Church of God Message
Call Us: 8133745451
Jews: Behold Your God
Chapter 12
How God Reveals Himself in the Bible
Since we have proved that the entire Bible is the true word of God, and we cannot get a complete picture on any subject until we use the entire Bible, we should refer to the entire Bible to learn about God.
To obtain a thorough understanding of this subject, the author recommends reading two excellent booklets prepared by the United Church of God that directly address the question of who the true God is. The booklets are: "Who is God?" and "Jesus Christ: The Real Story". Both are available free of charge at the United Church of God web site: www.ucg.org.
God tells us in Isaiah 45:5: " 5 I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me.” Isaiah 46:9 (NKJV) also says: "For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me." These scriptures tell us there is only one God, and there is no other God besides Him.
Moses also said in Deuteronomy 6:4: " 4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord." For the Jews this declaration by Moses is very clear. There is only one God. That’s why they have ruled out the possibility that Jesus could be the Son of God. That would make Him equal with God when Moses declared that there is only one God.
Some New Testament statements also seemingly lend support to their belief.
First of all Jesus Himself quoted Moses in Mark 12:29, “…Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord…”
Paul also declared in 1 Corinthians 8:4, “…we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.” Also 1 Timothy 2:5, “5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…”
We need to understand some principles on Bible research. First, we need to understand who or what God is from the pages of the Bible and not from some ideas of men. The complete Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, should be our only source for understanding how God has revealed Himself to us.
The second principle of Bible research is that the Bible interprets itself. To understand the meaning of Isaiah 45:5 and 46:9 and Deuteronomy 6:4 we must look at other scriptures that shed light on how God is one.
The third principle is that we must not look at scriptures in isolation to research a subject. All scriptures on the subject must be examined together to reach a conclusion. Many Christian denominations get all their doctrines based on just a few Scriptures taken in isolation leading to error. For example, some denominations are based solely on speaking in tongues, or how God's name is pronounced.
Two Gods Revealed in the Old Testament
Using our principles of Bible research, let’s look at other scriptures in the Old Testament that shed light on who God is.
The book of Genesis records how God created everything. Before creating man God states in Genesis 1:26, “26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:”
Why did God use the plural expressions ‘Us’ and ‘Our” in this verse? And the word translated God throughout Genesis 1 is the plural noun Elohim which denotes more than one God (referring to the true God) or god (referring to other gods than the true God, such as idols). The translators also felt that the appropriate translation here should be the plural expressions ‘Us’ and ‘Our.’
This points to the likelihood of two or more Beings as true Gods.
How the Word “Elohim” is Used
The singular form of Elohim is Eloah which means “Mighty One”. So Elohim means “Mighty Ones.” Elohim was used in Genesis 1:26. The same word is used in Genesis 3:22 when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil". Here again the word ‘Us’ is used indicating two God Beings.
At another critical time in man’s history, the time of Noah’s Flood, both God Beings were involved in making the decision jointly.
Genesis 6:5-8 states, “5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.”
The word used for Lord and God is YHWH here meaning the Word who later became Jesus Christ. Thus this is the God Being YHWH making these observations. But then the word Elohim is used in verses 11-13 which are translated God.
Genesis 6:11-13, “11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”
The Lord (YHWH) had made the observations that the earth had become corrupt but that Noah walked with God. But now both God Beings [Elohim] are involved in the decision to destroy the world in a global Flood and save Noah. Here God the Father confirms the decision YHWH had made.
Later there was another critical time in man’s history when both God Beings were involved in making a decision jointly. This occurred when mankind built a tower in rebellion against God. This is stated in Genesis 11:5-7 (NKJV),” 5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."
Here the statements are being made by the Word [YHWH], translated Lord, but then in verse 7 the word “Us” is used again indicating that the Father was also involved in making the decision to confuse the language of mankind. These examples illustrate the perfect unity that exists between the two divine Beings in making decisions.
Meaning of the Hebrew Word echad
The Hebrew word translated “one” in Deuteronomy 6:4 to mean “God is one” is echad. In Strong’s Hebrew dictionary, echad (no. 259) and its root word achad (no. 258) can besides the number one, also mean united as one, first (in importance), alike, alone, together or unify. With these possible meanings the translation of Deuteronomy 6:4 in addition to “The Lord our God is one Lord” can also be “the Lord our God is first in importance”; “The Lord our God is God alone” [meaning all others are idols and not God]; “The Lord our God is united as one”; “The Lord our God is one in unity”.
