There are many spiritual truths which Messiah Yeshua brought to His people during His time here on earth. And many of those same truths still cause as much controversy and division today as they did when they were first spoken. But today we have somewhat of a different problem than the first century believers. It is not that the battle between the truth and lies, which takes place in the hearts of men, did not exist in those early years. That is the same battle that is fought today by believers around the world. But back then it took much longer to engage people in the fight, to traverse the earth and make contact with other cultures and societies. The presentation of the truth regarding the redemption purchased by Yeshua for His called out ones worked its way slowly through the  different people groups due to the restrictions of travel and methods of communication present at that time in history. All of that has been radically changed in our present time.

It is obvious to anyone with even a cursory knowledge of today’s internet that it is possible to make a claim, sell a product, tell a story, publish a picture, put forth a religious teaching or theory and have the information go around the world in minutes. And the larger the captive audience, the greater the influence. Thousands of people can receive information, view it and be affected by it, then either adopt or reject what they were exposed to all in the same day. As many have often said, “the internet is both a blessing and a curse”.

My personal opinion, whatever that may be worth, is that if the truth is being told and sent over the internet to many for their mutual edification and strength, then it can be a blessing. But if it is used to create and distribute lies, it quickly becomes a curse. I also believe that the covenant with Avraham still stands and those who bless the Israel of YHWH will be blessed and those who curse the Israel of YHWH will be cursed. Minister the truth to the Israel of YHWH and you will be blessed. Deliver lies and you will be cursed. There are only two choices. Blessing and cursing, sheep and goats, wheat and tares, light and darkness, truth and lies. And due to the proliferation of false teachings on the internet the whole world is filling up with lies and deception. And not just in the realm of the religious. We can see nations and their governments being deceived into taking positions contrary to and against the Messiah and His people, Israel.

In the new covenant writings the emissary Sha’ul provides an interesting perspective on the reason why there are so many false teachers among the people of YHWH:

1 Cor. 11:18 & 19, “For first of all, when you come together in the assembly, I hear that divisions exist among you, and I partly believe it. For there also must be factions among you, that those who are approved may be revealed among you.”

While at first it may appear that it is simply bad grammar that causes the phrase “among you” to be used three times in two sentences, this type of writing is common in Hebrew. The Hebrew language often employs a repetitive pattern to drive home a point. Our modern English translations usually change this type of pattern as it feels awkward to an English speaker. I believe that Sha’ul’s point he is trying communicate to his audience is that the divisions and resulting factions, and of course the approved ones, will be “among you”. Believers and unbelievers are already divided, with the unbelievers being outside of the covenant and the believers inside. So it is clear that Sha’ul is concerned with what is going on inside the congregation. He indicates that these divisions “must” exist to reveal those who are approved. But why would this be the process of choice for demonstrating who is approved and who isn’t?

To our modern western mindset this seems to be a contradiction of goals. For us, as the saying goes, our goal should always be unity and harmony. When we see divisions we immediately assume that someone isn’t playing nice and is causing problems among the flock. Most modern western church attending believers today do not see the danger in this type of thinking. In fact, by them it is often perceived to be the high road of a correct moral and spiritual state to look down on those who are considered to be divisive. And yet Sha’ul, who we all believe to be an emissary of the Messiah Yeshua, did not put forth that kind of teaching. Why? Because he understood well that truth and lies are mixed together in the congregations. The idea of a false conformity would never occur to someone who had been trained on the truths of Torah. Torah demands separation from many things. It is filled with the exact descriptions for how to separate one thing from another. Including how to separate the wicked from among the righteous. Sha’ul understood that process very well and knew that the result of those type of divisions would be the revealing of those who are approved. Approved by who you may ask? By Messiah Yeshua of course. The parable of the wheat and tares comes to mind at this point.

But there are many today who are quick to say that we should not divide over doctrine. And certainly not over those doctrines that would be considered by many to be somewhat inconsequential. That we should be more loving and accepting of others and what they believe, whether what they believe is true or not, because who are we to judge the beliefs of another? Therein lies the problem. And the danger. If we don’t know who Messiah Yeshua is then it is quite likely that we do not know who we are in Him and consequently we do not think that we can judge anything at all and must be quiet and put up with whatever someone else has to say. Eat the fish and spit out the bones is what you commonly hear at that point in the conversation.

But was that the teaching of the emissaries? No, it was not. Here is what Sha’ul has to say about judging matters.

1 Cor. 6:2, “Don’t you know that the set-apart ones will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?”

Now there will be some who say that the context of this verse is one of brothers defrauding one another in worldly matters and does not address the idea of false teachings. True enough. But though this principle is sound it is probably better to find something that relates more specifically to false teachers in the midst of the congregation. And not just that there will be false teachers bringing false teachings. We will see that with the verse in 2 Kefa later.

Let’s look at this verse.

2 Thess. 3:14 & 15, “If any man doesn’t obey our word in this letter, note that man, that you have no company with him, to the end that he may be ashamed. Don’t count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.”

There are basically two parts to this directive sent to the believers in Thessalonica. The first being that we are not to have fellowship with a brother who is disobedient to the teaching of the emissaries and the second being that the idea of the isolation is one of admonishment towards a brother and not to disqualify him altogether. But is this speaking of how we are to handle false teachers? Not exactly.

How about this verse?

1 Cor. 1:10, “Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Master, Yeshua the Messiah, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

Here we are told that we should speak the same thing and have the same judgment. Good advice, but still not exactly what we are looking for. And notice that it was not Sha’ul’s desire to have divisions among the believers. He just knew that it was inevitable. But he is setting a precedent for how we are to come together and find our common faith and practice.

1 Tim. 3:1-7,” As I exhorted you to stay at Ephesus when I was going into Macedonia, that you might charge certain men not to teach a different doctrine, neither to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which cause disputes, rather than Elohim’s stewardship, which is in faith — but the end of the charge is love, out of a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned faith; from which things some, having missed the mark, have turned aside to vain talking; desiring to be teachers of the Torah, though they understand neither what they say, nor about what they strongly affirm.”

Now we are getting a bit closer. Here Sha’ul directs Timothy to stop certain men from teaching a different doctrine. We would have to understand that Sha’ul is referring to the doctrine that he had delivered to the believers there in Ephesus. And so Timothy is charged with stopping these men, not putting up with whatever it was that they were teaching as doctrine. This is one part of the authority that is supposed to exist within the body of believers regardless of where or in how many numbers they congregate. The clear message here: false teachers must be stopped.

Titus 1:10 & 11, “ For there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for dishonest gain’s sake.”

And this is plain as to the meaning of what Sha’ul expected those in leadership positions to do. To take a stand for the truth against the lies that were being spread among the believers. He does not say that those men “should” be stopped, rather he says that they “must” be stopped. It is an imperative.

It is true that there can be false leaders just as there can be false teachers and prophets. The danger being that a false leader/teacher could proclaim their approved status in an attempt to silence any critics. How can we know who is a true leader and who isn’t? Could it be that after two thousand years of man’s religions we are left without any prescribed method of determining those who are approved by Yeshua for the position of elder or shepherd or teacher?

The only measuring tool we have at our disposal is the scriptures. By the Word of YHWH we can make judgments regarding the issues of life that come before us. And that includes evaluating those who claim to be leaders and teachers.

This then is the process that Yeshua uses to manifest the ones who are approved by Him, as well as exposing those who are not. By exercising the authority given to us by Messiah Yeshua to establish the truth in the congregation and put a stop to those who are spreading lies through their false teachings. Extensive and competent knowledge of scripture is required to be able to discern and refute those false teachings that find their way into our fellowships. And this process is supposed to happen inside the congregation of the faithful, not outside. As Sha’ul said, “For what have I to do with also judging those who are outside? Don’t you judge those who are within?” It would seem that he expected us to judge those who are in the congregation. And who should be judged? How about the ones who bring false teaching into the midst of the believers.

And who among the congregation would be qualified to judge the words and actions of another, especially if that person was considered to a leader? My answer would be that everyone is qualified. Unless of course they were unable to read and comprehend what is contained in scripture. But that would constitute a special case and should be handled accordingly. And we are all required to serve one another in love. And part of the loving servitude would be to make sure that someone wasn’t being led astray and in the process leading others in the same error.

2Kefa 2:1, “But there also arose false prophets among the people, as among you also there will be false teachers, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction.”

Here we see among the general, non-specific category of “heresies” one in particular that stands out from the crowd. That one would be: “denying even the Master who bought them.”

It is this specific heresy that I intend to focus on. And I will start with the question, what does it mean to “deny the Master who bought them?” How does one go about denying the Messiah Yeshua? Notice that the ones who bring in this heresy do so secretly and are not outside the congregation, rather, they are inside. Among the true believers. We know that there are many in the world who through unbelief deny the very existence of any type of God at all. We would probably call them atheists. They are not the subject of the verse. And we know that there were and are many who say that even though a one true Elohim does exist, He would certainly not become a man and purchase us back to Himself through the forgiveness of sins by His own blood. They are not the subject of this verse either. Yes, I know that they could be included and it would be within the context of what Kefa is communicating, as we know that the unbelieving Jews of the time would fit into that category because they had denied Messiah Yeshua. But for my purpose here I will try to stay with the idea of rejecting Yeshua after coming to some type of belief in Him as being the promised Messiah. I am not trying to rule out deliberate deception by people who could pretend to be believers and then attempt to corrupt the minds of those within their reach. I am simply wanting to focus on a specific group. For the sake of keeping things separate I will call them the “Judas Group” since they spend time with the children of Messiah but never come to have a relationship with Him in their hearts and are ultimately destroyed.

Kefa is talking about those who have at one time believed, in some capacity, in Yeshua as being the Messiah of YHWH. They are in the congregation of YHWH because they came in through the confession of faith believing that Yeshua is the Messiah. How else could they bring anything “in”? I certainly can’t imagine them coming to the door and saying, “we don’t believe in that Yeshua guy, but would it be OK if we hung out with you folks for awhile and shared what we believe”? Remember that this was a covert action. They would have had to at the very least pretended to believe what everyone else did so that they could secretly introduce their heresies. Which is the goal of false teachers by the way. And who knows, perhaps they actually believed in Yeshua as being the Messiah for a time.

So they sang the songs. Shared the food. Gave some of their resources. Fellowshiped from house to house. Perhaps even witnessed to others about His salvation and saw firsthand the miracles performed by other believers. So how did they go from being a part of the fellowship of the saints to end up denying the very Messiah who bought them? I’m sure the exact process for each person may be somewhat different. But underlying everything is one common factor, they did not have a love for the truth and so they were deceived into believing a lie. Which became the lie they shared among the believers. It is seldom a one jump affair. Instead, it is one small step at a time, each one leading further and further away from Messiah, until they finally deny who He is and what He has done.

But here in this verse, is Kefa describing a scene where the one who has been deceived announces that they are denying Yeshua and then walks out the door? No. In fact, the picture here is one of bringing in, not walking out. And bringing in these heresies secretly, covertly, deliberately. And the purpose of bringing in these false teachings? To lead those who have escaped the coming judgment through their faith in Messiah Yeshua back into error, sin and destruction. Why would they do that? It is not for me, or anyone else for that matter, to judge the motives of another person’s heart. That is the area that YHWH alone is going to judge. But from my own experience in this life I can say that it is not uncommon for a person to want company when they head off towards destruction.

But what do these false teachings that are based around denying Yeshua look and sound like today? How are these lies presented, and to who? How can a person deny who Messiah Yeshua is and at the same time appear to have faith in Him? At least enough to deceive others?

I believe that it is imperative, in fact it is commanded, that we provide a description of how this type of false, destructive teaching is expressed in the congregations today if to only save some of those who are unlearned in the scriptures and do not yet possess a mature, stable faith. Those who bring these lies are hard at work. We must work even harder to proclaim the truth.

I will start with the basics of these false teachings and then we can look at what scriptures say regarding who the Messiah is and who He should be to us as His redeemed children.

Who is Messiah?

Where the process of denying who Messiah is starts is almost always in the same place in scripture. Someone reads in one of the Gospels that Yeshua prayed to His Father in heaven and then makes the assumption that Yeshua and YHWH could not be, and hence are not, the same person. This has been the foundation of the doctrine of the Trinity. We human beings, in our limited, finite understanding have a tendency to divide YHWH into three distinct biblical parts. But we are quick to add that these three divine beings act as one and don’t disagree on anything.

