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Which Religion is True?
Chapter 15
Is There Only One God
The Koran states and Muslims believe that the Jews altered the Old Testament whereas Christians altered the New Testament. We have proved these to be lies.
Islam also believes that there is only one God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Therefore they argue that Jesus Christ cannot also be God. Islam believes that Jesus Christ was a mere human being though a great one, and miraculously born to Mary without a human father as Adam and Eve were miraculously created directly by God. But the divinity of Jesus Christ is central to Christianity, because He could not have been the Savior of the world if He was not divine.
Islam also holds the view that mainstream Christianity believes in a Triune God (also called the Holy Trinity) that exists as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, which Islam rejects. God’s Church agrees with Islam’s view in this regard. We will also prove from the pages of the Bible that God is not a Trinity.
Who are God the Father and Jesus Christ According to the Koran
The Koran in [2.163] clearly says: “And your God is one God! there is no god but He; He is the Beneficent, the Merciful.”
2.255] “Allah is He besides Whom there is no god, the Everliving, the Self-subsisting by Whom all subsist; slumber does not overtake Him nor sleep; whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is His…”
[3.18] “Allah bears witness that there is no god but He, and (so do) the angels and those possessed of knowledge, maintaining His creation with justice; there is no god but He, the Mighty, the Wise.”
The Koran quite clearly states the Islamic belief in many passages that there is only one God. In other verses it warns not to associate others equal to the one God. And it leaves no doubt about its belief that Jesus was just another human being but born miraculously, just like Adam was created directly by God. And the proof it offers is that He was sustained by physical food. Here are passages in the Koran that state this. These passages will also show how they are directed to attack the Jews and Christians.
[3.64] “O people of the Book (meaning Christians and Jews)! Come to a word that is just between us and you: that we shall worship none but God, and that we shall associate no partners with Him, and that none of us shall take others as lords beside God.”
Here the Koran makes it’s teaching clear that humans are to worship none other than the one God and not to make anyone else a God or Lord associated with the one God. Then the Koran addresses the status of Jesus Christ.
[3.59-61] “Surely the likeness of Isa [Isa is the Arabic name for Jesus Christ] is with Allah as the likeness of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him, Be, and he was. 60 (This is) the truth from your Lord, so be not of the disputers. 61 But whoever disputes with you in this matter after what has come to you of knowledge, then say: Come let us call our sons and your sons and our women and your women and our near people and your near people, then let us be earnest in prayer, and pray for the curse of Allah on the liars.”
Here the Koran states that Allah directly created Jesus Christ from dust just like Adam and declares that as the truth and asks to pray for a curse from Allah on those who dispute this. Then,
[5.75] The Messiah, son of Marium [Marium is the Arabic name for Mary the mother of Jesus Christ] is but an apostle; apostles before him have indeed passed away; and his mother was a truthful woman; they both used to eat food. See how We make the communications clear to them, then behold, how they are turned away.
Here the Koran states that Jesus the son of Mary was a mere apostle, meaning merely human and cites as evidence the fact that they both ate food to sustain themselves. It further states:
[5.72-74] Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely Allah, He is the Messiah, son of Marium; and the Messiah said: O Children of Israel! serve Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Surely whoever associates (others) with Allah, then Allah has forbidden to him the garden, and his abode is the fire; and there shall be no helpers for the unjust. 73 Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely Allah is the third (person) of the three; and there is no god but the one God, and if they desist not from what they say, a painful chastisement shall befall those among them who disbelieve.”
Here the Koran states that those who say that Jesus the son of Mary is Allah or God are unbelievers to whom the reward of paradise will be forbidden. And those who say that Allah is the third person in the Trinity [which mainstream Christianity believes] are also unbelievers and will suffer painful chastisement, meaning in hellfire unless they desist from saying so. The Koran also says that Jesus Himself preached that the children of Israel should serve Allah, his Lord and their Lord.
9:30-31] The Jews call 'Uzair [which scholars believe refers to Ezra the scribe] a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth! They take their priests and their anchorites to be their lords in derogation of Allah, and (they take as their Lord) Christ the son of Mary; yet they were commanded to worship but One Allah: there is no god but He. Praise and glory to Him: (Far is Allah) from having the partners they associate (with Him).
