"O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I suffer you?" (Matt 17:17)
"For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost" (Matt 18:11)
"For where two or three are gathered IN MY NAME, THERE AM I" (Matt 18:20)
"When the Son of Man shall sit in THE THRONE OF HIS GLORY..." (Matt 19:28)
"...For one is your Master, even Messiah" (Matt 23:10)
"When the Son of Man shall come in HIS GLORY and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit UPON
THE THRONE OF HIS GLORY and before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them..."
(Matt 25:31)
"For this is MY Blood of the New Covenant..." (Matt 26:28)
"All Power is given unto Me in heaven and earth‖. (Matt 28:18)
"I am with you even unto the end of the world‖. (Matt 28:20)
Does this sound like He regarded Himself as "merely another man"...? Listen to more of what HE said of
Himself:
"Destroy this Temple and in three days I WILL RAISE IT UP!" (John 2:19)
"No man has ascended up to Heaven but HE THAT CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN EVEN THE SON OF
MAN WHICH IS IN HEAVEN" (John 3:13)
"Whosoever drinks of the Water that I shall give him... it shall be in him a well of water springing up into
Everlasting Life" (John 4:14)
"All men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not
the Father‖. (John 5:23)
"Search the Scriptures (OT)...for they are they which testify of ME‖. (John 5:39)
"I am the Bread of Life..." (John 6:35)
"For I CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN..." (John 6:38)
"What if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up WHERE HE WAS BEFORE?" (John 6:62)
"I am the Light of the World..." (John 8:12)
"You are from beneath, I am FROM ABOVE - I am not of this world‖. (John 8:23)
"Abraham rejoiced to see My day and he saw it and was glad... Verily, verily I say unto you: Before Abraham
was, I AM‖. (John 8:56-59)
"I am the Door. By Me, if any man enters in, he shall be saved..." (John 10:7)
"I am the Good Shepherd‖. (John 10:11)
"No man takes (My Life) from Me. I lay it down OF MYSELF. I have Power to lay it down AND I HAVE
POWER TO TAKE IT UP AGAIN!" (John 10:18)
"I and My Father ARE ONE‖. (John 10:30)
"I am the Resurrection and the Life‖. (John 11:25)
"And if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me‖. (John 12:32)
"You call me Master and Lord, and you say well, for so I am‖. (John 13:13)
"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life‖. (John 14:6)
"If you had known Me, You would have known My Father also: and from henceforth you Know Him and
HAVE SEEN HIM‖. (John 14:7)
"Don't you believe that I AM IN THE FATHER and the Father is in Me?" (John 14:10-11)
"And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I DO‖. (John 14:13)
"In that Day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in Me and I IN YOU". (John 14:20)
"I came forth from the Father and came into the world; again I leave this world and go to the Father‖. (John
16:28)
"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End" (Rev 1:8)
"I am the First and the Last" (Rev 1:11 & 18 and 22:13)
"And he that overcomes and keeps MY WORKS unto the End, to him will I GIVE POWER over the nations to
rule them with a rod of iron..." (Rev 2:26)
"To him that overcomes, will I grant to sit with Me in MY THRONE..." (Rev 3:21)
Undoubtedly, except in the estimation of the rebellious, He was, is, and will remain El Shaddai, YHWH
Himself!
The receipt of custom
It is a tax imposed by the Romans. The tax-gatherers were termed ―publicans‖ (Matt 9:10 and 11 below),
who had their stations at the gates of cities and in the public highways; and at the place set apart for that
purpose, called the ―receipt of custom" (Mark 2:14)—where they collected the money that was to be paid on
certain goods (Matt 17:25). These publicans were tempted to exact more from the people than was lawful;
and were in consequence of their extortions, objects of great hatred. The Pharisees would have no
interaction with them (Matt 5:46-47).