Heavenly Host Authorities and Powers (2)

This topic is the continuation and conclusion to “Heavenly Host Authorities and Powers (1)”.  For additional related background about God’s created angels and other spirit beings, see the topics: “Spirits – Made by God in Light”, “Watchers and Gen. 6 ‘Sons Of God”, “Names & Titles of God in Scripture”, “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”, “Michael in the Bible”.

Little of the material covered in “Heavenly Host Authorities and Powers (1)” is repeated here.  Part 1 noted Bible verses which show that God is supreme among His host (tsabáw Strongs h6635, Hebrew) of celestial beings.  Transliterated Lord of “sabaóth” in New Testament Greek, Ro.9:29 & Ja.5:4.  In the Old Testament (OT), there are lesser spirit beings called “sons of God” (béne ha Élohim h1121 h430).

Some members of God’s celestial host were given a measure of authority over nations.  Wikipedia: Origins of Judaism – Iron Age Yahwism “The various national gods were more or less equal, reflecting the fact that the kingdoms themselves were more or less equal.”  De.32:8-9 Septúagint/LXX “When the Most High divided the nations, He set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God. His people Jacob became the portion of the Lord [Kúrios Strongs g2962, Greek], Israel.”  Book of Jubilees 15:32 “Over Israel He did not appoint any angel or spirit, for He alone is their ruler.”  Israel belonged to the Lord.  Ex.20:3 Israel shall have no other gods before/besides YHVH [h3068]!

Some of the “sons of God”, ‘junior elohím’ (h430) or ‘godlings’, weren’t loyal & obedient to God; they didn’t follow His guidelines!  Jb.4:18 “His angels He charged with folly.”  Jb.15:15 “He puts no trust in His holy ones; the heavens are not pure in His sight.”  Poole Commentary Jb.15:15 “i.e. angels.”

Ancient Israel desired to disobediently worship those gods/elohim of the pagans.  De.32:17 “Israel sacrificed to demons [LXX daimónia g1140], and not to God [Elóah h433], to gods [elohim] whom their fathers knew not.”  Wikipedia: Daímon “Ancient Greek; originally referred to a lesser deity or guiding spirit.”  1Co.10:20 “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons [daimonia], and not to God [Théos g2316].”  1Ki.11:33 Israel forsook its God YHVH; and worshiped Astóreth goddess of the Sidoníans, Chemósh god of the Moabites, Milcóm god of the Ammonites.  De.29:26 “They [Israel] went and served other elohim, and worshiped them; gods whom He [YHVH] had not given to them.”  Ps.106:37 LXX the Lord’s people even sacrificed their sons and daughters to daimonia/demons.

De.4:19 “When you [Israel] see the sun, moon or stars, all the host of heaven, don’t worship them which the Lord your God has apportioned to all nations under heaven.”  Pulpit Commentary “Egyptians worshiped the sun as Ra, the moon as Ísis, and the stars as symbols of deities.”  The heavenly bodies represented the heavenly host of spirit beings.  cf. Jg.5:20 (symbolically) “The stars in their courses fought against Siserá [Canaaníte captain].”  De.17:3 no Israelite was to serve or worship other gods/elohim, and not the sun or moon; none of the host of heaven.  No idolatry.

But ancient Israel spurned their God YHVH; they wanted to worship the gods of the heathens instead or too.  So…Ac.7:42 “God turned, and gave them up to worship the host [stratía g4756, Greek] of heaven.”

Following are excerpts from theologians about God’s heavenly host, “sons of God”, celestial “powers”, and God’s ‘council’:

G.B. Caird Principalities and Powers: p.2 “The inferior gods are to recognize the supremacy of Yahweh [YHVH].”  p.3 “These supernatural beings are conceived as forming a heavenly council around the throne of God.”  Ps.89:6-7 see Part 1.  p.4 “In the Old Testament the ‘host of heaven’ usually denotes the sun, moon, and stars; but sometimes it denotes the heavenly court of Yahweh.”  New Bible Dictionary “The two meanings ‘celestial bodies’ and ‘angelic beings’ are inextricably intertwined.”  Ps.96:5 LXX “All the gods of the nations are demons [daimonia].”  In classical Greek, a daimónion was a divine being, bad or good.  ‘To the Greeks it denoted any heavenly mediator between God and man.’

Caird op. cit.: p.12-13 Plato had spoken of daimonia as guardians of cities [Laws.4:713c, 5:738d]….The stars as ‘visible and created gods’, who derived their divinity from the one God, the Démiurge [Timáeus 40d].”  p.15 “According to Philo [On The Change Of Names 4], God performs some of His providential actions personally, and others through the agency of incorporeal powers.”  p.74 “The deities of the pagan state were responsible for the maintenance of law and had been identified with the astrological gods who represented the reign of natural law.”  p.23 “Pagan nations could be represented either by their angelic governors or by their earthly rulers. Any derivative authority which sets itself up as an absolute authority takes on a demonic [daimonion] character.”

Michael S. Heiser The Unseen Realm: p.325 “The New Testament is silent on the origin of demons [daimonia]. There is no passage that describes a primeval rebellion before Eden where angels fell from grace and became demons.”  p.171 “Yahweh chose to disinherit nations at Babel [Ge.11]. Lesser elohim He had placed over [nations].”  p.127 “(De.32:8-9) Yahweh placed the nations under the governance of junior elohim – sons of God of His divine council.”  p.322 “Lesser elohim had governed corruptly and not maintained loyalty to the Most High. Instead, they embraced the worship that should have gone only to Yahweh (De.17:3, 29:26) [Israel especially].”  p.29 “What the ancient idol worshipers believed was that the objects they made were inhabited by their gods. This is why they performed ceremonies to ‘open the mouth’ of the statue.”

Heiser op. cit.: p.324 “The Hebrew text of Ps.8:5 has humanity being ‘a little lower than elohim.”  p.36 “Jesus is indeed identified with Yahweh and is therefore with Yahweh, unique [monogenés g3439, Jn.1:1, 14, 18] among the elohim that serve God.”

Brian Godawa When Giants Were Upon the Earth: p.45 “Yahweh is incomparably THE Elohim of elohim (Deut.10:17).”  Ps.95:3 “YHVH is a great El [h410 God], above all elohim.” (Though other gods exist; cf. De.32:39 & Is.47:5-7 with Zep.2:13-15 Assyria.)  Ps.96:5 LXX “The gods of the nations are daimonia, but the Lord made the heavens.”  p.46 “The physical objects [idols] were without deity, they could not ‘see or hear or walk’; but the gods behind those objects were real beings with evil intent.”

Godawa op. cit.: p.48 “As punishment for man’s repeated spurning of His authority in primordial times (Gen.3–11), God deprived mankind at large of true knowledge of Himself.”  (see the topic “Kingdom of God”.)  Traditionally, 70 ‘nations’ are indicated (Ge.10) prior to Babel.  The (supposed) Book of Jasher 9:32, “God said to the 70 angels who stood foremost before Him, ‘Let us descend and confuse their tongues”.  p.275 “God divided the 70 nations…the sons of God became the ‘princes’ [cf. Da.10:13, 20] or ‘gods’ of those pagan nations, rulers of those geographical territories.”  p.49 “God then allots the people [Israelites] for Himself, through Abraham. But God’s people fall away from Him and worship these other gods and are judged for their apostasy.”

Godawa op.cit.: p.53 “In the Bible, the concept of ‘god’ (elohim) was about a plane of existence, not necessarily a ‘being’ of existence. There were many gods [1Co.8:5] who existed on that supernatural plane, yet only one God of gods.”  Henothéism.  p.54 “Physical idols (images) are ‘nothing’ and ‘have no real existence’ in that they are the representatives of the deities and not the deities themselves. But the deities behind those idols are real demonic beings, the gods of the nations who are not THE God. Monólatry [henotheism? see Part 1] maintains Yahweh as being of a different substance, essence, or species than the other gods.”  p.56 “A heavenly host of thousands of sons of God called gods, watchers, and holy ones who surround God’s throne as an assembly, who counsel with God and worship Him, and some of whom were given rule over human nations in the past, but have lost that privilege.”  p.53 “Jesus is the species-unique [monogenes] Son of God, the ‘visible Yahweh’ co-regent over the divine council. (Da.7:13-14).”

Ac.17:26 “From one man, God made every nation to live on all the earth; He determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation.”  Godawa op.cit.: p.197 “At Babel, God dispersed the peoples, placing them under the sons of God as their deities. God ‘gave them over’ to their wickedness. With the arrival of Messiah, the gospel liberates those gentile nations from their bondage to be united as one in Christ through faith.”  p.276 “After the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, these spiritual powers have been overthrown, at least legally losing their hegemony (Eph.1:20-23). The fallen angelic powers are still around, but have been defanged with the inauguration of the Messianic kingdom of God.”  p.282-3 “Jesus said His ministry of casting out demons [spirit non-principalities?] was a binding of the satan [ha satán h7854]. With the advent of Christ, the satan/Accuser has been exiled from the divine council of Yahweh [Jn.12:31].”

Brian Godawa When Watchers Ruled The Nations: p.19 “Yahweh gave the host of heaven to all the peoples as their gods because they were already idolators.”  p.20 “We have no historical or biblical evidence of a period of righteous spiritual rulers or worship of Yahweh [by gentile nations] after Babel.”  p.27 “Stars were equated with gods and gods were equated with stars. This explains the development of astrology as the stars determining our destiny; because the ancient mind thought of the stars as gods, and the gods controlled their lives….[gods] represented in the sun, moon and stars that were worshiped by pagans (Da.8:10-11, Ps.148:2-3).”  also ref Part 1.

Walter Wink Naming the Powers “Much tradition identified Satan as the angel of Rome. Since Rome had conquered the entire Mediterranean region and much else besides, its angel-prince had become lord of all other angel-princes of the vanquished nations.”  The ‘Watcher of Rome’, the national “beast” of Re.13:1-8.  Other theologians view the satan in the OT as the label for an adversary or prosecutor.

Caird op. cit.: p.32 “The Satan. He is one of the sons of Elohim [Job 1:6] and has the right of access to the heavenly court. He acts as public prosecutor (Ps.109:6); his duty is to indict sinners before the bar of divine justice.”  (Da.7:9-10 a view of God’s heavenly court.)  p.16 “It is obvious that the principalities, authorities, and powers which are being reduced to impotence by the regnal Christ are spiritual beings [1Co.15:24].”  p.17 “Paul discerned the existence of angelic rulers who shared with their human agents the responsibility for the crucifixion [1Co.2:6-8].”  p.29 “Men and angels alike have been reconciled to God through the Cross [Col.1:16-20].”  Caird includes even disobedient angels.  p.30 “The state itself may be brought progressively more and more within the Christian dispensation.”  p.46 “In Col [1:20] Paul emphatically asserts that the powers are created beings… destined through Christ to be reconciled to God.”  p.56 “The sphere of Yahweh’s sovereignty was steadily extended until it became commensurate with the universe.”  p.83 “The powers could be reconciled to God only when they had been deprived of their evil potentiality and made subject to Christ.”  p.91 “Thus in putting Christ to death the powers were not asserting their control over Him, they were losing the only chance of control they ever had.”  p.101 “The powers of evil have been defeated by the obedience of Christ.”  p.69 “The world empires of the past are to give place to the saints of the Most High [Da.7:27].”

He.2:5 “He [God] did not subject to angels the world [inhabited earth] to come.”  Cambridge Bible He.2:5 “Things in their pre-Christian condition had been subjected to angels.”  Now there’s no legal angelic dominion.  Col.2:18 ESV “Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and the worship of angels.”  Angels aren’t to be worshiped (ref Re.19:10, 22:8-9, Lk.4:6-8).  Rather….

Ps.97:7 “Worship [shakáw h7812] Him [YHVH], all you gods [elohim h430, LXX angels].”  2Ki.5:14-18 Syrians worshiped (h7812) the god Rimmón (Remphán Ac.7:43); the healed Syrian Naamán took back to Syria some Israel soil to make an altar on which he’d sacrifice to YHVH.  Zep.2:11 YHVH the Lord of hosts will famish all the elohim of the earth, and eventually all people will worship (h7812) Him.  Barnes Notes Zep.2:11 “One universal worship shall ascend to God from all everywhere.”  Jesus asserted that His heavenly Father is the “only true God”, Jn.17:3.

Paul wrote that Christians become adopted sons (and daughters, 2Co.6:18) of God!  Ro.8:15 “You have received the Spirit of divine adoption as sons, by whom we cry out, ‘Abbáh, Father.”  also see Ro.8:23, Ep.1:5.  Humanity, made in God’s image & likeness, will share in the God Family!  Heiser op. cit., p.353 “Humanity will become divine [2Pe.1:4?] and displace the lesser elohim over the nations under the authority of the unique divine Son.”  According to Paul, we saints will even judge angels (1Co.6:3).

Again, for more about God’s spirit creation, see Part 1 and the topics: “Spirits – Made by God in Light”, “Watchers and Gen. 6 ‘Sons Of God”, “Names & Titles of God in Scripture”, “Michael in the Bible”.

 

Heavenly Host Authorities and Powers (1)

This topic is about God’s heavenly host.  It expands on the material and Bible verses presented in the topics “Spirits – Made by God in Light”, “Watchers and Gen. 6 ‘Sons Of God”, “Names & Titles of God in Scripture”, “Jesus Was The Old Testament God”, “Michael in the Bible”.  Reference those topics for more background.

To begin, from the topic “Spirits – Made By God in Light”: After Light was brought forth on the 1^st day (Ge.1:3), God made spirit beings lesser than Himself.  Ps.104:2-4 Septúagint/LXX “Who makes His angels spirits”.  The angelic order is composed of spirit beings.  God’s heavenly host (tsabáw Strongs h6635, Hebrew) includes angels.  Ne.9:6 “You are the Lord [YHVH h3068], who has made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host. The host of heaven worships You.”  Cambridge Bible Ne.9:6 “Most probably means the created spirits.”  Benson Commentary “All the inhabitants of heaven.”  Gill Exposition “Angels were made by him, Heb.1:7; and, as the Jewish writers say, on the 2^nd day of the creation, though some say on the 5^th.”  Col.1:16 “By Him [Christ the Son] all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible.”  The Lord Christ shared in the Creation.  It includes the heavenly host of beings, normally not visible to human eyes.  JFB Commentary Col.1:16 “Invisible – the world of spirits.”  Barnes Notes “The angels we cannot see. Inhabitants of distant worlds.”  Benson Commentary “The different orders of angels, both those that stood and those that afterward fell.”

Jn.1:14 Jesus was the primordial “Word” (lógos g3056, Greek) of God.  Jn.1:1-3 “The Word was God. All things came into being through Him [Christ the Word].”  “All things” may include lesser spirit beings.  Expositor’s Greek Testament Jn.1:3 “In 1Cor.8:6 Paul distinguishes between the Father as the primal source of all things and the Son as the actual Creator.”  Christ as Executive Creator.  He.12:9 God is the “Father of spirits”.  Meyer’s New Testament Commentary “God, who is Father in regard to the higher spiritual domain of life.”  Barnes Notes He.12:9 “God is Himself a Spirit [Jn.4:24]. Angels and human souls [or spirits] may be represented as especially His offspring.”  JFB Commentary “God is…the Creator of spirits like Himself, in contrast to men who are flesh.”  Pulpit Commentary “It isn’t human spirits only that are here in view. God is the Father of all ‘the spirits.”

In the Old Testament (OT), some lesser spirit beings are referred to as “sons of God”, béne ha Élohim (h1121 h430).  Jb.38:7 at Creation “the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God [bene Elohim] shouted for joy.”  v.7 LXX (Greek) “When the stars were made, all My angels praised Me with a loud voice.”  Da.3:25 “Like a son of Elaáh [bar Elahin h1247 h426, Aramaic].”  Ps.89:6-7 “Who in heaven can be compared to YHVH? Who among the sons of El [bene Elim h1121 h410] can be likened to YHVH? El is greatly to be feared in the council [sode h5475] of the holy ones, to be had in reverence of all those around Him.”  Poole Commentary Ps.89:7 “The whole society of angels.”  Ps.97:9 “You, YHVH are exalted far above all gods [elohim].”  Ex.15:11 LXX “Who is like You among the gods [théos g2316], O Lord [Kúrios g2962].”  Ps.29:1 “O you sons of El [bene Elim], give unto YHVH glory and strength.”  Barnes Notes Ps.29:1 “The psalmist calls upon the angels.”  Ps.96:9 LXX “Worship the Lord [Kurios] in His holy court.”  YHVH the Lord is superior to others.

Da.4:35 the Most High does according to His will in the army of heaven.  JFB Commentary Da.4:17 “A solemn council of the heavenly ones is supposed (cf. Job 1:6, 2:1), over which God presides supreme.”  Jb.1:6, 2:1 “There was a day when the sons of God [bene ha elohim] came to appear before YHVH.”

1Ki.22:19-23 LXX NETS “I saw the Lord God of Israel sitting on His throne, and all the host (stratía g4756) of heaven stood near on His right and on His left.”  Here one of the Lord’s host offered to be a lying spirit to deceive king Aháb!  In the New Testament (NT), Lk.2:13 “Suddenly a vast heavenly host [stratia] appeared, praising God”.  Is.6:1-3 “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord [YHVH] of hosts.”

Ps.82:1-2 “Elohim stands in the assembly of El; He judges among the elohim. How long will you judge unjustly?”  v.6 “I have said, ‘You are elohim’; all of you are sons of the Most High [bene Elyón h1121 h5945].”  However, v.7 “But you shall die like men” may indicate physical judges (not celestial)?  Ps.8:5 Humans are created a little lower than the heavenly beings (elohim h430; LXX “angels”, He.2:7).  ref the topic “Watchers and Gen. 6 ‘Sons of God” for Bible commentaries regarding God’s council.

Yet some celestial beings weren’t loyal or obedient to God; they didn’t follow His guidelines!  Jb.4:18 “His angels (maláwk h4397) He charged with folly.”  Barnes Notes “The idea is that of foolishness.”  Jb.15:15 “He puts no trust in His holy ones; the heavens are not pure in His sight.”  Poole Commentary “i.e., angels.”  Jb.25:5 “The stars are not pure in His sight.”  JFB Commentary “Angels, of which stars are emblems.”

In the NT, some beings in God’s celestial host are called “authorities”, “powers”, “principalities”.  Our Bible translations use English words to describe or identify (ruling) members/groups of God’s spirit creation, the heavenly host.  But some translations use the same English word to represent various terms of the Greek text source manuscripts.  That unspecific practice may confuse.  For consistency, I’ll use the following English words for the associated Greek NT & OT LXX terms:

Authority exousía g1849: Col.1:13 “The Father has rescued us from the authority of darkness.”

Authority g1849 and Powers dúnamis g1411: 1Pe.3:22 “Angels and authorities and powers having been subjected to Him [Christ].”  Cambridge Bible “Including the whole hierarchy of heaven.”  Pulpit Commentary “The evil angels also…against their will.”  Re.13:2 “The dragon gave the beast [a human rule] his power and authority.”  (cf. Lk.4:36, 9:1 regarding the power of Jesus given to His disciples.)

Principality arché g746 and Powers g1411: Ro.8:38 “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, principalities or powers…shall separate us from the love of God.”

