WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST: Whose Son Is He?

WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST: Whose Son Is He?

Message given by Pastor and Greek teacher Edwin Pund

March 16, 1997
What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is He? In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 16, beginning in verse 13, when Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he said to his disciples, "Whom do men say that I am?" Jesus was interested in the people's opinion of who he was. And they replied, "Some say that you are John the Baptist." Now these are all different versions of who Jesus was in his day. "Some say you are John the Baptist, some say you are Elijah, others say you are Jeremiah or one of the prophets." They had all these different opinions. In Matthew 22, Jesus asked the Pharisees, and they said "You are the son of David." So there's another one you can add. All these different opinions of who Jesus was. Then he asked Peter. He said, "Peter, but whom do you say that I am?" Peter shot back instantly, "You are the Messiah, the Son of God, the Son of the living God." So, that was Peter's answer. Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God. The demons, when Jesus came walking down the street, they said "Jesus, thou Son of God, have you come to torment us before our time?" So, the demons knew who Jesus was. The Scripture says in one of the gospels that the demons knew, it says it right in there, your Bible says the demons knew who Jesus was. And the demons called him, the Son of what? The Son of God. OK, that's interesting, I didn't realize that until recently, I thought that maybe demons didn't know what was going on. OK, then you have Jesus being baptized at the river Jordan and when he came up out of the water, the Bible says in Matthew 3:16, that the heavens opened and the voice came from heaven. The voice of the Father said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him." So, who did God the Father say that Jesus was? His Son, so that made him whom? The Son of God. Then you have the Mormons. They come along today in the present century and they say Jesus is a prophet like Joseph Smith was a prophet. The Jehovah's Witnesses come along and they say Jesus is a god (small g). You have all these different opinions. Then you have the Roman Catholic Church that comes along and says Jesus is God the Son. You'd better write this down because this is what you need to get, these are all different opinions of who Jesus is. The Roman Catholic Church says that Jesus is God the Son. The Protestant denominations that came out of the Roman Catholic Church still say that Jesus is God the Son. Now here are all these different opinions. Who is Jesus? What think ye of Christ? Whose son is He? So now, we have to go back into the scriptures unless we're going to follow the traditions of the church or the traditions of men or the opinions of the early fathers or the opinions of the people in the first century. We're going to have to go into the scripture and find out what scripture says Jesus really is. How many are with me? All right, so let's go into the scriptures. The first one came out of the lips of Jesus himself.
Now, if you want to know who Jesus is, the best way to know is to study your Bibles and find out who God is. You'll be surprised that most Christians have a very fuzzy idea of who God is. The Presbyterians are somewhat of an exception because most of them memorize the Shorter Catechism and in that they have a very clear definition of who God is but it's not complete. It leaves out many of God's wonderful attributes. And so, you take your Bible and you begin studying who God is and you study the attributes of God from Genesis through Revelation, and when you are done with that study you will have a clear, correct, complete idea of who God is. And that's one purpose, that's one reason God has given us this love letter. How many have ever done that? That's interesting. God has given us a love letter to define exactly who he is in his totality and none of us have ever taken the time to do that. Very interesting. I think we should begin, how many agree we should begin to read the Bible to find out who God really is? Now, in Genesis you'll pick up some attributes, in Exodus you'll pick up some more, Numbers you'll pick up some more, but by the time you get to Revelation, you will have a complete revelation of who God really is. Once you know who God really is, then you can take that and compare the definition of who God is with Jesus and see whether it matches or contradicts. And so that's what I want to do with you in brief today.
So the first one comes right out of the lips of Jesus, himself. He says in John 4:24 "God is Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." So, that is a clear definition from the lips of Jesus who God is in essence. It's not a total definition. That's defining who God is in essence. He's not anything material. Now, the Bible says, in contrast to that, in Genesis 6:3, regarding man, "My spirit will not always strive with man because he is also flesh." So, if God is spirit and man is flesh, then man is not God, right? We need to get that clear because new agers are gonna smooge it all over and even the Mormons say, "well if you do all these things we're telling you, some day you'll be gods," right? OK, so, Genesis 6:3 is an important verse. "My spirit will not always strive with man because he is also flesh." Hebrews 5:7 talks about Jesus in the days of his what? Flesh. Wonderful little verse, talking about the 33 years he was walking around on this planet down here. So, the New Testament tells you that Jesus definitely was in the flesh. And so, if God is Spirit and Jesus was flesh what does that make Jesus? He's a man, OK? 1 Timothy 6:16 this verse defines that God is invisible. No man has seen God at any time nor can see him. Past history, future history, no man in his natural state can see God. A positive statement. It says in John 1:18 "The only begotten son who was in the bosom of the Father, he has revealed him", but the first part of that verse says "No man has seen God at any time." John 1:18. How many are tracking with me? So, the Bible teaches you in many verses that God, because he is a spirit, is invisible. What about Jesus? Colossians 1:15, very important scripture. "Christ, who is the image of the invisible God", aha, things are beginning to get a little clearer. Can you see an image? Why did God tell them not to worship images in Exodus 20? Because they were fooling around with something that was visible. God didn't want them to try and picture him because he's invisible. And so He made a tremendous punishment. He said, if you make anything material of me, because I am an invisible God, and try and portray me with something visible, I will visit the iniquities of the fathers that make idols and images unto the third and fourth generations of them that HATE ME. We've got loads of images in America today in people's homes. The people are nice, but they've been deceived. They haven't been taught the scripture. And so, Christ is the image of the invisible God. Was Christ visible? Yes, therefore he wasn't what? He wasn't invisible so he wouldn't fit the definition of who God is. How many are beginning to get the picture here? All right, let's go a little further. 