Here the Koran attacks Jews who supposedly believed Ezra the scribe to be the son of God who did not die. The Bible does not even hint at any such thing about Ezra the scribe and is called the son of Seraiah. Then it attacks Roman Catholicism about its deifying monks such as Saint Anthony and Saint Patrick, whereas they were enjoined to serve only one God, because there is no other God than He.
Then in Sura 19 verses 30-33 the Koran supposedly quotes Jesus Christ concerning Himself:
[19.30] He said: Surely I am a servant of Allah; He has given me the Book and made me a prophet; 31 And He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and He has enjoined on me prayer and poor-rate so long as I live; 32 And dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me insolent, unblessed; 33 And peace on me on the day I was born, and on the day I die, and on the day I am raised to life.”
Here Jesus supposedly preached that He is a servant of Allah to whom Allah has revealed the New Testament and made Him a prophet. Then the Koran in verses 34-36 declares that it is not seemly that the one God should take a son to Himself.
[19.34] Such is Isa [or Jesus], son of Marium; (this is) the saying of truth about which they dispute. 35 It beseems not Allah that He should take to Himself a son, glory be to Him; when He has decreed a matter He only says to it "Be," and it is. 36 And surely Allah is my Lord and your Lord, therefore serve Him; this is the right path.”
Then the Koran makes further statements about placing other gods besides Allah in Sura 21 verses 19-29:
[21.19] And whoever is in the heavens and the earth is His; and those who are with Him are not proud to serve Him, nor do they grow weary. 20 They glorify (Him) by night and day; they are never languid. 21 Or have they taken gods from the earth who raise (the dead). 22 If there had been in them any gods except Allah, they would both have certainly been in a state of disorder; therefore glory be to Allah, the Lord of the dominion, above what they attribute (to Him). 23 He cannot be questioned concerning what He does and they shall be questioned.”
Here the Koran cites evidence for its statement that there are no gods besides Allah. It says that if there were other gods besides Allah, the universe would have been in chaos and disorder. But Allah cannot be questioned about what He does while others shall be questioned about what they do. The Koran continues in verses 24-29:
[21.24-29] Or have they taken gods besides Him? Say: Bring your proof; this is the reminder of those with me and the reminder of those before me. Nay! most of them do not know the truth, so they turn aside. 25 And We did not send before you any apostle but We revealed to him that there is no god but Me, therefore serve Me. 26 And they say: The Beneficent God has taken to Himself a son. Glory be to Him. Nay! they are honored servants. 27 They do not precede Him in speech and (only) according to His commandment do they act. 28 He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they do not intercede except for him whom He approves and for fear of Him they tremble. 29 And whoever of them should say: Surely I am a god besides Him, such a one do We recompense with hell; thus do, We recompense the unjust.”
In these verses the Koran quotes Allah as saying that he sent apostles who all declared that there is no other God but Allah and derides those who say that God has taken to Himself a Son, meaning Jesus Christ as the Son of God. But the Koran states that they were mere honored servants of God who acted according to His commandments. It pronounces the sentence of hell on anyone who claims to be a god besides Allah.
The Koran thus makes the Islamic belief quite clear that there is only one God, and that God does not exist as the Trinity of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, and that Jesus is not the son of God but only a prophet and apostle who though was created miraculously.
But what does the Bible say who God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are?
Who are God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit
Understanding who God is is of critical importance to worshipping Him, for how can we properly worship a Being if we don’t know who and what He is. Without understanding who God really is, it is difficult to give Him the deep and proper reverence, respect, honor and the worship He deserves, and requires from human beings because it makes them respect His laws and commandments and obey them with their whole heart for their own good. Those who don’t have a deep reverence for God do not obey God’s laws. And any disobedience to God’s laws without fail results in pain and suffering automatically. So God requires that we worship Him because it leads to obedience to Him and His laws for our own good.
