Since Jesus is clearly claiming to be the first ans last in Rev 22:12,13 - and since Isaiah 44:6 records..?

Question

Jehovah-God as saying, " I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God" - what must we conclude about Jesus' true identity?

Answer 1

DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST

CHRIST'S DIRECT CLAIMS TO DEITY

Matthew 26:63-64
John 14:9
John 8:58 (cf. Exodus 3:14)
Luke 22:70
John 12:45
John 10:30-33,36,38
Mark 14:61-64 (cf. Daniel 7:13-14;
John 13:20
Psalm 110:1)


CHRIST'S INDIRECT CLAIMS TO DEITY

Authority (Matthew 28:18; John 8:28)
1. Old Testament: "Thus saith The Lord"
Christ: "But I say to you..." (Matthew 5:20, 22, 26, 28, etc.)
Forgiveness of sin (Mark 2:5-7; Matthew 9:2-7; Luke 7:48)
John 5:17-18
John 5:23, 23
John 8:19
John 14:1

CHRIST'S CLAIM TO DIETY CONFIRMED BY OTHERS

Matthew 27:43
John 20:28
John 19:7
Acts 7:59
Matthew 16:15-17
John 1:49
John 1:34 I
Mark 5:7
John 11:27

CHRIST'S ACCEPTANCE OF WORSHIP AS GOD

Worship reserved for God only (Luke 4:8; Matthew 4:10: Deuteronomy 6:13)
Jesus received worship as God and accepted it.
Matthew 8:2 -- Leper worshipped Him
John 9:35-39 -- Man born blind, after being healed, "worshipped him."
Matthew 14:33 -- Disciples worshipped him
Matthew 2:11 -- Magi worshipped Him
God commands angels to worship Christ (Hebrews 1:6, 8)

DIRECT SCRIPTURE SHOWING THAT JESUS IS GOD

John 1:1
Romans 9:5
Philippians 2:6, 9-11
Isaiah 9:6 (Messiah called Yahweh)(cf. Isaiah 45:23)
Matthew 28:19 (Note name is singular)
Titus 2:13
Hebrews 1:10 (see Psalm 102:25-27)
II Thessalonians 1:12
Hebrews 1:10 (see Psalm 102:25-27)
II Peter 1:1
Hebrews 1:10 (see Psalm 102:25-27)
Luke 3:22; Matthew 3:17; Mark 1:1
I John 5:20
Hebrews 1:8
Colossians 1:19
John 20:30,31
Hebrews 4:14
Colossians 2:9
Luke 8:39

Answer 2

1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

manifest in the flesh. Before “the Word was made flesh” (John 1:14), “no man hath seen God at any time” (John 1:18). The Father and the Spirit are still omnipresent and therefore invisible, but the Son has finally become Son of man as well as Son of God, and will henceforth and forever be in His glorified human body.


"I am a worm, and no man" (Psalm 22:6).

"I am poor and needy" (Psalm 40:17).


"I am . . . a stranger unto my brethren" (Psalm 69:8)


"I am full of heaviness" (Psalm 69:20).

"I am poor and sorrowful" (Psalm 69:29).

"I . . . am as a sparrow alone upon the house top" (Psalm 102:7).

"I am withered like grass" (Psalm 102:11).

"I am the bread of life" (John 6:35,48,51)

"I am the light of the world" (John 8:12).

"I am the door of the sheep"(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).

How anyone could hear or see these claims and then still deny that they were claims to deity is a great mystery. For example, how could anyone except God Himself claim to be the way, the truth, and the life?


EDIT: TO YY4Me. Just the mere fact that these sites claim these things seem to convince people wholly. You will notice that they don’t site one single original source for the Jesus similarities they claim exist, you would think if it was true that the ancient texts showed such similarities, they would simply site these ancient texts. They don’t because they do not exist, Its really quite simple, They instead offer books from authors such as Tim Leedom, Massey, Acharya, Doherty. which is laughable these people are guilty of terrible and lazy research at best. Nobody can deny the fact that every leader of every major world religion has confronted the historic person of Jesus Christ. Muslims recognize Jesus as a prophet, while Jews either see him as a blaspheming rebel or an exceptional rabbi elevated to deity by idolatrous Gentiles. Many Buddhists regard Jesus as a “bodhisattva” (a perfectly enlightened being who vows to help others), while there’s a Hindu tradition that Jesus was actually a guru who learned yogic meditation in India. You can verify it with a historian if you wish. http://thedevineevidence.com/jesus_similarities.html

Answer 3

The man was with the spirit of God,Jesus was summoning the Holy spirit who has spoke through the men in the Bible all throughout time, a bible code shows this, there is a numerical pattern throughout the whole bible, human speech included,showing that the same being placed the bible together throughout time. All destined! Agree?

