The Mystery of “GOD”
Who or What Was Jesus Christ Before His Human Birth?
Was Jesus
Christ the Messiah "very God of very God"?
Is He a second
member of the divine Godhead? Is there
a contradiction between the terms "God the Son"
and "the
Son of God"?
Were there two or more divine Beings,
co-equal and uncreated, who have existed for all eternity,
who were and are "God"? Why did Jesus speak of His
Father as "the only true God"? Why do the Jews recite,
"The LORD
is our God, the LORD alone "?
Who is the
"LORD"
of the Old Testament? Isaiah quotes God
as saying,
"I am God,
and there is none else" (Isa.45:22), "there is none
beside me" (verse 21).
Does this preclude the pre-existence
and divinity of the Christ, the Messiah? Heresies abound in
these "last days," terrible heresies and apostasizing errors --
deviations from the truth which could rob you of your
eternal
salvation! It is time
you knew -- and proved conclusively --
the PLAIN TRUTH about Jesus Christ the Messiah!
William F. Dankenbring
The apostle Paul warned almost 2,000 years ago, speaking of
our End-Time generation, "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some
will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by
demons. Such teachings come through
hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron"
(I Tim.4:1-2).
In his second epistle to Timothy, Paul warned that these
evil deceivers are "always learning but never able to acknowledge the
truth. Just as Jannes
and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose
the truth -- men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are
rejected. But they will not get very far
because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to
everyone" (II Tim.3:7-9).
Such a heresy has arisen in these last days. It has received a new dimension of clever
manipulation and pseudo-scholarly advancement by its authors. Claiming the Jews only worshiped "one
God," and that they are rejecting "pagan" errors, they assert
that Biblical revelation teaches that Jesus Christ was indeed the "Son of
God," but definitely not "God the Son," making a clever distinction
betweens the two terms.
According to one proponent of this "new theology,"
which is really just an End-time revision and revanchist
version of the first century, age-old Gnosticism, it is a "striking
fact" that Jesus never referred to himself as 'God.'" He asserts, in contrast, that the word
"God" in the New Testament refers to the "Father" some 1350
times. He admits that a few texts refer
to Christ also as "God," but claims those particular texts should be
translated with a small "g" for "god." He then asks, "Why this impressive
difference in New Testament usage, when so many seem to think that Jesus is no
less 'God' than his Father?" (from the booklet, "Who Is Jesus?" by Anthony
Buzzard, p.3).
The author goes on to state that people today may not
appreciate the strength of "monotheism -- belief in one God -- which was
the first principle of all Old Testament teaching about God. The Jews were prepared to die for their
conviction that the true God was a single person. Any idea of plurality in the Godhead was
rejected as dangerous idolatry."
According to Buzzard, therefore, only the "Father" is truly
God from all eternity, and Christ was merely a human being, albeit He was
supernaturally conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Buzzard states dogmatically that Christ had NO pre-existence before His
human birth, except as a "thought" or "idea" in the mind of
the Father, but that this "idea" goes back to the beginning of the
human race or time of Creation.
Buzzard then declares:
"It is essential to ask, therefore, whether the Old Testament anywhere
suggests that the Messiah was to be 'coequal God,' a second uncreated being who abandons an enternal existence in heaven in order to become man. If it does not say anything like this (and
remembering that the Old Testament is concerned even with minute details about
the coming Messiah), we will have to treat as suspicious the claim of anyone
saying that Jesus is both Messiah and an uncreated second eternal person of the
Godhead, claiming the title 'God' in the full sense" (ibid., p.7).
Is Jesus Christ "God"?
What about this claim? What do the Scriptures say about this
new "theory" concerning the role of Jesus Christ? Was He merely a Messiah with no claim to
divinity? On the other hand, did He
pre-exist from the beginning of all Creation, coequal and uncreated, along with
the One known as the "Father"?
Could, by some chance, both views be equally erroneous and
inaccurate? What is the truth about God,
and especially Jesus Christ, our Saviour?
It is amazing how a clouded and prejudiced mind can only
view Scriptures through the filter of its own artificial prejudice. Even so, those who claim Jesus was not truly
divine argue that "only a few" Biblical texts seem, on the
"surface," to suggest that Christ was indeed divine. But, they claim, these "few" texts
should not be seen to overthrow the "unflinching monotheism" of the
Old Testament. According to them, there
is not even a "hint" in the New Testament that Jesus Christ regarded
Himself as divine "God." They
attempt to "explain away" by sheer dismissal all the Biblical verses
where Jesus said He, the "Son of man," came "down from
heaven," as merely picturesque speech reflecting only the fact that as an
"idea" of the Father, Jesus figuratively came down from heaven. Thus with a subtle, slick, back-door approach
to the subject, these neo-Gnostics defy and deny the divinity of Christ!
This is no mere academic argument. This is crucial -- foundational -- the very
essence of "Christianity" and the teaching of Scripture! Either Christ was divine and pre-existed with
the Father -- or He was a mere man, albeit a "perfect man." What difference does it make? If Christ was a "mere man," and not
truly Divine, and not the Creator of all mankind, then I ask you -- of what good
is the fact that He lived a perfect life?
On that basis, then, His death might atone -- on the basis of a life for
a life, or one for one -- for JUST ONE other human life! If he was merely a "perfect human
being," and died sinlessly, his death might have
atoned for ONE human life -- but not for billions of billions! In order for a sinless life to be equal to
all sinful mankind, that sinless life had to be equal to ALL HUMAN LIVES --
that is, He had to be equal to the CREATOR of all human life, or that Creator
Himself!
Messianic Texts in the Old Testament
The Messiah was to be born of "the seed of a
woman" (Gen.3:15). He was to be
born in
Let us not assume.
The apostle Paul tells us plainly that we must "prove all
things," lest we be led away into hideous error and slanderous deception,
which could deny us salvation itself (I Thess.5:21). He praised the Bereans
because they searched the Scriptures daily to prove whether what he taught was
true or not (Acts
We know from many Scriptures that the coming of the Messiah
was prophesied. This of itself neither
proves His divinity or His humanity. It
merely proves that the Father indeed had planned for the Messiah to appear to
save mankind from their sins -- from the beginning. But is the Messiah ever referred to as
"God" in the Old Testament?
The answer to this question is an astonishing and
overwhelming YES!
"The Scripture cannot be broken" (John
But God has given us much more witness than that. Notice!
In the 45th Psalm, speaking of the coming Messianic king, David writes
prophetically: "You are the most
excellent of men and your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has
blessed you forever. Gird your sword
upon your side, O might one; clothe yourself with splendor and majesty. In your majesty ride forth victoriously in
behalf of truth, humility and righteousness; let your right hand display
awesome deeds. Let your sharp arrows
pierce the hearts of the king's enemies; let the nations fall beneath your
feet. Your throne, O GOD, will last
forever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your
kingdom. You love righteousness and hate
wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by
anointing you with the oil of joy" (Psalm 45:2-7, NIV).
