Who is God?

“What is His Name, and what is His Son’s Name? For you will confess it.” Proverbs 30:4

Yeshua, whom most English-speaking people call “Jesus”, is the Son of God. That is how the Apostles preached Him. That is how He presented Himself.

Yes that meant that He represented God perfectly whenever He entered a room. And He still does. That is how Paul described Him to the Jewish believers, when he began to explain that they did not need to fear the destruction of their Temple and the old order of the priesthood that was still operating in Jerusalem, but would soon vanish.  He described Yeshua as the “perfect expression of God’s image”. But, that did not mean that His Father was no longer on His throne. But that is the official stance of the Catholic Church, that Mary is the “Mother of God”, that Jesus is God, and the Father is mysteriously amalgamated between the two, within the same body as Jesus : ὁμοούσιος (homoousios) “one substance with the father”. One body.  Not separate. This is the official Nicene wording when the ‘trinity’ was created.

The Scriptures, however, make it plain that Yeshua is a human being, still. In many verses, we read that He is right now a resurrected human being at the right hand of His Father.  In fact, in the verses where Paul describes Him so well, that’s exactly what we see:

¹From of old God [Elohim] spoke to our fathers by the Prophets [Nevi’im] in many forms and in many ways; and in these Last Days [Akharit HaYamim] He has spoken to us by His Son, ²whom He [God] has appointed as heir of all things, and by whom also He made the worlds; ³for He [The Son] is the brightness of His [God’s] Glory [Kavod], and the express image of His Nature, upholding all things by the power of His Word [Davar]; and when He [The Son] had Himself cleansed our sins, then He [The Son] sat down on the right hand of the Majesty [God] on high.” ~ Heb 1

Yeshua is the Son of God. And these verses make it plain that God created the world through Yeshua, and that Yeshua is now ‘beside‘ God, the Father.  This does make Him divine, but it does not make Him ‘very God’ in the sense of replacing the Father or magically ‘merging’ with the Father physically, or being perfectly equal to the Father in every way. Yeshua is subservient and submitted to God His Father, and was so obedient as a human being that He chose to die [being obedient even to death on a stake], and that is why God raised Him from the dead! And God did raise Him from the dead!

There are very few verses that refer to Him as God in any way, and none that call Him utterly “God”. The ones that do seem to call Him “God” do not mean that God LEFT heaven, but that the very Will [Word] and Nature [character] of God became a human, while God was still on His throne:

⁵For a boy is born unto us, a Son is given unto us; and the government is upon his shoulder; and his name is called Peleh Yo’etz El Gibor Avi Ad Sar Shalom [Wonderful Counselor (of the) Mighty G-d (the) Eternal Father, Prince of Shalom]; ⁶that the government may be increased, and of Shalom there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His Kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it through justice and through righteousness, from henceforth, even forever. The zeal of  יהוה  Tzeva’ot does perform this.” ~ Isaiah 9

Some people read these verses and leave out “of the” Mighty God, and they think that this is calling Yeshua “God” utterly. And it is easy to see why. But, they forget that this is a BOY, a SON. But, people focus on “El Gibor” as a reference to Yeshua, which is true, but they easily get too focused on that, and thus do not understand the prophecy correctly: Especially when Isaiah’s other prophecy about Yeshua is remembered:

¹⁴Therefore Adonai Himself shall give you a sign: behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call his name ‘Imanu El’. ~ Isaiah 7

“Imanu El” is “God is with us”. Some folks may look at a concordance and not see the “is”, but they do not understand the “perfect tense” of Hebrew always implies “is”, just like it implied the “of the” in the previous verses. People take an English translation, and read into what they have been told to read into it for 1700 years. But, even if we do, and we do see Yeshua as a manifestation of God, this still does not and cannot mean that God left heaven and became a man, which is what too many who call themselves christians actually believe.

If God left heaven and became a man, and that man is Jesus, and Jesus died, then God died.  But God cannot die! He is the very source of life, and He sustains the whole universe, and even cosmologists admit that there is ‘something’ unseen holding it all together perfectly. If God died, the universe would have unfurled and vanished! But, that is what Catholicism and others teach: that God actually died, and that he set a ‘death alarm clock’ and raised Himself from the dead. It is preposterous. And it flies in the face of the plain reading of scripture, which theologians do not seem to want us to do.

Further, God raised Yeshua from the dead:

“Yeshua HaNatzri, a man FROM GOD, who appeared among you by miracles and signs and wonders which God did by Him among you, as you yourselves know, ²³this man, who was consecrated for this purpose by the foreknowledge and will of God, you have delivered into the hands of wicked men, and you have executed and murdered Him, ²⁴whom God has raised up, having destroyed the pains of Death, because it was not possible for She’ol to hold Him.” ~ Acts 2 , Peter’s first gospel message

Paul was speaking to the Jewish leaders when he said this:

³²And behold, we also declare to you that that very promise which was made to our fathers, ³³behold, God has fulfilled it to us their children, for He has raised up Yeshua, just as it is written in the second Psalm, ‘You are my son; this day I have fathered you.’ ~ Acts 13

Yes, Yeshua did say He had the power to take up His own life again: however, He confessed in that same breath that the power to take up His own life after death was GIVEN TO HIM BY HIS FATHER:

“Therefore I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.” John 10: 18

Too many times Yeshua speaks to the Father and about the Father, deferring to Him, glorifying Him, trying to get people to understand Him. He refers to the Father very often, and many times, He referred to Him as “….Father [who is] in Heaven”, while Yeshua was right here on earth speaking about Him. And the best place to ‘see’ this is at Yeshua’s own immersion:

²¹It came to pass when all the people were immersed, Yeshua also was immersed, and while He prayed, Heaven was opened, ²²and The Holy Spirit [Ru’akh HaKodesh] descended on Him, in the form of a dove, and a voice from Heaven, saying, “You are my Beloved Son [Ben HaAhuv]; with you I am pleased.” ~ Luke 3

Yeshua prays the prayer while He is in the water, as all Jews still do today when they immerse, and then the Spirit of God Almighty descended on Him in the shape of a dove, and God the Father spoke from Heaven. This is Yeshua being “Unified” with His Father; this is the moment that God gave Him the “power” He would use to do the works of the Messiah. Yeshua already had God’s character , His Nature, because He was indeed born of a virgin, and God was indeed His Father, naturally and spiritually. He was already the perfect expression of God, even as an infant. But here, the Father now gives Him the ‘office’ of Messiah, which had been long predicted in Israel. The important thing to keep in mind is that we “hear” the Father’s voice coming out of heaven here. John the immerser also heard this, and perhaps others.

Another place where we clearly see that while Yeshua was on earth His Father was still in Heaven is when He took three of His students to the top of the high mountain:

¹And after six days Yeshua took Kefa and Ya’akov and his brother Yokhanan [Peter, James, and John] and brought them up to a high mountain alone.  ²And Yeshua was transfigured before them, and His face shined like the sun, and His clothes turned white like light.  ³And there appeared to them Moshe and Eli-Yahu, as they were talking with Him.  ⁴Then Kefa answered and said to Yeshua, “My Adon, it is better for us to remain here; and if you wish, we will make three sukkot here, one for You, and one for Moshe, and one for Eli-Yahu.”  ⁵And while he was speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud saying, “This is my Beloved Son [Ben HaAhuv], I am pleased with Him; hear Him.”

Why did this voice from Heaven speak about Yeshua, the Son, in the SECOND person, if Yeshua IS all that God is, if God was on earth in the same body as Yeshua?

It is preposterous to say that God left heaven and became a baby, and that Yeshua was talking about or to Himself when He spoke about or to His Father. And there are so many times that He either spoke about or to His Father that it would be impossible to list them here and hold anyone’s attention any further… but I will reference a few, to establish the fact that Yeshua saw His Father as someone superior to Himself, in Heaven, whom He served, and whom He should glorify:

“So let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify Your Father in Heaven.” ~ Mat 5:16

“Therefore, become complete, just as Your Father in Heaven is complete.” ~ Mat 5:48

²¹“It is not everyone who merely says to me, ‘My Lord, My Lord,’ who will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven.” ~ Mat 7

“for I say to you, their “Angels” [Malakhim] in the heavens always see the face of My Father in Heaven.” ~ Mat 18:10

“One is your Father in Heaven“. ~ Mat 23:9

Each of these is Yeshua referencing His Father, and telling people that He is in Heaven, when Yeshua is on earth: deferring to Him, instructing others to BELIEVE in the Father, and to glorify the Father. Why is it today that so few want even to speak of The Father? Why is it today that people have replaced the Father altogether, saying Yeshua is the Father? Is it because Yeshua said, “I and my Father are “one”, which in Hebrew is “אחד”, “ekhad”, or “UNIFIED“.

And, Yeshua was speaking to The Father in His darkest hours, saying:

¹⁷“O Abba, [Daddy/Father] consecrate them in Your truth, because Your Word is truth.  ¹⁸Just as You did send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.  ¹⁹And for their sakes, I am setting myself apart, so that they also may be consecrated in the truth.” ²⁰“I am not making request for these alone, but also for the sake of those who trust in me through their word.  ²¹So that they all may be one; just as You, My Father, are in me, and I am in You, that they also may be one in us; so that the world may believe that You did send me.”

Yeshua didn’t pray to himself that we would make the world believe that God became a man! He prayed that we would be UNIFIED IN the Father and the Son, so that the world WOULD believe that God SENT His Son into the world! And He wants us to be able also to say “I and my Father are UNIFIED”… that’s exactly what He prayed for, for us! Do we then ‘become’ the Father? No! We glorify Him!

Now, many who are reading this are probably saying in their minds, ‘but that’s what I believe’. And we would say we agree. But, why do people yet cling to the term ‘trinity’, which literally means that God is THREE PEOPLE IN ONE BODY. Look up the official catholic liturgy on the matter. Anyone who thinks that Jesus IS God, and not that He is unified with His Father, does not then have the Father at all! They have demoted God the Father! Or worse, replaced Him altogether, with MARY!

²²Who is a liar but he who denies that Yeshua is the Messiah? [The Messiah is not God! Every prophecy has the Messiah as a man!] He [who denies Yeshua is the Messiah] is a false Messiah! And whoever denies The Father denies The Son also.  ²³Whoever denies The Son, the same does not believe in The Father; but whoever acknowledges The Son acknowledges The Father also.  ²⁴As for you, let that, therefore, abide in you which you have heard from the very beginning. For if that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, you also shall continue in The Father and in The Son [just like Yeshua prayed]. ~1 Jo 2

And this is how we know we are doing what those verses say:

¹⁴And we have seen and do testify that The Father sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.  ¹⁵Whoever shall confess that Yeshua is THE SON OF GOD, God abides in Him and He in God. [that person is unified, as Yeshua prayed, “complete”.] ~ 1 John 4

So, let’s remember the title verse:

“What is His Name, and what is His Son’s Name? For you will confess it.” ~Proverbs 30:4

And see what Peter said when he first preached Yeshua:

³⁶Therefore  let  all  the House of Yisra’el know assuredly that God has made this very Yeshua, whom you have executed, both  יהוה  and Mashi’akh.” ~ Acts 2:36