Every false church, heretical movement, and cult is founded on a corruption of who Jesus Christ really is. The crux of how one is saved and becomes a Christian hinges on your answer to "Who do you say I am?" (Mark 8:28). The proper response is found in Paul's letter to the Romans, "If you confess Jesus is Jehovah, and believe that God raised Him from dead, you shall be saved." (Romans 10:9). Many have tried change the truth of who Jesus is, King James I of England had Yahweh replaced with I AM and Jehovah replaced with LORD because James did not want any associations with Judaism and he wanted no name above his own. It is easier for a king to call God Lord, than to call Him God. This is distorting continues, the Jews changed Genesis 1 to read, "And God said, let there be Light, and there was light," (Genesis 1:3, 12th Century A.D. Hebraic Translation) but the original translation reads like this, "God spoke the Word and there was Light." (Genesis 1:3, 60 B.C. Septuagint, The Orthodox Study Bible). This cross references to John's gospel, "In Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And through Him everything was made, and apart from Him nothing was made." (John 1:1-3). The Jews changed Genesis and many Scriptures in Old Testament to hide who Messiah is, they wanted to believe the Messiah and the Bridgroom who is God were separate beings, but they are One, and His name is Jesus Christ.
The central problem you will find in every church, synagogue, temple, and holy place is what they believe about Jesus Christ. Some say he is a prophet (Muslims), others a teacher (Poster Modernists, and many others), more a philosopher, some say he was an angel (Jehovah Witnesses). The truth is that the Truth of who Jesus really is polarizes people, and everyone tries to hide it to be accepted and not be persecuted. The Apostle Paul said this most poignantly, "Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised--as some say I do--why am I still being persecuted? If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would be offended." (Colossians 5:11, NLT). The Apostle Paul takes this further in this great words by Holy Spirit, "For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." (Galatians 5:22-24). Who Jesus really is becomes a stumbling block to the Jew and actually all people. If someone claims Christ Jesus to be prophet, philosopher, teacher, man, and revolutionary; no one is offended. But when you say He is God, "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form/For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form/For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." (Colossians 2:9, NIV, NLT, KJV), and "Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him." (Colossians 1:15-16); everyone is offended. Once we as Christians confess who Christ really is, that He is God, then suddenly everyone else is stumbling on the Stumbling Block or they calls us Foolish (Galatians 5:22-25).
Jesus asserts who He is on many occasions. It is important to understand that I AM really is YHVH, which is Tetragrammaton of God's name in the Old Testament and is commonly spelled Yahweh. Jesus says He is Yahweh, "But He kept silent and did not answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" Jesus said, "I Am. And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God's right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven." (Mark 14:61-62), "Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am!" (John 8:58, NLT), "Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me," (John 14:6), "You call me 'Teacher (Rabboni/Rabbi)' and 'Lord (Jehovah),' and rightly so, for that is what I am (YHVH/Yahweh)," (John 13:13), "yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord (Jehovah), Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live," (1 Corinthians 8:9), "I and the Father are One," (John 10:30), "Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father (Abba)?" (John 14:9). and "that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (John 17:21). Jesus Christ is both Yahweh and Yehovah (Jehovah)! He is God and the God of Israel in bodily form! (Colossians 1:10-22, Colossians 2:9). I have laid out how Jesus is Jehovah in "The Supremacy of Christ" post, and you can read the plethora of Scriptures there that affirm Jesus is God.
We Christians believe Jesus Christ is God. Not just a son of God, but God Himself in body. We believe that Jesus Christ is both God (Col 1:15-16, Col 2:9) and Man (1 John 4:12, 2 John 1:7). He is the complete fullness of the Trinity. And yet many try to skirt this in the Messianic Movement, and many churches do not preach it. They fear offending men, but they offend God who is Jesus! "Don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell," (Matthew 10:28). Churches and Christians who do not confess Jesus as God are condemned, "but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven," (Matthew 10:33, cross ref John 14:6), "If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels," (Mark 8:38, NLT), "if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us;" (2 Timothy 2:12), "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son," (John 3:18), "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life," (Matthew 25:46), "I tell you the truth, everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, the Son of Man will also acknowledge in the presence of God's angels, But anyone who denies me here on earth will be denied before God's angels," (Luke 12:8-9), and "This man of Lawlessness (Antichrist) will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth (John 14:6, Colossians 1:15-16, Colossians 2:9, John 3:16) that would save them. So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies. Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth." (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).
There you have it. Jesus is Stumbling block to men who do not want to acknowledge or confess (Romans 10:9) who He really is (Col 2:9). This is why Paul said, "I preach Christ and Him Crucified, a Stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles, But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God." (1 Corinthians 1:23-24). The apostle Paul knew how important the Gospel being protected was, He even went on to say, "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified," (1 Corinthians 2:2) and "Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ." (Philippians 3:8). It is imperative that no follower of Immanuel, of Jesus Christ, yield to compromising who Christ Jesus is! He is God (John 10:30), the Fullnes of the Trinity (Colossians 2:9), and everything was created through Him and By Him and For Him (John 1:3, Colossians 1:1-18). AMEN.
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