|
Messianics, Scripture and the Trinity
has glorified his Servant Yeshua.” (Acts 3:13)
“You know Yeshua of Nazareth, how God anointed him ...
|
|
 Av — father — consists of the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet (alef, beit) and is the first word in a Hebrew Bible dictionary. One might say that all things — in heaven and on earth — begin with Av. So it is in the stories and messages in both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. Time, space, history begin with Av and end with Av. . . and with the One whom he sent. The prophet heard God say, "I am Rishon [first] and I am Acharon [the end]" (Isaiah 44:6). Another Jewish prophet heard the resurrected Messiah say, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (Revelation 22:13). In the end of time, Yeshua the Son will remit his kingdom rule over "to God, even the Father," in order that he (the Father) "may be all in all" (1 Cor 15:24, 28). If readers of the NT overlook this biblical theme, they will miss its full portrait of Yeshua's identity. For while the NT focuses on him as Lord and Messiah, it never forgets that he "belongs" to Av. It does not relegate the Father to a wing of the Jerusalem Museum of Theological Antiquities that houses relics of faith once adored by pre-Christian Jews. [Top]
As Scripture says,
"This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased. Hear him!" (Matthew 17:5) In the last passage, the phrase "Lord God, the Almighty" is equivalent to "YHVH Elohim Tzeva'ot" in Hebrew — the Lord God of Hosts (Isa 11:2; 61:1). In the NT this title is not attributed to Yeshua. Instead, he is called "the Lord Yeshua (the) Messiah." He is the Son of "the LORD God Tzeva'ot," who is Yeshua's "God" (John 20:17; Rev 3:12). Throughout, the NT distinguishes between the Son and God. It portrays Yeshua as seated at the right hand of God (Heb 1:3; 10:12; 12:2). We are told the angels presently worship "Him who sits on the throne and the Lamb" (Rev 5:13). And one day, "the water of life" will flow "from the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Rev 22:1). [Top]
Is Messiah our Father?
In the ancient world it was customary to call a king the "father" of his nation. In Israel, the founder or head of a tribe was the physical progenitor and father-head of the whole family. Other men of authority were considered fathers too. In Egypt, Joseph said God had made him "a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt" (Gen 45:8). If kings, patriarchs, counselors, prophets and priests were "father" to their people, how much more can be it said that Messiah is "Father" to his people. And yet — that is not the whole story. Yeshua taught his disciples to pray to their Father in heaven, to God His Father. Note his words to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection: 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) Yeshua's Prayer to His Father in John 17 would seem to silence the idea that Jesus is God the Father. But even his own words do not have sufficient authority to change some people's belief systems. [Top]
God, the Father of Many Children
His "brothers" (huioi; a term that includes females) are those to whom "he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12). His believing followers come from the same Father as he. They, however, are adopted and their re-birthing is contrary to nature. In contrast, Yeshua was not adopted: he is "the one and only" or "unique" son of his father (John 3:16, 18). Though he was the Unique Son (Grk, monogenes, John 1:14, 18), Yeshua "learned obedience from the things he suffered" (Heb 5:8), for ""he had to made like [homoiothenai] his brethren" (Heb 2:17). He too submitted himself to the discipline of "the Father of spirits" (Heb 12:9). In the Gospels, Yeshua refers to "Father" some 180 times; 112 in John alone. The focus of his work, ministry, and redemptive purpose is to bring all people to the Father, to bring Israel back to the Father of their fathers. What is clear in the Gospels is that Yeshua doesn't talk as though he were God the Father, as though he alone is the supreme deity. In his teaching and prayers, he always, eventually, includes his Father in all that he does and say. This is particularly true in John. I am not alone, but I and he who sent me. (John 8:16) [Top] Notice the direct address from another of Yeshua's prayers: I praise you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. (Matt 11:25) His words have meaning. If we call Yeshua Father, are we not making him a ventriloquist who talks to himself? Let us be certain that the apostles did not try to mislead us. "Messiah also died for sins once for all ... in order that he might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). For "through" Messiah "you ... are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God" (1 Peter 1:21). Note the apostolic warning: "The antichrist ... denies the Father and the Son" (1 John 2:22). In contrast to these NT texts, theologians, teachers, and TV preachers can become so caught up in stressing the deity of the Son that they create a "Christ-unitarianism," where he eclipses God the Father — to the peril of all. [Top] Human history reveals earth-shattering effects of eclipsed, absent or dead fathers. Following the Sho'ah, the German pastor and theologian Helmut Thieleke wrote of "the dreadful lawlessness of a fatherless world" that he witnessed in the demonic rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis (Silence of God, p. 6). Historian Paul Vitz tracks the consequences of fatherlessness in the lives of destructive atheists such as Hitler, as well as Friedrich Nietsche, Bertrand Russell, Sigmund Freud, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong (Faith of the Fatherless, 1999). We could also cite the fatherless Saddam Hussein or other Muslim and Communist despots of our time. Contempt for fathers is a pillar in secular Liberalism's worldview. Liberal feminist Judaism and Christianity also nurture a similar contempt for dominant male figures. For them, the best examples of spiritual leaders are women or emasculated, effeminate men. Within conservative Christianity (Catholic or Protestant) disregard of God the Father is also common. But their neglect is more the result of pious but unexamined theology that seeks to exalt and defend the Son against attacks from his enemies. They seem to think the Father needs no defending, while they're adamant about promoting Christ's deity and unitary position in heaven. Note the comment by the American evangelical preacher Chuck Swindoll: "An authentically Christian ministry must have Christ as the sole object of worship and devotion." (emphasis added; Acts [Zondervan, 2012] [on Acts 8:6-8) In contrast, note what the divine occupants of heaven actually say in their worship and confessions of faith: "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." (Rev 7:10) A zealous desire to protect Jesus by proclaiming a "Christ-centered-only" faith eventually has a corrosive effect. For when God the Av disappears behind the Son's exalted status — expressed in such phrases as "Jesus is God" or "God is Jesus" — an avalanche of doctrinal consequences begins ... ending in the sweeping away of biblical faith. To be blunt: ignoring the Av is theological Patricide or Deicide — eliminating him, killing him off — an act that inevitablly leads to expulsion and denial of the Son himself. Political history tells us that assassins of a king also go after his prince. The Scriptures, however, promise another ending, after the attempted demonic and human coups are put down:
(Revelation 11:15)
[Top] |
|
Hazak HaYad | Monotheism | Ruach Studies Messianics, Scripture and the Trinity
|