Answer 4

The History Channel programming (and thus research) said that the 4 gospels were recorded during the lifetimes of the original apostles. Thus, what was written came directly from the people who were there for every important event.

Answer 5

Jesus=God!

Answer 6

Maybe belief in myths about a good one in Heaven at war with an evil one cast down to and ruling over Earth creates blind obedience, flawed character, and misguided loyalty that are capable of best satisfying the need and aspiration of a mercenary plutocratic predatory few to achieve and maintain authority, power, order and control. In the minds of those who are enslaved to the will of ideological authorities claiming to know the will of a good one in Heaven at war with an evil one cast down to and ruling over Earth, the idea of making a terrorist attack upon infidels could easily become equated with fighting evil and if death should come as a result then this could be equated with becoming a martyr on the way to gaining entry to Heaven and experiencing divine bliss for the rest of Eternity. From these kinds of equations follows a global shakedown of epic proportions some call a "war on terror". This is a form of extortion where in a desire to profit from the sale and manufacture of the products and services of a beast of a military industrial complex leads a mercenary plutocratic predatory few to patronize those ideological authorities who best lead communities of faithful believers into war with one another over differences of opinion in matters of faith.

Conservative ideological authorities use the lie that myth is truth to maintain authority, power, order and control over faithful communities and motivate their members to support the establishment of a theocracy within a fundamentalist state. Maybe such a theocracy functions in practice as a front for a global shakedown of epic proportions some call a 'war on terror'. Maybe such a theocracy helps to concentrate the wealth of the global culture into the hands of a mercenary plutocratic predatory few who prey upon the many of our global culture. Maybe conservative ideological authorities use aggressive ideological traditions that originated before the establishment of ancient paternalistic theocracies to lead many millions of followers to gleefully look forward to a catastrophic war said to precede return of a good one in Heaven to Earth control. Maybe some believe that an evil one must rise to power before this catastrophic war can take place. Maybe because of this belief that an evil one must rise to power some unconsciously support the rise to power of whom ever they consider a good candidate for an evil one. Maybe this ends up creating a string of bad leaders.

Answer 7

From the available evidence, we can conclude that Jesus is a fictional character.

* * *
Did a historical Jesus exist?
http://www.nobeliefs.com/exist.htm
[Excerpt]

ALL CLAIMS OF JESUS DERIVE FROM HEARSAY ACCOUNTS

No one has the slightest physical evidence to support a historical Jesus; no artifacts, dwelling, works of carpentry, or self-written manuscripts. All claims about Jesus derive from writings of other people. There occurs no contemporary Roman record that shows Pontius Pilate executing a man named Jesus. Devastating to historians, there occurs not a single contemporary writing that mentions Jesus. All documents about Jesus got written well after the life of the alleged Jesus from either: unknown authors, people who had never met an earthly Jesus, or from fraudulent, mythical or allegorical writings. Although one can argue that many of these writings come from fraud or interpolations, I will use the information and dates to show that even if these sources did not come from interpolations, they could still not serve as reliable evidence for a historical Jesus, simply because all sources derive from hearsay accounts.

Hearsay means information derived from other people rather than on a witness' own knowledge.

Courts of law do not generally allow hearsay as testimony, and nor does honest modern scholarship. Hearsay provides no proof or good evidence, and therefore, we should dismiss it.

* * *
The Myth of the Historical Jesus
http://mama.indstate.edu/users/nizrael/jesusrefutation.html

Pagan origins of Jesus:
http://www.medmalexperts.com/POCM/index.html
http://geocities.com/christprise/
http://mama.indstate.edu/users/nizrael/jesusrefutation.html
http://www.rationalresponders.com/a_silence_that_screams_no_contemporary_historical_accounts_for_jesus
http://www.truthbeknown.com/origins.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/pcc/pcc09.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa3.htm
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/resurrection/lecture.html
http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/virgin.html
http://www.harrington-sites.com/motif.htm
http://altreligion.about.com/library/weekly/aa052902a.htm

Answer 8

Jesus is God that came in the flesh as our Savior

Answer 9

That Jesus is God. Too easy! Hope everyone got a hundred on that one.

Answer 10

This would mean that Jesus is God in the flesh

"the word became flesh and tabernacled among us"