Shalom! My name is Adam Pastor

Welcome to ADONI MESSIAH which means
"My Lord Messiah" -
a fitting epithet to who Jesus (or Yeshua) is!

Here, I attempt to present the Apostolic Truths according to the Scriptures, that there is
One GOD, the Father, namely, YAHWEH,
and One Lord, GOD's only begotten Son,
Yeshua the Messiah.

And that one day YAHWEH will send His Son back to Earth to inaugurate the Everlasting Kingdom of GOD



Enjoy!


Wednesday, July 03, 2013

Is YHWH’s Servant, YHWH Himself? by Bethany Reise

Is YHWH’s Servant, YHWH Himself?


However, there are many different reasons why people believe that Jesus is YHWH. For instance some note, that some of the same names and titles that are applied to God are also applied to Jesus. Others will turn to the classic “I AM” statement in John 8:58, or to Jesus’ statement in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one,” as proof that Jesus claimed to be YHWH. John 1 is also a common text used to argue that Jesus is YHWH, God incarnate: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning… The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…” (John 1:1-2, 14). One might also contend that since Jesus did the works of God–he performed miracles, healed the sick, raised the dead, forgave sinners, and cast out demons–that he must have been God. Surely, it is a closed case: no ordinary human could be called by the titles of God, perform the works of God, and claim to be one with God, so the only possible conclusion is that Jesus is truly YHWH incarnate, the Almighty God made flesh.

Those that believe Jesus is YHWH were right about one thing – no ordinary human could do the things that Jesus did, but then again, Jesus was no ordinary human! However, to understand how Jesus could be called by the titles of the only true God, perform the works of God, and claim to be one with the Father, one must understand Jesus’ role as the servant of YHWH.

Traditionally, Jewish rabbis have believed the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 to be the promised Redeemer, the Messiah. The Babylonian Talmud, a collection of Jewish teachings based on the Hebrew Bible, demonstrates this connection: “‘The Messiah – what is his name?’… And our Rabbis said, ‘the pale one… is his name,’ as it is written ‘Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows – yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted’” (b. Sanh. 98b). Though these Jews did not know the identity of the promised Messiah, it has now become evident that Jesus is the Messiah, the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53. Peter, one of Jesus’ closest disciples, confirmed this fact when he quoted Isaiah 53:9, as a reference to Jesus, writing: “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth” (1 Pet 2:21-22). He most certainly recognized that Jesus was YHWH’s servant.

Though Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is perhaps the most familiar reference to the Suffering Servant, there are several other “Suffering Servant Songs” which are found in Isaiah, particularly Isaiah 42, 49, and 50. These Suffering Servant Songs are of immeasurable consequence for those who believe that Jesus is YHWH, for they clearly demonstrate that YHWH’s Servant is a separate person from YHWH Himself. In the Songs, YHWH’s Servant says of himself that “Yahweh…formed me in the womb to be his servant…” and “…called me when I was in the womb” (Is 49:1,5) Furthermore, YHWH has empowered His Servant by His spirit and declares that through His Servant He will manifest His glory (Is 42:1, 49:3). This Servant is addressed by YHWH, given tasks to accomplish by YHWH, and is upheld and helped by YHWH (Is 42:5-7, 49:7, 50:7,9). He was given a “disciple’s tongue” by YHWH and He “opened” his ear (Is 50:4-5). Isaiah writes that YHWH’s Servant was thought to be “struck with affliction by God,” for “Yahweh brought the acts of rebellion of all of us to bear on him” for “it was Yahweh’s good pleasure to crush him with pain” so that “through him Yahweh’s good pleasure will be done” (Is 53:4,6,10). These verses demonstrate that YHWH’s servant is not YHWH Himself, but rather “Yahweh’s arm” – His agent through which He is accomplishing His will (Is 53:1).

