Blog Archives
Is God Three People? JESUS IS “I AM,” THE FIRST AND THE LAST (10)
Dear Readers: Thank you for all your support this year. I believe the content in this current series is indispensible regarding the coming Great Awakening in America. We must all grow closer to the Lord Jesus. He must be exalted in this nation. His real identity must be known. Christian persecution will continue rising in America in 2016 and we must all be prepared. Please help make this current series reach as many believers as possible. Be blessed!
“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM…” [John 8:28 NAB]
A CHRISTIAN’S RELATIONAL CLOSENESS TO GOD IS RELATIVE
The concept of relational closeness to God known by the ancient Hebrews remained in effect at the time of the Lord Jesus. Most of the first century Hebrews knew the Lord as a mere man. Some saw Him as a prophet. He was known by most people not according to His real identity but according to different levels of their limited understanding. Most of them certainly did not understand Him to be the Messiah.
The ancient Hebrews had always known that when Messiah came He would not be a mere man. Thus, Messiah had always been understood to be God Himself and a veritable superman. When the Lord arrived He did so in the most humble manner, arriving as a baby just like everyone else. He is the most humble Man who ever lived. Thus, on the surface, he did not look like the Messiah. He did not meet the majority’s expectations. He certainly did not look like God. BUT HE CERTAINLY ACTED LIKE GOD AND DID THE MIRACULOUS WORKS OF GOD.
There were a few, however, who got it. Most were too far away from God relationally to see Jesus for who He was. They only saw him as a man. A few perceived Him as Elohim. A very small percentage actually did see Him as YHWH and this was an incredible received revelation based on their pure hearts. Of these, an extremely small percentage, like Moses, actually saw the Lord Jesus as I AM WHO I AM. Jesus even referred to Himself as “I AM” on many occasions.
GOD IS STILL ONE
Though the Son of God arrived it did not mean that God suddenly changed forms and was mysteriously transformed into three people. Remember, the early community of the Lord never taught anything even closely resembling a “Trinity Doctrine.” They continued referring to God as ONE Person. The difference is that they received the revelation that “I AM” became a human being.
This did not mean that God did not still fill the Universe. It simply meant that God, who was cut off from a very close relationship with humanity because of sin, entered into a human tabernacle to defeat sin. He came to retake dominion in humanity.
Until He completed His mission He was “God with us” in the process of achieving His mission.
Thus, transforming God into three people is pure heresy. God is not three people and has never been three people. The “Trinity Doctrine” was created by people very far away from God who did not KNOW God in an attempt to define Him in an understandable way to people with no eyes to see and no ears to hear.
THE GREATEST PARABLE
The Lord Jesus never did any such thing. Instead, He basically taught, “If you don’t get it you don’t get it. It’s your problem. My identity is a parable for a reason. Circumcise your heart. Receive the revelation. Figure it out. Open your spiritual eyes. Otherwise, because of your dull heart, you will never KNOW who I really am.”
The Lord Jesus obviously wants to bless us all with abundant life. He suffered and died, giving His perfect life in this cause. But abundant life starts with gaining a very, very close personal relationship with Him. THAT is the secret.
It is up to each one of us to get right with the Lord Jesus and get relationally close to Him. It is never His fault if people insist on idolatry and distance from Him.
In the first century, the Christians who turned the world upside down were those who KNEW the Lord Jesus was I AM WHO I AM. They were extremely relationally close to Him, so close that He did miraculous works through them. All of those who received His Holy Spirit at Pentecost became that way. The evidence of their closeness to God was in what they achieved on the planet.
WE ARE ALL INVITED
“All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I AM gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” [Matthew 11:27-30]
.
“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.
“I AM THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA, THE FIRST AND THE LAST, THE BEGINNING AND THE END.