It is an interesting side note that these same people who proclaim the concept of three in one quite often believe that Yeshua did away with His Father’s Torah and changed the practice of faith while creating a whole new religion that was never mentioned in the first covenant. I guess they think that His Father changed His mind and Yeshua was just the messenger. A confusing thought process to say the least. But I once held those errant beliefs, not knowing that the testimony of scripture was very different than the beliefs of the organized religion that I was a part of at the time.

And the testimony of scripture is that YHWH is one, not three. Yeshua is not a “lesser YHWH” an Elohim with a small “g”, or just a man, or a prophet or teacher. If He was just a man then He could not bring the salvation that YHWH had promised to His people. How could a created being bring eternal life? He could not.

While we are considering the idea of “three in one” (which is the basis of Trinitarian doctrine),  it is probably a good place to bring up the common misuse of the Hebrew word “echad”. In Hebrew the word echad means “one” and is used to count masculine objects. When simply counting, the feminine form “achat” is used for the number one. This is part of the masculine / feminine order of nouns and counting in the Hebrew language. In ordinal counting “echad” means “first” as in position. However, when the word appears in scripture in connection with YHWH it is quite often explained by some teachers to mean “unity”, or “compound unity”, as within a group of objects or persons acting as one. And while the word can be used in that way, as in “they were of one mind”, it does not automatically turn one into many or many into one. For those types of expressions other words must be added to produce the idea of common purpose or thought or action. The correct translation is dependent upon the verb root used in the sentence.

An example would be this:

Judges 20:8, “ All the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will any of us turn to his house.”

Obviously there is more than one person involved, but they had “one’ common purpose and goal.

Here is the same verse in Hebrew. The word “echad” is used to describe the unified purpose of the people, not that there was only one person.

נֵלֵךְ אִישׁ לְאָהֳלֹו וְלֹא נָסוּר אִישׁ לְבֵיתֹֽו׃ וַיָּקָם כָּל־הָעָם כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד לֵאמֹר לֹא

But is this a valid use of the word when it is used to describe YHWH the Elohim of Israel?

Let’s look at a verse that should be familiar to all:

D’varim 6:4, “ Hear, Yisra’el: YHWH is our Elohim; YHWH is one:”

Quite simply, YHWH is “echad”. The English word “is” must be added as there is no present tense verb construction in Hebrew. It is implied in the context.

There are those who say that this verse demonstrates that YHWH is a plurality with common purpose and goal, the “compound unity” theory. But does it? Can the word “echad” mean one and more than one at the same time? Was Moshe being deliberately ambiguous? Why would he do such a thing? Should we assume that the use of the word “echad” in this context is meant to lead all Israel to believe that YHWH their Elohim is more than one Elohim? In this monologue from Moshe he contrasts the surrounding nations who had multiple gods as being unacceptable to YHWH and hence He was throwing them out of the Land and giving it to the people who had only one Elohim, namely the children of Israel. If the emphasis here is that YHWH is one, is it reasonable to try to extract some other meaning in this of all contexts? What was the one sin that caused Israel the most trouble over the years? It was the worship of multiple gods, what is commonly called idolatry. The essence of polytheism is that multiple gods are needed to explain different phenomena in the world as well as the events in a person’s life. Each separate god was created and used for a distinct purpose. And there was usually one supreme god that was over all the others. Superior in both power and attributes. This should have a familiar ring to it as it is the basis of Greek and Roman mythology. And this interaction of multiple gods eventually worked its way into the nascent Christian faith producing a mixture which was anticipated but not desired by YHWH.

There is another Hebrew word that is sometimes used to describe the concept of “only one”. It is the word “yachid” and it appears when the writer wants to indicate singularity. An excellent example would be this:

Gen. 22:2, He said, “Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, even Yitzchak, and go into the land of Moriyah. Offer him there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of.”

The word “yachid” is written here in the singular possessive form in this verse. It is used to indicate that Yitzchak was Avraham’s only son when in fact Avraham had another son. But his other son was not the son of the promise and so was not considered.

But questions do arise from some as to why the word “yachid” was not used in the Shema. At this late date in the history of this world it would be impossible to accurately guess what was in the the mind of Moshe at the time he spoke those words. But we do have a very clear record in scripture where YHWH had demonstrated over and over that He alone was to be their Elohim and they were not to have another. Only one. It was well understood at the time and I would have trouble thinking that those words were immediately misconstrued so as to imply that Israel actually had more than one Elohim.

Is the concept of the Elohim of Israel being only one carried over to the new covenant writings? Yes it is. Here is a very good example of the teaching of the emissary Sha’ul:

1Timothy 2:3 – 7, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of Elohim our Savior; who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth. For there is one Elohim, and one mediator between Elohim and men, the man Messiah Yeshua, who gave himself as a ransom for all; the testimony in its own times; to which I was appointed a preacher and an emissary (I am telling the truth in Messiah, not lying), a teacher of the nations in faith and truth.”

“For there is one Elohim,”. A quick check of the Greek text confirms that Sha’ul meant “one”, not more than one. One Elohim, one mediator, one man between the one Elohim and men. And here in these verses Sha’ul clearly establishes Yeshua as the only mediator between us and YHWH. It is the part which Sha’ul mentions the “man Messiah Yeshua” that I hope to address more fully in part 5 of this series.

One of the flavors of the doctrine of the trinity has the Father in the supreme position, the Son in an inferior but important position and the Spirit as one who is involved with both humans and the Father and the Son at the same time. But as soon as someone says that Yeshua and YHWH are not the same person, they have entered into polytheistic idolatry. Usually without knowing that they have.

So where does Yeshua, described as the Son of Man and the Messiah, fit into this problem of polytheistic idolatry?

Let’s look at some scriptures and see what we can find.

After Yeshua rose from the dead He spent some time with His disciples. A portion of one of those occurrences is recorded like this:

Luke 24: 25 – 27, “He said to them, “Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Didn’t the Messiah have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?” Beginning from Moshe and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

To me this has always been an amazing part of the narrative of the earthly life of Messiah. Here we have two of the twelve disciples walking along a road discussing the recent events that took place in Yerushalayim. And Yeshua Himself comes along side them and explains, from the scriptures, what had to happen to Messiah. And then, as an added bonus, He explained to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself. What an incredible experience! To have the Creator of the universe, and all that is in it, walking alongside you and explaining how the scriptures detail not only His mission on the earth as the Messiah, but also who He is.

And here it is important to emphasize the fact that Yeshua spoke to His disciples from the Torah and the prophets regarding Himself. Not regarding YHWH, or His Father in heaven. But instead, regarding Himself. We will look at some of those prophetic testimonies later in this article.

Col. 1:13 – 16, “who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love; in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins; who is the image of the invisible Elohim, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him were all things created, in the heavens and on the eretz, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through Him, and for Him.”

Yes, Yeshua is the Creator of the universe and all that is in it.

It would be difficult, if not impossible, to copy into this brief article all the scriptures that speak of Messiah. But what I will attempt to do is include enough scriptural proof to show that the one we call Messiah is YHWH, who came in the likeness of sinful flesh to redeem and reconcile us to Himself. It is certainly not my intention to leave out certain controversial verses in order to make my point. If what I am saying is true, it will stand on its own and not need to be falsely propped up by deliberately avoiding certain verses which seem to contradict what I am trying to say.

Now Yeshua, in speaking with the two disciples, started at Moshe and then went to the prophets, so we will do the same.

D’varim 18:15 – 19, “ YHWH your Elohim will raise up to you a prophet from the midst of you, of your brothers, like me; to him you shall listen; according to all that you desired of YHWH your Elohim in Horev in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of YHWH my Elohim, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die. YHWH said to me, They have well said that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. It shall happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.”

And thus Moshe announced the coming of the prophet who would speak the words of YHWH to the people and that if they would not listen to Him, it would be required of them. From our vantage point here in the future we can look back and see that Moshe spoke of Messiah. I believe that Yeshua would have certainly used this reference when speaking to His disciples on the road to Emmaus.

Just to be clear, Yeshua functioned fully in the power of the Ruach HaKodesh. Which means that one of the offices He occupied was that of a prophet. That title does not completely describe His ministry, only one aspect of it. Remember that when Yochanan was questioned by the Perushim as to whether he was “that prophet”, Yochanan said no, he was not. The prophet that the Perushim were referring to was the one Moshe spoke of in the Torah.

Notice that this announcement from Moshe came about due to the refusal of the children of Israel to listen directly to the voice of YHWH. Apparently they were too frightened to hear what He had to say. YHWH agreed. And said that He would bring them a prophet from among their brothers who would speak the words of YHWH to them. In other words, He would send one who looked like a man who would speak only the words YHWH told Him to speak.

When any true prophet of YHWH speaks, a line is drawn and those who hear the words are required to make a decision as to whether they will obey or not.

Consider what was said to Ezekiel when he was starting out in the office of a prophet of Israel:

Ez. 3:25 – 27, “But you, son of man, behold, they shall lay bands on you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them: and I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be mute, and shall not be to them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house. But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall tell them, Thus says the Master YHWH: He who hears, let him hear; and he who forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.”

Ezekiel was not allowed to speak a word that did not come from YHWH. And it was the same for Messiah Yeshua. He only spoke the words which His Father gave Him to speak. The earthly, physical manifestation of YHWH in a mortal body would only say what He said because the Word and YHWH are not separate. YHWH is His Word and His Word is YHWH. Yeshua is the Word made flesh. A great mystery, but these things are discerned by the Ruach HaKodesh and understood by those who have been born of Him. I don’t say that to try and sound spiritually mysterious, it is just a simple fact.

The prophet Isaiah has much to say regarding the Messiah of Israel, their King. I will spend some time there as the revelation of Messiah given through Isaiah is very clear and easy to understand. And this article is not intended to be a complicated, confusing theological exercise.

Let’s start with the proclamation of the intention of YHWH to save Israel by His own Hand.

Isa. 43:10, “You are my witnesses, says YHWH, and my servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no god formed, neither shall there be after me.”

And again:

Isa. 43:11, “I, even I, am YHWH; and besides me there is no savior.”

The next verse:

Isa. 43:12, “I have declared, and I have saved, and I have shown; and there was no strange god among you: therefore you are my witnesses, says YHWH, and I am Elohim.”

I do not believe that the scriptures can get any more straightforward than this. Salvation, declares YHWH, is from Me and no one else. And there are no gods beside Him. Meaning that there is no one who is like Him. He alone is Elohim. The only Elohim of Israel.

This next verse is key to understanding who Yeshua is:

Isa. 44:6, “Thus says YHWH, the King of Yisra’el, and his Redeemer, YHWH of Hosts: I am the First, and I am the Last; and besides me there is no Elohim.”

Again, this is very plain and easy to understand. YHWH is declaring that He alone is the First and the Last, the King and Redeemer of Yisra’el. To make His point even stronger He offers a challenge:

Isa. 44:7, “Who is like Me? Let him proclaim and declare it; Yes, let him recount it to Me in order, from the time that I established the ancient nation. And let them declare to them the things that are coming and the events that are going to take place.”

And this is the question we must all answer for ourselves. Who is like YHWH? Who can accurately recount the past events and then with the same accuracy proclaim the events which are yet to come? Only someone who is outside of this timeline could do such a thing.

Here we must make a strong connection between YHWH and Yeshua after which we can fill in the gaps and see if there are any holes in our belief of the deity of Yeshua. For that we need to go to the Revelation of Yochanan.

Rev. 1:8, “I am the Aleph and the Tav,” says YHWH Elohim, “who is and who was and who is to come, El Shaddai.”

Is this not the same one who revealed Himself to our father Avraham?

Gen. 17:1 & 2, When Avram was ninety-nine years old, YHWH appeared to Avram, and said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Walk before me, and be blameless.”

Can there be any doubt as to who is talking here? I hope not.

This is YHWH speaking and the words are consistent with the words spoken throughout scripture. But is this the same as Yeshua speaking? Let’s see:

Rev. 1:12 – 20, I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden menorot. And among the menorot was one like a son of man, clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters. He had seven stars in his right hand. Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest. When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last, and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amein. I have the keys of Death and of She’ol. Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter; the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden menorot. The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies. The seven menorot are seven assemblies.

Once again we have some very clear text showing that Yeshua is YHWH. And how do we come to that conclusion? In verse 8 YHWH declares that He is the First and the Last, the Aleph and the Tav. El Shaddai. When Yochanan turns to see who is speaking who does he see?

One like the Son of Man, showing the Esteem of YHWH, which of course causes him to fall down as if he were dead. But then this glorified Man, who is showing the esteem of YHWH in His countenance, comes and puts His right hand on Yochanan and tells him, “don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last.” This was not an arbitrary statement made by Yeshua. It was spoken specifically to tie together the testimony of scripture, that YHWH alone is the First and the Last.

