Jesus Is God: Scripture’s Testimony from Prophecy to Revelation
The Bible, from beginning to end, proclaims a remarkable truth: Jesus Christ is God. This affirmation is woven throughout Scripture, revealed progressively through prophecy, realized in the Gospels, preached by the apostles, and ultimately displayed in the glory of Christ’s return. Relying on Scripture alone (Sola Scriptura), we will trace the biblical witness to Jesus’ deity – starting with Old Testament prophecies, moving through Christ’s life and claims, and concluding with the apostolic testimony and the future revelation of His glory. All along, we’ll see that the entire Bible affirms that Jesus is truly God.Old Testament Prophecies of the Divine Messiah
Long before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the Old Testament prophets foretold the coming of a Messiah who would be more than a mere man – He would be God with us. Isaiah, writing centuries in advance, announced a child to come who would carry divine titles: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given… and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). This promised child is explicitly called Mighty God, indicating that the Messiah would embody God’s power and presence. Similarly, Isaiah prophesied the miraculous birth of a son from a virgin, saying “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Immanuel means “God with us,” a sign that the coming Messiah would be God Himself dwelling among His people.Other prophets echoed this hope of a divine deliverer. Micah predicted the Messiah’s birthplace and eternal nature: “But you, O Bethlehem… from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2). Though born in Bethlehem, the Messiah’s origin is “from ancient days” – from eternity – an attribute only God can claim. Jeremiah likewise spoke of a righteous king from David’s line who would be called Yahweh Himself: “I will raise up for David a righteous Branch… and this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness’” (Jeremiah 23:5–6). To call the Messiah “The LORD (Yahweh) Our Righteousness” is to identify Him with Israel’s God.
In these and other prophecies, the Old Testament lays the foundation for Christ’s deity. The prophets anticipated a Savior who is God coming to save His people. Malachi, for instance, recorded God’s promise, “Behold, I send my messenger… and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple” (Malachi 3:1). In the New Testament, this was fulfilled when John the Baptist prepared the way and Jesus – the Lord – came to the temple. Likewise, Isaiah 40:3 declares, “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD (Yahweh); make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” All four Gospels apply this verse to John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus (e.g. Mark 1:2–3). In doing so, Scripture equates Jesus with the LORD God for whom the way is prepared. From these prophecies, the message is clear: the expected Messiah would be God Himself entering history.
The Gospels: “God With Us” in Jesus Christ
When we turn to the New Testament Gospels, we see those ancient prophecies coming to fruition. The very beginning of Matthew’s Gospel proclaims Jesus’ divine identity. Matthew recounts the angel’s message to Joseph that Mary’s child was conceived by the Holy Spirit and that this fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us)” (Matthew 1:23). From His birth, Jesus is identified as God come in the flesh, dwelling among His people. The title “Immanuel” isn’t just a name – it’s a reality fulfilled in Jesus Christ.The apostle John opens his Gospel with an even more direct statement of Christ’s deity: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Here John calls Jesus “the Word” (in Greek, Logos) and plainly states that He was God and existed with God from the beginning. A few verses later John continues: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). This is the essence of the Incarnation – the eternal Word, who is God, took on human nature and lived among us as Jesus of Nazareth. John even reiterates, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18, ESV). Jesus, as God the Son, makes the Father known because He shares the Father’s divine nature.
Throughout the Gospels, the narrative repeatedly affirms Jesus’ divine identity through His works and titles. Jesus has authority that only God has – commanding the forces of nature, creating abundance from nothing, and even raising the dead. In one striking scene, Jesus forgives a paralyzed man’s sins, saying, “My son, your sins are forgiven” (Mark 2:5). The Jewish scribes react with shock: “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7). Indeed, forgiving sins is God’s prerogative, yet Jesus exercises that authority, demonstrating that God Himself is present in Jesus. Likewise, when Jesus walked on water and calmed a raging storm with a word, His disciples worshiped Him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God” (Matthew 14:33). They recognized in that moment that Jesus was no mere prophet – even the winds and waves obey Him, just as the Old Testament says the seas obey only the LORD (cf. Psalm 107:29). The appropriate response was worship, an honor reserved for God alone, and Jesus accepted it. Repeatedly, the Gospels show Jesus being honored in ways that affirm His deity: at His birth wise men fell down and worshiped Him (Matthew 2:11); after His resurrection, disciples “worshiped him” (Matthew 28:17). Jesus never rebuked such worship. On the contrary, He declared, “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9), and “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Clearly, the Gospel writers present Jesus as “God with us,” fulfilling the promises that God Himself would come to save His people.
