The first line of proof of the absolute Deity of our Lord Jesus is
that _many names and titles clearly implying Deity are used of Jesus
Christ in the Bible, some of them over and over again, the total number
of passages reaching far into the hundreds_. Of course, I can give
you only a few illustrations. Turn with me first of all to Rev. 1:17,
+"And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his
right hand upon me saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last."+
The context shows clearly that our Lord Jesus was the speaker, and here
our Lord Jesus distinctly calls Himself "_the First and the Last_."
Now this beyond a question is a Divine name, for in Isa. 44:6 we read,
+"Thus sayeth Jehovah, the king of Israel, and his redeemer, Jehovah
of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no
God."+ In Rev. 22:12, 13, our Lord Jesus says that He is the Alpha
and Omega. His words are, +"Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is
with me, to render to each man according as his work is. I am Alpha
and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."+
Now in this same book in the first chapter and the eighth verse _the
Lord God_ declares that He is the Alpha and the Omega. His words are,
+"I am the Alpha, and the Omega, saith the Lord God, which is and
which was and which is to come, the Almighty."+ In 1 Cor. 2:8,
the Apostle Paul speaks of our crucified Lord Jesus as "_the Lord of
glory_." His exact words are, +"Which none of the princes of this
world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the
Lord of glory."+ There can be no question that "the Lord of glory"
is Jehovah God, for we read in Ps. 24:8-10, +"Who is this king of
glory? Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle. Lift up
your heads, O ye gates; yea lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the
king of glory will come in. Who is the king of glory? Jehovah of hosts.
He is the king of glory."+ And we are told in the passage already
referred to that our crucified Lord Jesus was the King of Glory,
therefore He must be Jehovah. In John 20:28 Thomas addressed the
Lord Jesus as his Lord and his God, +"And Thomas answered and said
unto him, My Lord and my God."+ Unitarians have endeavoured to get
around the force of this utterance of Thomas by saying that Thomas was
excited and that he was not addressing the Lord Jesus, but was saying
"my Lord and my God" as an ejaculation of astonishment, just in the way
that profane people sometimes use these exclamations to-day, but this
interpretation is impossible, and shows to what desperate straits the
Unitarians are driven; for Jesus Himself commended Thomas for seeing
it and saying it. Our Lord Jesus' words immediately following those
of Thomas are, +"Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed:
blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed"+ (John
20:29). In the correct translation of Titus 2:13, the translation
given in the English revision, not in the American Standard Revision,
our Lord Jesus is spoken of as, "_our great God_ and Saviour Jesus
Christ." In Rom. 9:5, Paul tells us that +"Christ is over all, God
blessed forever."+ The Unitarians have made desperate efforts to
overcome the force of these words, but the only fair translation
and interpretation of the words that Paul wrote in Greek are the
translation and interpretation found in both our Authorised and Revised
Versions. There can be no honest doubt to one who goes to the Bible to
find out what it actually teaches, and not to read his own thought into
it, that _Jesus is spoken of by various names and titles that beyond
a question imply Deity_, and that He in so many words is called God.
In Heb. 1:8 it is said in so many words, of the Son, +"But unto the
Son he saith, thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of
righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom."+ If we should go no
further it is evidently the clear and often repeated teaching of the
Bible that Jesus Christ was really God.