Jesus Receives Worship

Hi Cousin,

Prior to Christmas, a couple of Bible passages were read at my church that, in my mind, relate to the question of whether or not Jesus is YHWH.

One is from the Matthew 2 account of the wise men.

⁹ After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was.
¹⁰ When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
¹¹ After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Here is a case where Jesus was worshiped, even though we know God forbade the worship of anyone but Him.

A couple chapters later, in Matthew 4, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:13 when the devil asked him to worship him.

¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, "Go, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'"

So obviously Matthew, (as would be true of any other practicing Jew), was well aware of the inappropriateness of worshiping anyone other than God. Yet Matthew's account in chapter 2 does not depict the wise men worshiping Jesus as a blasphemous act. For me, this is another "clue" as to Jesus' true nature.


Another passage that came up in church was in Matthew 1, where Matthew offers the following commentary on the events he just described:

²² Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
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."

The first part of verse 23 is a quote from Isaiah 7:14. But Matthew adds an additional piece of information, namely, that the name Immanuel means "God with us." A child is born, and now God is with us. Alas, another clue!


I'm sure you're familiar with this passage from Isaiah 9, one that is read in churches every Christmas:

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.

This is speaking of Jesus. "Mighty God, Eternal Father." If Jesus is not in some manner YHWH, these titles would be blasphemous, and, at the very least, inviting significant confusion for readers.


The significance of the wise men worshiping Jesus is similar to the point I made to you (in person) about the disciple Thomas. When Thomas addressed Jesus as “my Lord and my God” in John 20:28, why didn't Jesus sternly renounce him? We know it was not in Jesus' character to remain silent as people partook in blasphemy or idolatry. Why didn't Jesus renounce him the same way he renounced Peter in Matt. 16:23 and Mark 8:33, where he said, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."? If Jesus was not YHWH, Thomas' words would be blasphemy of the highest order.

In Revelation 22 the apostle John began worshiping someone other than God and was quickly told not to:

⁸ I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things.
⁹ But he said to me, "Do not do that! I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God."

Notice that Jesus didn't say anything of the sort to Thomas. Instead he made a statement indicating Thomas' reaction was evidence of a virtuous belief in his resurrection.

And don't miss this very significant detail: The passage specifically states that Thomas was speaking to Jesus, not to the Father.

²⁸ Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

There is no wiggle room here to interpret Thomas’ statement as anything other than a straightforward declaration of Jesus as both Thomas' Lord and his God -- a statement that Jesus, and John, the writer of this account, (and the same John mentioned in the passage from Revelation above), allowed to stand without correction.

For me, this is yet another clue.

Mike