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.” [Revelation 22:12-14] [1]
© 2015 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Is God Three People? THE ONGOING REVELATION OF JESUS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT (9)
Dear Readers: Thank you for all your support this year. I believe the content in this current series is indispensible regarding the coming Great Awakening in America. We must all grow closer to the Lord Jesus. He must be exalted in this nation. His real identity must be known. Christian persecution will continue rising in America in 2016 and we must all be prepared. Please help make this current series reach as many believers as possible. Be blessed!
“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM…” [John 8:28 NAB]
God is not three people. There is no such thing as three persons in a “Godhead.” Most Christians don’t even know what a “Godhead” is. The term derives from a bad translation. It began in the King James Version of the Bible, which is over 400 years old.
“Godhead” only appears three times in the KJV New Testament. The word also appears in other versions. The NASV95, a much better translation, uses the terms “Divine Nature” and “Diety.”
Other versions use the terms, “God,” “that which is divine,” “divine being,” “divinity,” “existence,” and “God’s being.” These terms are derived from only three Greek words. Each word refers to the singular.
THE ONE GOD OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS
The entirety of Old Testament Scripture NEVER teaches anything closely resembling a trinity of persons. To the Hebrews, NOTHING COULD BE MORE HERETICAL. It was the ancient Hebrews, and only the ancient Hebrews, who were originally blessed by the one God with the great revelation that God is one Being. Every other nation on the entire planet believed in a plurality of gods, a sad fact which the Old Testament refers to multiple times. The idea that God was one Being was rejected as heresy by all other nations and the Hebrews paid dearly for the truth God gave them.
But they prevailed. God blessed them. God multiplied them and raised them up. Then the day came when Egypt, the greatest nation on the planet, destroyed itself in attempting to force God’s hand and force His people to remain slaves.
Though Israel later proved itself to be unfaithful and became an adulterous nation which reverted to gross idolatry and a belief in multiple false gods, God remained faithful and there remained a small remnant of faithful believers in His one nation.
THE PROPHETS
No Hebrew prophet ever preached about God being a multiplicity of persons. The entire idea makes absolutely no sense whatsoever anyway. One must remember that when the “Trinity Doctrine” was officially formalized and adopted by Constantine in 325AD, the resultant theology which came much later was superimposed upon Holy Writ in a deceptive attempt to transform truth, and especially the truth of the Lord’s real identity. It is also why the Lord’s powerful Name was eliminated from water baptism.
Wrongheaded theologians began applying Trinitarian theology to a few verses here and there in the attempt to authenticate it upon the minds of their underlings. The OT prophets would have destroyed such theologians in a debate. They would have each insisted and proved that the classic “Trinity Doctrine” was absolutely false and full of holes in that it portrays God as being composed of three people.
“Is there any God besides Me, Or is there any other Rock? I know of none.” [Isaiah 44:8]
“I am the LORD (YHWH): that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. [Isaiah 42:8]
THREE PERSONS IS EXACTLY THE SAME AS THREE PEOPLE
Christians theologians do not use the term “three people” when referring to God. They prefer the term “three persons.” They insist that “people” and “persons” are two completely different words with different meanings. Hence, if one says “God is three persons” one is correct. But if one says “God is three people” one is incorrect. Such a belief is beyond ridiculous and is nothing more than ultra-religious semantic jargon used in the attempt to prove something unprovable.
THE ONGOING REVELATION OF GOD’S REAL IDENTITY
In Genesis 1, God is known primarily by the Hebrew word Elohim. He is always referred to in the singular. ALWAYS.
In Genesis 2:4 a change occurs. It is the actual beginning of the second Genesis creation story. From this point on, God began being known by the words YHWH Elohim:
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD (YHWH) God (Elohim) made earth and heaven. [Genesis 2:4]
The name YHWH was considered so incredibly reverent and holy that is was not even written down by Hebrew scribes in the original OT Scriptures. Instead, the substitute word Adonai was used. Adonai is translated as “LORD” in English versions of the Old Testament and this is why “LORD God” is used in your Bible instead of YHWH God. “LORD God” is translated from YHWH Elohim.