The correct meaning should be determined by the context in which the word is used. For the context, read verses 4-5, “4 "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” When we consider verse 5, the context would indicate that the word echad implies that God is to be “first in importance” or be “top priority” in our lives. The translation “The Lord our God is God alone” also fits the context.
Moses revealed the existence of two God Beings in the very first book Genesis. He could have been mentioning how the two God Beings are one. So the translation “The Lord our God is united (or unified) as one” could fit the context as well, meaning that the two God Beings are perfectly united in purpose and are of the same mind. That’s why Jesus said in John 10:30, “I and My Father are one.”
Thus all these different translations of Deuteronomy 6:4 would mean that two God Beings are mentioned because none of the translations limit God to just one Being.
Other Old Testament prophets also indicated there are two God Beings.
King David was a prophet (Acts 2:30) who was inspired by God’s holy spirit. He declared in 2 Samuel 23:2, “2 The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and his word was in my tongue.” David revealed the existence of two God Beings in the psalms.
He writes in Psalm 110:1, “1 The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
Here David is declaring the existence of two Lords. Actually this was a prophetic vision David saw which showed the Lord, that is God the Father saying to David’s Lord [the future Jesus Christ] to sit at His [Father’s] right hand until He makes His [Jesus’] enemies His footstool.
This prophecy was fulfilled after Jesus’ sacrifice, Who now sits at the Father’s right hand. Peter the apostle identified the two Lords in Acts 2:32-36, “32 This Jesus has God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted…34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he says himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 35 Until I make your foes your footstool. 36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Thus Acts 2 and Psalm 110 together make it clear that there are two Lords, God the Father and Jesus Christ as His son.
David also describes two God beings prophetically in Psalm 2, as a Father and a Son while talking about God's kingdom. Psalm 2:7-12 (NKJV): "I will declare the decree; The Lord has said to Me, 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession...Now therefore, be wise, O kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are they who put their trust in Him."
People can be blessed only if they put their trust in God. Therefore, the Son being talked about here is also God, and the one talking about the Son obviously is God. God is prophetically declaring that He would beget a Son who will receive the nations for His inheritance. So two God Beings are being discussed in this psalm as well.
Not only to David the prophet but the existence of two God Beings was also revealed to Daniel the prophet in a vision. He writes in Daniel 7:13-14, “13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they [the angelic host] brought him [the Son of Man] near before him [the Ancient of Days]. 14 And there was given him [the Son of Man] dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”
Many times in the New Testament Jesus called Himself the Son of Man. The kingdom that will last forever and ever is identified as God’s Kingdom which Jesus Christ will rule and shall never be destroyed. Revelation 20:4-6 also talks about God’s kingdom, “4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”
Of course God’s Kingdom lasts forever and Jesus Christ will remain King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 17:14 and 19:16). Deuteronomy 4:19 shows that God’s kingdom will extend to the universe after God’s plan of salvation is complete on earth.
The writer of the book of Hebrews confirms the fulfillment of the prophecies of David and Daniel about Jesus Christ the Son of God in Hebrews 1:1-8, “1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. 5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, You are my Son, this day have I begotten you? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? 6 And again, when he brings in the first begotten into the world, he says, And let all the angels of God worship him. 7 And of the angels he says, Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. 8 But unto the Son he says, Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of your kingdom.”
John 1:1-3, 14 also confirms the existence of two God Beings involved in creation, “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made…14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
When we put all these Jewish Scriptures together, we conclude that they mention two God Beings. And the New Testament scriptures also show the existence of two God Beings, though scriptures quoted earlier had said, “God is one.”
How is God One?
We see that both the Old Testament and the New Testaments declare God is one. But both the Old and New Testaments also reveal the existence of two God Beings. How can we reconcile these scriptures? How can two God Beings be one?
Jesus said in John 10:30, “30 I and my Father are one.” How are God the Father and Jesus Christ one?
Let’s see examples in the Bible that show how two or more beings can be one.
The very first example of oneness in the Bible is the union of a man and a woman in marriage. When God created the institution of marriage He said in Genesis 2:24: “: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."
In marriage two beings become one flesh. They still exist as two separate beings, but they have joined together to form one unit. They have become one family. They also become one as they produce children, adding to the family. For example, George Jones marries Sally Smith and become the one Jones family, but still two separate beings, Mr. George Jones and Mrs. Sally Jones. They then have children John Jones, Sara Jones, David Jones and Jennifer Jones. They are all separate human beings but all part of the Jones family. So now many have become one.
