DID JESUS TELL US NOT TO WORSHIP HIMSELF AS GOD?

     

Every time the idea of worship was mentioned by Jesus, the message is that we are to worship the Father and the Father alone.

In Revelation Chapter 22, Jesus is the Messenger of God, (‘angel’ is Greek for ‘messenger’ – in that sense Jesus is an angel), and Jesus tells John (and us) that it is wrong to worship him (Jesus).   It seems that in the last book of the Bible, a message was needed for those in the last days who made Jesus as an object of worship in violation of God’s commandments. – It’s not that Jesus isn’t worthy of worship, but He gave and directs all worship to the Father (Matthew 4:10, John 4:23), His God and ours. (We better obey Jesus according to 2Thess 1:8-9.)  Jesus never sinned and perfectly follows the Torah teachings, which tells us to worship God Yahweh, the Father, only…and Jesus said there is one God, the Father.  (John 17:1, 3).   Read the following Passage from Rev 22…

 

Rev 22:6-10 (NKJV), 6 Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God (YHWH) of the holy prophets sent His angel (Jesus)to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.
7 “Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
8 Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel (I.e., Jesus) who showed me these things. 
9 Then he said to me, “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” 10 And he said to me, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. 11 He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”

 

Who spoke these things?  The underlined words (verses 7,10-11) are correctly accredited to Jesus by scholars, but the [RED Words in verse 9] are usually accredited to some other angel who suddenly appeared to speak them. (Because most people, after accepting the Trinity, can’t believe that Jesus would tell John not to worship Him, so they figure it must not be Jesus saying it, but rather some lower angel.  But I believe that the [RED words in verse 9] were also Jesus’ words.  The Angel of Revelation, who was to show John all things was Jesus.  (Angel in the Greek simply means ‘messenger’ –and Jesus was the Messenger of God.)

 

Here in verse 9 this “Angel” identifies Himself as “I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets”.  That description does not fit the ordinary angel.  But, of Jesus, according to Acts 3:22 and Acts 7:37, Moses wrote, ‘The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren” (Deuteronomy 18:15 (NKJV).  Also, Jesus is a Servant of God in Isaiah 52 and 53.  And, we read in Acts, as Peter describes Him, “by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”(Acts 4:29-31 And God called His Prophets ‘His Servants’ (Ezra 9:11, Jeremiah 7:25, 25:4, 35:14, 37:2, 44:4, Ezekiel 38:17, Daniel 9:6, and others).

 

Twice in the book of Acts Deuteronomy 18:18 is quoted in reference to Jesus. (Acts 3:22, Acts 7:57).   When YHWH spoke to Moses He said, Deuteronomy 18:18, “I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.”   That is speaking about Jesus being raised up as a prophet from among the Israelite brethren, the servants of God. 

 

Jesus was a ‘prophet’ taken from ‘among the brethren’ (fellow Israelite according to Deut 18:18)  as Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 18:15, and a ‘servant’ of Yahweh and a ‘fellow servant’ of us (the Apostles), just as Rev 22:9 defines, and Revelation, called Jesus an ‘Angel’ (or messenger) a number of times specifically in Rev10:1 and 19:17. Also the verses immediately following this passage and the verses immediately before verse 9 are always accredited to Jesus.

 

Jesus was most definitely a Prophet.  Yehweh said, ‘I will give that Prophet the words to speak’- Deut 18:18-19, ” I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19 I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.”  The Prophet role of Jesus  is evident, He said “My Father (Yahweh) gave me His words to speak” - John 12:49-50 , For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me, gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.  And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”  (i.e. a Prophet).

 

The being in Revelation 22:9-10 that rejected worship was a being that identified himself to John as his “fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”  Angels are not among ‘those who keep the words of this book”, they are not among the brethren the prophets, they are not fellow servants of John.  Angels live by the direct word of God, they live above and beyond the words of the ‘book’, not needing to follow the prescription for avoiding sin and its’ sacrificial remedies. The ‘Book’ was written for humankind, not for angels. This is not an angel speaking, it is the Messiah Prophet Jesus, a fellow Israelite telling John to not worship him, but rather to worship God.

 

The dialogue we looked at in Rev 22:6-10 continues, and in Rev 22:16 the speaker identifies Himself as Jesus.  Could this, in Revelation 22, be Jesus telling us not to worship Him, in the last chapter in the last book of the Bible as a final warning?  Could this be Jesus again directing all worship to the Father only?  Indeed, in the Gospels, Jesus directed all worship toward the Father, He said that He came to seek and save the lost that they may be true worshipers of the Father (Yahweh) (John 4). When Jesus taught us to pray, it was to the Father.  In Matthew 4:10 He said worship the LORD, (the Father) only.  Isn’t that just what the 1st commandment tells us, worship Yahweh only?  Even the Son of God refuses to take worship that is due the Father for Himself, He will not break that 1st commandment.    Jesus, is the Son of God, the anointed one of God, the Messiah, our High Priest, our Mediator, our Savior, our Lord, our Judge and our Lord and King - but He is not God Almighty.  We should honor and praise him, but not worship him as God.

 

 Jesus Himself said that His Father was the only true God (John 17:3) and greater than Himself.  Also there is always distinction between Jesus and God, many times in the Bible where “Jesus” and “God” are both used, such as Ephesians 1:2, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

 

Jesus told us to only Worship YHWH, the Father, Matthew 4:10,  "Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan! For it has been written, You shall worship the LORD (YHWH, the Father) your God, and Him alone shall you serve."   Luke 4:8 (NKJV),  "And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD (YHWH the Father) your God, and Him only you shall serve.’

 

In addition, Jesus said that the ‘True Worshipers’ are those that worship the Father. John 4:23-24 (NKJV), " But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

 

Revelation 14:7 tells us to ‘worship the God who made heaven and earth’.  Exodus 31:17, 2Kings 19:15, Psalm 115:15, Isaiah 32:16 and many other verses tell us that it was the LORD, YAHWEH, the Father that ‘made Heaven and Earth’.

 

At the end of time when the false Christ appears, another way to know him is that he will ask, and then demand, that we worship him. The true Christ doesn’t accept worship and demands that all worship be directed to the Father.

 

Was Jesus worshipped in the New Testament era?  Some translations have Jesus being worshipped – but that is not necessarily the case.  In both Hebrew and Greek the word for ‘worship’, is that same word translated as ‘bow’ or ‘prostrate’.  It was common for people to bow or prostrate before a king, judge, prophet, or great person.  We see Jacob prostrate before Pharaoh, and Joseph’s brother prostrating before Joseph.  “Prostrate” is the same word as ‘worship’.  So was Jacob worshiping pharaoh or was it a show of reverence?  Were Joseph’s brothers worshiping him or were they simply acknowledging his authority and showing him proper respect?  It was up to the translator to decide to use the word ‘prostrate’, ‘worship’ or ‘bow’.  So when some translations say that they ‘worshiped’ Jesus, other translations used the word ‘bow’, the word ‘bow’ would have been better for several reason – because no one in the scriptures considered Jesus to be God – they would not have worshipped him.  Jesus was only declared to be God in AD 325 at the Council of Nicene.