The Trinity – Part 2
The God of Israel
In John chapter 8 Jesus is speaking to a group of people who are becoming increasingly hostile toward Him.
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. (John 8:56)
Paul, in Galatians, said that the gospel was presented to Abraham when God promised that in him the entire world would be blessed.
And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. (Ga 3:8)
Years later, Abraham prepared to offer up his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. God spared Isaac's life and Abraham received him back as if from the dead. I think it could have been at this moment that God revealed to him that as Abraham had offered up his son in faith, God would one day offer up His Son as the supreme sacrifice for the entire world.
Then said the Jews unto him (Jesus), Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? (John 8:57)
The people were convinced they were talking with a lunatic or maybe with a demonized person.
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. (John 8:58)
We tend to pass over this very lightly in English. We think maybe Jesus was older than Abraham because He was divine. I think His hearers heard something very different than that. I think they heard Him say,
I Am He that spoke with Moses from the burning bush. I Am He Who led your ancestors out of Egypt, through the sea. I Am He Who crushed Pharaoh. Before Abraham was I Am YHWH Yehovah. I Am the God of Israel.
Then took they up stones to cast at him: (v 59)
That was the absolute end of it. That was all they could take. (There are some Christians today that cannot take it, either.) Jesus messed with their Sabbaths and now He is clearly saying He is the God of the (Old Testament) Scriptures. They would have killed Him right then but it was not the correct time.
In the book of Exodus God called Moses to bring his brother Aaron, two of his sons and 70 others of the elders of the people and climb to a higher place.
And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.
And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink. (Ex 24:10-11)
The Bible says twice that they saw the God of Israel. That is strange because God is invisible.
No man hath seen God at any time; (John 1:18)
John, the Apostle repeated this (I John 4:12). The reason no man has ever seen God is because He is un-see-able. Yet these 74 men saw the God of Israel.
And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. (Ex 33:11)
Here we see that Moses habitually spoke with the Lord face to face. The name that was used here is Yᵉhovah or YHWH, the personal name of the God that makes and keeps covenant with men. Moses saw God, yet John said centuries later that no man has ever seen God. How strange. The Bible is telling us something remarkable here.
When Moses was first called to go to Pharaoh and to the nation of Israel, he told God that he had to know what His name was. What should he say to the Israelites?
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? (Ex 3:13)
God answered his question directly.
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. (Ex 3:14-15)
Jesus was speaking to the leaders of the Jews.
For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. (John 5:46)
This angered them greatly. Peter later preached about this.
For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. (Acts 3:22)
Jesus said that Moses wrote about Him centuries earlier. Jesus was always going out of His way to irritate the Jewish leaders about their Sabbaths. He could have done a miracle on a Thursday but he waited. Jesus could have healed a person on Friday, but no, he had to wait until the Sabbath. Now he said that Moses wrote about him. This was like pouring gasoline on a fire.
In Genesis 17 God is talking to Abraham. They had a lengthy conversation about his wife, Sarah, and their future son, Isaac.
And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. (Ge 17:22)
Apparently this was not a vision but a face to face conversation. In fact, God Himself calls Abraham, My friend (Isa 41:8). In the next chapter Abraham is again talking to YHWH like a man is conversing with another man.
And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place. (Gen 18:33)
Again, someone is seeing the invisible God, or is he?
God the Father is un-see-able, but the God of Israel can be seen, quite obviously, according to the Scriptures.
Jesus said he was the LORD (YHWH) of the Old Testament. If it is, as He said, we understand something amazing. We see Him in the work of creation (John 1:3). We see Him dealing with Noah, Job, Abraham, and Moses. Whenever the invisible God needed to say something (The Word, John 1:3 KJV) or do something (The Verb, John 1:1 Spanish) it was done by the God that can be seen. He is called by many names: The LORD, Yehovah, The God of Israel, and the express image of God (2 Cor 4:4, Col 1:15, Heb 1:3). The Word was made flesh (John 1:14) in the person that we would know as the man, Jesus of Nazareth.
Many people see God, in the Old Testament, as a cruel and bloodthirsty deity. When Jesus comes along we see someone who is so sweet and forgiving. I am saying that they are the same “Person”. He was the Word, Who would one day be born, in the timestream, as a human in Bethlehem with the name, Jesus or Yeshua.
When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. (Isa 41:17)
Here it equates YHWH with the God of Israel, the God that can be seen, not the Father who is invisible.
Here are some references where the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah equate YHWH with the God of Israel, the God that can be seen. Sometimes they call him the LORD of the armies.
And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. (Isa 45:3)
Isa 48:2 Jer 7:3 Jer 7:21 Jer 9:15 Jer 16:9 Jer 19:3 Jer 19:15 Jer 24:5 Jer 25:27 Jer 27:4 Jer 27:21 Jer 28:2 Jer 28:14 Jer 29:4 Jer 29:8 Jer 29:21 Jer 29:25 Jer 31:23 Jer 32:14 Jer 32:15 Jer 32:36 Jer 33:4 Jer 34:2
Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, … (Jer 34:13)
Jer 35:13 Jer 35:17 Jer 35:18-19 Jer 37:7 Jer 38:17 Jer 39:16 Jer 42:9 Jer 42:15 Jer 42:18 Jer 43:10 Jer 44:2 Jer 44:7 Jer 44:11 Jer 44:25 Jer 45:2 Jer 46:25 Jer 48:1 Jer 50:18 Jer 51:33
Of course He is the same as the Father because of the nature of God (Unity). In their distinctions Jesus is YHWH is the commander of the armies is the God of Israel.
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD ( YHWH Yehovah) shall be delivered: (Joel 2:32)
Is it true that whoever calls on the name of the Father will be saved? We are told that there is only one name that will bring deliverance.
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)
Peter was preaching about Jesus Christ the Nazarene (Acts 4:10).
(Someone is forever trying to find another syllable to put into the divine Name. Yes, the Name is very important but if you know Whom you are talking about, God knows whom you are talking about. Stop thinking like a seven-year-old.)
In Part 3 we will talk about The Mysterious Person of the Trinity.
Note: Ps 110:1 in the Masoretic text would seem to conflict with this position. There are debates about the Septuagint and meaning of Greek words for “Lord”. Could there be some bias against Jesus by Jewish scholars in the later text?
Dec. 15, 2023