Principalities g746 and Authorities g1849: Ep.3:10 “That there be made known to the principalities and authorities in the heavenly places the wisdom of God.”  Ep.6:12 “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but with principalities and authorities, against spiritual authority in heavenly places.”  Col.1:16 “In Him [Christ the Son] were all things created, those visible and invisible; whether thrones, lordships, principalities or authorities; all things by Him and for Him.”  Col.2:10 “You are made full in Him [Christ], who is the head of all principality and authority.”  Col.2:15 “Having stripped the principalities and authorities, He made a show of them openly, having triumphed over them.”  (cf. Lk.12:11 & 20:20 & Tit.3:1, which relate to human rule.)

Principalities g746 and Authority g1849 and Powers g1411: Ep.1:20-21 “He [Father God] set Christ at His own right hand in the heavens, far above every principality, authority and power.”  Gill Exposition “Far above…good angels and bad angels, and civil magistrates.”  1Co.15:24 “Then comes the end…when He has put down all principality and authority and power.”  JFB Commentary “Whether openly opposed powers, as Satan [a seraph dragon? cf. Is.6:2] and his angels, or kings & angelic principalities.”

Ruler/Prince árchon g758: Da.12:1 LXX Michael the archangel is the great (mégas g3173) ruler/prince.  (cf. Da.10:13, 20-21, Jude 9.)  Jn.12:31 Jesus said, “Now will the prince of this world [kósmos g2889] be cast out”.  Ellicott Commentary “Prince of this world’ was the regular rabbinic title for Satan, as ruler of the gentiles. Jews as well as gentiles have been subjects of the prince of this world (Jn.8:44).”  Re.12:9 “The great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and satan.”  Robert Henderson Operating in the Courts of Heaven, p.173 “Fallen seraphim are now principalities.”

Ruler g758 and Authority g1849: Ep.2:2 “In time past you lived according to the eon [aión g165] of this world [kosmos], according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience.”

Thrones thrónos g2362: Col.1:16 again.  Re.11:16 “The 24 elders [who wear crowns, Re.4:10], sitting on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God.”  also cf. Re.20:4, Mt.19:28.

Most of the occurrences of the above NT terms relating to the heavenly host come from Paul’s writings.

What of those celestial beings/“sons of God” and their human rulers who weren’t loyal or obedient to God?  Is.24:21 “In that day the Lord will punish the host of high ones on high, and the kings of the earth on earth.”  Ellicott Commentary “The ‘principalities and powers in heavenly places.”  Je.46:25 “YHVH of hosts, the God of Israel says, ‘I will punish Amon the god of Thebes [capitol of S. Egypt], Egypt, its gods [elohim] and its kings.”  cf. 1Co.6:3 “Don’t you know that we will judge angels?”

Da.10:13 LXX NETS “The ruler [archon g758] of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days. Michael, one of the chief rulers [g758], came to help me; and I left Him there with the ruler of the Persians.”  G.B. Caird Principalities and Powers, p.6 “These princes are not to be identified with Alexander the Great and Darius 3. They are the angelic guardians of the two nations (Da.10:13, 20, Da.12:1).”  Ibid., p.11 “The Septuagint. It is here we find the terms powers (dunamis g1411), authorities (exousia g1849), principalities (arche g746)…applied for the first time to angelic beings (Ps.148:2, 103:21).”

Members of God’s heavenly host had a measure of authority over their nations.  De.32:8-9 LXX “When the Most High divided the nations, He set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God. His people Jacob became the portion of the Lord, Israel.”  Wisdom of Sírach 17:17 “In the division of the nations, the Lord set a [celestial] ruler over every people, but Israel is the Lord’s.”  Book of Jubilees 15:32 “Over Israel He did not appoint any angel or spirit, for He alone is their ruler.”

Wikipedia: Origins of Judaism – Iron Age Yahwism “The various national gods were more or less equal, reflecting the fact that kingdoms themselves were more or less equal, and within each kingdom a divine couple, made up of the national god and his consort – Yahweh [YHVH] and the goddess Asheráh in Israel and Judah – headed a pantheon of lesser gods.”  The “sons of God” [bene ha Elohim] were lesser.

Ex.20:3 Israel shall have no other elohim before/besides YHVH!  Claude Mariottini Other Gods Mentioned in the Old Testament “The 2^nd commandment declares that in Israel no other god should be worshiped in addition to YHVH…the words of the commandment do not deny the existence of other gods…Monothéism, that there was no other god besides YHVH, came into existence late in Israel.”

Wikipedia: Monotheism “The belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God.”  Wikipedia: Polythéism “The belief in multiple deities, usually a pantheon of gods and goddesses.”  Wikipedia: Henothéism “The worship of a single supreme God that does not deny the existence or possible existence of other deities.”  Wikipedia: Monólatry “The belief in the existence of many gods, but with the consistent worship of only one [selected] deity.”  Monolatry and henotheism are similar, but henotheists worship only the God they view as the greatest.

Paul wrote in 1Co.8:5-6, “There be many gods and many lords. But for us there is one God, the Father…and one Lord, Jesus Christ.”  Jesus spoke of His heavenly Father in Jn.17:3. “This is life eternal, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

This topic is continued and concluded in “Heavenly Host Authorities and Powers (2)”.  Part 2 includes additional views of theologians and commentaries about God’s host.

Holy Spirit’s Identity

The identity of the Holy Spirit remains somewhat of a mystery to many Bible readers.  This topic is a composite of material excerpted from my previous topics relating to the Godhead: “Tri-unity of God”, “Godhead in Prehistory”, “Holy Spirit Personification”, “Holy Spirit versus Mariolatry”, “Names/Titles of God in the Old Testament”.

In the English language, the word “God” is customarily used for Deity.  Only the true God is Divine.

The Bible indicates there are 3 “Persons” in the Godhead, the Godkind or God Family: Father, Holy Spirit, Jesus the Son/Word.  They are identical in essence, fully divine, a tri-unity of subsistences having self-awareness.  The God Family is uni-plural, as “one” (echad, Hebrew Strongs h259) in nature.

The tripartite Godhead is revealed to us by Jesus the Son’s coming in the flesh and His words in the New Testament (NT), by other scriptures, and by the Holy Spirit (HS) indwelling us as Christians.  It’s been said in analogy that the Father is the wall outlet, the HS is the cord, Jesus is the lamp (Re.21:23).

Father God is in heaven.  God has operated through the HS and Jesus.  Ac.2:34 Jesus ascended into heaven and now sits there at Father’s right hand (and Jesus lives mystically in Christians, Jn.17:21-23 & Col.1:27).  The human Jesus wasn’t omnipresent.  The HS is on earth…omnipresent.  David wrote in Ps.139:7-10, “Where can I go from Your Spirit, where can I flee from Your Presence?”  Not anywhere.

The Father sent Jesus.  Jn.12:49 Jesus said, “The Father who sent Me has given Me commandment.”  The two are distinct.  The Father also sends the HS. Jn.14:26 “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send.”  Jesus too sends the HS (Jn.16:7).  So all three are distinct!  But neither Jesus nor the HS sends the Father!  They differ in order and subordination.  The human Jesus wasn’t omniscient.  Mt.24:36 “Of that day and hour no one knows, not the Son, the Father only.” (see “Jesus Is God…Jesus Has A God”.)

The HS belongs to and was part of Father God, has personality, but isn’t the totality of God.  God is a triad: 2Co.13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the HS be with you all.”  2Co.1:21-22 “He who establishes us in Christ and anointed us is God, who also gave us the Spirit.”  Ep.4:4-6 “There is one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all.”  (That’s three!)  Ac.7:55 “Being full of the HS, Stephen saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”  He.9:14 “Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without blemish to God.”  1Co.12:4-6 “The same Spirit…the same Lord…the same God.”  (Again, that’s three.)  1Pe.1:2 “Elect according to a foreknowledge of God the Father, sanctified by the Spirit, sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ.”

The triune God is thrice holy: One Spirit…one Lord…one Father (Ep.4:4-6).  Is.6:3 “Holy, Holy, Holy is YHVH of hosts.”  A three-in-one Godhead.  The heavenly worshipers in Re.4:8 “Do not cease to say, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty”.

The terms for God as “Father” and “Holy Spirit” rarely occur as such in the Old Testament (OT).

The Holy Spirit in the OT: Is.48:16 “The Lord God and His Spirit have sent Me.”  Job.33:4 “The Spirit of God has made me.”  Pr.1:20-23 “Wisdom lifts her voice, ‘I will pour out My Spirit on you.”

Every human has a spirit within.  Jb.32:8 “There is a spirit in man.”  Our human spirit gives biological life to our body of flesh (Ge.2:7).  Ja.2:26 “The body without the spirit is dead.”  Without our human spirit, we’re just a clod.  Our spirit in God’s image imparts self-awareness and intellect to our brain.  It’s a non-physical component which differentiates human mind from animal brain instinct.  Our spirit gives us a moral sense of conscience, based mostly upon the self and cultural customs & laws.  The HS will join with our human spirit (1Co.6:17); we become linked to God, able to obey God’s morality.

The Holy Spirit, ministering spirits (angels), our human spirits…aren’t an impersonal Star Wars type force!  Our human spirit is me, is you, within our flesh ‘suit’.  (see “Spirits – Made by God in Light”.)

Ontology is the study of being.  God, angels, humans are called personal beings.  But God’s Being isn’t finite or limited, as we are limited.  Scripture doesn’t define ‘person’ (the term we use in modern English), and doesn’t apply that term to the triune God.  The Latin persona was a ‘face’ worn by Greek/Roman dramatic actors.  Church fathers applied the Greek term hypostases (entities) to God.

The HS speaks in 1^st Person as “Me” and “I” in Ac.13:2. “The Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work which I have called them to.”  Also ref Ac.11:12, Jn.16:13, Mk.13:11, which indicate the HS is personal and speaks.  2Sm.23:2-3 “The Spirit of YHVH spoke by me. The God of Israel.”  The HS is God/YHVH.  But who was/is this Holy Spirit of God?

Theóphilus, the 6^th bishop of Antioch (born approximately 20 years after the apostle John died), was the first to use the term trinity/triad.  In 175 AD he wrote To Autolýcus, 2:10. “God, having His own Word internal within His own bowels, begat Him, emitting Him along with His own Wisdom before all things.”  Theophilus’ triad was “The Trinity of [Father] God, His Word, and His Wisdom.” (Autolycus 2:15)

Wikipedia: Theophilus of Antioch “Theophilus’s apology is most notable for being the earliest extant Christian work to use the word ‘Trinity’ (Greek: τριάς trias), although it does not use the common formula of ‘the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit’ to describe the Trinity. Rather, Theophilus himself puts it as ‘God, his Word (Logos) and his Wisdom (Sophía)’ [To Autolycus 2:15], perhaps following the early Christian practice of identifying the Holy Spirit as the Wisdom of God [Autolycus 1:7].”

“This is also expressed in the works of his contemporary, Irenáeus of Lyons, who writes [Ps.33:6], ‘By the word of the Lord were the heavens established, and by his spirit all their power. Since then the Word establishes, gives body and grants the reality of being, and the Spirit gives order and form to the diversity of the powers; rightly and fittingly is the Word called the Son, and the Spirit the Wisdom of God’. [Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching] ‘In like manner also the 3 days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinity, of God, and His Word, and His wisdom. And the 4^th is the type of man, who needs light, that so there may be God, the Word, wisdom, man.’ [To Autolycus 2:15]”

Irenaeus is called the most important theologian of his time.  He lived from 130–200 AD, having been taught by Polycarp (in Smyrna), who was a disciple of the apostle John.  

Residing in Lyons, France, Irenaeus wrote in Against Heresies. “The Son is rightly and properly called Word, while the Spirit is called the Wisdom [Sophia] of God”.  Ibid 4.7.4 “The Son and the Holy Spirit, the Word and Wisdom [Sophia], whom all the angels serve.”  4:20:3 “God tells us through the mouth of Solomon that Sophia is the Spirit.”  Sophia (Strongs g4678) is the Greek term for Wisdom.

Christian historian Robert Grant Greek Apologists of the 2^nd Century, p.169 “Theophilus and almost every early Christian theologian agreed the Logos (like Sophia/Wisdom) was originally in God”.

Jesus referred to the apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon (WSol).  cf. Mt.27:43 & WSol.2:13, 18; Lk.11:31 & WSol.8:1.  (The apostle Paul referred to WSol too.  cf. WSol.13:5, 8 & Ro.1:19-20 KJV “Godhead”.)

Jesus said the Queen of Sheba “Came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon” (Mt.12:42, 1Ki.10:1-4).  Jesus also referred to the apocryphal Wisdom of Sirach (WSir)/Ecclesiasticus.  cf. Mt.6:14 & WSir 28:2.  WSol was written ca 20 BC; WSir was written ca 180 BC in Hebrew.

WSol.7:22, 25 “In herself, wisdom is a spirit that is understanding, Holy. She is the breath of the power of God, and the emanation of the pure glory of the Almighty.”  Wisdom is the Holy Spirit, split-off or spirated or emanated through God’s breath/mouth.  WSol.8:3-4 “She glorifies her noble birth by living with God, and the Master of all loves her.”  Pr.8:30 “I [wisdom] was daily His delight.”

WSol and WSir reflect how Jews believed and interpreted Proverbs & Wisdom in latter BC times.  Wisdom is sophia (g4678) in Greek, and chokmáh (h2451) in Hebrew.  Orthodox Bible “The Holy Spirit receives eternal existence only from the Father.”  Wisdom says in Pr.8:25 LXX, “He begets [gennáo g1080] Me”.  Philo On Flight and Finding (p.325) “Wisdom, even if it be most ancient of all other things, still has only second place to that Omnipotent Being.”  Father God is the Most High God.

Solomon’s prayer of WSol.9:4, 10, 17, “Give me the wisdom that sits by Your throne…Send her forth from Your holy heavens…Send Your Holy Spirit from on high.”  Wisdom the HS sat beside God’s throne in the heavens, as a Queen beside the King’s throne.  The real ‘Queen of Heaven’ isn’t Ishtar, or other pagan goddesses (cf. Je.44:17)…rather, She’s the feminine HS.

In Lk.7:35, Jesus indicated His Mother is Wisdom, the HS.  Connecting in order the following seven verses will identify the (feminine) HS: Jl.2:28a, Pr.1:20, 23, De.34:9a, Nu.27:18, Mt.1:18b, Lk.7:35.

The Works of Philo, p.85, 331, 405 “The Word [Logos, Greek] has received wholly pure parents…God being the Father and husband of wisdom, the mother of the Word….the Divine Logos flows forth from Wisdom.”  Creation reflects/teaches that it’s impossible to have a father without having a mother!

In our various languages, we use terms which correspond to the ancient Hebrew & Greek terms chosen by the Bible writers to identify and describe the ‘Persons’ of the God Family.  Jewish and Christian theology usually refers to God in male language and images, yet agrees it doesn’t adequately express all that the Divine is.  The Godhead possesses all the masculine and feminine attributes.  God is so great!

Wisdom is a personified hypostasis (a Greek term used in early Christian writings) or entity of God’s divine essence.

God reflects masculine roles: Ps.103:13 Father.  Ho.2:16 husband.  Ps.98:6 king.  Ex.15:3 warrior.

God reflects feminine roles: Is.66:13 Mother.  Is.42:14 pregnant.  Ps.22:9 midwife.  Ps.123:2 mistress.

Again, Wisdom is the Holy Spirit.  WSol.1:4-5 “Wisdom won’t enter the soul that plots evil. For a holy spirit of discipline flees from deceit.”  Again, WSol.9:17 “Unless You have given him wisdom and sent Your Holy Spirit from on high.”  Nu.27:18 “Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit.”  De.34:9 “Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the Spirit of wisdom.”  Omnipresent, at God’s throne in heaven, and within Joshua, was the HS Wisdom.  And Wisdom is “Her”.

Jesus was conceived in the virgin Mary by the HS (Lk.1:35 the HS came upon Mary); and John the Baptizer was filled with the HS in his mother’s womb (Lk.1:15).  Speaking of Himself and John, Jesus said in Lk.7:33-35, “Wisdom is justified by her children”.  Jesus, the Child conceived by Wisdom the HS, speaks of Wisdom as “her”!  (As did Proverbs, etc.)  Jesus’ words are authoritative and truth!

The Hebrew grammatical gender of Bible nouns has significance.  But this doesn’t mean God the HS is literally a woman!  Yet the HS is grammatically and figuratively “she/her”.

In OT scripture, the ancient Hebrew (Heb) language attached gender to Spirit essence.  The Heb term for spirit (rúach h7307, and Aramaic rúach h7308) is feminine (fem).  The Heb term for wisdom (chokmah h2451) is fem.  In the OT Septúagint/LXX and NT both, the Greek (Gr) term for wisdom is sophia g4678.  Solomon wrote in Pr.7:4, “Call wisdom your sister”.  Sisters are of course feminine, not masculine (masc).  In Pr.9:1-3, wisdom is “she/her”.  WSir.4:11 “Wisdom exalts her children.”  WSir.24:18 of Wisdom, “I AM the mother of love that is beautiful. I therefore, being eternal, am given to all My children who are picked by Him.”  (Father God picks His elect: Ep.1:3-5, 17, Jn.6:44.)  And Jesus knew Himself to be a Child of Wisdom/Sophia/“her” in Lk.7:35.

Elóah h433 is a Heb term for God, occurring 55 times in the OT (mostly in Job and poetic passages).  Jb.27:3 “The spirit of God [Eloah h433] is in my nostrils.”  The –ah ending is indicative of fem singular.  The most common OT Heb term for God is Elohím h430.  Elohim is a masc plural ending –im (Father and Son), combined with the fem singular root Eloah (HS/Wisdom) or possibly El.  Three.

Also the modern Heb fem term ‘shekínah’ represents the Divine Presence, the OT fire-cloud of glory.

Heb grammar too uses masc pronouns for God.  Heb & Aramaic has no neuter (no “it”); all nouns are masc or fem.  Again, the Heb term for spirit (ruach) is fem.  But unlike Heb, the Greek term for spirit (pneúma) is neuter.  The Latin term for spirit (spirítus) is masc.  Noun gender varies in languages.  In translated languages, gender doesn’t have the significance as in the original inspired Hebrew scripture.

In English, translators render pronouns with the Gr pneuma/spirit (neuter) as he masc, e.g. Jn.14:26. (or it neuter, Ro.8:26 KJV.)  Some of this is revisionism.  This practice subconsciously makes men seem more like God than do women.  Yet in 2Co.6:18, Paul wrote that God said, “You shall be sons and daughters to Me”.  In Jn.14:26, the Gr masc term paráclete is translated Comforter/Helper, and refers to the Gr neuter term Spirit.  Here translators chose to use the pronoun He.  But since God has both masc and fem characteristics (Is.42:13-14, Ps.123:2), Heb personal noun gender is more meaningful.  Later languages such as Greek, Latin, English don’t maintain the original Heb gender in translation.

The most ancient of the rare Old Syriac copies, the Siniatic Palimpsest (300s–400s AD), was found in 1892 in the Covenant of St. Catherine by Syriac Professor R.L. Bensly (Cambridge Univ).  Jesus’ words in Jn.14:26 read: “But She—the Spirit-the Paraclete whom He will send to you-my Father in my name —She will teach you everything; She will remind you of that which I told you.”  The Spirit is feminine to the Syriac church (as the ancient Aramaic ruach/spirit was fem), unlike Greek and Latin grammar.

J.J. Hurtak: “The Spirit is not called ‘it’ despite the fact that pneuma [spirit] in Greek is a neuter noun. Church doctrine regards the Holy Spirit as a person, not a force like magnetism. In the Eastern Church, Spirit was always considered to have a feminine nature. She was the life-bearer of the faith.”