The word for "God" in this passage, used once for
the Messiah, and later for His "God," is the Hebrew word Elohim. It can refer
to "gods in the ordinary sense," but in the plural with the article,
refers to the supreme God. It is a word
occasionally applied by deference to magistrates, and sometimes to angels,
judges, or the mighty (see Strong's Exhaustive Concordance).
This is the very same word used in Genesis 1, where we
read: "In the beginning GOD (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth"
(Gen.1:1). The very name "Elohim" is a "uni-plural"
word denoting both unity and plurality at the same time. The singular form is "El,"
literally meaning "the mighty one."
Thus Elohim, strictly speaking, is literally
"The Mighty Ones"
-- an
indication of just ONE GOD composed of more than one entity, being, or
personality!
This conclusion is further reinforced by simply reading the
rest of Genesis 1, especially the verses concerning the creation of
mankind. We read, "Then God (Elohim) said, 'Let US make man in OUR image, in OUR
likeness, and let THEM rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air,
over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move
along the ground.' So God created MAN in
HIS OWN IMAGE, in the image of God (Elohim) he
created him; MALE AND FEMALE he created them" (Gen.1:26-27).
Notice this passage of Scripture carefully. God is not like the absent-minded professor
who forgets how many of them there are, who speaks in the plural when there is
only the singular. God cannot lie (Titus
1:2). When He said, "Let US make
man in OUR image," He was clearly referring to the fact that there were at
least TWO PERSONAGES in the Godhead, communing with each other -- just as in a
human family, there are Two Beings -- a man and a
woman -- who become One in marriage!
Both beings are on the same level -- that is both are human beings; but
the man has authority over the woman. Even
so, in the original Godhead, there are Two Beings -- the One we know as the
Father, and the Other -- the One who BECAME the
"Son" when He was born of the virgin Mary! This second member of the Godhead was also
God, of the same composition and spirit essence as the Father -- but He was
inferior in authority, even as the wife is inferior in authority to her
husband. Thus a Great Truth is taught to
us in this ancient verse of Genesis, the first book of the Torah!
Thus the "Son of God" did pre-exist as a member of
the Godhead. However, He was not
"coequal" with the Father, but was subject to and under the authority
of the Father, who was greater than He.
With this truth in mind, we can more fully understand the words of the
prophet Micah who wrote: "But you,
Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the
clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel,
WHOSE ORIGINS ARE FROM OF OLD, FROM ANCIENT TIMES" (Micah 5:2). I believe it is very tenuous, and stretching
the point, to try to claim that the person mentioned here was in existence
merely as an "idea" or "thought" in the mind of God in
ancient times. This verse, on the
contrary, says that His very ORIGINS are of old, from ancient times -- or as
the King James Version has it, "from EVERLASTING." The original Hebrew expression here is,
"from the DAYS OF ETERNITY."
Does this really sound as if the Messiah really had no
literal existence until His birth of the virgin Mary
some 2,000 years ago? Nonsense! Falderol! Balderdash!
Sheer bunkum!
The prophet Isaiah also foretold that the Christ would be
God incarnate. He wrote: "For to us a child is born, to us a son
is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,
MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end" (Isaiah 9:6-7).
Anthony Buzzard and others claim that the word
"God" here should be with a small "g." Now it seems to me, if you want to talk about
idolatry, that would be it -- to worship any
"god" with a small "g"!
The Jehovah's Witnesses, of course, also subscribe to this
interpretation. Thus they deny the
Godhood and divinity of the Messiah! In
the Hebrew, however, the expression "Mighty God" is gibbor
meaning "mighty, powerful, champion, valiant"
and "God" which is"El," the
singular of Elohim, and which means, "The Mighty
One." Thus the Christ is here
portrayed as being the "Powerful, Valiant Mighty One," or
"Powerful God." He is also
referred to as the "Father" of
Therefore, the Messiah is here depicted as being Eternal,
Everlasting, and is once again referred to as God, "the Mighty, Powerful
God," to distinguish Him from all pagan gods or lesser objects worshiped
as gods by mankind.
Notice more proof that the Messiah was to be the Divine King
of Israel. In the second Psalm we
read: "I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, 'You are my Son; today I have
become your Father. Ask of me, and I
will make the nations your inheritance.
You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces
like pottery. Therefore, you kings, be
wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD (here the Messiah is actually referred to directly as the
"LORD"!) with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be
destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him"
(Psalm 2:7-12).
Christ, the Messiah, is clearly referred to here not only as
"the LORD," and is called by the Tetragrammaton
(YHVH), or "Yahveh," but He is also
referred to as the "Son of the LORD" (verse 7)). Let us learn a lesson from human
experience. A husband and wife mate, and
produce a "son." That son is
fully human, just as much as his parents.
He is just like them in every way -- with the same genetic code
imprinted in his chromosomes. He is in
the very image and likeness of his parents.
He is FULLY HUMAN!
Even so, when the Father spoke of His own Son, whom He would
give the nations of the earth as His inheritance, He was referring to a
literal, begotten, and born SON -- fully Divine, just as He, the Father, is
Divine -- FULLY GOD AS HE IS GOD, just as human children are fully human as
their parents are!
To claim that the divinity of the Messiah is nowhere
mentioned or alluded to in the Old Testament is nothing short of sheer
unadulterated, fabricated ERROR and doctrinal heresy! It may not be pleasant to hear this belief
described in such blistering, plain, and no-holds-barred terms, but it is true,
nevertheless. Christ is very God, just
as much as a human son is very human.
But, of course, there is much more evidence! Now let us turn to the NEW
Testament, and see what Christ Himself said on this pivotal question.
Testimony of the New Testament
What do Jesus Christ
Himself and the apostles have to say about this very important question? When the high priest interrogated Christ, and
demanded, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" Jesus answered: "I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the
right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven" (Mark
14:61-62).
On another occasion, the Jews asked Him, "Are you
greater than our father Abraham?" "You are not yet fifty years old,
and you have seen Abraham!" (John 8:53, 57). Jesus replied to them: "I tell you the truth, before Abraham
was born, I am!" (v.58). At this point, the
Jews picked up stones to stone Him for what they considered blasphemy
(v.59). In other words, they understood
that He was claiming to have existed BEFORE ABRAHAM -- they knew at this point
that He was claiming to be the "I AM" -- the God, or YHVH, of the Old
Testament!
Notice the play of words that Jesus was using. In Exodus 3, when God reveals Himself to
Moses at the burning bush, He said, "I am the God of your father, the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (Exo.3:6). Moses then asked God His name, so He would be
able to tell the Israelites who had sent him.
God then said, "I AM WHO I AM.
This is what you are to say to the Israelites. I AM has
sent me to you" (Exo.3:13-14).
When Jesus told the high priest He was the "I am,"
the priest tore his clothes and accused Christ of blasphemy, of claiming to be
God. When Jesus told the Jews that
before Abraham was, "I AM," He was also telling them that He was the
"I AM" who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses. They got the point, and that is why they
sought to stone Him to death!
Why is it that modern so-called "scholars" and
professors of theology cannot grasp this simple, singular truth? Why is it that in their ignorance, arrogance,
and conceit, that they overlook this fundamental TRUTH of Scripture?