1 Timothy 1:17, the Bible says that God is invisible, immortal... Some of these scriptures are very important, because they contain important facets of the definition of who God is in a concise statement. And so, it would do you well to memorize these different scriptures that define who God is. God is invisible, immortal. So then, what does immortal mean? It comes from two Latin words mores mortis means death. I don't know why they did it, but your mortgage is a death payment. How many understand? That's where the word came from. Yeah, you're going to pay until you die. So, a mortician is someone who takes care of you after you're dead. So the word immortal is just, im is a phonetic adjustment to the in in Latin which is a negative, it's a not. So it means not dying. Now, I've heard preachers say over the radio and in person that God died on the cross. That is horrible theology. Because the name of God is Yah and that means eternal. So, if God died on the cross, how could he have the name Yah, which means, you know, in Isaiah it says, "Thou shalt call his name Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father". God didn't die on the cross. I'm sorry. It doesn't fit the Biblical definition of God all the way through. I'm just giving you a few scriptures here and truth cannot contradict itself, people. There are two tests for truth, and this is what I'm giving you here. This is the second one. The first test for truth is the pragmatic test. If it's true, it will work. God said if I would call on Jesus as Lord and receive Him in my heart, I would be saved. I did that when I was 12 years old and I was saved when I was 12 years old. That's the pragmatic test, if it's true it will work. The second test of truth is consistency. Truth, if it's true, it will fit with all other known truth. And since God is giving these positive statements in various scriptures of who he is then, we can contrast that with who Jesus was and we can see very plainly, that Jesus was not God, because here's all the attributes of God, and Jesus simply didn't fit those. So to say God died on the cross contradicts so many things. Malachi 3:6 "Behold, I, the Lord, change not". If God died on the cross, it looks to me like he changed a little bit, right? OK, so, let's go on here. Immortal. 1 Cor. 15:3 and Romans 5:6. 1 Cor. 15:3, "I preached unto you first of all, that which I also first received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures." So, the scriptures foretold in the book of Jonah that Jesus was going to die. He would be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights just like Jonah was in the whale's belly three days and three nights. How many know where I'm coming from here? So, the book of Jonah was put in there to prefigure in type by Jonah going down into the whale's belly. Jonah said "out of the belly of Sheol I cried". The word Sheol means the place where the departed spirits go. Hades is the New Testament word. So he may have actually died and God resurrected him. But, anyhow, his experience in that fish was a type of Jesus dying physically. 1Cor 15:3 tells you Jesus died. Romans 5:6 Christ died for the ungodly. "While we were yet without strength (means helpless) Christ died for the ungodly". Christ what? If Christ died, he can't be God, because God is immortal. All right, the book of James tells you in chapter 1:13, that "God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man." How many know that's in the Bible? Was Jesus tempted? He was tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15, "Christ was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin." Matthew 4 gives you the detailed events in the three types of Jesus' temptation. He was tempted in the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, three avenues to man's soul, just like Adam and Eve in the garden, just like you and me today. Satan only has three avenues to man's soul, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are. Luke 4:1-2 tells you after Jesus was filled with the spirit, he was led by the spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. How many are with me? So, God cannot be tempted, neither tempts he any man but Jesus was tempted. So, was Jesus God? No, it's amazing to me, amazing to me how clear the scriptures are and how fuddled up my mind has been for so many years because I've been listening to other people tell me who Jesus is. And so, if this doesn't drive you to search the scriptures daily, I don't know what will. But, anyhow, Psalm 139:1-6 teaches the omniscience of God. This word omni means, Latin word for all, and scio is the Latin word for know, it's where we get the word science. So it's "God knows everything" in Latin, so in English, if you want to put in parenthesis there, you teenagers, what this word means, just put "all knowing", because that's what it means in everyday English.
I haven't watered down my vocabulary, by the way, on purpose, and the reason I haven't is because I'm challenging you teenagers with new words to upgrade your vocabulary. How many think that's valuable? And you teenagers will be very smart if every time you come here you bring a pencil and paper and you copy down every word that I use that you don't know because it's going to expand your vocabulary, it's going to expand your thinking. You think with words. If you don't have words, you can't think. So the more words I can teach you and expand your...you're never going to hear some of these words in the government schools. Why not? Because they're not in to God, they don't know anything about him, he's out the window. So, a lot of these words are used in other areas besides theology, so you will be a very smart teenager if you get a handle on these words, and sometime you're with your girlfriend and she talks about the omnipresence of God, and you sit there, "Ah, I know what that means" and she changes the subject to the omniscience of God "Oh, I know what that means" and you won't feel like a dum-dum, right? Ah, yeah, vocabulary has lots of benefits. How many are listening? And it helps you interact socially and feel like you're not a put-down. You are somebody. OK, so build your vocabulary, you're going to be a leader for Jesus and you need to know not only what you believe, but you need to know how to verbalize and express that to other people so you can carry on dynamic interaction with people. How many are listening? So, don't take a second seat for anybody, teenagers. Purpose in your heart today that you're going to be a leader for Jesus, and to be a leader you have to have words. You have to communicate accurately and explicitly. So, the omnipresence of God is in Psalm 139:1-6 and basically he says, no matter where I go, thou art there. You know my down sitting, you know my up rising, you know my thoughts afar off and for six verses he itemizes all the things that God knows and finally he says, "this knowledge is too high for me. I can't attain unto it." So the first six verses in Psalm 139 are a very clear statement in poetry, Hebrew poetry, that God is omniscient and he knows everything.
OK, and then you come over to Mark 13:32. This is one scripture you want to put down in gold in your memory, because this shows you very clearly that Jesus did not know everything, even after he had been filled with the Holy Spirit in the river Jordan and walked in all the fullness with God. Tremendously important verse. Jesus was not God, even after he was filled with the Holy Spirit. God was in him, yes, but you can't say Jesus was God. That's an incorrect, totally illogical statement. And it says in Mark 13:32 "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in Heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." Ah, who's the Son, who's he talking about? Jesus is saying not even the Son, not even myself. Doesn't know the day or the hour when he's coming back. Now, omniscience means you know everything. Did Jesus know everything? No, and this is not in the first 30 years before he was filled with the Holy Spirit in the river Jordan. Interesting, isn't it. Aha, see, so we need to read scripture with the blinders off and let God really talk to us and show us and open up our thinking. Because this, we've got to witness about Jesus. We don't want to give them the wrong Jesus. So then, there's another scripture here. Revelation 1:1, this is the revelation which God gave to, revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him. Who's the him? Jesus. OK, now this is in 95 AD, 65 years after Jesus was resurrected. Jesus is glorified in Heaven at the Father's right hand. Does Jesus know everything then? No, absolutely not, this scripture tells you. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him to give to his angels and to give to his servant John to give to the seven churches, the chain of command, how many saw it? OK, the angels are in that chain of command, hallelujah. OK. Jesus in his glorified state at the Father's right hand did not know everything. He was given this revelation at a certain time after he was resurrected. Interesting, isn't it. In fact, if you search the scriptures you'll find out that Jesus says very clearly over and over again "I don't have anything except" who gave it to me? (The Father has given). Oh, well, if he was God, how come he didn't have it to begin with? He got his knowledge from where? (The Father). He got everything he said from where? (The Father). He got everything he did from where? (The Father). From his Father, and so Jesus did not know everything but he was the express image of God's being. And so, you have Revelation 1:1, a very interesting scripture many years later that Jesus still did not know everything. Now, we come down to the next verse, Revelation 19:6. This is omnipotence, and omni means what? (all) and potent means -- powerful, yeah, so omnipotent means God is all powerful. Does the Bible teach that Jesus is all powerful? I don't believe so. Matthew 28:18 is mistranslated in the King James Bible and many other translations. Jesus said, in the King James Bible it says, "all power has been given unto me" but in the Greek, it says all authority, exousia, the word for power in Greek is dunamis, but that's not the word that's used there. And I believe if you study the scriptures carefully in the Greek New Testament, you will see that these two words are not used interchangeably, ever, but one means authority or the right to do something, and the other means the actual power, the ability to carry it through. Now, there's a big difference between authority and power. A policeman can stand out on I-5 with a 357 magnum in his hip and try and stop those big semis rolling down the hill. He might have the authority, but does he have the power? No, way, they'll smash him to smithereens, including the 357 magnum. So, there is a big difference between authority and power and if you don't understand the distinction in words, then your mind gets fuzzy. How many think the devil likes to have Christians going around with fuzzy minds? He's done a very good job on all of us. And so, we're coming out of the woodworks now, so, in Matthew 28:18, the real scripture in the Greek says, Jesus said "all authority has been given unto me". Did Jesus have it originally? No, where did he get it? (from the Father). Why did he get it? He was obedient, you got it. Jesus is the pattern son and that's the pattern for you. Do you want authority? You're going to have to submit to the Father. Very few Christians want to be in submission to anybody today. Wives don't want to be in submission to their husbands, husbands don't want to be in submission to their wives, children don't want to be in submission to their parents, and it goes on and on, right? Give me a loud Amen! OK, but, if you're going to have authority, you're have to learn submission. I don't care who it is. Jesus is the pattern son. How many are listening? I mean, this is powerful. We want authority to do spiritual gifts and all this stuff and get the message out there. We're going to have to submit to the Lord. Not my will but thy will be done. Not once in awhile, all the time. That's my problem. I do God's will most of the time, but once in a while I like to fudge a little bit and do my own. How many are like that? God's bringing us into a new walk, folks. It's a new walk and if you're going to walk like he walked, like John says in ! John 2:6, "we should walk even as he walked", you are going to have to learn to submit. That's something that isn't taught much. So, Jesus submitted totally. That's why he got all authority was given unto him in Heaven and upon earth. Who had the authority originally? God did, not Jesus. OK, John 14:10 Jesus said, "the works that I am doing, it's the father that dwelleth in me that doeth the works." Aha, so there's a very clear definition of who Jesus was. He was a sinless man conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary nine months later, tempted for 30 years, and submitted totally to the Father's will, at the river Jordan the Holy Spirit came into him and the Holy Spirit is the Father and I'll prove that to you in a minute. The Holy Spirit came into Jesus and lived in him, the Father lived in him and he says its the Father that dwelleth. In the King James "eth" is present tense in the Greek, continuous action, is continually dwelling in me. OK? And Jesus attributed the works not to himself, but to whom? The Father. Are there two different beings there? Is Jesus a distinct being from the Father? Are you a distinct being from the Father? Who lives inside of you? Hallelujah. The Father lives inside of me. It says so in Ephesians 4. The Father dwells in every one of us here. So, you teenagers don't have to pray to God way up in Heaven somewhere, you can talk quietly to him in your heart. Cause that's what Jesus did on the cross. He took your sins away and opened up the Heavens so God, the Holy Spirit, could come down into you and live inside of you. Now you say, Eddie, how do you know that the Holy Spirit is the Father? Very simple. Jesus was conceived by what? The Holy Spirit. It says in Luke 1 "the power of the highest shall overshadow thee and that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the son of God." And it was the spirit that overshadowed Mary and the Bible says in Luke, Dr. Luke says that Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit. Now, if the Holy Spirit conceived Jesus in the womb of the virgin Mary, then who was Jesus father? The Holy Spirit, you've got it. Most people will say God, or will say the Father, but the answer is the Holy Spirit, because the father is whoever conceives you, right? What could be more simple. See, but we've had our minds muddled, all muddled up with a lot of pagan traditions. And where I'm coming from and where you should be coming from is that God says in Revelation 18:4, about 15 years ago he spoke to my spirit and said, "Come out of her, my people", talking about Babylon. I told the Lord, "I'm out of Babylon, Lord". You know, you can dialog with God. How many of you teenagers know that, you can talk to him. You know, if you want a good boyfriend, if you want a good girlfriend, ask him. He's interested, he's on your level. He's not out to lunch. He's not asleep either. And his ears are open unto our cry, so ask. So, anyhow, where was I, got of the track a minute. Oh, come out of Babylon. So, about 15 years ago the Lord spoke that to my heart. I said, "I'm out of Babylon, Lord, because I'm not a Roman Catholic". About a week later, the Lord told me again, "Come out of Babylon". I wasn't stubborn, I just was ignorant. And so, finally I realized, something was wrong here. And I said, "OK, Lord, you show me what Babylon is and I'll come out." And guess what? He did and I did. I'm in a process. And this is where God wants you. He wants you coming out of this Babylonian pagan, godless, atheistic system. And he's drawing you out, out of the economic Babylonian system, the political Babylonian system, and the spiritual, religious Babylonian system. The churches are locked deeply in it, 501-C-3 status, and I can go on and on. A lot of things. And the Protestant churches in America are teaching Babylonian religion. You say, "Eddie, show me." Turn to Acts 12:4. "Intending after Easter" Easter is the pagan goddess Ishtar, the fertility goddess with multiple breasts all the way down to her feet. Pagan deity. Female deity that they worshipped. In Ephesus, it was Diana of the Ephesians. Acts 12:4 is