The Westminster Leningrad Codex (1008 AD) is the oldest complete Heb manuscript.  In its ultra-literal interlinear English translation online: Is.11:2 “And she rests on him, spirit of YHVH.”  Ps.143:10 “Good spirit of you Elohim, she shall guide me.”  Nu.11:26 “The spirit, she is resting on them.”  Ezk.37:1 “She becomes hand of YHVH on me in spirit of YHVH.”  Jb.33:4 “Spirit of El, she made me; breath of Who-Suffices, she is keeping me alive.”  (Ec.12:1 “Remember Ones creating you.”…“Us” in Ge.1:26.)

From our Is.11:2. “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest on Him [Messiah], the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”  The LXX adds “godliness”.  Seven attributes!  And they’re all fem nouns!  Wisdom is primary (Pr.4:7).

In Pr.8:12-14, Wisdom speaks in 1^st Person. “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord. Counsel is mine. I AM understanding, strength is mine.”  These attributes are all fem!  Philo AI1 p.29…On Flight and Finding, p.325 “He called that Divine & heavenly Wisdom by many names….Indeed all the virtues bear the names of women.”  It’s not just coincidence.

Oswald Chambers’ Christian devotional, My Utmost For His Highest, is one of the most popular religious books ever written.  In it he wrote, “I am the Almighty God’ – El-Shaddaí, the Father-Mother God. The one thing for which we are all being disciplined is to know that God is real.”  God is both Father and Mother.  El Shaddai (h7706) has been described or defined as the ‘mighty breasted One’.

We may say the Father is the Source, Possessor, Director, Planner.  The Son is the Spokesman, the Executor, Mediator, Ruler.  The HS is Wisdom, the Omnipresence, the Comforter…and the Glory!

Father God is Jesus’ Father, and Jesus referred to Himself as the Child of Wisdom (Lk.7:35), His Mother.  In the NT, Jesus never called Mary, “mother”!  He referred to the surrogate Mary as “woman”.  Jn.2:4 “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what have I to do with you?”  Jn.19:26 “When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple He loved nearby, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!”

Jesus was fully God in the flesh…both His Father and Mother are God!  The womb of Mary, the “woman” as Jesus lovingly called her, served to form Him in the flesh to become the God-Man.  The 300s AD Apostles Creed reads, “I believe in Jesus Christ, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary”.  Mary birthed Jesus.  Ga.4:4 “God sent forth His Son, born of a woman.”  Lk.1:35 “The angel said, ‘The Holy Spirit will come, and the power of The Highest will overshadow you [Mary]; therefore the Holy One to be born shall be called Son of God.”  Orthodox Study Bible Lk.1:35 “Note the revelation of the Holy Trinity: The Father (The Highest), the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”  The Father overshadowed the HS upon Mary, and God’s Son Jesus was conceived.

Chinese preacher Witness Lee was part of the Christian work started by Watchman Nee.  Lee’s Living With and In the Divine Trinity”, p.39 “Lk.1:35 shows the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary…the Most High, God the Father, overshadowing Mary…and the birth of the holy thing, the Son of God. Thus the entire Divine Trinity was involved in the conception.”  The Son was conceived into Mary by His divine Parents, who are both God.

Father God didn’t somehow have sexual relations with Mary, who was engaged to the man Joseph (Mt.1:18).  It was adultery to have sex with a woman married or betrothed to another.  De.22:23-27 God’s penalty for such adultery was death.  Surely, Father God wasn’t an (figurative) adulterer!

Furthermore, Mary was of a different kind…she was the human kind, not the Godkind.  God’s principle of biogenesis reflects each creation reproducing only according to its kind (ref Ge.1:11-12, 21, 24-25, 6:19-20, Mt.7:16, 1Co.15:38-39).  Father God is Spirit, not flesh, Jn.4:23-24.  The term incubus pertains to a spirit having sex with a human woman.  Heathen gods, such as Zeus/Jupiter, supposedly had sex with mortal women and produced offspring.

Philo Judaeus (25 BC–50 AD), The Works of Philo, AI2:14:49 “The mother of all things…the wisdom of God.”  Again, Jesus indicated He was the Child of her, Wisdom/Sophia, Mt.11:19 KJV.  Pr.1:20-23 “Wisdom lifts her voice, ‘I will pour out My Spirit upon you.” (cf. Jl.2:28a)  She is the Holy Spirit.

Early church writings in various countries attest to the feminine HS.  The fragmentary Gospel to the Hebrews was written in Greek (probably at Alexandria) in the early 100s AD, for Jewish Christians.  The HS is Jesus’ Divine Mother in its Christology.  In one quotation Jesus declared, “My mother, the Holy Spirit took Me, and conveyed Me to the great mount Tabor”.  (cf. Lk.7:35 regarding Jesus’ mother.)

Áphrahat (280–345 AD) wrote in Syriac in Persia. Demonstrations VI “The Spirit, She opens the heavens and descends, and hovers over the waters; and those who are baptized put Her on.”  From Aphrahat’s Demonstration X, “As long as a man hasn’t taken a wife, he loves and reveres God his Father and the Holy Spirit his Mother.”  (Re.19:7-9 is Jesus’ metaphorical marriage to Christians.)

Éphrem the Syrian (306–373 AD) was perhaps the most significant of all the Syriac language fathers, called ‘the greatest poet of the patristic age’.  His Hymnen de Ecclesia identifies the Spirit as feminine.

Robert Murray Symbols of Church and Kingdom, p.25 “The Syriac Fathers, as is well known, attributed female gender to the Holy Spirit in the first centuries after Christ; seeing the Holy Spirit especially as ‘Mother.”  The early Eastern Church originally believed the HS was She/Her.

But after some time, the Syriac church lost or suppressed the original OT & apocryphal Jewish concept of the fem HS or shekinah.  By the 500s AD, a masc HS was becoming more the norm.  Possibly this was due to Western influence, and because some heretical groups misused the feminine imagery.

Over the centuries, the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) has made Mary a counterfeit or substitute for the scriptural person of Wisdom/Sophia/Mother.  Yet a counterfeit presumes a prior genuine!  It was Wisdom who sat beside God’s throne as Queen (WSol.9:4).  She was beside YHVH at the beginning (Pr.8:22, 30).  The original Queen of Heaven (cf. Je.7:18) wasn’t a counterfeit Astarte or Isis…or Mary!

The surrogate Mary carried and birthed Jesus the Son of God.  She’s a godly woman.  But not a co-redemptrix or mediatrix; not due near-goddess status!  The RCC believes Mary was always sinless.  However, Mary herself indicated that she too needs a Savior!  Lk.1:46-47 Mary exulted, “My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior”.  Mary knew she was a sinner needing a Savior, as does all of humanity.

The early Syriac writers didn’t present the HS as a literal woman.  But by the 500s AD she’d become masculine.  It seems the concept of a fem HS became dangerous to the structure of the church.  Even by the time the HS had become a confirmed member of the trinity (Council of Constantinople in 381 AD), the HS was described as masc, despite having nurturing fem qualities!  But Ge.1:2, 26-27 females too embody God’s image!  Male and female both are created in the image (masc) and likeness (fem) of God.  Martin Luther reportedly was ‘not ashamed of speaking of the HS in feminine terms’.

Count Zinzendorf (1700–1760) was leader of the Moravian church in Czechoslovakia and America.  To Zinzendorf, the HS was feminine, the Creator (Ge.1:2, 26 “Us”) and Mother.  He wrote, “She has created the world with the Savior and now is remaking every child until it is a new creation, and becomes one in the spirit with him; She nurses and watches until it is grown.”

Again, in the NT Jesus never referred to Mary as His mother (or to Joseph as His father).  By the early 300s AD, the church was embroiled in the Arian controversies.  Many didn’t want Jesus begotten before time began.  But in the 300s AD, many did want women suppressed.  A quandary existed.  So they hushed scriptures which related to Wisdom/Sophía the HS too having been “brought forth” in past eternity…though Wisdom herself says in Pr.8:25b LXX, “He begets [gennao g1080] Me”.

Over the centuries AD, Mother Wisdom/Sophia became assimilated into the cult of the virgin Mary.  It elevated Mary, the counterfeit or replacement for Wisdom the HS.  Mariolatry ensued in the RCC.

For more details relating to the divine God Family, see my other topics: “Tri-unity of God”, “Godhead in Prehistory”, “Holy Spirit Personification”, “Holy Spirit versus Mariolatry”, “Names/Titles of God in the Old Testament”, “Jesus is God…Jesus Has a God”, “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”, “Jesus Is the Messiah”, “Jesus’ Virgin Birth”, “Savior’s Name in Bible Languages”.

Jesus’ Virgin Birth

There are some who teach the New Testament (NT), but don’t fully believe a basic gospel truth…the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.  That includes some who have knowledge of Bible Hebrew and Greek.

There was uncertainty about Jesus’ birth in 1^st century Judaism.  The Jews said to Jesus/Yeshúa in Jn.8:41, 48 “We weren’t born from sexual immorality. You’re a Samaritan and have a demon.”  Those disbelieving Jews implied that Jesus was racially variant and demented.  There was hostility between Jews and the mongrel Samaritan people.  Samaritans resembled Jews but were considered imposters.  v.42-44 Jesus’ reply was, He came from God and the father of those Jews was the devil.

In 178 AD, the Greek philosopher Célsus spread the false Jewish story that a Roman soldier called Pantéra (‘panther’) had an affair with Mary, and was Jesus’ biological father.  Rabbinic writings of the Middle Ages called Jesus/Yeshua, ‘Yeshu ben Pantera’.  Let’s see what the Bible says about Jesus’ birth.

The supposed parents of Jesus, Joseph and Mary, were Galileans betrothed.  But they hadn’t yet come together.  God sent the angel Gabriel to inform Mary in Lk.1:26-34. “You will bear a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus [Yeshua]. He will be the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.’ Mary replied, ‘How can this occur, since I’m a virgin?”  Mary hadn’t had sexual relations with Joseph or any other man.

Mary went to visit her pregnant aunt Elizabeth for 3 months, 75 miles to the south (Lk.1:36-56).  When Mary returns to Galilee, Joseph sees she is 3–4 months pregnant.  What?!  Mt.1:18-19 “She was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit [HS]. Joseph, being a just man, didn’t want to disgrace her publically, so he intended to divorce her privately.”  Divorce annulled a betrothal.  If a betrothed woman has sexual relations with another man, it was adultery (De.22:13-14, 20-27).  Although stoning for adultery was a neglected law, Joseph could have thrown the first stone (De.17:7).  Or Joseph could put Mary away privately by giving her a writ of divorce (De.24:1), and paying the legal cost.

Before Joseph could divorce her, an angel came to him in a dream.  Mt.1:20-21 “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the One conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son and you shall name Him Jesus [Yeshua], for He will save His people from their sins.”  Joseph knew then that Mary hadn’t been impregnated by another man.  And Mary knew she hadn’t.

Gabriel had also informed Mary 3–4 months earlier in Lk.1:35. “The angel [Gabriel] said, ‘The Holy Spirit will come, and the power of The Highest will overshadow you [Mary]; therefore the Holy One to be born shall be called Son of God.”  Orthodox Study Bible Lk.1:35 “Note the revelation of the Holy Trinity: The Father (The Highest), the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”  The Father overshadows the HS upon Mary, and God’s Son Jesus is conceived.  Chinese preacher Witness Lee was part of the Christian work started by Watchman Nee.  Lee’s Living With and In the Divine Trinity, p.39 “Lk.1:35 shows the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary…the Most High, God the Father, overshadows Mary…and the birth of the holy thing, the Son of God. Thus the entire Divine Trinity was involved in the conception.”  The Son was conceived into Mary by His Parents, who are God!  (See the topics “Holy Spirit versus Mariolatry”, “Holy Spirit Personification”, and “Holy Spirit’s Identity”.)

Jesus was Fathered by God Most High.  Jesus said in Jn.16:28, “I came forth from the Father”.  Mary gave birth to Jesus, and her husband Joseph became Jesus’ legal father.  Lk.3:23 “Jesus, supposedly the son of Joseph.”  Joseph wasn’t Jesus’ biological father.  Mary & Joseph both knew that Joseph didn’t father Jesus.  Mt.1:24-25 Joseph married her and “kept her a virgin until she gave birth to Jesus”.  Jesus was carried and birthed by a virgin, Mary/Miriam.

Father God is Jesus’ Father.  Jesus referred to Himself as the Child of Wisdom (Lk.7:35), His Mother.  In the NT, nowhere did Jesus call Mary, “mother”!  Jesus referred to the surrogate Mary tenderly as “woman”.  Jn.2:4 “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what have I to do with you?”  Jn.19:26 “When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!”  John and other writers customarily referred to Joseph & Mary as Jesus’ father & mother, his parents.  But Jesus didn’t.  Jesus indicated His Mother is Wisdom, the HS.  (Connect in order seven verses to identify the HS: Jl.2:28a, Pr.1:20, 23, De.34:9a, Nu.27:18, Mt.1:18b, Lk.7:35.)

Father God didn’t somehow have sexual relations with Mary, who was engaged to the man Joseph (Mt.1:18).  It would’ve been adultery to have relations with a married or betrothed woman.  De.22:23-27 God’s penalty for such adultery was severe!  Needless to say, Father God (or the HS) didn’t commit adultery!  Furthermore, Mary was of a different kind…she was of the human kind, not the Godkind.  Father God is Spirit, not flesh (Jn.4:23-24).  The term incubus pertains to a spirit having sex with a human woman.  Heathen mythological gods, such as Zeus/Jupiter, had sex with mortal women and produced offspring.  Le.20:15-16 the penalty for beastiality (sex with a different kind) was death!

Jesus was fully God in the flesh…both His Father and Mother are God!  The womb of Mary, the “woman” as Jesus called her, served to form Him in the flesh to become the God–Man.  The 300s AD Apostles Creed has it: “I believe in Jesus Christ, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary.”  Mary birthed Jesus.  Paul knew of the virgin birth, writing in Ga.4:4, “God sent forth His Son, born of a woman”.  We already read where Matthew and Luke knew.

In Mk.6:3, Mark calls Jesus the “son of Mary”.  A matrilineal reckoning isn’t the usual practice seen in scripture.  So it seems Mark also knew of the virgin birth.  Jesus in the flesh most often referred to Himself as the Son of Man/humanity/ánthropos (Strongs g444, Greek)…not the Son of Male/áner (g435).

The first Bible prophecy is Ge.3:15, where God told the serpent, “I will put hostility between your seed and her seed”.  Her seed, not the male Adam’s.  Yet Bible genealogies are almost always patrilineal, not through females.  (e.g. Ac.16:1-3 Timothy hadn’t been circumcised because his father was Greek.)

The prophecy of Is.7:14 foretold the Lord’s virgin birth. “The Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold! The virgin shall be with child and she will call His name Emmanuel.”  The “Lord Himself” would be the sign!  (also ref Ge.22:8, “God Himself the lamb”.)  And a pregnant virgin would be so remarkable…something to “behold”!  Whereas a non-virgin who is with child is commonplace; it happens every day in every city.  It seems Is.7:14 cannot refer to King Hezekiah.  When Isaiah visited King Aház (Is.7:3-14-ff) and spoke of the future virgin birth of the Child, Hezekiah was already 8 years old or so (when Ahaz was age 20–21).  cf. 2Ki.16:2, 18:2.

The Greek term translated as “virgin” in the Septúagint/LXX Is.7:14 is parthénos (g3933).  In Greek, this term meant virgin.  The temple shrine of the mythological Greek virgin goddess Athena in Athens was called the Parthenon.  LXX Ge.24:16 of Rebekah, “She was a virgin [parthenos], no man had known her”.  LXX Jg.21:12 “Young virgins [parthenos] who had not known a man by lying with him.”

Matthew quoted the old Greek in his Mt.1:22-23 passage about Mary’s virgin pregnancy. “This was done to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Behold! The virgin [parthenos LXX] shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, meaning “God (is) with us.”  Yeshua/Jesus is God.  (see “Jesus Is God…Jesus Has A God”.)

Another prophecy about Jesus is Je.23:5-6. “Declares the Lord, ‘I will raise up for David a righteous Branch. He will reign as King. This is The Name by which He will be called, “YHVH our righteousness.”  Jeremiah indicated the Branch/Messiah will be both a descendant of David and…YHVH/God!  Je.30:9 “They will serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.”  The Messiah was referred to as David or the son of David (e.g. Lk.18:38).

Also Is.9:6-7, “A Child will be born to us. His name will be called Wonderful, Mighty God…on the throne of David forevermore.”  As Is.7 & Je.23, the Child to rule as ‘God with us’, on David’s throne.

Note: Other subjects connected to the virgin birth are the Davidic covenant (it’s not the Solomonic), the so-called curse of Jeconiah (some think Zedekiah is meant), Jesus’ genealogy.  see “Jesus’ Genealogy”.

Fathers name their own sons.  Mt.1:21 God chose the name Yeshua/Iesoús/Jesus for the Son of God.  The name wasn’t of Joseph or Mary’s own choosing.  The Greek name Iesous/Jesus is from the Hebrew Yehoshúa/Joshua (h3091), meaning ‘salvation’.  “He will save His people from their sins.”  Nu.13:16 “Moses called Hoshéa the son of Nun, Yehoshua [h3091 Joshua].”  The name Yeshua/(Iesous/Jesus) is the shortened form of the name of Moses’ successor in the Old Testament (OT), Yehoshua/Joshua.  They had the same name.  And phonetically, Jesus the Savior also was a ‘son of Nun/none’, since He wasn’t the son of human parents in the normal sense!

We see in Zec.6:11-13 another OT type who had the same name as Jesus. “Make an ornate crown and set it on the head of Jehoshua [Joshua, LXX Iesous/Jesus] the high priest. Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Behold a man whose name is the Branch.”  Around 520 BC, God raised up a high priest whose name was the same name the Branch/Messiah would have (ref Je.23:5).  God had predetermined to name the Son of God…Yeshua/Jesus!  (See the topic “Savior’s Name in Bible Languages”.)

1Jn.4:9 “God has sent His only begotten Son into the world.”  Jesus is the monogenés (g3439) Son, the unique one-of-a-kind Son of the Most High.  He had heavenly genes, if you will.  Jesus is Deity!  He.1:8 “Of the Son, ‘Thy throne, O God, is forever.”  Jn.20:28 “Thomas said to Him [Jesus], “My Lord and my God.”  Jesus was the Lord God of ancient Israel.  see “Jesus Was The Old Testament God”.

There is another very significant purpose for Jesus to have been born from a virgin!  It pertains to His DNA (the self-replicating material that contains genetic characteristics), and His blood.  Blood has great significance throughout the Bible!  Le.17:11 the life or soul is in the blood.  De.12:23 the blood is the soul/life.  Ge.9:4 the soul/life is the blood.  It was prophesied in Is.53:12, “He [Jesus] poured out His life unto death”.  The Lord God Jesus poured out His soul/lifeblood for our sins!

1Pe.1:18-19 “You weren’t redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold, but with the precious [g5093] blood of Christ.”  Silver & gold are closer to being incorruptible than are other substances.  Yet even they are corruptible.  Ellicott Commentary 1Pe.1:18 “By contrast, the blood of Christ is implied to be not corruptible.”  Pulpit Commentary 1Pe.1:19 “As opposed to the corruptible things of v.18; it is precious, because it is the blood of Christ. Christ’s holy body saw not corruption; the precious blood in its virtue and efficacy abides evermore.”  Bengel’s Gnomen “The blood of Christ is incorruptible.”  Ac.13:37 “He [Jesus] whom God raised saw no corruption.”  Pr.3:15 LXX “Wisdom is more precious [g5093] than precious stones.”  Lk.7:35 Jesus is Wisdom’s Child.  She and His blood are so precious!

