And then another thing--no good man except Jesus Christ has ever allowed anybody to worship him. When this was done He never rebuked the worshiper. In John ix. 38, we read that when the blind man was found by Christ he said, "Lord, I believe. And he worshiped Him." The Lord did not rebuke him.
Then again, Revelation xxii. 6, runs thus: "And he said unto me, These things are faithful and true; and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show unto His servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. And I John saw these things and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then saith He unto me, See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow-servant and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book, _worship God_."
We see here that even that angel would not allow John to worship him. Even an angel from heaven! And if Gabriel came down here from the presence of God it would be a sin to worship him, or any seraph, or any cherub, or Michael, or any archangel.
"Worship God!" And if Jesus Christ were not God manifest in the flesh we are guilty of idolatry in worshiping Him. In Matthew xiv. 33, we read: "Then they that were in the ship came and _worshiped_ Him, saying, Of a truth Thou art the Son of God." He did not rebuke them.
And in Matthew viii. 2, we also read: "And, behold, there came a leper and _worshiped_ Him, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean."
In Matthew xv. 25: "Then came she, and _worshiped_ Him, saying, Lord, help me!"
There are many other passages; but I give these as sufficient in my opinion to prove beyond any doubt the Divinity of our Lord.
In the 14th chapter of Acts we are told the heathen at Lystra came with garlands and would have done sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas because they had cured an impotent man; but the evangelists rent their clothes and told these Lystrans that they were but men, and not to be worshipped; as if it were a great sin. And if Jesus Christ is a mere man, we are all guilty of a great sin in worshipping Him.
But if He is, as we believe, the only-begotten and well-beloved Son of God, let us yield to His claims upon us; let us rest on His all-atoning work, and go forth to serve Him all the days of our life.