Not only is it revealed that YHWH’s Servant is a separate individual from YHWH Himself, but also that YHWH’s servant has a God – a fact which strikes a devastating blow to the belief that Jesus, the Suffering Servant, is God, YHWH incarnate. In Isaiah 49:4-5, the Servant relates his frustration over the seeming futility of his work, but expresses his trust in his God, YHWH:
“…Yet all the while my cause was with Yahweh and my reward with my God. And now Yahweh has spoken, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him and to re-unite Israel to him;-I shall be honoured in Yahweh’s eyes, and my God has been my strength…” (Is 49:4-5).
The facts are inescapable: this Servant, who been identified as Jesus the Messiah, has a God whose name is YHWH. Therefore, Jesus is certainly not God, and he is certainly not YHWH! It cannot be made anymore plain: The one sent is not the sender, and if the sender is YHWH, the one sent is not YHWH.

These conclusions are consistent with New Testament evidence as well, in particular the words of Jesus. Jesus makes a distinction between the person of YHWH, his Father, and himself in his prayer in John 17:3, where he says: “This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent–Jesus Christ.” In this verse, Jesus acknowledges the Father, YHWH, as the only true God and Jesus as the one whom He has sent. Furthermore, Jesus affirms that he has a God, not once but several times in the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation. [See Rev. 3:12 - 4 times he says “my God”]

He says that he has the same God and Father as the Jewish woman, Mary Magdalene: “‘Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God’” (John 20:17). This evidence presents a solid case against the belief that Jesus is YHWH, the Lord God Almighty.

But how then, if Jesus was not YHWH, was he able to speak as God, be called by the same titles as YHWH, and perform the works of God? To understand this, one must also be familiar with the Hebraic concept of agency. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Religion says the following about the law of agency:
“Agent (Heb. Shaliah): The main point of the Jewish law of agency is expressed in the dictum, ‘a person’s agent is regarded as the person himself’ (Ned. 72B; Kidd, 41b). Therefore any act committed by a duly appointed agent is regarded as having been committed by the principal, who therefore bears full responsibility for it with consequent complete absence of liability.”[2]
Therefore, an agent sent in the name of his master was to be received as the master himself, as though it were the master himself who was speaking and acting. Aubrey Johnson, author of The One and Many in the Israelite Conception of God, clarifies this concept:
“In Hebrew thought a patriarch’s personality extended through his entire household to his wives, his sons and their wives, his daughters, servants in his household and even in some sense his property…In a specialized sense when the patriarch as lord of his household deputized his trusted servant as his malak (his messenger or angel) the man was endowed with the authority and resources of his lord to represent him fully and transact business in his name. In Semitic thought this messenger-representative was conceived of as being personally – and in his very words – the presence of the sender.”[3]
It is from this Jewish perspective that one must understand Jesus, the man who “comes in the name of the YHWH” whom God sent to accomplish His works.

As God’s agent, Jesus is authorized to share some of the same titles as YHWH, though not all. In Isaiah 45:21, YHWH says “…there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except Me.” Without an understanding of the law of agency, it is easy to see why one might be tempted to believe that Jesus is YHWH. Both Isaiah and many of the New Testament writers refer to God as the only Savior. Jesus Christ is also frequently referred to as our Savior in the New Testament. Therefore it is reasoned that since there is only one Savior, it is Jesus Christ and he is God. However, Acts 13:23 clarifies the whole matter, for it declares that “…according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus.” So clearly it may be seen that Jesus is given the title “Savior,” not because he is the Almighty God, YHWH, but rather because he is the agent through whom God is accomplishing His salvation. It is in this light, that the names and titles that are shared by both Jesus and YHWH must be understood.

