NT Framework - Word, Angel, or God? - Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and
our series on the New TestamentFramework.
Today, the full lesson fromJeremy Thomas.
Here's a hint of what's to come.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Isn't that what we found about the angel of Yahweh
in the Old Testament, that attimes he's united and he is
Yahweh.
Other times he's separate anddistinct?
But here he said seen, if yousee me, you've seen the Father.
That's showing the unity.
But here he's saying if you seeme, you've seen the Father.
That's showing the unity.
But it's also clear that he'sdistinct because he also says
the words I speak.

(00:31):
I don't speak on my owninitiative, but the Father,
abiding in me, does his works.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
A word is merely a thought spoken into existence.
It's an idea that is formed andcomes out as audio waves, as
acoustical vibrations of the air.
But when is a word more thanjust a thought or vibrations in

(00:55):
air?
When is its substance, itsphysicality, its reality, its
eternity more real than you andI?
How is it possible that a wordcan be all those things?
Well, if you've been aChristian a while, you know that
Jesus Christ is referred to asthe Word.

(01:17):
Today, jeremy looks at just howreal and impactful this word
has been throughout history.
And looking back at the OldTestament when it says that the
word of God came to a prophet,was that more than just a
thought in their head?

(01:38):
Let's dive in with Jeremy andfind out.
Let's keep an open mind asJeremy opens up the Bible to see
what it says about the Word ofGod, about the angel of God and
about the reality of thesethings in Scripture and in our
lives.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
We've been talking about the first event in the New
Testament, which is the birthof the King.
We'll end up looking at thebirth, the life, the death and
the resurrection right.
Well then we'll look at hisexaltation and session and then
the beginning of the church onthe day of Pentecost in Acts 2.
But as we go through each event, remember I discussed the event

(02:18):
itself, the virgin birth.
Then we discussed the responsesamong the Jewish people to his
birth.
We also discussed the Gentileresponse when we looked at the
Magi and things like that whocame from the East and these
interesting responses, and thenthe proper response what would
have been the proper responsefor the Jewish people when their
Messiah came?
And then we started to go offinto the doctrinal implications,

(02:42):
first of which was thehypostatic union, and we traced
through early church history,the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene
Creed and the Chalcedon Creedand showed some of the various
views as people tried to wrestlewith the Scriptures and wrestle
with the person of Christ asbeing truly man and truly God.

(03:05):
And I showed you a lot ofdistortions of that right down
through the early centuries ofchurch history and how
everything kind of came togetherat Chalcedon, and I gave a
summary of Chalcedon.
The hypostatic union isbasically stating that Jesus
Christ is undiminished deity,united with true humanity in one
person, without confusion orseparation forever, and so this

(03:31):
is a summary of what thescriptures basically teach about
his person.
After that, we began to delveinto the birth of the king.
We have already discussed insome detail the deity of Christ,

(03:51):
so some of this won't be new,because we're going to be
looking at Trinity, and Trinityis indicating that there are
three individual persons withinthe one God, individual persons
within the one God.
So we want to look at evidencesfor that in the Old Testament
as validation for our answer tothe problem of the one and the

(04:14):
many, that is, unity anddiversity, which we've discussed
the last few weeks, the greatphilosophical problem of this
world which I think onlyChristianity can answer
adequately.
So now that we've discussedthat problem and shown very
practical application for theone and the many, I mean
marriage the two shall becomeone flesh.
There's a diversity of persons,but there's only one marriage.

(04:36):
It's very clear.
Also, you've got issues likefamily.
You've got one family, butyou've got many members.
You've got one nation, butyou've got many members.
You've got one nation, butyou've got many people in the
nation.
So this problem is all aroundus and I tried to show the
practical application of Trinityand how it would give us wisdom

(04:56):
to answer the dilemmas that weface when we're facing something
on a national, let's say,crisis, or individual family
crisis or marital crisis orwhatever.
Hopefully it was somewhathelpful.
So now we want to go to the OldTestament.
We want to explore the data.
Does the data support theTrinitarian concept of God?
So to do this, I want to startwith well, I'm going to use five

(05:21):
basic arguments.
The first one is the multipleHebrew words that are used for
one, the word one, and I'llstart with this first word a cod
and yaki.
These are derived from the sameword.
So there, but they'reinterestingly different.
I should have put a little bitmore information in here about

(05:41):
these, so let me do that realbriefly.
For some reason, I forgot totype out what Akkad meant, so
I'm going to type it here whilewe're here.
Maybe I can get this thing towork.
Akkad means unified oneness, inother words, look at the word

(06:02):
unified.
In other words, this worddoesn't mean absolute oneness.
It means that the oneness is aunified oneness.
There's unity to it.
This is the word in the OldTestament Hebrew that is always
used, of God, which is a veryinteresting word, because the

(06:23):
word does not exempt diversity.
It's just talking about, ifthere is diversity in the
oneness, that diversity isunified.
So, for example, this isexactly the word that's used in
Genesis 2.24, which look at itGenesis 2.24.
Turn to Genesis 2.24.

(06:43):
The last verse in chapter 2.
When the Lord God fashionedinto a woman the rib which he'd
taken from the man and hebrought her to the man, and the
man sang a song, a Hebrew song.
This is now bone of my bonesand flesh of my flesh.
She shall be called woman orwoman, however you want to

(07:07):
pronounce it, because she wastaken out of man.
She shall be called Ishabecause she's taken out of.
Ish is the Hebrew.
For this reason, a man shallleave his father and his mother
and be joined to his wife andthe two shall become echad, one
flesh.
It means the two shall beunified.
It doesn't mean that they losetheir individual personhood

(07:33):
they're still male and femaleindividuals but the two should
be unified.
This is the word that is alsoalways used of God.
So let me take you toDeuteronomy 6.4.
Deuteronomy 6.4.

(07:54):
In Deuteronomy 6.4, we have whatthe Jews call the Great Shema.
This is something they recitethree times a day in Judaism to
this day.
Right, this is a very importantstatement about God, and so

(08:14):
what they state three times aday in chapter 6, verse 4 is
Hear O Israel, the Lord is ourGod, the Lord is Echad, he is
onead, he is one, meaning he isa unified oneness.
It does not exclude diversity.
This is very troubling to Jews,even down to this day, because

(08:37):
the other word here, yaqid, is aword that means absolute
oneness, absolute oneness,absolute oneness.
And this is the word, of course, that in modern Judaism they
want to refer to God, becausethey have the concept of God as

(08:59):
a solitary God.
There's no diversity of personwithin God in Judaism today.
So it is quite bothersome thatthis word is not used of God
Ever, not even once, ever In anyplace of the Bible, ever.

