Jesus is LORD

Jesus's words and actions

• Only God can forgive sins (Ps 103:3-4, 130:4; Is 43:25); Jesus forgave the sins (spiritual healing) of the paralytic and the Pharisees called this blasphemy (Mk 2:5-6)

• Omniscient: only God knows men’s hearts (Ps 44:21; 1 Kg 8:39; Lk 16:15); Jesus knew men’s thoughts (Mk 2:8; Mt 12:25; Lk 6:8)

• The Sabbath belongs to God not man (Lev 23:3); Jesus claimed he (the Son of Man) is Lord of the Sabbath i.e. owns the Sabbath (Mk 2:27)

• Dominion over nature

  • God rules the raging sea and stills rising waves (Ps 89:9, 107:23-30); Jesus calmed a strong wind over a lake (Mk 4:35-41)

  • God trampled the waves of the sea (Job 9:8); Jesus walked on water (Mk 6:45-52)

• Dominion over death: God raises the dead from Sheol (1 Sam 2:6) e.g. Jonah after three days in the belly of a great fish (Jon 2:1-10); Jesus raised Jairus’s daughter (Mk 5:35-42), a widow’s son (Lk 7:11-17) and Lazarus (Jn 11:38-44) from the dead

• Dominion over illness: prophecy that God would come and the blind, deaf, lame and mute would be healed (Is 35:4-6); Jesus healed the blind (Mk 8:22-25, Jn 9;1-7), a deaf mute (Mk 7:31-37) and the lame (Mk 2:1-12, Jn 5:1-9)

• God appeared to Moses (Ex 3) and Elijah (1 Kg 19:11-18) on mountains but they hid their faces from God; Jesus unveiled his glory to Moses and Elijah on a mountain for them to see the face of God (Mk 9:2-7)

• Prophecy that the Messiah would sit at the right hand of God (Ps 110:1); Jesus said that he (the Son of man) would sit at the right hand of God the Father denoting equal authority with him and the high priest called this blasphemy (Mk 14:62-64)

• Prophecy that one like the son of man (Messiah/Christ) would come on the clouds and be worshipped by all nations (Dan 7:13-14); only God comes on the clouds (Ex 13:21; Ps 104:3; Is 19:1; Nah 1:3); Jesus said that he (the Son of man) would come with the clouds of heaven (Mk 14:62)

• His laws: God forbade anyone to change his laws (Dt 4:2); Jesus expanded the moral laws to forbid anger, lust, divorce, oaths and retaliation and called us to love our enemies (Mt 5:21-48)

• Omnipresent: the LORD God sees everything (Ps 139:7-10; Jer 23:24); Jesus promised to always be with his disciples (Mt 18:20, 28:20)

• Only God should be loved with all the heart, soul and might (Dt 6:5); Jesus said he should be loved more than your own family (Mt 10:37; Lk 14;26)

• Prophecy that Elijah would be sent to prepare for the coming of God (Mal 3:1; 4:5); Jesus said that John the Baptist was the new Elijah (Mt 11:14) who prepared the way for him (Mt 11:9-10)

• "I will give you rest": God to Moses (Ex 33:14) and to Israel through covenant with David (2 Sam 7:11); Jesus to the heavily burdened (Mt 11:28-29)

• The temple in Jerusalem belonged to God and he resided there (1 Kg 8:10-11; 1 Chr 29:1; Mt 24:21); Jesus claimed to be greater than the temple i.e. he is God (Mt 12:6)

• Only the LORD God can be worshipped (Dt 5:7-9; Mt 4:10); Jesus accepted worship from his disciples after he walked on water (Mt 14:33) and after his resurrection (Mt 28:9 & Jn 20:28) and also from the blind man he healed (Jn 9:38)

• God sent the prophets (Jer 25:4); Jesus claimed he sent the prophets (Mt 23:34)

• God is the final judge of all people (1 Sam 2:10; Ps 9:7-8; Joel 3:12); Jesus said he (the Son of Man) would be the final judge (Mt 25:31-46)

• Eternal nature:

  • God called himself I AM to Moses (Ex 3:14); Jesus called himself I AM and the Jews wanted to stone him for blasphemy (Jn 8:58-59)

  • God is the first and the last (Is 44:6; Rev 1:8); Jesus revealed he was the first and the last (Rev 1:17, 22:13)

• The LORD God is one, "echad" a compound unity (Dt 6:4); Jesus said he (the Son) and God the Father are one and the Jews wanted to stone him for blasphemy (Jn 10:30-33)

• God is truth (Is 65:16); Jesus said he is the truth (Jn 14:6)

• God does not share his glory with anyone (Is 42:8); Jesus asked God the Father to glorify him as he did before creation (Jn 17:5)