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Evangelism:
The Time Is Now!

Section 3, Chapter 3

The Nature of God

Chapter Illustration

Page 1 of 2 pages

The Bible teaches us that there is only one True God from eternity past who is a Trinity of three individual Persons with independent intellect, emotions and will: the Father & the Son & the Holy Spirit. We do not mean that there are three individual god's who make up one Godhead as is taught in some religions. There is only one God, meaning of one essence, who is a Trinity of three persons. Take any one of these persons away and you no longer have the one and only True God who created the universe and man.

Moses wrote in Genesis 1:1 "In-the-beginning Elohim74 created the heavens and the earth." The Term Elohim is the general term for "God" in Hebrew. Elohim was also the universal term used for "God" in many of the surrounding cultures of Moses’ time. Elohim, !yhiloa> (Hebrew is read from right to left), is a singular plural noun broken down into two words: lae El and !yhi heem. lae means God and !yhi means these. Together they mean These-are-God," thus indicating the Triune nature of God. This is why when God created man that God says in Genesis 1:26 "Let Us make man in Our-image, according to Our-likeness." Man Himself is a trinity of spirit, soul and body but of one essence, one human being. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:23,

"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit (pneu'ma) and soul (yuchv) and body (sw'ma) be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thess 5:23)48, 49, 51

Elohim in Genesis 1:1 is treated as a singular noun and is therefore followed by a singular verb ar;B; barah meaning He-Created, thus indicating in the first verse of the Bible the Triune nature of the ONE God: Three-in-One. God is made up of one essence, thus one, but composed of three individual conscious self-willed individuals: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. For this reason Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 6:4 "Hear, O Israel! Yehovah our-Elohim, Yehovah is One!" Jesus Christ stating the foremost commandment and quoting Deuteronomy 6:4 & 6 from the Greek Septuagint169 said:

"The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all Your strength.’" (Mark 12:29-30)

When God told Moses on Mount Sinai that he was called by Him to deliver the Israelites out of bondage to Egypt, Moses asked God what name he was to give to the Israelites when they were to ask him what God had sent him to them? Moses recorded God’s Answer in Exodus 3:14-15,

"And Elohim said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM;’ and He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, "Yehovah.73 . . has sent me to you."’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.’" (Exodus 3:14-15)

In response to Moses question God told Moses to tell them that Yehovah (hw:hoyŇ) sent him to them. Yehovah, which some translate Jehovah or Yahweh, is a form of the Hebrew verb to be and is repeated twice meaning "I AM WHO I AM". God tells us that His name is "I Am who I Am" and that this will be His name forever. God speaking through Isaiah the prophet tells us about Himself in Isaiah 43:10-11,

"‘You are My witnesses,’ declares Yehovah, ‘And My servant whom I have chosen, in order that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no El formed, and there will be none after Me. I, even I, am Yehovah; and there is no Savior besides Me. It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, and there was no strange els [gods] among you; So you are My witnesses,’ declares Yehovah, ‘and I am El. Even from eternity I am He; And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?’" (Isaiah 43:10-13)

In this passage God tells us many things about Himself:

  1. First, that Before Him there was no God formed.

  2. Second, that there will be no God formed after Him.

  3. Third, that there is no Savior besides Him.

  4. Fourth, that He had no beginning, that His existence is from eternity past.

This passage forever dispels the myth that a created man can become God as is taught by some religions. Yehovah God tells us through Isaiah that He is the Only God, that there was no God formed before Him and that there will be no God formed after Him. Yehovah God tells us that He is the only God that exists, that He is the only God who has ever existed and that He is the only God who will ever exist. This God, Moses tells us in Genesis Chapter 1, created the earth, the heavens and man.

Jesus Christ of Nazareth claimed to be Yehovah God, our Creator and Savior. As Jesus was entering Jerusalem on a donkey, the children began to praise and worship Jesus. The Greek states that as a result of this that the religious leaders became indignant.170

"But when the chief priests and the scribes saw. . . the children saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they became indignant, and said to Him, ‘Do You hear what these are saying?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Yes; have you never read, "Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have prepared praise for Yourself"?’" (Matthew 21:15-16)

When Jesus said "Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have prepared praise for Yourself" He was quoting from Psalm 8:2 and was claiming that this referred to Him. Psalm 8:1 states "O Yehovah, our-Adonai [our-Lord], how majestic is Your name in all the earth, who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!" Then the Psalmist talking further about Yehovah states "Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have prepared praise for Yourself"?’" (Jesus quotes from the Greek Septuagint169). The Psalmist tells us that this referred to Yehovah. Jesus by claiming this for Himself claimed to be the one and only true God Yehovah in human form.