(09:22):
Okay, now there is another word.
It's the word bad, but that'snot in our bad, not bad in
English, but bad in Hebrew, andthis word does mean alone, and
it can mean solitary onenesssimilar to Yaqid.
Right, and it is used of God,but interestingly, it's never

(09:44):
used in the Torah, which alsogreatly disturbs Jews, because
the Torah, the first five books,are the most precious to
Judaism.
God is not referred to by thatword in the Torah and the fact
that he is referred torepeatedly many, many times by
the word echad causes ambiguity,and this is why those who are

(10:13):
practitioners of Judaism orthose who are anti-Trinitarians
are very threatened by the waythe Hebrew language talks about
God, because it opens the doorfor, well, multiple persons or a

(10:33):
diversity of persons in God.
So this didn't seem to be aproblem until post-Christianity,
when Christian apologists weregoing around telling Jews you
know, you should believe inJesus, the Messiah, the Son of
God.
He came, he was crucified, herose again.

(10:54):
And the Jews, of course, whenthey rejected this message, they
were rejecting the Jesus of themessage and the proclamation
that he was God, and they weresaying, no, god is a solitary
monotheist.
So Maimonides, one of the greatrabbis of Judaism in the
post-Christian era, began toinsert Yaqid in Jewish

(11:18):
formulations of God, because itwas a polemic against the
Christian idea that God, throughthe word echad, could have a
diversity of person within him.
And you can see this in Jewishwritings from the time before
Christ about what they saidabout the Hebrew God and what
they now say today.

(11:40):
It was quite apparent andobvious that Maimonides was
making arguments againstChristianity and changing the
language using Yaqid of God,which is never used of God, by
God himself, and this is stillin their literature today.
And it's obvious that thereason they're doing that is to

(12:02):
escape the implications of Ekkad.
So unity, this word is veryimportant because it really
opens the door for what we callTrinitarianism.
So these words are not provingthat God is three in one or
something like that, but they'reopening the door.

(12:23):
They tempt us to think well,what exactly is the nature of
this God?
Because the same word as Ishowed example is used of a
husband and wife becoming oneflesh a cot Diversity, but a
unified diversity, and thatseems to be opening the door for
this concept in God as well.

(12:43):
So this takes you to the secondlevel of information, in other
words, trinity is a combinationof evidences put together.
The second thing is going to beplural references to God, some
of which I've mentioned inprevious weeks.
Right, I think I mentioned lastweek Genesis 1.26,.
What does it say?
Let us create man in our ownimage.

(13:06):
And people say, well, what'sthis us?
You know how can God say let us?
I mean, wouldn't he say let me,let me create man in my own
image?
But no, he says let us createGod in our image.
Why the plurals in Genesis 1,26 and 28 and so forth?

(13:26):
So Judaism says the us refers toangels.
So God along with the angelswho helped him create.
This is the Judaistic view ofcreation.
But this can't be, becauseyou've got Psalm 8, 5, which is
quoted in Hebrews 2, 5 through 8.
So let's go to Hebrews 2, verse5.
Hebrews 2, verse 5.

(13:52):
Did the angels help in God'screation or did God create by
means of the angels, orsomething like that?
Hebrews 2, verse 5, which is aquote from Psalm 8.
So we're kind of killing twobirds with one stone here.

(14:14):
Hebrews 2, verse 5.
For he did not subject toangels the world to come,
concerning which we are speaking, speaking of the kingdom to
come.
But one has testified somewheresaying and this is a quote from
Psalm 8, 5 and following whatis man?
That you remember him or theson of man, that you are
concerned about him?
You have made him for a littlewhile lower than the angels.

(14:36):
You have crowned him with gloryand honor and have appointed
him over the works of your hands.
You have put all things insubjection under his feet.
Now, by saying there in verse 7, that we were made a little
lower than the angels, he'sexcluding angels from being
involved in creation becausethey are creations Now.

(14:59):
So that's part of the evidence.
But let's go over to Isaiah 44,where you see more of the
evidence that.
Let's go over to Isaiah 44,where you see more of the
evidence that in fact, godcreated alone Isaiah chapter 44
and he did not use angels in thework of creation.
Isaiah 44, verse 24.

(15:21):
44, 24.
Thus says the Lord, yourRedeemer and the one who formed
you from the womb.
I, the Lord, am the maker ofall things.
That's Yahweh.
I, yahweh, am the maker of allthings, stretching out the
heavens, how by myself, andspreading out the earth, how All

(15:50):
alone.
Okay, all alone.
He did it all by himself.
He didn't use angels.
Also, of course, you can seeGenesis 2.7, when God is making
the man.
It says he took dust right fromthe ground and he made the body
and he breathed into him thebreath of life.
Is there any mention of angelsin that verse?
No, and also genesis 2 22.

(16:13):
Genesis 2 22 a little bit laterin that chapter where he says
the lord god fashioned into awoman the rib, not the Lord God
with angels fashioned into awoman.
So the Lord alone is thecreator.
So then, how do we deal withthe us?
Why does it say us Well?

(16:34):
Some have said well, it's just aplural of majesty.
A plural of majesty, this isthe idea of someone who is great
, and so they refer tothemselves in the first person
plural.
We, as if you know, I am allgreatness.
But what is the presuppositionbehind your greatness?

(16:56):
Isn't it that there's pluralitythere in some sense in order
for that concept to even arise?
Plurality there in some sensein order for that concept to
even arise?
In other words, doesn't aplural majesty presuppose that
there's multiple persons withinone entity?
That would seem to be where theconcept first arrives or is

(17:17):
found.
And so we also have, inaddition to let us create, like
the plural pronouns there, wehave the term or name Elohim
rather than El, and Elohim is aHebrew word with the em on the
end.
That makes it what Some of youhave heard enough Hebrew to know
.
The em on the end is like an Son the end of our language, it

(17:41):
pluralizes it.
So why in the world is Godreferred to as Elohim gods
rather than El?
El alone would just be singularGod.
For example, the very firstverse in the Bible uses Elohim
plural.
In the beginning, elohimcreated, but it doesn't say gods

(18:08):
in your translation, does it?
It just says God.
Why did they do that?
Why didn't they translate itgods?
The verb here is singularCreated, so it doesn't agree
with the plural.
So what are they trying to doby setting up the very first

(18:29):
verse in the Bible this way,with a plural word for God but a
singular noun?
Even in the very first verse ofthe Bible it's setting up a
diversity of plurality in God,but only one, a singular.
So is this just a plural ofmajesty or is this saying or

(18:56):
hinting that there's more thanone person in this God who
created?
So we have the Elohim andthey're all over the Bible.
Deuteronomy 10.17 uses it of theone true God.
We should look at this oneDeuteronomy 10.17, in contrast
to pagan In verse 17.
For the Yahweh, your Elohim isthe Elohim of Elohim, but notice

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how they've translated it.
For the Lord, your God, yoursingular is the God singular of
the God's plural right.
And the Lord of lords goes on,the awesome God who does not
show partiality.
So it's showing in this versethat Israel's God, yahweh, is
the Elohim who's over all Elohim.