Christ’s Own Claims and Divine Works
Jesus not only fulfilled prophecies and inspired worship; He explicitly claimed divine identity and demonstrated divine authority during His ministry. In the Gospel of John, Jesus makes a series of profound “I AM” statements that echo the very name of God revealed in the Old Testament. Most striking is John 8:58, where Jesus tells the Jews, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” This statement, “I AM,” hearkens back to God’s self-identification to Moses in Exodus 3:14 (“I AM WHO I AM”). The crowd understood Jesus’ meaning immediately – they picked up stones to stone Him for blasphemy, because He, a man, was claiming to be the eternal God (John 8:59). On another occasion Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), and again His Jewish listeners accused Him: “You, a mere man, make yourself God” (John 10:33). Far from correcting them, Jesus stood by His claims, even as they sought His death for it. In fact, the charge against Jesus at His trial was blasphemy – the high priest asked, “Are you the Christ, the Son of God?” Jesus answered, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:61–62). In this reply, Jesus not only accepted the title Son of God but also applied to Himself the prophecy of Daniel 7:13–14 (the Son of Man coming with divine authority). The council understood this as a claim to divine status and condemned Him for blasphemy (Mark 14:63–64). Jesus plainly asserted His equality with God, leaving no room to view Him as just a human teacher or prophet.Beyond words, Jesus’s works bore witness to His deity. He displayed sovereignty over creation by instantly calming storms (Mark 4:39) and walking on water (Matthew 14:25). He showed authority over life and death by raising Lazarus from the tomb (John 11:43–44) and by His own resurrection power – He declared “I have authority to lay down my life, and I have authority to take it up again” (John 10:18). Jesus also exercised divine judgment and forgiveness. He claimed the authority to forgive sins on earth (Mark 2:10) and to execute final judgment, saying “the Father… has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father” (John 5:22–23). Think of that: all people are to honor Jesus just as they honor the Father God – anything less, Jesus says, dishonors the Father (John 5:23). This only makes sense if Jesus shares in the Father’s divine nature and glory. Indeed, Jesus spoke of the glory He had with the Father “before the world existed” (John 17:5), a clear claim to His pre-existence and deity.
Finally, consider the testimony of Thomas, one of Jesus’s own disciples. After Jesus rose from the dead, Thomas initially doubted, but when the risen Christ appeared to him, Thomas cried out in worship, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). Jesus accepted Thomas’s declaration without hesitation, commending the faith that led to it. If Jesus were not truly God, this would have been the moment to correct a disciple – yet Jesus did not correct Thomas. Instead, He affirmed Thomas’s belief and pronounced a blessing on all who would likewise believe in His divine identity (John 20:29. In sum, Jesus’ own words and miraculous works consistently point to one conclusion: He is God incarnate.
The Apostles’ Testimony to Christ’s Deity
After Jesus’s resurrection and ascension, His apostles continued boldly proclaiming that Jesus is God. They did this in sermons, in letters to the churches, and by applying to Jesus Old Testament passages about the LORD. The apostle Peter, for example, opens one of his letters by addressing it “to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1). Peter explicitly calls Jesus our God and Savior. The apostle Paul uses similar language, looking forward to “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he describes Christ as “God over all, forever praised! Amen.” (Romans 9:5, NIV). Paul had been a strict monotheistic Pharisee, yet after encountering the risen Jesus, he did not hesitate to refer to Jesus as God.Paul also teaches Christ’s deity in many ways beyond just the title “God.” In Colossians, he writes of Christ: “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9, NASB). Everything that makes God “God” – His essence, nature, and attributes – fully dwells in Jesus, even as He has a bodily form. Earlier in that letter, Paul exalts Jesus as the pre-existent creator: “He is the image of the invisible God… for by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible… all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:15–17). Such descriptions go far beyond any mere human. Jesus is the perfect image of God and the agent of creation itself – roles only God can fulfill. Paul also writes that before Jesus became man, “though He was in the form of God, [He] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant… And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death” (Philippians 2:6–8). Yet after His resurrection, Jesus is highly exalted so that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:10–11). Paul here deliberately echoes Isaiah 45:23, where the LORD (Yahweh) says, “To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.” The apostles take what was said of Yahweh and apply it to Jesus, declaring that all creation will bow to Jesus just as God commanded it bow to Himself. Clearly, they viewed Jesus as one with the LORD.