As the God-Man, Jesus was flesh and blood (He.2:14).  The life is in the blood.  For Jesus, that life was the eternal Life of God in His blood!  Jesus’ blood speaks better things than that of Abel (He.12:24).  We’re saved by Jesus’ transcendent blood.  And His blood figuratively never loses its effectiveness.

Jesus said in Jn.6:54, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal Life”.  v.66 but after Jesus uttered those figurative words, many quit on Him.  His wasn’t just a man’s blood…Jesus’ perfect Life was in His blood!  Ac.20:28 “The church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”  God’s own blood!  Ellicott Commentary “The ‘blood of God’, which this passage suggests.”  Benson Commentary “How precious it is! Here the blood of Christ is termed the blood of God.”  Matthew Poole Commentary “The blood of Christ, called truly the blood of God.”  Jesus’ blood is incomparable!

There are those who even say that the ascended Jesus as High Priest sprinkled some of His shed blood on the mercy seat of the ark in heaven (as they interpret He.9:11-12, 23-24, 12:24, Re.11:19), where it remains forever.  JFB Commentary He.12:24 “He entered the heavenly holiest place ‘by His own blood’, carrying it separately from his body.”  Bengel’s Gnomen “This Priest Himself carried into the sanctuary His own blood separately.”

Geneticists understand that the DNA of the father and mother is passed on to the fetus, half from each.  Geneticists say that very little, if any, of a surrogate mother’s DNA is absorbed by the fetus (and vice versa).  None of the surrogate’s characteristics significantly affect the fetus.  (ref e.g., Dr. Julie Granka Does A Surrogate Mom Contribute DNA to the Child?.)  An expectant mother’s cells and the blood circulating in her body cannot penetrate the placenta screen or reach her unborn baby.  The baby’s own blood is formed in its little body.  However, nutrients do pass to the unborn through the placenta.

Mt.1:18-20 since Jesus’ Father is Father God, and the HS is Jesus’ Mother…there was divine DNA, so to speak, in Jesus’ blood (or soul or life)!  He received mitochondria DNA from His divine Parents.  Perhaps God miraculously placed the zygote of Jesus within Mary?  (I’m not a biogeneticist.)  Jesus said in He.10:5, “A body you [God] have prepared Me”.  And Jn.5:26 “As the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son to have life in Himself.”  Eternal Life (zoé g2222) was within the Son Jesus!  That point is missed by people who don’t believe the great miracle of the virgin birth.  So Jesus, having divine DNA, didn’t reproduce while on earth.  A woman, having human DNA, would’ve been a different kind.  And any offspring they had would be a hybrid, with DNA part God and part human!

The life is in the blood (Le.17:11, De.12:23), and all men have sinned (Ro.3:23).  Jesus wasn’t a man with corruptible human blood/life as we, yet was somehow able to obediently live a sinless life and become the Savior of mankind.  His blood/Life was unequaled, having no corrupted sin nature!  Mary contributed nutrients, but no blood, cells, or DNA to Jesus.  Paul referred to Jesus as the last Adam (1Co.15:45).  The first Adam didn’t receive DNA from a human mother either!  If Jesus was only a good man/martyr who obeyed God fully, then others (with the HS) could too!  We wouldn’t need a Savior.  But we’ve sinned and do so need the Savior…Yeshua/Jesus!

Jesus wasn’t solely man in the flesh.  He was also Deity.  Col.2:9 “In Him [Christ] all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.”  Both of His Parents are God.  Jesus was the fullness of Deity in a human body (as was glimpsed in Je.23:5-6).  He was Emmanuel, “God (is) with us”.  Jesus’ deity was veiled with flesh (He.10:19-20).  The primordial Word of God was fully God (Jn.1:1-3, 14), and was the Son of God by the Father/HS/blood/birth.  Thereby, Christ didn’t inherit a sin nature.  (Yet He wasn’t a docétic phantom.  Jesus’ fleshly body had nerve endings; He experienced pain/suffering on the cross.)

So Jesus’ virgin birth affirms that divinity was in His precious blood; which enabled only Him, of all men, to obey God completely.  His divine nature wouldn’t allow Him to submit to sin.  Though Jesus looked like other men, He (and His blood) was unlike any other person born of woman.

The virgin birth is crucial to the salvation of mankind!  As the song goes, Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus.  Ac.4:12 “There is no other name under heaven, by which we must be saved.”  Yeshua/Jesus is His name.  Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift (2Co.9:15)!

Two Witnesses in the Bible

A verdict or judgment is delivered based upon witnesses.  In scripture, two witnesses were required to substantiate a legal matter.  Here we’ll take a historical look at God’s two witnesses from the Bible.

De.17:6 “On the evidence of two or three witnesses shall the condemned be put to death; not on the evidence of one witness.”  De.19:15 “A single witness shall not rise up against a man; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed.”  It’s not limited to public courts.  Jesus applied De.19:15 to disputes between church brothers in Mt.18:16. “By the mouth of two or three witnesses.”  1Ti.5:19 Paul instructed Timothy, “Don’t receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses”.  So we see in both Testaments (two!) that at least two witnesses are necessary.

Jesus confirmed the need for two witnesses in Jn.8:16-18.  There, Father God and Jesus Himself are as two witnesses (not one)!  Even God has His unique two witnesses!  The very first verse of the Bible, Ge.1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”.  Is.1:2 “Listen O heavens and hear O earth, for the Lord speaks!”  Moses declared in De.32:1, “Give ear O heavens and let me speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth”.  Scripture shows that heaven and earth serve as two immutable witnesses for God.  And, as we’ll see below…it was the witnesses who put the condemned to death.

Moses told ancient Israel in De.30:19, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse”.  Also De.4:26 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you, that you shall surely perish from the Land.”  Furthermore, the law of God has its source in heaven; Christ gave it to Moses & Israel on earth.  The Decalogue was written by the finger of God (Ex.31:18)!  Then De.31:26-28 “Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God that it be a witness against you…Call heaven and earth to witness against them.”  The Old Covenant law was authored by God in heaven for Israel on earth.

Not only did two witnesses testify, they also carried out the judgment or sentence.  De.17:7 “The hand of the witnesses shall be the first to put him to death.” (also Le.24:14, Jn.8:7)  They cast the first stone, as it were.  God commanded natural phenomena in the heavens and the earth, as two witnesses, to execute His judgments!  We read of thunder, lightning, wind, rain, hailstones, earthquakes, fire, famine carrying out His punishments.  Nu.16:31-32 “The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households.”  Is.29:6 “From the Lord you will be punished with thunder and earthquake, with whirlwind, tempest and a consuming fire.”  Ps.148:8 “Fire and hail, snow and clouds, stormy wind fulfilling His word.”  The two witnesses act as God’s agents.  Re.16:17-21 “There were flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, and a great earthquake. And huge hailstones came down from heaven upon men.”  Also De.11:17 “The Lord will shut up the heavens so there will be no rain, and the earth won’t yield its produce, so you will perish from the Land.”  The guilty put to death by heaven & earth.

So heaven and earth were two witnesses.  (Earth isn’t a ‘heavenly body’ in scripture).  And God’s Old Covenant law was linked to both.  Words & actions aren’t hidden from the (figurative) ears & eyes of heaven and earth.  Jesus prayed to Father God, Mt.6:10 “Thy will be done, in heaven as it is on earth”.

Let’s now turn our focus to two Bible characters/witnesses through whom God worked miracles…Moses and Elijah.  They were witnesses for the true Deity.

Moses is the compiler, writer, transmitter (Jn.1:45) of the Law/Toráh, the first five books of the Bible.  Ex.3:13-15 the true Deity was revealed to Israel through Moses.  Ex.7:19-20 Moses turned water into blood, the first plague on Egypt.  Other plagues from God follow in Ex.8-12.  Ex.14:21 Moses was the agent to divide the water of the Reed Sea.  After YHVH freed the Israelites, Moses escorted them to Mt. Sinai, Ex.19:1-3, 10-17.  In Ex.30:25-30, Moses anointed with oil the tabernacle, ark and priests.  The Lord did miracles, judged Egypt, and governed the Israelites through Moses and the law of God.  In the end, Moses left this life in an unusual way (seemingly he wrote De.34:5-ff posthumously)!

“Elijah has been called the grandest and most romantic character Israel ever produced.” (Smith’s Bible Dictionary)  Elijah was active c 900–850 BC.  2Ki.1:7-8 his unusual appearance was easily identifiable.  Elijah was from the rugged highland area of Gileád in the tribe of Manasséh.  He wore a hairy garment with a leather belt, and a sheepskin cloak/mantle which he wrapped around his head (1Ki.19:13).

Many miracles were performed through Elijah/Eliyáh.  In 1Ki.18, he confronted King Aháb of Israel and the prophets of Báal.  Fire proceeded from YHVH to consume the sacrifice, showing God’s greater power!  EliYah means ‘Yahweh is El/God’…v.39 Eliyah restored knowledge of the true Deity to Israel.  1Ki.17:12-16 the oil supply miraculously continued for the widow and her son.  v.21-24 her son was brought back to life!  1Ki.17:1 prior to Elijah’s encounter with the prophets of Baal, there’d been no rain for 3 ½ years (1,260 days).  1Ki.18:1-2, 40-45 finally, there’s rain (ref Ja.5:17-18, Lk.4:25)!  1Ki.19:15-16 Elijah to anoint kings of Syria & Israel.  2Ki.1:9-15 he called down fire from heaven.  2Ki.2:8 he too divided the water (as did Moses).  v.11-12 in the end, Elijah was transported to heaven!

The last Old Testament (OT) prophet Malachi (or ‘My Messenger’, Mal.3:1) appeared around 450 BC.  He prophesied that someday God’s messenger would come to prepare the way of the Lord (Jesus).  God said, Mal.4:4-6 “Remember the law of Moses My servant. I Am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the day of the Lord. He will restore the hearts, lest I smite the Land with a curse.”

Our OT ends with that passage about Moses & Elijah and the warning from God.  That would be Elijah’s later commission.  J.H. Hertz Pentateuch and Haftorahs “Elijah was traditionally regarded as the advance Messenger who would appear at Passover and announce the dawn of the Messianic era.”  But first came the ‘Silent 400 Years’, when supposedly no one was given the Holy Spirit of prophecy.

Then following the so-called ‘Silent 400 Years’…the Messenger came on the scene.  At the time Jesus was born, holyland Jews thought the Messiah’s coming was imminent.  At the annual Passover meal, they’d even leave a door open and set a place with a wine glass at the table for the expected Elijah!

In fulfillment of Mal.3:1 & 4:6, the person who came on the scene in the 1^st century AD as the expected Elijah was…John the Baptizer.  Lk.1:13-17 “It is he who will go before Him [Jesus the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elijah.”  John was born six months before Jesus (Lk.1:24-27).

Jesus confirmed, as scripture prophesied, that the promised Elijah would come…and he had then come!  Mt.17:10-13 “I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him. Then the disciples understood He spoke about John the Baptist.”  John too wore a hairy garment and leather belt, as Elijah had worn.  Mt.3:1-4 “John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness. This is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet saying, ‘The voice of one crying, Make ready the way of the Lord!” ref Is.40:3, Mal.3:1.  The commission given to John the Baptist as “My Messenger” came to pass, although most Jews disbelieve it was John who came as the prophesied Elijah.

John the Baptizer come as Elijah was a witness for Messiah Jesus.  Jn.3:25-27 “John’s disciples came to him and said, ‘He [Jesus] about whom you witnessed.”  John replied in v.28-30, “I have been sent before Him. The friend [best man] of the bridegroom rejoices greatly. This joy of mine is full. He must increase but I must decrease.”  John the Baptizer was a witness for the bridegroom (groom) Jesus.

Moses and Elijah are two witnesses.  The ancient Jewish wedding ceremony required two witnesses, one for bride and one for the groom.  (see the topic “Wedding Pattern in Bible Holydays”.)  Ex.20-ff YHVH was married to Israel at Sinai.  Je.31:31-32 KJV “My covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them,’ saith the Lord.”  Christ, as the pre-incarnate Word of God and Creator, was the Lord God of Israel!  (see “Jesus Was The Old Testament God”.)  Ex.24:6-8 the Old Covenant was as a marriage contract.  v.3 the people said ‘I do’.  Je.3:14 KJV “Saith the Lord, ‘I Am married to you.”  Is.54:5 “Your Maker is your husband.”  (He later divorced rebellious Israel, Je.3:8.)  Jesus said to them in Jn.5:46, “If you believed Moses you would believe Me, for he wrote of Me”.  Moses witnessed Christ’s marriage to ancient Israel.  And John the Baptizer typed Elijah.  The traditional two witnesses were Moses for the bride and Elijah for the groom.

It is significant that Christ and the two witnesses Moses & Elijah are the only 3 characters in the Bible who fasted 40 days!  ref Mt.4:1-2, Ex.34:27-28, 1Ki.19:8-9.  Also it was Moses & Elijah who appeared with Jesus in glory at the Transfiguration, Lk.9:28-33.  (So real, even booths were suggested for them!)  They spoke of Jesus’ soon exodus (v.31, Greek) from Jerusalem.  Moses had led Israel’s ancient exodus from Egypt.  (Lk.9:9 Herod had beheaded John the Baptizer as Elijah prior to the Transfiguration.)

{Sidelight: Could two totally dead people appear in glory with Jesus?  Jn.3:13 only Jesus descended from heaven, died on earth, and then ascended to heaven…nobody else!  (He.11:35 some, such as the widow’s son, and Lazarus Jn.11:43-44, died twice physically.)  Neither Moses nor Elijah descended from heaven.  Elijah’s death wasn’t witnessed and no grave is known.  He was transported to heaven (2Ki.2:11-12), and was expected to come again (Mal.4:6).  De.34:5-7 Moses died, but his death wasn’t witnessed and no grave is known.  Targum Jonathan De.34:6 said Michael had charge over Moses’ grave.  Jude 9 the devil disputed with Michael about Moses’ body (because Moses had killed an abusive Egyptian in Ex.2:11-12, or his grave could become a shrine?).  In Jewish tradition, Michael resurrected Moses.  JFB Commentary Jude 9 “That Moses’ body was raised, appears from his presence with Elijah and Jesus at the Transfiguration.”  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 4:8:48 “He [Moses] disappeared in a valley, although he wrote in the holy books that he died, done out of fear lest they’d say that because of his extraordinary virtue, he went to God.”  Philo On the Life of Moses 2, p.291 “That he [Moses] might fly away to heaven, he was once more filled with the Holy Spirit, relating how he had died when he was not yet dead. Because he was entombed by immortal powers and wasn’t placed in the tomb of his forefathers.”  Again, Luke says both Moses & Elijah were seen in glory with Jesus on the mount!}

The OT was a three-fold division: Law/Torah…Prophets/Néviim…Psalms-Writings/Ketúvim.  As the word of God, these also serve as two or three witnesses!  The Law and the Prophets were read every sabbath day.  Jesus said in Mt.5:17, “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets”.  Following are scriptures which note the Law and the Prophets: Mt.7:12, 11:13, 22:40; Lk.16:16, 24:44; Jn.1:45; Ac.13:15, 24:14, 28:23 (Da.9:10-11; Zec.7:12).  Paul wrote in Ro.3:21, “The righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets”.  They’re two witnesses!

Moses wrote the Law (Da.9:11), and Elijah typified the Prophets.  Moses and Elijah metaphorically are composites representing the Law and all the Prophets!  And Jesus is the prophet like unto Moses – De.18:15, 18; Jn.6:14, 7:40.  Again, both Moses and Elijah left this life in unusual ways.

The Lord’s two witnesses are referred to in Re.11.  v.1-2 God’s physical temple in the holy city Jerusalem is standing.  v.3 “I will grant to my two witnesses and they shall prophesy for 1,260 days.”  Pulpit Commentary Re.11:3 “Moses and Elijah are typical of the Law and the Prophets. It is not probable that two individuals are meant.”  v.4 “The two olive trees and lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.”  This is reminiscent of Zec.4, Zerubabbél the governor and Joshua the high priest who’d laid the second temple foundation.  Moses and Elijah both did anointing, and they stand before the Lord (ref Ex.17:6, 33:21-22, 1Ki.18:15).

Re.11:5-6 the two witnesses have power pertaining to fire, drought, water to turn it to blood, plagues.  Moses and Elijah had been given those powers of heaven & earth.  Moses and/or Elijah divided waters and turned them to blood, brought forth plagues, called down fire, 3 ½ years of no rain.  Meyer NT Commentary Re.11:5 “The features of the description derive from the histories of Elijah and Moses.”  Cambridge Bible Note Re.11:6 “The verse is descriptive of the powers entrusted to Moses and Elijah.”

Moses and Elijah performed miracles done by the two witnesses of Re.11.  They personify the Law and the Prophets.  The Law and the Prophets are two witnesses of God’s verdict that His OT curses and punishments (e.g. De.27:16–28:68, Le.26) be executed upon Judea, Jerusalem, and the temple.  Olufalahan Akintola wrote, “The two witnesses, representing the Law and the Prophets.”

Re.11:7-10 with the Jewish-Roman War and the destruction of 66-70 AD (3 ½ years), the Law and the Prophets ceased in Jerusalem.  The Law and the Prophets or Old Covenant corpus lay in the street, as it were, of the city where the Lord was crucified.  Ellicott Commentary “It is Jerusalem, the apostate place where the Presence of Christ is hated.”  John Blake wrote, “The symbolic death of the two witnesses or the lack of the reading of the Law and the Prophets in the temple.”  God’s written word with its judgments had tormented the disobedient, guilty populace.  Jesus had accused them in Jn.7:19, “None of you carries out the Law”.  After God’s judgment, the city & temple were destroyed/desolated.

Re.11:13 “A tenth of the city fell, 7,000 people were killed.”  Harvard.edu says the size of Jerusalem then encompassed maybe 450 acres, the temple complex covered 37 acres; the estimated resident population was 60,000–80,000 people.  Both Wilkinson and Wikipedia say 75,000–80,000.  The temple area approached a tenth of the acreage of Jerusalem; the initial 7,000 people killed was approximately a tenth of Jerusalem’s population.  The population of Rome the Beast was more than 500,000…Rome was much too large!  JFB Commentary “A tenth of Jerusalem.”  (see the topics “Babylon the Great’ in Revelation”, “The Last Days”, “Day of Atonement (2) – in Revelation”.)

That work of the Law and the Prophets was done!  The Law and Prophets had foretold and accused the Jewish nation of apostasy.  Re.11:12 the Law and Prophets returned to heaven, the source of the word of God.  v.19 “The temple of God in heaven was opened and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple.”  Pulpit Commentary “The ark of His covenant, a symbol pregnant with meaning to Jewish Christians.”  The ark which contained the Law (De.10:1-5, 31:25-26) was now with Christ in heaven!

Christ, the Rock of Israel (1Co.10:4), is just (e.g. De.32:4, Is.30:18, Ro.3:26).  Although He divorced and judged the unfaithful ancient Israelite people He loved…there is another marriage!  Is.62:1-4 “For Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet. You shall no longer be called ‘Forsaken’, or your Land ‘Desolate’. With the joy of a bridegroom over a bride, your God will rejoice over you.”  Re.19:6-9 is the metaphorical marriage of the Lamb Jesus, the bridegroom!  He.8:10-13 although the Old Covenant ended, the New Covenant is also with Israel (and grafted-in gentiles, Ro.11:13, 17 & Re.7:9).