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In other words, he's the onetrue God or he's God alone.
But he uses that plural andthat's really interesting.
It opens the door every time.
It uses that plurality, elohimwith a singular verb for
diversity and unity, for aplurality of persons in the one
God.
So the Hebrew language is veryinteresting and again, this is

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not saying Trinity, is it?
But what this is saying isthere's a door here open for
diversity within the one God.
So we have echad right.
That's a unified oneness.
It can have diversity in it.
And again it opens the door.
And it's really bothering tothose who are in Judaism or

(20:41):
anti-Trinitarian, but you getmore when you start to see the
plural pronouns.
You get more when you start tosee the plural Elohim used of
God, and especially when it'sused with a singular verb.
So these are all doorways intoa different concept of God than
what is promoted by Judaism andanti-Trinitarianism, like

(21:04):
Unitarians and so forth, whereGod is just a solitary oneness.
So let's go to the next line ofevidence.
This would be the angel ofYahweh references.
These are all interesting.
So let's start with this basicconcept Is anyone to be
worshipped besides God, or isGod alone to be worshipped?

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Are we to worship anythingbesides God?
Okay, no.
So it would be interesting todiscover if there's someone
distinct from Yahweh who isworshipped validly.
That would be an interestingdiscovery.

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So, first of all, isaiah 42.8.
Isaiah 42.8.
Just so we're clear onscriptural teaching.
I mean, what's the firstcommandment in the ten

(22:05):
commandments?
Thou shalt have no other godsbefore me.
Thou shalt make no graven imageright?
And then we come to a passagelike Isaiah 42 in verse 8, and
it says I am Yahweh, that is myname.
I will not give my glory toanother, nor my praise to graven
images.

(22:26):
So again, just to reconfirmthat there's no one to whom we
should give praise other thanYahweh, him and him alone.
Now, in Acts, chapter 10, verse26, we have one of the Herods,

(22:50):
one of the Herods, and let'sflip over there.
Is this supposed to be 1026?
Did I get the verse right?
No, this is not the Herods,that's a different story.
But Acts 1026.
There's several of these storieswhere someone is worshiped as
if they are God and the personrefuses the worship.
So this is when Peter enteredinto Cornelius' house, the

(23:12):
Gentile centurion, and he cameto preach to him the good news,
right.
And when he arrived, verse 25,acts 10, 25,.
When Peter entered, corneliusmet him and fell at his feet and
worshiped.
But Peter raised him up, sayingstand up, I too am just a man.
So Peter doesn't accept worshipbecause Peter's not Yahweh,

(23:36):
only Yahweh is to be worshiped.
Right, we've got another examplein chapter 14, this one with
Paul.
Chapter 14, verse 11 through 15.
Chapter 14, verses 11 through15 paul at lystra, and here they
had, uh, just healed a lame manand he stands up on his feet

(24:00):
and leaps.
In verse 10 and then verse 11,when the crowd saw what Paul had
done, they raised their voice,saying in the Lycaonian language
the gods have become like menand have come down to us.
And they began calling BarnabasZeus and Paul Hermes because he
was the chief speaker and thepriest of Zeus, whose temple was
just outside the city, broughtoxen and garlands to the gates

(24:20):
and they wanted to offersacrifice, with the crowds, you
know, to Paul and Barnabas.
But when the apostles Barnabasand Paul heard of it, they tore
their robes and rushed into thecrowd crying and saying men, why
are you doing these things?
We also are men of the samenature as you and preach the
gospel that you should turn fromthese vain things to a living
God, the one who made the heavenand the earth and the sea and

(24:41):
all that's in them.
So he doesn't permit himself tobe worshipped, right?
Because he's not Yahweh Now.
So then, if we found someone inthe Bible who was permitting
themselves to be worshipped,that might be something
interesting to look at, right?
So let's go to some passagesabout a strange figure that's

(25:05):
called in the Old Testament theangel of Yahweh.
This angel of Yahweh is somehowdistinct from Yahweh, but in
some passages he's identifiedwith Yahweh and worshipped as
Yahweh.
And the question becomes whowas this angel of Yahweh?
Okay, so let's go to some ofthe passages that point out that
the angel of Yahweh is distinctfrom Yahweh himself Genesis

(25:34):
24.7.
Maybe you're familiar with thisfigure or heard of the angel of
Yahweh before, or maybe not,but this shows you how close
sometimes you have to read.
You can't just read and notthink.
You should read and think andsee some of these unique and
interesting passages.

(25:54):
So Genesis 24, verse 7, andthen we'll read verse 40.
24, 7.
The Lord, the God of heaven, Ilost my place.
Who took me from my father'shouse and from the land of my
birth and who spoke to me andwho swore to me saying to your
descendants I will give thisland.

(26:15):
He will send his angel beforeyou.
So it's the angel of Yahweh,it's Yahweh's angel, right, and
you will take a wife for my sonfrom there.
So this is discussing how Isaacgot a wife, and the one who
would go before in the gettingof this wife would be the angel
of Yahweh.
Now drop down to verse 40.
So the angel of Yahweh isdistinct from Yahweh right,

(26:37):
because he's going on thejourney ahead of them to get the
wife.
In verse 40 he said to me thelord, before whom I have walked,
will send his angel with you tomake your journey successful
and you will take a wife for myson from my relatives and from
my father's house.
The only point we're trying tomake again is that notice yahweh

(26:57):
in verse 40 is distinct fromhis angel, which would be the
angel of Yahweh.
Okay, that's all we're tryingto show.
How about 1 Chronicles 21?
1 Chronicles 21.
So you've got 1 and 2 Samuel, 1and 2 Kings and then 1 and 2

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Chronicles.
So 1 Chronicles 21 and verse 15through 18.
Notice what the angel of Yahwehdoes here.
1 Chronicles 21, 15.