Although Jesus deliberately hid His awesome true identity
from the masses for most of His ministry, and simply let His miracles and signs
do the talking for Him, speaking in riddles and paradyms
and allegories to the masses, nevertheless there were special times in His
ministry where He much more than "hinted" as to His true secret
identity! He was GOD IN THE FLESH!
Bout with the Jehovah's
Witnesses
Years ago, in 1958,
when I was a young converted teenager, getting ready to go to college, my
father decided that I was getting too "fanatical" in obeying the Word
of God. He decided to have a couple of
Jehovah's Witnesses speak to me about my religion. Before they came, my dad told
me he didn't want me to follow them, either, but he thought they might open my
mind to the fact that I didn't have all the truth, nor did Herbert Armstrong. I agreed to meet with them.
The two men appeared at our home a few days later. We went to my room, where the discussion
began. Since they believed the Law of
God was abolished, I confronted them with several Scriptures which prove God's
law is eternal and everlasting, and Christ did not come to abolish it. They had no answer the the
simple Word of God, except to deny flatly that the Scriptures I quoted were
relevant; however, they could not explain them.
During our discussion, they mentioned that the Word of God
teaches that Christ was not divine "God," but a created being less
than God. At this point, I turned to
Hebrews, chapter one. Notice what this
Scripture says:
"In the past God spoke to our
forefathers through the prophets
at many
times and in various ways, but in these last days he has
spoken to
us by his Son, whom he apointed heir of all things,
and THROUGH
WHOM HE MADE THE UNIVERSE" (Heb.
1:1-2).
Now, how can those who deny the divinity of Christ get
around such a plain verse as that? Here
it very clearly states that it was through the One
called Christ that God the Father "made the Universe"! Yet Anthony Buzzard and others simply decline
to admit the simple veracity of this plain statement; they
"interpret" it to say only that it is through Christ that all those
who are to be saved will be saved -- that is, the "universe of the
saved." That is pure unadulterated
poppycock and pishtwaddle! Can't we believe the simple words of
Scripture? Do you really think God had
the words of the Bible written in such a way that only blowhard errant
intellectual "elite" could understand the real underlying
meaning? Must we "force" the
Scriptures to say what WE want them to say, because we are blinded to the
truth? Must we deny one key Scripture,
and then another and another, just so we can maintain our own
pet cherished theory?
This verse very clearly is not talking about just the
numbers of those who are saved. It says
very plainly that God the Father created ALL THE UNIVERSE -- including all the
planets, stars, galaxies, and the earth, sun and moon, and all life -- THROUGH
JESUS CHRIST!
In this Scripture, the apostle Paul goes on: "The Son
is the RADIANCE OF GOD'S GLORY and the EXACT REPRESENTATION OF HIS BEING,
SUSTAINING ALL THINGS by his powerful word" (Heb.1:3). A mere created being, less than God, could
not have been the radiance of God's glory and the EXACT representation of His
being. To be an EXACT REPLICA of GOD,
you must alsos BE "God"! Furthermore, this verse says Christ SUSTAINS
ALL THINGS -- that means, the entire Universe! -- by
HIS powerful Word! To be the Creator,
and Sustainer of the Universe, One would have to be identified as VERY GOD!
Now let us continue
this amazing chapter. Paul goes on,
"For to which of the angels did God ever say, 'You are my Son; today I
have become your Father?' Or again, 'I
will be his Father, and he will be my Son'?
And again, when God brings his first born into the world, he says: 'Let all God's ANGELS worship him' " (verses 5-6).
Now, if Christ were simply a created perfect human being,
why would God the Father command all the heavenly ANGELS to worship Him? Maybe, in that case, human beings should
worship Him, but why the angels? The
angels of God in heaven never sinned.
They don't need "redemption" and "salvation." So why should they worship the Messiah, the
Christ? That would make no sense at
all. However, since Christ is ALSO the
One who CREATED all the angels, it makes perfect sense for all the heavenly angels
to WORSHIP Him!
This verse also brings up another point. The angels are commanded to worship the
Messiah. He is regarded as worthy of
WORSHIP by all people. To worship means
to revere, to reverence. One should only
worship GOD! The Word of God itself
says: "I am the LORD your God . . .
You shall have NO OTHER GODS before me" (Exo.20:1-3). Only GOD, the supreme God, should be
worshiped and reverenced. Any other
worship would be IDOLATRY!
In the book of Isaiah, we read of the supreme God, who says: "Before me no god was formed, nor will
there be one after me. I, even I, am the
LORD, and apart from me there is no savior" (Isa.43:10). If Jesus Christ was a created
"god," or became a "god" through the perfect life He led on
earth, then He was clearly formed after the supreme God -- and this Scripture
very clearly says THERE WILL NEVER BE SUCH FORMED! Further, this verse says that there is no
"god" apart from the Supreme Being
Himself, the true
Godhead! Therefore, the wacky and weird
ideas of Anthony Buzzard and other modern Gnostics are without Scriptural
foundation. This verse also states that
there is NO SAVIOR apart from God Himself.
This tells us, then, that unless Jesus Christ IS part of the Divine
Godhead, and IS the "LORD" of the Old Testament, He would have NO
CLAIM to being a savior!
How plain! Isaiah
goes on, quoting God: "And there is
no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is
NONE BUT ME" (Isa.45:21). Since
Jesus Christ is our Savior, and the Savior of the world, He MUST be a member of the Godhead.
Otherwise this plain Scripture would be broken, and God's Word would
contradict itself!
Again, Isaiah declares of God: "Remember this, fix it in mind, take it
to heart, you rebels. Remember the
former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God,
and there is none like me" (Isa.46:8-9).
It is true that the Jews worship ONE GOD. That God is the LORD, or YHVH, which would be
pronounced "Yahveh," according to the best
knowledge, today. Some spell God's name
YHWH, but the "W" in the German language is pronounced like a
"V." The ancient Hebrew
language had no "w" sound or letter.
The fourth consonant of the Tetragrammaton was
"vav" which carries a distinct
"v" sound, which is an explosive sound formed by closing the air
passage through the mouth, and then opening it slightly and forcing air through
the slightly pursed lips. It is a
powerful sound. The German "w"
however is a weak, ineffectual sound, as in "weak, wuss,
woolly, winsome, wild." The "v" sound is strong, as in
"victory, violent, vine, vial, veil, vim, vigor," etc.
Does the fact of there being two members of the divine
Godhead contradict the idea of ONE GOD? Not at all. The truth
is, there is only One "God," but that God is
composed of two divine, celestial Beings, members of One Divine Family. One is the Father; the other is the Son. There is a FAMILY relationship between them. One is completely obedient to the other. Therefore, they are not "coequal"
in the sense of authority or power. But
they are UNITED AS ONE in thought, plans, goals, and complete spiritual,
emotional and mental unity. Therefore,
Jesus Himself prayed, expressing this DIVINE UNITY, which He has ALWAYS had
with the Father, "And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the
GLORY I HAD WITH YOU before the world began" (John 17:5). This is not speaking of some vague
"idea" or nebulous "thought" that was in the mind of God
before the world began that He would create a human Messiah someday. Jesus here is speaking expressly of THE VERY
DIVINE GLORY HE SHARED WITH THE FATHER FROM ETERNITY -- before the world was
created!