mistranslated in the King James Bible, it never should be in there. It's a pagan translation. The Greek word is Passover pascha. And so, there's lots of evidences. How many so-called Protestant Christian churches out there celebrate Christ's mass. You gotta be kidding. I didn't know Christians celebrated the mass. That's what they're doing. And the mass, Christ's mass, was the celebration of the winter solstice when the sun came at the very lowest, and the pagans believed that he had died and so when it started coming back up again on December 25th, they said, "Oh, the sun has resurrected. He's back again" and they had a big celebration festival and so all the Protestant churches joined in on Christ's mass. It's a pagan festival, folks. Biblical festivals are Passover, Pentecost, and tabernacles. Satan put a twist on it during the dark ages and took away the true festivals that God put in his word and has us following all these heathen festivals. Easter, how many churches celebrate Easter. Ha, the goddess Ishtar, the fertility goddess. Come on, you gotta be kidding. And this is Babylonian paganism that came into Roman Catholicism and the Protestant churches picked up and never got rid of it and they're all going down the lane together. God is saying, "I want some people who will come out of Babylon and walk with my Son." How can two walk together except they be agreed? Knowing who Jesus is will help you agree with the father because he knows who Jesus is. And he's put it in the Bible. If you want to walk with God, you're going to have to know who Jesus is so you can walk in agreement. Does this make sense to anybody? Easter bunny and eggs don't, no. That's the fertility. Oh, incidentally, and the President, all our Presidents, every Easter, go out there and perpetuate that pagan idolatrous festival. Isn't that wonderful? So, this is what God was telling me "Come out of Babylon", but I didn't know what Babylon was. My wonderful Christian mother, when I was a child, had the eggs out there, she'd hard boil them and I could get the dyes out, and I had a wonderful time. My mother was a very godly woman. She didn't know any better. And one day, I ate a big chocolate covered coconut creme egg. You know those big things. I was in high school, a senior in high school and I ate one of those, I ate half of it at one time and I got streptycochy poisoning on my upper lip, almost died. So, teenagers, be careful, don't buy too much sugar. I'm serious. That's a word of wisdom. It almost cost me my life. But, anyhow, that's all paganism and my mother was steeped in it and she was walking in as much light as she had at that time. But, we're in the end time and God is going to, listen young people, God is going to shower you with a much greater amount of light than you ever dreamed of. You're going to be able to walk so crystal clear. The Bible says, "The entrance of thy word giveth what? Light. And you teenagers, will be walking in so much light that most of us adults in this room never even thought of walking in. You will know right from wrong so crystal clear, you'll be tracking with the spirit of God. You'll be right there all the time. God will be talking to you in your spirit, in your inner man, and you'll say, "Yes Lord". You'll know to do this, or do that, or do the other thing. That's what's coming in this end time. But, we're going to have to come out of what? Out of Babylon, that's what I'm teaching today. Come out of Babylon. This is a pagan doctrine that we've been following all our lives. And I'll show you later on where it came from in Babylon. OK, so we have here, you know, they say that Jesus is, where is it here? John 10:29, OK, they say that, in the definition of the trinity, that Jesus is co-equal with God. Well, let's see what scripture says. John 10:29. Jesus says, "The Father, who is greater than what? Greater than all. Did that include Jesus? Yes, it did. We go to John 13:16. Three times in the gospel of John alone, it says that God is greater than Jesus. Who was sent? Jesus. Who sent him? The Father. Jesus said, the one being sent is not greater than the one who sent him. So, the Father is greater. That's the second time. The third time, John 14:28 says in very plain words. Jesus said, "The Father is greater than I." So, circle that verse in your Bible and memorize it. Because, that shows you that the definition of the trinity is a false definition. Somebody has suckered you into mysticism and a mystical idea of who God is for whatever reasons, and taken you down the primrose path into error. How many think these scriptures are interesting? How many think they're clear. John 14:28, Jesus said, "the Father is greater than I am." Is there any argument there? No, so stay with scripture. Then we go to Numbers 23:19 and this scripture says, "God is not a man, that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent or change his mind." So, if God is not a man, what was Jesus? Jesus was a man so, therefore, Jesus cannot be God. Interesting scripture. I hope you'll write these down. I Tim. 2:5 "there is one God, and one mediator between God and man," watch this, "the man, Christ Jesus". Oh-oh, did Paul, the apostle, know what he was talking about? Or did he slip a gear here? No, he said Jesus is the one mediator. And, incidentally, that excludes the virgin Mary, saints, priests, popes, kings, clowns, preachers, anybody else. There is one mediator. That means a middle man. Jesus was, he is our high priest and he goes to the Father for us as a man. He was tempted in all points like us. We have a high priest who knows the feelings of our infirmities because he was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, we can boldly come to him and we can dump our problems on him and he will take them into the Father's throne room and get an answer. So, Jesus is our high priest. All the high priests in the old testament were men or gods? Men, and they were types of Jesus, the end time man, the 2nd Adam, the last man Paul says in I Cor. 15, the last man who would be the pattern type for the believers, the elect remnant in the end time. I Cor 8:6, "Now to the pagans, there are gods many and lords many, but to us (Christians) there is but one God, even the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ." Do you see Paul here making a distinction between the titles of God and Lord? Jesus is consistently called Lord all through the New Testament. He's never called God. Never. Never, is Jesus called God. We'll deal with some scriptures that seem to say so, but you'll see in context that they don't. So, in 1 Cor. 8:6, a very important scripture. To us as Christians, there is but one God, Who? The Father. See now, this is an Israelite, Paul was of the tribe of Benjamin and he's writing the scripture and they were pure monotheists, they weren't Trinitarians. Right? Hebrews were all monotheists. OK, so, he's a monotheist and he's telling you what he's always been taught from day one. Let's look at Genesis, there is but one God, even the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ. Your Lord means your master. That doesn't make him your God. Very interesting. Now, in Hebrews it says that Jesus is our elder brother. If he was God, could Hebrews 2 say he was our elder brother? No. Hebrews says very clearly, go home and read it, a very interesting chapter. "He was made like unto his brothers." Who were his brothers? That's us. We're here, hallelujah. So, it says, over and over again. It's amazing. I Cor. 15:24, this is a good one. You need to get this. Jesus says after the kingdom is over, he will deliver up the kingdom back to the Father in order that God may be all in all. Interesting. Jesus, at the end of the millennium is going to deliver the kingdom back to the Father that who may be all in all? God. So if Jesus is God, how come God is delivering the kingdom back to God? It doesn't make sense folks. So, I Cor 24 and 28, read those two scriptures together.