Moses and Elijah exemplify the Law and the Prophets…two witnesses.  Christian Research Institute “Ultimately, the two witnesses form a composite image of the Law and the Prophets.”  Elijah was the typological prophetic master (2Ki.2:2-3).  The ark/Law comes from, and goes to, heaven.  Paul wrote in 2Ti.3:16, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God”.  The word of God is His written record to His people and to all mankind…witnessed by heaven and earth!  Praise God!

Jesus Was the Old Testament God

The Bible indicates the Godhead is a tri-unity…Father, Holy Spirit, and Son Jesus.  Many if not most Bible readers think the God who was seen and active in the Old Testament (OT) was the God whom Jesus referred to as His “Father”.  Most readers view this OT God as being strict and more judgmental than their perception of Jesus in the New Testament (NT).  Here we’ll look at scriptures which reveal the identity of the Deity who was seen and heard by humans in the OT.

Jn.1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”  v.14 “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  The Word (Lógos in Greek, Mémra in Aramaic), who was also God from the beginning, later became Jesus in the flesh.  Jn.17:5 God the Word had glory with the Father before the world existed.  Jn.17:24 Jesus spoke of, “My glory which You [Father] gave Me”.  What do the scriptures show of God the Word in the OT before He became Jesus in the flesh?

In the Song of Moses, De.32:3-4 “I proclaim the name of YHVH; ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock.”  v.18 “You [Israel] neglected the Rock who begot you, the God who gave you birth.” (cf. 2Ki.22:2 Septúagint/LXX.)  The apostle Paul identified their figurative Rock in 1Co.10:4. “That Rock was Christ.”  Continuing, 1Co.10:9 “Neither let us test Christ, as some of them also tested Him, and were destroyed by serpents”.  This incident to which Paul referred was in Nu.21:5-6. “YHVH sent fiery serpents and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.”  The primordial Word of God, who became Jesus the Christ…was YHVH, the OT God/Rock whom His people tested, according to Paul!

Isaiah wrote in Is.6:1, 5 “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted. My eyes have seen the King, YHVH of hosts.”  Isaiah saw God.  In Jn.12:41-44, John identifies specifically who Isaiah saw. “Isaiah saw His glory, and he spoke of Him. Many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they weren’t confessing Him lest they be put out of the synagogue. Jesus said, ‘He who believes in Me.”  According to John, Isaiah saw the pre-incarnate Jesus, the Word of God, as King on the throne!  Isaiah didn’t see Father God.  Jesus said, no man other than He has seen Father God….

Jesus declared in Jn.6:46, “No man has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father”.  Jesus said in Jn.1:18, “No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten God [Jesus] has explained Him.”  Only the Word who became Jesus Christ has seen awesome Father God!

Yet God was visibly seen on many occasions in the OT!  Ex.24:1-11 “Moses went up with 70 of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel.”  After Moses wrote down the Old Covenant, which the God of Israel gave them, they saw God.  According to Jesus, the Father was never seen.  Also, YHVH said in Nu.12:7-8, “My servant Moses, with him I speak mouth to mouth, he beholds the form of YHVH”.  Jacob said in Ge.32:30, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved”.  This wasn’t the Father who was seen in these OT passages…it was the pre-incarnate Christ, the Rock.

Abraham saw God and two angels in Ge.18:1-ff. “YHVH appeared to him by the oaks of Mamré. He [Abraham] looked, three men were standing opposite him. They did eat.” (v.1-3, 8)  The three even shared a meal with Abraham!  The Lord remained talking with Abraham, while the two angels went on to Sodom (Ge.19:1).

Jesus told the Jews in Jn.8:56-58, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it. Truly I say to you, before Abraham came into being, I AM.”  The Word/Jesus, not Father God, is the I AM who appeared as a human seen by Abraham.  (God also appeared to Abrám in Ge.12:7.)  God said to Moses in Ex.3:14, “You shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you”.  Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, and others in the OT saw the pre-incarnate Jesus, who was also YHVH/I AM of ancient Israel.

Joshua was told to remove his sandals in the presence of the Commander of the Lord’s host in Jsh.5:13-15. “For the place you are standing is holy. Joshua did so.”  Jesus/the Word, who commands His host of angels (Mt.13:41, 26:53), was seen there…not the Father.  Compare Ex.3:4-6, 14 where Moses too must remove his sandals in the presence of God/I AM.  (also see the topic, “Michael in the Bible”.)

Prior to the Word Jesus being seen as God in the OT, He and the Holy Spirit (HS) were the Creators (under the overall direction of the Father).  Ps.33:6 “By the Word of YHVH the heavens were made, and by the Spirit of His mouth all their host.”  Jn.1:1-3, 10 “All things came into being by Him [the Word]. He was in the world and the world was made by Him.”  Col.1:16 “All things have been created through Him [the Son/Word] and for Him.” also see He.1:2.  The Word/Jesus/Light was Creator God.

Ge.2:1-3 “By the 7^th day God completed His work which He had done, and He ceased/rested on the 7^th day. Then God blessed the 7^th day and sanctified it.”  It was Jesus who ceased or rested from creating on the 7^th day.  It was Jesus who set apart the 7^th day (not the 1^st day or the 6^th day), ordaining it as holy time.  Therefore Jesus is truly Lord of the sabbath, as He said in Mk.2:27-28. “The sabbath was made for mankind. The Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.”  (Jesus never revoked His 7^th day holy time.)

The following two passages are more evidence that Jesus Christ was the Lord God who appeared in the OT.  Quotes are from the Greek LXX/Septuagint; we can compare the same Greek terms in our NT:

Moses told Israel in De.10:17 LXX, “The Lord your God, He is Lord [Strongs g2962] of lords [g2962]”.  The God of Israel was “Lord of lords.”  Re.17:14 “The Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord [g2962] of lords [g2962].”  Jesus the Lamb is “Lord of lords”…same as the OT God of Israel!

God declared in Is.45:21 LXX, “I AM God, and there is not another besides Me; a Savior [g4990], there is none but Me”.  1Jn.4:14 “The Father has sent the Son to be the Savior [g4990] of the world.”  Jesus the Son is the Savior…and He was the God/I AM in the OT, seen by Isaiah!  There’s no other Savior.

1Co.1:1, 5:7 the Jewish Christian Paul (with the Corinth synagogue ruler Sosthénes, Ac.18:17) wrote of “Christ our Passover”.  YHVH told Moses in Ex.12:13, “When I see the blood I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you”.  In mercy, YHVH/“Christ our Passover” passed over the houses of the Israelite firstborns.  And it is this Christ who was the solid Rock of OT Israel, according to Paul.

In Ex.20:6, the Lord God said He is “Showing love to a thousand generations who love Me and keep My commandments”.  Jesus said in Jn.14:21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and I will love him”.  The Word/Jesus is Lord in the OT, and He spoke the Decalogue.

In Jn.1:18, the Son Jesus said that He declares the Father.  Jesus came to reveal His nature.  Jesus said in Jn.17:25-26, “Righteous Father, the world has not known You. I have made Your name known to them”.  OT Israel hadn’t known the Father.  The OT term for “Father”, referring to God, rarely occurs.

Jesus said in Jn.5:37, “The Father who sent Me has borne witness of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.”  Father God was visibly unseen and audibly unheard in the OT.  (Not until Jesus & John the Baptizer heard the Father’s voice bear witness of Jesus at His baptism.)  Yet De.4:33, Israel heard God speaking at Sinai.  Christ the Word, not the Father, was seen & heard in the OT.  (also see the topics, “Tri-unity of God” and “Jesus Is God…Jesus Has a God”.)

Again, according to John, it was the Lord Jesus who Isaiah saw high & lifted up.  Je.1:4-5 LXX “The Word/Logos [g3056] of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the belly I sanctified you.”  v.9 “The Lord stretched out His hand and touched my mouth.”  The word of God came to other prophets, such as Ezekiel & Zechariah, and they delivered the message.  None but Jesus has seen the Father.  It was Christ the Word/Lord who came to Jeremiah, spoke in 1^st Person, and touched his lips!

Ex.19:9-11 Christ the Word came down on Mt. Sinai.  All the Israelites were aware of Him.  v.16 a thick cloud protected them from seeing His glory (ref De.4:12).  Ex.20 Christ spoke His Decalogue or so-called Ten Commandments (including His weekly 7^th day Sabbath command), which He inscribed on tablets (Ex.31:18).  Following in Exodus 21–23, Christ spoke His judgments to Moses.  Then in Ex.24 Moses wrote them down in the book of the covenant (v.4-7)…and he with 70 elders saw God the Word (v.9-11)!  (However, man’s flesh is limited and cannot fully see His glory, e.g. Ex.33:18-23.)

After Exodus, the entire 27 chapters of Leviticus are the instructions of Christ the Word, the God they’d seen!  Christ gave Moses those instructions while they were still at Sinai (Le.27:34).  Including His law in Le.11 (v.46) regarding the clean & unclean creatures He created.  Jesus knows which ones are fit for human consumption!  The gentile Noah also had been aware of God’s distinction (Ge.7:2).

Lk.1:32 Jesus is the Son of the Most High God.  Ac.17:23-31 the Most High Father was an “Unknown God”.  The OT writers were aware a Most High God exists (ref Ge.14:18, Ps.7:17, 110:1), but He was generally unknown to all but a few.  Ac.7:48-49 “The Most High doesn’t dwell in sanctuaries made by hands.”  (The Father’s residence was in heaven, Jn.14:2-3).  It wasn’t the Father who spoke mouth-to-mouth with Moses (Nu.12:7-8) and sat above the cherubim on the ark in Israel’s man-made sanctuary.

Ps.80:1 “O Shepherd of Israel, You who sits between the cherubim.”  That Shepherd who communed with Moses was…Christ the Word!  Jesus said in Jn.10:11, “I Am the good Shepherd”. (ref 2Ki.19:15, Zec.13:7, 1Pe.2:25, Is.37:16.)  Christ was the God of Israel, the Rock and Shepherd.  (Josephus Wars of the Jews 5:5:5 indicated there were no sculptured cherubim in Herod’s temple…the sanctuary was entirely empty!  Jesus was out ministering in the Land; He no longer ‘sat’ between the cherubim then.)

He.13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”  The Word/Jesus said in Mal.3:6, “For I AM YHVH, and change not”.  The Word/Jesus doesn’t change His character; nor did He change the moral principles He gave to ancient Israel.  Re.14:12 speaks of “the perseverance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God”.  They were Jesus’ commandments in Ex.20, His command of the 7^th day sabbath, His commands for ecosystem balance of clean/unclean, in Leviticus, Numbers, etc.  (see the “Sabbath 7^th Day” series, and “Unclean versus Clean Food”.)

But Israel as a whole didn’t like Christ the Rock’s commandments.  Le.26 the Word warned ancient Israel of His punishments for disobedience.  Israel disobeyed anyway.  So Jesus sent them into captivity…the northern kingdom of Israel to Assyria, then the southern kingdom of Judah to Babylon in 597 BC.  Later when the Word/Jesus came in the flesh, the leaders of the Jews (of the people He’d loved and rescued from ancient Egypt) even wanted Him killed (e.g. Jn.5:18)!  They set Him up to die!

Some Bible readers and critics consider the God of the OT a cruel God.  Márcion (85–160 AD) was from Póntus, located at the southern coast of the Black Sea (today northeastern Turkey).  He didn’t think YHVH was the same God spoken of by Jesus, so he didn’t accept the YHVH of the OT.  To Marcion, the God active in the OT wasn’t Jesus or Jesus’ Father.  Marcion’s ‘canon’ was only 11 books…10 epistles of Paul plus part of Luke’s gospel.  Marcion ‘picked and choosed’; he was extreme.

It’s a misconception to view the OT God as harsh or cruel.  The Word/Christ was the Executive and Spokesman God seen in the OT.  Christ wasn’t harsh, cruel, impulsive, or changeable.  Christ would have spared ancient Sodom, had only 10 righteous people been found there (Ge.18:32)!

Though Jesus wasn’t harsh, He was just.  Jesus’ justice system for His ancient theocracy perhaps did reflect a measure of tough love.  For example, Jesus acknowledged even in Jn.8:7, “Let him cast the first stone”.  Christ’s penalty for adultery was death (though a ransom may be paid instead).  The laws and morality given to Moses/Israel are Jesus’ laws and morality.  The OT too is Christ-centered.  His morality may seem strict to some.  But His are the laws of the Kingdom of God!

For that matter, the NT book of Revelation has much killing…it’s even been called horrific!  Re.6:16 “Hide us from the presence of the wrath of the Lamb [Christ].”  Yet the Lamb’s love exceeds His wrath.

Ancient Israel was Jesus’ theocracy.  Many or most of His ritualistic prescriptions cannot be done apart from Jerusalem (temple).  In the NT, the Jewish people had come under Roman jurisdiction; they were no longer governed by Jesus’ theocracy.  And the NT writings (e.g. Paul’s) reflect changed living conditions under Roman rule of law.

The pre-incarnate Word of God wasn’t just sitting in heaven judging harp music day after day prior to His becoming Jesus in the flesh!  He was the God active in the OT.  Jesus wasn’t a rebellious son who came to do away with His Father’s commandments.  They are YHVH the Savior’s commandments too.  The Father and Son are of like-mind.  Jesus did and said what His Father taught Him (Jn.8:28).  De.30:10-14 the principles of Christ, the Rock of Ages, are doable.

Have we been deluded by false teaching to think that Jesus came to do away with the morality of laws He gave ancient Israel?  Jesus said in Mt.5:17, “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I didn’t come to abolish but to fulfill [g4137].”  Christ didn’t come to abolish His OT moral laws and principles of living!

Jesus referred to His Mt.5:17 remarks later after His resurrection in Lk.24:44. “My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled [g4137].”  It was the things prophesied and written about Jesus the coming Messiah that must be fulfilled…not His morality/laws which can govern and regulate society and the Kingdom!  As recapped in Ac.13:29 concerning Jesus, “When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross”.

Surely, Jesus didn’t think Roman laws or the laws of the nations of this world are superior to the laws He gave His theocracy!  Jesus’ morality & character is the same yesterday, today and forever (He.13:8).

Christ’s OT laws prohibiting blasphemy, murder, adultery, theft, etc. are truly moral and just today.  The holy time of His 7^th day sabbath still comes & goes every week since Creation…man cannot stop time.  Unclean creatures carrying worms & parasites are still unfit for humans to eat…as in Noah’s day.

But all the OT ceremonial jots & tittles regarding the obsolete Levitical priesthood can no longer be done.  He.7:12 “The priesthood being changed, there must be made also a change of the law.”  Jesus said the temple was to be destroyed (e.g. Mk.13:1-2).  After He fulfilled prophecy, dying as the final sacrifice…there’s no more need for animal sacrifices, tithing to a Levitical priesthood, pilgrim feasts with temple rituals.  Attempting to do those ceremonial things elsewhere or on one’s own terms would actually be disobeying Christ’s specific OT statutes!  The Kingdom is now the order of Melchisedek.

Ps.119:142 “Thy righteousness is everlasting, and Thy law is truth.”  v.151 “All Thy commandments are truth.”  v.172 “All Thy commandments are righteousness.”  That’s all the commandments of the Word Jesus…in both the OT and NT.  In the NT, Jesus or the HS reiterated some, but not all, of Christ’s OT commandments.  OT sins such as beastiality, cannibalism, fathers marrying their own daughters, e.g., are still sins for Christians…even though those prohibitions aren’t repeated in the NT.  To only accept Jesus’ NT commands as valid, while ignoring His OT commandments, is short-sighted.

However, it requires a circumcised heart to do His commandments.  Most of ancient Israel didn’t have the HS.  They failed to be a right example to the nations.  The rhetorical question of De.4:8-9, “What great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law? Therefore take heed lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and they depart from your heart.” (see “Two Covenants – Heart of the Matter”.)  No other ancient nation received such grace as did Israel, so blessed with Christ’s righteous laws/justice system!

But they stumbled over the Rock of Israel, who Peter (and Paul) said is Jesus.  1Pe.2:8 “A stone [g3037] of stumbling [g4348] and a Rock [g4073] of falling; for they stumble because they are disobedient.”  In Is.6:5, Isaiah saw Christ the Lord.  Is.8:13-14 LXX “Sanctify the Lord. You shall not come against Him as a stumbling [g4348] stone [g3037], neither as against the falling of a rock [g4073]; but the houses of Jacob are in a snare.” (also Ro.9:32-33.)  Most Jews opposed and rejected their Lord come in the flesh.

Yet for New Covenant Jewish Christians and gentiles grafted-in, God said in Je.31:33 (LXX Je.38:33) and He.8:10, “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts”.  The HS writes Christ’s just laws/morality (Jesus the same yesterday, today and forever) on the hearts & minds of willing Christians.  His laws will thus become our morality, and won’t depart from our hearts.  Thereby we won’t fail, unlike ancient Israel.

Jesus is Lord!  He was “the LORD” active in the OT.  As we repent and keep obeying Christ the Word…we will be those “who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Re.14:12).  And we’ll be those who have right to the tree of life (Re.22:14)!  Thank You, Lord.

Tri-unity of God

In the English language, the word “God” is customarily used for Deity.  Is.43:10 “Declares YHVH, ‘Before Me there was no God formed, neither will there be after Me.”  Only the true God is Divine.

The true God is a uniplural Being.  Yet the God-kind is one/unified (echád Strongs h259, Hebrew).  De.6:4 “YHVH our God, YHVH is one [echad h259].”  However, Adam & Eve were to be one in Ge.2:24. “A man shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be one [echad h259] flesh.”  The two of them were one, echad!  Ezr.2:64 “The whole assembly united as one [echad h259] man was 42,360.”  In this verse, 42,360 souls were as one!  So we see the term echad/one is numerically plural in these verses.

The Hebrew term yachíd (h3173) meant absolute oneness, sole, or the one and only.  In the Old Testament (OT), yachid is never used in reference to God.  Jdg.11:34 “She was his only [yachid] child.”  The LXX Greek equivalent term monogenés (g3439) refers to Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, in Jn.1:14, 18.

God, as the God Family, consists of the Father, Holy Spirit (HS) and Jesus the Son.  The Word/Logos from eternity past later became the human Jesus, Jn.1:1-5, 14.  (see the topic “Godhead in Prehistory”.)  Ge.1:1-3 reflects the Father, HS, and the Word/Light who would become Jesus.  The first “Us” verse in Genesis, where the “Us” refers to the uniplural God, is Ge.1:26-27. “God said, ‘Let Us make mankind in our image, according to our likeness. In the image of God, male and female.” (not in the image of angels.)  Other such “Us” verses in Genesis are Ge.3:22, 11:7, LXX 2:18.  Also Is.6:1, 8 “I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Who shall go for Us?”.  And Ge.19:24 reflects plural YHVHs. “YHVH rained on Sodom & Gomorrah fire from YHVH out of heaven.”  YHVH (h3068 Hebrew) is the Lord.

God as a Father in the OT: Moses said in De.32:6, “The Lord, is not He your Father?”  Also see Is.64:8, 63:16.  Mal.2:10 “Do we not all have one Father? Has not one [echad] God created us?”

God the Father is supreme in the Godhead (as we’ll see).  Father God is the Source of all life (even of Jesus, Jn.5:26 & 6:57).  The Father chooses the time of calling His elect, Ep.1:3-5 & Jn.6:44.

