Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The oneness, eternal nature, and sovereignty of God

Deuteronomy 6:4 (NASB) - “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!

The Jews refer to this as the Shema.  It’s the first thing that they teach their children.  And it is a right thing to teach.  It’s the implications about what that truly means that the Jews miss.  Because this statement points towards not only the One true God’s existence.  But also that the One True God is unified as God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Properly translated out this verse in Hebrew says Hear, O Israel ‘Jehovah our Judge is One Jehovah.  This is one of the most important declarations in all of Scripture.

1.) The God whom we serve is Jehovah, a Being Who is infinitely and eternally perfect, self-existent, and self-sufficient.

2.) That He is the One and only living God; HE only is God, and He is One.

This firm belief armed Israel against all idolatry.  As it should us as well.  Does everything we do, everything we stand for, etc… Does it reflect that the Lord is OUR God!  Our ONLY God!

The word used here for ‘one’ means unified.  While Scripture clearly teaches that there is only ONE God, what’s being taught here is that God is unified in His persons.  Trinity God.  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… perfectly One and perfectly unified.  God in three persons.  So it is a clear indication of the unity of all members of the Trinity.  Jesus said in John 10:30 that He and God are One!  They are one, they are unified!

The word ‘one’ comes from the Hebrew word echad.  So this statement would have signified to them that God is unified in His persons and His judgments.  Only one God in three distinct persons who are working together as a unit to accomplish all that is righteous.

Deuteronomy 4:39 (NASB) - “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.

The Lord, that is Jehovah, which means ‘the existing One’, is God, Jehovah is judge, He is Sovereign in heaven above and on earth.  He is over all things and there is NO OTHER.

It makes total sense then why God goes on in verse 40 to say that because only He is Sovereign… then we should keep His commandments and His statutes.  (His Law)

So God is ONE, He’s unified, and also He is the only True God.

God is also eternal.  He has always existed.  Genesis 1:1 establishes that ‘In the beginning’ there was ‘God’.  This is confirmed in and more of the unity of God is seen John 1:1-3.  John 1:1-3 (NASB) - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  2 He was in the beginning with God.  3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

The eternal existence of God is self-explanatory. 

Isaiah 43:10-11 (NASB) - “You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord, “And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me.  11 “I, even I, am the Lord, And there is no savior besides Me.

Whose witnesses are we?  God’s witnesses.  Whose servants are we?  God’s servants.  Why?  So that you may KNOW and BELIEVE Him.  And understand that He is.  He says of Himself ‘I AM He.’ 

Isaiah 41:4 (NASB) - “Who has performed and accomplished it, Calling forth the generations from the beginning? ‘I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. I am He.’ ”

v11 – There is NO Savior besides Me!  So who is the Savior?  God!  Who was Christ?  God in the flesh.

What God is establishing about Himself here though is that He is eternal.  Before Him, no gods, after Him, no gods.  Who has always existed?  God.

Isaiah 43:12-14 (NASB) - “It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, And there was no strange god among you; So you are My witnesses,” declares the Lord, “And I am God.  13 “Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”

From eternity, I AM HE!  No one can deliver from MY hand.

Lastly, God is the Sovereign Creator of all!

Isaiah 45:18 (NASB) - For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited),“I am the Lord, and there is none else.

He is the God who formed the earth and made it.  HE established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited.

So, God created, formed, and established the earth.  So that He could populate it with us and that through even just creation alone He demonstrates His Sovereignty over all things.

Psalm 19:1 (NASB) - The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

The gods of the pagans did not create the world.  All these pagan gods swirling around Israel.  They aren’t real and did not create anything.

- He formed the world.  It’s not an unfashioned chaos resulting from a big bang.

- He established it, which is to say He fixed it.

Job 26:7 (NASB) - “He stretches out the north over empty space And hangs the earth on nothing.

He hangs the world on nothing.  In other words, He set the earth’s orbit in space.  Keep in mind that in the case of Job 26:7 that at the time that was written, it was believed that the earth sat on a large animal or a giant.  Around 1500 BC.  Science didn’t discover that the Bible was accurate until 1650.  So, 3100 years later!

He fitted it for use by man to be His witnesses!  Created it merely to demonstrate that He could.  He didn’t need it or us, but we certainly need and rely on Him.  We were created solely to bring Him Glory!

The Westminster Catechism wisely states it this way, 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God,[1] and to enjoy him forever.[2]

[1] Psalm 86. Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily. Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me. Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works. All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them. But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid. Show me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me. Isaiah 60:21. Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. Romans 11:36. For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. 1 Corinthians 6:20; 10:31. For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.... Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Revelation 4:11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
 
[2] Psalm 16:5-11. The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psalm 144:15. Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD. Isaiah 12:2. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Luke 2:10. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Philippians 4:4. Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Revelation 21:3-4. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

6 comments:

  1. Greetings Jason

    For a better understanding of the word echad,
    I recommend this article:
    Elohim and Echad

    And on the subject of the Trinity,
    I recommend this video:
    The Human Jesus

    Take a couple of hours to watch it; and prayerfully it will aid you to reconsider "The Trinity"

    Yours In Messiah
    Adam Pastor

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  2. Adam

    I read the blog you directed me to and watched a small portion of the video (don't have 2 hours to spend on it at the time but will get to it soon)

    Here's the issue my friend. Jesus Himself taught that He was God. If however He was not God then He could not have accomplished the work of redemption for sins. If He was only human then His death on the cross was in vain. Yet we find that in fact He WAS God and IS God. So when He took the cross and God poured out His wrath upon Him for the sins of mankind, God's justice was satisfied.