Of course, YHWH is not actually a word in the typical sense but a descriptive Name of God using four Hebrew letters which illustrated a greater relational closeness to His creation. It comes into use just as Adam is created. It is singular. God is always referred to in the singular. ALWAYS.
“JEHOVAH” IS A CORRUPT AND INCORRECT TERM
Thousands of years later, this name of God—YHWH—was corrupted into the form many Christians are familiar with—“Jehovah.” Of course, there is no “J” in the Hebrew and the ancient Hebrews NEVER used this corrupted form. All Christians who use the corrupt term “Jehovah” should cease using it upon learning this truth and begin referring to the real term—the actual OT name of God—YHWH.
I AM WHO I AM
In Exodus 3:14 an even greater revelation of God came forth:
Then Moses said to God (Elohim), “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God (Elohim) of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”
God (Elohim) said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
God (Elohim), furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The LORD (YHWH), the God (Elohim) of your fathers, the God (Elohim) of Abraham, the God (Elohim) of Isaac, and the God (Elohim) of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.” [Exodus 3:13-15]
Only a few people were relationally close enough to God to use and understand this Name. Moses was the first.
© 2015 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued.]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Is God Three People? KNOWING THE REAL IDENTITY OF JESUS (8)
Dear Readers: Thank you for all your support this year. I believe the content in this current series is indispensible regarding the coming Great Awakening in America. We must all grow closer to the Lord Jesus. He must be exalted in this nation. His real identity must be known. Christian persecution will continue rising in America in 2016 and we must all be prepared. Please help make this current series reach as many believers as possible. Be blessed!
“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM…” [John 8:28 NAB]
The Lord Jesus often taught in parables. If one did not have “eyes to see” and “ears to hear” one would not understand. One would not be able to receive revelation knowledge from the Lord. Period.
This parabolic and allegorical teaching approach contrasts sharply with historical and current methods of Christian teaching. The reason why is fairly obvious, though several theories are presented.
One theory consists of the basic difference between Eastern and Western thought. It is said that the Western method of teaching and gaining knowledge consists primarily of using the brain, the intellect, the mind, rational thinking, and the use of facts and figures. The Eastern method of learning primarily uses the heart.
This is a big difference. Since the Lord Jesus used the heart method, we can see that Western Christian thought has diverted from His original approach. This is why the vast majority of Christians are dependent on their brains. They have bypassed the heart. One can never fully know the Lord using the Western method.
REVELATORY KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge from God comes in two principle ways. It comes the way anyone gains knowledge, through what may be termed the regular or standard teaching process in which one learns by receiving facts from teachers and books, and through study of known references and established theories.
Yet, when dealing with the Lord Jesus, one must go beyond such a limited method. Western Christian thought does not and has never felt comfortable with this. The Lord’s original method is perceived as too open-ended. The student is given too much latitude. The student is allowed to be an independent critical thinker. Such allowances are anathema within the confines of limited and structured teachings methods.
In the West facts and figures prevail. People have been trained to receive and deposit facts like little mini-computers or small libraries, and then access such facts when necessary. This takes a lot of work. When one gains a large amount of knowledge and it is all neatly filed away, one has a decided tendency to never check such “facts” for error based on new discoveries. It is a terrible thing when religious institutions and the people thereof become invested in untruth since they refuse new revelation from God.
In the East, since the gaining of knowledge is based on the heart and not the mind, a much different dynamic is relied upon. There is a fluidity in one’s thinking which allows for input from one’s heart, and this is what the Lord was seeking to tap into. He was attempting to relate with others on a heart to heart level.
WHAT IS THE PROOF?