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Verse 14, yahweh sent apestilence on Israel.
70,000 men of Israel fell andGod sent an angel to Jerusalem
to destroy it.
But as he was about to destroyit, yahweh saw and was sorry
over the calamity and said tothe destroying angel now how
could you speak to the angel ifit's just yourself?
See what I'm saying.
He's not talking to himself,he's talking to this angel.

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It is enough.
He said, now relax.
And the angel of the Lord wasstanding by the threshing floor
of Ornan the Jebusite.
Then David lifted his eyes andsaw the angel of the Lord was
standing by the threshing floorof Ornan the Jebusite.
Then David lifted his eyes andsaw the angel of the Lord
standing between earth andheaven with his drawn sword and
his hands stretched out overJerusalem.
Then David and the elderscovered with sackcloth fell on
their faces.
And David said to God is it notI who commanded to count the

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people?
Indeed, I am the one who hassinned and done very wickedly.
But these sheep, what have theydone.
O Lord, my God, please let yourhand be against me and my
father's household, but notagainst your people, that they
should be plagued.
Then the angel of the Lordcommanded Gad to say to David
that David should go up andbuild an altar to the Lord, and
so forth, on the threshing floorof Ornan.

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Again, do you see thedistinction between Yahweh and
the angel of Yahweh?
They're not the same person.
Okay, we've seen some examplesof that.
There are more examples here.
Let's go to some passages thatshow that this angel is
identified with Yahweh Distinctbut identified with Distinct,

(29:12):
but somehow the same.
Distinct but identified withdistinct, but somehow the same.
Let's go to Genesis 16, verse 7.
Genesis 16, verse 7.
All we're trying to unearthhere is what does the Old
Testament say about the natureof God?
What is he like?

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Is he just a solitary God or isthere diversity within him?
Genesis 16, verse 7.
Now the angel of the Lord foundher by a spring this is Hagar
right by a spring of water inthe wilderness, by the spring,
on the way to Shur.
And he said to Hagar Sarah'smaid, where have you come from

(29:55):
and where are you going?
And she said I am fleeing fromthe presence of my mistress,
sarah.
Then the angel of the Lord saidto her return to your mistress
and submit yourself to herauthority.
Moreover, the angel of the Lordsaid to her I will greatly
multiply your descendants sothat they will be too many to
count.
And the angel of the Lord saidto her further behold, you are
with child and you will bear ason, and you shall call his name
Ishmael, because the Lord hasgiven heed to your affliction.

(30:16):
He'll be a wild donkey of a man.
His hand will be againsteveryone and everyone's hand
will be against him, and he willlive to the east of all his
brothers.
Then she called the name ofYahweh.
Who spoke to her.
What I thought.
It was the angel of Yahweh whospoke to her.
Now she calls the name ofyahweh.

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Who is the one who spoke to her?
Do you see now that angel ofyahweh in this passage is not
distinguished from yahweh, butis identified as yahweh?
That's strange.
Let's look at another one.
Let's go to Genesis.
31, 22 is the story of Isaac inthe altar, abraham and Isaac in

(31:04):
the altar.
31, 11 through 13, 31, 11through 13.
31, 11.
Then the angel of God said tome in a dream, jacob and I said
here I am.
He said lift up now your eyesand see that all the male goats

(31:28):
which you are mating are striped, speckled and mottled, for I've
seen all that Laban has beendoing to you.
I am the God of Bethel.
Wait a minute.
I thought in verse 11, you werethe angel of God.
Now you're saying you are God,point being angel of God, equal
God, in this passage.
So over and over, you start tofind that not only is the angel

(31:50):
of Yahweh in some passagesdistinct from Yahweh, in other
passages he's identified withYahweh, and I've given many
other examples that you can read.
So the question becomes in ourminds who is this angel of
Yahweh?
Right when you come to the NewTestament and really we're
supposed to focus on the OldTestament.
But isn't the Old Testament asetup for the New Testament?

(32:10):
How can we understand the NewTestament if we don't have the
Old Testament, a setup for theNew Testament?
How can we understand the NewTestament if we don't have the
Old Testament?
It seems silly to have to saythis today to many theologians
who think that we have to havethe New Testament interpret the
Old Testament.
For us that makes no sense theOld Testament was given first.
In any book you should read inthe order of the chapter.
You shouldn't start withchapter 22 and then read to

(32:34):
chapter 30 and then back up andstart reading at chapter 1.
I mean, unless I don't know,you just like to do weird things
, but typically the author istrying to build a story.
I mean, how many of you startwatching a movie at an hour and
a half in and then back up afteryou finish the movie and watch
the first hour and a half?
Or do you say, well, it's allruined.

(32:58):
Now I already know what's goingto happen.
See, so you don't read that way.
And the Old Testament is thesame way.
In the New Testament you readthe Old Testament.
That prepares you for the NewTestament.
And what the Old Testament isdoing.
It's setting us up forunderstanding the Trinity, which
becomes clearer in the NewTestament.
So we've got A, we've got echadright, this unified oneness.
It doesn't exclude diversity,but it's emphasizing the unity.

(33:21):
You have yakid never used ofGod, which is the word for
absolute oneness, which all Jewsand anti-Trinitarians want to
find, to the extent that theystarted changing formulas in
Jewish liturgy to add Yaqid,which the Holy Spirit never used
Yaqid of God.
But they have to be polemicagainst Christianity because

(33:42):
we're the Trinitarian people,right?
Then you've got the pluralpronouns let us create, and
you've got Elohim, which is aplural.
Okay, but with singular verbs.
Usually you'd put a plural verbwith a plural, the subject's
plural.
So not in agreement.
But what is this saying aboutGod?

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And now you're coming to thisconcept of the angel of Yahweh,
this individual who's differentfrom Yahweh, but he's also
identified with Yahweh.
So who is he?
We come to the New Testament.
Let's go to John 1.18.
John 1.18.
No one has seen God at any time, the only begotten God who is

(34:28):
in the bosom of the Father.
He has explained it, and this,of course, is speaking of the
second person of the Trinity.
Right, he came into this worldand he's explaining, or
exegeting who the Father is, towhat extent, okay, well, john 6,
john 6, verse 46, john 6, 46.

