The Bible never states clearly whom Jesus worshipped, but it does state that Jesus exalted God, which is closely associated with adoration (John 17:1, 4). Jesus does, in fact, merit our adoration since he is God (see Matthew 2:2; John 20:28).
No-one worships a religion
Religions teach us who to worship, not who we should worship in general. Muslims, for instance, worship Allah, not Islam, as Islam instructs. Similarly, Jesus worshipped the everlasting God rather than a particular religion. Let’s investigate this a little more.
Jesus was born a Jew
From a human perspective, Jesus was related to God through the law that Moses gave in the Old Testament because he was born a Jew (Matthew 1:1–17; Galatians 4:4–John 4:22). (Galatians 4:4). To that degree, He was not a worshipper of Judaism; rather, He was a worshipper of the God of Judaism, the God who made himself known during the Exodus as “I AM” or “Yahweh” (also referred to as “The LORD” in English Bibles; Exodus 3:14).
God revealed his intentions to create a new people for himself and to lead them into a land under his sovereignty throughout the entirety of the Old Testament (Genesis 12:1-3). But most of Israel’s actual experience was actually what the New Testament refers to as a “shadow” (cf. Hebrews 8:5); that is, it was an image, if you will, rather than the ultimate truth of what God was going to accomplish. The Old Testament ultimately closes with hope for the fulfillment of all that God had promised his people (Hebrews 11:39–40). For instance, Hebrews 11:16 states that Abraham and Sarah anticipated “a better country – a heavenly one” rather than the actual land of Israel.
Fulfillment in the New Testament
As readers, we should therefore approach the New Testament with a strong sense of expectation, hoping to see the fulfillment of everything that God had promised. And we observe precisely that. The number of times Matthew uses the words “fulfill” or “fulfilled” throughout his gospel (Matthew 1:22; 2:15-17; 2:23; 3:15; 4:14; 5:17; 8:17; 12:17; 13:14; 13:35; 21:4; 26:54-56; 27:9) will surprise you. All that God had promised in the Old Testament was fulfilled by Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20).
Jesus not only accomplishes all of God’s purposes, but He also gives us a deeper understanding of God than the Old Testament did in earlier times. John, for instance, writes:
“Because Jesus Christ brought mercy and truth, the law was delivered via Moses. God the One and Only, or Jesus, who is at the right hand of the Father, has revealed himself to us; no one has ever seen God before (John 1:17–18).
Similarly, the author of Hebrews says:
“In these last days, God has spoken to us through his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe. In the past, God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways” (Hebrews 1:1–2).
Put another way, not only does Jesus fulfill all of God’s promises and purposes found in the Old Testament, but He also shows God to us in a way that the Old Testament did not fully reveal.
Listen and follow Jesus Christ
Because Jesus Christ is the one who fully reveals God to us, we must listen to him and emulate him today. Being a Jew and reading only the Old Testament is not enough. We must pay attention to and imitate Jesus if we wish to know God as He has ultimately and fully shown Himself to us. To sum up, Jesus exalts his Father, Yahweh/I AM, and we must listen to and imitate Jesus Christ if we wish to adore God.