Jesus went on, saying of His disciples, "They knew with
CERTAINTY that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me" (John
17:8). This is a literal truth. Jesus
was not stretching the point, meaning that He only came from God in the sense
of being a "divine idea" originating with God. If He meant that He would have expressed it
in another manner. But He clearly said
that the disciples KNEW He came from God and was sent by Him.
Jesus prayed that the disciples would be one, "as we
are one" (verse 11). Jesus said to
His disciples, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father?' Don't you believe that I am in the Father,
and that the Father is in me? The words
that I say to you are not just my own.
Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father
and the Father is in me . . ." (John 14:8-11).
Christ and the Father are One in
thought, purpose and mind. They are
perfectly welded together, united, and completely harmonious. They are "one." Yet the Father is the greater of the
two. Jesus said, "The Father is
greater than I" (John
From the very beginning, Jesus has learned from and imitated
the Father. Paul wrote, in the book of
Colossians, speaking of Christ, "He is the IMAGE of the invisible God, the
firstborn over all creation, FOR BY HIM ALL THINGS WERE CREATED: things in heaven and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; ALL THINGS were
created BY him and FOR him. He is BEFORE
ALL THINGS, and in him all things HOLD TOGETHER. And he is the head of the body, the church .
. ." (Col.1:15-18).
Now consider this Scripture carefully. If indeed "all things" were created
by the One who became Christ, as Paul so clearly says here, then Christ had to
EXIST before all the things which He created.
You cannot create something before you yourself exist! Therefore, He must have pre-existed the
created Universe around us! But of
course! Paul plainly says He is
"before ALL things" (v.17). That
means He existed before the Universe was formed, as is recorded in Genesis
1:1. He, the One who became Christ,
existed before the Universe was made, and then was instrumental in the CREATION
of all things, including angels and atoms, planets and galaxies, amoeba and
mammoths, seas, skies, and mountains.
Being a pre-existant member of the
Godhead, then, why and how did He become the Messiah, the Christ or Anointed
One?
Notice! The apostle
Paul wrote, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ
Jesus: Who, BEING IN VERY NATURE GOD,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself
nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he
humbled himself and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest
place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father"
(Phil.2:5-11).
Being God, a Spirit Being, Jesus
divested Himself of His divine nature, and became a mortal man. Because He successfully completed His
mission, now every being will worship Him -- all the future children in the
Moffatt translates this
verse: "Though he was DIVINE BY
NATURE, he did not set store upon equality with God, but emptied himself by
taking the nature of a servant . . ." (Phil.2:6-7). The Phillips Translation says: "For he, who had ALWAYS BEEN GOD BY
NATURE, did not cling to his prerogatives as God's equal, but stripped himself
of all privilege by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born as mortal
man." The Amplified Bible gives the
full sense of the Greek words in this passage:
"Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of
God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make GOD GOD], did not think this equality with God was a thing to
be eagerly grasped or retained; but stripped Himself [of all privileges and
rightful dignity] so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He
became like men and was born a human being."
I believe these Scriptures are incredibly clear as crystal
and to the point. How anyone can deny
the divinity and pre-existence of Christ after reading these verses, is really
beyond me. It is obvious that false assumptions concerning the Godhead has caused them to
deny plain and simple Scriptures to maintain their bull-headed and false
presumptions.
The Gospel of John
Perhaps one of the clearest and yet most mysterious verses
in the Scriptures is found in the beginning of the Gospel of John. John writes:
"In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God
and the
Word was God. He was with God in the
beginning.
Through him ALL THINGS WERE MADE;
without him nothing
was made
that has been made. In him was life, and
that life was
the light
of men" (John 1:1-4).
Now compare this verse with Genesis 1:1:
"In the beginning GOD [Elohim, "The Mighty Ones"] created
the heavens
and the earth."
Notice! The Greek
word for "Word" in this passage in John's gospel is Logos. It means literally "word," divine
"expression," "utterance," "reasoning" or
"communication" of God. In
this Scripture is it clearly a reference to a DIVINE BEING and PERSONALITY --
One who was with the Father, and through whom He made ALL THINGS -- the WHOLE
CREATION -- THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE! In
fact, according to this verse, nothing was made without the involvement or
agency of this "Word." Who was
this "Word" or Logos of God?
John goes on to tell us:
"The Word BECAME FLESH and made
his dwelling among
us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the ONE
AND ONLY,
who came
from the Father, full of grace and truth" (verse 14).
This divine Being who was involved in all Creation literally
became human flesh and blood, so that He could die for our sins on the
cross. These verses do not merely
discuss some "thought" that was in the mind of God in the
beginning. This is far more than the
mere personfication of a "thought." John does not use such personfications
in his gospel. It is not his writing
style. It requires major forcing of the
text and major surgery to interpret this passage as a mere "allegory"
or "personification." Such
twisting and wresting of the Scriptures, and manhandling of the Word of God, is
a sign of arrogance and lack of submission to the power of God and the Spirit
of God.
Paul wrote of those who wrest and twist the Scriptures, and
their followers, "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the
one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a DIFFERENT GOSPEL
-- one which is really no gospel at all.
Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to
PERVERT the gospel of Christ. But even
if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we
preached to you, let him be ETERNALLY CONDEMNED! As we have already said, so now I say
again: If anybody is preaching to you a
gospel other than what you accepted, LET HIM BE
ETERNALLY
CONDEMNED!" (Gal.1:6-9).
This may seem like severe language. Paul means every word of it, and so do
I! Paul goes on, "Am I now trying
to win the approval of men, or of God?
Or am I trying to please men? If
I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ"
(Gal.1:10).
Who Is the LORD of the Old
Testament?
Jesus Christ is the
Logos, or Word, the Second member of the Godhead, who did the creating in
Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1. He, as the
"Word," is the One who spoke the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20). He is actually the One who revealed Himself
to the children of
The proof of these remarkable assertions is really very
simple. We read in the book of John, the
words of Christ:
"And the Father who sent me has
himself testified concerning
me. You [referring to the Jews, as well as all
mankind] have
NEVER HEARD HIS VOICE NOR SEEN HIS
FORM, nor
does his
word dwell in you" (John
Jesus Christ also pointed out: "NO ONE has SEEN the Father except the
one who is from God; ONLY HE has seen the Father" (John
If no one ever heard the voice of the Father, or saw His
shape or form, then it could not have been the Father who gave the Ten
Commandments on
Since it was GOD who spoke to them, yet no man has heard the
Father at any time, as Jesus said, then the One who spoke must have been the
Logos -- the One who became Christ!
Furthermore, Jesus said that no man has ever seen the shape
or form of God the Father. Yet we read
in the book of Exodus this remarkable statement:
"Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy
elders
of
his feet
was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear
as the sky
itself. But God did not raise his hand
against these
leaders of
the Israelites; THEY SAW GOD, and the ate and
drank"
(Exodus 24:9-11).