Jesus the Son in the OT: Ps.2:7, 12 “YHVH said to Me, You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Do homage to the Son.”  (YHVH isn’t referring to David.  Jesse, not God, begat David.)  Pr.30:4 “Who has ascended up to heaven and descended? What is His name or His Son’s name?”  Jn.6:62 Jesus said, “What if you should see the Son of Man ascending where He was before?”  Jn.1:18 Jesus said no one has seen Father God at any time.  In the OT Péntateuch, the God seen was the Word/Rock/Son/Angel, the Messenger of YHVH. ref Ge.31:11-13, 18:1, Ex.24:10, Is.6:1 & Jn.12:41-44.  De.32:18 & 1Co.10:4 according to the apostle Paul, “That Rock was Christ”.  (see “Jesus Was The Old Testament God”.)

The primordial Word of God, the Messenger of the Lord, took on flesh as Jesus/Yeshúa (Hebrew).  Neither the Father nor the HS took on flesh.  As human, Jesus could bridge the gap between Creator and creation.  1Ti.2:5 “There is one Mediator between God and men, the human Jesus Christ.”  He.4:14-15 Jesus as such is High Priest.  In Je.23:5-6, the Messiah would be both a human descendant of David, and YHVH!  Harvard’s Jacob Neusner Judaisms and Their Messiahs, p.275 “An early Judaism myth portrayed a supernatural God-Man King Messiah as Savior and Redeemer of Israel.”  He is Jesus.

The Holy Spirit in the OT: Is.48:16 “The Lord God and His Spirit have sent Me.”  Job.33:4 “The Spirit of God has made me.”  Pr.1:20-23 “Wisdom lifts her voice, ‘I will pour out My Spirit on you.”

Father God is in heaven.  God has operated through the HS and Jesus.  Ac.2:34 Jesus ascended into heaven and now sits there at Father’s right hand (and Jesus lives mystically in Christians, Jn.17:21-23 & Col.1:27).  The human Jesus wasn’t omnipresent.  The HS is on earth…omnipresent.  David wrote in Ps.139:7-10, “Where can I go from Your Spirit, where can I flee from Your Presence?”  Nowhere.

Although the Godhead is tripartite, a common trinitarian view is partly incorrect.  That is, the Bible doesn’t reflect the three in the Godhead as equal in authority.  Father God has the greatest authority!  Jesus said in Jn.14:28, “The Father is greater than I”.  1Co.15:27-28 Jesus is forever subject to Him.

The Father sends Jesus.  Jn.12:49 Jesus said, “The Father who sent Me has given Me commandment”.  The two are distinct.  The Father also sends the HS.  Jn.14:26 “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send.”  Jesus too sends the HS (Jn.16:7).  All three are distinct!  But neither Jesus nor the HS sends the Father!  They differ in order and subordination.  The human Jesus wasn’t omniscient.  Mt.24:36 “Of that day and hour no one knows, not the Son, the Father only.” (see “Jesus Is God…Jesus Has A God”.)

Father God is so very great!  Jn.6:46 & 5:37 no human has ever seen His form.  They hadn’t heard His voice.  Not before Jesus and John the Baptizer heard the voice of Father God formally testify of His Son at Jesus’ baptism.  ref Jn.1:32-34 & Mk.1:9-11.  The (OT) Voice heard by God’s people was that of the Word, the Lord Jesus, e.g. Ge.18:1, 13, Jn.8:56-58.  Jesus said in Jn.10:27, “My sheep hear My voice”.

Ontology is the study of being.  God, angels, humans are called personal beings.  But God’s Being isn’t finite or limited, as we are limited.  Scripture doesn’t define ‘person’ (the term we use in modern English), and doesn’t apply that term to the triune God.  The Latin persona (or Greek prósopon) was a ‘face’ worn by Greek/Roman dramatic actors.  Church fathers applied the Greek term hypostáses (subsistences or entities or individuals) to God.

Several verses in the New Testament (NT) reflect the tripartite Godhead.  First, I should say, 1Jn.5:7 KJV is only in late manuscripts.  And the Mt.28:19 phrase, “Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit”, wasn’t in the text Eusebius quoted ca 300 AD.  But there are many other verses….

2Co.13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the HS be with you all.”  2Co.1:21-22 “He who establishes us in Christ and anointed us is God, who also gave us the Spirit.”  Ep.4:4-6 “There is one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all.”  (That’s three!)  Ac.7:55 “Being full of the HS, Stephen saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”  He.9:14 “Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without blemish to God.”  1Co.12:4-6 “The same Spirit…the same Lord…the same God.”  (Again, that’s three.)  1Pe.1:2 “Elect according to a foreknowledge of God the Father, sanctified by the Spirit, sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ.”  All these verses indicate the three ‘Persons’ of the Godhead, the God Family.

As God, they are identical in essence, fully divine, a tri-unity of subsistences having self-awareness, sinless.  It’s been said as an analogy that the Father is the wall outlet, the HS is the cord, Jesus is the lamp (Re.21:23).  The tripartite Godhead is revealed to us by Jesus the Son’s coming in the flesh and His words in the NT, by other scriptures, and by the HS dwelling within us as Christians.

The terms for God as “Father” and “Holy Spirit” rarely occur as such in the OT.  Very few men had the HS in OT times; and prior to the NT, Jesus hadn’t yet come to reveal the Father.  (see “Life and Death – for Saints”.)  Jesus said in Jn.4:24, “God is Spirit”.  In Mt.10:20, Jesus spoke of Christians having “The Spirit of your Father who speaks in you”.  The HS belongs to and was part of Father God, has personality, but isn’t the totality of God.

Every human has a spirit within.  Jb.32:8 “There is a spirit in man.”  Our human spirit gives biological life to our body of flesh (Ge.2:7).  Ja.2:26 “The body without the spirit is dead.”  Without our human spirit, we’re just a clod.  Our spirit in God’s image imparts self-awareness and intellect to our brain.  It’s a non-physical component which differentiates human mind from animal brain instinct.  Our spirit gives us a moral sense of conscience, based upon the self and cultural customs & laws, not the HS.  Yet the HS will join with our human spirit (1Co.6:17); we become linked to God, able to live God’s morality.

Mt.1:18 “Mary was found to be with Child by the HS.”  The HS as God conceived Jesus in the womb of the surrogate mother Mary.  Kind begets kind.  So even as flesh, the Word/Jesus was of the Godkind.

The HS is very God, distinct from the Father.  Jn.15:26 “The Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father.”  Orthodox Bible “The HS receives…eternal existence only from the Father.”  1Co.3:16 “Don’t you know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God lives in you?”  The Father and Jesus are in heaven…Christians wouldn’t be God’s temple if God the HS didn’t dwell within.  Lk.3:21-22 “Jesus was baptized. The HS descended upon Him in bodily form as a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, ‘You are My beloved Son, in Thee I Am well-pleased.”  The Father sent the HS as a dove upon Jesus the Son, then the Father’s voice spoke to Him from heaven.  That’s three!  Father God didn’t appear as the bird.  And Jesus isn’t an angel’s son.  1Jn.5:10 “God [not an angel] has testified about His Son.”

The HS is a Who, not a what, not an impersonal power such as magnetism or centripetal force.  The following verses reflect HS personality:  Peter said to Ananias in Ac.5:3-4, “You lied to the HS. You weren’t lying to men but to God.”  The person of the HS can be lied to and is God!  1Co.2:10-11 “Who knows the inner thoughts of a man, except the spirit of the man. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. The thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.”  The HS has an intellect and knowledge, as does our human spirit.  Ro.8:26-27 “The Spirit intercedes for us with deep groanings. And He who searches the hearts knows the mind of the Spirit.”  The HS has a mind and prays for the saints, unlike an impersonal ‘force’, so-called.  (see “Holy Spirit Personification”.)

The HS speaks in 1^st Person as “Me” and “I” in Ac.13:2. “The Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work which I have called them to.”  Also ref Ac.11:12, Jn.16:13, Mk.13:11, which indicate the HS is personal and speaks.  2Sm.23:2-3 “The Spirit of YHVH spoke by me. The God of Israel.”  Again, the HS is YHVH/God.

Ro.15:30 “By our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit.”  The HS is a ‘Person’ who can love!  (1Jn.4:8 God is love.)  1Co.12:11 and Ac 20:28 the Person of the HS has a will and appoints overseers in the church.  The Person of Jesus also has a will.  Mt.11:27 “The Father, who the Son wills to reveal.”

The church is the metaphorical bride of Christ (e.g. Re.19:7-9).  Christians (the “bride”) are persons.  Re.22:17 “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.”  The Spirit and the bride speak, as persons.  Jesus is symbolically the Lion, Lamb, Word, arm (of the Lord, Is.53:1)…yet Jesus is a distinct person!  Jesus is also referred to as, “The power of God and the wisdom of God” (1Co.1:24).  Yet Jesus is clearly personal, as the four gospels reveal.  The HS isn’t just the power (or force) of God.

Is.63:10 “They rebelled and vexed His HS.”  Ep.4:30 “Don’t grieve God’s HS, by whom you are sealed.”  The HS seals believers…and can be vexed or provoked, and grieved or made sorrowful.  He.10:29 “Sorer punishment to he who has insulted the Spirit of grace.”  The HS can be insulted.  To think that an emotionless ‘force’ can be vexed, grieved and feel insulted…seems absurd!  Jn.15:26 the HS testifies of Jesus.  Any spirit who denies Jesus is false!  Yet…Mt.12:31-32 “Blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.”

Forces such as magnetism and centripetal force don’t: have a mind, speak, pray, love, or hear and comprehend lies.  Whereas the Bible says the HS does: have a mind, speak, pray, love, hear and comprehend lies.  The HS can be vexed, grieved, insulted, blasphemed!  To repeat, the HS is personal…not just a powerful but emotionless ‘force’ from God!  (also see “Holy Spirit’s Identity”.)

Benny Hinn Welcome Holy Spirit, p.29 “There’s glory in grasping the Personhood of the Holy Spirit….your life will never be the same.”  ibid, p.199 “The Spirit is the Author of the Book.”

A church denomination I won’t name published an article about the Holy Spirit.  Their position is, “The HS is not God. It is the most powerful force in the universe. The HS can be poured out, an impersonal characteristic.”  But we read verses above, such as Ac.5:3-4 and 1Co.3:16, which indicate the HS is God.  Their article went on to say, “Only God can change hearts” (as if the HS isn’t God).

But the HS is God and does change hearts.  Ro.5:5 “The love of God is poured out in our hearts by the HS.”  2Co.1:22 “He gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.”  Ro.15:30 it’s by “The love of the Spirit.”  God’s love is “poured out” or shed abroad through the Person of the HS.  The Holy Spirit personally loves as God.  (And the HS is symbolically “poured out” as living water, Jn.7:38-39.)

Is.53:12 prophesied of Jesus, “He poured out Himself to death”.  Jesus the “Person” also “poured out” Himself or His soul.  1Sm.1:15 Samuel’s wife Hannah describes her supplication to God. “I have poured out my soul before the Lord.”  Jb.30:16 Job’s sore complaint, “My soul is poured out within me”.  David said in Ps.62:8, “Pour out your heart before God”.  In the Bible, the soul and even the heart of a person can be “poured out”!  Hannah, Job, and David are persons.  Jesus and the HS are divine Persons, in a manner “poured out”, so to speak.

Angels are also spirits, “ministering spirits” in He.1:14 (they aren’t the Holy Spirit).  An angel is a spirit who, likewise, isn’t just an impersonal force (e.g. the angel Gabriel, Lk.1:19).

Ministering spirits (angels), the Holy Spirit, our human spirits…aren’t an impersonal Star Wars type force!  Our human spirit is me, is you, within our flesh ‘suit’.  Again, the HS is changing our hearts!  We, as God’s temple of the HS, connect with God…the HS joined with our human spirit (1Co.6:17).  God will be all-in-all, Ep.4:6!

Finally, the triune God is thrice holy.  One Spirit…one Lord…one Father (Ep.4:4-6).  Is.6:3 “Holy, Holy, Holy is YHVH of hosts.”  A three-in-one Godhead.  The heavenly worshipers in Re.4:8 “Do not cease to say, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty”.  Yea, and Amen.

Michael in the Bible

Who is Michaél?  Jewish Encyclopedia: Angelólogy “The 70 nations of Gen.10 each had their guardian angel in heaven; Michael, the guardian angel of Israel, ranks above the rest.”  ReligionWiki “Roman Catholic tradition calls [St] Michael, Gabriel and Raphael archangels.”  Wikipedia: Michael “Within Protestantism, Anglican and Methodist tradition recognizes four archangels: Michael, Raphael, Gabriel and Uriel.”

However, some Protestants and other groups don’t position Michael in the order of angels.  They don’t believe Michael is a created angel.  This topic examines their view from the Bible.

Writers of the Bible books occasionally would use a symbolic, poetic, secondary or changed name for a place, instead of its usual name.  For example, a poetic name for Israel is Jeshurún, meaning ‘upright one’.  De.33:5 “He was king in Jeshurun, the tribes of Israel together.”  It appears a poetic or symbolic name for Jerusalem is Ariel, ‘lioness of God’.  Is.29:1 “Woe to Ariel, the city where David dwelt.”  Jerusalem also came to be called Zion.  Ps.51:8 “Do good to Zion; build the walls of Jerusalem.”

And some Bible characters have more than one name.  For example: Abrám/Abrahám Ge.17:5 “Your name is no more called Abram, your name shall be Abraham.”   Jacob/Israel Ge.32:28 “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel.”  Saul/Paul Ac.13:9 “Saul, who was also known as Paul.”

In the Bible, our Savior (Lk.2:11) has many, many titles and names.  e.g: Jesus/Yeshúa Mt.1:21, Emmanuél Mt.1:23, Christ/Messiah Mt.1:16/Jn.1:41, Word/Lógos Jn.1:1,14, Branch Je.23:5, Angel/Messenger Ga.4:14, Rock 1Co.10:4, Son of Man Mt.12:8, Son of God Mt.8:29.  And more.

A theóphany is an appearance of the Deity to man.  Many believe that Melchisedek, who appeared to Abram in Ge.14:18-20, is a theophany.  He.7:1-4 “Melchisedek, likened to the Son of God, how great this (one) was, to whom Abraham gave a tenth.”  He was even Abraham’s superior!  Many think the theophany or christophany Melchisedek was a manifestation of the Word/Logos before becoming Jesus.

The name “Michael” (Strongs h4317, Hebrew) occurs 13 times in the Old Testament (OT), 10 times as a theophóric (a human name with the name/title of God embedded in it).  The 3 verses where Michael doesn’t refer to a human are in Daniel 10:13, 21, 12:1.  There are 2 New Testament (NT) occurrences of this Michael (g3413, Greek); Jude 9, Re.12:7.  Michael means ‘Who is like God’.

In Daniel 10, it is thought that the angel Gabriel (cf. Da.8:16, 9:21) came to help Daniel.  Gabriel said in Da.10:13 Youngs Literal Translation (YLT), “Michael, first of the chief heads [or princes h8269 sar], has come to help me”.  Barnes Notes Da.10:13 “The first in rank.”  The reformers’ Geneva Bible 1599 “Michael, that is, Jesus Christ the head of angels.”  Benson Commentary “Michael, whose name is sometimes given to Christ Himself.”  Matthew Poole Commentary “Michael, this we take to be Christ.”

Da.10:20-21 YLT “There is not one strengthening himself with me, concerning these, except Michael your head [h8269 prince].”  Gill Exposition Da.10:21 “Michael your Prince; Christ the Prince of the kings of the earth, he was the Prince, Protector, and Guardian of the people of the Jews; he is the Angel [of the Lord/YHVH] that went before them in the wilderness, their King and their God.”

The Hebrew “sar” (h8269) is translated as “head, prince, commander, chief, captain, ruler”.

Da.12:1-2 YLT “’At that time Michael the great head [h8269], is standing up for the sons of thy people. And the multitude of those sleeping in the dust of the earth do awake.”  He stands prior to resurrection.  Matthew Henry Commentary “Michael signifies the Divine Savior. Christ stood for the children of our people.”  Gill Exposition “The Archangel, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is as God, as the name signifies, truly and really God.”  Benson Commentary “The Messiah, not…a created angel.”

The five commentaries above say Michael is another of Jesus’ names.  Let’s compare other scriptures to see if Michael could indeed have been another name of Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew & Aramaic).

Is.9:6 is a messianic prophecy about the “Sar Shalom”, the Prince (h8269) of Peace.  “A Child will be born to us. His name will be called Wonderful, Mighty God, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace.”  Jesus is the prophesied Prince of Peace, the Sar Shalom.

We saw a mighty spiritual Prince/Head/Commander (sar h8269) in Da.10:13, 20-21.  Another passage about the “Commander” (or Prince/Head h8269) of the “host” (h6635) is Da.8:11. “The little horn even set itself up to be as great as the Commander [h8269] of the host of the Lord.”  Da.8:25 “He will even oppose the Prince of princes [Commander of commanders, all are h8269]. Yet he will be shattered, but not by human hands.”  The great Commander/Prince/Head of the Lord’s army does the shattering!

In Jsh.5:13-15, the Commander (Prince/Head/Chief h8269) of YHVH’s angelic host appeared to Joshua, saying, “I have come as Commander of the Lord’s army [host h6635]. Remove your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy”.  Orthodox Bible note, “The chief whom tradition holds to be the Archangel Michael.”  Pulpit Commentary “The majority supposed it to have been the archangel Michael. He who spoke to Joshua was a Divine Person.”  So it was mandatory that Joshua remove his sandals.  The place where the Commander stood was holy.  Joshua fell on his face in reverence.

Moses’ experience in Ex.3:1-6 is similar to Joshua’s in that respect.  “The Angel [Messenger h4397 malákh] of YHVH appeared to him in a blazing fire from a bush. God called to him from the midst of the bush. ‘Remove your sandals for you are standing on holy ground. I Am the God of your fathers.”  The Angel or Messenger of YHVH is also God!  Moses must remove his sandals, as Joshua must!

Alfred Edersheim The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Appendix 13, 1:2:b “Michael is also supposed to have been the Angel in the bush.”  Orthodox Bible “God the Word revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush. He is called the Angel of the Lord because He is the Angel or Messenger of the Father.”  Is.9:6 Septúagint/LXX “His name will be called the Messenger of Great Counsel, and of His peace there is no end.”  Paul wrote of his own welcome in Ga.4:14. “You received me as an angel [or messenger g32 ángelos] of God, as Christ Jesus.”  Yet Jesus is God and not a created angel.

Humans aren’t to worship the angelic order.  John said regarding the angel in Re.19:10, “I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘Don’t do this, I am a fellow-servant.”  Re.22:8-9 “I, John, fell down to worship at the feet of the angel. But he said to me, ‘Don’t do this.”  Yet God/Jesus is to be worshiped!  He.1:6 “Let all the angels of God worship Him.”  Joshua fell on his face and must remove his sandals in the presence of Commander Michael.  Again, Michael means ‘Who is like God’.

In scripture, a spiritual being of the angelic order is an attendant, agent, or messenger for God.  Jesus said in Re.22:16 YLT, “I, Jesus, did send [g3992 pémpo] My messenger [angel g32 angelos] to testify these things”.  But beings of the angelic order aren’t the only messengers.

Humans too can be messengers.  Ge.32:3 “Jacob sent messengers [malakh h4397] to Esau his brother.”  Homing pigeons are used as messengers.  There’s messenger dogs (e.g. German Shepherd, Doberman, Airedale).  The term angel/messenger/angelos doesn’t always refer to the angelic order (ref Ga.4:14).

Jesus is Father God’s Messenger!  Jesus said in Jn.8:16, “I and the Father who sent [g3992] Me”.