Here is what God’s Church understands about who God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are from its booklet titled “Fundamental Beliefs of the United Church of God”:
“We believe in one God, the Father, eternally existing, who is a Spirit, a personal Being of supreme intelligence, knowledge, love, justice, power and authority. He, through Jesus Christ, is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. He is the Source of life and the One for whom human life exists. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who is the Word and who has eternally existed. We believe that He is the Messiah, the Christ, the divine Son of the living God, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born in human flesh of the virgin Mary. We believe that it is by Him that God created all things, and that without Him was not anything made that was made. We believe in the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of God and of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the power of God and the Spirit of life eternal (2 Timothy 1:7; Ephesians 4:6; 1 Corinthians 8:6; John 1:1-4; Colossians 1:16).”
According to our beliefs, God the Father is the original source of all life, who is a spirit Being of supreme intelligence; and all knowledge, love; and all power and energy in the entire universe are His. He is without beginning and has always existed. All power and authority in the universe belong to Him.
This Supreme Being, now known as God the Father originally created one Being, originally known as the Word, or spokesman of the God Family. The fact that Jesus Christ is a created being is proved by Colossians 1:15: “15 Who [that is, Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:” The NKJV renders this verse this way: “15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”
If Jesus Christ before His human birth was the image of God the Father, it implies that God the Father must have existed before Him and the Word became His image.
Revelation 3:14 (NKJV) further proves that Jesus Christ was originally created by God the Father. It states: “14 And unto 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.” This verse states that Jesus Christ was the beginning of God’s creation, meaning that He was the first Being created by God the Father.
Jesus Christ said in John 14:28: “…my Father is greater than I.” So there is no doubt that God the Father is the undisputed Head of the God Family. Jesus further stated in John 5:26 (NKJV): “26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.” If it was God the Father who gave life inherent to Jesus Christ so that He became the Self-Existent one, it means that God the Father gave life to Jesus Christ in the first place, long before anything else was created.
Jesus also said in John 8:28 (NKJV): “28 Then Jesus said to them, "…I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. This is a clear statement that God the Father taught the Word everything before the Word created anything else. All these verses mean that Jesus Christ has not always existed with God the Father, but was created by Him.
This naturally raises an important question: “If God the Father is the Supreme God, then how can Jesus Christ be God? How can there be two Gods, one Supreme God and then another little God?”
Is Jesus God?
To answer this important question, we first need to prove from the pages of the Bible that Jesus is God. The fact is that Jesus was both God and man. When Islamic writers try to prove from the Bible that Jesus was a mere man, they are quoting verses in which Jesus Christ talked about Himself as a man on His time on earth. But they totally ignore all other verses in which Jesus and the apostles talked about His nature as God. They merely take a scripture here and there to prove a point while totally ignoring all other scriptures related to that topic.
Scriptures taken in isolation, out of their context can be used to prove many different things. But that is not truth as that belief would directly contradict many other plain scriptures. The correct way to research a topic is to study all the scriptures on the topic and then form one’s belief that is compatible with all the scriptures.
When Jesus came to earth, He gave up all His power, but not His divine nature and came as a physical man. So He was a mere man when He came to earth as Jesus Christ, but retained His divine nature. He retained His divine nature because God the Father gave Him the holy spirit without measure as stated by John in John 3:34 (NKJV): “For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God: for God gives not the Spirit by measure unto him.” God’s holy spirit is what imparts God’s divine nature to any being.
In Luke 18:19 Jesus said: “19 And Jesus said unto him, Why call you me good? None is good, save one, that is, God.” Jesus in this statement told a ruler that no man is good. Only God is good. In this statement Jesus also implied that He was a man, which was a statement of fact that He was a man. In many scriptures He called Himself the “Son of Man.” Examples include Matthew 11:19: “The Son of man came eating and drinking…”; Matthew 12:8: “For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day”, and above 80 other times in the New Testament.
When we put these two facts together, that Jesus was a man, and that He told the ruler that man cannot be good and that only God is good, we may deduce that Jesus was a mere man and not God. That is precisely what Islam cites as evidence that Jesus was a mere man and not God.
But Jesus’ other statements and the writings of the apostles leave no doubt that Jesus was also God. Jesus boldest claim is recorded in John 8:58: “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was I Am.” Jesus here was revealing His identity as the actual One whom the Jews knew as God of the Old Testament. He was saying that He existed before Abraham and that He was the same Being as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Who told Moses in Exodus 3:13-14 that His name was “I AM WHO I AM.” That’s why the Jews tried to stone Him for blasphemy.
