The Divine Messiah Of John
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Today we’re wrapping up our series on how Old Testament messianic themes are presented in the Gospels.
We began with the Royal Messiah presented in Matthew. Then we looked at the Suffering Messiah presented in Mark. Yesterday, we studied the Pure Messiah presented in Luke and today we’ll finish up by exploring the Divine Messiah presented in John.
The Messiah is an eternal being in Micah 5:2, comes to His temple in Malachi 3:1, and is sent by the Father and Holy Spirit in Isaiah 48:12,16-17. He is called the Mighty God in Isaiah 9:6.
“I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior,” God tells us in Isaiah 43:11.
And again in Isaiah 63:16 we read, “You, O LORD, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.”
The Old Testament makes it very clear that it’s God who saves us from the judgment of sin. He alone is the Savior. And so when the ultimate fulfillment of redemption was to take place, when the Messiah finally arrived, He could only be God.
This is the Divine Messiah presented in the Gospel of John.
John calls Jesus “The Word” and tells us the Word is God in John 1:1. He is the creator of all things in John 1:3.
In John 5 Jesus is almost killed for declaring Himself equal with God in verse 18. He claims to see God and is shown all things by Him in verses 19-20. He claims to be the final judge of all in verse 22. He commands that all honor the Son just as they honor the Father in verse 23. He claims He’ll one day raise the dead in verse 25 and claims His will is identical to the Father’s in verse 30.
In chapter 10 Jesus is nearly stoned for again claiming to be God. In chapter 19 He is crucified because He claimed to be the Son of God.
But in chapter 20 Jesus’ tomb is empty because He is God and death cannot contain Him.
