Worthy of Worship

Why we honor the Son

compiled by Rachel Cory-Kuehl, Nov. 2012

Most recent edit, August 31, 2022

Scripture quoted from the NKJV unless otherwise noted

Zechariah 14:16-17 “And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.”

Revelation 17:14 “These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”

Revelation 19:16 “And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Question: Why do we worship God’s Son?

Answer: Because God our Father has commanded it.

Hebrews 1:6 “But when He [the Father] again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all the angels of God worship Him.” . . .

God the Father has commanded all the angels of Heaven to worship His Son. Why then, should not human beings also worship Him?

Philippians 2:10-11 “That at 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.”

Every knee, and every tongue certainly includes mine.

Matthew 2:11 Wise men directed of the Holy Spirit “worshiped” the newborn king.

Matthew 14:33 “Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Truly You are the Son of God.’”

This scene took place just after Jesus walked on the water during a severe storm. The men who “worshiped Him” were “His disciples” (Matt. 14:22). They were the ones in the boat with Him, caught in the storm. There is no indication that Christ corrected his disciples for this worship.

John 20:28-29 [After the resurrection] “Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”

Jesus did not correct Thomas for addressing Him as “my God.”

Luke 24:51-52 [As Jesus ascended into Heaven, after spending 40 days on earth with His disciples] “Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,”

Revelation 5:13 “And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

Two beings are worshiped here. To bow before the throne of God our Father is to bow before His Son. The two occupy the same throne (Acts 2:33).

Revelation 7:17 “for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Hebrews 13:20 “Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

NO OTHER GODS

If we are to serve (the word “worship” means “to serve”) - both God our Father and His divine Son, we must clarify what it means to “have no other gods,” as stated in the first commandment (Exodus 20:3). When asked, “Which is the greatest commandment of all”, Jesus replied, “Hear O Israel. The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Mark 12:29).

God our Father is ONE divine being. He is the original divine being. His will is supreme. He is “the only true God” (John 17:3). He is The Law Giver. Jesus said, “My Father is greater than all” (John 10:29) and “My Father is greater than I” (John 14:28).

The head of Christ is God” (1Cor 11:3). He that is sent, is not greater than he who sent him (John 13:16). (Seventeen verses say that God the Father “sent” His Son.

When the war with Evil is finished, “the Son Himself will also be subject to” God His Father (1Cor 15:24-28). Therefore we worship the Father as God above all.

God the Father is the God OF Jesus Christ (Rom 15:6, 2Cor 1:3, 2Cor 11:31, Eph 1:3, Col 1:3, 1Pet 1:3, Rev. 1:6, Rev. 3:12). Why then would I worship God’s Son? Answer: Because God the Father has commanded it.

In serving God’s Son, I am serving His Father. I am obeying the Father’s command that I serve His Son. The Father’s will is revealed through His Son. The Father has put “all things under” His Son (1Cor. 15:27-28). That includes me. I am certainly under that authority. Does that mean I worship Jesus as “My Father in Heaven” - the one who is “above all?” No. I worship Him - I serve Him - as Lord and King, and the Father’s only begotten Son.

John 5:23 “All should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”

Matthew 9:6 “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (NRS). (Mark 2:5-12, Luke 7:48-49).

Matthew 28:18 “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.’”

John 5:22 “For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son,

John 5:26-27 “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.”

GREATER THAN ALL

The Father as “head” of Christ

The Father beget a Son (Proverbs 8:22-25, John 17:8).

The Father then created everything else, through His Son (Jn 1:10, Heb. 1:1-2, Col. 1:15-17).

The Father sent His Son (John 8:16, John 6:38-39, +14 other verses).

The Father brought His Son into our world (Hebrews 1:6).

The Father has given all authority to His Son (Jn5:22, Acts17:31, Rom.2:16, 2Tim.4:1, Acts 10:42).

The Father raised His Son from death (1Peter 1:3, Galatians 1:1).

The Father is “head” of His Son (1Corinthians 11:3).

