Jesus was exalted above everyone except God - of course the degree of worship is different. However, he is still explicitly beneath God. As for why he would allow it - because he earned it. It is part of his reward for all that he has done, faithful carrying out God's will in all matters - even unto death - and in the process, saving all of us.
As that verse says - the issue was that they rejected God. It was not - as you asserted - because God was worried about the King being honored. In fact, subsequently to the Kingship being instated, the King is treated specially because he is God's anointed. This is why David wouldn't kill Saul - even though he clearly deserved it. Rather, if it were a bad thing for the Kings to be honored then God would have forbid it.
Mediators existed prior to the Kings. The Angels were mediators. Moses was a mediator. The prophets who would be replaced by Kings were mediators. Mediators are the result of sin, which separates us from God.
Because, once more, Jesus has been given authority over all - except God himself.
Man has always been involved in establishing the covenants. The covenants are an agreement between two parties - they are thus never established by God alone. Since Jesus mediates the New Covenant, he would obviously be involved in establishing it. In fact, it is because his blood was used to establish the Covenant that he is its mediator.
You seem to be confused. My comments to which you are immediately replying here had nothing to do with covenants. It had to do with the term "God"
I'm not dodging the question at all. If anything, you are ignoring key details in my replies. For instance, it would appear you never watched that short video I supplied you - else you wouldn't be making the above comment. "Worship" and "Obeisance" are the same thing - the underlying Greek and Hebrew can be translated either way. It is the translators who have obfuscated this fact to create an imaginary line between the two - choosing to translate the term as "worship" when applied to God Almighty, and otherwise using "obeisance." The fact of the matter is that the term is applied in scripture to both man and to God. Moses, for instance, worships his father-in-law. This was a common practice. And there is nothing in scripture forbidding it - it is simply one way that cultures have traditionally used to show respect and honor to another.
Jesus is on a different scale because - again - God exalted him above all excepting God himself, whom he is subject to. You like to keep ignoring this simple fact. The scriptures plainly and repeatedly declare that Jesus is not God, but is rather at the right hand thereof. A highly exalted position indeed - but still a step beneath God himself.
First off, I want to thank you for the highly engaging debate we had thus far. It is becoming clear to me that our differences in theology stems from how much we lean towards linguistics or context. I place context over linguistics, whereas you place linguistics over context. Both are important of course, it just depends how we balance the two out. This is going to be my closing remarks regarding this topic, so feel free to do the same
'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. ' Genesis 1:1-3
There was God, there was the Spirit, and there was the 'Logos' (Word) through which God spoke everything into creation. God created the heavens and the earth and everything in it. He created us in His image, and called us mankind.
Then came the rebellion, the flood, the patriarchs, and then Moses. Moses was to be the mediator between God and His chosen people, the Israelites. Under the Mosaic covenant, they were bound to worship and serve Yahweh as their one and only God. He was going to dwell among them and be their God, a nation distinct from those around them, with no king, and no idols.
'Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel." ' Exodus 19:5-6
Then came the rebellion, the idolatry and the judges. Israel prostituted themselves to the Canaanite gods, the Asherah poles, the Baals, and they burnt their own children in the fire of Molek. They turned away from worshiping the only true God and were alluded to the shrine prostitutes and idol worship. God's wrath burned against them and he exacted judgement through His appointed judges. But they themselves were corrupt.
Then came Samuel, God's last judge. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and kept his decrees. However the people pleaded with him to anoint a king, so that they would be like the other nations around them. They had rejected God's command, and now they were rejecting God's authority. However God respected their wishes, and granted them a king, even after He had told them of the consequences. First came Saul, then David, a man after his own heart, then came Solomon.
After Solomon, the country of Israel was divided. Northern Israel came under Jeroboam, whereas Southern Judah was under Rehoboam. Both countries continued in their sin of idolatry under successive kings who tolerated and permitted such practices, leading the Israelites into sin. God sent his prophets to warn them of the impending punishment, but they would not listen. They shed the blood of the prophets and continued to sacrifice their children. God's wrath poured out on them, and He allowed the surrounding pagan nations to destroy them. Northern Israel fell to the Assyrian Empire, and Southern Judah fell subsequently to the Babylonian Empire. During the time of exile, God revealed a word to the prophet Jeremiah:
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"Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord , "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the Lord . "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the Lord , "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord ,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the Lord , "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." ' Jeremiah 31:31-34
Then came a succession of power. After the Babylonians came the Persians, under which Israel's temple and walls were restored. Many of the exiled Israelites returned to Jerusalem. Then came the Macedonians, and thereafter the Roman Empire.
400 years passed without a single prophet or a word from God. Then came John the Baptist, baptizing people for repentance and proclaiming the coming of the Messiah, who was going to restore Israel to its former glory. The Logos, although it existed in the form of God since creation, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself and became flesh. He took on the nature of a servant, and preached the coming of a new covenant, where God would no longer dwell in the temple, but within our hearts. He submitted fully to the Father, and the fullness of the deity dwelled in him, granting him authority over all creation. He declared himself as Lord of the Sabbath, as one who could forgive sins, as the Son of God, and the Jews rejected him the basis of blasphemy. Like a lamb led to a slaughter, he did not open his mouth to the accusations. He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
He is now sitting at the right hand of God, as the Lamb who was slain, and He is coming back again. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. He is the
Logos who is God, the one who has authority over all creation, and the one who deserves our highest praise and honor.
To the glory of God the Father.
