“If Jesus is Not God, Who is Jesus then?”

Where in the bible does it say that God is Messiah? Messianic prophecy does not state that the Messiah will be God. In fact, it says that he will be the son of a man.

New Testament
Joh 4:25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.

Joh 4:26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

Old Testament
Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isa 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

This verse in Isaiah is probably the best “proof” Christianity has to prove that Jesus is God.

Isaiah 9:6, 7 is obviously a messianic prophecy. What makes it evident is the phrase, ”upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever“.

However, there is another messianic prophecy that indicates that the messiah will be a son of man and not a god:

Prophecy about Jesus:

2Sa 7:14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:

Notice that “If he commit iniquity” is applied to the prophecy about Jesus, which clearly demonstrates that the Messiah will be the son of a man and not God. This would ludicrous for God to say of himself that if he commits iniquity he would chasten himself with a rod!

Yeshua the Jewish Messiah

Another messianic prophecy in Isaiah 53 says “he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days“. Seed literally means flesh and blood offspring — this could not be applied to God since God is a spirit and has no flesh and blood offspring. You couldn’t prolong the days of God since he is eternal. It also says: “Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong”. How would it make any sense applying that to God, since God is the owner of everything that exists?

But if Isaiah 9:6 actually meant that Jesus is God, then the messianic prophecies would be in contradiction since all the others indicate that the Messiah would be a son of a man and not God. This is what the Jews (who we inherited the book from) believed about the Messiah and what even the King James Version of the bible says.

Furthermore, according to Jewish standards it would be blasphemy for a man literally to be called God Almighty. Blasphemy according to the law was an offense worthy of death! This would not at all be in keeping with a true prophet of God speaking God’s words — a Jewish prophet would not blaspheme, especially about the Messiah!

In the Hebrew language, there is no verb “to be” like there is in English. In Hebrew grammar it doesn’t mean that those titles are his, it only means that the child is to be called by those names. Those terms are not meant to mean that he is God, but that he would have many characteristics and traits like God, which Jesus did have.

The prophecy in Isaiah 9 clearly states “he shall be called“, which is certainly true of Jesus, he has actually been called by all those names, by millions of people who believed that he was actually Almighty God. I’m sure that even that far back God foresaw how men would corrupt his Words.

In the Jewish culture kings and others were called by titles having “god” even before Jesus came to Earth. Kings, for example, were given god titles that were descriptive of their power, invincibility, etc.

It only appears by the way this verse was translated that the Messiah will be God. But this could not possibly be the message that it was meant to convey, otherwise it would completely contradict other verses.

So Isaiah 9:6 could in no way literally be saying that Jesus would be God in the flesh. These are merely god-like traits and attributes that the Messiah would have.

Mic 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (‛ôlâm) (correct translation: from a age-lasting)

Psa 93:1 The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.

Psa 93:2 Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting. (‛ôlâm)

This verse in Micah certainly does appear to be a prophecy about the Messiah.  However, this appears to be another attempt to incorrectly translate the Word of God in an attempt to make it look like Jesus is eternal and thus God.

The word “‛ôlâm” that is translated to everlasting is the same in both the prophecy about the Messiah and the Almighty God. However, “everlasting” is one of those words that, though the same in different places, has a different meaning depending on the context it’s in.

The word ‛ôlâm can be translated two different ways:

1. age-lasting: a long period of time that has a beginning and ending.
2. everlasting or eternal: a perpetuous time without beginning or ending.

Just as an example of a mistranslation, the following verse is translated using the word everlasting when it should be age-lasting:

Jer 17:4 And you, even yourself, Shall let go of your heritage which I gave you; And I will cause you to serve your enemies In the land which you do not know; For you have kindled a fire in My anger which shall burn forever (‛ôlâm).

This can not possibly be the correct translation since it would cause a contradiction in God’s Word. We know that God’s anger is not eternal especially when he is talking about his people Israel.

Psa 30:5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

and “His mercy endureth forever.”

So the correct translation should be:

Jer 17:4 And you, even yourself, Shall let go of your heritage which I gave you; And I will cause you to serve your enemies In the land which you do not know; For you have kindled a fire in My anger which shall burn for a long time (age-lasting). (‛ôlâm)

Though though both verses about the Messiah and God Almighty contain the word “everlasting”, this does not mean that the Messiah is God.

Notice the word “old”. Old is a word that references a beginning and an end — something created, in contrast to eternity which can only be applied to God.

The correct translation of Mic 5:2 should be something like this:

Mic 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from ages past (age-lasting). (‛ôlâm)

Since in the context of  Mic 5:2 the subject is obviously the son of a man (which we clearly see by comparing with other messianic passages), who can not be eternal like God, the correct translation should be age-lasting. Jesus is not God since the Messiah is not eternal being the son of a man.

To be continued…