Back to the challenge in Isaiah. Who could say such a thing except YHWH Himself? As YHWH said so clearly through the prophets, there is not one who can claim to be YHWH except YHWH. And yet here in the Revelation we see Yeshua saying that He is the First and the Last. Can there be any doubt as to who Yeshua is? No, there shouldn’t be. But to be fair in this proclamation we must look at many other verses to see if these truths are consistent throughout the record of scripture. If there is any other testimony that puts Yeshua in the position of being another Elohim, we must look for it.

And that search will be the subject of the next article on this extremely important component of our faith.

Shalom

 

There are so many scriptures to consider regarding this very important issue that I intend to dedicate the greater part of this article to exploring some of them. In part 1 we  have established through the prophet Isaiah that the Redeemer of Israel is YHWH and that there are no other Elohim before, after or beside Him.

I would now like to examine the scriptures that testify as to whether or not YHWH has ever shown Himself to human beings in the form of a man. Why would that be important? Because if He has already demonstrated that He can and will take on the form of a man at times to accomplish His plan and purpose in the earth, and reveal Himself to man in that way, then it becomes much easier to see that He could take on the form of a man called Yeshua and bring salvation to His people.

Now Yochanan testified in his Gospel that no one has seen Elohim except for the Son.

Yochanan 1:18, “No one has seen Elohim at any time; the Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”

At this point I do need to address an issue that has recently come to my attention. Which is this:

There are some who say that Yeshua was not Elohim until YHWH declared Him to be. That type of belief goes directly against the testimony of scripture. If Yeshua was not the Elohim of Israel prior to a declaration by His Father, then how could that declaration suddenly make Him the Elohim of Israel? For that to be true the declaration would have had to create a promised Messiah out of nothing, and then cause Him to be the one true Elohim of Israel, who would have had to be the Elohim of Israel all along, and accomplish this all at the same time by a simple declaration. What declaration? The one at the river Yarden where YHWH says “this is My beloved Son”? That is not what took place there at that time. I will go into what happened at the river Yarden later in these articles.

We have already seen that there is only one Elohim of Israel, only one Redeemer, only one Saviour. And there is no other Elohim beside Him. For the one true Elohim of Israel to create another Elohim of Israel by declaring Him to be one, then there would be two Elohim of Israel instead of one. And why would YHWH create another YHWH? Just what do the people who believe that Yeshua was not Elohim until He was declared to be so by YHWH think that He was prior to that supposed declaration? Just a man?

That kind of thinking is illogical, doesn’t make sense, and it is not supported by scripture.

Consider this: Yeshua said that YHWH is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Does a Spirit have hands and feet? Does a Spirit look and talk like a man? Does a Spirit walk on the earth and interact with human beings? Our physical eyes can’t see His Spirit anymore than we can see the wind. We only see the results. If we are beholding the form of a man who says that He is YHWH in the flesh, what are we seeing?

Let’s take a look at this scripture from the book of Exodus:

Ex. 24:9 – 11, “Then Moshe, Aharon, Nadav, Avihu, and seventy of the Zakenim of Yisra’el went up. They saw the Elohim of Yisra’el. Under His feet was like a paved work of sapphire stone, like the skies for clearness. He didn’t lay his hand on the nobles of the children of Yisra’el. They saw Elohim, and ate and drank.”

Who did they see? Even more importantly, how many did they see? Did they see the Father and the Son standing together? Why did they not see what Stephen saw when he was being killed for the testimony of Yeshua? Which is somewhat of a rhetorical question as there are many of us who do know why they did not see Yeshua at that time. If YHWH is Spirit and does not have physical features like the kind we are used to, then who could the 70 elders of Israel have seen standing there? The being they saw had feet and hands. I think it would be safe to assume that the rest of the form was also like that of a man. Now, of course, they did not see an expression of YHWH that displayed His esteem.

When YHWH told Moshe that no one could look upon His face it was because YHWH had agreed to allow all His goodness to pass by Moshe without causing his death. We as human beings cannot gaze upon the esteem of YHWH without dropping dead right in front of Him. It seems clear from these scriptures that YHWH can display or withhold from displaying His esteem. But now we are getting close to edges of the mystery of the true nature of the one true Elohim, and I have no additional information about how those things work.

What is important here for us in this part of the narrative is the fact that He, the one the elders saw with their physical eyes, was recognized as the Elohim of Israel. Israel has only one Elohim. They did not see three Elohim. According to the first of the Ten Words they were not allowed to have another Elohim.

Ex. 20:3 – 6, “You shall have no other gods(elohim)before me. “You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the eretz beneath, or that is in the water under the eretz: you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, YHWH your Elohim, am a jealous Elohim, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my mitzvot.”

The children of Israel were to have no other gods (elohim) in the face of YHWH. They most certainly were not to bow down and worship them. And yet Yeshua received worship as the Elohim of Israel from His disciples without correcting them.

I should be careful here as the word “worship” can be used in many ways. The beast in Revelation is “worshiped”. False gods and demons are “worshiped”. What I need to show is that Yeshua received worship as the Elohim of Israel.

Matt. 14:33, “And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly Elohim’s Son!”"

I can’t speculate as to what the disciples on the boat actually understood when they worshiped Yeshua as the Son of Elohim. But it is clear from the Ten Words that the children of Israel were not to worship anyone but YHWH the Elohim of Israel. Could the disciples have been allowed to worship another Elohim, even if the one they worshiped claimed to be the Son of the one true Elohim? Did Yeshua consider their worship of Him to be the same as their worship of His Father? If the worship of the Son is the same as the worship of the Father, then does that mean that there are two Elohim? Or is it the same Person?

I believe that those who want to say that Yeshua is not YHWH are going to have a problem explaining many of the actions and words of Yeshua. If He is not YHWH, then He allowed His disciples to break Torah in the most egregious manner by receiving their worship, which should be for the Elohim of Israel alone, and then He Himself would be guilty of the sin of bearing false witness about who He is and encouraging idolatry among the children of Israel.

He would at that moment be disqualified from being the Redeemer of Israel.

And that would present a significant problem for us all if it were true. Does scripture support the position that Yeshua is not deity? Of course not. But there are those who say that Yeshua is Elohim, just not YHWH. Can He be Elohim and not YHWH? No, of course not. We have already seen in the writings of the prophet Isaiah that YHWH is the Elohim of Israel and that there is not another.

Back to who the children of Israel saw standing on the clear sapphire pavement in the sky. Was He not described as the Elohim of Israel? Yes He was. Does YHWH have a physical form like that of a man? Or is it that He can assume one whenever He wants?

Consider this:

Gen. 17:22, “When He finished talking with him, Elohim went up from Avraham.”

If YHWH had simply spoken with a voice from the heaven, for example as He did at the river Yarden when Yeshua was immersed, then He would not have needed to “go up” from Avraham. What form did Avraham see? It is obvious that he was talking with YHWH, what did He look like? A man? In the context of the conversation it seems clear that Avraham was speaking with a man that he recognized as YHWH. This is where the covenant is presented to Avraham and the promise made that he would have a son. Who could declare what will come to be? As we saw in part 1, through the prophet Isaiah, that it is YHWH alone who can say what will be. And He challenged anyone else to do the same.

Of course it could be said that the phrase “went up” was a metaphor for the Presence of YHWH and not necessarily a human form. OK, fair enough. How about this encounter:

Gen. 18:1-3, “YHWH appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the eretz, and said, “My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don’t go away from your servant.”

Three men were seen by Avraham. And the scriptural record says that it was YHWH that had appeared to him. This is clearly an instance of YHWH manifesting Himself in the form of a man. Not a man of flesh as we are, but rather in the form Yeshua took after His resurrection when He was able to eat and drink with His disciples. Did not Avraham feed his guests? We find out later that two of the “men” who had accompanied YHWH were messengers (angels) sent to execute judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah.

Why is it important for us to know that YHWH can appear as a man? Because the form in which He appeared to Avraham is the form to which He returned after His temporary existence here in the likeness of sinful flesh was over and He could again “go up” from our presence and return to His throne in the heavens. The resurrected form of Messiah Yeshua is the same one that was seen by Stephen in the book of Acts. We will visit both instances in part three.

It is also important that we understand Yeshua as the second Adam.

• The first Adam was not a product of the seed of man
• The second Adam was not a product of the seed of man
• The first Adam was made a living soul
• The second Adam is a quickening Spirit

Wait a minute. There is only one quickening Spirit in all of creation. YHWH is Spirit and the Word that He speaks is Life.

1 Cor. 15:45 – 47, “So also it has been written, “The” first “man”, Adam, “became a living soul;” the last Adam a life-giving Spirit. But not the spiritual first, but the natural; afterward the spiritual. The first man out of earth, earthy. The second Man the Master out of Heaven. “

The critical difference between the first and second Adam is that the first one was made by YHWH and the second one was YHWH. Did YHWH ever say that at some point in time that He would create another Elohim that would become the Redeemer of Israel? No, He did not. In fact He said just the opposite. He declared that He alone is the Redeemer of Israel and that there is no other Elohim. That there was not one created before Him and there would not be one created after Him. I think that is pretty plain language to understand.

1 Cor. 15:48: “Such as is the earthy man, such also are the earthy ones. And such as is the heavenly Man, such also are the heavenly ones.”

We start out as earthly ones and, those who are born of the Spirit become as the heavenly ones.

1 Cor. 15:49, “And as we bore the image of the earthy man, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.”

How do we go from being in the image of the earthly to the image of the heavenly? The resurrection. And what did Yeshua say:

Yochanan 11:25, “Yeshua said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet will he live.”

Who raises the dead back to life eternal? If we do not know that it is YHWH alone who can do this, then we will be confused about the identity of Messiah Yeshua, the Son of Elohim.

But I do need to consider this verse:

Yochanan 6:44 – 46, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by Elohim.’ Therefore everyone who hears from the Father, and has learned, comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from Elohim. He has seen the Father.”

He who is from Elohim has seen the Father. Quite a statement. And that no one has seen the Father is also quite a statement. Didn’t Yeshua tell Pilipos that whoever has seen Him has seen the Father? Are we missing something here? Either the testimony of Yeshua is contradictory, or we as human beings are just not understanding what He said.

As for the resurrection of the dead, there is much to say. And once again we have the words of YHWH in the Tanach explaining that He is the one who raises the dead, and in the new covenant writings we have Yeshua saying that He is the one in whom the dead will be raised.

Which brings us to the next topic of consideration.

The Father and the Son

One of the more common questions that are presented in this debate is this: “how could Yeshua be both the Father and the Son at the same time?”

And another question that comes up regularly: “if Yeshua is YHWH, then who did He pray to when He was on the earth?”

These are fair questions and they deserve a response. I’ll start with the first one.

In our human experience it is possible to be both a father and a son at the same time. The children of my son would call him father while I would continue to call him son. So it’s true that we can be the son of our father while at the same time being the father of our son, but I don’t think that is what is being asked in that first question. The idea of a father and a son evokes in our minds the relationship between the father (who is older, stronger, etc.), and the son (who is younger, weaker, etc.). I think that particular aspect of that relationship is a valid analogy to the one between YHWH and Yeshua in a very limited sense. Being in a fleshly human body would by the very nature of it be a constraint. We know this to true because our experience as human beings tells us that we are limited while we live in our fleshly tents.

So to attempt to address the question I put forth this idea. Here is one of the spiritual realities that we as believers know and have experienced.

Matt. 10:40, “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me.”

There are three people mentioned in this verse, you, Messiah and the One who sent Messiah. This relationship is repeated over and over in scripture. Yeshua made it very clear a number of times that anyone who received Him would also be receiving the One who sent Him. But before we explore that portion of the relationship let’s look at our end of it.

“He who receives you receives me” ; what does that mean in practical terms? How can someone who receives me, and that being based on the assumption that I belong to Messiah and His Spirit dwells in me, be receiving the Messiah at the same time?

Is it because the Spirit of Messiah lives in me that the person receiving me receives Him as well? For most of us this is not too hard of a concept to grasp. We accept the fact that if we are received, the One we believe in is included in that exchange, and if we are rejected He is rejected also. It is a package deal as the saying goes. It is similar to my marital relationship. When someone accepts me they also accept my wife as we are one due to our covenantal relationship. We come as a package. If I am rejected then she is rejected too. If we have friends they are friends to us both or they are not friends at all.

But are my wife and I the same person? No of course not. Our oneness is not defined in physical terms. We are one based in the reality of the relationship that exists between us. Again it is not hard to grasp the idea of a husband and wife being as one, and yet we don’t negate that relationship simply because they do not occupy the same physical body at the same time. It  would be absurd to demand that they, husband and wife, be in the same physical body and have the same name before we accept the fact that they are one.

