I am writing an abridged shorten version of a chapter in my book “The Staff, the Rod, and the Scepter” this book deals with the personage of Elohim in all of the facets is revealed to us in the TaNaKh. One of the chapters deals with the question Of Yeshua’s Deity. And that is what this “hopefully” short article will deal with.
There is a question running somewhat secretly through the messianic community concerning the Deity of Yeshua. Some say that he was nothing more then a man and that there was no deity to him at all. As I write this article I ask you to keep in mind that I am writing only to this mindset and this assertion that Yeshua was Just a Man and every thing I state here will be to disprove that point. This is in no way to be taken as a in-depth comprehensive Study it is simply stating the facts that I believe show clearly that Yeshua is Deity.
First of all I am assuming that every one reading this believes that Yeshua is the Messiah and I am not writing it to convince people that he is. So if we can start with that one truth I think we have a good place to begin. Yeshua is the foundation of this teaching but to truly understand who Yeshua is we must start at the beginning and work from there.
In Genesis chapter one verse one we see something that gives us our first clue as to who Yeshua is. In the beginning GOD……… now the Hebrew word here is not GOD as I’m sure you all already know. It is the word Elohim. So lets lake a look at that word instead of the word GOD as anything can be a GOD. God in our English terms means nothing more then an object of worship but Elohim is something entirely different. I will mainly use the KJV and Strong’s Hebrew definitions as this is what most people have easy access to. I know there are other translations and better concordance’s so bare with me here.
אלהים ‘ĕlôhı̂ym el-o-heem’ Plural of H433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative: – angels, X exceeding, God (gods) (-dess, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.
Now we clearly see here even in the Hebrew this word is placed in the Plural sense. But the foundation of our faith Is Deu 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: Now the Hebrew/English version of this scripture is to not Just hear first but that word hear literally means to listen intellectually and with obedience to what fallows. And what fallows is a statement that YHVH our Elohim (Elohim being both plural and possessive of YHVH in this statement) is one (Echad which is also a plural and does not literally mean one as the number one does in English) YHVH.
Now before you start thinking I am going to go off on some Catholic invention of a trinity I assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. But when trying to understand a matter that is written in a different language we must look at meaning and intent as well as the rules that surround that language. And not trying to give you a lesson on language here just trying to get you to see something very important. So as I do this with other words in this article please do not assume I am going somewhere just read the conclusion on the matter before you make up your mind.
Now we discussed the word Elohim but we have not yet seen the Word YHVH appear and will not see it appear until after the heavens and the earth are created and the Sabbath established. Gen 2:2-3 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
It is not until Elohim in his completeness has ended his work that we see YHVH appear. Gen 2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God (YHVH Elohim) made the earth and the heavens, It is my contention that YHVH is just one personage of Elohim. Elohim in his fullness or completeness however you want to say it, has not been here since he ended his work on day six created the Sabbath and rested. YHVH is the personage of Elohim that was established to dwell in this realm. And I think I will establish this as a fact given enough time to do so. But I am going to make a very confusing statement that may take you a min to wrap your head around. YHVH is Elohim but Elohim is not YHVH.
Let me clarify. YHVH is Elohim in the sense that your spirit is part of your body. But Elohim is not YHVH in then sense that your spirit is not all that you are, you are a spirit, a body, and a soul. YHVH is just one part of Elohim and is no less or no more Elohim then any other part of Elohim. YHVH was the part of Elohim that has interacted with his creation. But Elohim in his fullness has only been seen in this realm one time since his creation was ended. And that was on Mt. Sinai when Moshe ask to see him. Elohim knowing that Moshe would be consumed by the very sight of him forbade Moshe his request but compromised by hiding Moshe in the cleft of a rock and allowing him to just see literally his back.
Exo 33:20-22 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
Now this is not the end of the Story though. After Moshe’s encounter with YHVH in all his glory, even though he had just seen his hind part when he came down from the mountain his face glowed with rays, so much so, that the children of Israel where afraid to even approach him. But what I want you to focus on is the scripture where it says NO MAN shall see HIM and live. Knowing that the He cannot lie we must take him at his word here, but we see some very interesting things take place in scripture that seem to contradict this.
Lets look at one of those instances and see if we can make some sense out of this. Now we know Abraham had a similar encounter with this personage of YHVH when he in his fullness made covenant with him. He had to put him into a deep sleep. Yet just a three short chapters later we see that YHVH appeared to Abraham and sat with him in the opening of his tent and talked to him. Sari heard the conversation as well because she laughed so this was not some mystical appearance as many would have you to believe. It was the physical manifestation of YHVH.
Before we move on though I would like to return to Moshe’s encounter and point something out there as well.
Exo 24:9-11 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
Hear again we See that not only Moshe saw YHVH but the elders along with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu also saw Elohim. So how do we reconcile that No man shall see YHVH and live. Yet clearly we see many have seen him and lived. Not only did they see him but scripture shows clearly that he took the form of a man for them to be able to do so. And it is this personage that We must focus on if we want to clearly see the deity of Yeshua. Or disprove it which ever is the case. Those that would say he has not deity and not address the things we are going to discuss in this article are at a minimum being disingenuous in their approach.
So at this point lets recap and show the points that are clearly made through scripture alone.
- Elohim created the Heaven and the earth and all that is within them.
- YHVH does not appear in that form until after the Creation is complete.
- Human beings can not look upon YHVH in his completeness.
- YHVH has taken Human form many times and been viewed by human beings.
- Just because YHVH was in human form did not make him any less YHVH
Ok lets go on. Lets look at one more person before we do that came in between Abraham and Moshe’. Jacob later know as Israel had an encounter with YHVH that is very telling.