Dr. Norman Geisler, in his book Christian Apologetics, concludes: "In view of the fact that the Jehovah of the Jewish Old Testament would not give his name, honor, or glory to another, it is little wonder that the words and deeds of Jesus of Nazareth drew stones and cries of 'blasphemy' from first-century Jews. The very things that the Jehovah of the Old Testament claimed for himself Jesus of Nazareth also claimed" (2002, p. 331).Dr. Geisler goes on to list some of the ways Jesus equated Himself with YHWH of the Old Testament. Let's notice some of these.
Jesus said of Himself, "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:11). David, in the first verse of the famous 23rd Psalm, declared that "The Lord [YHWH] is my shepherd." Jesus claimed to be judge of all men and nations (John 5:22, 27). Yet Joel 3:12 says the Lord [YHWH] "will sit to judge all ...nations."
Jesus said, "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). Isaiah 60:19 says, "The Lord will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory." Also, David says in Psalm 27:1, "The Lord (YHWH) is my light."
Jesus asked in prayer that the Father would share His eternal glory with Him: "O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was" (John 17:5 - NKJV). Yet Isaiah 42:8 (NKJV) says, "I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another."
Jesus spoke of Himself as the coming bridegroom (Matthew 25:1), which is how YHWH is characterized in Isaiah 62:5 and Hosea 2:16.
In Revelation 1:17 Jesus says He is the first and the last, which is identical to what YHWH says of Himself in Isaiah 44:6: "I am the First and I am the Last."
There is no question, therefore, that Jesus understood Himself to be the LORD (YHWH) of the Old Testament.
Miracles Testimony to Jesus’ Divinity
Jesus adds, "The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me" (John 10:25 - NKJV). The works He did were miracles that only God could do. His miracles are the most powerful testimony that He was God. No other man or founder of any other religion has done the kind of miracles that Jesus performed. But the Islamic writers say that Jesus Christ did these miracles by the power of God and also quote Jesus in John 5:30 where He states: “I can of mine own self do nothing…” So He could not be God. But they ignore the fact that Jesus Himself cited miracles as evidence that He was the Messiah or Savior of the world that was prophesied to come. They also ignore verse 28 of John 10: 28 And I give unto them [that is His disciples] eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” Only God can give eternal life, proving that Jesus Christ was divine.
Then Jesus made another statement that incensed the Jews: "I and My Father are one" (John 10:30). That is, the Father and Jesus were both divine. Again, there was no mistaking the intent of what He said, because "then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him" (verse 31). Jesus countered, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?" The Jews responded, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God" (verses 32-33).
The Jews understood perfectly well what Jesus meant. He was telling them plainly that He was divine or a God being.
The Gospel of John records yet another instance in which Jesus infuriated the Jews with His claims of divinity. It happened just after Jesus had healed a crippled man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath. The Jews sought to kill Him because He did this on the Sabbath, a day on which the law of God had stated no work was to be done (which they misinterpreted to include what Jesus was doing).
Jesus then made a statement that the Jews could take in only one way: "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." And what was their response to His words? "Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath [according to their interpretation of it], but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God" (John 5:16-18). Yes, Jesus claimed Himself to be a divine Being, meaning God.
Jesus claimed authority to forgive sins
Jesus claimed to be divine or God of the Old Testament in various other ways.
When Jesus healed one paralyzed man, He also said to him, "Son, your sins are forgiven you" (Mark 2:5 - NKJV). The scribes who heard this reasoned He was blaspheming, because, as they rightly understood and asked, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (verses 6-7).
Responding to the scribes, Jesus said: "Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?...But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"—He said to the paralytic—"I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home" (verses 8-11, NRSV).
The scribes knew Jesus was claiming an authority to forgive sins that belonged to God only. Again, the Lord (YHWH) is the One pictured in the Old Testament who forgives sin (Jeremiah 31:34).
Christ claimed power to raise the dead
Jesus claimed yet another power that God alone possessed—to raise and judge the dead. Notice His statements in John 5:25-29 (NKJV):
"Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live...All who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."