And how would we deal with this statement in practical terms? “and he who receives me receives him who sent me.”  Is Messiah saying the same thing here? We know that He said that He and His Father are one. If fact He told Philip that if you have seen Me you have seen the Father. I think we should look at that verse.

Yochanan 14:7 – 11, “ If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him, and have seen him.” Pilipos said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Yeshua said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Pilipos? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake.”

In our modern western culture and with our modern English language it is quite possible, in fact most likely, that we do not completely understand what Yeshua was referring to when He used the word “one”. And I do not think it is to mishandle the logic of scripture to say that if there was a moment in time that Yeshua could have used to explain that He and the Father were two different and separate Persons, and that He was only one of the Elohim, created or otherwise, and not YHWH, that would have been it right there. What a perfect opportunity to tell Pilipos, and the rest of the disciples, and consequently the rest of the world that He, Yeshua, was an exact copy of deity in the flesh, an Elohim or the Elohim, but not the same as the Father (YHWH) who is seated on the throne in heaven. But He didn’t. Because it would not have been true.

It is a commonly accepted belief among Christians and Messianics that YHWH is omnipresent. That is, He is everywhere at once. And yet it seems to be so hard for some to accept that YHWH can not only be in two places at the same time but that He can also be in two different forms at the same time.

Consider this event:

Mark 1:9 – 11, “ It happened in those days, that Yeshua came from Natzeret of the Galil, and was immersed by Yochanan in the Yarden. Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting, and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. A voice came out of the sky, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

I think we should look carefully at what took place here in this account. We have Yeshua standing, presumably, in the waters of the Yarden. We have the Spirit of YHWH descending in the bodily form of a dove and resting on the bodily form of Messiah. And we have the voice of the Father, YHWH, coming down audibly to those standing near to Yeshua so that they could hear it.

All three are present at the same time in the same place. Is the Ruach HaKodesh a dove? No. Was the audible voice YHWH? No. Was the man standing in the water just a man? No. And yet we need to understand that all three expressions, manifestations, whichever word we choose to use, are one and the same Person. But this is where the doctrine of the Trinity comes from. We will take a closer look at that later in this article.

And this is where the term “only – begotten” comes into play. Now our concept of the birth of a person is that they did not exist prior to their actual physical birth. And in the case of human beings I believe that is most likely true. But does Yeshua fit into this category? No He doesn’t.

Remember that Yeshua is the second Adam and was not the product of the seed of man. Let’s look at Isaiah again:

Is. 43:10 – 12, You are my witnesses, says YHWH, and my servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am He: before me there was no Elohim formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am YHWH; and besides me there is no Savior. I have declared, and I have saved, and I have shown; and there was no strange [elohim] among you: therefore you are my witnesses, says YHWH, and I am Elohim.”

We need to carefully consider this part of that verse: ” before me there was no Elohim formed, neither shall there be after me.”

Do we believe that to be a true statement made by YHWH through His prophet? If we do believe that it is a true statement, should we try to make it say something else just to fit our own personal beliefs? I know there are those who say that they believe that Yeshua is Elohim, just not YHWH. While I believe that this verse demonstrates clearly that the idea of Yeshua not being Elohim until YHWH declared Him to be is false, it does not address the idea of Yeshua being Elohim and not YHWH. Is there scripture that does?

Yes there is and we have already looked at those verses. YHWH declares that He is the King of Israel. When Yeshua is born the angels testify that the King of Israel has arrived as promised. If someone thinks that they need more than that to believe, then they are in a state of unbelief and will not see the truth until they do believe what has already been revealed.

Back to the immersion of Yeshua in the Yarden. Were there three Elohim present there, or were there three manifestations of one Elohim? Because YHWH decided to dwell temporarily in the likeness of sinful flesh and walk this earth as a servant and lay down His life for us and become our Saviour do we now think that this same Yeshua is some kind of “lesser” Elohim that is separate from YHWH? How could that possibly be true in the light of scripture? Those who deny that Yeshua is YHWH also deny YHWH Himself. In rejecting the Son they reject the Father.

1 Yochanan 2:22 & 23, “ Who is the liar but he who denies that Yeshua is the Messiah? This is the Anti-messiah, he who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son, the same doesn’t have the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also.”

Is the word “Messiah” another way of saying “Saviour”? Is the Messiah, which means the “one anointed by YHWH” our Saviour? Is He the Saviour of Israel? Does the word “Redeemer” mean the same thing as both “Messiah” and “Saviour”? Is not a “Redeemer” the one who brings redemption? Do we not have redemption through the blood of Messiah?

So who has declared Himself to be the Redeemer, the Saviour, the King of Israel? Is it not YHWH who has declared Himself to be these things? Yes, He is the one who has said that He alone is all these things.

And the other question: “who did Yeshua pray to while He was on the earth?”

My answer; He prayed to His Father in heaven. We who belong to Him do the same. The fact that He prayed to His Father does not prove that Yeshua and His Father are two separate beings. While Yeshua walked the earth He was known by many titles. And all of them pointed to the fact that He is YHWH, the King of Israel. But He was also known as the son of man.  YHWH did not just slip on a glove of flesh. He became a man. We call that man Yeshua. And that man is called Messiah because He was anointed by YHWH to bring salvation to His people. Remember that the disciples asked, “who is the son of man?” when Yeshua explained that the son of man had to be put to death and that He would be raised on the third day? That is the man who willingly laid down His life for us. And because He did, YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, has exalted Him above all others and given Him a name to which every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Yeshua is Master of all.

1Timothy 2:3 – 6, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of Elohim our Savior;  who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth.  For there is one Elohim, and one mediator between Elohim and men, the man Messiah Yeshua,  who gave himself as a ransom for all; the testimony in its own times; “

This is the crux of the entire matter. And it is hard for us as finite human beings to grasp the reality of that man Messiah Yeshua. Of course that man cried out to His Father in heaven. But am I saying that the son of man, Yeshua, and His Father in heaven are not the same Person?

A man is not the Elohim of Israel. The only mediator between Elohim and men, yes. A man cannot be made into an Elohim of Israel. A man can be the son of Elohim. I am a son of Elohim. But I was adopted. He was the “only begotten” son of Elohim. Is there a difference? Absolutely. I am born of the seed of man. I cannot save anyone. Yeshua was born of incorruptible seed, the seed of YHWH, the Word. He has become our salvation because His sacrifice was accepted by YHWH.

What did Yochanan call Him when he saw Him walking by the Yarden river? The Lamb of Elohim. Did anyone else call Him that during His time here? There is no record of it in the Gospels. In fact it took some time for the disciples to finally begin to understand who He was and they spent every day with Him. And yet Yochanan immediately upon seeing Him calls Him “the Lamb of Elohim”.

Which part of Yeshua was the Lamb? Which part was the King? Which part was the servant? Which part was the Elohim of Israel, YHWH?

It is YHWH alone who promised to bring salvation to His people. Sha’ul says that YHWH was in Messiah reconciling His people back to Himself. YHWH accomplished the redemption that He had promised by means of the sacrifice that He had prepared. The Lamb of Elohim which proceeded forth from the throne, from the very heart of the Father, His Son, Yeshua.

Yeshua is the first-fruits, then those who belong to Him will also be raised from the dead. And we who are raised will be like Him. We call upon the Father now and we will serve Him forever in our resurrected bodies. It is not difficult to see why Yeshua prayed to His Father in heaven.

That is why if someone denies the Son they have also denied the Father. And if someone confesses the Son they have also confessed the Father. And that is not because they are two separate Gods who happen to agree on everything and are somehow magically, mystically one. Which brings us to the next false teaching that has been around a very long time.

The doctrine of the Trinity

Here is a very brief look at some of the history of that particular doctrine. I have copied this from an article on Wikipedia.

The doctrine of the Trinity took centuries to develop, but the roots of the doctrine can be seen from the first century.

The word “Trinity” is not found in the New Testament, nor is the doctrine explicitly taught there. However, foundations of the concept of the Trinity can be seen in the New Testament, especially in the Gospel of John, one of the latest and most theologically developed of the New Testament books.

Hints of Trinitarian beliefs can also be seen in the teachings of extra-biblical writers as early as the end of the first century. However, the clearest early expression of the concept came with Tertullian, a Latin theologian who wrote in the early third century. Tertullian coined the words “Trinity” and “person” and explained that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were “one in essence – not one in Person.”

About a century later, in 325, the Council of Nicea set out to officially define the relationship of the Son to the Father, in response to the controversial teachings of Arius. Led by bishop Athanasius, the council established the doctrine of the Trinity as orthodoxy and condemned Arius’ teaching that Christ was the first creation of God. The creed adopted by the council described Christ as “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance (homoousios) with the Father.”

Nicea did not end the controversy, however. Debate over how the creed (especially the phrase “one substance”) ought to be interpreted continued to rage for decades. One group advocated the doctrine that Christ was a “similar substance” (homoiousios) as the Father. But for the most part, the issue of the Trinity was settled at Nicea and, by the fifth century, never again became a focus of serious controversy.

Anonymous. “The Doctrine of the Trinity.” ReligionFacts. 8 February 2007. “Updated:” 6/30/07  Accessed 19 May 2011  < http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/beliefs/trinity.htm>.

It is my personal belief that the idea of the Trinity developed over time due to the misunderstanding of the relationship between Messiah Yeshua and YHWH. And it has been my experience that there are some things in scripture, though difficult to understand, that we take by faith and do not deny while other truths are much harder to simply accept by faith and add them to our knowledge of who Messiah is.

For example, we do not argue with the idea that the physical blood that came from the physical body of the Messiah is able to wash away our sins and restore us to fellowship with YHWH. And we do not argue with the idea that in a moment of time Yeshua will raise us from the dead and change our mortal bodies into immortal ones. Both of those concepts should send our human minds reeling and cause all kinds of controversy and doubt. And with some it does. But not to those who belong to Messiah and have the Spirit of truth dwelling in them. We accept those teachings as true and our faith is strengthened when we do.

Here is something else to look at:

Gen. 2:21 – 24, “ YHWH Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. He made the rib, which YHWH Elohim had taken from the man, into a woman, and brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.”

The woman came from the man and they were one flesh. That is a physical and spiritual reality.

Rev. 5:5 – 8, “ One of the Zakenim said to me, “Don’t weep. Behold, the Lion who is of the tribe of Yehudah, the Root of David, has overcome; he who opens the book and its seven seals.” I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the Zakenim, a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of Elohim, sent out into all the eretz. Then he came, and he took it out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. Now when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four Zakenim fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones.”

Yeshua, the Lamb of Elohim, came out of the midst of the throne of YHWH. That is a spiritual reality. If someone were going to make the argument that there are three separate beings who are one, then they should also want to explain the Seven Spirits of Elohim.

Which is correct to say; that there are three Elohim who are one, or, that there is one Elohim who can express Himself in more than one way?

Remember that it is the testimony of YHWH that there is no other Elohim beside Him. If we are aware of a separate manifestation of the one true Elohim, do we assume then that there is more than one?

What about the requirement of Torah that there be more than one witness for matter to be true.

Yochanan 8:13 – 19, “ The Perushim therefore said to him, “You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.” Yeshua answered them, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don’t know where I came from, or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. Even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me. It’s also written in your Torah that the testimony of two people is valid. I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.” They said therefore to him, “Where is your Father?” Yeshua answered, “You know neither me, nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

It is interesting that the Perushim (Pharisees) accused Yeshua of testifying about Himself. Who or what was He testifying about that lead them to that conclusion?

Yochanan 8:12, “ Again, therefore, Yeshua spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Based on that statement the Perushim said that He was testifying about Himself. And He was. The testimony of the Father and the Son was the same. Both said that Yeshua is the light of the world. The Perushim understood the light of the world to be Torah. To their thinking Yeshua was saying that He was Torah. A point which they would certainly contend with.

Those who were challenging Yeshua as to His identity could not see who He was because they were judging after the flesh and could not, because of their unbelief, perceive the spiritual truth that Yeshua was speaking to them. Here we also see a principle of spiritual relationship that we need to keep in mind. If a person is confused about who the Son is they will be confused about the Father, and, those who are confused about who the Father is, are usually also confused about the Son. Again these truths are spiritually defined and spiritually discerned. Without the Spirit of truth, the promised Comforter, a person could not hope to understand what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, their Redeemer is saying.