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  3. Jason, your statement is simply not true!
    Jesus never ever taught that he was Almighty GOD.
    Rather, he taught that he was the Messiah, the ONE GOD's Son!


    If I am wrong show me!
    Show me where did Jesus ever taught that he was GOD? Where?
    Verses please.

    Now, cannot GOD choose how He will save mankind?
    GOD indeed has chosen.
    He provided us a Lamb.
    That Lamb is His human sinless Son,
    the man Christ Jesus.

    Read again Romans Chapter 5.
    Romans Chapter 5 makes it clear that seeing that through the disobedience of a man namely Adam, sin & death came into the world;
    it took the obedience of another man, namely, Jesus of Nazareth to bring about righteousness and eternal life.

    Jason, please endeavor to finish the video, and let me know your thoughts.

    Yours In Messiah
    Adam Pastor
    The Human Jesus

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh but He did teach that He was in fact God. For starters, under the old covenant a lamb was offered for remission of sins but it was a covering. It did not fully remove sins. That's why they had to offer it up once a year. God promised He would one day supply the perfect sinless blemish free lamb who would be offered up once for all (Isaiah 53). Jesus was that lamb, you are correct. However, He absolutely must have been more than a man because no mere man can walk this life and perfectly comply to Divine standard of righteousness that God has.

    Jesus was the God man, fully God and fully man.

    For your consideration, the following Biblical texts. I'm just going to list references and leave you to do the footwork of looking them up. But they, being the inspired and inerrant Word of God, are very clear.

    I'm putting them order so that you can move through them more easily.
    Matthew 28:19
    Mark 1:9-11
    John 1:1
    John 14:7
    John 20:8
    Philippians 2:6
    Titus 2:13
    Romans 9:5
    2 Corinthians 13:14
    Colossians 1:15
    Colossians 2:9

    Listen, my friend. Are you trusting in your keeping of the Law to save you? Just run through the Law of Moses and you'll find that you haven't kept them all... no one has or can, except for Jesus Christ.

    If you are believing in Jesus Christ to save you but do not believe Him to be the only begotten Son of God and God Himself as is taught in the Bible then you are believing in the wrong Jesus. The Jesus you believe in can't save you because He doesn't exist.

    I would just beg you to see that only a Divine Savior can save you. Only One that is God Himself.

    I'll confess the Doctrine of the Trinity is not the easiest thing in the world to wrap our brains around. Then again, we can't fully know and understand God either can we? His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. But Scripture clearly depicts the Doctrine of the Trinity.

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  5. Jason, as I expected!

    You assert that "Jesus Himself taught that He was God."

    And yet you cannot list one verse where Jesus ever taught that he was GOD!
    (None of the verses you gave, have Jesus teaching that he was GOD!)

    Why is that?

    Answer: Because Jesus never ever taught, preached or claimed that he was GOD! NEVER!

    Rather, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living GOD, the Son of the ONE GOD, the Father.
    [Matt 16.16, John 10.36, etc]

    The Lord Jesus the Messiah
    is our sinless human mediator between the ONE GOD and mankind.
    He died on the cross for our sins. On the third day, the ONE GOD, the Father, raised him from the dead, glorified him, made him both Lord & Christ, and set him at His right hand.



    So seeing that Jesus is NOT GOD Almighty, also makes the doctrine of the trinity unscriptural.

    Jason, I hope you will persevere and finish the video; and be Berean about the points made; i.e. study them, to see if the statements are true!
    (The video also addresses some of the verses you listed)

    Until then, I bid you Adieu.

    Yours In Messiah
    Adam Pastor
    The Human Jesus

    ReplyDelete
  6. Man, Adam, you are so close to understanding. You see Jesus did teach it. John 10:30 - the Father and I are ONE. John 8:58, Jesus said, before Abraham was, I AM. CLEARLY a reference to His deity. Now that is just a couple of references off the cuff.

    You say that the references to the Pauline letters where he taught that Christ was God is not a valid refernce... how can you say that? Do you not believe that every Word of the Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God? If you do then you must also confess that God wrote ALL scripture. So if Paul teaches that Christ was God or anyone else then he is only doing so under the direction of the Holy Spirit and therefore MUST be speaking truth.

    John 1:1-3 - through HIM [Jesus] all things were made.

    He is divine, He must be or else Him being the Son of God who died for sins has no meaning.

    So Adam, why are you ignoring my questions about the Law of Moses? Have you kept all 10 commandments perfectly? The Jesus that the Bible records was crucified WAS the Son of God and God in the flesh. He died to absorb the wrath of God for your sin. I would just plead with you friend, repent of your sin and trust in Christ. Flee to Him for righteousness...

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