(34:49):
And we read about this person.
Well, the Lord Jesus Christtells us about himself.
Not that anyone has seen theFather, except the one who is

(35:10):
from God.
He has seen the Father.
So there's a distinction here,obviously, but it's a close
connection.
And then we come over to chapter14, john 14.
John 14.
And you begin to wonder, whenhe shows up and he starts to say
these things, if he wasn'tmaybe the angel of Yahweh in the

(35:31):
Old Testament.
If he wasn't maybe the angel ofYahweh in the Old Testament,
john 14, verses 8 through 10.
Philip said to him Lord, showus the Father, it's enough for
us.
And Jesus said to him have Ibeen so long with you, thomas,
and yet you've not come to knowme?
Or Philip, excuse me, he whohas seen me has seen the Father.
How can you say show us theFather?
Do you not believe that I'm inthe Father and the Father's in

(35:52):
me?
The words that I say to you Ido not speak on my own
initiative, but the Fatherabiding in me does his works.
Now, these verses actually showunity with the Father, but also
distinction from the Father.
Isn't that what we found aboutthe angel of Yahweh in the Old
Testament, that at times he'sunited and he is Yahweh, other

(36:15):
times he's separate and distinct.
But here he's saying if you seeme, you've seen the Father.
That's showing the unity, butit's also clear that he's
distinct because he also saysthe words I speak, I don't speak
on my own initiative, but theFather, abiding in me, does his
works, so he's distinct from me.

(36:38):
Was the Lord Jesus Christ theangel of Yahweh in the Old
Testament?
That's at least what it lookslike in hindsight, because the
Old Testament prepared us tounderstand this by giving us
this confusing picture of theangel of Yahweh, so that we want
to discover who he is.
And then he comes and it's asif we do know who he is.

(37:00):
More evidence, the fourthevidence, will be what is known
as the word or the wisdom of theLord.
Now, usually when you readsomething about a prophet and
the word of the Lord came toso-and-so and you think, oh yeah
, he just heard God's voice Imean, that's the way we read

(37:21):
that expression the word of theLord came to.
But is that really all thathappened?
Or was the word of Yahweh aperson?
Especially when you come to theNew Testament and you read in
the beginning, was the word, andthe word became flesh and dwelt

(37:42):
among us and the word was withGod and the word was God.
So who is this figure?
Is this a figure in the OldTestament, the word of the Lord,
and not just words that theprophet heard?
So let's look at some of theseIsaiah 2.1.

(38:03):
Strange expression in 2.1.
The word which Isaiah the sonof Amoz saw, what I don't see
words.
When words come to me, right, Ihear them, but this doesn't say

(38:24):
the word which Isaiah the sonof Amoz heard concerning it says
the word that he saw.
That's strange.
That's not the normal way wewould express this.
Now, maybe he just saw a vision, but it doesn't say anything
about a vision, and usually it'spretty clear that there's a
vision.
So what is it?

(38:45):
What actually happened?
Well, I'm not saying exactlywhat happened.
I'm saying something.
Strange though, in the way thisis expressed Chapter 38, verse 4
.
This one's not as strange, buthere you have this figure the

(39:06):
word of Yahweh.
This word seems to you know, goto people and accomplish things
.
Also, you know, do things innature and things like that.
38.4,.
Then the word of the Lord, theword of Yahweh, came to Isaiah
saying now, that one's different.
That's what we would usuallymaybe think.

(39:26):
That's more normal.
But the word of the Lord cameto him and the word of the Lord
said so it's still a little bitodd.
So it's still a little bit odd.
It's still a little bit odd.
I mean, did someone actuallyappear there is what I'm saying
and then say to Hezekiah or sayto the prophet excuse me, isaiah

(39:47):
, was there an appearance?
It's hard to say, but somethinga little odd there.
How about Jeremiah 2?
Isaiah, jeremiah comes afterthat.
Jeremiah 2, in verse 2, 4, 11,and 14.
Jeremiah 2, verse 2.

(40:11):
Well, 1 and 2.
Jeremiah 2, verse 1.
Now the word of the Lord came tome, says Jeremiah, saying Go

(40:32):
and proclaim in the ears ofJerusalem.
Saying Thus, says the Lord.
So this word of the Lord hascome to him and is expressing
what Yahweh has said.
I remember, concerning you, thedevotion of your youth, the
love of your betrothals, yourfollowing after me in the
wilderness, through a land notsown.
Verse four hear the word of theLord, o house of Jacob and all
the families of the house ofIsrael.
Thus says the Lord, and it goeson.
Verse 11, has a nation changedgods when they were not gods?

(40:55):
But my people have changedtheir glory for that which does
not profit.
So you know, just going throughthe passage, it's interesting to
think that the word of the Lordis expressing something on
behalf of the Lord.
But the question becomes is whois that?
Or is it just words, but theword of the Lord sounds like a

(41:18):
person in verses 1 and 2.
Someone who's come to conveythe word of Yahweh.
So then, for he would bedistinct from Yahweh, but he's
proclaiming whatever Yahweh hastold him to proclaim.
Who is this word of the Lord?
Hosea 1.1,.
These go on and on.
I've given you lots of exampleshere.

(41:39):
Hosea 1.1,.
I'll just read this one theword of the Lord which came to
Hosea, the son of Beeri, duringthe days of Uzziah.
So again, you wonder, why doesit express it this way?
The word of the Lord which came.
It's just odd.
So maybe this is an individualand not just hearing words.

(41:59):
Later in the New Testament, as Imentioned, the word becomes
flesh and dwells among us.
Why is he referred to in John'sgospel as the word?
Is that to connect us to theword of the Lord?
Passages in the Old Testament,in his word of the Lord in the
Old Testament, an expression forthe second person of the
Trinity?
That's the question.
How about Proverbs 8.22?

(42:23):
Proverbs 8.22.
And this will talk about thewisdom of the Lord.
Proverbs 8.22.
After Psalms you have Proverbs.
So if you go right to themiddle of the Bible, they say
you're going to open it up toPsalms and if you go a little
bit to the right you'll find theProverbs.
The first nine chapters arewisdom literature and then later

(42:46):
you get to the pithy shortsayings in chapters 9 and
following, and in chapter 8,there's this interesting figure.
Now, throughout the book ofProverbs it's kind of
interesting in the earlychapters wisdom is viewed as
feminine.
Consistently, sometimes ladywisdom, lady wisdom, is

(43:10):
portrayed as a woman, because awoman in Genesis was created for
the man to be a help.
So wisdom is viewed as a helper.
And these chapters are tellingus that get wisdom right.
Wisdom is more valuable thangold and silver and diamonds.
You know, do anything to getwisdom and diamonds.

(43:36):
You know, do anything to getwisdom.
Why?
Because it's a help.
Every believer needs it in lifeto navigate the trials and
difficulties of life.
So these chapters are talkingabout the importance of wisdom
and getting it because it's ahelp.
Now, wisdom in the Old Testament, hebrew, is the concept of
skill.
So, for example, if you were anartist who had wisdom, that

(43:58):
meant you had skill in art.
If you're a musician and youhad wisdom, it meant you had
skill in your musical instrumentor with voice or with whatever
the task was at hand, so it wasalways a helper.
And in this case you needwisdom to be skillful in the way
you live life right.
So that's all the background inProverbs 1 through 8.