One may wonder, then, how one can prove such facts to be correct. Whereas in Western thought, there need be no actual three-dimensional proof of spiritual facts, in Eastern thought such proofs are demanded. In other words, when the Lord taught about spiritual principles and spiritual cause and effect He had to back it up. Western Christianity in general does not and never has subscribed to this method, largely because it appears too open ended and even spacey. “There must be a foundation!” Its proponents argue, yet they never argue for the real spiritual evidence of the originals.
Such theological brainiacs would have quickly grown exasperated with the Lord’s heart method of teaching. They simply cannot relate to knowing the Lord by revelation, as did Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses:
And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land; the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders.
“Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.” [Deuteronomy 29:2-4]
Moses spoke these words to the nation of Israel toward the very end of its wanderings in the Sinai. For forty years the Lord took care of them but the entire first generation that left Egypt, save for two men, still did not KNOW Him. They had no heart to KNOW, nor eyes to see, not ears to hear. They did not KNOW and they did not see or hear because the Lord did not give them the ability. They had no revelatory knowledge of God or of spiritual things.
From this we can easily understand that such abilities are GIFTS from God. Like salvation, which can never come by our own works, abilities, or knowledge, no one can gain access to God, no one can KNOW God, and no one can possess eyes to see and ears to hear unless the Lord GIVES a person such revelatory knowledge and ability.
In the above passage we can see that the Lord did not give that first generation of the nation of Israel in the Sinai such ability or knowledge. Why?
The very simple answer is: THEIR HEARTS WERE NOT RIGHT.
Yet subsequent generations of Israelites were blessed by the Lord with the ability to KNOW God according to then present revelation, as well as spiritual eyes and ears. But by the time Messiah arrived such knowledge and ability was largely gone:
“Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.’” [Matthew 13:13-15]
Their problem was a HEART problem. Their hearts had become “dull.” This word is defined as “thick, fat, stupid, dull, and callous.” Even though their minds might have been sharp as tacks, they were completely oblivious toward spiritual things. And because of that they had NO KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
Like the majority of Western “Christians” they did not know God but only possessed an ill-defined concept of God based on mere human knowledge and mental assent. If one would KNOW God, really KNOW Him, such things will never suffice.
GOD IS NOT THREE PEOPLE
It is why the official “Trinity Doctrine” was invented 1700 years ago, three centuries after the original teachings of the Lord Jesus. The dull-hearted religious clergyites that created it, based on the ancient concept of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman triads, were high-minded, arrogant, philosophical, spiritual lame brains with absolutely NO KNOWLEDGE of God. They had no revelatory knowledge whatsoever. The Lord Jesus had not granted them that because their hearts were wrong, dull, and fat. And until they got their hearts right before God they would stay spiritually stupid.
This is why they invented teachings that supplanted the Lord’s original teachings. And most of all, it is why they created a brand new “Christian Triad.” It came straight from their polluted brains. In doing this they completely violated the first three commandments:
THEY CREATED A GOD TO SUIT THEMSELVES.
The nation of Israel, in its fallen state, had done the same thing. Rather than get right with God and receive by revelation His real identity, they created their own false concept of God.
The following is the Lord’s response to their idolatry:
What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written,
“GOD GAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT, DOWN TO THIS VERY DAY.”
And David says, “LET THEIR TABLE BECOME A SNARE AND A TRAP, AND A STUMBLING BLOCK AND A RETRIBUTION TO THEM. LET THEIR EYES BE DARKENED TO SEE NOT, AND BEND THEIR BACKS FOREVER.”
I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. [Romans 11:7-11]
This exact dynamic is currently taking place with reference to the artificial and dull-hearted lords of Unreal Christianity and their followers who worship a god of their own creation, and the Lord’s real disciples whom the Lord Jesus has raised up to make the clueless Christians jealous.
It is why the socially acceptable proponents of traditional Christianity hate and resist anything the Lord does to bring greater light and power to His people.
It is also why they want no part of the coming Great Awakening in America and will be its greatest resistors: The Lord’s revelatory knowledge will destroy them.