Now, I just want to give you a few scriptures that define very clearly who Jesus is. 2 Cor. 5:19, God was in Christ, reconciling mankind unto himself. Notice what this verse does not say. It does not say that God was Christ. OK. That's what the Trinitarian theology says. Your Bible does not say that. The Bible clearly says "God was in Christ, reconciling mankind unto himself." Also Col. 2:9, "In Him (that is Jesus) dwelt all the fullness of deity bodily." So, Jesus was a composite of the fullness of deity in a human body. And that's who Jesus was. So, Col. 2:9, Paul says very clearly, "In Him (that is Jesus) dwelt all the fullness of deity bodily." So, he was not a god, small g, like Jehovah's Witnesses say. That's false theology, totally false. It's even false translation of the Greek in John 1:1. So Col. 2:9 tells you, "In Jesus dwelt all the fullness of deity bodily." The Bible says in John 3:34, the spirit was not given by measure unto Jesus. So that agrees with what Paul says here. Now, Paul does not say that in Jesus dwelt all the fullness of deity bodily from his conception or from his birth. I personally believe that that scripture applies from the time Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit at the river Jordan. Does everybody understand where I'm coming from? That's when the fullness of deity came down into Jesus, because, as a man, he was tempted and tested for 30 years and he came out of that test victoriously. Therefore, God came into the second Adam, the last man, and filled that man fully with his presence so he could demonstrate the miracles to an apostate nation called Judea. OK, so, now what this really is, this hearkens back to the type in the Old Testament where you had the tabernacle and God dwelt in the tabernacle and there were three parts to it, the outer court, the sanctuary, and then the Holiest of Holies, and God dwelt in the third part, the Holiest of Holies. And so, that's where God dwelt all through the Old Testament, Israelite wanderings for 40 years, and then when Solomon built his temple, the shekina glory came down and God dwelt in the temple in Jerusalem in all his fullness. But, then, in the days of Jesus, you have John 1:14 and the logos, or the word, came into existence as flesh and tabernacled in him and that hearkens back to the tabernacle here. The Greek word there for tabernacle in John 1:14 is skene which means skin. Skins of animals, that's what the tents were made of, that's what the tabernacle was made out of. And it's an allusion to the skin of Jesus on his body. And, so, when Jesus was 30 years old, after he passed the test of doing his Father's will completely, then the Father came down and lived inside of him and took up his abode inside the physical body of Jesus and for 3 1/2 years Yahweh, the eternal God, was manifesting through the life of Jesus. John 14:9 Jesus said, "Philip, have you been so long with me and have you not known the Father? He that has seen me has seen" what? The Father. Now, this verse gives trouble to a lot of people. The Oneness people say that Jesus and the Father are one and the same, and Oneness doctrine is false, just like trinity doctrine is false. They're good people in all these denominations and movements, but their understanding is incorrect. And Jesus was not the Father and the Father was not Jesus. Anyhow, John 14:9 Jesus says to Philip, "He that has seen me has seen the Father." And what this is, is a figure of speech called an ellipsis. You can write it down if you want to and check it out. It's called an ellipsis and it means an omission, a figure of speech where there's an obvious omission. There are many of these in the New Testament and what Jesus was really saying to Philip is, if you've seen me, you've seen the what? Manifestation of the Father, because it was the Father dwelling in Jesus that was doing the works through the human body of Jesus. OK, Jesus laid his hand on a leper and he was cleansed. Jesus spoke a word and the centurion's servant was healed at home. OK, but it was through the body of Jesus and guess what? Jesus is the pattern son and guess what God wants to do with us at the end time to get the gospel out to all the multitude of the heathen nations? God wants to live inside of Maurice and speak through him and use his hands to bless people. Jesus laid his hands on the children and blessed them and pronounced the blessing from Yahweh and he wants to use us the very same way in the end times. How many are getting excited? So, if you don't see the pattern Son, you're not going to see who you really are. You're going to miss the mark. You're going to be fooling around with this issue over here, and that issue, and everything else, and you're going to miss the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And this is why I'm so excited and so intense about understanding who Jesus really is, because he's the pattern Son. He's the pattern for you and me. No wonder the church in America is backslidden. They don't see the pattern. How many are beginning to see the pattern? In I John 2:6, the apostle says, "we should walk even as he walked." You say, "Eddie, does that include walking on water?" I'm going to give you a scripture. John 14:12, Jesus said to his disciples, "The works that I'm doing shall ye do also, and" what? "greater works shall ye do because I'm going" where? "back to my Father. And if I go back, I'll pour out the Holy Spirit." So, we've tried to do it in our own strength and what do we have? We have a man-made program. And we have the churches married to the world and having 501-C-3 status, so you know, the state is really lord of the church. Any church in America that has a 501-C-3 status, those churches, Jesus is not Lord. I'm being very emphatic, very dogmatic, because, in fact, he is not. The state is lord over all those churches and the IRS said in 1988, we will begin to investigate all 501-C-3 status churches. You say, how can you tell a 501-C-3 status church. If the minister says it's tax deductible, folks, you're in a state church. Enjoy. You think you're going to get the whole truth in a state church where the preacher is controlled by the IRS. You think the IRS can't tell you what to preach and what not to preach. You'd better believe it. They can and they do. And there's churches down in, the Grace Church, down in southern California. They've taken away churches from pastors, they've sued them for back taxes and destroyed churches in America, good Bible-believing ministers that didn't understand the issues. They thought that Jesus was Lord of their church and they told their people that Jesus was Lord of their church but, in fact, when the issue came down he was not Lord and they lost everything they had, the whole property for back taxes. So, we need to know who we're following and where we are and whether we're doing it God's way. Anyhow, the pattern of the tabernacle, God gave this pattern to Moses on the mount and he told Moses, "see that you do all things exactly according to the pattern that I've showed you on the mount." The Greek word is tupos there. How many Greek students do we have here? OK, tupos, what's the English derivative of tupos? Type. It's translated "pattern" in the Bible and that's a reasonable translation. Literally, it's type. So, this tabernacle was a type of the real things in Heaven. And Jesus blood, when he went to Heaven, he sprinkled the true tabernacle which is in Heaven with his blood. It says so in Hebrews. So, there's a lot more going on in the death and resurrection of Jesus than what we ever dreamed of. So, anyhow, God dwelt in the tabernacle in this third compartment back here which was totally closed off, had a big curtain here, was 6" thick. That's the curtain which was torn