Deity of Christ : Answer a Jehovah's witness or Jew

Proving the Deity of Christ
using only the Old Testament

he word "Christ" means "Anointed One" and comes from the greek word which means "Messiah". If we can show that the Old Testament referred to the Messiah as divine, then we only need to show that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah for us to show that Jesus of Nazareth is God. The proofs of Jesus' Messiahship have been covered extensively elsewhere, and will not be discussed here. If you would like to see proof of Jesus' divinity from mainly the New Testament, then download this document:

Proof of the Deity of Christ from the Scriptures
word | pdf

Allusions of Deity
1) Made in "our" image: In Genesis 1:26 God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness..."
Several explanations of this text abound:
Some say that God was speaking to the angels when we He said that He was going to make man in "our" image. This would mean that we would be made in the image of God and His angels. It would also mean that angels had a hand in making mankind ["Let us make..."]. There is no other reference in the Bible to angels being the Creator, or co-Creators of mankind. If you accept the New Testament as God's Word, it says in John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16 that ALL things were made by Jesus [Jehovah's witness NWT Bible translates Colossians 1:16 as saying that Jesus made all "other" things, when the word "other" is not in the greek]. The rest of Genesis and the entire Old Testament declares God as the Creator, with NO mention of angels in the creation of mankind. Since the word "angels" is not found in Genesis 1:26, it is extremely presumptuous to assume that God is speaking to the angels.
Some say that God is actually speaking to other "gods"--this view is popular with Mormons, who claim that there are many gods. The problem with this is that the entire Old [and New] Testaments declare that there are no other gods but God. Isaiah 43:10-11 says, "before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the LORD..." So God is not speaking to other "gods".
Others [especially Jews] will claim that God is using an "Imperial We" This means that God is speaking as a King in the sense that only He will do the creating, but He uses "us" and "we" to exaggerate the broad breadth of His Kingdom. The only problem with this is that it still insinuates that we are also made in the image of someone other than God, or it insinuates that God is speaking to Himself, and there is no other person of the GodHead.
The only other possibility is that God is speaking within Himself to another person of the GodHead [such as Jesus and the Holy Spirit!]
Regarding all these explanations, Genesis 1:26 is at least consistent with a triune GodHead.

2) The Plural Unity
In Genesis chapter 1 and in other parts of the Old Testament, God is referred to as Elohim. "El" means "God" and "-ohim" is a plural ending. In other contexts, the same word "Elohim" can refer to "gods". But when we realize what Isaiah 43:10-11 says: "before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the LORD...", then we see that there are no other gods in reality. All other "gods" are the idols of mankind. When Elohim is often found in conjunction with a singular verb, it highlights the fact that God is one, and yet plural.
Again Jews will contend that this is yet another form of the "Imperial We", so I suggest we look at...
Deuteronomy 6:4; "The Lord our God, the Lord is ONE" that word for ONE is "echad" which means "united one". the word "synchad" is not used which would be the expected word for one, without a "unity".

So "echad" and "US" and "OUR" and "-ohim" all give us glimpses into the Trinity

Direct Passages
a) One of the most POWERFUL examples of the Deity of the "Sent One" is found in
Isaiah 48:9-16. God Almighty is speaking saying:
"I will not yield my glory to another."
"Israel, whom I have called..."
"I am the first and I am the last. My own hand laid the foundations of the earth..."
"My right hand spread out the heavens..."

Then look at what God says next!
"And now the Sovereign LORD has sent me, with His Spirit!" [Isaiah 48:16]

Here we see that God was sent! There is no other satisfying explanation for this text other than to say that the GodHead must be made up of at least two [in reality three!--His Spirit] persons. The "Sent One" is God, just as much as "the Sender" is God!

b) The next verse that shows the Deity of the Christ [The Messiah, or "Sent and Anointed One"] is found in
Psalm 110:1: "The LORD says to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."

I have chosen this verse because it is a verse that even modern-day rabbis agree with this translation.
If the Messiah is to be the "son of David", then how is it that David calls Him "Lord"? The word for "Lord" in the Old Testament is "Adonai". Sometimes "Adonai" would be used to refer to your earthly boss, but most of the time it referred to God Almighty. Since David is not speaking of an earthly boss, but rather the Messiah, his declaration that the Messiah is "Lord" is amazing, especially considering that the Messiah was to be his own descendant! Here we see that the "Lord" is also God!

c) Other Messianic Deity verses in the Old Testament
Psalm 2:12, Psalm 45:6-7, and Isaiah 9:6 are strong proofs of the Deity of the Christ from the Old Testament. These are very useful for Jehovah's Witnesses, but for Jews, their modern-day rabbinic translations often change the translations to remove the Deity of the Christ from them. To see these verses, and a brief explanation of the rabbinic translation, download:

Psalm 110:1 as proof of the Deity of Messiah and Other OT Messianic Deity verses
word | pdf

The "Messenger of the LORD" is God
For an extensive study on this topic, I suggest you listen to a teaching lesson on the "angel of the Lord"

The "angel [messenger] of the Lord"
is God [47 min. 8.19 MB]
to save to your computer, right click and choose "save target as"

A messenger can be:
1) A man (ex. A prophet) 2) an angelic being 3) God Himself
The context is key to determining what kind of messenger is described. The text may use “God” or “The LORD” interchangeably with “The angel of the LORD” signifying that the “angel” is the Christ [Jesus]. If the one whom the “angel” is worshipped and does not rebuke the man who worships him, that signifies that the “angel” is God.. John is rebuked when he worships an angelic being in Revelation 22:8-9.

More examples of “The angel of The LORD”
Genesis 22:10-15 “The angel of the LORD” speaks to Abraham
(Genesis 31:11-13 “The angel of God” speaks to Jacob)
Genesis 48:15-16 “The angel” is equated with the God of Abraham
Exodus 3:2-21 “The angel of the LORD” appeared to Moses in the bush
**Exodus 13:21-22; 14:19 “The angel of God”/The LORD in a pillar of cloud and fire
Numbers 22:31 “The angel of the LORD” appears to Balaam
Judges 2:1 “The angel of the LORD” that swore a covenant with Israel, and led His people up out of Egypt
Zechariah 3:1-4 “The angel of the LORD” has taken away sin

For a more extensive treatment of this matter, look at pages 2 and 3 of:

Messenger of the Lord
word | pdf

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