The Son will be “subject to” His Father for eternity to come (1Cor. 15:28).

The Father is “the One who put all things under Him” (John 3:35).

God our Father actually beget a second divine being out of Himself. He then called that second being “My Son.” Jesus is called “the only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14) and “the Son of the Father” (2John 1:3). He is also called “the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).

John 16:28 [Jesus speaking] “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.”

John 3:18 [Jesus speaking] “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

John 20:31 “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

Colossians 2:9 “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (NIV).

The word translated as “godhead” means “divinity” or “deity.” God the Father IS the “godhead” - the original and un-begotten divinity who has always been.

Jesus said, “the Father who dwells in me, does the works” (Jn14:10). Because God the Father dwelt in Christ His son, “all the fullness of the godhead” dwelt in the bodily form of Jesus Christ.

The immensity of God our Father is beyond our comprehension. He exists outside of our dimensions of space, mass and time. We cannot “see” Him. He “is spirit” (John 4:24). And so God sent His Son, to represent Himself to men. Jesus said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9). God’s Son is the begotten divinity. Before His incarnation He existed in the exact image of His Father (Hebrews 1:3). An “image” is a copy, and the Son of God was the only exact copy of God. He is God (divine) because His Father is divine.

God is not the name of the Father. Yehovah is the name of the Father. God is what He is. He is divine. His Son is divine. Just as your child is human, because you are human.

Acts 9:20 [Saul following his Damascus Road conversion] Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.”

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

1 John 3:8 “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

The Son of God was begotten from the Father before anything was created, because the Father foresaw the rebellion of Lucifer and the deception of mankind. He would need to die for His creation, in order to communicate His love - a love that would win them back to Himself. He could not die, while upholding all things by the word of His power. There would need to be TWO of HIM. And so God beget His exact double - His Son.

1 John 4:15 “God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God.”

1 John 5:5 “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

1 John 5:10 “He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.”

1 John 5:12 “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

1John 2:22-23 “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”

Islam and Judaism both deny that God ever beget a Son. Almost all of Christianity denies that God beget His Son before that Son was incarnated into human form and nature.

2 John 1:9 “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.”

1John 1:3 “And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

1John 2:24 “You also will abide in the Son and in the Father.”

1. The Father called Him God (Psalm 45:6, Hebrews 1:8).

2. The prophecies called Him “Mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6).

3. He is the only “begotten” of God (John 3:18).

4. He was called “Immanuel” - “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).

5. He was God “manifest in the flesh” (1Timothy 3:16).

6. He was all the fullness of deity in bodily form (Colossians 2:9).

4. He claimed pre-existence with God (John 17:5, John 16:28, John 1:1-3).

5. He created this earth and “all things” (John 1:10, Hebrews 1:2).

7. He received worship (John 20:28-29, Luke 24:51-52).

8. He baptizes with the Holy Spirit (Matt. 3:11, Mar. 1:8, Lk 3:16, Jn 1:33, Acts 2:33).

9. He forgave sins committed against God (Mark 2:10, Luke 5:24).

10. He gives eternal life, and the power to overcome sin, to “whom He will.”

11. He will judge. The Father has committed all judgment to the Son (John 5:22).

12. He will execute judgment, by the authority given Him from His Father.

“The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand” (John 3:35).

13. He shares His Father’s throne (Revelation 3:21, Ephesians 1:20, Hebrews 8:1).

He is the divine Son of God.

WORTHY OF WORSHIP

Why do we honor the Son?

He is our creator. He was equal in power with God His Father, yet He did not challenge His Father or seek to be equal in authority. He agreed to leave the heavenly realm, to become a powerless human being. He agreed to suffer the indignities of a conquered people, to become tired and thirsty and lonely. He was rejected of all men, yet he did not turn back from His mission to save them. He consented to death by torture. He set the perfect example of submission and His perfect obedience defeated Satan. The dominion which Adam lost, would be His. He will reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

We honor Him - we serve Him - as Savior and Lord.

We pray this study will prove a blessing.

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