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"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 swear"
(Isa. 45: 23).
Yet Paul knowing this chapter, and believing the reiterated emphasis that `there is
none else' ascribes this claim to universal homage to Christ, saying:
"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him the name which is
above every name; That in the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE should bow, of things in
heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that EVERY TONGUE
should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2: 9-11).
Yet further, in Rom. 14:, he quotes this passage as follows:
"For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of CHRIST. For it is written, As I
live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to GOD"
(Rom. 14: 10, 11).
What are we to say to this? Is Paul a muddled thinker? Did Paul write by inspiration
of God? Did he forget the emphatic `none else' of Isa. 45:? or did he purposely use the
quotation, once of GOD and once of Christ, because he knew that Jesus Christ, before His
incarnation, was the LORD GOD of Israel?
"Jesus--Jehovah is the only Saviour" (Adolph Saphir).
Recently we had the painful duty of reading a pamphlet which did its utmost to belittle
the claims of the Lord Jesus to supreme Deity. At the close, was a list of similar
publications, one line read:
"JESUS CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT--Reduced to 25 cents."! which aptly
summarizes this dreadful teaching. There seems to be no neutral ground in this matter.
Either Jesus Christ is `LORD' or He must be reduced to `25 cents', and His claims not
only discounted but rejected as blasphemy. We either side with those who took up stones
to stone Him, or with those who fell at His feet and worshipped Him. If Jesus Christ is
`LORD' as the N.T makes abundantly clear, then He must be the `God' of Israel, as
Deut. 6: 4 declares.
"The LORD our God is one LORD." For Israel had, and could have, `no other'.
Let us return to the witness of Isa. 43: 10-12. It will be remembered that Israel are
there spoken of as the Lord's witnesses "that ye may know and believe . . . . . that I am
He". The LXX reads here ego eimi "I am", and these words are uttered in some solemn
context in the N.T.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was (genesthai `came into being'),
I AM (ego eimi)" (John 8: 58).
That this was a claim to be the great I AM of the O.T. is made clear by the immediate
reaction of the Jews "Then took they up stones to cast at Him". One of the sins that was
punished by stoning was that of blasphemy, and this was the interpretation which the