in half from top to bottom when Jesus was crucified. God sent a great earthquake and tore that, it's called the veil in your Bible, curtain would be a better translation because a veil is sometimes translucent but this was a curtain and God tore that from the top to the bottom. It wasn't a man or a priest that went in there and tore it. And anybody could walk right into the Holy of Holies, it didn't make any difference, because God wasn't there, hadn't been there for 400 years. So, nobody was going to die. Anyhow, that's where God dwelt in the days of Solomon in his temple. But, Ezekiel said, "Ichabod, the glory of the Lord has departed". Ezekiel said to the Israelites way back then that the glory of the Lord, the shekina glory, had departed from the tabernacle. And from then on it was just Mickey Mouse ceremonies, showmanship, playing religious charades and the traditions of man. And this is why Jesus got so angry with the rabbis in his day. He said, "by your religious traditions, you've made the word of God of none effect." Zero. That's Mark 7:13 and you will mark it down, a very powerful verse. The religion of Judaism had totally canceled out the whole Old Testament. Judaism and Christianity have zero in common. So, when people talk about the Judeo-Christian religion, they're either ignorant or deceiving the people. Anyhow, God was in the temple. Does that make the temple God? No. God was in Christ. Does that make Jesus God? No. Here's the pattern here. So, John, you teenagers get this verse down, John 1:14, "He tabernacled among us". The King James says "dwelt". In my opinion that's a defective translation because the verb there is "tented", he "tented" and that takes you right back to this tent here, God dwelling in the tent in the Old Testament. How many see the pattern? And this is how you witness to other Christians. Now, I'm not interested in creating division among Christianity. They created division years ago. I want to maintain unity of the spirit in the bond of peace until we all come into the unity of the faith. That means a clear understanding of everything God's telling us. And, the church isn't coming into a clear understanding because they all want to hang with their little traditions, the Baptists with theirs, the Presbyterians with theirs, the Methodists with theirs, and they're sitting on the stool of "do nothing". 300 years ago they had that truth and they haven't gone any further. But, God is taking an elect remnant all the way through into the Holiest of Holies and we're going to be able to contact Heaven. God is going to send the angels down here and the work's going to get done. And he's going to do it in a very short period of time because Romans 9:28 says, "He's going to do a quick work and cut it short in righteousness." God's going to have a righteous remnant from the heart out. Everything is going to be righteous. You're going to think righteous, you're going to talk righteous, you're going to do righteous, because that's the way Jesus lived. God is in the process of conforming us to the image of his Son. Romans 8:29, "We are predestinated to be conformed to the image of God's Son." And, if you have any other plans in your life, they're incidental to what God is doing. He may put you through the fire and He may put you through the furnace. He may put you under sandpaper, whatever it takes, what kind of pressures. "In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." What's tribulation for? Tribulation worketh patience. Romans 5:2, God has a purpose in everything that he ordains for your life. Paul says, "We through much tribulation must enter into the Kingdom of God." How many want to enter into the Kingdom? I want to enter in with all it's fullness. I'm in there now. I was in there when I was a child 12 years old because I was born again into God's kingdom when I was 12, but I haven't entered into the fullness. Jesus said, "Not those who say Lord, Lord will enter into the Kingdom but they that do" the what? "The will of my Father which is in Heaven". So, as an elect remnant, we have to set our minds and our hearts and purpose and find out what God's will is and begin to do it and then we will enter into the Kingdom in it's fullness and his power can be manifested and demonstrated. Does this make sense to anybody? No weapon that is formed against you will prosper. How many know that that's Bible? And the anointing will break the yoke. You'll have a demon-possessed teenager come to you or somebody on crack cocaine come to you, it doesn't matter, the anointing that is on you, you have an anointing from the Holy One and we have to seek the Lord so that anointing can well up within us and that spirit can begin to flow and those rivers can go out and meet the thirsty souls out there and quench their thirst and they can come alive. Hallelujah. How many, I'm beginning to see, get a glimpse of what God's plan is for the end times? And you are part of that plan. Who? Poor little old me? Yes. God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. He's chosen the weak things of this world to confound the mighty. Can we fit in that pattern? I can. So, I would just say, "Lord, here am I, send me." Anyhow, these scriptures are powerful. God is trying to lay out the pattern here for us just like he did with Moses on the mountain. The pattern is in the scripture. And you can never, you'll miss God by a mile. I'm not saying you won't go to Heaven. I'm saying you'll miss God's will for your life by a mile if you don't begin to get serious and really find out who Jesus is and begin to walk like He walked. You say, "I can't do that by myself." That's exactly right. Jesus couldn't either. This is why He spent a lot of time in prayer and this is why His heart was open all the time to the voice of the spirit. You don't have to be on your knees 10 hours a day. You can walk in the spirit and when you're walking in the spirit, God can talk to you anytime because you're open. Communication is there, but you have to learn how to listen. It's not up here, it's down here. I always know when God's talking to me because it's down here. And so, God's going to have to do the work in us. We're not going to do it in our own strength. The battle is the Lord's. So, John 14:9, somebody tells you, "Well, Eddie, it says, 'he that has seen me, has seen the Father' so that proves that Jesus is the Father." No, it doesn't. Because you have to take language for what it is and when somebody says, the meteorologist on TV, the weather man tells you, "The sun rose today at 6 A.M. Do you think he really believes that the sun came up? The sun can't come up. The earth rotated towards it. But, that's a figure of speech. That's the way we talk. We say, something was 'as big as a house' or 'as bold as a lion', they're all figures of speech. And so, Jesus said, "Herod, that fox", "I am the vine", "I am the door". What are all those? They're figures of speech, so you have to recognize figures of speech in the Bible. So, this is a figure of speech. If you see the trees move, you've seen the wind. You've seen a manifestation of the wind. No man has seen wind at any time, wind is invisible. And that's a good illustration. Jesus said, "and so is everyone that is born of the spirit". Isn't that interesting. Maybe Flo's parents didn't see the spirit come into her, in her body and life when she accepted Jesus, but that doesn't make any difference. Now, you can see the manifestation. She is a different creature and so is everyone in here that's been born of the Spirit. So, now we go to John 14:10. This is an important scripture, "The Father that dwelleth in me." So, there again, these three scriptures tell you the Father was dwelling in Jesus, the Father or the Spirit which is the same.