There was no doubt about what He meant. He added in verse 21,"For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will." When Jesus resurrected Lazarus from the dead, He said to Lazarus' sister, Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25).
Compare this to 1 Samuel 2:6 (NKJV), which tells us that "the Lord [YHWH] kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up." So Jesus made it quite clear that just like God the Father He can resurrect human beings to eternal life. Thus He made many statements claiming that He was God.
Opinion of the Apostles
Now look at the opinion of the disciples about Jesus’ Nature! They understood Jesus to be the Creator, Hence God!!!
Hebrews 1:1-3 states (NIV): “1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”
Thus the book of Hebrews tells us that the Son or Jesus Christ is the Being through whom God created the worlds and who "sustains all things by his powerful word" (verse 3, NRSV). Only God could be the Creator of the universe and all things in it and also possess the power to continue to sustain it.
John confirms in John 1:1-3, 14 (NKJV) that Jesus was the divine Word through whom God created the universe. He writes: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made…And the Word was made 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."
Paul states plainly in Ephesians 3:9 (NKJV) that "God ...created all things through Jesus Christ." He writes of Jesus in Colossians 1:16 (NKJV): "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him."
The Old Testament presents God alone as Creator of the universe (Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 40:25-26, 28). When Christ’s disciples said that Jesus is the One through whom all things were created, they were clearly saying that Jesus is God.
Jesus claimed to be all that God is, and the disciples believed and taught it. They understood that Jesus was "the express [exact] image of His [God's] person" (Hebrews 1:3) and "the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15), and that "in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Colossians 2:9, NRSV).
They understood precisely who He was and still is from His own words and actions. There was no question in their minds. They had seen Him prove it time and time again. They would go to their martyrdom firm in this conviction.
Those who personally knew and were taught by Jesus, and who then wrote most of the New Testament, are thoroughly consistent with Jesus' statements about Himself. His disciples were monotheistic Jews. For them to agree that Jesus was God, and then to give their lives for this belief, tells us that they had come to see for themselves that the claims Jesus made about Himself were so convincing as to leave no doubt in their minds.
Matthew the apostle opens his gospel with the story of the virgin birth of Jesus quoting from Isaiah 7:14, "'Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,' which is translated, 'God with us'" (Matthew 1:23). Matthew is making it clear that he understands that this child is God—"God with us."
John is likewise explicit in the prologue to his Gospel. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:1, 14).
Some of them called Him God directly. When Thomas saw Jesus’ wounds, he exclaimed, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28). Paul refers to Jesus in Titus 1:3 and 2:10 as "God our Savior."
The book of Hebrews is most emphatic that Jesus is God. Hebrews 1:8, applying Psalm 45:6 to Jesus Christ, states: "But to the Son He says: 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.'" Other parts of this book explain that Jesus is higher than the angels (1:4-8, 13), superior to Moses (3:1-6), and greater than the high priests (4:14-5:10). He is greater than all these because He is God.
Jesus accepted honor and worship
Jesus demonstrated His divinity when He said in John 5:23 (NKJV): "All should honor the Son just as they honor the Father." Over and over, Jesus told His disciples to believe in Him as they would believe in God. He said in John 14:1: "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me."
In fact, Jesus allowed people to worship Him on many occasions without forbidding such acts, further proving that He was God, hence worthy of worship. A leper worshipped Him (Matthew 8:2). A ruler worshipped Him with his plea to raise his daughter from the dead (Matthew 9:18). When Jesus had stilled the storm, those in the boat worshipped Him as the Son of God. Matthew 14:33 (NKJV) states: “Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped Him saying, of a truth you are the Son of God.”A Canaanite woman worshipped Him (Matthew 15:25). When Jesus met the women who came to His tomb after His resurrection, they worshipped Him, as did His apostles (Matthew 28:9, 17). The demon-possessed man of the Gadarenes, "when He saw Jesus from afar...ran and worshiped Him" (Mark 5:6). The blind man whom Jesus healed in John 9 worshipped Him (verse 38).
