“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

Those who believe God’s law was done away with essentially argue that God gave the law to ancient Israel, but 15 centuries later Jesus Christ came and made the law null and void. Yet we read in Malachi 3:6, “For I am the Lord, I do not change . . .”

And as we saw in the two preceding chapters, both Jesus and His apostles after Him clearly upheld the validity of obeying the law for those who truly follow God from the heart. The biblical picture is clear and consistent.

Yet we have another dimension to the picture that is vitally important for us to understand—and that is grasping the more complete identity of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible. Who, really, was Jesus of Nazareth? Where did He come from? Who and what exactly was He? To explore these questions, we’ll now take a deeper dive to discover what Scripture reveals.

“No one has seen the Father”

We start with some statements Jesus made about God the Father. These and other declarations He made about Himself puzzled His audience in the first century, and they continue to puzzle people today. We find one such statement in John 5:37: “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.”

And Jesus repeats that no one has ever seen the Father in John 6:46: “No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father” (NIV). Here Jesus plainly says that no one has seen the Father except “the One who is from God”—referring to Himself. He alone has seen the Father. No human being has ever seen the Father.

The apostle John, who recorded these statements, several decades later repeats this exact same statement in one of his epistles: “No one has seen God at any time” (1 John 4:12).

But in the books of the Old Testament period we see that a number of people did see God. They include Abraham (Genesis 12:7: 15:1; 18:1), Isaac (Genesis 26:2, 24), Jacob (Genesis 28:13; 32:30; 35:9-10), Moses (Exodus 3:6; 33:11, 21-23), Moses and Aaron along with the 70 elders of Israel (Exodus 24:9-11), Joshua (Joshua 6:2) and Gideon (Judges 6:14).

Nearly all of these are described as face-to-face encounters. Two are specifically described as visions, including one of these encounters with Abraham and one with Jacob. But in addition to those visions, Abraham and Jacob had face-to-face encounters with God also—during which Abraham ate a meal with God and Jacob wrestled with God.

In these various encounters, the God who appeared and spoke with these individuals is identified as “God” (Hebrew Elohim), “the Lord” (Hebrew YHWH or Yahweh), “the God of Israel,” “the God of your fathers,” “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” “God Almighty” (Hebrew El Shaddai), “the word of the Lord,” “the Angel of the Lord,” “I AM WHO I AM” and “I AM.”

So how do we reconcile the multiple statements from Jesus Christ Himself and the apostle John that no one has seen the Father at any time with the many biblical passages recording events when individuals did see God? Who did these individuals see when they saw God?

The only way we can make sense of this is to understand that no man had seen God the Father at any time.

John explains for us near the beginning of his Gospel: “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” (John 1:18, NIV).

Jesus made the Father known

John had just explained in the verses leading up to this that he was a personal eyewitness of “the Word” who became flesh as Jesus Christ, so the “God” here whom “no one has ever seen” thus has to be referring to God the Father.

But if God the Father was known to the Israelites as God during the Old Testament period, why would Jesus need to make Him known? That doesn’t make sense. There’s no need to reveal the Father if the Father was already known when Jesus came.

When we put all these biblical passages together, the only logical conclusion we can reach is that the divine Being these many individuals saw as recorded in these passages above, and at other times when God appeared to people, was “the Word [who] was with God” and at the same time “was God” and “was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2). He was the One who, as John explains, “became flesh and dwelt among us” (verse 14), born a flesh-and-blood human being as Jesus of Nazareth.

With this understanding, there is no contradiction. We know that “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35)—meaning it does not contradict itself.

What Scripture reveals is that the Being who was later born as Jesus Christ was the One who interacted with the patriarchs and prophets and the people of Israel as “the Lord” or “God” on behalf of the Father. These people never saw God the Father, but rather the “Word”—the Spokesman or representative of God, who came to reveal the Father and make Him known.

Various scriptural passages show that the “God” who communicated with these people was the Messenger or Spokesman of another divine Being who was also God—the One we know of as God the Father. This being was not generally known to the Israelites, which is why, as John explained, Jesus came and “made Him known.” So Jesus came to reveal the Father, and through His perfect example demonstrated exactly what God the Father is like—that He personifies love in all that He is and does (1 John 4:8, 16).