It was the same way in the first century between the Pharisees and the Lord and His followers.
It was exactly the same in the fourth century between the new Christian Pharisees and real Christians.
It is the same today.
Those with dull spiritual hearts do not KNOW the real identity of Jesus.
Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. [Psalm 24:3-5] [1]
© 2015 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued.]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Is God Three People? JESUS IS GOD (7)
Dear Readers: Thank you for all your support this year. I believe the content in this current series is indispensible regarding the coming Great Awakening in America. We must all grow closer to the Lord Jesus. He must be exalted in this nation. His real identity must be known. Christian persecution will continue rising in America in 2016 and we must all be prepared. Please help make this current series reach as many believers as possible. Be blessed!
“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM…” [John 8:28 NAB]
.
“GOD” IS A GENERIC TERM USED BY ALL RELIGIONS
Many centuries ago, Unreal Christianity brought much confusion to New Covenant truth regarding the true identity of God.
It began equating the one God of real Christianity with the false gods of all the false religions and belief systems of this fallen world. As a result, the one God of real Christianity became the same as the god of other religions, especially the single god of monotheistic faiths, such as Judaism and Islam.
The teachings of the Lord Jesus, of course, absolutely refute this. The God of real Christianity is not Allah. And unless one honors the Son one does not have the Father. The Father and Son are an indivisible package deal. Unless one honors the Lord Jesus as the real God, one rejects Him, as does official Judaism.
Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. [1John 2:22-23]
Inspired by their own dead Christian-offshoot theology, the Christian Pharisees transformed “God” in the minds of their followers into an unknowable, mythical, amorphous, nebulous, unnamed master deity completely separate from the Lord Jesus. As a result, when most Christians think of God, they think of Him in such terms.
Thus, based on fabricated philosophical teachings, “God” is for them personally incomprehensible, mysterious, enigmatic, and beyond understanding. He is someone completely separate from the Lord Jesus.
And because He has thus become beyond understanding, most Christians do not try to identity Him but become satisfied that He can never be known, and certainly can never be known on a personal basis.
THE GREATEST FALSE DOCTRINE OF ALL
Nothing could be further from the truth. God can certainly be known personally. He is a personal God. He seeks a close relationship with everyone.
But here’s the problem: ONLY VERY FEW ARE WILLING TO SEEK HIM.
When you add this to the fact that traditional Unreal Christianity has always taught that “God” is beyond us and indifferent to our lives, and that most “Christians” have always believed such a lie and embraced it, it is no wonder that few seek to know His true identity.
Adding to these facts the facts that most people are spiritually lazy, are mere followers of so-called leaders (blind leaders of the blind), or insist on searching for alternative paths that deny the only path, it remains impossible for God to be known by them largely because they have invented or embraced counterfeits which cuts them off from spiritual reality.
It is therefore up to those who teach the real Gospel, the only Gospel, to reveal the shysters for who they are and expose their false egg-headed faux mental constructs for the God-denying ideologies they are.
THE LORD JESUS CAME TO REVEAL GOD
Christians have been taught that Jesus is not God but that He merely reveals God.
Simple question: Because it is absolutely true that God is a Spirit, just how is God supposed to relate to human beings who have been cut off from Him through their sin? Because human beings begin sinning at very young ages and become transformed by sin into beings God never intended, what is He supposed to do to reestablish the personal connection that previously existed?
HE BECAME ONE OF US
The one God of all creation took it upon Himself to enter our world with the intention of restoring our personal relationship with Him that had been devastated by our sin. He did His part. He gave His all. But to complete the covenant, we must each do our part. We must each give our all to Him.
