Faith without religion.
[1]Let’s begin by asking, “Who was it that God promised He would “raise up” that would be a prophet like Moses from the midst of the House of Israel? None other than Jesus of Nazareth. He was “taht promised prophet.” Keep this in mind as we actually read this prophecy in Deuteronmy 18 where it says:
“YeHoVaH your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me [Moses] from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, according to all you desired of YeHoVaH your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of YeHoVaH my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’ And YeHoVaH said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you [Moses] from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.”[2]
The Apostle Peter testifies in Acts 3:20-23 that Jesus was that prophet, saying:
“And that He [YeHoVah] may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘YeHoVah your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.'”[3]
Later in the Book of Acts we read:
Acts 7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.[4]
Who raised up that prophet? To cite scripture:
“YEHOVAH your God will raise up for you a prophet.
But there is more. Let’s look at some really important passages from the mouth of Jesus relative to His Father YEHOVAH. Ready?
In John 5:24 Jesus says:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and BELIEVES IN HIM WHO SENT ME has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”
We note that Jesus, speaking to his brethren the Jews, tells them that if they believe in “Him who sent him has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment but HAS passed from death into life.”
Why doesn’t Jesus say:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and BELIEVES IN ME has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”
He certainly does make this clear in other areas of scripture[5] but here he is launching into a dialogue with his brethren and at this point He is telling them that if they really did believe on Him who sent Him they would pass into everlasting life and not come into
judgement (with the remaining verses explaining that this would be because they would ALSO believe on Him who God sent). Let’s read on as Jesus adds”
“Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as THE FATHER has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of THE FATHER WHO SENT ME. …
Eleven verses later he says:
“I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. I HAVE COME IN MY FATHER’S NAME, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from THE ONLY GOD? Do not think that I shall accuse you to THE FATHER; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust (see above). For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; FOR HE [MOSES] WROTE ABOUT ME. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”[6]
Take note of the line:
“ I have come in MY FATHER’S NAME, and you do not receive Me.”
What is the Father’s name? It is YAHOVAH. YAHOVAH is NOT the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, making one God. The Father is the One God and His name is YAHOVAH. We can say this because of what Jesus and from other parts of scripture (including the passage we just read!)
“I HAVE COME IN MY FATHER’S NAME, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from THE ONLY GOD?”
Let’s look at another example:
Throughout the Old Testament, the Temple in Jerusalem is continually being referred to as YHVH’s house or the house where He places His name. (or as it reads, “My Name”) Whose name? The name of YAHOVAH.
The following is a list of the number of times YHVH refers to the Temple as His house:
27 times = Jerusalem / Temple is where YHVH will choose to put His name.
22 times = The Temple is built unto / for the name of YHVH.
6 times = The Temple is called by YHVH’s name.
2 times = The Ark of the Covenant is called by YHVH’s name.
1 time = The Temple is the dwelling place of YHVH’s name.
1 time = The altar of the Temple is built in the name of YHVH.
1 time = YHVH will come to the place where He puts His name.
Here are a few examples:
1 Kings 9:3: “And YHVH said to [King Solomon]: ‘I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this HOUSE which you have built to put MY NAME there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.’”
2 Kings 21:7-8: “…YHVH had said to David and to Solomon his son, ‘In this HOUSE and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put MY NAME forever; and I will not make the feet of Israel wander anymore from the land which I gave their fathers—only if they are careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them.’”
Jeremiah 7:8-11: “‘Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this HOUSE which is called by MY NAME, and say, “We are delivered to do all these abominations?” Has this HOUSE, which is called by MY NAME, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,’ says YHVH.”
So let’s fast-forward several hundred years to the New Testament—to a time when the people once again had turned the Temple at Jerusalem into a “den of thieves.” Let’s hear what Jesus (Yeshua Messiah) had to say about their wickedness.
After making a whip of cords, Yeshua drove the animals out of the Temple, turned over the tables of the moneychangers and poured out their money, and demanded the people who sold doves to take their birds away. He then declared in words of truth that echo down the corridors of time and must be heard by us today:
“Do not make MY FATHER’S HOUSE a house of merchandise!” (John 2:16).
Whose house? “MY FATHER’S HOUSE.”
What does the Old Testament say about whose house it is? It is YHVH’s house. Again, who did Jesus identify as the owner of the house? He called it “MY FATHER’S House.”
He did not call it, “our house;” He called it His Father’s house. So, the simple question: is who is Yeshua’s Father?
YHVH (Jehovah). Period.
If you believe (as the LDS Church has taught for the past 100+ years and that the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach and that most Trinitarians teach) that Jesus Christ of the New Testament “is the Jehovah of the Old Testament,” then you believe in a lie. You believe in something that NEVER has been the truth and NEVER will be the truth. The truth, which has and will stand for eternity is that Jehovah is the name of God the Father and He alone (God the Father) is the God of the Old Testament.