The First and the Second of the Ten Commandments forbid worship of anyone or anything other than God (Exodus 20:2-5). Barnabas and Paul were very disturbed when the people of Lystra tried to worship them after their healing of a crippled man (Acts 14:13-15). In Revelation 22:8-9, when John the apostle fell down to worship the angel, the angel refused to accept worship, saying, "You must not do that!...Worship God!" (Revelation 22:8-9, NRSV). Yet Jesus accepted worship and did not rebuke those who chose to kneel before Him and worship. This proves that He was also God in addition to being man.Muslims should do their own research to prove that Jesus Christ is God rather than believing their scholars who quote a few scriptures to prove that He is not while ignoring numerous others that prove that He is and was the God of the Old Testament.
Jesus really left us no middle ground!!!
The renowned Christian writer C.S. Lewis observes: "You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." (Mere Christianity, 1996, p. 56).
How can a Little God like Jesus also be God?
Now let’s get back to the question: “How can a little God like Jesus also be God?” The monotheistic faiths, Judaism, mainstream Christianity [which believes in the Trinity, according to which the one God exists as three God Beings, God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit, which to them is a mystery they don’t fully understand], Islam and Sikhism believe that there can be only one God, who is supreme.
We should understand that the creator will always be superior to what he can create. Jesus Himself said that His Father was greater than Him. But here is how you can get over the notion Jesus is a little God by knowing how truly awesome a God Jesus Christ is.
You can do that by imagining that originally there was only one God, and that God was Jesus Christ. In fact, for about 4,000 years of man’s history that is what the world thought, except for a few prophets of God. Moses wrote in Genesis 1:26: "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…"
Throughout the first chapter of Genesis the Hebrew word translated "God" is Elohim, a plural noun denoting more than one being. So Moses knew that there was more than one God Being? King David was a prophet of Israel and was inspired by God’s holy spirit as stated in 2 Samuel 23:2. He wrote in Psalm 110:1: "The Lord said unto my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.'" David here is talking about two Beings being his Lords, showing the existence of two God Beings. He confirms the same in Psalm 2:7-12: "I will declare the decree; The Lord has said to Me, 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession...Now therefore, be wise, O kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are they who put their trust in Him."
One can put one’s trust only in God and be blessed.
Daniel the prophet also talked about two God Beings. He wrote in 7:13-14 (NKJV): "I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He [the Son of Man] came to the Ancient of Days [God the Father], and they [the angelic host] brought Him near before Him." Time and time again in the New Testament, Jesus called Himself "the Son of Man. “Then to Him was given dominion [rulership] and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed."
Only God can have an everlasting dominion and a kingdom that can never be destroyed.
So though a few prophets knew of the existence of two God Beings about 2000 years after the creation of man, the Israelite population knew of the existence of only one God Being, their God of the Old Testament. And that God later came to earth as the God and Man Jesus Christ.
Did the Israelites have the notion that their God was anything less than an awesome God? They and the world around them which had experienced the incredible miracles God did for ancient Israel believed Him to be an all-powerful God worthy of all worship. They did not know that another God Being existed. In fact, Jesus Christ Himself said that He came to reveal the existence of the other God Being, God the Father in Luke 10:22 (NKJV): “…no man knows who the Son is, but the Father, and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
The God of the Old Testament was worthy of all awe and honor and worship. The Israelites knew that their God has existed for a time period which we can describe only as past eternity. So He possesses all the wisdom of the ages of man and spirit beings.
We know that all the spirit and material universe were created by the God of the Old Testament, whom we today know as Jesus Christ. Before beginning creation, He planned out the creation of spirit beings as well as the material universe.
He first planned out the creation of spirit beings. He possesses all the spirit or energy with which He could create the spirit world and the material universe. He possesses all the wisdom to conceive of the laws that would govern the spirit world and the universe, and the power or energy to sustain those laws.
Then He created the first spirit beings called the 24 elders in Revelation 4, 7 and 14. He planned out what these elders would look like, what attributes each would have and with what spirit essence they would be created. These elders are pictured wearing crowns of gold. No angel is pictured wearing a crown of gold. This means that the 24 elders have qualified to be called righteous and receive crowns of gold. They therefore must have existed before the angels and had been tested and tried. They must have existed for a very very very long time [perhaps billions, or may be trillions, or even greater number of years] to have qualified to receive crowns of gold.