The Messenger of YHVH was sent by Father YHVH.  God’s Word transl Ge.16:7, 13 “The Messenger of the LORD found her by a spring in the desert….Hagar named the LORD, who had been speaking to her, ‘You Are the God Who Watches Over Me.”  The Messenger was God!  Jacob in Ge.31:11-13, “In a dream the Messenger of God called to me, ‘I Am the God who appeared to you at Bethél”.

In the Péntateuch, the Angel or Messenger of God…is God!  cf. Ex.13:21 & 14:19!  Zec.12:8 LXX “The house of David will be as the house of God, as the angel of the Lord before them.”

Zec.3:1-2 “He showed me Yehoshúa [Joshua] the chief priest standing in front of the Messenger of the Lord. Satan was standing at Yehoshua’s right side to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, ‘The Lord rebuke you.”  The Messenger or Angel of the Lord who spoke was the Lord (YHVH)!

Those exact words (“The Lord rebuke you”) were spoken in only one other verse of the Bible.  Jude 9 “When Michael the archangel disputed with the devil over the body of Moses, he said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.”  Michael is the archangel or Chief Messenger, the great Head/Prince (Da.12:1).  Perhaps their dispute had to do with whether or not Moses was guilty for killing the Egyptian (Ex.2:11-15)?  Only Michael’s words in Jude 9 parallel the words of the Messenger/Angel of the Lord (“the Lord”) in Zec.3:1-2.  Gill Exposition Jude 9 “By whom is meant the Lord Jesus Christ, not a created angel, as appears from His name Michael, who is as God, the Son of God.”

The only archangel (g743 archángelos, Greek) named in our Bible is…Michael!  The term archangel is never plural in scripture.  Gabriel & Lucifer aren’t specifically called archangels in the Bible.  Edersheim op.cit. “The superiority of Michael over Gabriel [Strong Man of God] is asserted in Ber.4 b.”

Michael again opposes satan the devil/dragon in Re.12:7. “There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought.”  Matthew Henry Commentary “The parties were Christ, the great Angel of the covenant, and his faithful followers; and Satan and his instruments.”  Michael is the Commander or leader of his angels (or host).  And in Mt.25:41, Jesus spoke of “The agelong [aiónios g166] fire prepared for the devil and his angels”.

Similar is Mt.13:41. “The Son of Man will send forth His angels.”  Both Michael and Jesus the Son of Man is Commander of the angelic order.  Mt.24:30-31 “The Son of Man will send forth His angels with a great trumpet blast.”  Do Jesus and Michael the Archangel command two separate groups of ‘good’ angels…or is it the same innumerable group?  And satan the devil/dragon commands over all the ‘bad’ angels.  From those verses, Jesus the Son of Man and Michael appear to be the same.

We saw back in Da.12:1-2 that Michael stands up and resurrection occurs.  “Many to everlasting life but others to shame and everlasting abhorrence.”  In Mt.24:30-31, the elect are gathered as that great trumpet sounds.  1Th.4:16 “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel [g743], and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise.”  The Lord blows the great trumpet.  (cf. Zec.9:14 “The Lord God shall blow the trumpet.”)  At the time the dead rise (Da.12:1-2 Michael), we see whose voice is heard, who the Archangel or Chief Messenger is….

Jesus follows-up on Da.12:1-2 in Jn.5:25-29, where He said “The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. All who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; those who have done good to a resurrection of life, those who done evil to a resurrection of judgment.”  Jesus said the voice heard is that of He Himself, the Son of God!  In 1Th.4:16, the voice heard is that of the archangel, the Lord Himself descending.  Jesus and the Archangel appear one and the same…Michael (in Da.12:1-2)!

The term archangel (archangelos g743) or Chief Messenger occurs only twice in the entire Bible, in 1Th.4:16 and Jude 9.  (The term doesn’t appear in the Greek OT LXX).

A broad angelology and demonology with ranks & functions emerged in Judaism during the time of the Babylonian and Persian periods.  Two angels of note are Raphael (‘God heals’) and Uriel (‘Flame of God’).  Tobit 12:15 “I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels who report the prayers of the saints, and enter before the glory of the Holy One.”  2Esdras 4:1 “The angel Uriel had been sent to me.”  (The apocalyptic 2Esdras was written in the 100s AD, too late to be included in the old Greek version, written 270–132 BC.)  In the decades prior to Jesus’ human birth, near the time of the Greek translation (which became the LXX), the Jews developed the more detailed angelology with names and categories of angelic beings.  ref 1Eno.9:1 Michael, Uriel, Raphael, Gabriel.  1Eno.40:8-10 has Phanuel (‘Face of God’), not Uriel.  2Eno.22:6 (written late 1^st century AD), “Michael, the Lord’s greatest archangel”.

But to the Jewish philosopher Philo (20 BC – 50 AD), the Lord/Word/Logos is the one supreme archangel.  Philo On Dreams, Book 1:25:157 at the top of Jacob’s ladder [Ge.28:12-13] stood “The archangel, the Lord Himself; the living God stands above all things”.  In Philo, there’s no indication of plural archangels.  He didn’t subscribe to four or seven archangels, seen elsewhere in Jewish thought.

Philo Who is the Heir of Divine Things 42:205 “The Father who created the universe has given to His archangelic and most ancient Logos a pre-eminent gift. This same Word is continually a suppliant to the immortal God on behalf of the mortal race.”  That Archangel is Jesus.  In the Bible (e.g. Jn.1:1, 14), Jesus is referred to as the Logos in Greek, the Word in English (the Mémra in Aramaic Targums).

Philo On the Confusion of Tongues 28:146 “His firstborn Logos, the eldest of the angels, the great archangel of many names, for He is called the Authority, and the Name of God, and the Word.”  (Again, Jesus has well more than a dozen names/titles in scripture.)

Also, the Dead Sea Scrolls 11Q13 document has Melchisedek as the leader of God’s angels, instead of Michael.  This DSS passage refers to Melchisedek as Elohím (God).  Wikipedia: 11Q13 “11QMelch is a fragmentary manuscript among the DSS which mentions Melchisedek as leader of God’s angels in a war in heaven [cf. Re.12:7] against the angels of darkness instead of the more familiar Archangel Michael…date of composition is circa 100 BCE. (Isa. 52:7) Melchizedek is ‘Your Elohim’ who will deliver the sons of righteousness from Belial [satan].”  (see the topic “Melchisedek Order Priesthood”.)

To summarize, comparing the above passages in the light of each other, many similarities are apparent:

Jesus is the prophesied Prince of Peace, and the Prince or Commander of the (angelic) host.  Michael is the first chief head, Commander, the Prince of princes.  Michael is the great Prince.  Michael means ‘Who is like God’.  The Angel/Messenger of the Lord, often seen in the Pentateuch, is ‘like God’.

In Jsh.5:15 & Ex.3:5, there was holy ground around both the Commander of the host and the Angel/Messenger of the Lord (who is like God) theophany.

In Zec.3:1-2 & Jude 9, the Angel/Messenger of the Lord who is “the Lord” and Michael the archangel both said to satan the devil, “The Lord rebuke you”.

In Mt.24:30-31 & Re.12:7, Jesus the Son of Man & Michael are both the leader of (the ‘good’) angels.

In Jn.5:25 & 1Th.4:16, the Voice heard when the dead rise is that of both Jesus the Son of God and the Archangel.

In Da.12:1-2 & Jn.5:27-29, both Michael & the Son of God connect to the rising of the just & unjust.

The 1^st century AD thought of Philo was…There exists only one supreme Archangel who is the Word or Logos, the Name of God, the Lord Himself.  The Bible passages support the Hellenist Philo’s view.

The DSS 11QMelch document refers to Melchisedek as God, and substitutes Melchisedek as leader of God’s angels instead of Michael (Re.12:7)/Son of Man (Mt.24:30-31).

Five Protestant commentaries were quoted (near the top) who endorsed the view that Michael is Jesus.  There’s more than those five.  conversationalfaith.org Michael the Archangel is Jesus “The belief that Michael is the Son of God is shared by many influential Protestants throughout history. John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, Charles Spurgeon, John Gill, John Wesley all believed this to be true. As do the Geneva Study Bible and International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.”

Gill Exposition Da.10:13 “Michael…called in the New Testament an Archangel, the Prince of angels, the Head of all principality and power; is no other than Christ the Son of God; the first of the chief Princes; superior to angels in nature, name and office; the General of the armies in heaven.”  Jesus is God…He’s not an angelic being.  Jonathan Edwards Christ Exalted “This Michael is Christ (Da.10:21 and 12:1).”  John Wesley Notes Da.10:13, 21 “Michael here is commonly supposed to mean Christ. Michael-Christ alone is the protector of His church.”  According to Wesley, Protestants commonly believed Michael was Jesus Christ.  Charles Spurgeon Our Lord’s Transcendant Greatness “Our Lord, who is the true Michael, the only Archangel.”  Spurgeon The Angelic Life “Michael is the Lord Jesus.”

Jewish Encyclopedia: Michael “Michael is identified with Melchisedek. Michael, the high priest, is the standard-bearer of God. He announced to Sarah that she should bear a son (Gen.18:10). Michael prevented Isaac from being sacrificed by his father. It was Michael who wrestled with Jacob and afterward blessed him. Michael led the Israelites through their 40 years in the wilderness. Michael is on the right hand of God’s throne, at the right hand of God, occupying the first place near God.”

The above things attributed to Michael in the Jewish Encyclopedia are all attributed to God & Jesus in the Bible!  ref: Ge.14:18-19, He.7:1-4, 4:14 Jesus is high priest; Ge.18:1, 10 the announcement to Sarah was made by YHVH/the Lord; Ge.22:1, 10-12 the Angel of YHVH saved Isaac; Ge.32:24, 29-30 Jacob said he wrestled with God face-to-face; Ex.14:19 & 13:21 the Angel of God and YHVH in a pillar cloud led the Israelites; Ac.2:32-33 & Col.1:18 Jesus is at the right hand of God and is in first place.

Though our minds don’t fully comprehend theophanies/christophanies, the scriptural case can be made that supports the view…Michael is one of the many names/titles of Christ Jesus.  Again, one of Jesus’ names is Emmanu-el.  Micha-el is Jesus’ warrior name, as He fights & defeats the powers of darkness.

The scriptures (but not religious traditions/presuppositions) indicate that “Michael” may well be another or a symbolic or poetic name for Jesus the sole Archangel or Chief Messenger, who Father God sent.  also see the topics “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”, “Jesus Is God…Jesus Has a God”, “Heavenly Host Authorities and Powers”.

Lastly, this exposition isn’t based upon, nor did I utilize the literature of, any church or denominational teaching (such as Jehovah’s Witnesses or Seventh Day Adventist).

 

Godhead in Prehistory

God is a uniplural Being, a compound unity…yet the Creator God-kind is One.  De.6:4 “Hear O Israel, YHVH our God is one [echád Strongs h259, Hebrew].”  But this term doesn’t mean numerically or solely ‘one’.  Ge.2:7, 24 Adam & Eve were echad/“one”, unified in togetherness…the two of them.  Ezr.2:64 the whole assemblage together was echad, as one, although it numbered 42,360 people!

The intertestamental Bible books were included in most canons until 200 years ago.  These apocryphal or deuterocanonical books were in the Septúagint/LXX, in the early KJV, and remain in the canons of the Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), and others.  Since the early Christians used these books, the Jews dropped them.  Because the books were used by the RCC, in 1534 AD Martin Luther placed the books after the canon, rather than keeping them interspersed within it.  (He began the Protestant Reformation.)  Around 200 years ago, Protestants dropped them from the Bible.

However, these intertestamental books were quoted or referenced by Jesus in the New Testament!  Compare: Mt.27:43 & Wisdom of Solomon (WSol) 2:13, 18; Lk.11:31 & WSol.8:1; Mt.6:14 & Wisdom of Sirach (WSir) 28:2.  WSol (written circa/c 20 BC) and WSir (written c 180 BC in Hebrew) will be quoted as we proceed with this topic.

In Ro.1:18-30, the apostle Paul paraphrased WSol.  Compare: Ro.1.21-22 & WSol.14:22; Ro.1:23-29 & WSol.14:29-30, 24-26.  In WSol.13:5, 8 & Ro.1:19-20 KJV, “The invisible things of Him from the creation are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made…even His Godhead.”

The Creation evidences and reflects the Godhead, especially the family generative order of humans and animals.  Ep.3:14-15 Father God is the great prototype of all family relationships.  Orthodox Study Bible “God the Father is the ultimate Source of every living being.”

However, the expression ‘eternal Father’ doesn’t appear in scripture.  Although the Godhead is echad, one, uniplural…scripture indicates the Godhead wasn’t uniplural originally! 

Before God became the Father, God alone was the Self-Existent Being, Ancient of Days.  Not yet the Most High, since no one was below at that ‘time’.  The Being existed alone for an incalculable duration.

This great Omnipotent, Omniscient Being alone was the androgynous prototype or image of human male and female attributes & characteristics.  Were the theory of left-brain right-brain hemisphere dominance correct, the Being would’ve been both sides equally dominant.

But the great Being won’t remain alone!  As if to say (analogous to the later Ge.2:18)…‘It is not good for the androgynous Self-Existent Being to be alone (forever); I will make a Helper for The Being!’

Prehistory doesn’t begin with Ge.1:1!  Prior to Ge.1:1…Pr.8:1-2, 22-30 has a 1^st Person quote from Wisdom. “Does not wisdom call. She stands in the top of high places. ‘YHVH possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works. From everlasting I was established, from the earliest times. When there were no depths I was brought forth. When He established the heavens, I was there. I was beside Him, and I was daily His delight.”  Wisdom, at the Being’s side…She has a beginning!

WSir, also called Ecclesiásticus, supports and expands Proverbs.  WSir.1:4, 7 “Wisdom was created before all things….The Lord Himself created wisdom. He poured her out on all His works.”  The Being brought forth Wisdom before all else, pouring her out.

WSir.24:3-6 is a 1^st Person quote by Wisdom. “I came forth from the mouth of the Most High. My throne is in the pillar of a cloud.”  The Shekínah glory of YHVH is in the pillar of a cloud, and later led ancient Israel.  Ex.13:21 “YHVH went before them in the pillar of a cloud.”  cf. Ex.40:34-35.

He (now the Most High) and She (Wisdom) are both YHVH.  They are echad, one, uniplural.

WSol.7:22, 25 “In herself, wisdom is a spirit that is understanding, Holy. She is the breath of the power of God, and the emanation of the pure glory of the Almighty.”  Wisdom is the Holy Spirit, split-off or spirated or emanated through the Being’s breath/mouth.  WSol.8:3-4 “She glorifies her noble birth by living with God, and the Master of all loves her.”

WSol and WSir reflect how Jews believed and interpreted Proverbs & Wisdom in latter BC times.  Wisdom is sophía (g4678) in Greek, and chokmáh (h2451) in Hebrew.  Orthodox Bible “The Holy Spirit receives eternal existence only from the Father.”  Wisdom says in Pr.8:25 LXX, “He begets [gennáo g1080] Me”.  Philo On Flight and Finding, p.325 “Wisdom, even if it be most ancient of all other things, still has only second place to that Omnipotent Being.”  He is the Most High.

Another 1^st Person quote from Wisdom is Pr.1:20-23. “Wisdom shouts/sings in the street. ‘Turn to my reproof, Behold I will pour out my spirit upon you.”  She is poured out, wisdom the Spirit.  Note the word of YHVH that came to Joel in 2:28-29. “I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind.”  Wisdom is the Holy Spirit!  Compare Nu.27:18, “Joshua, a man in whom is the Spirit.”…with De.34:9, “Joshua was filled with the spirit of wisdom”.  The spirit of Wisdom in Joshua is the Holy Spirit!

Solomon’s prayer of WSol.9:4, 10, 17. “Give me the wisdom that sits by Your throne…Send her forth from Your holy heavens…Your Holy Spirit from on high.”  Wisdom the Holy Spirit sat beside God’s throne in the heavens, as a Queen beside the King’s throne.  The real “Queen of Heaven” (Je.44:17) isn’t Ashtóreth (e.g. 1Ki.11:5), other pagan goddesses, or Mary…rather, She’s the Holy Spirit (HS).

Returning to prehistory…The Being emanated the HS.  The Being is now become He, no longer an androgyne…the HS, She is with Him.  A later figure of this masculine and feminine is Is.42:13-14. “YHVH will go forth like a warrior. Like a woman in labor I will groan.”  YHVH is as warrior and pregnant woman both!  And Ps.123:2 “As servants look to their master, and a maid to her mistress, so our eyes look to YHVH.”  YHVH is both Master and Mistress!  He and She.  Yet they are one/echad.

Since the Godhead is divine ‘Persons’, we most often use personal pronouns to refer to Their reality.  In English, personal pronouns are masculine or feminine.  In the next scriptural revelation of prehistory, He will become Father too (but not Mother).  She will become Mother.

God made the family (father, mother, offspring) the foundational unit (Ro.1:19-20)!  The church ideal for children is two–parent families.  Yet are God’s born-again children, adopted into a single–parent family?  Can there be a Son of God without a Father God and a Mother God?  Was the Word or Logos begotten into a one-parent family?  Again, YHVH reflects both masculine and feminine (Ps.123:2)!

The Works of Philo, p.85, 331, 405 “The Word [Lógos g3056, Greek] has received wholly pure parents…God being the Father and husband of wisdom, the mother of the Word….the Divine Logos flows forth from Wisdom as a spring.”  (A spring of Living water poured-out, Jn.4:14.)  Creation of man/mammals reflects & teaches us that it’s impossible to have a father without having a mother!

When did the Word/Logos, the One who later became Jesus in the flesh, originate?

At Creation in Ge.1:1-2, “The Spirit of God was hovering [h7363]….”  JFB Commentary “The Holy Spirit was hovering as a mother bird, when hatching eggs.”  The Holy Spirit is the real Mother Nature, so to speak!  De.32:11 a mother eagle hovers (h7363) over her young.  Re.12:14 the Holy Spirit-filled church is metaphorically given the wings of a great she-eagle, “that she might fly”.

Jn.1:1-5, 14, 18 “In the beginning, the Word [Logos] was with God and the Word was God. All things came into being through Him. In Him was life and the life was the Light of men….And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us….the only-begotten God.”  The Word/Logos/Light became Jesus.  He.1:2-3 Jesus the Son is the radiance of God’s glory.

Ge.1:2-4 “God said, ‘Light…Be!”  A great cosmic Light was brought forth on the 1^st day of Creation.  But no sun, moon, or stars luminaries appeared until the 4^th day (v.14-19).  2Co.4:6 Jesus is a great primordial Light!  Jesus Himself said in Jn.8:12, “I AM the Light of the world”.  Jesus was begotten or emanated from His Father and Mother (who “hovers”).  And Jesus said in Jn.12:46, “I have come as Light”.  1Jn.1:5 “God is Light.”  This first Light has been described as ‘the ongoing and working reflection of His [the Father’s] Intelligence.’

Thus God became a Family.  (Other closely related topics are: “Tri-unity of God”, “Holy Spirit Personification”, “Holy Spirit’s Identity”, “Jesus Is God…Jesus has A God”.)

Jesus said of Himself in Lk.7:35, “Wisdom is justified by her children”.  Jesus acknowledged His Mother God, Wisdom!

Orthodox Study Bible “The Son is begotten before all time and ages from the essence of the Father. The Son…has the Father as His Source from eternity.”  The oldest manuscript of Jn.1:18 refers to Jesus as the “only begotten God”.  The Word (Jesus) was begotten or generated, “made” in that sense.  He.3:1-2 says Jesus “was faithful to Him who made [poiéo g4160] Him”.  Jn.17:24 the Father gave Jesus His glory.  Jn.6:57 the Word/Jesus’ very life is because of the Father!