The God of Israel, the LORD of the Old Testament, the One
who brought
Moses said to this same One, on a later occasion, "Now show
me your glory" (Exo.33:18). Because
God was pleased with Moses, we read:
"And the LORD said, 'I will
cause all my goodness to pass
in front of
you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in
your
presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
and I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
But,' he said, 'you cannot see my
face, for no one may see me
and live.'
"Then the LORD said, 'There is
a place near me where you
may stand
on a rock. When my glory passes by, I
will put
you in a
cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until
I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will
see my
back; but my face must not be seen' " (Exo.33:19-23).
Moses looked upon the God of Israel. He saw His back, although he was not
permitted to look at His face. Yet Jesus
said NO ONE had ever seen the Father, or heard His voice. Yet Moses was right
there, communing with God, listening to His voice, and even looked upon His form!
What an amazing event!
What an astonishing, dumfounding occurrence! The One who revealed Himself to Moses was
none other than the Word, the Logos, the One who
became Jesus Christ, as both Paul and John so clearly record in the New
Testament!
Up until the time Christ came, the world was in virtual
total ignorance of the Father. There
were several allusions to Him in the Psalms, but the Jews did not understand
the relationship of the Godhead. Jesus
Himself said that He came to REVEAL the Father.
His exact words were,
"All things have been committed
to me by my Father. No one
knows the
Son except the Father, and NO ONE KNOWS THE
FATHER except the Son and those to
whom the Son chooses
to REVEAL
him" (Matt.11:27; see also Luke
Notice! Jesus said
plainly that nobody knew or understood the Father -- He had not been REVEALED
to mankind. Yet the God of the Old
Testament, the God of Israel, revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and
Moses, and to the children of Israel when He entered a covenant relationship
with them -- a "marriage covenant" (Exodus 24). He also revealed Himself to the prophets,
Samuel, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and others. Yet Jesus declared without any equivocation
that NO ONE KNEW THE FATHER! That
statement would have been bizarre and erroneous if it had been the Father who
had revealed Himself to the patriarchs and prophets of old! Here again, then, is visible and palpable
PROOF that the God who stands REVEALED in the Old Testament is none other than
the One who became flesh and dwelt among us -- the Logos, who became Jesus
Christ, the Messiah and Saviour!
Therefore, it is the Logos, who became Christ, who is quoted
in the book of Isaiah as saying, and speaking for the Godhead, "I am the
LORD; that is my name! I will not give
my glory to another or my praise to idols" (Isa.42:8). He is the One who said, "Before me no
god was formed, nor will there be one after me.
I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior"
(Isa.43:10-11). This God says, "You
are my witnesses, declares the LORD, that I am God. Yes,and
from ancient days, I am he. No one can
deliver out of my hand. When I act, who
can reverse it?" (Isa.43:12-13).
This Personage says, "I am the LORD [YHVH], your Holy One,
This same Logos, or Word of God, continues, revealing
Himself to
"the
first and the last"! He
declared: "I am the Alpha and the
Omega, says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the
Almighty" (Rev.1:8). He said also,
"Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead. And behold I am alive for ever and
ever!" (Rev.1:17-18). He said also
to the Smyrna Church of God, "These are the words of him who is the First
and the Last" (Rev.2:8). How clear
that these two Beings are One and the Same!
Isaiah also quotes the LORD as saying: "This is what the LORD says -- your REDEEMER, who formed you in the womb. I am the LORD, who has made ALL THINGS, who
alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself"
(Isa.44:24). He goes on to say, "I
am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God"
(Isa.45:5). "I am the LORD, and
there is no other. I form the light and
create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all
these things" (Isa.45:6-7). This
same God says, "Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from from the distant past?
Was it not I, the LORD? And there
is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is
none but me. Turn to me and be SAVED,
all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered
in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every
tongue will swear. They will say of me,
'In the LORD alone are righteousness and
strength. All who have raged against him
will come to him and be put to shame.
But in the LORD all the descendants of
Notice that paragraph very carefully, point by point. The LORD of the Old Testament was the
REDEEMER. Christ is our only Redeemer
(Luke 1:68; 24:21; Gal.3:13; Rev.5:9; 14:4).
The LORD made "all things."
So did Christ (Col.1:15-16; John 1:1-3; Heb.1:1-2). The LORD is our Savior (Isa.43:3, 11; 45:15,
21; 49:26; 60:16). Jesus Christ is our
Savior, and there is no other (Rom.4:12; Luke 2:11; John 4:42; Acts
The answer is simple:
Christ IS the LORD of the Old Testament -- the One who revealed Himself
to Moses, and the One who spoke to Isaiah!
There can be no other logical, consistent, coherent, cogent answer! Therefore, indeed, CHRIST IS GOD -- DIVINE GOD! Any other belief or doctrine is sheer heresy
and anathema to the Word of God!
What Does It Mean, Christ
"Came Down from Heaven"?
In John 3:13 we read
the very words of Christ, "No one has ever gone into heaven except the one
who came down FROM heaven -- the Son of Man." In verse 31, John declares: "The one who COMES FROM ABOVE is above
all; the one
who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from HEAVEN is above
all."
In chapter 6 of the gospel of John, Jesus said plainly: "For the bread of God is HE WHO COMES
DOWN FROM HEAVEN and gives life to the world" (verse 33). Further, Jesus said: "For I have come
DOWN FROM HEAVEN not to do my own will but to do the will of him who sent me .
. ." (verse 38).
The Jews who heard Him say these things grumbled to
themselves (verses 41-42), wondering how He could claim to have come down from
heaven, since they knew He was the son of Joseph the carpenter and Mary. Jesus went on to tell them, "No one has
seen the Father except the one who is FROM GOD; only he has seen the
Father" (v.46). Speaking of himself, He then added, "But here is the bread that
came down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that
came down from heaven" (v.51).
These verses clearly speak of the pre-existence of Christ
with the Father in heaven. There can be
no doubt that Jesus told the crowds that HE CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN. Skeptics and pseudo-scholars may try to
explain away these simple, straight-forward Scriptures, but their reasoning
falls flat. The ONLY real so-called
"evidence" they can offer to negate these powerful witnesses of
Scripture is the assertion that they cannot be literal since the Jews only
worshiped "one God," and were monotheistic, and that -- in the minds
of these so-called scholars -- therefore means that Christ COULD NOT have
co-existed with the Father in heaven as very "God." But this claim-proof sequence is nothing more
than "circular reasoning" -- assuming to be true that which you are
attempting to prove to be true! It is
also called "begging the question."
Obviously, it is not these plain and simple Scriptures which are faulty,
but their own reasoning -- their own interpretation of what
"monotheism" implies and constitutes.
The apostle Paul also concludes that Christ came down from
heaven. He wrote to the
Jesus Christ came from heaven, from the right hand side of
the Father. And after His resurrection
and ascension, He went back to heaven, where He had come from, to once again
sit at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven (Heb.4:14; 6:20; 7:26).
