Who is the "Christ"

[B-A-C]

Well uhhh... Jesus... duh!

OK. Now that we got that out of the way.

Let's start with the OT.

The word "Christ" doesn't exist in the old testament anywhere. Basically it means "Messiah".
The only place the word "messiah" appears in the Bible is Daniel chapter 9.

But there are dozens of prophecies of the Messiah in the old testament.

Isa 7:14; "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.

There aren't too many virgins that had children. Even in the Bible there is only one woman.
This woman will call her son Immanuel. Why is that significant? What does Immanuel mean?

Isa 9:6; For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

There aren't many children in the Bible that are called "Mighty God" either. He is called mighty Father,
but the Father wasn't a child born to us. However the Father and the Son are One. The same God.

Psa 49:7; No man can by any means redeem his brother Or give to God a ransom for him—
Psa 49:8; For the redemption of his soul is costly, And he should cease trying forever—

No mere human man can redeem you. No mere man can ransom you or redeem your soul.

Psa 49:15; But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, For He will receive me. Selah.

But God can. The redeemer could not be a mere human.

The Jews of the old testament knew who the Messiah was. They didn't know a lot about Him, but they knew He was God. We could change the word Messiah for Christ here. They knew the Christ was God.

There is more from the old testament, but we will start with these for now.

 

[Born Again 2004]

• Jesus is called “the Christ” or “Jesus Christ,” but Christ is not his last name. It is a description. Jesus was the man who discovered and expressed his divinity and became known as Jesus Christ. … Since we were created with the exact same potential as Jesus, we, too, can discover and express our divinity.
• Jesus as the Christ. Often the gospels use cultural images of kingship to proclaim Jesus as the Christ, God’s anointed King who has come. When a king arose with great power, other kingdoms would send emissaries with lavish gifts to establish a friendly relationship with the future leader.
  
• Christ is a prophecy fulfilled, as you mentioned: Isaiah 9:6 -- For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

 

[B-A-C]

I asked in the OP, why is it significant that the child born of a virgin is called Immanuel. The answer is in the first chapter of the new testament.

"Matt 1:23; "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US."

This is is a quote if Isaiah 7. It tells us why He is called Immanuel.
So is this really true... did "God" give up His "God-ness" to become a human? Let's find out.

John 1:1; In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:2; He was in the beginning with God.
John 1:3; All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

The Word was "with" God... but the Word also "was God". So who/what is this "word" here?
Whoever He is... everything was created by Him, and nothing that was created was created without Him.
Who is this guy?

John 1:14; And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:15; John *testified about Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'"

Whoever this "Word" was. He became flesh. Who did that? Jesus of course. But did Jesus just start existing at this point?
John the Baptist says Jesus was born after him. If we read the Bible we see this is true. Yet John the Baptist says Jesus "existed
before me". How is that?

Could Jesus have existed before He came to the earth as a man? What did He exist as?

Php 2:5; Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
Php 2:6; who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be tightly held,
Php 2:7; but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
Php 2:8; Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

He existed in the form of God. He had equality with God (the Father) but He didn't hold onto that form.
He "emptied Himself" and became into the likeness of men.

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In the OP, there were a few verses about the Christ being God. Jesus had to be God in order to qualify as the Christ.
But what if I don't believe this? What if I don't believe these verses? What if I don't believe Jesus is really the Christ
as He is qualified in these verses?

1 Jn 2:22; Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.

If we deny Jesus is the Christ.. "Immanuel - God with us"... "Mighty God" "God the redeemer of souls"
If we say He was just a "good man, or just a prophet... but none of these things. This is the spirit of the antichrist!!

... to be continued ...