(44:21):
And then we meet thisinteresting figure in verse 22.
Proverbs 8, 22.
And it says Yahweh possessed meat the beginning of his way.
Speaking of what, speaking ofwisdom?
Notice verse 12.
And it says Yahweh possessed meat the beginning of his way.
Speaking of what, speaking ofwisdom?
Notice verse 12.
So back up and see what he'stalking about when he says
possessed me, I wisdom, verse 12.

(44:45):
So when he says in verse 22,the Lord possessed me, he's
saying the Lord possessed wisdomat the beginning of his way,
before his works of old, sobefore the works of creation.
Is what he's talking about?
That wisdom was with him.

(45:05):
Verse 23 from everlasting.
I was established from thebeginning, from the earliest
times of the earth, when therewere no depths, I was brought
forth.
When there were no springsabounding with water, before the
mountains were settled, beforethe hills, I was brought forth.
So this is all talking aboutthings that were created during
creation week.
And he's saying I was beforethat eternal generation.

(45:28):
I was there first, who is it?
It's well, it's wisdom.
Right, wisdom is a help andthis wisdom is with god, this
with yahweh.
This is a helper of yahweh.
A helper of yahweh in what?
In creation?
Okay, in the creation workverse 26 while he had not yet

(45:48):
made the earth and the fields,nor the first dust of the world,
when he established the heavens, I was there that's wisdom.
When he inscribed a circle onthe face of the deep, when he
made firm the skies above, whenthe springs of the deep became
fixed, when he set for the seaits boundary so that the water
would not transgress his command, when he marked out the
foundations of the earth, then Iwas beside him as a master

(46:12):
worker, then I was beside him asa master workman.
I, wisdom was with him in thebeginning as a master workman,
and I was his daily delight,rejoicing always before him,
rejoicing in the world, hisearth, and having my delight in
the sons of men.
The question is well, who isthis wisdom?
Is it just a concept or is it aperson?

(46:36):
It sounds like a person becauseverse 30 says he was a master
workman and the New Testamentopens up and indicates that
creation itself was done by theFather as source through the
agent of the Son, by the Fatheras source through the agent of

(46:58):
the Son and with the oversightof the Holy Spirit.
So is the wisdom that was withthe Father in the beginning.
Is this another indication inthe Old Testament that there's a
diversity of persons withinhimself from all eternity past?
Then later, paul says in 1Corinthians 2.24, what 1

(47:19):
Corinthians 1.24, speaking ofthe crucifixion of Christ, to
Jews, a stumbling block ToGentiles, foolishness.
But verse 24, to those who arethe called both Jews and Greeks.
But verse 24, to those who arethe called both Jews and Greeks,

(47:40):
christ, the power of God andthe wisdom of God.
Is that a reference back toProverbs 8?
As the wisdom that was with himfrom the beginning, who
exercised his own power alongwith Yahweh as a master worker,

(48:01):
it opens the door again formultiple persons within the
Trinity.
There's a special case of theLord reigning forth from the
Lord.
We can look at that Genesis19.24.
It's a very strange expressionGenesis 19, 24.
I'm pointing out some of thepeculiarities.
You can read Genesis, you know,multiple times.
If you ever tried to readthrough the Bible, you usually

(48:22):
start with Genesis right.
So if you made it at least afew weeks you would get to this
chapter.
But did you ever notice this?
In the chapter Genesis 19,verse 24.
This in the chapter Genesis 19,verse 24.
Then the Lord, that's Yahweh.
Then Yahweh rained on Sodom andGomorrah brimstone and fire

(48:43):
from Yahweh.
Doesn't it sound like the twoYahwehs are distinct?
Yahweh rained forth from Yahweh.
What?
Why would it phrase it likethat?
That is so odd.
Jonathan Ben-Uzziel, which isone of the Targums in the Jewish
community, renders the originaltext of this passage as follows

(49:04):
he replaced the first Yahwehwith word of Yahweh.
See how he did that, he saysand the word of the Lord caused
to descend upon the people ofSodom and Gomorrah br.
Brimstone of fire from the lordof heaven.
In other words, hedistinguished.
He took word of the lord fromother passages, like the ones
we've looked at, because thejews are the one who discovered
this.
They said who is this word ofthe lord figure?
Over and over and over.

(49:25):
Well, they came to theconclusion in the targums that
he's closely related to yahweh.
But in this section they'retrying to show he's showing by
his translation that it's thedistinct person.
But do you see how it phrasedit?
Then Yahweh rained on Sodom andGomorrah brimstone and fire
from Yahweh.
I mean, why would you need tosay it again if you've already

(49:47):
said it, unless there's a pointin saying it twice to indicate
two different persons.
And Jonathan Ben Uziel says yes, two separate persons.
Word of the Lord.
Rain forth, fire and brimstonefrom Yahweh, from the Lord.
So very interesting passage andvery interesting wording.

(50:07):
Dr David L Cooper I don't knowif you've heard about this guy,
but you may have if you've everstudied Bible interpretation.
I don't know if you've heardabout this guy, but you may have
if you've ever studied Bibleinterpretation.
This is one of the guys thatsays you take every word in its
normal sense unless the contextand so forth indicate clearly
otherwise.
So he's kind of famous formaking this statement about how
to interpret you take it in itsplain, normal sense unless

(50:30):
there's something in the contextthat indicates plainly
otherwise.
David L Cooper was one of themen who greatly influenced Dr
Arnold Fruchtenbaum anddiscipled him, and you know in
Dr Fruchtenbaum's writings youcan see his mentioning of Dr
David L Cooper a number of times.
After studying all this type ofinformation that I have shared

(50:50):
with you today, dr David LCooper made this statement about
Trinity in the Old Testament.
He said from all the factswhich we have learned thus far,
we see that Moses and theprophets were Trinitarians and
the great leaders of Israel inpre-Christian times were
likewise Trinitarian.
Now that's going really far.
Okay, that's going reallyreally far.

(51:11):
And most New Testament orbiblical scholars would say
that's going too far.
Okay, yes, they saw a pluralityin God, but saying Trinity,
threeness, that's probably goingtoo far and I would agree you
got to be careful and that'sprobably going a little bit too
far.
But you can see two or threefigures quite easily.

(51:34):
So I'm going to take you to twopassages that are what I call
the explicit references to threepersons and one God in the Old
Testament.
It's there.
The first one is Isaiah 48,verse 12 and 16.
And verse 16.