Overwhelmingly, the evidence -- if we will just look at it
with an open mind, without preconceived and prejudicial ideas -- shows that
Jesus Christ not only pre-existed as a literal Being before His human birth,
but that He came down from Heaven, and that He was actively involved in the
Creation of the entire Universe, and in sustaining its continual
operation. He was the "LORD"
who revealed Himself to Moses and the patriarchs, and the prophets of old, as
well as seventy elders of
But what about the other question: Was this member of the Godhead
"coequal" with the Father in every respect, and
"uncreated"?
We have already seen that Christ revealed that He was always
subject to the Father and under the authority of His Father, and plainly said,
"The Father is greater than I" (John 14:28). Did the One who became Christ have a
"beginning" at one time? Or
did He exist from all eternity, as a separate Being
alongside the "Father"?
What Is the ORIGIN of GOD?
One of the mysteries which is not
set forth plainly and clearly in the Scriptures is the question of the
"origin of God." The simple
explanation is that "God always was, and always has been." We human beings cannot easily focus our minds
on the concept of "eternity."
Somehow the very idea eludes us and evades our comprehension. Just what IS "eternity"? How long is "forever"?
Little children often ask their parents a most logical
question, which they have never really been able to answer: "Mommy, Where did God come
from?" Or, "Who created
God?"
Evolutionists deny God exists. But evolution is a "non-science" --
a mere warped interpretation of existence by men who deny a Creator. Could "God" have evolved from
nothing at some remote point in the primordial past? If it is impossible for human life, and the
varieties of life on the planet earth as we know them -- millions of species of
plants and animals -- then surely it would have been much more impossible for a
spiritual Being, "God," with all His power and attributes, to have
"evolved" over eons of time, from "nothing."
Where then did "God" come from?
Some things we are not given to understand at this
time. Moses, the Lawgiver of Israel,
wrote: "The SECRET THINGS belong to
the LORD our God, but the things REVEALED belong to us and to our children
forever, that we may follow all the words of this law" (Deut.29:29). God has not revealed at this time the truth
about His origin. It is probably
completely beyond the human mind to comprehend.
Solomon wrote of God, "He has also set eternity in the
hearts of men; yet they CANNOT FATHOM what God has done from beginning to
end" (Eccl.3:11). Solomon went on,
"No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man
cannot discover its meaning. Even if a
man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend
it" (Eccl.8:17).
Isaiah wrote of God, "Truly you are a God who HIDES
himself, O God and Savior of Israel" (Isa.45:15). Therefore we can only know of God that which
He wants us to know; our knowledge is presently limited. As the apostle Paul wrote, "the mystery of God" is wrapped up in "Christ, in
whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col.2:2). He also wrote, "Beyond all question, the
mystery of godliness is great: He
appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was
preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up into
glory"(I Tim.3:16).
The apostle Paul put it this way: "Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will
cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge,
it will pass away. For we know in part
and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect
disappears. When I was a child, I talked
like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like
a child. When I became a man, I put
childish ways behind me. Now we see but
a POOR REFLECTION as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully,
even as I am fully known" (I Cor.13:8-12).
The apostle John declared, "How great is the love the
Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason that the world does not know us is
that it did not know him. Dear friends, now are we children of God, and what we will be has
not yet been made known. But we know
that when he appears, we whall be LIKE HIM, for we
shall see him as he is [Jesus Christ in the fullness of His divine glory of
Godhood, as the eternal radiant Son of God!].
Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is
pure" (I John 3:1-3).
The Awesome Destiny of Mankind
We have already seen
that Jesus Christ was the Logos, or very God, from "the
beginning." We have also seen that
when He appears, WE shall be "like Him, for we shall see him as he
is" (I John 3:3). Does this mean,
then, that we, too, shall become "very God," of the very nature and
substance and attributes of
the Godhead, in the resurrection?
This may seem preposterous to some -- outlandish and
heretical. But notice what divine
Scripture says! Jesus Himself declared,
"Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'? If he called them 'gods' to whom the word of
God came -- and the Scripture CANNOT BE BROKEN -- what about the one whom the
Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse ME of blasphemy
because I said, 'I am GOD'S SON'? Do not
believe me unless I do what my Father does.
But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles,
that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the
Father" (John
Jesus was claiming to be DIVINE -- the divine Son of
God! The Jews knew what He meant, and
they sought to capture Him and kill Him for alleged "blasphemy"
(verse 39).
Why is it that some supposedly erudite and intelligent men,
today, cannot see the truth about the divinity of Christ? The apostle Paul asserted, "I consider
that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the GLORY that will be
revealed in us [the GLORY of God shining out from us, as resurrected and born
SONS of God, members of His divine Family!].
The creation waits in eager expectation for the SONS OF GOD to be
revealed" (Rom.8:18-19).
Paul declared, "Now if we are children, then we are
HEIRS -- heirs OF GOD and CO-HEIRS WITH CHRIST, if indeed we share in his
sufferings in order that we may also share in HIS GLORY" (Rom.8:17).
Do you get the vast, incredible import of these verses? Christ is literal GOD. We, as children of God, if we share in His
sufferings, and remain faithful to the end, will SHARE IN HIS GLORY, AS HIS
YOUNGER BROTHERS!
This awesome calling and destiny, to which God has called
us, is spelled out in even more detail in the book of Hebrews. Paul wrote,
"But there is a place where
someone has testified: 'What is
man that
you are mindful of him, the son of man that you
care for
him? You made him a little lower than the
angels;
you crowned
him with glory and honor and put everything
under his
feel.' In putting everything under him,
God left
NOTHING that is
not subject to him. Yet at
present we do
not see
everything subject to him. But we see
Jesus, who
was made a
little lower than the angels, now crowned with
glory and
honor because he suffered death, so that by the
grace of
God he might taste death for everyone.
In bringing
MANY SONS TO
GLORY, it was fitting that God, for whom
and through
whom everything exists, should make the author
of their
salvation perfect through suffering.
Both the one who
makes men
holy and those who are made holy are of the
SAME FAMILY [the
Family of GOD!]. So Jesus is not
ashamed to
call them BROTHERS. He says, 'I will
declare
your name
to my BROTHERS; in the presence of the congre-
gation I will sing your praises' " (Heb.2:6-12).
Notice! God said, in
the beginning, when He created Adam and Eve "in His own image," but
out of dust of the earth instead of spirit, that they were to rule over
"all things." Paul points out
in this passage that we DON'T YET SEE "ALL THINGS" under the rulership of mankind -- that this is a FUTURE PROMISE! In other words, God someday intends for us to
rule over EVERYTHING THERE IS! What does
that include? Does God mean what He
says? Everything would include very
single atom or subatomic particle of the farflung
stars and galaxies, and living creatures, of the entire UNIVERSE! It would also include the angels in heaven!
God doe not merely promise that we shall become
"as" angels in the resurrection.
Not at all! Rather, as the
apostle Paul said, "Do you not know that we shall judge ANGELS?" (I
Cor.6:3).
