In a recent online conversation, several Christian pastors were trying to force me to subscribe to their particular understanding of the nature of Yeshua and how they believe the Godhead fits together.  Predictably, because I didn’t use or agree with their particular choice of words, they define me a ‘heretic.’  (Can’t you just feel the love?)

The sticking point was the word ‘distinct.’  They desperately wanted me to declare unequivocally that there is a strong ‘distinction’ between Yahweh and Yeshua.  Frankly, there was a time I could do that…  then I started to read the Scriptures a little more carefully and a different picture began to emerge….  A picture that normative/historical Christianity doesn’t care for, because it undermines some of their cherished doctrines/traditions.

If you want to view the conversation firsthand, it starts in the mid-170s, and is a bit like riding a merry-go-round.  Just be careful not to ride the shark or the wolf.  😉

A specific quote of mine from #185,

As I explained before, my reticence is that I believe the Mystery is greater than the box we try to put Him in. I also believe that historic Christianity, particularly under the influence of Roman Catholicism has dwelt mightily on the distinctions of the Person (TriUnity) to the detriment of the Unity. [Much of that goes back to the very bad habit of the RCC to syncretize the local paganism to its own benefit. Pagan godheads have been in existence since Nimrod/Semiramis/Tammuz.]

What I want to do is let the Scriptures speak.  Does Yeshua say/do something separate and distinct from the Father, or does He ONLY speak the words of the Father?

Here is a great example, among many, of Scripture declaring that Yahweh delivered Israel from Egypt, and that they are to ‘walk in My ways,’ and ‘obey My voice,’

“Hear, O My people, and I will ^[f]admonish you;
O Israel, if you would listen to Me!
⁹ “Let there be no strange god among you;
Nor shall you worship any foreign god.
¹⁰ “I, YAHWEH, am your God,
Who brought you up from the land of Egypt;
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

¹¹ “But My people did not listen to My voice,
And Israel did not ^[g]obey Me.
¹² “So I gave ^[h]them over to the stubbornness of their heart,
To walk in their own devices.
¹³ “Oh that My people would listen to Me,
That Israel would walk in My ways!

Well, two weeks ago I posted What did Moses see in the ‘Burning Bush?’  In that entry, we looked at Scripture and established that in the Tanak (Old Testament) appearances of the Angel of the Lord are ‘Christophanies,’ to use modern theological lingo.  Basically, the physical manifestations of Yahweh are pre-incarnate appearances of Yeshua haMashiach.

In Judges 2:1-5 we have an amazing appearance of Yeshua/the Angel of the Lord who declares several significant things…

Now the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, ² and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not ^[a]obeyed Me; what is this you have done? ³ Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they will ^[b]become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.’” ⁴ When the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. ⁵ So they named that place ^[c]Bochim; and there they sacrificed to the Lord.

Clearly, the Angel of the Lord, here, claims the very things we previously saw ascribed to the Father.

In fact, there are multiple such occurrences in the Torah where the Angle of the Lord, the visible revelation of God, does or claims things otherwise only possible for God.  Claims like, ‘I will greatly multiply your descendents,’ or ‘you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me!’

We shouldn’t be surprised to see it so plainly in Scripture when we stop and really hear what Yeshua is saying when He states,

³⁰ I and the Father are ^[a]one.

Or,

He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. ¹¹ Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; (from John 14)

Or,

My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.

The point is, Yeshua and the Father are on the same page.  Yeshua says and does NOTHING apart from the will of the Father.  They are in perfect unity.  There is no distinction in their actions, thoughts, sayings, etc.  Therefore, Yeshua doesn’t undo, change, alter, anull, abolish, abrogate, _______, etc, the Torah.  He ONLY ever affirms it.  See Deuteronomy 18:15-19 and 12:32-13:11!  (***For clarity, the focus of this post is the exact unity of work/mind/action/etc that we see in Yahweh and Yeshua.  I am not saying they are the same Person.  In the referenced thread, I did acknowledge agreement to the Athanasian Creed.  Interestingly, post number 248 or so has links concerning the Deity of Yeshua on a website I have visited before and a teacher I do respect, Avram Yehoshua.  Recall, I reviewed a book by him on Acts 15 a while back.  VERY scholarly work!  He has some good YouTube teachings up.)

Yeshua is the ‘exact representation of,’ or ‘image of the invisible‘ Divine Echad.

This is a great Mystery that we cannot parse into ‘distinctions.’  We cannot put God in a box so as to set the parties against each other.

Much more could be written, but I want to save the Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel et.al. references concerning the Holy One of Israel, Redeemer, Rock, Alef-Tav for later.  They only confirm what is written here.

On another topic, though, God puts Himself in a box…  for our benefit.  That ‘box’ is called ‘covenant.’  But we won’t open that one right now.  Suffice it to say, through His ancient Covenants, we know EXACTLY what He will do, how He will act and what He expects.  That Covenant our fathers broke, was renewed through the blood of Messiah Yeshua.  We will discuss ‘covenant’ in the not too distant future.

Shalom!!

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