 

[B-A-C]

Heb 1:2; in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
Heb 1:3; And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Heb 1:4; having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.
Heb 1:5 For to which of the angels did He ever say, "YOU ARE MY SON, TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU"? And again, "I WILL BE A FATHER TO HIM AND HE SHALL BE A SON TO ME"?
Heb 1:6; And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, "AND LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM."
Heb 1:7; And of the angels He says, "WHO MAKES HIS ANGELS WINDS, AND HIS MINISTERS A FLAME OF FIRE."
Heb 1:8; But of the Son He says, "YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER, AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM.
Heb 1:9; "YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS; THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS."
Heb 1:10; And, "YOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH, AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;

Verse 2 above says "His Son" made the world. In verse 6, God tells the angels to worship "His Son".
The angels worship God alone. Why would they worship a mere man?

Verse 8. This may be the most telling verse of them all.

"of the Son He says, "YOUR THRONE, O GOD". The Father actually calls the Son "God" in this verse.

Col 1:15; He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
Col 1:16; For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
Col 1:17; He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Col 1:18; He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
Col 1:19; For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,

He is the image "of the invisible God". He is God. He is the "firstborn of all creation".
Some incorrectly take this as Jesus didn't exist before creation. But Jesus Himself "made" creation.
Jesus existed before creation, but when creation finally happened, Jesus was the first born of it.

Col 2:9; For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,

The fullness of the deity of God... dwells in Jesus. Jesus is God.

... to be continued ...

 

[B-A-C]

Jesus claimed to be the "I am" who spoke to Moses, making himself God. There is no Greek word for "he" in John 8:24

Exo 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

John 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

Joh 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
Joh 8:57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
Joh 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
Joh 8:59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

Joh 10:31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
Joh 10:32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
Joh 10:33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

1Ti 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

@Curtis
I hope you don't mind me quoting you here. This is a great list. One more verse I might add to this list...

Luke 10:18; And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.

I wonder how long ago this happened? Yet Jesus said He was there.

Gen 1:26; Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
Gen 1:27; God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

If God created the heavens and the earth... and Jesus created all of creation.
Then how can Jesus not be God?
Have you ever wondered... who is the "our" (multiple persons) is in verse 26 above?

... to be continued ...

 

[B-A-C]

The only place the word "messiah" appears in the Bible is Daniel chapter 9.

Uggghh. That should be "old testament". Not the entire Bible. It is also in the New Testament.

 

[B-A-C]

Rev 1:8; "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

Just about all "red-letter" Bibles have parts of the verse above printed in red. Why did they do they do that?
It says "says the Lord God". So God is speaking here. Yet the verses are in Red. Hmmm... it must be a mistake.
What gave them the idea that Jesus was speaking here? Let us read a few more verses. Maybe it was just something
they "thought" Jesus would say.

Rev 1:9; I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
Rev 1:10; I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet,
Rev 1:11; saying, "Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea."

Rev 1:12; Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands;
Rev 1:13; and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash.
Rev 1:14; His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire.
Rev 1:15; His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.
Rev 1:16; In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.
Rev 1:17; When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,
Rev 1:18; and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

It says here this person "was dead", but now "I am alive forevermore". Verse 17 is similar to verse 8. The Alpha and Omega.
the first and the last. Alpha was the first letter of the Greek alphabet. Omega was the last letter of the Greek alphabet.

What could be before or after God? Who was this person who was dead but is alive (forevermore) now? Whoever He is... verse 8 says He is God.

 

[B-A-C]

Mark 2:5; And Jesus seeing their faith *said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
Mark 2:6; But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,
Mark 2:7; "Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?"
Mark 2:8; Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, *said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?

The scribes and Pharisee's were usually wrong about whatever they thought about Jesus.
But in this case they were right. "who can forgive sins but God alone?"
They were right. Only God can forgive our sins.

Now we may be able to forgive someone who sinned against us personally. But we can't forgive all their sins.
Yet in the next verses Jesus proves to them... He has the authority to forgive sins.

John 5:18; For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

The Pharisees knew what Jesus was saying when He called Himself the "Son of God".

... to be continued ...

 

[B-A-C]

The phrase "God our Savior" is in my Bible 19 times. No where do I see "a man our Savior"

Tit 2:10; not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.
Tit 2:13; looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,
Tit 3:4; But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,

Notice Titus 2:13 says... "our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus".

How many ways can you interpret that?