Where
did Jesus say I AM God worship Me? By
C.L Edwards March, 30 2012
John
14:13 Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that
the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Some Muslim’s like to point out that when Christ
instructed His Apostles on how to pray He told them to say “our
Father”1
showing that He wanted them to pray to God whom they deem as being
just the Father alone. Maybe this comes out of biblical ignorance, or
failure to deal with the text in a meaningful way, or being
kuffar(those who cover over the truth), but they never deal with
Christ's other instruction on prayer which was to ask in His Name.
Name in the Bible denotes more then just a name, “Name” is also
used to represent the person, authority, power, and nature of God.
Leviticus
19:12 You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane
the name of your God: I am the LORD.
The
blasphemy of swearing by the name of God falsely is blasphemous
because it's God's name, to misuse His name is like stepping on His
reputation, His name symbolizes His Holiness .
2
Samuel 6:2 And
David arose and went with all the people who were with him from
Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by
the name of the LORD of hosts who sits enthroned on the
cherubimAgain
we see name is being used to signify God Himself, the ark is special
or Holy because of its relation to God who is Holy.
Exodus 23:21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.
God warns the Israelite's concerning the “Angel of the Lord” that would go before them as they walked to the promised land, he would have God's name in him which can be interpreted as God's authority, else where in the Bible this Angel speaks as God in the first person, receives worship, and is called pre-incarnate Christ in 1 Corinthians 10:4. This all falls under the doctrine of God appearing before man called Theophany2.
Exodus 23:21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.
God warns the Israelite's concerning the “Angel of the Lord” that would go before them as they walked to the promised land, he would have God's name in him which can be interpreted as God's authority, else where in the Bible this Angel speaks as God in the first person, receives worship, and is called pre-incarnate Christ in 1 Corinthians 10:4. This all falls under the doctrine of God appearing before man called Theophany2.
Also
notice in John 14:13 Christ says He personally will reply to the
Apostles asking in His name " that will I do ", He did not
not say that God will do..or that the Father will do ..He proclaimed
that I will do. This is a clear proof that Christ confirms
that not only does He hear invocation offered in His Name (and take
note of what we said about the Bible's use of the title “Name'),
which makes Him All-Hearing, but that He Himself personally responds,
which would make Him All-Powerful and All-Able, attributes of Almighty
God.
Christ declares to the Apostles their invocations in His
Name, and Him answering them Glories the Father, and that the Father
obtains His Glory by the Son receiving Glory. Earlier in the same
chapter Christ says the following.
John
14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth,
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Besides
declaring Himself "The" way or sirat, "The" truth
or haqq, and "The life" no doubt the source of eternal life
or hayat, we see in light of verse 13 this verse can not mean what
Muslim apologist claim, which is that Jesus was saying He was a
way to the Father, merely a Messenger who brought news from
heaven at that particular time and place. No, interpreting verse 6 in
keeping with the context of what follows in verse 13, it must mean no
one get's to the Father except by Glorifying the Son.
John
17:5 And
now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I
had with you before the world existed.
The text communicates Christ has a right to Glory, and not a lowered stunted form of Glory, but Glory on par with His Father. Yet Christ didn't rest on His statements in John 14:13, almost to ensure there would be no confusion on the part of His Apostles Christ says. John 14:14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
He says almost the same thing as what he said in verse 13 except here He says in direct terms “ask me”, and this asking of Him is to be done in His “Name”, name as we showed earlier represents the authority and person of God time and time again in the Bible. We see after the incarnation, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Christ that is just what His Disciples do, call upon Him and we see Him replying from heaven3. They clearly because of what Christ told them, Glorify the Father by invoking the Son, and the Bible treats this as invoking God the One God by describing their actions as calling upon the name, the same as earlier Biblical writers did under the Old Testament. 1 Kings 18:24 And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, he is God." And all the people answered, "It is well spoken.
Jeremiah 10:25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not, and on the peoples that call not on your name, for they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.
The risen Lord who had Glory with the Father before the world was created, after commanding His Apostles to invoke Him with all confidence in Him for the glory of the Father then says the following.John 14:15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Emphasizing and leaving no room for doubts or arguments concerning His authority , if you Love Christ you will keep the commandment to pray in His name, and to invoke Him directly. In the light of this matter what do we now do with the “dawah” claim of some Muslim’s that they love Jesus more then Christians? We have no option but to say Muslim's not only do not love Christ, they disobey Him, and reject His name which is His Divine nature!