OK, now we go on to John 10:30. This hangs a lot of people up also. And the Oneness people, I lived among them and I know there are some perfectly wonderful born again Christians among them and they love Jesus as much as I do but I think their understanding is imperfect. And so, John 10:30, "Jesus said, 'I and my Father are one'". So, the Oneness Pentecostal preachers say, "see, that's a proof text, Jesus is the Father and the Father is Jesus." That isn't what it means. You read the context, go back three verses earlier, and he's talking about "my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and not anyone ever is able to pluck them out of my hand, and my Father that gave them to me, He is greater than all, neither is anyone able to pluck them out of His hand." We are one in purpose. We're in total agreement. Jesus could walk with his Father because he agreed with everything his Father was doing. Yeah, and I want to share this with you. When Jesus came up out of the water, the Bible says the Heavens were opened. I believe from that time on, Jesus for 3 1/2 years walked with his Father with an open Heaven vision because he said "whatever I see my Father doing, that am I doing" so, John, you won't have any problem knowing what the Father wants next, because you'll see him doing it first. This make sense to anybody? OK, so God is going to have to do it. I can't pump it up. This is what scripture is teaching us. So, just when they think they have us stopped, God is going to open prison doors or send us on a plane, all fares paid, to China or India or the regions beyond. And they think they're going to do away with us? April fool. John 17, "that they all might be one even as we are one." Well, am I going to be God? You gotta be kidding. Excellent scripture. Right on the money. OK, so, John 17:23, I believe is the scripture there that goes with this. And that is the commentary on it. John 14:9, we already have that. Hebrews 7, now this is interesting. People tell me that Jesus was in the Old Testament, that Jesus was really Melchizedek in the Old Testament. Right? Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 7. It tells you that Melchizedek was first of all King of Righteousness and after that King of Peace. I'm going to cover the first three verses. But notice the divine order. What comes first? Righteousness. And then what's the fruit of righteousness? Peace. Aha. The entrance to the Naval Academy in Anapolis, Maryland. They have a huge stone there. Carved deeply in that stone is first Righteousness, after that Peace. Where did they get it? They got it from the Bible. And every cadet that walks in and out of Anapolis every day sees that carved on the stone. You see what righteous traditions we had in our country in the early years? When I drove in there the first time, I told my parents, "Look, daddy, look, they have the scripture right on the stone." It doesn't give the reference but as a child I knew this verse. So, first righteousness, after that peace. But, what we're getting at here is, the ministers say, "Well, Jesus was Melchizedek back in the Old Testament because your Bible says that he was without father, and without mother, and without beginning of days or end of life". Am I quoting it right? OK, so they say Melchizedek didn't have any father, he didn't have any mother, he didn't have any beginning of days and so therefore he was eternal, and no end of life. He never died. April fool. Because the next verse, it says, "without descent" in King James. But the Greek word there for descent is genealogy. What is the writer of Hebrews really talking about? He's telling you that this pagan priest that God sovereignly picked out and said, "I'm gonna make you a priest of the most high God." That he had no family tree. It didn't depend on who his ancestors were like the Levitical, Aaronic priesthood. How many understand? And he's using that as a pattern for this last day high priest, the Levitical system had already been done away, because what happened in 70 AD to the temple? The charades were over folks, no more priests, no more temple, no more sacrifices, nothing. It was all over. Because God had instituted a higher order of priesthood than the Aaronic Levitical priesthood. And all the writer of Hebrews is saying there is Melchizedek did not have his priesthood based on genealogical descent. The correct translation, or clearer translation in English from the Greek would be "apart from father, or apart from who his mother was." See. It's dealing with genealogy and the King James obscures it because the English word "descent", if you think about it, is talking about who he descended from. But the Greek word there is literally genealogy. In fact our word genealogy is a transliteration letter for letter from that Greek word there is translated descent. So if you want to put a note in your Bible, you should, beside the word descent, put genealogy, because that's the essence of what he's talking about. And he's telling you that this pagan priest, Melchizedek, a priest of the most high God. God sovereignly reached down and took this pagan and said "I'm going to make you a priest for the pagans out there of me, the Most High God." Does that make sense to everybody? And that was a type of Jesus coming in the end time who was of the tribe of, what tribe? He was not of the tribe of Levi, and you could not be a priest in Israel unless you were of the tribe of whom? Levi. And you had to be, also, of the family of Aaron. And Jesus was none of these. He was the tribe of Judah. His genealogy is in Matthew and in Luke. Both point this out. One goes back to Abraham, one goes all the way back to Adam. And so, since Jesus was not of the tribe of Levi, or the family of Aaron, he could not have been a priest in the temple. In fact, when Jesus was on earth, he never went beyond the outer court here. He never even entered here, to say nothing of going in there. Why should he go in there, God wasn't in there anyhow. God was in him. Where is God today? In us, you got it. And so, that doesn't make me God, but God is in me. Does that make sense? Praise the Lord. This is a very clear revelation but my mind was so muddy for so many years, I just believed what I was taught. So that's enough of that. So Jesus was not in the Old Testament, Melchizedek was not Jesus in the Old Testament. Period. It just doesn't say that and no one can twist it to make that say that and be honest. The next verse that they tell you says Jesus was in the Old Testament, if you turn in the King James Bible, it says in Daniel 3:25 when the three boys were in the fiery furnace and King Nebuchadnezzar looked in and he saw four "like the son of God". The only problem is, in the Hebrew, the definite article isn't there. Both Hebrew and Greek have the definite article in their language. The Latin language does not have a definite article any time, ever, it's lacking, and therefore is far less explicit, but in the Hebrew it has the definite article "the". But in this passage, the definite article is not there. And this heathen king is looking in and he sees a fourth human image in there, a human being, it looks like a human being, and his conclusion is in his brain, his peanut pagan brain is, I saw a fourth, like a son of the gods (small gods). That's what it's really saying in that passage. The King James translators read their Trinitarian theology into that passage and the Hebrew does not substantiate it. You talk to any Hebrew scholar you want to. And so, if you're going to base your belief of who Jesus is on the King James Bible, you have a few verses that can really give you problems and this is why I'm taking time to go into all these passages and unravel them, and deal with them, and open it up for questions in a little while, as soon as we're done here, and try and answer any other questions you may have. There are many verses in the Bible, Old and New Testament, that seem to say something different. So we need to deal with those.
So, Daniel 3:25, you might check in the New American Standard, and you'll see that it's translated correctly, or the NIV, which is based on corrupt manuscripts, but it's accurately translated there. Isaiah 9:6, somebody asked a question about Isaiah 9:6, a prophecy of Jesus. Thou shalt call his name Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. That's what his name would be called. His what? His name. Let's turn to John 5:43 where it says, Jesus says, I came in my father's name. Does that make Jesus the Father? No. Oneness Pentecostals will tell you that verse proves that Jesus is the Father. It does to them, it doesn't to me. And they're good people, and I love them, I've lived among them. Had a school in one of their churches. They're wonderful Christians. They'd do anything to help anybody. John 5:43, "I came in my Father's name." A very important verse because without this verse you cannot understand several things in the Bible. Let alone Jesus himself. When you come in somebody's name, especially if they're a king, you come as what? As an agent, you're coming in their authority, you're coming as an ambassador. That's exactly right. And that's why Jesus repeats over in the Gospel of John like a broken record. I am the sent one, I am the sent one, I am the sent one. He did a miracle by the pool at Siloam which is the Hebrew word for sin. Interesting isn't it. So, Jesus is telling you in the Gospel of John, "I am Heaven's ambassador and I am here in my Father's name and in his authority and the works of My Father, I do, because the Father's backing me up." And when you get out there and the going is rough, your Father is going to back you up. He's going to preserve you supernaturally, he's going to demonstrate his power. If you need to walk across the river, don't worry about it. Just go for it. OK? Now this sounds way out, but if Jesus is the pattern, then we're on the right track and it's just a matter of time when God does it. He's going to do it in his time, not in ours.
