Memory Text: John 1:1-3 CEV “In the beginning was the one who is called the Word. The Word was with God and was truly God. From the very beginning the Word was with God. And with this Word, God created all things. Nothing was made without the Word. Everything that was created”

Sunday – His Preexistence – What It Means to Us
Hebrews 1:1-4 NRSV “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”
Hebrews 1:2 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY If Christ is to supersede the Aaronic priesthood instituted by Moses, He must be shown to be superior to Moses, or He would not have the power to abrogate that which Moses had instituted. Therefore Christ is set forth as God.
Colossians 1:15-20 NRSV “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.”
Colossians 1:15 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY It seems best, therefore, to regard prōtotokos as a figurative expression describing Jesus Christ as first in rank, the figure being drawn from the dignity and office held by the first-born in a human family, or, more precisely, the first-born in a royal family. Christ’s position is unique, authoritative, and absolute. He has been entrusted with all prerogatives and authority in heaven and earth. Paul emphasizes the position of Christ because he is seeking to meet the arguments of the false teachers, who declared that Christ was created, and who denied His supremacy.
Isaiah 9:6 NRSV “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Micah 5:2 NRSV “But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.”
Micah 5:2 COMMENTARY BY JAMIESON, FAUSSET, AND BROWN Messiah's generation as man coming forth unto God to do His will on earth is from Beth-lehem; but as Son of God, His goings forth are from everlasting. The promise of the Redeemer at first was vaguely general (Ge 3:15). Then the Shemitic division of mankind is declared as the quarter in which He was to be looked for (Ge 9:26,27); then it grows clearer, defining the race and nation whence the Deliverer should come, namely, the seed of Abraham, the Jews (Ge 12:3); then the particular tribe, Judah (Ge 49:10); then the family, that of David (Ps 89:19,20); then the very town of His birth, here. And as His coming drew nigh, the very parentage (Mt 1:1-17; Lu 1:26-35; 2:1-7); and then all the scattered rays of prophecy concentrate in Jesus, as their focus (Heb 1:1,2).
Matthew 2:1-6 NRSV “In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’"”

Monday – Witness of the New Testament
John 3:13 20th Century NT “No one has ascended to Heaven, except him who descended from Heaven—the Son of Man himself.”
John 8:23 20th Century NT “"You," added Jesus, "are from below, I am from above; you are of this present world, I am not;”
John 8:23 ROBINSON NT WORD PICTURES These proud rabbis had their origin in this world of darkness (Joh 1:9) with all its limitations. I am from above (egô ek tôn anô eimi). The contrast is complete in origin and character, already stated in Joh 3:31, and calculated to intensify their anger.
John 8:58-59 20th Century NT “"In truth I tell you," replied Jesus, "before Abraham existed I was." At this they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and left the Temple Courts.”
John 8:58 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE The following is a literal translation of Calmet's note on this passage:-"I am from all eternity. I have existed before all ages. You consider in me only the person who speaks to you, and who has appeared to you within a particular time. But besides this human nature, which ye think ye know, there is in me a Divine and eternal nature. Both, united, subsist together in my person. Abraham knew how to distinguish them. He adored me as his God; and desired me as his Saviour. He has seen me in my eternity, and he predicted my coming into the world."
John 17:8, 24 20th Century NT “8 For I have given them the teaching which thou gavest me, and they received it, and clearly understood that I came from thee, and they believed that thou has sent me as thy Messenger. 24 Father, my desire for all those whom thou has given me is that they may be with me where I am, so that they may see the honor which thou has given me; for thou didst love me before the beginning of the world.”

Tuesday – Apparent Contradictions
Luke 7:11-15 God’s Word to the Nations “Soon afterward, Jesus went to a city called Nain. His disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he came near the entrance to the city, he met a funeral procession. The dead man was a widow’s only child. A large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he felt sorry for her. He said to her, "Don’t cry." He went up to the open coffin, took hold of it, and the men who were carrying it stopped. He said, "Young man, I’m telling you to come back to life!" The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.”
Luke 8:41-42 God’s Word to the Nations “A man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, arrived and quickly bowed down in front of Jesus. He begged Jesus to come to his home. His only daughter, who was about twelve years old, was dying. As Jesus went, the people were crowding around him.”
Luke 9:38 God’s Word to the Nations “A man in the crowd shouted, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son. He’s my only child.”

Wednesday – The Deity of Christ
Matthew 3:3 KJ21 “For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.’"”
John 1:1 KJ21 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 1:1 COMMENTARY GENEVA BIBLE NOTES (CALVIN) The Son of God is of one and the selfsame eternity or everlastingness, and of one and the selfsame essence or nature with the Father.
John 1:1 COMMENTARY FAMILY BIBLE NOTES Was God; this is a direct assertion of his divine nature as existing from eternity. The Bible reveals that Jesus Christ is God, the maker of all things that ever were made. All who have the Bible are therefore bound to acknowledge him in this character, and to pay him divine honors.
John 1:18 KJ21 “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.”
John 1:18 COMMENTARY BY ALBERT BARNES No man hath seen God at any time. This declaration is probably made to show the superiority of the revelation of Jesus above that of any previous dispensation. It is said, therefore, that Jesus had an intimate knowledge of God, which neither Moses nor any of the ancient prophets had possessed. God is invisible; no human eyes have seen him; but Christ had a knowledge of God which might be expressed to our apprehension by saying that he saw him intimately and completely, and was therefore fitted to make a fuller manifestation of him.
John 20:28 KJ21 “And Thomas answered and said unto Him, "My Lord and my God!"”