The last thing I would like to note from this passage is that within chapter 14 of the Book of John we see the Trinity of God laid out perfectly before us. Not only does John tell us Christ commanded that He be invoked, that He will hear such invocations, that He will answer, that this is to be done for the Glory of the Father, but after this point He makes mention of the ministry of the Holy Spirit the third person of the Trinity. John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
Christ a little further in the dialogue identifies who this “ Helper” is in direct unambiguous terms.John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Notice Christ calls the Spirit a person and Him, and He explains what He will do, which is come in the “Name” which we have shown the bible uses to represent God, so this is no Rasool certainly not Muhammad, because this "He" is Spirit not human, and He is not mortal He has the authority of the “Name” of God. The Helper who is the Holy Spirit will teach the Apostles and bring to their recollection all that Christ said while on earth. So We see the Trinity in full view and operation, the Father sent the Son by the Spirit, the Son testified of the Father, The Father received Glory by the Son being Gloried, The Son asks the Father to send the Spirit, And the Spirit testifies of the Son... Three person's all with the authority and vary nature of the “Name” i.e God, interacting with each other in perfect oneness of harmony to accomplish their collective will.
From this short study we see Muslim's who continue to ask where did Jesus say I AM4 God worship me, have not taken the time to fully understand Christian beliefs nor have they given themselves to wrestling with the text of the Bible in a sincere fashion. Not to mention that demanding that the only possible way Jesus could be God in the Bible is if he uttered the exact phrases Muslim's demand is a fallacy. If we applied this thinking to the Quran, asking for example where does it say Muhammad is the last and final Messenger follow Him, they would rightfully object. It's not that hard to understand how Christ can be proven to be God in more then one way, for another example you could find out that I am the owner of my car by several ways besides me making the exact statement “this is my car and no one else's”.
The text communicates Christ has a right to Glory, and not a lowered stunted form of Glory, but Glory on par with His Father. Yet Christ didn't rest on His statements in John 14:13, almost to ensure there would be no confusion on the part of His Apostles Christ says. John 14:14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
He says almost the same thing as what he said in verse 13 except here He says in direct terms “ask me”, and this asking of Him is to be done in His “Name”, name as we showed earlier represents the authority and person of God time and time again in the Bible. We see after the incarnation, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Christ that is just what His Disciples do, call upon Him and we see Him replying from heaven3. They clearly because of what Christ told them, Glorify the Father by invoking the Son, and the Bible treats this as invoking God the One God by describing their actions as calling upon the name, the same as earlier Biblical writers did under the Old Testament. 1 Kings 18:24 And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, he is God." And all the people answered, "It is well spoken.
Jeremiah 10:25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not, and on the peoples that call not on your name, for they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.
The risen Lord who had Glory with the Father before the world was created, after commanding His Apostles to invoke Him with all confidence in Him for the glory of the Father then says the following.John 14:15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Emphasizing and leaving no room for doubts or arguments concerning His authority , if you Love Christ you will keep the commandment to pray in His name, and to invoke Him directly. In the light of this matter what do we now do with the “dawah” claim of some Muslim’s that they love Jesus more then Christians? We have no option but to say Muslim's not only do not love Christ, they disobey Him, and reject His name which is His Divine nature!
The last thing I would like to note from this passage is that within chapter 14 of the Book of John we see the Trinity of God laid out perfectly before us. Not only does John tell us Christ commanded that He be invoked, that He will hear such invocations, that He will answer, that this is to be done for the Glory of the Father, but after this point He makes mention of the ministry of the Holy Spirit the third person of the Trinity. John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
Christ a little further in the dialogue identifies who this “ Helper” is in direct unambiguous terms.John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Notice Christ calls the Spirit a person and Him, and He explains what He will do, which is come in the “Name” which we have shown the bible uses to represent God, so this is no Rasool certainly not Muhammad, because this "He" is Spirit not human, and He is not mortal He has the authority of the “Name” of God. The Helper who is the Holy Spirit will teach the Apostles and bring to their recollection all that Christ said while on earth. So We see the Trinity in full view and operation, the Father sent the Son by the Spirit, the Son testified of the Father, The Father received Glory by the Son being Gloried, The Son asks the Father to send the Spirit, And the Spirit testifies of the Son... Three person's all with the authority and vary nature of the “Name” i.e God, interacting with each other in perfect oneness of harmony to accomplish their collective will.
From this short study we see Muslim's who continue to ask where did Jesus say I AM4 God worship me, have not taken the time to fully understand Christian beliefs nor have they given themselves to wrestling with the text of the Bible in a sincere fashion. Not to mention that demanding that the only possible way Jesus could be God in the Bible is if he uttered the exact phrases Muslim's demand is a fallacy. If we applied this thinking to the Quran, asking for example where does it say Muhammad is the last and final Messenger follow Him, they would rightfully object. It's not that hard to understand how Christ can be proven to be God in more then one way, for another example you could find out that I am the owner of my car by several ways besides me making the exact statement “this is my car and no one else's”.
1Matthew
6:9 “
Pray then like
this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name “
2 What is a theophany? What is a Christophany? “ A theophany is a manifestation of God in the Bible that is tangible to the human senses. In its most restrictive sense, it is a visible appearance of God in the Old Testament period, often, but not always, in human form. “
3Acts
chapter 9
4John
8:58 Jesus said to them,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." I
AM is the Hebrew name of God “YHWH”