Then Jesus Christ carried out the next phase of creation with His own power and energy: the creation of hundreds of millions, or possibly billions of angels.
Then Jesus Christ with His own power and energy created the material universe, which may be a few billion years old. He developed the laws of mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology to set in motion to govern the material universe. Laws of physics tell us that energy can be converted into matter and vice versa. All the matter in the universe has been created from energy. Jesus Christ as God possesses that kind of awesome energy. He possesses such an amount of energy that He converted a tiny fraction of it into mass contained in all the planets, stars and billions of galaxies. I hope you get a glimpse of how awesome a God Jesus Christ really is.
Jesus Christ then created humanity and the animal and plant kingdoms. Since He created humanity, He will always be greater than all of humanity put together, no matter even when tens of billions of human beings qualify to receive eternal life and power greater than any angel. Jesus Christ possesses all this power, abilities and wisdom to have created all these things.
And don’t forget. All the spirit and material creation is governed by laws which are sustained by Jesus Christ according to Hebrews 1:3 quoted earlier. And that too requires power. Jesus Christ possesses that kind of power to sustain the entire spirit and material creation.
What else distinguishes God from His creation? God has never sinned in thought or action. He has never violated His laws. Only two Beings in the entire universe can make that claim and probably no one else, possibly even including the 24 elders, will ever be able to make that claim. And those two Beings are God the Father and Jesus Christ.
Ultimately God the Father and Jesus Christ are going to make human beings who receive eternal life incapable of sinning because of the character they will have developed, the power and abilities they will be endowed with, but they will never be able to claim that they have never sinned, for every human being as a human being would have sinned. Angels have sinned. But God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ have never sinned. That is how awesome a God Jesus Christ is.
Here is how you can further understand how truly awesome the God Jesus Christ is. The general view is that all spirit beings, that is the twenty four elders of Revelation 4, and the angels have immortal life, that is, life-inherent in them. They never die. They are immortal. If that is so, then why did Jesus make the statement in John 5:26: "For as the Father has life in himself, so has he given to the Son to have life in himself."
Does this statement imply that though spirit beings like the angels have life that is not dependent on any kind of spirit food for sustenance and can potentially live forever, it can nevertheless be taken away from them by God and Jesus Christ? Or in other words, the spirit beings besides God the Father and Jesus Christ do not have life-inherent in themselves. They do not have life that can never be taken away from them. God the Father obviously is that kind of life. But God the Father has also given that kind of life-inherent to Jesus Christ. He is self-existent. There is not an iota of mistrust or even its possibility between them. Because of perfect harmony and oneness between them, God the Father has chosen to give that kind of life to Jesus Christ.
This also means that only God the Father and Jesus Christ can set creation in motion, either by creating matter, or supplying the spirit [or energy] that can be used to create matter. The 24 elders and the angels are never mentioned creating in that way. But there is the strong possibility that the twenty four elders and human beings made immortal, and perhaps God’s holy angels may one day in future eternity qualify to receive life inherent in themselves as Jesus Christ did.
There is one more characteristic that distinguishes Jesus Christ from His spirit or physical creation. He is truly one with God the Father in thoughts, actions and attitude. There is not an iota of mistrust between them. Jesus Christ as the Created One is in total submission to His Father. The Father can trust Jesus Christ completely so that He has granted only Jesus Christ in the universe to have life inherent in Himself. Jesus Christ prays to the Father that we all may become one with Him and the Father as He is one with the Father. This is mentioned in John 10:30 and 17:11. We are far from being there yet. That is how awesome a God is Jesus Christ. He is at one with the Father.
We hope you can understand how truly awesome Jesus Christ is in power, might and wisdom. He is not a little God, but a truly awesome God whose powers we cannot even imagine. But we will have an eternity to understand His mind and His powers as we learn to work with His material creation. As the Creator, He is and always will be greater than all His creation put together. That is why His life was worth more than all the creation put together, and why His death paid the penalty for the sins of all His creation. Thus we see that Jesus Christ has all the attributes that we can imagine a God should have, except that only God the Father is greater than Him.
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