Isaiah 9:6 "Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God". Now, look at the name Yashua. What is Yah? That's the eternal one. Is that the Mighty God? You'd better believe it. His name shall be called Yashua. Shua simply means deliverer. So that was his name. Jesus took that name, he was taking the name of his Father because he was coming as his Father's representative but that didn't make him the Father. It didn't make him God either, because he came as a man. And, what people miss is what's going on in Genesis 1:26. You can't understand the New Testament without the old. You go back to Genesis 1:26, you get the pattern. God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness and let them have dominion. That Latin word dominion means lordship. That's what it is. It's the word for lord in Latin dominis. And let them, the husband and the wife together, have lordship over the earth. What is Jesus doing now? He has lordship over the earth. Revelation 1:5 He is the ruler, not will be, he is the ruler of the kings of the earth. OK, so, and we're going to rule with him. Yeah, way out in the millennium. I've got good news for you. Some of us are going to rule and reign in righteousness before the millennium, before Jesus comes back in power and great glory because we're going to rule by the spirit. We're going to take commands of demons over cities and all kinds of things, and when we speak, it's going to happen because the Father will give us words to say. And when we open our mouth, it happens, because who's going to make it happen? The Father. OK. So, maybe you don't see yourself in this picture, but I do. And, so, his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, that's Yah. Psalm 68:4 his name is Yah. Talking about God in the Old Testament. The only verse I know that says what God's name is just flat out like that. Psalm 68:4. Good verse. His name is Yah. And that means the everlasting eternal one, he's the mighty one. Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father. He came in whose name? His name shall be called what? He took the name of his father and that's what Isaiah 9:6 is telling you. The Mighty God, he came in the name, his name shall be called, it didn't say he was that. His name shall be called... Does that open it up to you? That verse used to bug the life out of me. And I knew what God was teaching me was true but I read that verse and I could not unravel it in my peanut brain. So, when you don't understand something, see all truth has to fit and you can't have verses contradicting other verses in the Bible. Everything in the Bible fits, it doesn't contradict itself. So, this is how you can arrive at the truth. So you find a verse out here that's hanging out in space and seems to say something else, you've got to address it and study it through in the context and as you pray and seek the Lord, he will give you understanding. How many believe that God will give you understanding? David said, "I have more wisdom than all my teachers because God is my teacher." So, when you teenagers go to school, listen to what your teacher is saying but, before you go say, Father, you teach me. I want to listen to what you're saying. And you'll be amazed.
The King James "Jah" is just the English way of writing "Yah". "J" is a "Y" at the beginning of a word. "Yah" is a different verb tense than "Yahweh". It's part of the verb of being. It would be like saying "I am" and the other is the word "being", they're both from the verb to be. One is ongoing, Yahweh is ongoing, continuous and this is just Yah, eternal. So you might translate Yah as Eternal and Yahweh as Everlasting. God has that name but in two different verb forms. It's the same name, just different verb forms of the same name. Like in English "am" and "being". It's the same verb "to be".
OK, so we've dealt with Isaiah 9:6. And then, lots of other verses in the New Testament that really give you fits so does anybody have any questions? Any verses you want to bring up? If you don't, I'll give you one. I'll give you all the verses they're going to trouble you with. I want to talk about the "I AM's" in the Gospel of John. Because they'll jump all over you on these. The "I AM's" in the Gospel of John, especially John 8:58 is one of the key ones, does not equal Exodus 3:14 which is translated in your Bible "I AM THAT I AM". OK, I say very positively, dogmatically, for the tape, any Greek scholars out there can listen and write and refute me if they want to. Exodus 3:14 in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, does not say the "I am's" up here because in Exodus 3:14 what it really says in English is "I am the being." There's your English verb of being. I am the eternal. That's what it says in the Greek here and this, all this says is, "I am" and those two do not equal each other. Now to prove this, many times in the King James, I'll put the Greek up here for you Greek buffs. Ego eimi is what? I am. It's emphatic because this by itself says I, the mi ending equals the personal pronoun I and when they put the personal pronoun in Greek in addition to the verb ending which contains the personal pronoun, it's very emphatic. So it's saying I am something, the emphasis is not on the verb of being, it's on where? The I. OK, so that's interesting. So this is your verb of being, epsilon iota. OK, so this is I am. I am what? Now it's interesting in the King James Bible and also other translations, that in some places in the King James, it says "I am He" meaning the promised Messiah. Check John 4 when he's talking to the woman at the well. She says, "I perceive that you are a prophet" and Jesus makes another statement, and finally, He says, "I am" in the King James, but they add the word "he" in italics because he's not claiming to be the eternal Yahweh of the Old Testament. If he did he'd be lying. He's just saying "I am he", the promised Messiah. That was the issue in the context of John 4. And there are many other places in the King James Bible and other Bibles that have to add the word "he" to make it make sense in the sentence. So, the "I am's" here without the "he" are implied. "I am the promised one. I'm the Messiah. I'm the one God said he was going to send all these years." And it doesn't do violence to the text at all. In fact, it completes the thought and makes everything flow with logic and intelligence. So, you can study these through for yourself and it will take a little time.
Q. In that context in John 8 when they picked up stones to stone him, they were just totally ignorant of what he was actually saying?
A. Yes, the rabbis were totally ignorant of spiritual things. Remember when he came to Nicodemus? He says, Nicodemus, you're the teacher in Israel and you don't know these things? You know, and he was a moral and intelligent man. He was the head rabbi, head honcho.
Q. I think that you could look at it just the other way and say that Jesus is speaking in unity with the Father and it makes perfect sense, what he is saying if you look at it that way.
A. Well, I understand what you're saying, but it doesn't fit with Exodus 3:14 which is what the Trinitarians are trying to say it is saying. They're saying that all these "I am's" in John equal the "I AM" in Exodus 3:14 and it doesn't equal that. Even if what you are saying is true.
So, lots of things we assume. Now what's happened is in the 15th century, God found a man by the name of Martin Luther and John Hossa, 100 years before that, and a lot of other men. The elect remnant back then were in the Roman system and God says, "I'm going to do a work. I'm going to begin to do a work." So he called this man out here, he called this man out here, he called some righteous women here, and they began to see the light and began to walk in it and began to proclaim it to others. The Roman system tried to shut it down. Instead it just spread because the printing press came in in the meticulous timing of God's providence, in 1453 it was that the German man Gutenberg invented the printing press. So, everything, the Bible says in the Psalms, everything is beautiful in it's time. And you study history and the timing is perfect. So God had the printing press disseminate this information and they got out and the German people found the Bible in their own language after Martin Luther took the Greek text and translated, not from the Latin Vulgate, but from the original Greek, and gave the Bible to the German people and it caused a tremendous revival and a mass exodus from the Roman Catholic Church. The pope lost his revenue and Germany became one of the greatest Christian nations on the face of the earth.
Copyright 2001,
A.O.Y., Cascade, P.O. Box 695, Kettle Falls, WA 99141
All Rights Reserved

Back to Truth Page | Home