Jesus Christ is the Son of Jehovah, not Jehovah Himself. He was the Son. God is God. To understand this relationship is to then understand the New Testament:
| In John 8:41 Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.” |
Acts 3:26 “Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.” | Romans 15:6 “That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” |
| 1st Corinthians 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. | Philippians 2:11 “And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
(in the scripture we NEVER read God the Son. Ever) |
Ephesians 4:6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. |
| 1st Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. | Hebrews 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; | James 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. |
| 1st John 4:12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. |
Next, we come to a passage that has long been taught to fit the Trinity tradition. Turn to Luke 18:18-19 where we read:
“A ruler questioned [Jesus], saying, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.’” This is a familiar passage for most Christians, but what may not be familiar is the fact that Jesus was actually referring to several passages from the Old Testament when he made the statement: “NO ONE IS GOOD EXCEPT GOD ALONE.”
The late great Pastor Chuck Smith, would ask of this passage: “Now, was Jesus good? Of course He was good. And He could be called good. Because He was God. So His point here was to get the ruler to see that He was God, so his response was, “Why callest thou ME good – there is none good but God!” (hint, hint, wink, wink) – perhaps hoping that the ruler would admit, “but thou art God with us!”
The problem with Pastor Chucks view is it sort of makes Jesus out to be a player of words in the face of a Hebrew who would never admit that a man was God. So, there is one problem with this explanation.
Perhaps we ought to see how this statement of Jesus proves the eternal truth that YHVH (Jehovah) is the actual name of God the Father and NOT the name of the pre-mortal Jesus Christ.
Turning to the Old Testament, we read:
“Praise YHVH! Oh give thanks to YHVH, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting” (Psalm 106:1, 136:1).
“Give thanks to YHVH, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever” (1 Chronicles 16:34).
“For YHVH is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 100:5).
“YHVH is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 145:9).
“Good and upright is YHVH; therefore He instructs sinners in the way” (Psalm 25:8).
“O taste and see that YHVH is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” (Psalm 34:8).
“You [YHVH] are good and do good; teach me Your statutes” (Psalm 119:68).
“YHVH is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him” (Nahum 1:7).
“YHVH is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him” (Lamentations 3:25).
“Praise YHVH, for YHVH is good; sing praises to His name, for it is lovely” (Psalm 135:3).
These passages from the Old Testament plainly teach that YHVH (Jehovah) is good. Jehovah is good, He is upright, He is love, He is faithful, He is merciful, He is a stronghold for those who take refuge in Him. Jehovah is the very definition of what is GOOD.
Going back to Luke 18:18-19, let’s again read the words of Jesus in the context of the above Old Testament passages:
“A ruler questioned [Jesus], saying, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call ME good? NO ONE is good except GOD alone.’”
For the individual who’s willing to put aside his/her traditions, even temporarily, and just read and believe the Scriptures and the words Jesus said, we can begin to clearly see some facts from the above Old Testament verses about the Nature of God relative to Luke 18:
Fact #1 — The Word of God testifies that it is Jehovah and Jehovah alone who is “good,” (that was His purpose) and…
Fact #2 — Jesus does NOT identify himself as that “good” God, therefore proving by his own admission that he is NOT Jehovah. Instead, Jesus was Jehovah’s Only Begotten Son, our Lord, Savior and King who had the fullness of God within Him from birth.
Think about it… Let’s just say for a moment that Jesus Christ IS Jehovah from the Old Testament (or in the Trinitarian sense, he is the second member of the Godhead who makes up Jehovah along with the Father and Holy Spirit). If either of these positions are true, then we’ve got an enormous theological problem on our hands!
The Old Testament clearly teaches (as we’ve seen) over and over again that JEHOVAH IS GOOD. So, if Jesus is the God of the Old Testament—if he is Jehovah—then by nearly a dozen Old Testament verses, he, Jesus Christ, IS good. He is the very definition of what is GOOD.
But, when he answered the ruler, he came back first with the question: “Why do you call ME good?” and then followed with the statement: “NO ONE is good except GOD alone.”
Scripture says that God cannot be tempted with evil. But Jesus was tempted! If Jesus truly was Jehovah, then why would he ever have said this? Quite simply: He wouldn’t! He would have absolutely no reason to say it! If Jesus was Jehovah—the God of the Old Testament, the same Old Testament that proves that Jehovah is good—then he, Jesus, WOULD BE GOOD, and Jesus would have absolutely no problem acknowledging that he was good. In fact, it would have better proven that He was God with us. If he was Jehovah, then his own Word testifies of his own goodness time and time again.
But perhaps more importantly, if Jesus was Jehovah, (and not just a begotten Man who had the Words of Jehovah in Him) by him not acknowledging his own goodness, he would then be denying himself, thus he would be denying his own character—something we know from the Scriptures that God cannot do, for he is a God of TRUTH and it is impossible for him to lie!
God denying his own character would be tantamount to lying, thus sinning, thus he would cease to be God.