Theophilus, the 6^th bishop of Antioch (born approximately 20 years after the apostle John died), was the first to use the term trinity/triad.  In 175 AD he wrote To Autólycus, 2:10. “God, having His own Word internal within His own bosom, begat Him, emitting Him along with His own Wisdom before all things.”  2:15 Theophilus’ triad was, “The Trinity of [Father] God, His Word, and His Wisdom”.  To Autolycus is “the earliest extant Christian work to use the word ‘Trinity’ [trías Greek, triad].”

Christian historian Robert Grant’s Greek Apologists of the 2^nd Century, p.169. “Theophilus and almost every early Christian theologian agreed the Logos (like Sophia/Wisdom) was originally in God.”

Irenaeus (130-200 AD) of Lyons, France wrote Against Heresies. “The Son is rightly and properly called Word, while the Spirit is called the Wisdom [Sophia] of God.”  Ibid 4.7.4 “The Son and the Holy Spirit, the Word and Wisdom [Sophia], whom all the angels serve.”

The Father, Holy Spirit (Wisdom), and Son comprise YHVH…the Godhead.  In those early writings, the Christian belief wasn’t the same tri-unity/trinity the RCC later promulgated.  As the RCC changed from the belief of the early church, in ensuing centuries much of Christianity has also adopted the position of the RCC.  (Additionally the RCC began to emphasize Mary…see the topic “Holy Spirit versus Mariolatry”.)

{Sidelight: Although the feminine HS was present (Ge.1:2, Pr.8:22) before the Word or Light (Ge.1:3), She isn’t a Son.  Only sons are firstborns in scripture (e.g. Ex.13:13-15 LXX, g4416 firstborn).  Therefore the Word/Christ the Son, not the HS, is “the firstborn [g4416] of all creation” in Col.1:15.}

Next, after the Word (who became Jesus) was begotten, came other days of Creation…see Ge.1:6-25.

Ps.33:6 “By the Word of YHVH the heavens were made, and by the Spirit of His mouth [cf. WSir.24:3] all their host.”  Creation was by the Word/Jesus and the HS.  WSol.9:1-2 “God, who made all things by Your Word and in Your Wisdom built a man.”  Col.1:16 “Through Him [Jesus the Word, the Son, v.13] were all things created.”  Ps.104:24, 30 “You send forth Thy Spirit, they are created.”  Pr.3:19 “The Lord by Wisdom founded the earth.”  Job.33:4 “The Spirit of God has made me.”

The above verses all reflect the Spirit/Wisdom and the Word active at Creation.  Also, Philo The Special Laws 1, p.541 “Now the image of God is the Word [Logos], by which all the world was made.”  Written in Aramaic pre-200 AD, the Targum Neofití Ge.1:1, “In the beginning, with Wisdom, the Memra of the Lord created and perfected the heavens and the earth”.  The Memra is the Aramaic equivalent of the Word (English) and Logos (Greek).  Wisdom/HS and the Word were Creator(s).

Theophilus also wrote in Autolycus 1:3, 7, 2:10, 22 that God made all things (he quotes Ps.33:6) by the Logos/Son and Wisdom, His two offspring/hands (2:18).  They are the “Us” in Ge.1:26 (below).  1Clement 15:7-8 “He with His holy and pure hands formed man…‘Let Us make man in Our image.”

Ge.1:26-27 “Let Us make mankind [adám h120] in Our image, according to Our likeness…in the image of God.” (not in the image of non-reproductive angel-kind spirits).  The human (adam h120) was created by the Word and Wisdom/HS, the Us…who are God.  Humans, both male and female, are made in God’s image/pattern/attributes.  (cf. a later reference for “image” is Nebuchadnézzar’s statue, also an image.)  And humans are made in God’s likeness/shape/form.  The Hebrew term for image (h6754) is masculine, and the term for likeness (h1823) is feminine.  How did we imagine God, and what does God appear like?  ref the Ezk.1:26-28 vision, when God appeared in the likeness (h1823) of mankind!

In Jewish thought, the first human possibly was created androgynous, or a two-sided being, with male and female attributes.  Ge.5:1-2 “In the day when God created mankind [h120] in the likeness of God, He created them male and female.”  “Them” is a plural.  Dual gender indwelling the human, on the 6^th day!?  Eve was then brought forth from Adam’s side (h6763).  Ge.2:21-23 “She shall be called woman [isháh h802], because she was taken out of man [ish h376].”  The human/adam (h120) wasn’t called ‘male human’ (ish h376) until Ge.2:23…when Eve is drawn out of Adam!  Not before then was the adam termed ish…male human.  1Co.11:12 “The woman came from the man.” (not from the ground.)

Within man was wo(mb)man, his ‘other half’.  John H. Walton Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament, p.208 “All men and women are to be viewed as two sides of an original whole.”  The first human (adam h120), formed from the ground (adamáh h127, Ge.2:7) in The Being’s image, was perhaps a ‘quasi-androgynous’ (for lack of a better term) image of what God originally had been.  God then fashioned that human into two, Adam and Eve…as The Being had brought forth the feminine HS Wisdom from the “mouth” of The Being’s sole essence!  Husband and wife are to cling together as one/echad (flesh), Ge.2:24; as an androgynous first human was solely one flesh prior to the ish/male and ishah/female Eve.  And the Godhead is unified as One (De.6:4).

It takes both male and female humans, ish and ishah, to fully express the image and likeness of God!  Man and woman must both exist, or there would be no complete image and likeness of God (after The Being emanated the HS)!  Note: Though Paul did address female roles in the assembly, and the husband is the head of the wife (Ep.5:23), women were wrongly considered inferior by the institutional church.

In our various languages, we use terms which correspond to the ancient Hebrew & Greek terms chosen by the Bible writers to identify and describe the ‘Persons’ of the Godhead.  Jewish and Christian theology usually refers to God in male language and images, yet agrees it doesn’t adequately express all that the Divine is.  The Godhead possesses all the masculine and feminine attributes.  Words just cannot express how great God is!

Savior’s Name in Bible Languages

God’s Divine Name is spelled YHVH or YHWH (Strongs h3068, Hebrew).  This four-letter théonym is known as the Tetragrámmaton.  In Wars of the Jews 5:5:7, the 1^st century Jewish historian Josephus said of the Divine Name, “it consists of four vowels”.  The letters are yod–hey–vav–hey (read from right to left).  These ancient Hebrew letters have also been called semi-vowels.

Today the exact pronunciation of God’s Divine Name is uncertain.  The most common transliteration is Yáhweh, also Yáhuah and Yehuah.  Phonetically, perhaps the Name sounded something like…ee-áh-oo-aye (pronounced rapidly).  also see the topic, “God’s Name & Titles in Scripture”.

My topic here is specifically the Name of the Savior.  What’s in a name?  The meaning of the Savior’s Name in Hebrew also provides etymológical evidence that Jesus of Nazaréth is the Savior.

Mt.1:20-21 in our English Bibles, an angel of the Lord told Joseph in a dream that he & Mary/Miriám were to call the name of the Child she was carrying…Jesus.  And in v.25, “He called His name Jesus”.

Throughout the New Testament (NT), the spelling J-e-s-u-s is used in modern English for the koine Greek name Iesóus (g2424 masc noun), pronounced Yay-sóos.

Why didn’t Father God want His Son to be named Aaron or Abe or Sam or…?  After all, Abraham and Samuel were good Hebrews!  Why call the Son Jesus?  This study of names should provide the answer.

According to the Greek Dictionary of the New Testament, the Greek Iesous g2424 represents the Old Testament (OT) Hebrew name Yehoshúa (h3091 masc noun).  The name Yehoshua is rendered Joshua in most English Bibles.  For example Ex.17:9, “Moses said to Joshua [Yehoshua h3091]”.

This Joshua/Yehoshua was the son of Nun.  But we read in Nu.13:8, “From the tribe of Ephráim, Hoshéa [h1954 masc ‘salvation’] the son of Nῡn”.  (A later Hosea h1954 wrote the first of the 12 so-called ‘minor’ prophet books.)  Yet in Nu.13:16, “Moses called Hoshea [h1954] the son of Nun, Joshua [Yehoshua h3091]”.  Hebrew names in the Bible have meaning.  Moses altered the son of Nun’s name from Hoshea or ‘he saves’ to Joshua/Yehoshua or ‘YHVH saves’ (or ‘YHVH is salvation’).

And later in the Greek Septúagint/LXX: Ex.17:9, Nu.13:16, throughout the Pentateuch, in the books of Joshua & Judges, Haggai & Zechariah, etc…the Greek name for Joshua/Yehoshua is Iesous (g2424)!  In ancient Bible language, Joshua the son of Nun was given the same name as Jesus of Nazareth!

Moses prophesied to Israel in De.18:15. “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you.”  Moses’ successor was Joshua (Iesous in Greek) the son of Nun.  But the ultimate fulfillment of Moses’ prophecy is Jesus of Nazareth.  Jews were saying in the 1^st century AD, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee” (Mt.21:11).  In Ac.3:20-23, Peter identified this Jesus as that prophet Moses had said would be like Moses himself.  One similarity…while Moses and Jesus were infants, their respective rulers (Pharaoh and Herod) wanted them put to death (Ex.1:22 and Mt.2:16).  Another similarity, Moses and Jesus both fasted for 40 days (Ex.34:28 and Mt.4:2).

Again, the transliterated Greek name of Moses’ OT successor Joshua and the Savior Jesus of Nazareth is…Iesous (g2424).

In Ac.7:44-45 of the NT, Stephen the Greek-speaking Jew recounted that God had directed Moses to make the ancient tabernacle, and then “our fathers brought it in with Iesous” (in NT Greek).  In v.45, many English Bibles rightly identify this Iesous as “Joshua” who followed Moses.  But a few Bibles (including the KJV) have translated the NT Greek Iesous as “Jesus” in this verse.  Although they both had the same name in Greek, the Bibles which read “Jesus” here give the wrong impression of who Stephen had in mind.  Stephen was referring to the OT Joshua.

A similar situation occurs in He.4:8, where the Greek name again is Iesous and Moses’ immediate successor Joshua is meant.  Although many English Bibles here render the Greek Iesous as “Joshua”, a few Bibles (e.g. KJV) render Iesous as “Jesus” (giving the wrong impression of who the writer of Hebrews had in mind).  Since they both had the same name, the context reveals which one is meant.

The Jewish translators of the Old Greek version (which became the LXX) used this same name Iesous for the title of the book of Joshua!  And interestingly, Moses’ successor Joshua and our Savior Jesus of Nazareth were the son of Nun or none (when we pronounce ‘Nun’ and ‘none’ similarly in modern English)!  Mary’s husband Joseph was Jesus’ legal father, but not His biological father.  The Savior Jesus of Nazareth had no human father in a biological sense.  (see the topic, “Jesus’ Virgin Birth”.)

Again, the counterpart of the Greek Iesous in ancient Paleo-Hebrew was Yehoshua, ‘YHVH saves’.  Mary’s husband Joseph was commanded to name the baby “Iesous”/Jesus because…her baby Jesus was the Word of God who is also very God/YHVH (Jn.1:1, 14).  And prior to Jesus’ human birth, Joseph was told in Mt.1:21, “It is He who will save His people from their sins”.  So we see that Jesus’ given Name even meant ‘Savior’!  God delivered ancient Israel from their enemies through Joshua the son of Nun, and God delivers us from the ultimate consequences of sin through Jesus of Nazareth’s sacrifice.

In the 1^st century AD, by what name did Jesus’ disciples and others call this Son of Joseph and Mary?  According to most Bible historians, (Western) Aramaic had become the common tongue in the Holy Land.  But many people would have spoken Greek in “Galilee of the Gentiles” (Mt.4:15), where the family and His disciples lived.  In that area, Joseph and Jesus perhaps had business clients who were Greek-speakers.  Stephen was a Hellenist Jew even living in Jerusalem (Ac.6:1-8).  Of note, when the NT writers quoted the OT, their quotes most often were from the Old Greek version which became the LXX (not from the more recent Hebrew Masorétic text)!

But prior to Aramaic becoming the language of the common people, the ancient Paleo-Hebrew of the Toráh had undergone changes.  Languages and dialects change over the centuries.  The Hebrew name Yehoshua h3091 had become obsolete as such.  The Divine Name was embedded in the name Yehoshua.  (A theophóric embeds or contains the name of God.)  The Jews had begun to consider it blasphemy to pronounce the name of God, even within a personal name!

By the time the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were written, the Hebrew name Yehoshua had been shortened to Yeshúa (h3442 masc noun).  The theophoric was removed.  The Divine Name isn’t embedded in the form “Yeshua”, although the names Yehoshua and Yeshua both mean to save/deliver.  Ne.8:17 “From the days of Joshua [Yeshua h3442] the son of Nun.”  In Nehemiah, the name of Moses’ successor is Yeshua, shortened from Yehoshua h3091 (cf. Ex.17:9).  Ne.12:26 and Ezr.3:2 are two other examples where the abbreviated Hebrew form Yeshua was used, instead of Yehoshua.  In the OT, this name Yeshua h3442 occurs 29 times; only in Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles!  Conversely, the name Yehoshua h3091 never appears in the books of Ezra or Nehemiah (it does appear in 1Ch.7:27).

After the Babylonian captivity, Aramaic (not Hebrew) became spoken by the Jewish common people.  This occurred prior to the emergence of the Grecian Empire.  Correspondingly, there are a few chapters of the OT which were originally written in Aramaic, not Hebrew.  (see “Aramaic in the Bible”.)

Ezra 4:8–6:18 was written in Aramaic.  Ezr.5:2 “Then Zerubbabél the son of Shealtiél and Yeshúa [h3443 masc noun] the son of Jozadák arose and began to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem.”  In this verse, the name Yeshua is in Aramaic (its only OT occurrence in Aramaic).  The Aramaic equivalent Yeshua h3443 was pronounced almost identical to the Hebrew Yeshua h3442.

Again, when Jesus of Nazareth walked the earth, a dialect of Aramaic remained the language most often spoken in the Holy Land.  Yeshua was a popular Aramaic name for babies.  It’s been quipped…‘the Aramaic name on Jesus’ drivers license would have been Yeshua bar Yosef’ (Yeshua the son of Joseph)!  The Savior’s spoken name was Yeshua or Iesous (Greek), in the languages of His day.

In the OT there are 245 total occurrences of the: Hebrew names Yehoshua h3091 & Yeshua h3442, Aramaic Yeshua h3443.  In the Greek LXX, all these 245 occurrences are rendered Iesous g2424!

Approximately 200 years before Messiah Jesus’ human birth, how did the translators of the Jewish Old Greek version get from Ye–sh–u–a in the Hebrew/Aramaic scriptures to Ie–s–ou–s in the Greek scriptures?  Greek was the commercial language of the empire at the time.  (Again, in the LXX this same Greek name Iesous was used by the Jewish translators for the title of the book of Joshua.)

Translating the OT Hebrew into Greek enabled the Greek-speaking Jews in the diáspora (dispersion) who no longer knew Hebrew to understand the scriptures.  But the koine Greek language didn’t contain the same sounds as the ancient Hebrew language, so the transliteration of names wasn’t easy.  Following is the step-by-step transliteration of the name Yeshua into Greek:

The yod or ‘Ye’ of Ye-sh-u-a was transliterated iota-eta or ‘Ie’ in the koine Greek dialect.  The shin or ‘sh’ in Ye-sh-u-a couldn’t be sounded in Greek, because there was no ‘sh’ sound in the middle of Greek words.  So the Jewish translators just used a sigma ‘s’ to represent the Hebrew ‘sh’.  For the vav or ‘u’ in Ye-sh-u-a, they used omicron-upsilon or ‘ou’ in Greek.  Concerning the áyin or ‘a’ in Ye-sh-u-a, Greek grammar rules required this sound be dropped.  Then to distinguish a name in Greek as masculine, it was necessary to place a final sigma ‘s’ at the end of the name.  (For example Mt.27:21, Barabbá(s) was an Aramaic name transliterated into Greek with an ‘s’ added at the end to indicate masculine.)  Thus Ye-sh-u-a in Hebrew/Aramaic became Ie-s-ou-s in koine Greek.

Then how did the Greek “Iesous” become “Jesus” in modern English?  (It’s also “Jesus” in today’s Spanish, pronounced Hay–sóus.)

The Greek Iesous was rendered “Iesus” in Latin, yet still retaining the Yay-sóos pronunciation as the Greek.  The Old English then used the Latin form Iesus, pronouncing it Ye-sus.  Later the English form came to be spelled with a beginning ‘J’, but that ‘J’ was still sounded like a ‘Y’.  After that, the ‘J’ began to take on a harder sound…and His Name became pronounced “Jesus” (Jée-zus), as today.

So we see that the ancient Hebrew name has gone through a reasonable and common-sense transliteration process over the centuries, as languages developed and changed.

There are a relatively few who erroneously think the name “Jesus” derives from heathendom.  Although names and syllables may have phonetic similarities across dialects, the modern form “Jesus” wasn’t derived from the name of a pagan god such as Zeus!

Regardless of the exact spelling or pronunciation of Savior Jesus’ name throughout the languages and cultures of the world, His is the only Name by which we’re saved!  As Peter said in Ac.4:10-12, “Jesus Christ [Iesous Christós] the Nazarene….there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name by which we must be saved.”  Praise the God who saves!

Furthermore, the name of King Messiah (in the order of Melchisedek) was prophesied in the book of Zechariah to be…Iesous/Yeshua (the shortened form of Yehoshua).

Returning once more to Mt.1:20-ff (Matthew quoted much from the Old Greek), Mary’s husband Joseph was told the given name of Isaiah’s prophesied Emmanuél was to be Iesous (Jesus)/Yeshua.  In Zec.3:8, circa 500 BC a Jewish high priest named Iesous (LXX)/Yehoshua h3091 is identified as a symbol for the Messiah or “Branch” (ref Je.23:5-6).  Zec.6:11-13 that high priest’s name Iesous (or Jesus)/Yehoshua will also be the name of the Branch/Messiah!  v.12 “Behold, a man whose name is the Branch.”  And He will occupy the two offices of priest and king in the order of Melchisedek (cf. Ge.14:18).  This is amazing…500 years before Iesous (NT Greek)/Jesus/Yeshua was born in Bethlehem, Zechariah prophesied the given name of the Branch/Messiah would specifically be Iesous (Jesus)/Yehoshua (Yeshua)!  His name wouldn’t be Aaron, Abe or Sam!  Zechariah’s prophecy came to pass…God knew the end from the beginning!  (also see “Jesus Is the Messiah”.)

Lastly, God/YHVH identified Himself to Moses as the eternal I Am/He Is.  The Lord said in Ex.3:14-15, “I AM who I AM”…or “I will become what I will become.”  The Septuagint/LXX reads, “I AM The Being”.  God/YHVH the Self-Existent, Ever-Living Being!  He Is the Name above all names!  Jesus said in Jn.8:56-59, “Before Abraham was, I AM”.  And in Jn.18:4-8, even Jesus’ antagonists understood His divine I AM implication, and they fell to the ground (v.6)!

Our Savior’s name Yeshua/Iesous/Jesus, given by God, links back to the Divine Name theonym of Father God.  (Again, cf. Ex.17:9, Ne.8:17, Ezr.5:2 Aramaic, LXX & NT Iesous.)  Jesus said in Jn.5:43, “I have come in My Father’s name”.  A Son bears His Father’s family Name.