Thursday – And There’s More
1 Corinthians 1:3 Moffatt NT “grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
2 Corinthians 13:14 Moffatt NT “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the holy Spirit be with you all.”
Revelation 20:6 Moffatt NT “Blessed and holy is he who shares in the first resurrection; over such the second death has no power, they shall be priests of God and the Christ, and reign along with him during the thousand years.”
Revelation 22:3 Moffatt NT “None who is accursed will be there; but the throne of God and the Lamb will be within it, his servants will serve and worship him,”

Friday – Further Study
Ellen White, Desire of Ages, p. 19 – “By coming to dwell with us, Jesus was to reveal God both to men and to angels. He was the Word of God,--God’s thought made audible.”
Ellen White, Desire of Ages, p. 22 – “Jesus might have remained at the Father’s side. He might have retained the glory of heaven, and the homage of the angels. But He chose to give back the scepter into the Father’s hands, and to step down from the throne of the universe, that He might bring light to the benighted, and life to the perishing.”
Ellen White, Desire of Ages, p. 24 – “By His humanity, Christ touched humanity; by His divinity, He lays hold upon the throne of God. As the Son of man, He gave us an example of obedience; as the Son of God, He gives us power to obey.”
Ellen White, Desire of Ages, p. 26 – “Our little world, under the curse of sin the one dark blot in His glorious creation, will be honored above all other worlds in the universe of God. Here, where the Son of God tabernacled in humanity; where the King of glory lived and suffered and died,--here, when He shall make all things new, the tabernacle of God shall be with men, "and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God."

The 20th Century NT, an usually good translation in most instances, gives a poor translation of John 8: 58. So does the New World Translation (by the Arian "Jehovah's Witnesses," which translates it as "I have been.") Moffatt, a translator for whom I have great respect, wrongly translates it as "I have existed," and Goodspeed follows with "I existed." All of these actually give us a paraphrase of Jesus' words here, and an inaccurate one at that.

What Jesus actually said, literally, is, "Before Abraham was, I am." The two Greek words there, for "I am," are ego eimi. It is the first person present indicative personal pronoun, the same words that Jesus used when he said, "I AM the light of the world;" "I AM the door;" "I AM the way;" etc. Obviously it would not be correct to translate it as, "I have been the light," or "I was the light."

Another reason that it is important to translate it as "I AM," is that unless we understand what Jesus is saying, we will find it impossible to understand why the Jews reacted to Him by picking up stones with the intention of killing Him. They were not meaning to throw stones at Him merely because Jesus was saying He existed before Abraham. Rather, they meant to execute Him for claiming to be God. They knew the significance of His language. As soon as they heard Jesus utter the words, "I AM," in that context, their minds immediately recalled Exodus 3: 14 where Yahweh calls Himself by the name, "I AM." The Greek translation of the Old Testament, which the New Testament writers used, has those very words in Exodus 3: 14, "I AM THAT I AM." But a person can easily miss the connection if he reads Jesus' words in John 8: 58 as, "I was."

The best paraphrase I have seen of this verse is done by the New Life Bible by Gleason Ledyard: "Before Abraham was born, I [Jesus] was and am and always will be."

By the way, it is of more than passing interest to note that when Jesus frightened the disciples by walking across the water in the dark, He responded to their cries of fear by identifying Himself as the I AM [ego eimi]. Although the words may sometimes be translated as "it is I," or even as "I exist," nevertheless, in the context of John 8: 58-- because of what Jesus was saying and because of the reaction of the Jews-- it should be translated as "I AM."

You've included a lot of good Bible evidence that Jesus Christ is in reality the Creator and God of the universe. Those are so valuable.

But I am wondering why you neglected to include the two most direct statements in the New Testament that Jesus is God, 2 Peter 1: 1 and Titus 2: 13. I assume it was a mere oversight.

Please see the NASB, NIV, NRSV, NKJV, REB, and virtually all other modern translations, which give the only correct way of translating those verses: "our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, " and "our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." The Greek construction is such that Jesus is understood in those sentences to be both God and Savior.

The context of Titus 2: 13 also shows that it is speaking of a single person who is both God and Savior, because otherwise, it would of necessity be teaching that God the Father will appear with Jesus at the Second Coming.

The translators of the King James Version did not know in 1611 as much about the rules of Greek grammar as translators working today. They had no knowledge, for instance, about what is called the "Granville Sharp's rule," which is so critical in the accurate translation of these two verses and of others like it.

Those are undeniable and powerful Scriptural witnesses that Jesus Christ is indeed fully God.

Does the Bible talk of being born again before Christ?

According to a search I just made, the only time "born again" is used is in the New Testament:

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

John 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

Good question. James423 is right that only the New Testament uses the expression "born again," or "born from above." (The expression can be translated either way.)

However, the underlying concept is found in the Old Testament. For instance, Psalms 51: 10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me" (Amplified Bible). You also have the promises of God that He would put His law with them, which is the New Covenant promise (Jeremiah 31: 31-34). The entire Old Covenant was given with the purpose that the people would let God help them keep it. It was never intended for the people to believe they could keep that covenant on their own human strength. So the new birth or the birth from above-- the new desires that only God can give us-- have been a part of God's plan since the Fall. I have no question that people such as Enoch, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Elijah, David and the prophets were "born again" in this sense.