERNATURAL PROPHETIC RECORDING OF JESUS TRIALS BEFORE HIS CRUCIFIXION
(SEE ACTS 4:25-28 FOR CONFIRMATION)
Ps 2:1-12
SPEAKER: Jesus the Anointed One, speaking as narrator
1 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One.
SPEAKER: Kings of the earth, speaking to each other
3. "Let us break their chains," they say, "and throw off their fetters."
SPEAKER: Jesus the Anointed One, speaking as narrator
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.
5 Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
SPEAKER: The LORD, the Father God, speaking to the inhabitants of the earth
6 "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill."
7 I will proclaim the decree of the LORD:
SPEAKER: Jesus the Anointed One, speaking as narrator and author
He said to me,
SPEAKER: The LORD, the Father God, speaking to Jesus his son
"You are my Son; today I have become your Father.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery."
SPEAKER: Jesus the Anointed One, speaking to the kings of the earth (He often spoke of himself in the third person, Matt 11:27, 24:44, etc.)
10 Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling.
SPEAKER: The LORD, the Father God, speaking to the kings of the earth.
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
NOTE:
There are obviously other ways in which some of the characters in this play could be assigned. However, it’s clear that verse 7 is speaking of Jesus the Son and that he is the author of the play. I believe that we have shown what we set out to show!
Bible prophecies often have multiple fulfillments. From the context it seems that the prophecy presented in this Psalm may also have fulfillment in the end times, particularly in the millennium. It also may be that this prophecy encompasses both of Jesus’ comings to earth.
PSALM 22: A SUPERNATURAL PROPHETIC RECORDING OVER 3000 YEARS OLD
See PSALM 22 in Proof thru Prophecy.
EXAMPLES OF HOW JESUS AND HIS GOSPEL WERE PRESENTED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT AS MODELS
See the following examples in the section Proof thru Prophecy
The sacrifice of Isaac as a model of the sacrifice of Christ
Jewish wedding customs as a model of the church as the bride of Christ
Ruth as a model of God’s redemptive plan for man
The sign of Jonah: another prophetic Old Testament model
Joseph as a model of JesusType your paragraph here.