Gen 32:24-30 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
It is a very commonly healed belief that it was Elohim that Jacob wrestled with, in mans form. Certainly Jacob believed that he had wrestled with Elohim as he named the place it happened Peniel because he Had seen the face of Elohim and his life was preserved. But really look at that Story the man that he wrestled with could not prevail against Jacob until he did something supernatural touching him in his thigh and knocking his hip out of joint. But even then he could not overcome Jacob until he agreed to bless Jacob. Now I doubt any one would dispute that it was YHVH that change Jacobs name to Israel. So I don’t think it is necessary to post the scriptures that clearly show this to be a fact. Yet in the actual story itself it never says that the man he wrestled with was YHVH we only find this clarification in other scriptures.
So now that we have clearly shown him as a man who could be touched physically lets look at him in another form and yet my another name. We see that the Angle of the Lord appeared to Moshe in the form of flames in the burning bush. We see this same Name used many times throughout scripture referring to YHVH as the Messenger of YHVH. Now this does not mean he was separate from YHVH only that he was signifying his personage in that he had come to deliver a message.
Now I’m going to show you where he goes by a completely different name. this one takes some real digging though and some understanding of the language, so if you want to throw it out because I am not going to go into great detail in proving this point. It is really what sparked me to write the book in the first place. The person I am talking about is none other then the incomparable Melchizedek. And it is hear that we really start to see the deity of Yeshua. So lets look at the first appearance of this Melchizedek.
Gen 14:18-20 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
Now some very interesting things are revealed in the short three verse passage. This Melchizedek was a Priest of the most high Elohim even before there was such a thing as a priest. And by the way who has the ability to be the priest to Elohim? And also look at this blessing he is blessing Abraham in the first person sense of the most high Elohim. So ether YHVH himself authorized him to make this blessing or he as Elohim was blessing him. I tend to think it is the later of the two and I will show you why.
Melchizedek presents Abraham with Bread and wine the covenant meal representing the Body and the blood. The same meal that Yeshua offers to his Talmadien (disciples) and instructs them that if they don’t partake of it then they have no part with him. This is very interesting in retrospect seeing that it was not until Abraham had partaken in this symbolic meal with Melchizedek that the father decides to enter into covenant with Abraham and bless him and his seed after him for ever.
But more then that lets look at the name and the place described here. Now in the Jewish mindset I was always told that this was just a descendant of Shem the son of Ebor I believe, if I remember right. But this name should have never been transliterated as Melchizedek. It is actually a combination of two words Mehlek meaning King and tsad-deek meaning righteous. Or properly in English the king of righteousness. Who is the king of righteousness? And this king of righteousness is the king of what? It says he was the king of Salem but look at this word in Hebrew it is the word for peace or the early name for Jerusalem. Who is the righteous king of Israel, (remember David has not been born yet when you answer) and who is the king of peace? Oh the answer to all of the questions is Yeshua right.
Lets look at a another very telling passage about Melchizedek written by King David. Psa 110 A Psalm of David. The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries. He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.
Now the very beginning of this Psalm denotes who wrote it, that being David. He starts by saying and YHVH said unto his Sovereign sit at my right hand until YHVH makes the “sovereigns” enemies the Sovereigns footstool. Read the whole Psalm but I am just going to highlight some key points to try and save time. It goes on to say though in verse 4 that YHVH has sworn and will not repent that the Sovereign is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Remember now in David’s time the Aaronic priesthood had already been established. Why would David be referring to an even greater priesthood as the ruling priesthood in his time was the Aaronic priesthood?
One last point on this passage and then we will move on in verse 5 we see some confusing language so lets put it in context of everything else that has been said. And YHVH at the right hand of Elohim will kill the kings of the earth in the day of Elohim’s wrath. Oh my did that Say YHVH at thy right hand? Who’s right hand? And who sits at the right hand of Elohim? You guessed it Yeshua. It has always been Yeshua dealing with man in this realm and it will continue to be so.
Now let’s put this to rest because we have clearly shown that Yeshua is YHVH. Elohim does not accept Human sacrifice plain and simple it is the torah. He also says that no man can be put to death for the sin of another. The father can not die for the son’s sin nor the son for the father’s sin, and so on and so forth. Again not my words it is YHVH’s words from his Torah. If Yeshua was a Man and not deity then he was not the messiah and could not have given his life for anyone’s sin plain and simple. But if he was the personage of YHVH wrapped in flesh born of the Ruach then he could be both our messiah and or Sacrifice and not violate Torah in doing so.
YHVH while in the form of a man, as scripture has shown he has been many times, wrapped himself in the confines of flesh and blood to live as one of us, and to die as one of us becoming our Yeshua (Salvation). We are all Son’s of YHVH if we believe in him. But Yeshua was the product of the Ruach (which is just another personage of Elohim) overshadowing a Virgin of Israel bring forth the product (the son) of Elohim (completeness). This is not a foreign concept ether. It was foretold by our father Abraham.
Remember YHVH told Abraham to take his son Isaac whom YHVH had blessed him in his old age with. When he and his wife where past the age of child bearing. And sacrifice him now Isaac was the product of two human beings and YHVH could not have accepted his sacrifice he wanted to see that Abraham would withhold nothing from him. But more then that he wanted to show us the picture if messiah and show us that he would withhold nothing from us. Remember when Isaac ask where the sacrifice was Abraham replied The FATHER (Elohim in his completeness) would provide for himself a Lamb. And he did in the form of Yeshua. Blessing and honor to his name alone.
Shalom
James Gillispie