There are so many more scriptural references that need to be looked at that I am going to have to add them to part 3 of this series. And it may happen that there is more than can be adequately considered in just 3 parts and a fourth might be required as well. That is fine as long as these simple writings are ministering to the believers in Messiah. We all have so much yet to learn. It is an exciting journey to take together, and if we can enjoy good fellowship along the way, then let our praise rise to our Father in heaven and be acceptable in His sight.

Shalom

I suppose that this could be the most difficult part of the investigation of the deity of Messiah Yeshua. It is my intention in this section to take a look, hopefully an accurate one, at the language of scripture to see if we can remove some of the mystery surrounding the person of Messiah whom we have come to know by the name Yeshua. Which may not be easy to do as both the Father and the Son are explained to be part of the the mystery of Elohim. Language, Hebrew or otherwise, is quite often ambiguous in the context of scripture. At times there are sweeping spiritual concepts presented in just a few words or sentences. At other times the narrative spends considerable energy explaining the details regarding a person’s life, while at the same time not drawing conclusions for us, but rather letting us decide the merits of the outcome.

So how do we approach these writings that, for us, are not only thousands of years distant in time, location and culture, but whose original language remains difficult for us to understand as well? Many qualified scholars have concentrated their efforts to unlock the meanings of scripture. And many books have been written by those dedicated people explaining their findings in great detail. But at some point in their writings they all seem to reach the same impasse, namely, who is YHWH? Outside of the information He has given mankind about Himself, we know nothing. Even if YHWH were to visit me here in my house, similar to the way He visited Avraham at his tent, I could only relate the experience, I could not demonstrate with mere words who He truly is.

With these limitations that we all work under, questions will certainly arise. That’s OK. Questions need to be asked. But at the same time, we should ask those questions in an effort to know who Yeshua is and with whom we have placed our trust and our very lives. Questions that arise due to unbelief will not produce meaningful answers or faith. Does it matter how we believe? I believe that it matters a great deal more than most of us are comfortable with. It is easy for someone to say that they simply need to believe and that His grace will take care of all the rest. But is that true? Yes, we are saved by grace. But grace does not relieve us of our responsibility to learn about Him and what He expects and to be obedient to the same. Doesn’t YHWH and His Son Yeshua expect more from us than our willingness to find a free ride?

Of course He does.

So let’s look at the scripture we have available to us and see what’s there.

Who is Elohim?

What about the language of scripture, is there an ambiguity within the text about who YHWH is? If there is, is it deliberate, or is it just not possible to encompass the nature of YHWH with a word or combination of words? We know that there are different expressions of YHWH and there are corresponding words to explain those expressions. Should we rely on the definitions we have grown up with, or is there more to learn about the One who offers salvation to His people?

This article is not intended to be a lesson in biblical Hebrew. I am not a degreed Hebrew scholar and therefore my understanding of the depths and complexities, the nuances, of the Hebrew language as used in scripture will not reflect that level of scholarship. Hopefully my limited knowledge of the language will not detract from the effort to obtain a better understanding of Messiah. Which brings us to the word that is used often in scripture to describe the One True Living Creator, the King of Israel, our Redeemer.

That word is Elohim.

There are many scriptures that make use of the word Elohim in describing the Mighty One of Israel. I would like to look at one in particular.

Ex. 20:2, “”I am YHWH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Mitzrayim, out of the house of bondage.”

This is the first commandment. And it is in the form of a declaration. The first part of this verse contains incredibly important information for anyone who puts their trust in the Elohim of Israel. Here is YHWH telling His people who He is and what His relationship to them is and will be. He is saying, “this is my name and this is who I am to you, your Elohim.” Your “Mighty One”.

We know from scripture that there are many elohim in the world. The word can be used for quite a number of different beings, human and otherwise. YHWH does not deny their existence. In fact He warns Israel of their existence and commands them to avoid, with all their heart and strength, the elohim of the other nations.

But to say that someone or something is an elohim is not, in and of itself, a declaration of their deity. Scripture says YHWH made Moshe an elohim to his brother Aharon. (See Ex. 4:16). Moshe was certainly a mighty man of YHWH, but he was not deity.

Some of the ways that the word appears in scripture in Hebrew are: El, Eloah, Elyon, Elohim; and in Aramaic you will see: Elah, Illaya, Elahin. In some verses there is the definite article Ha (the) incorporated into the word as in HaElohim. That particular grammatical construct is not used in the first commandment. Instead, it is the plural possessive form (your), meant inclusively for the Israel of YHWH.

So when we are speaking of “Elohim”, we must be clear about which one we are referring to, as it could be confusing and cause those who are not well studied to think that Yeshua is simply one of the many and not the only true Elohim of Israel, YHWH.

Anyone who reads the scriptures in Hebrew, whether as a beginner or with great competence, has seen this word, “Elohim”, there many times. And there are now some English translations that will use the word Elohim instead of God, which is how that particular Hebrew word has historically been translated into English. Is there a difference between the word “God” and the word “Elohim”? Yes, the roots of the two words are quite different. But it is much easier for someone to search the etymology of those words online than it is for me to try and duplicate the work of others here, so I won’t. A person could do a similar search on the difference between the names Yeshua and Jesus. I believe that it is also a good exercise.

But if someone were to do that type of etymological search on the word “Elohim” they would quickly find that the origins of the word are listed as unknown or at least uncertain. There are many educated guesses, and even some historical sources to draw from, but certainly not a consensus as to when and where and by who the word came into use. And yet we see that word used over and over in scripture. I’m sure that the translators of the Hebrew text took into consideration whether or not to include it in their work. And because it is there in scripture I have to believe that they saw some merit in keeping it in the text.

But does that help us? Not really.

Because the word Elohim can be used in a singular or plural manner without having to change either the spelling or the pronunciation. So how is a person who has little knowledge of the Hebrew language supposed to make the distinction as to when it is plural and when it is singular?

According to the “First Hebrew Primer, Third Edition”, when the word Elohim is used in reference to the Elohim of Israel “it is singular in concept and takes singular verbs, even though it has the masculine plural ending”. When referring to pagan gods, it is plural and takes plural verbs. By the way the “First Hebrew Primer” is an excellent book for studying Hebrew grammar.

Since so many believers today read English versions where the word Elohim is translated “God” how would someone even know what the true reference was in the first place? And the word is also used to describe false gods, earthly judges and the people of YHWH, so how can we know the difference? This presents a problem for believers today. Why? Because there are teachings currently making the rounds in Messianic circles, as there have been in many congregations over the centuries, that deny that Yeshua is the same YHWH that is described in scripture. And this presents a difficulty in understanding the danger in these teachings; they sound correct on the surface, but they are not the same. The teaching goes something like this:

Yeshua is Elohim, but He is not YHWH.

Is there anything wrong with that statement? Doesn’t it sound like what we were taught in church? Remember the doctrine of the Trinity? Does it not also sound like Yeshua is being called deity and not just a man? One of the three in one? Yes it does. But it also implies that Yeshua as an Elohim is in a lower position than YHWH. A direct contradiction to the declaration presented in the first commandment.

Is it an accurate statement about who the Messiah of YHWH, whom we call Yeshua, is to us who belong to Him? Is there something in that statement that should cause us to hesitate to accept it without question and then cause us to search the scriptures to see if it is true? Absolutely. Because it is not an accurate statement. And yes we should go directly to the scriptures to see why.

But we first must apply some common meanings to the words we have to use. The meanings cannot be arbitrary, they must have foundation in scripture. Here is the first one:

The One who we call YHWH in the Tanach (often erroneously called the Old Testament), is called Father in the new covenant writings (often erroneously called the New Testament). This connection will become very important as we explore the relationship, as described in scripture, between YHWH and His people Israel.

(Just as a point of interest, YHWH made covenants with His people, not testaments. Another good topic of research for those so inclined.)

Let’s look at one example how the words Elohim and YHWH are used in tandem.

Ex. 3:1 – 6, “Now Moshe was keeping the flock of Yitro, his father-in-law, the Kohen of Midyan, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to Elohim’s mountain, to Horev. The messenger of YHWH appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. Moshe said, I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. When YHWH saw that he turned aside to see, Elohim called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, “Moshe! Moshe!” He said, “Here I am.” He said, “Don’t come close. Take off your sandals from off your feet, for the place you are standing on is set-apart ground.” Moreover he said, “I am the Eloha of your father, the Eloha of Avraham, the Eloha of Yitzchak, and the Eloha of Ya`akov.” Moshe hid his face; for he was afraid to look at Elohim.”

A few things stand out in these verses. One is that Moshe did not see the messenger, only the flame. Another is that YHWH saw Moshe and Elohim spoke to him. And there are three names, or three descriptions and one name might be the more accurate way to say it, that are employed by the writer here. There is YHWH, Elohim, Eloha and the messenger. The word Eloha is sometimes used as a singular of Elohim, which doesn’t make sense to me as Elohim can be singular or plural. A careful study of the verbs is required there in that text. But as I said, I am not a Hebrew scholar. Although, logically, if a person were to assume that each instance of Eloha indicated a separate deity, then we have here in these verses the three deities of the patriarchs. One for each. With the word Elohim used to describe them as a group of one. Doesn’t sound right to me, but then I certainly don’t know everything there is to know about it. And we should keep in mind that the rest of scripture does not maintain the supposition of multiple deities.

Verse 4 is interesting in the use of both YHWH and Elohim. We can only wonder at the original writers intent for using both in one sentence. But here we have YHWH seeing Moshe turn aside to see the fire in the bush, then Elohim calling out to Moshe from the fire. Does this clearly demonstrate that YHWH and Elohim are the same, or does this text demonstrate otherwise, that they are two different beings? Did YHWH, the Father, see Moshe and then Elohim, the Son, call out to him? Are the Father and the Son both Elohim, or are they each an Elohim? Or are there some unknown number of deities contained within the word Elohim and the word Elohim can be used to describe any one of them as needed?

I really don’t think that is the case. Why?

Because YHWH goes on to describe Himself as the Eloha of Moshe’s forefathers, who in scripture is definitely YHWH, so we must therefore come to the same conclusion. That the Elohim that spoke to Moshe from the fire is YHWH and not another Elohim. It is here, and in many other places in scripture, that YHWH defines Himself as the Elohim of the patriarchs and the children of Israel.

Scripture offers us a progressive revelation of the Creator of all things. The more interaction He has with human beings and the more interaction they have with Him the more the detail that comes to us from those meetings. Until ultimately He comes to live inside us by His Spirit and teaches us about Himself directly. Which is one of the stated goals of Messiah.

I should mention that I am aware that Yeshua said that a word spoken against Him, described as the Son of Man, could be forgiven, but a word spoken against the Ruach HaKodesh would not be forgiven. Whether or not this demonstrates that there are different deities, or Persons if you prefer, within the Elohim of Israel, I don’t know. I hope to explore what Yeshua meant by that statement in a later article about this subject.

Let’s move on to verse 18 in the same chapter:

Ex. 3:18, “They will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the Zakenim of Yisra’el, to the king of Mitzrayim, and you shall tell him, ‘YHWH, the Eloha of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to YHWH, our Elohim.’

This verse includes the phrase “YHWH, the Eloha of the Hebrews”. This is the same as when YHWH described Himself as the Eloha of the patriarchs in the previous verses. The message to the King of Egypt was to let the people of YHWH go so that they could sacrifice to their Elohim. As He would later direct the children of Israel, through the Ten Words, they were to have no other gods (Elohim) in their midst before Him. The Hebrews, the descendants of Avraham, the children of Israel, have an Elohim and He is YHWH. Now if someone were to present themselves as the Elohim of Israel, and not be YHWH, that person would be a false Elohim, and worship of that false Elohim would constitute idolatry. See the first and second commandments for additional details.

But didn’t Yeshua accept worship from His disciples as the Elohim of Israel? Yes He did. (see Mattithyahu 14:33). Although I mentioned it the first part of this series it bears repeating here. Either Yeshua allowed His disciples to engage in idolatry or He was, is and will always be YHWH the Elohim of Israel.

One of the common denominators of the false deity teaching is the misuse of certain Hebrew words, whose original meanings are obscure enough that the implication of those words can be easily argued about, which has a tendency to keep the unlearned from arriving at the truth. While this is a frequent dynamic when those who are unqualified to teach do so anyway, for others it is a deliberate tactic intended to confuse and weaken the faith of the listeners.

So here are some other questions: is it possible to allow there to be more than one deity inside of the word Elohim? Is it possible to say that YHWH is Elohim and that Yeshua is Elohim without implying that Yeshua is a separate Elohim? If there is more than one deity inside the meaning of the word Elohim, how many are there? If YHWH is an Elohim, and Yeshua is an Elohim, wouldn’t the Ruach HaKodesh also be an Elohim? If someone were to say that even though Yeshua and the Ruach HaKodesh are Elohim, YHWH is separate and the only Father, would that be true?