The author of Hebrews likewise presents Christ as fully divine. He writes, “[The Son] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus is the shining forth of God’s glory and exactly shares God’s nature – a strong statement of deity. In that same chapter, the writer quotes Psalm 45: “Of the Son [God] says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever’” (Hebrews 1:8). This is astounding: Scripture records God the Father addressing the Son as “God,” enthroned forever. Furthermore, Hebrews 1:6 tells us that when Jesus came into the world, God said, “Let all God’s angels worship Him.” Only God is to be worshiped, yet the angels are commanded to worship Jesus, underscoring that Jesus shares the Father’s divine honor. The apostle John adds his testimony in his epistles, stating in 1 John 5:20, “We are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” By calling Jesus the true God, John leaves no doubt about who Jesus is.
Everywhere we look in the New Testament, the earliest Christians declare Jesus is Lord – and in the context of their Jewish faith, “Lord” (Kyrios in Greek) was the word used for Yahweh in the Greek Scriptures. For example, when the disciple Stephen was martyred, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59), the same way Jesus Himself had prayed, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Calling on Jesus in prayer shows the church regarded Him as divine. In 1 Corinthians 1:2, Paul describes Christians as those who “call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” an expression that reflects worship and prayer (and echoes Joel 2:32’s “call on the name of the LORD” applied now to Jesus). To sum up: the apostles – Peter, Paul, John, and all – uniformly taught and confessed that Jesus Christ is God, one with the Father, worthy of worship and equal in divine honor.
The Future Revelation of Christ’s Glory
The Bible’s final book, Revelation, pulls back the curtain of time to show the ultimate reality of Jesus’s divine glory. In Revelation, the apostle John has a vision of the risen, exalted Christ and falls at His feet. Jesus reassures him saying: “Fear not, I am the First and the Last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore” (Revelation 1:17–18). “The First and the Last” is a title God uses for Himself in Isaiah 44:6, yet Jesus now applies it to Himself, having conquered death. Similarly, at the end of Revelation, Jesus declares, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13). The Alpha and Omega, the eternal beginning and ending of all things, is clearly God – and Jesus unabashedly owns that title. This is the triumphant affirmation that Jesus is eternally God, Lord of all history.Revelation also depicts worship of Jesus in heaven, completing the biblical picture of Christ’s deity. In one scene, all the angels and elders in heaven sing praises to Jesus, the Lamb, saying “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12). Soon “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea” joins in worship, singing, “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13). The Lamb (Jesus) shares the throne and the worship with God Himself. The vision is unmistakable: in the heavenly throne room, Jesus the Lamb is glorified alongside the Father, with equal praise. And the elders “fell down and worshiped” (Revelation 5:14). In a monotheistic faith where worship is due to God alone, the Lamb’s reception of universal worship means that Jesus is God Almighty, worthy of all glory.
Moreover, Revelation 19:16 portrays Christ’s return as King of kings and Lord of lords, a title signifying that He reigns supreme over all rulers, a role only God can fill ultimately. When Christ returns, “every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him” (Revelation 1:7), echoing the prophecy of Zechariah 12:10 where the LORD says, “they will look on Me whom they have pierced.” The one pierced on the cross was Jesus – thus Revelation identifies Jesus with the LORD who spoke in Zechariah. He comes on the clouds in power and great glory, as Jesus Himself predicted (Matthew 24:30). In the final chapters, we see the New Jerusalem needing no sun, “for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Revelation 21:23). The Lamb shares the very glory of God, illuminating all of the eternal city. And in that city, John writes, “the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him” (Revelation 22:3). God and the Lamb share one throne, and His people serve and worship Him (singular). This is a breathtaking picture of the unity of God and the Lamb – Jesus reigning as God in the ages to come.
Conclusion: The Whole Bible Affirms Jesus is God
From the first promises of a Redeemer to the final vision of the risen Lord, Scripture consistently testifies to the deity of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament prophets prepared us to expect a divine Messiah – “God with us.” The Gospels unveil Jesus as that promised divine Savior, in whom the fullness of God dwells bodily. Jesus’ own words and works left no doubt that He claimed and proved equality with the Father. The apostles, convinced by His resurrection and taught by the Holy Spirit, proclaimed Jesus as Lord and God, deserving of worship and Lordship over all. And the Book of Revelation crowns this testimony with a portrait of Jesus in heavenly glory, ruling forever as God King.This magnificent truth is not based on later legends or human tradition, but on the unified voice of Scripture itself. As Jesus said, “the Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35), and Scripture declares Christ’s identity in plain terms. Therefore, standing on the foundation of God’s Word alone, we confidently affirm: Jesus is truly God. He is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, worthy of all praise, honor, and glory. In Jesus we behold our Lord and our God – from now into eternity, “Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:11).