A human family is the clue to understanding how God the Father and Jesus Christ are one, though separate Beings. The word translated God in the book of Genesis in almost all places is the word Elohim. Genesis 1:26 states: “26 And God said, Let us make man in our image…” Here God is using the pronoun “us” to describe Himself instead of the pronoun “me”. This means the word God is a uniplural noun like the word family which includes more than one person. The English word God then does not imply just one Being, but more than one Being shares that common name as the family name Jones is shared by many in our example.
So God is a family name which at present is shared by two members. We identify these two members separately as God the Father, and the other member as Jesus Christ. Now John makes perfect sense when he said in John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” That is how Jesus Christ and the Father are One. To make it easier to understand with our example of the Jones family, we could call God the Father as Father God and Jesus Christ as Jesus God, if we apply God as their last name. That is what Muslims and the Koran and other religions fail to understand, but is very clear when one studies the Bible very carefully.
The Bible provides other examples of oneness, the Church being one. The Catholic Church is one Church but has more than a billion members. In the same way a denomination of a Baptist Church is one Church with many members and the Church of God is one Church with many members.
Paul the apostle compared the Church to the different individual parts of one human body in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 (NKJV). He writes: "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit."
Paul here describes many individual members become one in a Church when they are baptized into the Church and receive God’s holy spirit.
Not only does the New Testament provide an example of oneness in the Church, but the Old Testament also provides an example of oneness in the ancient nation of Israel. Judges 20:1, 8-11 (NKJV) state: "So all the children of Israel came out, from Dan to Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead, and the congregation gathered together as one man before the Lord at Mizpah…So all the people arose as one man ... So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united together as one man." Here the entire nation of Israel came together as “one man” in unity and purpose to deal with a villainous act committed by men of the tribe of Benjamin. All these men were individual citizens of the nation of Israel. But they became one in unity and common purpose.
So these examples of oneness in the Bible and the uniplural noun Elohim teach us that the word God, like the words family, Church and nation, is a word for a single entity with two or many members. And that entity can add members and still remain one entity. So God in the Bible means the Family of God at present composed of only two members; Father God and Jesus God. But this family can and is destined to expand, as a human family can expand by reproduction.
The Biblical truth is that God is reproducing Himself through human beings to add many sons to His family. John the apostle described man’s potential to become sons of God like Jesus Christ in 1 John 3:1-3: “1Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he [that is Jesus Christ] shall appear, we shall be like him [with a body composed of the same spirit]; for we shall see him as he is.”
John could not have made the potential of man clearer. Man’s potential is to become literal immortal sons of God as Jesus Christ is the Son of God. God’s plan is to have human beings be born into His family as His literal sons and daughters and brothers of Jesus Christ. And when we become Sons of God, we shall be like Jesus Christ, meaning have a spirit body and powers like those of Jesus Christ. But before we can realize that potential, we must become one among ourselves and one with God as Jesus Christ is one with God, totally united in love, faith, direction, thinking, attitude and purpose.
In John 17 Jesus Christ prayed to the Father to accomplish this in God’s Church with the power of His holy spirit. Verses 20-23 (NKJV) state: “20 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”
Yes, the purpose of all members of God’s Church is to become one with one another in unity, purpose, faith, attitude, direction and love, joined together by God’s holy spirit, and then become one with God the Father and Jesus Christ as They themselves are one. There is not an iota of mistrust or misunderstanding between them and Jesus Christ is totally subservient to the Father. The Father has total faith and trust in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ has complete trust in God the Father. That’s how they are one. That is how God’s family will have many sons or children, all united as one close knit family. And all of God’s family will bear the name God just as all members of the Jones family bear the name Jones. Man’s incredible potential is to become literal gods, as sons of God just as Jesus is God, and also Son of God. Son of man is a man. Therefore a son of God must be a God.
Jesus Himself confirmed that He was divine and that is man’s potential as well. He said in John 10:32-35: “32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do you stone me? 33 The Jews answered him, saying, for a good work we do not stone you; but for blasphemy; and because that you, being a man, make yourself God. 34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, You are gods? 35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken 36 Say you of Him, whom the Father has sanctified, and sent into the world, You blaspheme; because I said, I am the Son of God?”
Jesus here quoted Psalm 82:6 to show that man’s potential is to be called gods, or become gods as children of God and affirmed that this scripture is the infallible truth and cannot be broken. Here Jesus also plainly said He is the Son of God. A Son of God has to be God.
This does not mean that we will have the same power as Jesus Christ or that we will have equal power. Two or more human beings do not have equal power. But they are equal as they are all human beings. In the same way we will not have the same power as Jesus Christ. But we will be His equal brothers and sisters because we will all be immortal children of God.
Copyright © Church of God Message. All rights reserved.