By Yeshua saying to His disciples that, “when He the Comforter is come”, He indicates that the Ruach HaKodesh is not a non-person. Where does He fit in the relationship? That is something to delve into later.

Let’s consider another scripture:

Is. 9:6, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be on his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty Elohim, Everlasting Father, Prince of Shalom.”

There are five titles used here in this verse. The one title that is of particular interest in this text is the “Everlasting Father”. Why would a son be called an Everlasting Father? How can a son be a father? In the physical realm we understand how that works. My son’s children will call him father while I continue to call him son. But YHWH is not in this physical realm, nor does He have the restrictions that we do. He is described in scripture as being from everlasting to everlasting. And here we have the Son, who is obviously Messiah Yeshua, being called the Everlasting Father.

Is not the Father and YHWH the same person? According to scripture He is.

2 Cor. 5:16 – 19, “Therefore we know no one after the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Messiah after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more. Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Yeshua the Messiah, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation; namely, that God was in Messiah reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.”

This is how these verses appear in the Hebrew Names version of the bible. Let’s try an experiment. First we can read the verse the way it is written. Then let’s change the word “God” to “Elohim”. Scripturally we have seen that the word “Elohim” is usually translated into the word “God”.

2 Cor. 5:16 – 19, “Therefore we know no one after the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Messiah after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more. Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. But all things are of Elohim, who reconciled us to himself through Yeshua the Messiah, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation; namely, that Elohim was in Messiah reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.”

Since we have seen from scripture that the Elohim of Israel is YHWH, let’s change the word “Elohim” to “YHWH” and see what that looks like.

2 Cor. 5:16 – 19, “Therefore we know no one after the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Messiah after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more. Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. But all things are of YHWH, who reconciled us to himself through Yeshua the Messiah, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation; namely, that YHWH was in Messiah reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.”

Remember that Yeshua as Messiah was revealed to the children of Israel through the the Tanach, which includes the Torah, Prophets and Writings. Those revelations are the ones Yeshua used to explain to His disciples the reason for His suffering and the redemption that would result from His laying down of His life on our behalf. It is those very words in the Tanach that describe the Messiah, the Redeemer of Israel as being YHWH and no one else.

Is. 44:6, “Thus says YHWH, the King of Yisra’el, and his Redeemer, YHWH of Hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no Elohim.”

You can check the Hebrew in that verse to see if the words YHWH and Elohim are there.

Here is another important question to consider: how much of YHWH was in Messiah? Did they share a body, or was Yeshua YHWH in the flesh?

Col. 2:8 – 10, “ Be careful that you don’t let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Messiah. For in Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, and in Him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power;”

What an interesting word, “Godhead”. I wonder where that came from and why it is used in that one verse. Another interesting point is the fact that this “Godhead” is dwelling in the present tense in Messiah Yeshua. In other words, the fullness of YHWH dwells in the form of a man’s body, Yeshua the Messiah. The Greek word that was translated into “Godhead” denotes deity. But is it an accurate word to use in this context?

 

From Wikipedia:

Godhead from Old English godhede – “godhood” (nothing to do with “head”) may refer to:

and then there is provided a list of a number of possible uses in different religions as well as some secular references.

Certainly not an accurate word in the context of that verse. It is one of those made up words to which religious connotations have been applied over the centuries to fit whatever doctrinal position that religion happened to take at the time.

From our understanding of the revelation of YHWH in scripture I believe that it might be more accurate to use the word “Elohim” here in this verse. Which would simply say that the fullness of Elohim dwells in the Messiah. And the first part of the verse is also instructive. Sha’ul is indicating that pointing to anyone or anything other than Messiah is vain and can rob you of your relationship with Messiah if you accept those philosophies or traditions of men.

I think it safe to say that YHWH, in all His attributes, power and authority was in Messiah in a way that we would be unable to measure in any meaningful quantity.

Let’s move on to another aspect of Messiah Yeshua.

What about the book of Acts? Who did Stephen see standing next to the throne in heaven? He said that it was the Son of Man.

Acts 7:55 & 56, “But he, being full of the Ruach HaKodesh, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of Elohim, and Yeshua standing on the right hand of Elohim, and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of Elohim!”

While this often used as a proof-text that some say shows that Yeshua and YHWH are not the same, I think we need to look at this a little closer. Scripture says that he saw Yeshua standing at the right hand of Elohim.

Tehillim 110:1, “A Psalm by David. YHWH says to my Master, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool for your feet.”

Here YHWH promises to make the enemies of Yeshua a footstool for His feet and offers for Him to sit at His right hand until that happens. Is this the same thing?

As a side note, I have heard it said that as Stephen was dying, Yeshua stood up to greet him. I like that idea.

Notice that Stephen did not see an Elohim standing at the right hand of Elohim. Stephen did not say that he saw YHWH standing at the right hand of YHWH either. Nor did he say that he saw an Elohim standing at the right hand of YHWH. He actually said that he saw two things, one being the esteem of YHWH, called Elohim in this verse, and the other being the Son of Man standing at His right hand. This is an incredible thing to contemplate. How do we fit this vision into the whole discussion of whether Yeshua is deity or not, and if He is deity, is He the Elohim of Israel whose name is YHWH?

It is sometimes useful to consider what wasn’t said in order to help us see what was being said. Stephen did not say that he saw his Father in heaven. This is important. During the time of Yeshua’s ministry on earth He often referred to His Father, even instructing His disciples to pray to their Father in heaven. And He always referred to Himself as the Son and that His Father was greater than He and was on the throne in heaven. If our concept of a father-son relationship being overlaid on the relationship between Yeshua and His Father in heaven is accurate, then Stephen should have seen the Father, or at least His esteem, and His Son standing at His right hand and should have then described what he saw as such, meaning the Father and the Son.

But Luke wrote this account based on the descriptions given to him after it had happened. While I do trust that what was written is accurate enough to convey the idea of what took place, I again do not want to lean too heavily on specific words which may or may not reflect the actual event.

So I don’t want to read too much into this, but Stephen was so full of the Ruach HaKodesh that he could see the heaven opened and Yeshua standing there in the Presence of Elohim. We should understand from our study of Torah and the prophets that there aren’t multiple Elohim living around the throne of YHWH. There are many living creatures, most of which would seem very strange to us, but none of them are called Elohim in scripture. And He, YHWH, is called Father in scripture. But then so is Yeshua called the Everlasting Father.

Yochanan 16:28 – 31, “I came out from the Father, and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.” His talmidim said to him, “Behold, now you speak plainly, and speak no figures of speech. Now we know that you know all things, and don’t need for anyone to question you. By this we believe that you came forth from Elohim.” Yeshua answered them, “Do you now believe?”

Again we have to be careful not to take the specific words used here to build a case. We must have supporting evidence in scripture or we will make the same mistake as others.

Yeshua said that He came forth from the Father and was returning to the Father. His disciples understood that to mean that He had come forth from Elohim and was returning to Elohim.

Col. 2:1 – 3, “For I desire to have you know how greatly I struggle for you, and for those at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of Elohim, both of the Father and of Messiah, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.”

Again we can’t read too much into this, but Sha’ul makes another amazing statement. In this verse he includes all three of the subjects of this issue of the deity of Messiah Yeshua.

Then he calls it the “mystery of Elohim”.

And it is clear from the text that both the Father and the Son are involved in this mystery of Elohim. And it is also clear that Sha’ul believes that knowing the answer to this mystery requires understanding. And that once understood, one would have access to all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. A very compelling statement indeed.

This is probably a good place for a quick summary of what we’ve looked at so far.

• YHWH is the Elohim of Israel and there is no other Elohim like Him
• YHWH is revealed to us by Yeshua as the Father to whom we should pray
• Yeshua is the promised son, the child who is given, and He is also called Everlasting Father
• Yeshua came to this earth from His Father, the Elohim of Israel, YHWH
• Yeshua received worship as the Elohim of Israel from His followers
• Yeshua returned to His Father after redeeming His people
• YHWH says through the prophet Isaiah that He alone is the Redeemer of His people.
• Stephen saw the Son of Man, Yeshua, standing at the right hand of Elohim.
• Sha’ul tells us that the mystery of Elohim includes both the Father and the Son

So where are we now? Let’s look at something the emissary Kefa said.

1 Kefa 1:17 – 21, “If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as strangers here in reverent fear: knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers but with precious blood, as of a Lamb without spot, the blood of Messiah; who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of times for your sake, who, through  him, are believers in Elohim, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in Elohim.”

Call on who as Father? Wouldn’t it be more correct to say, if you call on the Father? Or even, call on your Father? Why say, if you call on Him as Father? Who are we calling on as Father? The question is somewhat rhetorical as we know who Kefa is speaking about. Kefa says that our faith and hope should be in Elohim who raised Messiah from the dead. I see Kefa saying that Messiah is the catalyst for our faith in Elohim who is YHWH our Redeemer.

The other part I want to highlight is this, “ are believers in Elohim, who raised him from the dead, and gave him esteem;”.

Kefa makes it clear that it was YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, who raised Yeshua from the dead and gave Him esteem. I would have to say that being able to stand at the right hand of YHWH is quite a bit of esteem. And being in His resurrected eternal body He could be in the Presence of YHWH and live.

Yochanan 10:17 & 18, “Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it again. I received this authority from my Father.”

An incredible summary of the earthly mission of the Messiah Yeshua.

Here’s another question: after we who belong to Messiah are raised from the dead will we be in the Presence of YHWH? And if we see in scripture that we will be in His Presence, will we be in bodies that are like the one that Messiah now has? Is there a scripture that says that the Son of Man will be the light of the new Yerushalayim, or does He say that the Lamb is the light?

Is not Yeshua the first-fruits of those who will be raised from the dead?

I believe that those who say that Yeshua is Elohim but not YHWH are judging according to the flesh and do not understand the relationship between Yeshua and YHWH the Elohim of Israel.

Another verse to consider:

Rom. 8:2 – 4, “ For the law of the Spirit of life in Messiah Yeshua made me free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Torah couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, Elohim did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh; that the requirement of the Torah might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

Now if we were going to evaluate Messiah Yeshua after the flesh these verses would be problematic. First of all, the idea of YHWH sending His Son would necessitate Him having a Son to send. And if He has a Son, then that Son, by virtue of the relationship that exists between fathers and sons, would have had a beginning, meaning that He is not eternal but rather had a starting point, a beginning, somewhere in what we call eternity. Having a beginning means that prior to that beginning He would not have existed. Would Yeshua then still be the Elohim of Israel? Not according to the testimony of the scriptures we have.

And notice that Yeshua came in the likeness of sinful flesh, in other words as a sinful person, while He Himself was not sinful at all. He merely resembled us, but was not exactly like us. He was a sacrifice that had been prepared by YHWH for YHWH to be accepted by YHWH so that we could have life through faith in His completed, accepted work.

Phil. 2:5 – 11, “ Have this in your mind, which was also in Messiah Yeshua,  who, existing in the form of Elohim, didn’t consider it robbery to be equal with Elohim, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross. Therefore Elohim also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Yeshua every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on eretz, and those under the eretz, and that every tongue should confess that Yeshua the Messiah is Elohim, to the glory of Elohim the Father.”

Is this getting clearer yet? What is going on in these verses? What is Sha’ul saying here? Yeshua was in the form of Elohim? Which Elohim? The Elohim of Israel? Because the Elohim of Israel is YHWH. There is no other who can be our redeemer. But what does Sha’ul mean when he says, “that Yeshua the Messiah is Elohim, to the esteem of Elohim the Father”? Is he indicating that Messiah Elohim is not the same as Father Elohim? Keep in mind that Yeshua is called the “Everlasting Father” by the prophet Isaiah. Are they one and the same or not? We need to know.

Is. 45:22 & 23, “ Look to me, and be you saved, all the ends of the eretz; for I am Elohim, and there is none else. By myself have I sworn, the word is gone forth from my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.”

Is this not the same Elohim of Israel? And did not YHWH declare Himself to be the one and only Elohim of Israel? Could we read this verse in this manner, substituting the name YHWH for the word Elohim? Does it mean the same thing?

Is. 44:6, “Thus says YHWH, the King of Yisra’el, and his Redeemer, YHWH of Hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no Elohim.”

If we put the two together we can see what is being said here.

Due to the length of this article I see the need for a fourth one. There is so much more to explore and there will need to be an understandable summary at the end which pulls all these scriptures together into one place for a coherent message.