Jesus’ authoritative words and miraculous works must also be understood in light of the Jewish concept of agency. As the agent or servant of YHWH, Jesus was given the authority and power of his Father, YHWH, to speak and act in His name. This is in accordance with the prophecy given to Moses in Deuteronomy 18:18, where YHWH says to Moses: “I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.” Jesus is identified as this prophet in Acts 3:22. Jesus himself claims “…I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak” and “…the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish — the very works that I do –testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me” (John 12:49, 5:36). He also admits that “the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19). This is why Jesus’ statement “…He who has seen Me has seen the Father…” was not a claim to be YHWH incarnate. Instead, it showed that Jesus clearly understood his role YHWH’s Servant, by speaking and acting as God as His representative, just like Moses was God’s agent and acted “as God” to Pharaoh in Exodus 7:1 ... It is for this reason that Jesus could claim that “I and the Father are one,” for he was one with the Father in the sense that both he and the Father worked as a unit with the same purposes and goals in mind.[4]

The Scriptures are unmistakably clear: YHWH is the only true God and Jesus Christ is YHWH’s Servant, the Messiah. If one is to acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah, it is impossible to then say that Jesus is YHWH, for the two are mutually exclusive. According to its biblical usage, one may use the title messiah, literally meaning “anointed one,” to refer to a prophet, a priest or a king who was consecrated for service to God.[5] As author Greg Deuble notes, “The Hebrews believed that when God anointed that person, he or she was equipped to do God’s work because he/she received a measure of the Holy Spirit…There is no hint that the title messiah designates the Deity. To be messiah is to be an agent of the one God.[6]

Therefore, since Jesus is identified as the Messiah, the Servant of YHWH, Jesus is not YHWH. YHWH, who is recognized by Isaiah as “our Father,” definitively says of Himself: “I am Yahweh, and there is no other; there is no God but Me” (Is 63:16, 45:5). It is time that we return to this simple truth.




[1] servant. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/servant (accessed: May 07, 2013).
[2] R.J.Z Werblowsky, G Wigoder, New York: Adama Books, 1986, p. 15.
[3] Aubrey Johnson, “The One and the Many in the Israelite Conception of God,” quoted by Juan Baixeras, “The Blasphemy of Jesus of Nazareth.”
[4] Benner, Jeff A. “Unity.” Ancient Hebrew Research Center. http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/ (accessed May 11, 2013).
[5] Deuble, Greg S. They Never Told Me THIS in Church!: A Call to Read the Bible with New Eyes, p. 144.
[6] Ibid


The above article was taken from:

Some editing has been done on this article.

God’s Not-So-Secret Agents by Bethany Reise

The Scriptures clearly say that no man can see God and live (Ex 33:20). But the Scriptures also describe many instances of people “seeing” God, even meeting with him “face to face” (Gen 32:31, Num 12:1-8). How then are the apparent “contradictions” reconciled? Some resort to adopting a Trinitarian perspective of God, and claim that when He appeared to His people in the Old Testament it was in the form of Jesus, the pre-incarnate Son of God, who is also God. However, to assert that God is more than one person is to divorce oneself from the God of the Old Testament and to deny the foundational Jewish belief that there is but one God, YHWH. This fact is clearly stated in their creed in Deuteronomy 6:4:
“Hear O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!”
[YAHWEH our God, YAHWEH is one!]

Thus, the answer to the mystery of the apparent “God sightings” in the Old Testament must be approached solely from a Hebraic perspective, with the knowledge that God is One and has never been seen or heard by man (John 5:37). It is only by applying the thoroughly Hebraic law of agency to the Scriptures, that seeming inconsistencies are resolved and the true nature of God and His Messiah remain undefiled.

The law of agency is quite a simple concept, but a central one. It is considered common knowledge among Hebrew scholars and Jews, though typically not apparent to the average reader who tries to understand the Scriptures from a modern western view point.1 To understand the Hebrew Scriptures, one must think like a Hebrew and become acquainted with the law of agency.