Jesus was almost killed for claiming to be God

Putting all this together, we see that the One who appeared and spoke to people as God during Old Testament times was the One who would later be born in the flesh as Jesus Christ—who “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Jesus Himself clearly said this, and the people who heard Him knew that was exactly what He meant.

Perhaps the boldest claim Jesus made about His identity is found in John 8:56-58, where Jesus was in a heated debate with some of the Jews who opposed Him. Jesus surprised them by saying that “Abraham rejoiced to see My day.” Here Jesus specifically told them that He existed in the time of Abraham, who lived some 2,000 years earlier! Those who heard Him understood what He meant: “Then the Jews said to Him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?’

Jesus then shocked them even more, declaring, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.’”

Translated into English, His statement may appear or sound confusing. But in the Aramaic or Hebrew language in which He spoke, He was making a claim that immediately led the people to try to stone Him to death (verse 59).

What was going on here? Jesus was revealing His identity as the actual One whom the Jews knew as God in the Old Testament. He was saying in one breath that He existed before Abraham and that He was the same Being as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—leading them to immediately pick up stones to execute Him for blasphemy!

Jesus Christ’s divine identity as “I AM”

Anciently when the great God first revealed Himself to Moses in Exodus 3:13-14, Moses asked Him what His name was. “I AM WHO I AM,” was the awesome reply. “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

Jesus clearly claimed to be this same Being—the “I AM” of Exodus 3:14, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (verse 15).

“I AM” is related to the personal name for God in the Old Testament, the Hebrew name YHWH. When this name appears in our English Bibles, it is commonly rendered using small capital letters as Lord. It is transliterated as “Jehovah” in some Bible versions.

When Jesus made this startling statement, the Jews knew exactly what He meant. They picked up stones to kill Him because they thought He was guilty of blasphemy for claiming to be this same God.

“I AM” and the related YHWH are the names of God that infer absolute timeless self-existence. Although impossible to translate accurately and directly into English, YHWH conveys meanings of “The Eternal One,” “The One Who Always Exists” or “The One Who Was, Is and Always Will Be.” These distinctions can apply only to God, whose ­existence is eternal and everlasting.

In Isaiah 42:8 this same Being says, “I am the Lord [YHWH], that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images.” A few chapters later He says: “Thus says the Lord [YHWH], the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God” (Isaiah 44:6).

To the Jews, there was no mistaking who Jesus claimed to be. He said He was the One the nation of Israel understood to be the one true God. By Jesus making claim to the name “I AM,” He was saying that He was the God whom the Hebrews knew as YHWH.

This name was considered so holy that a devout Jew would not pronounce it. This was a special name for God that can only refer to the one true God. No wonder His words drew cries of “blasphemy!” from those first-century Jews who heard Him. The very things that the God of their Scriptures claimed for Himself were the same claims Jesus made of Himself!

(We should note that there are occasional places in the Old Testament where YHWH clearly refers to God the Father. For instance, in Psalm 110:1 King David stated, “The Lord [YHWH] said to My Lord . . .” YHWH here is the Father speaking to David’s Lord, the One who became Jesus Christ. Most often, however, as demonstrated in the examples in this chapter, the name YHWH refers to the One who became Christ—and sometimes it refers to both the Father and Christ together, just as the name God often does).

So the Word was indeed the God who interacted with people as recorded in the Old Testament. Jesus dealt with mankind on the Father’s behalf as His Spokesman under the direction of the Father (see John 8:28; 12:49-50). Of course, since Jesus came to reveal the Father (Matthew 11:27), the logical conclusion is that the Father was not generally known by those in Old Testament times except for a few of the Hebrew patriarchs and prophets.

Jesus identified with YHWH

The scriptural record is clear that Jesus equated Himself with the YHWH of the Old Testament Scriptures in a variety of ways. 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). And 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: “O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5). And Isaiah 42:8 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 that Jesus understood Himself as the Lord (YHWH) of the Old Testament. He further proclaimed Himself to be divine in other ways as well.