LITTLE CHILDREN ARE CLOSE TO GOD
Consider the following:
Young children are closer to God. They are closer because they have yet to sin to the extent that their increasing sin compromises their connection to Him. The Lord Jesus expressed this phenomenon this way:
And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them,
“Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” [Mark 10:13-15] [1]
The following true account illustrates the Lord’s teaching on the subject perfectly. Please take a moment to prepare your heart:
Paula Hinson is a part-time fairy angel. Whether you believe in these things doesn’t matter. When Paula puts on her wings and her costume and goes into hospitals and sits with terminally-ill children, they believe. And it is through their belief that the angel does her work.
“I was sitting with a little four-year-old girl named Dawn. She was very sick, and I was taking her through some meditations and some imagery to help her with the pain, and all of a sudden, she said to me, ‘I need to see my dad right away.’ I said, ‘What is it, Dawn?’ She said, ‘I’m getting ready to leave…my angel part is getting ready to leave; I need to tell him that, and I can’t let anyone else tell him because he will be too sad.’ I said, ‘Who told you this?’ She said, ‘Are you crazy? My clear part — you know, the clear part inside you.’ I said, ‘You mean like your soul or your spirit?’ She said, ‘Yes, now please take me to him.’ We took her and left her with her dad, and she died a short while later. Her clear part told her. The part that was not sick. The part that knew everything about her.
“I think the older we get, the more we become attached to this costume we’re wearing, and it’s very hard to let go of it. But these children, they are so wise. So close to God. So tuned in to the part that makes us who we are. The spirit part. The clear part.” [2]
© 2015 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued.]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
[2] © 2006 The Amazing Faith of Texas
“If Isaiah Said That He’s A Liar!”
If you had to pick one single Old Covenant verse of Scripture that proves the utter fallacy of a later all-encompassing man-made doctrine ascribed to by most Christians, it would be the following:
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. [Isaiah 9:6]
Here we have a direct prophecy from one of the strongest and most prolific prophets revered by all, whose pronouncements are loaded with prophetic content that later came to pass exactly as proclaimed.
This man was quoted by both John the Immerser as the Lord’s forerunner, and also by the Lord Jesus Himself during His ministry among us. The Lord quoted Isaiah extensively. In fact, the Lord quoted Isaiah’s words in stating that He was the long-awaited Messiah.
This prophet’s words are used by Philip and Paul in the Book of Acts, and Paul quotes him many times in the Book of Romans, considered by many to be his best and most profound teaching epistle.
There is no doubt among honest Bible scholars that the truth within the truth that Isaiah continued to preach regarding the future Messiah was that the coming One would not be a mere man—He would be God:
But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
“BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,”which translated means, “GOD WITH US.”
And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus. [Matthew 1:20-25]
In this passage, Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14. This word Immanuel only appears twice in the Old Covenant writings, and both are in the Book of Isaiah. The word refers to the coming Messiah. And Isaiah said the Messiah would be God.
Though this may appear clear on the surface and though the Lord’s Name means YHWH-Savior, the above passage from Matthew presents a challenge. For from it we learn that the Father of the Son is the Holy Spirit. Huh?
Now, if you want to get into a heated argument with any Bible-believing descendant of Abraham at any time in history but especially since the time of Isaiah, tell him or her that the following foundational passage in one of their revered books is actually not true:
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” [Deuteronomy 6:4] [1]
This very passage contains the great truth that divided the Hebrews from every other nation on the planet. No other nation believed in one God, but a multiplicity of gods. This is the heritage of all ancient religions, the greatest of which stemmed from the greatest empires that ever existed on the planet.
Does anyone think the ancient Sumerians or Egyptians were ignorant? If so, how did they manage to build such powerful empires? How did they manage the brilliance that brought forth so much knowledge into this world? The Sumerians are credited with creating civilization! These laid the foundations for later greater empires, namely the Greeks and Romans, who were possessed of some of the most brilliant people to ever walk the planet. So much of our knowledge is gained from them.
And they all believed in a multiplicity of gods.