And I have also come across a spiritual concept that is both thrilling and troubling at the same time. I need to look at the “mystery of Elohim” much closer and not be afraid to have my own theology and reasoning overturned. Perhaps those people with whom I am convinced I disagree with are not as far apart as I had first thought. And it could also be that we are further apart than any of us even imagined.

Shalom

 

This addition to the previous three articles is intended to provide both an examination of certain scriptures and a brief summary of the matter of the deity of Messiah Yeshua. While this is by no means an exhaustive study of the nature of the relationship between the Father and the Son, it will hopefully serve to provoke some questions and dialogue concerning this important foundational issue of our faith.

And it is always helpful to keep in mind the goal of any study in scripture. In Messiah Yeshua we already have a stated goal, which is from the emissary Sha’ul:

1 Tim. 1:5, “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”

Spending our time and energies on this particular pursuit is always worthwhile. And as we walk through this world on a daily basis we should remain focused on that goal. But it is how we arrive at that goal that is the subject of much discussion and debate, civil or otherwise.

It is my strong personal belief that understanding the mystery of the Elohim of Israel is an essential part of our reaching the goal of love from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith.  Why?

To use the analogy of the practice of engineering:

If I decided that I wanted to be an engineer I would need to go to an engineering college to learn about the principles of engineering. And if after attending school for a short time I decided that, even though I still wanted to be an engineer, I really didn’t think that I needed to learn mathematics or physics, or maybe I absolutely love math and physics but decided that I didn’t need English or psychology, either decision would result in an unbalanced, incomplete education. And of course I would not be allowed to graduate with a degree in engineering. Because the requirements of the engineering discipline are already defined and I would not be allowed to change them just because I wanted to. In other words, I would not even get the chance to practice engineering if I did not fulfill and become competent in the currently established requirements of that discipline.

Therefore I do not believe that we can practice love from a pure heart, have a good conscience and possess a sincere faith unless we are faithful to the already established requirements that YHWH has put in place for His people. Part of our learning to walk in His ways is to understand the person of Yeshua as the Messiah of Israel. Without that understanding we will find ourselves guessing as to what we should be doing while leaning to our own understanding. Because without Him, that’s all we have. Which can lead to some unfortunate ends.

So in this small effort to understand who Yeshua is I think it would be a good idea to look at more scriptures, which at first seem to confuse the issue, and see if we can’t make some sense out what we find.

 

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”.

This verse in Genesis has certainly caused no small amount of disquiet and controversy over the centuries. Many religious commentaries have attempted to address this particular verse, which seems to contradict all other scriptures. All without success it would seem. The only other time when this unique grammatical construct is used is when YHWH came down and confused the languages at the tower of Babel. There it is also indicated that some type of heavenly conference took place as well.

There is a general agreement within the religion of Judaism that YHWH took counsel with the angels for these events. At least there is some rabbinic commentary to that effect. Such thinking is not without precedence in scripture. YHWH did take counsel with two messengers (angels) while He was on the earth in the matters of the making of a promise to Avraham and the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah.

My question here is this: do these verses in Genesis prove that there is a plurality of deities in heaven called Elohim? Or as some Christian teachers explain it, this proves that the Father, YHWH, took counsel with His Son, Yeshua, when they were creating the first man and when they were confusing the language of man. There are many derivations of that teaching, but you get the idea.

And these verses are used by some to provide evidence that YHWH is a family name. The implications of that idea are so far reaching and beyond our knowing that it is to me an empty assertion. And yet it is close enough to what we perceive to be true as to be confusing for many.

Again we need to examine this verse carefully to see if we are missing something important. And really, there isn’t much usable information here in the text. There certainly isn’t any description given at all of just who the “Our” is or could possibly be. And we have no information regarding the complete conversation that must have taken place between whoever comprises the “Our” in this verse prior to creating the first man.

I’m not saying that a consultation of some type didn’t take place. Apparently it did. But if this verse is saying that there is more than one deity within the Elohim of Israel, would not the rest of scripture support that premise? Shouldn’t we be able to easily find scriptures that explain in greater detail this idea of the plurality of Elohim? In fact, if we were able to evaluate the entirety of the testimony of scripture at once, would we find a consistency in revelation from the beginning to the end that would prove without any doubt that there is more than one deity in the Elohim of Israel?

Some would say yes. I say no, we would not.

For a simple grammatical reference I have copied the following from a web page that discusses this very subject. I would recommend reading the entire page, but here is an excerpt:

The reader needs to be first familiar with the grammatical terms: 1^st person, 2^nd person and 3^rd person.  The 1^st person refers to the speaker(s) (I, we).  The 2^nd person refers to the person(s) spoken to (you singular, you plural) by the 1^st person.  And the 3^rd person refers to the person(s) spoken about (he, she, it, and they) by the 1^st person to the 2^nd person.  As an example:  I (1^st person) tell you (2^nd person.) that he (3^rd person) is tall.

The 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd person may be singular (I, you, he) or plural (we, you, they).  The 1^st person can only speak to the 2^nd person.  In particular the 1^st person cannot speak to the 3^rd person: but can only speak about the 3^rd person to the 2^nd person.  This last point is important for understanding the Jussive command mood.  The 1^st person can speak to the 1^st person singular, namely, when he speaks to himself.  But when the 1^st person speaks to the 1^st person plural, he addresses himself and the one(s) with him.  This last point is important for understanding the Cohortative mood.

There are three verbal moods for expressing commands or strongly held wishes or intentions.  The Imperative mood is the most commonly-used of the three command moods.  All three command moods are used by the 1^st person (speaker); but he may address them: (a) to the 1st person by using the Cohortative mood; or (b) to the 2^nd person by using the Imperative mood; and (c) to the 3^rd person(s) by using the Jussive mood.

The Imperative mood is usually used by a superior to an subordinate; as in: Stand!, and Present arms!  In the Jussive mood the 1^st person gives a command for the 3^rd person to the 2^nd person; as in: Don’t let him go!, and Make him stay!  Note that grammatically it is impossible for the 1^st person to address directly the 3^rd person; because the 3^rd person is the one spoken about to the 2^nd person.

In the Cohortative mood the 1^st person commands the 1^st person singular or plural.  When the 1^st person commands the 1^st person singular, the command is to self, as in I shall guard.  But when the 1^st person commands the 1^st person plural, the commands (1) himself and (2) the one(s) with him, as in Let us make…. .  For this last case note in particular that the subject is singular.  That is the plurality of the ones commanded (us) does not transfer backwards to the subject.  This point is generally overlooked by commentators to Genesis 1:26, “And God (singular) said, Let us (plural) make man in our image…”

Note that the English Jussive and Cohortative moods require auxiliary verbs (e.g. shall, make and let).  Also that in neither the Imperative, nor the Jussive mood, nor the Cohortative mood a subject (speaker) is expressed.  So these commands are usually brief, as in:  Sit!, Don’t let him go!, and Let us make.   The Subject is simply understood.

The entire text may be found here: http://www.israelofgod.org/genesis1.htm

But I, or anyone else, can’t just say that and expect people to accept my premise without question. So as before, let’s look at some scriptures and see what we find.

Gen. 11:6 – 8, “YHWH said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So YHWH scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.”

Here we find the reference to “Us” again. But there are a few differences between this verse and the one in the first part of the creation story. In this verse we have YHWH speaking, but to who? The ones carrying out His counsel regarding the construction of the tower? It would seem to be the case, at least in this instance. But again, there isn’t any description of just who that might be. In chapter 1 it is Elohim who says, “let Us make man”. In chapter 11 it is YHWH who says, “let Us go down”. We already know from the previous 3 articles that the Elohim of chapter 1 is the same as YHWH in chapter 11. There can be no difference if scripture is to remain true throughout. While there is a bit more conversation here than at the beginning, it is not enough to prove anything one way or the other.

I do not mean to cast doubt on the veracity of scripture, but, just who was it that wrote down this portion of a conversation that took place at the throne of majesty in the heaven? How could someone know that YHWH took counsel with other beings and what decision they reached other than the obvious results? By revelation? It would have to be. While there are other scriptures that detail conversations taking place around the throne, they are usually accompanied by some information about who heard what and what they were expected to do about what they had been allowed to listen in on. There is none of that here in this text.

There is also the part about the “Us” going down to confuse the language. It implies that more than one being, of whatever type, took part in the confusion process. How many went down to do the work, we don’t know. Did YHWH accompany them? We don’t know that either.

It would be my personal conclusion that we do not have enough pertinent information in these verses to make any kind of sweeping theological statements as to how many deities may or may not inhabit what is called the Elohim of Israel. Although it could be argued that there is at least something in these verses to consider, I would caution against trying to make more of it than what is there.

Let’s try another scripture.

Gen. 18:8 – 10,

 8. He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate.

9. Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.”

10. He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.

I’ve added the verse numbers to highlight the conversation that was taking place there. This is YHWH and the two messengers that had come to visit Avraham, discuss the promise of a son, and then move on to the business in Sodom. Notice in verse 9 that the plural form of the subject pronoun is used. Then in verse 10 the text reverts back to the singular. Why? Is it merely a writer’s style? Could it be simply a Hebrew idiom? Was there more to the conversation, and this text is all we have left to work with?

Maybe we shouldn’t have any trouble with the use of the plural since it is obvious that there are three beings sitting in front of Avraham. But did they all speak at once in verse 9 and then YHWH only speak in verse 10? Did they take turns asking Avraham where Sarah was? Probably not. Perhaps the messengers asked the question, then Avraham answered, then YHWH spoke.

Does it matter? Yes and no. Yes, because we need to at least try to explore the possibility that in the writing of the Hebrew scriptures there may be a literary reason for expressing the conversation in that manner. And no, because the specifics of a conversation that took place that long ago will not bring us closer to our goal if we are going to try to use individual words to make the case of YHWH being One. It is too uncertain what the actual words used were and it could lead to a misunderstanding of both the conversation and what it means. It is obvious that the purpose of the story being told is that Yitz’chak would be the heir of the promise and not Ishmael.

So I could try to read more into the verses than is there, but that is exactly what I’m trying to avoid. So I will leave things as they are and simply say that YHWH and two messengers comprised a group which could then easily use the plural “they” at some point during the conversation. Again I am also convinced that we do not have a complete record of that particular conversation. We only have what we have.

Let’s move on to the following verses.

Gen. 18:16 – 23, “Then the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Avraham was walking with them to send them off.  YHWH said, “Shall I hide from Avraham what I am about to do, since Avraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? “For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of YHWH by doing righteousness and justice, so that YHWH may bring upon Avraham what He has spoken about him.” And YHWH said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. “I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before YHWH. Abraham came near and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?”

Verses 17 – 21 detail a conversation that took place between YHWH and the two messengers that were with Him. Avraham was not involved in the discussion. And it was not, as some have said, a record of the internal dialogue of the Creator of the universe, His internal thought process somehow being written down for us to see. We can see this by looking at the last two verses. YHWH ends His speaking with the messengers and they start toward Sodom. Avraham is still standing there, but at a distance. When the two messengers leave, Avraham then approaches YHWH and asks his question.

Also notice that YHWH says, “I will go down now, and see…”. But it was the two messengers that went and YHWH stayed behind with Avraham. Was it that the two messengers going down to Sodom was the same as YHWH going Himself? Apparently it was since we see only them in the account later and YHWH is credited with having seen and judged for Himself.

So YHWH takes counsel with two of His messengers and then when they go down to Sodom it is the same as YHWH going down. Something to consider.

What we also see here is YHWH standing right in front of a man, a human being, close enough to have a private verbal communication with him, and yet Avraham did not die. Didn’t Yochanan say that no one has seen the Father? Have we not seen in scripture that the Father and YHWH are the same? There are many, especially in the Christian belief system, that say that the person Avraham saw was Yeshua. But of course that would mean that YHWH and Yeshua are the same person.

Remember the vision that Yochanan saw that is recorded in what is now known as the first chapter of the book of the revelation of Messiah Yeshua. Yochanan heard a voice, then turned to see who was speaking and saw Yeshua in His full esteem, which put Yochanan on the floor, and then, after being helped up, he saw Yeshua standing there in a form that did not display His esteem, one which Yochanan could handle, and then Yeshua proclaimed that He is the First and the Last. It is a very clear picture of the manifold manifestations of YHWH to mankind.

Displaying the esteem of YHWH to anyone at anytime is at the prerogative of YHWH alone.

Moshe as well had what is called in scripture a “face to face” communication with YHWH. In fact it was Moshe that saw a portion of the esteem of YHWH when He passed by Moshe who was hidden in the cleft of the rock. But when the esteem of YHWH filled the tent of meeting, Moshe could not enter. We as human beings are only allowed to view certain limited glimpses of the esteem of YHWH. The children of Israel were right to be afraid of dying if YHWH came any closer to speak with them. They most likely all would have at that moment.