“I and My Father are one”

The Jews confronted Jesus on another occasion, asking Him: “How long do You keep us in doubt? If you are the Christ [the prophesied Messiah], tell us plainly” (John 10:24). Jesus’ answer is quite revealing: “I told you, and you do not believe” (verse 25). He had indeed confirmed His divine identity on a previous occasion (John 5:17-18).

Jesus added, “The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me” (John 10:25). The works He did were miracles that only God could do. His opponents could not refute the miraculous works Jesus did.

He made another statement that incensed them: “I and My Father are one” (verse 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 of His divinity!

The Gospel of John records yet another instance in which Jesus infuriated the Jews with His claims of divinity. It happened just after Jesus 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 Jesus’ healings).

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.” 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).

Jesus was equating His works with God’s works and claiming God as His Father in a special way.

Jesus claimed authority to forgive sins

Jesus claimed to be divine in various other ways. When Jesus healed one paralyzed man, He also said to him, “Son, your sins are forgiven you” (Mark 2:5). 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 that belonged to God only, that of forgiving sin. Again, the Lord (YHWH) is the One portrayed in the Old Testament as forgiving 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:

“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, which tells us that “the Lord [YHWH] kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up [raises from the grave].”

Jesus accepted honor and worship

Jesus demonstrated His divinity in yet another way when He said, “All should honor the Son just as they honor the Father” (John 5:23). Over and over, Jesus told His disciples to believe in Him as they would believe in God: “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me” (John 14:1).

Jesus received worship on many occasions without forbidding such acts. A leper worshiped Him (Matthew 8:2). A ruler worshiped Him with his plea to raise his daughter from the dead (Matthew 9:18). When Jesus had stilled the storm, those in the boat worshiped Him as the Son of God (Matthew 14:33).

A Canaanite woman worshiped Him (Matthew 15:25). When Jesus met the women who came to His tomb after His resurrection, they worshiped 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 worshiped Him (verse 38).

The First and 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 an angel in his vision, 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.

Jesus’ instruction to pray in His name

Jesus not only tells His followers to believe in Him, but that when we pray to the Father, we are to pray in Christ’s name: “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13). Jesus made it clear that access to the Father is through Him, telling us that “no one comes to the Father except through Me” (verse 6).

The apostle Paul states of Jesus: “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

Paul is telling us that God the Father Himself is upholding the fact that Jesus is God, by exalting His name to the level of the One through whom we make our requests and the One before whom we bow. Jesus also assures us that He will be the One who will give the answer to our prayers (“. . .  that I will do,” John 14:13).

In so many ways Jesus revealed Himself as the One the Israelites knew as God in the Old Testament. The Jews saw Him do many things that only God would or could do. They heard Him say things about Himself that could only apply to God. They were angered and responded with outrage and charged Him with blasphemy. They were so infuriated by His claims that they wanted to kill Him on the spot.

The claim of Jesus’ disciples

Jesus understood Himself to be unique in His close relationship with the Father in that He was the only One who could reveal the Father. “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matthew 11:27).

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.

The first Gospel writer, Matthew, opens with the story of the virgin birth of Jesus. Matthew comments on this miraculous event with the quote 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 Jesus God directly. When Thomas saw His 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 has not changed His mind regarding the law

These are not all the scriptures pertinent to this subject, but they are enough to abundantly demonstrate that the One who interacted with human beings in the Old Testament period as God on behalf of the Father was the One we know today as Jesus Christ.

And as such, He was actually the divine Being who revealed the law to Moses and the Israelites—making it nonsensical to argue that He then came to earth 15 centuries later to abolish that same law!

After all, Hebrews 13:8 tells us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” He has not changed His mind on the law, which He gave to mankind to be a great blessing (Deuteronomy 4:5-8; 7:12-15; 28:1-14; 30:19-20; Leviticus 26:3-12; Psalm 19:7-11). In doing so He demonstrated the great love that both He and God the Father have for mankind!