But not the Hebrews. Never the Hebrews, not until they lapsed into their backslidden condition. Regardless of their many falls into sin and idolatry, their ancient Scriptures continued to consistently and overwhelmingly refer to their God as a single individual. They had to fight constantly to put forth such a view, since all other nations believed they could not be more wrong (“You one god morons!”).
Thanks to the Hebrew remnant, the truth of One God was preserved. We now can refer back to these historical documents and we even know when they were given. Suffice it to say that Isaiah the prophet was one of the strongest of voices who gave no quarter regarding this truth, and brought it farther along than perhaps any other prophet since the prophet Moses. And it was Moses who gave us Deuteronomy 6:4 as quoted above.
Also, we must keep in mind that the purveyors of God’s great truths—the Old Covenant Hebrew prophets—were most often rejected and castigated by their own people. The ancient Hebrews put Moses through hell. Many of the Hebrew prophets were murdered by other Hebrews. They were often treated like garbage. Yet they held fast and proclaimed the truth of God come hell or high water, or a posse with a hanging rope.
Now, it is one thing to attribute to God the fact that He is one, but it is quite another to refer to that same God as the coming Messiah, which is exactly what Isaiah did. Isaiah made the claim that a Messiah would come—A Human Being—A Man—and that this Man would be God Himself, otherwise known as YHWH or the Great “I AM.”
That’s pretty bold.
And it pretty much destroys a later man-made doctrine, a doctrine formulated through bypassing the heart and spirit and by banking on mere substandard mental processes with zero revelation from God in an attempt to make everything jibe with regard to philosophical reasoning, existing tradition, and man’s very limited intelligence.
Isn’t this exactly what the brilliant Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman priests and philosophers did in their completely failed but accepted attempt to proclaim deity?
It was these brilliant religious men, beginning with the ancient Sumerians 5,000 years ago who invented what were later referred to by the Romans as “triads,” in which the three most powerful and popular gods were lumped together into a single entity. Every ancient pagan religion had their triads, and the membership of each often changed with the blowing wind.
But the ancient Hebrews knew for a fact that all those brilliant pagan theologians of the ancient world had no idea who God really was. The Hebrews knew who their God was, and they knew He was THE God and the ONLY God. He proved this many times by all the miraculous things He did for the tiny nation and by the love He expressed for it.
The ancient Hebrews also knew who the pagans did know. They knew those guys didn’t just make up all that stuff regarding their religions and all the gods they worshipped. They knew those pagan priests were intimately knowledgeable with the demons who gave them their power and knowledge. And they knew it originated with the rebellion in the Garden.
The revelation of one God was the most radical belief in all the ancient world and we must give credit where credit is due, to our Lord first in that He founded a people who would initially honor Him, and to the ancient nation of Israel itself for proclaiming Him.
As a result of YHWH revealing Himself to the Hebrews and by the Hebrews revealing YHWH to the world, the light of God outed the devil for the poser he is. The adversary was exposed. The devil could no longer exclusively deceive everyone that he was the ruler of the Universe. It made possible the removal of the dark cloud in the minds of men that had enshrouded them ever since the eating of the forbidden fruit. This explains all the spiritual warfare since those times, and why much of Christianity has lost that war.
By the way, if you’re wondering about the title of this article, it was uttered many years ago by a Bible-believing Christian who was first confronted with the fact that Isaiah claimed the Lord Jesus was not only the Son of God and the Messiah, but YHWH. This man had never in his life heard of that verse or any such thing. He got very upset when presented with the clear truth of Scripture as stated in Isaiah 9:6. It was obvious he had more man-made doctrinal teaching than actual Biblical revelatory knowledge, and it seriously messed up his thought process.
Confronted with God’s truth, and being completely unable to make it fit with what he was convinced was true, the only retort he could come up with was that Isaiah must have been incredibly wrong. Hence, “If Isaiah said that he’s a liar!”
You don’t suppose Isaiah’s truth also played a role in the Lord’s crucifixion, do you?
© 2015 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