(52:05):
Isaiah 48 and verse 12.
Listen to me, o Jacob.
Even Israel whom I called, I amhe.
I am the first and I am thelast.
Okay, that's clearly Yahweh.

(52:30):
And then verse 18, come near tome, I'm sorry, verse 16.
Verse 16, come near to me, I'msorry, verse 16.
Verse 16, come near to me.
That is the one who is firstand last.
Right, listen to this From thefirst.
I have not spoken in secret.
From the time it took place, Iwas there.
And now Yahweh God has sent meand his spirit.

(52:59):
Now, wait a minute.
Yahweh has sent me.
Well, who's me, me, is theperson back in verse 12.
The one who's the first and thelast, which is Yahweh.
That's used of Yahweh many,many times.
So verse 16 is then sayingYahweh has sent Yahweh and his

(53:22):
spirit.
So now we've got two Yahwehs,right, and the spirit.
I thought there was only oneYahweh, one God.
Yeah, there is.
There's a unified oneness, butin that oneness, echad, right,

(53:46):
there's a diversity of persons.
Is this an indication of Father, son and Spirit?
And we already know the deityof Christ passage.
Christ claims to be Godmultiple times.
So we've taken you to all thosepassages, but here's one in the
Old Testament, right?
How about Isaiah 60?

(54:07):
This is a famous one.
60, verse 22.
This is a famous one.
To get the context here, thisis going to be the passage that
Jesus in the synagogue in Luke,chapter 4, quotes.
You know, in the synagogue theywould have a Jewish male stand
and read scripture right, readfrom the scroll, and you

(54:29):
remember the occasion they bringin the scroll and he opens it
to the place where it says inIsaiah.
Well, this is the place wherehe opened the scroll to read
from.
So let's see, in verse 22, thecontext 60, 22 the smallest one
will become a clan and the leastone a mighty nation.
I who, yahweh the lord, neversee all caps.

(54:51):
By the way, that's theTetragrammaton, which is four
Hebrew letters.
It's a consonantal language.
So this is the name of God,yahweh, and it's translated Lord
, in all caps in mosttranslations.
So when you see that, you knowthat's the Tetragrammaton.
It's Yahweh.
I, yahweh, will hasten it inits time, continuing the spirit

(55:14):
of Yahweh is upon me.
Wait a minute, because Yahwehhas anointed me.
Now wait, I thought you wereYahweh In verse 22, I, yahweh,
are going to hasten it.
But then in verse 1, you saythe spirit of Yahweh is upon me.
Here we have two Yahwehs againright.
And he goes on to say he'sanointed me to do what?

(55:35):
To bring good news to theafflicted.
He sent me to bind up thebrokenhearted, to proclaim
liberty to captives and freedomto prisoners, to proclaim the
favorable year of the lord.
Now, did you see three peoplein there.
By the way, way, you saw verse22,.
Yahweh right, there's Yahwehnumber one In 61.1,.

(55:58):
You see the Spirit.
Do you see the Spirit?
And the Spirit of who?
Spirit of Yahweh.
There's another Yahweh, there'sthree.
You see all three and they'reall different Because the Yahweh
that's referred to there in61.1 anointed the Yahweh from
60.22.

(56:19):
So let's go to the New Testamentand close with Luke 4.
This is the section in Isaiahthat our Lord picked up to read
in synagogue that day and wewant to see what he said In Luke

(56:42):
4, 16.
And he came to Nazareth, whichis where he was brought up, and,
as was his custom, he enteredthe synagogue on the Sabbath and
stood up to read and unroll thescroll, and the scroll of the

(57:07):
prophet Isaiah was handed to himand he opened the scroll and he
found the place where it iswritten.
Now, they didn't have chapterand verse divisions, they just
knew the Bible.
So he unrolls the scroll.
We know we'd say 60 somethingchapters and you're just going
to find this spot.
That's how well he knew theword.

(57:27):
And this is the spot he found.
It's right out of what we callIsaiah 61, right, we just read
it.
It says the spirit of the Lord,that is, the spirit of Yahweh
is upon me.
But we know the me from chapter60 in Isaiah.
Is Yahweh right?
So the spirit of the Lord isupon Yahweh, all three persons

(57:50):
right there, because he anointedme to preach the gospel to the
poor.
He has sent me to proclaimrelease to the captives and
recovery of sight to the blind,to set free those who are
oppressed, to proclaim thefavorable year of Yahweh.
And he closed the book, thescroll, he gave it back to the
tenant, he sat down and the eyesof all in the synagogue were
fixed on him and he began to sayto them today this scripture

(58:11):
has been fulfilled.
In your hearing, who is he?
He's the Yahweh of Isaiah 60,22 that the Spirit of the Lord
anointed.
You see the three people, don'tyou?
And yet there's only one God.
He's a God.
There is a unified oneness tohim, that is, father, son and

(58:32):
Spirit are always in unity.
They're always in agreement,but they are distinct people
because you can't agree withyourself and count.
As you know, these passageswouldn't make sense if that's
the way it was.
There's agreement between threedistinct persons in the oneness
of God.
So while all this doesn't provethe Trinity boy.

(58:53):
It does get very close to thisstatement, doesn't it?
That Dr David L Cooper said thatMoses and the prophets were
Trinitarian and the greatleaders of Israel in
pre-Christian times, that'sbefore the New Testament right,
were likewise Trinitarian.
And I do find it interestingwhen you come to the Gospels and

(59:15):
you come to Acts and you gointo the epistles.
Did the Apostle Paul, forexample, in Acts and then on
into his epistles, have anytrouble with Jesus being God?
No, he didn't.
Why didn't he have any troublewith that?
Because he understood that itwas basically built into the Old

(59:38):
Testament.
It's only in modern Judaism,who's had to combat Christianity
in our Trinitarian notions,that they've said nope, we don't
like Akkad, we're going to gowith Yaqid and we're going to
put that in all our formulation.
But, as I said, it's verytroubling that the Bible
actually never says that.
The Bible never says God isYaqid an absolute oneness.