God the Father Himself called Jesus Elohim. In Hebrews 1:8 the writer of Hebrews tells us "But of the Son He says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of Your kingdom.’" This is a direct quote from Psalm 45:6. The word for God here is Elohim. God the Father calls Jesus Elohim, the God of Genesis 1:1 who created the earth, heavens and man. Paul tells us in Acts 20:28,

"The church of God which He purchased with His own blood." (Acts 20:28)

Paul tells us that God purchased His church with His own blood. Jesus is the one who shed His blood and died on the cross to save us from our sins. Paul and John wrote about Jesus Christ:

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace." (Ephesians 1:7)

"The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)

"To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood." (Revelation 1:5)

God prophesied through Isaiah and Micah about the the Messiah Jesus Christ that He would be God in the flesh:

"Therefore Yehovah Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin167 will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel159." (Isaiah 7:14)

"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty-El169, Father-of-Eternity152, Prince-of-Peace." (Isaiah 9:6)

"But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity." (Micah 5:2).

In these prophecies about Jesus we are told that Jesus will be God in the flesh, that He is from all eternity and that he is the Father of eternity. These are all the things God attributes to Himself alone in Isaiah 43:10-11 quoted earlier. Jesus is Yehovah God in the flesh.

Jesus claimed to be our Creator. The Apostles wrote:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. This One was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being." (John 1:1-3)

"For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:16-17)

God "In these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the ages." (Hebrews 1:2)

The writers of the New Testament tell us that Jesus is our Creator. Some religions try to say Jesus was not God but a being created by Him that He created the heavens and the earth through. However Yehovah states the following about His creating the earth, the heavens and man:

"I, Yehovah, am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself, and spreading out the earth all alone." (Isaiah 44:24)

Yehovah God tells us plainly that He created the earth, the heavens, and man without help from any created being. Thus for Jesus to claim to be our Creator is for Jesus to claim to be Yehovah God.

Jesus claimed to be our Savior. Jesus stated the following about Himself in the Gospels:

"For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him." (John 3:17)

"For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them." (Luke 9:56)

Illustration of Jesus' Nature

When Mary became pregnant with a child an angel of the Lord told Joseph not to be afraid to take her as His wife because she was with child by the Holy Spirit, not as the result of having had sexual intercourse with a man. The angel then told Joseph,

"‘And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.’ Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel," which translated means, "God with us."’" (Matthew 1:21-23)

The angel tells us that Mary’s firstborn is to be called Jesus because He will save His people from their sins. The name Jesus160 in Hebrew is Yeshua (['Wvwhoy). It is a compound word meaning Yehovah-is-Savior. Yehovah tells us in Isaiah 43:10-11 that He and he alone is Savior, yet the angel tells us that the baby is to be named Jesus because He the baby will save us from our sins. Thus the angel claimed that Jesus is Yehovah God in the flesh and that for this reason that men will call Jesus Immanuel159 (lae WnM;[i) which means "God-with-us". Nowhere in the New Testament do you find Jesus called Immanuel. This is because the term Immanuel is not a title or name given to Jesus, but a term describing who Jesus is: God with us. Jesus will be called God with us.

Illustration of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is God. The word in Hebrew for Spirit is j'Wr Ruach.47 Isaiah in Isaiah 61:1 called the Holy Spirit Lord-Yehovah:

"Ruach-Adonai-Yehovah [hwIhy] yn:doa} j'Wr] is upon me, because Yehovah has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, To proclaim liberty to captives, and freedom to prisoners."

yn:doa} Adonai171 is the word for "Lord" in Hebrew, especially when referring to Yehovah God. There is no article here (h, a or the) in the Hebrew to render it "The Spirit of Yehovah," so it is "Spirit Lord Yehovah" referring back to Spirit, telling us who the Spirit is: Lord-Yehovah.

Paul tells us about the Holy spirit in 2 Corinthians 3:17 "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."  Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is the Lord—Adonai.

The Holy Spirit is called Elohim in Genesis 1:2:

"And the earth was desolate and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and Ruach-Elohim172 [!yhila> j'Wr] was-hovering-vibrating over the face of the waters."

Again the article is missing thus telling us who the Holy Spirit is: Elohim, God.

The Holy Spirit is called Yehovah73 and lae El,117 God, in Isaiah 40:13 and 18,

"Who has directed Ruach-Yehovah [hw:hy] j'Wr, again no article], Or as His counselor has informed Him?. . . . To whom then will you liken El? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?"

2 Chronicles 18:23 called the Holy Spirit Yehovah: "How did Ruach-Yehovah173 [hw:hy]Aj'Wr, no article] pass from me to speak to you?"

Continued on page 2
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