It would remiss of me not to spend some time looking at the first part of the book of Job. There we find a unique insight into the workings of the heavenly court.

Here are the verses; we will start in verse 6:

Iyov 1:6 – 12, “Now it happened on the day when the sons of Elohim came to present themselves before YHWH, that Hasatan also came among them. YHWH said to Hasatan, “Where have you come from?” Then Hasatan answered YHWH, and said, “From going back and forth in the eretz, and from walking up and down in it.” YHWH said to Hasatan, “Have you considered my servant, Iyov? For there is none like him in the eretz, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears Elohim, and turns away from evil.” Then Hasatan answered YHWH, and said, “Does Iyov fear Elohim for nothing? Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face.” YHWH said to Hasatan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don’t put forth your hand.” So Hasatan went forth from the presence of YHWH.”

There is so much here to discuss and learn. But I need to stay focused on the subject of whether or not there is more than one deity within the Elohim of Israel. And for those who may not know, the Hebrew word “Hasatan” literally means “the Adversary”.

These verses are filled with Hebrew idioms. But again I need to stay on task here and point out that we have a similar problem with these verses as with the previous ones. First of all, who wrote this down and how did they receive the information? We may never know this side of the reign of Messiah. And yet if we are going to depend on what is written to be accurate, then these verses must be included by either side of the debate.

What we see here in this brief exchange between heavenly beings is that there was a counsel, or meeting, that took place in heaven with an outcome that affected people’s lives on the earth. It is recorded from the perspective of heaven. What would it look like if it were recorded from the earthly perspective?

This is one possibility: “and YHWH said, “let Us consider my servant Iyov, that he is a righteous man…” Does that look familiar?

And let’s look at the second chapter as well:

Iyov 2:1 – 8, “Again it happened on the day when the sons of Elohim came to present themselves before YHWH, that Hasatan came also among them to present himself before YHWH. YHWH said to Hasatan, “Where have you come from?” Hasatan answered YHWH, and said, “From going back and forth in the eretz, and from walking up and down in it.” YHWH said to Hasatan, “Have you considered my servant Iyov? For there is none like him in the eretz, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears Elohim, and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause.” Hasatan answered YHWH, and said, “Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has will he give for his life. But put forth your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face.” YHWH said to Hasatan, “Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life.” So Hasatan went forth from the presence of YHWH, and struck Iyov with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head. He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes.”

From the previous chapter we can see that the painful events that occurred in Iyov’s life happened in one day. And we can see here in chapter two that the boils that Hasatan put on Iyov’s flesh happened very soon after the previous calamities, if not the next day. So we can estimate that the two counsels in heaven, when the sons of Elohim came to present themselves before YHWH, took place within a few days.

And we have the odd question again coming from YHWH. Why would He ask Hasatan where he had been? Didn’t YHWH send him back down to the earth just the other day to wreak havoc on Iyov’s life and property? Perhaps it was just a rhetorical question. Nonetheless, I need to point out that Hasatan causing destruction on Iyov’s life was the same as YHWH doing it. Because without the permission of YHWH, Hasatan cannot touch the children of YHWH. The Tempter comes with permission, or he does not come at all. And YHWH takes full responsibility for the exercise.

What does this exchange in heaven have to do with the deity of Messiah Yeshua? Let’s consider some of the points contained in the narrative.

• YHWH is presented as being One, singular, not plural
• The sons of Elohim are not described in enough detail to know exactly who they are
• Hasatan is not called a “son of Elohim”, it is simply noted that he came among them
• The Son of Elohim, Yeshua, is also not singled out or even mentioned

The word used in this portion of Iyov is the Hebrew word for “sons” and not the Hebrew word for messenger. Whoever the sons were, they were not messengers (angels). The first two chapters of the letter to the Hebrews are dedicated to making it very clear that Yeshua and messengers are not the same or have the same station in the grand scheme of this life and beyond.

Ivrim 1:5, “For to which of the angels did he say at any time, “You are my Son, today have I become your Father?” and again, “I will be to him a Father, and he will be to me a Son?”

We can see that messengers are not considered “sons”.

Gal. 4:6 & 7, “And because you are sons, Elohim sent out the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of Elohim through Messiah.”

Here in these verses we have two types of sons of Elohim mentioned. The one is born of Elohim, which is Yeshua, the others are adopted by Elohim which are us who believe and belong to Him. And Sha’ul said that we are sons already. Though we are not in our final form, we are sons nonetheless in this present life.

But does that mean that I am Elohim? Or even an Elohim? Scripture says that the children of YHWH are Elohim. Does that make an Elohim come into existence every time someone accepts Yeshua as Saviour? Are Yeshua and I the same, or are we similar? If the sons of YHWH through adoption will become like Yeshua, are they all, each and everyone a separate Elohim?  Or would that be a misapplication of the word Elohim? Would it work if I simply changed the letter “E” from a capitol to a lower case? Would I then be an elohim?

The Hebrew language does not employ upper and lower case letters. Changing the case in English does not change the meaning in Hebrew.

The idea of humans becoming sons of Elohim does pose a problem. But for who? I believe that it is a problem for those who try to make the argument that Yeshua is a “lesser YHWH”. If Yeshua is a “lesser YHWH”, then would I not also be a “lesser YHWH”? Can we even go there in our minds?

Though for Yeshua to be a “lesser” anything goes directly against the testimony of YHWH in scripture who has said that it is He alone who redeems Israel and is their Saviour. When YHWH says that He will bring deliverance to His people by His own right hand, why do some want to try and convince other believers that He really meant a separate, different hand than His own?

YHWH is not alone in heaven. And that is very important to keep in mind at all times. He is certainly the only like Himself, as He declares, but He is not alone. In fact we can see in a number of scriptures that there are many beings of all sorts around the throne and they are going about doing the will of YHWH. In the heaven and on the earth. Are they all Elohim? Do we call the heavenly messengers Elohim? Sometimes. Are the “beasts” around the throne called Elohim at any time in scripture? If they are I am not aware of it. Read the first chapter of the prophet Ezekiel. Does he not see One on the throne who has the appearance of a man? Did he see more than one Elohim? Do not some of the creatures around the throne also have the face of a man. Which came first, the earthly man Adam, or the beings around the throne of heaven? We aren’t told who was first, so I am not going to make guesses. But I think it is alright to ask the questions.

What about the twenty four Elders who are around the throne of YHWH? Are they sons? Were they men at one time and then became immortal? Do we have any meaningful information at all about those twenty four Elders? No, we don’t. I only bring them up to make this point: if speculating about the twenty four Elders is inadequate for the making of a competent argument about what it is like in the heavenly realms, then using verses for which we have no useful information is also a waste of time and can only lead to confusion. Which we are told to avoid.

Because it is YHWH who says that He alone is Elohim and there is not another one anywhere, should we not take Him at His word and believe that to be true? Does He not describe Himself as the “Mighty One of Israel”? Does He not also declare Himself to the “King of Israel”?

Israel does not have two Kings. Israel does not have two Elohim. For Yeshua to be Elohim but not YHWH there would have to then be two Elohim. YHWH the Elohim of Israel and Yeshua the Elohim of Israel. There would also have to be two El Shaddai because both YHWH and Yeshua are described using this name. In the first chapter of Revelation we see the Greek word “pantokrator” used to describe the One speaking with Yochanan. And we can see that the One speaking with Yochanan was Yeshua.

Where do we stand?

Religions are seldom simple constructs. They usually consist of many and varied beliefs and practices, most of which are traditionally passed on to the adherents of that religion without question. And I think it would be accurate to say that those religions come in packages. And that those packages contain the beliefs and practices that each one who receives the package is expected to conform to. And it is generally assumed that if you belong to some flavor of one of the religions of the land, that you would uphold their beliefs and practices the same as the others who subscribe to that belief system. Therefore, if your religion believes that Yeshua is part of a trinity, it is expected for you to believe the same thing. In some religions, if you do not believe in the doctrine of the trinity you would be considered a heretic.

But when people find that they no longer believe in or agree with what their particular religion teaches, they go about looking for another religion that might be a better fit for their new beliefs. This may constitute a small move, say from one Protestant religion to another. Or it can be a bigger move, say from Catholicism to Protestantism or vice versa. Or it can be a radical departure from faith altogether, as when someone denies that Yeshua is Messiah and then embraces a religion that also rejects Him as such.

People can reject Yeshua in many ways. It is not just speculation about theological theories in which people can deny who Messiah Yeshua is and pass that on to others. If we as believers live our lives in an unrighteous manner, what we may happen to believe is inconsequential. Because with our works we deny Him. We know that we will not be judged according to our beliefs. Instead, we see in scripture that we will be judged according to our works. But if our beliefs are incorrect, it will most likely result in our works being incorrect as well. Because we behave according to how we believe. If we have unbelief in our hearts, and a skewed perception of who Messiah is, then consequently how we live our lives will reflect that degree of unbelief and misunderstanding.

Unbelief renders us incapable of performing the will of Elohim. We cannot serve Him if we don’t believe Him and His Word. We not only become useless, we are also then blinded to spiritual truths, truths which we desperately need to consciously conform our lives to what Yeshua expects from us. Unbelief also affects our ability to understand what scripture is saying to us. We can read the text, but if we do not believe what is being said to us, then we will not see what is being said at all. Instead we will make up what we think it says in order to support our chosen lifestyle.

Most of us as believers have had the experience of being around someone who does not believe in any form of a Creator. To them the bible is just a book of foolishness and fairy tales. And none of it makes sense to them.

But to those of us who are travelling from unbelief to perfected faith, the scriptures are a book of spiritual truths, which are incredible treasures, revealed to mankind for our salvation. Along the way there will at times be holes in our understanding of the spiritual truths that are presented in scripture. This is a fixable condition if we continue to be willing to learn and grow in the truth.

Kefa describes the progression of events like this:

2 Kefa 1:5 – 8, “Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge; and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control patience; and in patience godliness; and in godliness brotherly affection; and in brotherly affection, love. For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful to the knowledge of our Master Yeshua the Messiah.”

This is a short but difficult list. Difficult because it goes straight to our character as people. And in the context of our fallen sinful nature, our character is broken and cannot be repaired. Which is why we are exhorted, admonished and commanded to allow Yeshua to live His character through us by the power of the Ruach HaKodesh. And at the same time to consider our own fleshly nature, which remains contrary to the will of YHWH, to be dead. I’m sure most of us could speak at some length about our personal successes and failures in this endeavor. But my point is this, if we are growing in our knowledge and understanding of who Messiah Yeshua is, that requires that we not only gain new knowledge and understanding about Him, but that we also let go of what we had previously thought to be true if it is proven to be wrong.

Summary

So where did we end up? Actually, I guess the question would be where did I end up? Is there solid scriptural proof that YHWH and Yeshua are the same Person? And did I provide those scriptures as I had intended? I mentioned previously, even if YHWH Himself came into my living room and spoke with me about some matter, I still could not provide anyone with a comprehensive, exhaustive explanation of His nature and attributes. I could only relate the particulars of the experience. And even with those particulars I could not prove His existence or detail the attributes of His nature. Most certainly not to someone who is filled with unbelief.

But even with our human frailties and limitations we have been afforded by the Creator of all that exists the ability to comprehend enough truth about Him and His plan of redemption and salvation to have the hope of eternal life. That life is in Messiah Yeshua.

He explained to us that He is the Way to get to where we are going and He is the Truth we need to both find the Way and stay on it, and He is the Life we need for the strength to go the distance. It is clear from scripture that everything that we may need pertaining to this life is found in Yeshua, and we are complete in Him. If there were more than one Elohim, then we would be complete in them. But I haven’t found a scripture that has words to that effect in the text.

But can we leave out the letter to the Hebrews? Contained therein are powerful arguments that many use incorrectly to point out that Messiah Yeshua and the Elohim of Israel are not the same. There is a new heavenly priesthood defined for the believers in Yeshua. The relationship between the Father and the Son is mentioned. And Yeshua is portrayed as the High Priest of the new covenant believers. It would seem from those few issues alone a fifth part is required.

And of course the “Son of Adam” verses must be examined. Why did Yeshua continue to call Himself the “Son of Adam” when the demons were screaming out that He was the “Son of Elohim”?

I certainly don’t believe that these few pages will end the argument and settle the debate. In fact it will most likely cause more debate and discussion about this very important topic. But there  isn’t anything wrong that is there?

Shalom