As sons of God, divine members in the very family of God,
under the rulership of God the Father and Jesus
Christ our Elder Brother, we shall rule the farflung
reaches of all Creation -- that is, "EVERYTHING"!
Paul summarizes this awesome truth this way: "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ
all will be made alive. But each in his
own turn:
Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes,
those who belong to him. Then the end
will come when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion,
authority and power. For
he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he 'has put EVERYTHING
under his feet [under His authority!].'
Now when it says that 'everything' has been put under him, it is clear
that this does not include God
himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has DONE this, then the Son himself
will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be
all in all" (I Cor.15:22-28).
Do we grasp the sheer awesomeness and mind-boggling
incredible vastness of this divine promise?
God the Father will put EVERYTHING under Christ. Christ says He will put EVERYTHING under US! Of course, "everything" means the
WHOLE CREATION, including stars and galaxies, planets and angels. But it does not mean Christ Himself, or the
Father. They are excluded, as the Ones
OVER ALL, who give us this authority.
What Is the ORIGIN of the
"Word"?
This incredible truth
brings to our minds the concept that in order to become a "Member" of the Divine GOD
Family, of whom there are only the Father and Christ the Son, today, ruling in
heaven, God has ordained a Plan so that human beings can enter His Kingdom, and
be literally born of Him, begotten by His very Spirit essence (Acts 2:38; 5:32;
Eph.1:13-14; Gal.19). This presents an
astonishing truth! That is this -- one
can become a very "God," or member of the Family of God, even though
one has NOT eternally existed! In other
words, our "BEGINNING" as members of God's Family will be AT THE
RESURRECTION!
Paul wrote, "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under
his control, will TRANSFORM our lowly bodies so that they will be like his GLORIOUS
body" (Phil.3:20-21).
Imagine it. We have
been humbled. We have been "as
nothing." We shall, from this
lowly, humble, unimportant beginning, BECOME SONS OF GOD HIMSELF! Doesn't that mere thought take your breath
away? Doesn't the very thought make you
tremble, and shake with nervous anticipation and reverence toward God?
What is Jesus' body like today? What will our bodies be like in the
resurrection? Paul wrote, "And just
as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the LIKENESS
of the man from heaven (I Cor.15:49). He
went on, "Listen, I tell you a MYSTERY:
We will not all sleep, but we will all be CHANGED -- in a flash, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised
imperishable, and we will be CHANGED.
For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable,
and the mortal with IMMORTALITY" (I Cor.15:51-53).
We will then be IMMORTAL SONS OF GOD, just like Jesus
Christ!
A description of the
fantastic appearance of Jesus Christ, the Divine Son of the Divine Father, is
given in Revelation, chapter 1.
Notice! John writes, "And
when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and
among the lampstands was someone 'like a son of man,'
dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his
chest. His head and hair were white like
wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. He feet were like
bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing
waters. In his right hand he held seven
stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was LIKE THE SUN shining in all its
brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said,
'Do not be afraid. I am the First and
the Last. I am the Living One; I was
dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!
And I hold the keys of death and Hades [the grave]" (Rev.1:12-18).
We will enter this awesome glory. We will become like Christ -- just like Him
(I John 3:1-2). But, of course, it has
not always been so. We come from
nowhere. We formerly did not exist,
until God caused us to be created in the womb of our mothers. Prior to that conception, we had no existence
at all, except as a "thought" in the mind of God.
This brings up the question then -- WHY is the Logos under
the authority of the Father? WHY is He
subservient to the Father? If, as most people
believe, they are both UNcreated and COequal members of the Godhead, and BOTH existed from all
"eternity," then WHY is One greater than the other?
Is thee something the world has
missed here? Is there something about
their relationship which the world and churches have completely overlooked?
Indeed there is!
Notice a verse, now, which has perplexed and befuddled scholars and
Biblical exegetes for thousands of years.
In Revelation chapter 3, Jesus Christ says:
"And unto the angel of the
church of the Laodiceans write;
These things saith
the Amen, the faithful and true witness,
the
beginning of the creation of God" (Rev.3:14,
KJV ).
"These are the words of the
Amen, the faithful and true witness,
the beginning of God's creation" (Phillips
Translation ).
"These things sdays the Amen, the witness faithful and true,
the
BEGINNING of the creation of God" (Englishman's
Greek New Testament
).
What have we here?
Now notice further:
"He said to me, 'It is
done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
Beginning and the End"
(Rev.21:6, NIV).
"I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the First and the Last, the
Beginning and the End"
Rev.22:13).
Christ says very clearly that He is the
"BEGINING." But in verse 14 of
Revelation 3, He declares that He is the "BEGINNING OF GOD'S
CREATION"! What does that
mean? Just as the word "Logos"
means literally the "word," "utterance," or
"expression" OF THE FATHER, which came OUT of or FORTH FROM the
Father, and Jesus continually said that He came "FROM THE FATHER," is
it possible, then, that back before time began, before there was any Creation,
that the Father actually took part of Himself, part of His Spirit, and
literally CREATED a Second Member of the Godhead -- One who would be under His
authority, subservient to Him, and yet still "God," and a Member of
the Divine Family? Did God the Father
anciently, bofore time existed, take of Himself and
make the Logos, or Word, of God?
Consider: God said of
Adam and Eve, "Let US make man in OUR image, in OUR LIKENESS"
(Gen.1:26). "So God CREATED man in
his OWN IMAGE, in the image of God he created him; MALE AND FEMALE he created
them" (Gen.1:27).
Now, God created Adam of the dust of the ground
(Gen.2:7). But how did He create Eve,
the wife of the first man?
"The LORD God said, 'It is not
good for the man to be alone.
I will make a helper suitable for
him' . . . . So the LORD God
caused the
man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was
sleeping,
he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place
with
flesh. Then the LORD God made a WOMAN
FROM
THE RIB he had taken out of the man,
and he brought her to
the
man. The man said, 'This
is now bone of my bones and
flesh of my
flesh; she shall be called "woman," for she was
taken out
of man.' For this reason a man will
leave his father
and mother
and be UNITED to his wife, and they will become
one
flesh" (Gen.2:18, 21-24).
What an awesome picture!
God made MAN in His own image. He
made Eve by taking a portion of the body of Adam, and creating the woman. They, too, were to become ONE FLESH, even as
God and the Logos or Word are "ONE IN SPIRIT" (John
Nevertheless, there are several levels of meaning hidden in
this Scripture in Genesis, describing the original creation of
This would explain why one Member of the Godhead is subject
to the authority of the other, even as a wife is to be subject to her husband
in all things (Eph.5:22). In fact, Paul
declared that the husband-wife relationship is "a PROFOUND MYSTERY -- but
I am talking about Christ and the church" (Eph.5:32). Husbands are to love their wives, and their
wives are to reverence their husbands (verses 22-33).
This great mystery tells us something about God, and the origin of the Second Member of the Godhead long
before there were any angels or Creation.