(01:00:00):
It refers to him as an Akkad,that is, a unified oneness.
And I've shown you passages thatopen up for multiple people the
Spirit, yahweh, another Yahweh.
What in the world is going on?
You've got Psalm 110.1.
Yahweh, the Lord, said to myLord.
Yahweh said to my Lord howcould you have another Lord,

(01:00:23):
multiple Lords.
There's so much evidence and wehaven't even got to the New
Testament.
Next week we'll do that, okay,and it'll become much more clear
.
So I would say that the OldTestament preps us, it prepares
us to see Trinity, to understandTrinity through all these
evidences.
But the New Testament, it makesit crystal clear.
It makes it crystal clear.
And so what are the evidences?
Different Hebrew words for oneright, akkad is the only one

(01:00:47):
that's used, yaqid is never used.
Then you've got the pluralpronouns, the plural name of God
, elohim, but with singularverbs, strange.
You've got the angel of Yahweh,who's distinct from Yahweh in
some passages.
Other passages, the angel ofYahweh is identified as Yahweh.
And then you've got the word ofthe Lord.

(01:01:07):
Again, is this just anexpression?
Some prophet heard God's voice.
Why would it say?
The word of the Lord came tosomeone and they saw something
Strange.
And then, of course, thesepassages that discuss explicitly
, explicit references Isaiah,both of the passages Isaiah 48

(01:01:30):
and Isaiah 60.
So hopefully this will be alittle bit of help.
Now, is it okay to worship Jesusthen?
Well, yes, absolutely.
And because he's very God ofvery God, he's the exegesis of
the Father.
He came and showed us exactlywho the Father is.
He's the exact representationof God.
Hebrews 1.
So what did he do for us then?

(01:01:53):
As God is a true human, youknow 100% God, 100% man, he
offered himself up to pay thepenalty for our sin.
He didn't have any sin right,so he was under no penalty.
So what is he doing on thecross?
He says you know, no one cantake my life from me.
I lay it down in my own accord.

(01:02:14):
All the Roman armies in theworld could not have put Jesus
Christ on the cross.
It was impossible for them.
Remember when they came toarrest him?
Some argue that there was 600soldiers, a cohort Roman
soldiers, who came to arrest himwith Judas, making sure this
time he's not going to escape.
And they asked which one he wasand he said I am.

(01:02:37):
And what happened to all thoseRoman soldiers?
They all went back, everysingle last one of them, and
fell on their back with alltheir armor and all their gear
and all their swords, and theyhad to spend five minutes trying
to get all their stuff backtogether to stand up.
What was he saying?
If you're going to arrest me,it's only because I'm going to
let you.
If you're going to arrest me,it's only because I'm going to
let you.
You can't arrest me.
I'm without sin, I'm sinless,and so what I'm doing now, by

(01:03:00):
allowing you to arrest me, isI'm going to let myself be put
on the cross.
But let me let you know now.
This is the only way it's goingto happen.
This is how much God loved us.
This is how much he loved us.
This is how much he loved us.
He didn't want to drink the cup.
He even says to the Father ifit's possible, take this cup

(01:03:23):
from me, right?
But he said, not my will, butthy will be done, meaning I want
to do exactly what the Fatherwants me to do.
I want to fulfill my mission.
So he gives his life for us.
He didn't have to, and Goddoesn't need you and God doesn't
need me to be satisfied.
He's totally complete inhimself.

(01:03:44):
So whatever he's doing istotally selfless.
And this is pointing us to thelove of God, how much he loves
you and how much he loves me.
And it's hard, because if youreally let that register with
you, you realize the magnitudeof that love is nothing you've
ever experienced, nothing.

(01:04:09):
It says that a good man will laydown his life for his friend.
But who will lay down his lifefor his friend?
But who will lay down his lifefor his enemies?
Will you?
Will you give your life foryour enemy?
That is what he has done for us, because we were not friends of
God.
As unbelievers, we are lost andwe are the enemies of God.

(01:04:32):
Romans chapter 5.
But God so loved us in thisthat he demonstrates his love
for us and that he gave his sonfor us, his enemies.
And that's what we'reremembering when we take
communion right the laying downof his life for us, the giving
up of his life.
Why?
Because we don't have any lifeto give God.

(01:04:56):
We are dead in ourtransgressions and sin and
there's nothing that we can doand there's nothing that we can
give him that will satisfy him.
Jeremiah says, or Isaiah evenour righteousness is filthy rags
.
He's not interested in that,but he is interested in one

(01:05:18):
person, in what he did, in whathe gave God, and that's the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Because he lived a life ofperfect sinlessness and he gives
up his life on our behalf.
He substitutes himself.
He says I'll die for you, I'lltake your penalty and in
exchange I'll give you my life,and that's what eternal life is.

(01:05:45):
Jesus Christ, the true God, andeternal life.
The text of Scripture says it.
This is what he's giving you,and obviously then it's just
free, right.
But this is what he's givingyou, and obviously then it's
just free right.
But people cannot comprehendthat God could give something
totally free of charge.
Aren't there some stringsattached?
Don't I now have to do certainthings in order to keep this

(01:06:07):
eternal life that he's given me?
No, even if we are faithless,he is faithful.
He will not deny himself.
He gives you eternal life as atotally free gift.
Can that even be possible?
It's not only possible, it'strue, it's 100% true, it's

(01:06:28):
guaranteed.
Jesus said he who believes in mehas everlasting life and has
passed out of death and intolife.
It's a done deal if youbelieved in him.
But don't I have to do morethan believe in him?
Don't I have to get waterbaptized?
Don't I have to promise theLord I will turn from my sins?
Don't I have to live a holylife?
Don't I have to commit myself?

(01:06:50):
No, he committed himself to youbecause of the finished work of
Jesus Christ, which satisfiedhim in full.
And Jesus said it's finished.
So what are we going to add to awork that is finished?
What am I going to add bypromising to live a better life?
What am I going to add bygetting water baptized?
What am I going to add byturning from my sins?
I can't add anything to afinished work.

(01:07:12):
It was finished on the crossand he's giving it to us totally
free of charge, totally free.
And that's what people cannotget over, because people want to
contribute something, but thecontribution has already been
made.
And the question is will youjust accept it and you say but

(01:07:34):
that strikes at my pride.
That strikes at my pride.
What about the good things I'vedone?
He's not interested in that.
Remember, it's worse than thefact that we still sin.
I mean, have you lived aperfect, perfect life?
Have you never had a sinfulthought?
Have you never said a sinfulword?
Have you never said a sinfulword?
Have you never done a sinfuldeed?
For all have sinned and fallshort of the glory of God.

(01:07:57):
It's a problem.
Jesus Christ is the solution.

Speaker 1 (01:08:01):
Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with
Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube
under Spokane Bible Church.
You can find those on Rumbleand on YouTube under Spokane
Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today'slesson productive and useful in

(01:08:22):
growing closer to God andwalking more obediently with Him
.
If you found this podcast to beuseful and helpful, then please
consider rating us in yourfavorite podcast app.
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