Like I said before… if Jesus Christ really is Jehovah of the Old Testament, then we’ve got an ENORMOUS theological problem on our hands! Luckily for us, though, Jesus Christ is NOT Jehovah of the Old Testament, but he is the Only Begotten Son of Jehovah. Jehovah is the name of God (His Father), who alone is “the Self-Existent Eternal One.” Jesus of Nazareth was not self-existent. The Word of God was, but not the Man Jesus of Nazareth. He was begotten by God and Mary.
To reiterate, the Old Testament proves that YHVH (Jehovah) is good. If Yeshua Messiah actually was YHVH, then Yeshua would obviously have no problem acknowledging that he was good. But he doesn’t acknowledge it. Instead, he teaches that the only one deserving of the title of “good” is someone other than himself – it’s YAHWAY. Therefore, it is IMPOSSIBLE for Yeshua to be YHVH. He is NOT the God of the Old Testament. The Father of All is.
One final point, from the words of Jesus Himself.
If we turn to the Gospel of John, chapters 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, and 17, we learn from the mouth of Yeshua a number of things about His relationship with His Father. I’ve summarized them below but if you read the text you will find all of the following present – from the Mouth of Our Lord and Savior:
#1 Yeshua was sent by the Father (19 times in these chapters Jesus declares this!)
#2 Yeshua can do NOTHING of Himself or by Himself.
#3 Yeshua only does what He has seen the Father do.
#4 It was the Father that raised Yeshua from the dead, so that Yeshua may raise us from the dead. (here is what God has passed all of everything on to His Only Human Son).
#5 The Father has given all judgment to the Son, and to honor and obey the Son is to honor and obey the Father.
#6 He who listens and obeys the voice of the Son and believes in the Father who Sent Him will have everlasting life.
#7 The Father has life in Himself, and He granted the Son to have life in Himself.
#8 Yeshua does not seek to do His own will, but only to do the will of His Father who sent Him.
#9 The Father and the works of the Father bear witness of the Son.
#10 Yeshua came in His Father’s NAME!
#11 Yeshua testifies that Moses (the Torah) “wrote” of Him.
#12 Yeshua’s doctrine is not His own, but it is the Father’s who SENT Him.
#13 Yeshua did NOT come of Himself, and He knows the Father and is from the Father who SENT Him.
#14 YHVH promised He would raise up a prohet from among the Israelites as recorded in Deuteronomy 18.
Passages to reconsider:
Matthew 13:57 And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house.
Matthew 21:11 And the multitude said, “This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.”
Matthew 21:46 But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.
Luke 7:16 And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.
Luke 7:39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.
Speaking of Himself, Jesus said to His disciples:
Luke 13:33 Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.
Luke 24:19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
John 4:19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
John 6:14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
John 7:40 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.
John 7:52 They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.
John 9:17 They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.
#15 All the works that Yeshua did He did in His Father’s NAME.
#16 Yeshua declares that His Father is “greater than all,” and no one can snatch the sheep out of either the Father’s hand or His own hand—the sheep whom the Father has given to the Son.
#17 Yeshua declares that He and His Father are “one.” I suggest this is speaking spiritually.
#18 Yeshua does not speak by His own authority, but He speaks the words He receives from His Father.
#19 If you have seen Yeshua, you have seen the Father, as the Son and the Father are “one” (united in all things)—Yeshua is in the Father, and YAHOVAH is in Him.
#20 Those who love Yeshua keep His words, which are the words He received from His Father.
#21 Yeshua declares that His Father is greater than He.
#22 So that the world may know that Yeshua loves His Father, Yeshua keeps all His Father’s commandments.
#23 Yeshua asks that His Father glorify Him so that He may glorify the Father.
#24 The definition of eternal life is to KNOW the Father and the Son whom was SENT by the Father.
#25 Yeshua asks His Father to glorify Him with the glory He had with His Father before the world was.
#26 Yeshua says: “I have manifested Your NAME (not His own) to whom You have given Me out of the world.”
#27 We were the Father’s, but the Father gave us to His Son Yeshua—so now we belong to BOTH of Them. As Yeshua says: “They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. … I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.”
#28 While Yeshua was in the world with His disciples, He “kept” them in His Father’s NAME. We are now kept in His Name (Yeshua)
#29 Yeshua says: “I have given them Your word [the Father’s word]; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”
#30 We are sanctified by the truth (or through obedience to the truth), and what is truth? Yeshua says: “[Father]… Your word is truth.”
#31 We are all called to be “one” (or to be perfectly united) with the Father and the Son—to be LIKE Them; to take Their characteristics and attributes and perfections upon ourselves and live as They live.
#32 The glory that the Father gives to the Son, the Son gives to His disciples—so that we may all be “one” together with Them, as Yeshua says: “I in them, and You [Father] in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”
#33 The Father loved the Son before the foundation of the world.
#34 The world does not know the Father, but Yeshua knows the Father, and all disciples of Yeshua know that He was sent by His Father.
#35 Yeshua did declare and will continue to declare the NAME of His Father, as He so testifies: “I have declared to them Your NAME, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
The more we know of Him the more we are able to walk with Him in spirit and truth.