"Christ did claim He was God"
I thought the closest he came was, "You say that I am."
Jesus preached the Kingdom during their lifetime, what we got was the church.
All that reading you claimed to have done and that's all you came up with? Astounding.
Jesus did indeed talk about Himself:
I and my Father are one (John 10:30).
He that has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:7-9).
Before Abraham was "I am" (John 8:58). "I am" was the covenant name for God in the Old Testament (Yahweh). The Jews understood the significance of this statement, because they picked up stones to stone him for blasphemy (John 8:59).
Remember Jesus was crucified because of blasphemy: "For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God." (John 5:18).
None of the prophets ever spoke like this. The prophets said, "Turn to the Lord and He will heal you." Jesus said, "Come unto me and I will give you rest." The prophets said, "Repent and God will forgive you." Jesus said, "I forgive your sins" (Matthew 9:2). And when someone objected and said, "Only God can forgive sins." Jesus in essence replied, "Yes, that’s quite right." All through the gospels, Jesus is taking the place of God.
What was his Old Testament name as prophecied? EMMANUEL. Do you know what that means?