The One who became the Father took of Himself and made a Companion --
the One who was to become the Christ, or Messiah! Perhaps there is a key in understanding in
the fact that
once God made Adam, He immediately said, "It is not good for the man to be
alone" (Gen.2:18). Perhaps, having
existed for all eternity, until the thought came into His mind, to make a
Companion for Himself, God knew all there is to know about
"loneliness" and being "alone." One of the greatest curses a human being can
experience is the feeling of utter loneliness!
Is God so different from us? He
made us in His own image, remember, and we have emotions much like His
own. He created us in His own image, and
likeness, including what we call emotions.
And the feeling of rejection and being alone is one of the most awful
things a human being can experience.
An amazing Scripture which seems to discuss and reveal the
"origin" of the Word or Logos of God, is
found in the book of Proverbs. Here the
Word of God is referred to as "Wisdom," or the "Wisdom"
with which God made the Universe. Notice
this most remarkable revelation!
"The LORD brought me forth as the FIRST OF HIS WORKS,
before
his deeds of old; I was APPOINTED
FROM ETERNITY,
from
the BEGINNING, before the world began.
When there
were no
oceans, I was given BIRTH, when
there were no springs
abounding with water; before the mountains were settled in
place,
before the
hills, I was given birth, before
he made the earth or its
fields or
any of the dust of the world. I was there when he set the
heavens in
place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of
the deep,
when he established the clouds above and fixed securely
the
foundations of the deep, when he gave the sea its boundary
so the
waters would not overstep his command, and when he
marked out
the foundations of the earth. Then I WAS
THE
CRAFTSMAN AT HIS SIDE,
I was filled with delight day after
day,
rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world
and
delighting in mankind" (Prov.8:22-31).
Read this passage over very carefully. This vivid description appears to be telling
us the ORIGIN of the One who became the "Word," Logos," or
"Wisdom" of God. He is God's
first "Expression" of Himself.
He was, at a point before Time began, created by the Father as the
"beginning" of the Creation of God -- as the "FIRST OF HIS
WORKS, before his deeds of old."
The Logos was actually "appointed from ETERNITY." He existed "before the world
began." He was given
"birth" before any of the Creation was formed and fashioned. He was not only present at the Creation of
the Universe, but He also was "GOD"S CRAFTSMAN," the One who did
the actual creative work, under the direction and supervision of the
Father!
This is a fascinating passage of Scripture. Years ago, I used to work with my own father,
who was a house builder and contractor.
Working with him, building houses, up in the Seattle area, I learned how
to dig foundations, build forms, pour concrete, build floors, raise walls,
create windows, and doors, build corners and place headers, nail floor and
ceiling joists and construct rafters. It
was healthy, wholesome, and fascinating work.
I remember many days, as the clouds floated overhead in the sky, we would be nailing down subroofing. We would take a break, and have a drink of
refreshment, sometimes a can or
Perhaps, in a small measure, the feelings I had were similar
to those that the Logos or Word of God had, at the Creation of the
Universe!
At any rate, this Scripture in Proverbs tells us a great
deal of "hidden truth" concerning the origin of the Word of God. Revelation
When we put together all the Scriptures, we see a wonderful
picture emerging, which the world cannot understand. We see that in the very earliest
"beginning," there was the Father, or "Ancient of
Days." At some time in prehistory,
He took of Himself and gave "birth" to the Logos, or Word or Wisdom
of God. These two collaborated in making
the entire Universe. They were the
"Elohim," or "Mighty Ones" who created the heavens
and the earth (Gen.1:1). The Word was
instrumental in all this creation (John 1:1-3).
But that is NOT THE END of the "Family" of
God! The Father intends to bring MANY
MORE SONS TO GLORY, in His divine Family, through Jesus Christ (Rom.8:17-18;
Heb.2:5-13).
The Family of God is EXPANDING! It will have NO END! Human reproduction is merely a
"type" or figure of the awesome Plan of God. Even as the human race reproduces, each new
human being has the potential for becoming a divine Member of the GOD FAMILY --
a Son of God, like Jesus Christ, with radiant power and glory -- with Creative
Power through the Holy Spirit! Someday
we will be able to CREATE WORLDS -- PLANETS -- STARS AND GALAXIES -- UNIVERSES!
Even LIFE itself!
Isaish wrote in a little
understood Scripture: "And he will
be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of
the INCREASE of
his government and peace [blessings, prosperity] there will be NO END" (Isa.9:6-7).
Do you really understand what I am saying? God is NOT STATIC. He is not "dead," or obsolete. He is ALIVE -- a LIVING BEING! Life can come only from life. That is a law of nature, the famous law of
biogenesis. God is the Author of all life. As a living Being, He THINKS, reasons, has
emotions, PLANS, creates, BRINGS INTO BEING -- or if He is displeased, He
destroys, tears up, roots up, and replaces. This Eternal Creator says:
"I am the LORD, and there is no
other. I form the light and
create
darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the
LORD, do all these things"
(Isa.45:6-7).
God says in Deuteronomy:
"See now that I myself am
He! There is no god besides me.
I put to death and I bring to life,
I have wounded and I will
heal, and
no one can deliver out of my hand" (Deut.32:39).
As a Living, All-knowing, Omniscient and Omnipotent Being,
God is not like a static brick or stone or inanimate Object. He is not merely some "First
Cause," or "Primordial Push" that set the Universe in
motion. He is ALIVE! And His Divine Family is GROWING and
EXPANDING! Of its "increase"
there will be NO END -- NO TERMINATION!
That is, its growth and expansion will CONTINUE ON FOREVER!
God has put it before you.
You can be a part of that
"No, we speak of God's SECRET
WISDOM, a wisdom
that has
been hidden and that GOD DESTINED FOR
OUR GLORY before time began. None of the rulers of
this age
understood it, for if they had, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:
'No eye has seen, no ear has
heard, no mind has conceived
what God
has prepared for those who love him' -- but God
has
revealed it to us by his Spirit. The
Spirit searches all things,
even the deep
things of God. For who among men
knows the
thoughts of
a man except the man's spirit within him?
In the
same way no
one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit
of
God. We have not received the spirit of
the world but the
Spirit who is from God, that we may
understand what God
has freely
given us. . . . The man without the Spirit does not
accept the
things that come from the Spirit of God, for they
are
foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because
they are
spiritually discerned. The spiritual man
makes judg-
ments about all things, but he himself is not subject
to any man's
judgment: 'For who has known the mind of the Lord that
he
may
instruct him?' But we have the mind of
Christ" (I Cor.
2:9-16).
The awesome and mind-numbing Plan of God for mankind leaves
me speechless. It is overpowering,
beyond comprehension -- glorious beyond words to describe. The best I can do is quote the apostle Paul,
who, in thinking about these things, said:
"Oh, the depth of the riches of
the wisdom and knowledge
of
God! How unsearchable his judgments, and
paths beyond
finding
out! 'Who has known the mind of the
Lord? Or who
has been his
counselor?' 'Who has ever given to God,
that God
should
repay him?' For from him and through him
and to him
are all
things. To him be
the glory forever! Amen" (Rom.11:
33-36).