3. JEHOVAH - LORD.

`I am the LORD: that is My name: and My glory will I not give to another' (Isa. 42:8).

In each of these statements the claim is exclusive. And we may now seek to shew that these exclusively divine

attributes belong to Christ.

1. Jesus Christ is the Creator.

`All things were made by Him ... He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew

Him not' (John 1:3,10).

He made the world. Yet He was in the world. This chapter recognises the problem and solves it.

` ... The Word was God' (John 1:1).

` ... the Word was made (became) flesh' (John 1:14).

` ... by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be

thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before

all things, and by Him all things consist' (Col. 1:16,17).

The range here is tremendous. Not only is creation attributed to Christ, but it is for Him, and held together by

Him. Here instead of the title `The Word', we have `The Image of the Invisible God', and `The Firstborn of every

creature'. If the title `Firstborn' be construed as meaning that the Lord had no existence before, how shall we

explain its recurrence in verse 18, `The Firstborn from the dead'? If we accept the inspired explanation which is

given in the passage considered - `The Beginning' - we shall understand its bearing upon creation itself. Christ is

called, `The beginning of the creation of God' (Rev. 3:14), not because He was the first One created, but because He

created all things.

The first verse of Hebrews states that in times past God spoke by the prophets, but the second verse reveals a

deeper truth - He has since spoken Himself, for the words are, `Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son

(in Son)'. The Son is addressed as `God' and `Lord' (Heb. 1:8,10), and the creation, including heaven and earth, is

attributed to Him. As we read Isaiah 45:18 and the passages from John, Colossians and Hebrews already quoted, we

have no alternative but to bow in the presence of the Saviour and say, `My Lord and my God'.

2. Jesus Christ is the Redeemer.

There is no need to quote chapter and verse. All we need do is to remind the reader of Isaiah 44:6, and to affirm

that Whoever is in a scriptural sense the Redeemer, is God.

3. Jesus Christ is the Lord.

` ... Every tongue should (shall) confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father' (Phil. 2:11).

This is a quotation from Isaiah 45:23, and by reading the four previous verses in this chapter we learn that the

One referred to as `Lord' is God:

`There is no God else beside Me ... I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone

out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall

Isaiah 42:8 declares that the Lord will not give His glory to another. When we read that Jesus Christ is Lord, it means

that He is the Jehovah of the Old Testament, the `I AM' who was before Abraham.

John 12:41 declares that when Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up in the temple, he saw the glory of the Lord

Jesus Christ, while Hezekiah most emphatically affirms that the Lord of Hosts seen by Isaiah was `God ... alone'

(Isa. 37:16).

We can understand that the Creator is God, but that this is true of the Redeemer Who is necessarily man (for He

must die) is at first sight a difficulty to many. Yet the question of the deity of Christ could be decided by this matter