The Messiah and His God

In Deuteronomy 6:4, the passage that famously established Judaism as a monotheistic religion, Israel’s God Yahweh (YHWH) identifies himself as “One God.” In Malachi 2:10, this “One God” Yahweh is specifically identified as the Father. But what about the relationship of the “One God” to the prophesied Messiah?

Does the Bible support the claim that the Messiah is one member of a collective group of persons known as the “One God”? Or does he instead worship the “One God” as his own God? Consider the two tables below, which examine how the Old Testament and New Testament define the Messiah’s relationship to YHWH.

The Messiah and His God in the Old Testament

Psalm 22:1 — (The Messiah addressing Yahweh): My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

Psalm 22:9-10 — (The Messiah addressing Yahweh): Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

Psalm 45:7 — (The Psalmist addressing the Messiah): You [the Messiah] have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;

Isaiah 11:1-2 — There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD [Yahweh] shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD [Yahweh].

Isaiah 42:5-6 — (Yahweh addressing the Messiah): Thus says God, the LORD [Yahweh], who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: “I am the LORD [Yahweh]; I have called you [the Messiah] in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations. . .

Isaiah 49:5-6 — (The Messiah speaking about Yahweh): “And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him — for I [the Messiah] am honored in the eyes of the LORD [Yahweh], and my God has become my strength — he says: ‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.'”

Micah 5:4 — And he [the Messiah] shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD [Yahweh] his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.

Conclusion: The One God of Israel, Yahweh, will be the God of the Messiah.

The Messiah and His God in the New Testament

Mathew 27:46 — And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?“

John 17:3 — (Jesus praying to the Father): And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

John 20:17 — Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'”

Romans 15:6 — that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:3 — Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. . .

2 Corinthians 11:31 — The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. . .

Ephesians 1:3 — Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. . .

Ephesians 1:17 — that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. . .

Hebrews 1:9 — (Addressing the Messiah):You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.

1Peter 1:3 — Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. . .

Revelation 1:5-6 — and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 3:2 — (Jesus addressing the seven churches): Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.

Revelation 3:12 — (Jesus addressing the seven churches): The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.

Conclusion: The One God of Israel, Yahweh, is the God of Jesus the Messiah.