The Encyclopedias of Jewish Religion explains it quite well:
Agent (Heb. Shaliah): The main point of the law of agency is expressed in the dictum, ‘a person’s agent is regarded as the person himself’ (Ned 72b; Kidd, 41b). Therefore an act committed by a duly appointed agent is regarded as having been committed by the principal…”2

In other words, the agent who is sent to do the will of his commissioning superior is regarded as the superior themself and authorized to act on his or her behalf. Thus, the agent may bear the name, authority, and title of their sender whom they are representing and be received as such. For example, an agent bearing the name of God may receive reverence, for “homage given to God’s agent or representative is homage ultimately given to God Himself.”3 It is by utilizing the law of agency and adopting a Hebraic perspective, that the supposed controversies may be understood and intelligently interpreted.

A good example of the principle of agency in action is demonstrated in the Exodus account. When God determines to deliver His people from the oppression of Egypt, He makes Moses “as God to Pharaoh” with his brother Aaron acting as his prophet (Ex 7:1). The LORD sends Moses to Pharaoh to say: “This is what Yahweh says: Here is how you will know that I am Yahweh. Watch. I will strike the water in the Nile with the staff in my hand, and it will turn to blood” (Ex 7:16-17). Since Moses and Aaron have been commissioned by God as agents of God, they are given the authority to speak and act as God to Pharaoh. Notice that when Moses spoke God’s words to Pharaoh, God said that He would strike the Nile with the staff in His hand. However, it is clearly not God who carries out the action; it is His agent acting on His authority. God commands Moses: “Tell Aaron: Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over their rivers, canals, ponds, and all their water reservoirs—and they will become blood.” And when Aaron raises his staff, all the waters of Egypt are turned to blood. Thus, the law of agency becomes apparent: Moses and Aaron were commissioned by God, to be received as God and given the authority of God, to carry out the work of God as agents acting in his stead.

The principle of agency is not uncommon in the Old Testament; in fact God frequently appointed both angels and men to speak and act on His behalf. It is clear that God’s people were quite familiar with the concept. In Genesis 31:11-13, Jacob relates a story of a prophetic dream that he had to his wives. In his dialogue with them, he relates that “the angel of God said to me in the dream… I am the God of Bethel…” It is important to note that though the angel clearly identifies himself as God, he was understood by Jacob, his wives, and the author of Genesis to be an angel of God, or a messenger of God. In fact, this must be the only explanation, for “Jacob knew nothing of a Trinity, and there is certainly no evidence that Jacob would have recognized he was talk to the Messiah.”4 This incident makes it apparent that Jacob’s family and the Hebrew people were familiar with the concept of agency, for they were quite comfortable with accepting the angel who spoke the words of God in the first person, as though he was God Himself.5

Unfortunately many people today are not acquainted with this beautifully simple Hebraic concept. As a result, they struggle over the many “God sightings” of the Old Testament and attempt to explain them by asserting that the are actually manifestations of the pre-incarnate God-man they call Jesus. They reason that because the angel of the LORD speaks as God Himself, he must actually be God. Therefore, they equate this figure with the second member of the Trinity. However if one were to follow this logic through, one would be forced to conclude that both Moses and Aaron were God as well, for they both spoke the very words of God and acted in His name. But one would be hard-pressed to find any evidence to support the claim that Moses and Aaron were God. However, these Old Testament figures are to be understood as God’s representatives who are regarded as God Himself, because the Father invested his name and authority in them. By understanding the principle of agency, the apparent contradictions of the Old Testament are resolved, and there is no need to distort the oneness of God or the pure humanity of Jesus the Messiah, God’s anointed agent.

1 Essoe, Raymond James. “Shaliah: An Introduction to the Law of Agency.” Christian Monotheism. http://www.christianmonotheism.com/
2 R.J.Z. Werblowsky, G. Wigoder, New York: Adama Books, 1986, p. 15.
3 Deuble, Greg S. They Never Told Me THIS in Church!: A Call to Read the Bible with New Eyes. Restoration Fellowship, 2006, p. 66.
4 Spirit & Truth Fellowship International. “Divine Agents: Speaking and Acting in God’s Stead.” Biblical Unitarian: A Website about God & his son, Jesus Christ. http://www.biblicalunitarian.com/ .
5 Deuble, p. 66.

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Some editing has been done on this article.
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