Program 260
“My Lord and my God!”

Thomas’s words to Yahushua reveal that he finally understood that in Yahushua, we are to see the Father.

Welcome to WLC Radio, a subsidiary of World’s Last Chance Ministries, an online ministry dedicated to learning how to live in constant readiness for the Savior's return.

For two thousand years, believers of every generation have longed to be the last generation. Contrary to popular belief, though, Christ did not give believers “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, he repeatedly warned that his coming would take even the faithful by surprise. Yahushua urgently warned believers to be ready because, he said, “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” [Matthew 24:44]

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.

* * *Part 1: (Miles & Dave)

Miles Robey: When “Doubting Thomas” met the resurrected Savior, all he could exclaim was “My Lord and my God!” Clearly, he was speaking to Yahushua, so does this statement prove that Yahushua was, indeed, divine as trinitarians claim?

Hi, I’m Miles Robey and you’re listening to World’s Last Chance Radio where we cover a variety of topics related to Scripture, prophecy, practical piety, Biblical beliefs, and living in constant readiness for the Savior’s unexpected return, whenever that might be.

Just what Thomas meant is an interesting question because, as we have seen in other programs, the Jews and Scripture itself is strictly unitarian, meaning that there is only one divine entity, and that’s Yahuwah. Yahushua was a Jew; the 12 disciples were Jews, so it’s reasonable to conclude that they also were unitarian. Add in the fact that Yahushua repeatedly affirmed that only the Father is divine, and that none of the apostles actually taught a triune godhead, we’re left with a confusing dilemma: what did Thomas mean when he referred to Yahushua as “my Lord and my God”? That’s what we’re going to be looking at today.

Later, Jane Lamb has a promise for anyone struggling with depression or sadness. If the future seems bleak, I know you’re going to want to hear today’s daily promise.

I’m going to turn the time, now, over to Dave Wright.

Dave Wright: Hello! Before we go on, I just want to clarify that Thomas was actually not referring to Yahushua as “God.” In today’s program, we’re going to look at what he actually meant but I just want to make it very clear up front that he was not calling Yahushua “God.”

Now, we all know the story. After Yahushua was resurrected, Thomas—for whatever reason—was not with the rest of the disciples when Yahushua appeared to them. When they were rejoicing and telling him, “Hey! It’s really true! We’ve seen him!” Thomas didn’t believe them. Instead, he said, “Unless I can see for myself, unless I can touch the holes from the nails and the cut of the sword in his side, I won’t believe it.”

Miles: Sounds like a pouting toddler to me!

Dave: Well, it certainly didn’t show faith, in either Yahuwah or his fellow disciples.

Miles: Or any understanding of what Yahushua had said before his death about being resurrected.

Dave: That, too. So, it’s interesting that it was a full week later before Thomas finally saw Yahushua. The Savior very graciously said, “All right. Here are my hands. You can see the marks of the nails. You can touch where the spear went into my side.”

And Thomas finally did believe. I can imagine he probably dropped to his knees as he exclaimed “My Lord and my God!”

Miles: I looked this up and this isn’t a case of mistranslation or some “helpful” trinitarian scribe sticking it in a thousand years later. Thomas really did say this. So, what did he mean? Because I know that you’re not a trinitarian, and I’m not a trinitarian, either, but I don’t know how to interpret this. Because this certainly does seem that he’s calling Yahushua “God” which would seem to prove Yahushua is, in fact, divine.

Dave: Well, remember when establishing doctrine, we have to take Scripture in its totality into account. We can’t just take one verse out of context and build an entire doctrine on that. We’ve got Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: Yahuwah our God; Yahuwah is one!” Not three-in-one. Just one.

We’ve also got all those passages where Yahushua repeatedly deferred to the Father, saying that Yahuwah was greater than he, and that it was Yahuwah who worked through him to do the miracles. You’ve got the clear statements that Yahushua’s beginning was in Mary’s womb and not before. We have to take all of that into account, and so what Thomas was expressing when he said “My Lord and my God,” was that he could see Yahuwah—in—Yahushua.

Miles: You’re not just splitting hairs? Where do you get that from?

Dave: From Christ’s own words. We’re going to get into that, but before we do, let’s back up a moment.

The trinity doctrine, as we’ve covered in previous episodes, actually comes from ancient paganism. The concept of a triune godhead was utterly foreign to the Jews. They were strict monotheists. They—and Yahushua and the disciples—believed that there was only one divine entity, and that is Yahuwah.

So, with that understanding, pretend for a moment that you were in that upper room with the disciples seeing the resurrected Yahushua for the first time. What would be your first explanation for that miracle? That Yahushua is divine? Or that Yahuwah had raised him back to life?

Miles: No, knowing they were all strict monotheists, I can’t see them making that mental leap – that Yahushua was divine and that’s why he was resurrected. I’d assume that Yahuwah had resurrected him.

Dave: Exactly. And you know why? Because God cannot die. Divinity, by the very definition of the word, cannot die. It can’t! So, because divinity can’t die, it can’t be resurrected, either. Divinity simply exists.

Miles: Sure, but then why did Thomas say, “My Lord and my God”? You have to admit that it sounds like he was saying Yahushua is divine.

Dave: Not when you understand the first century Jewish mindset. The disciples’ reaction to Yahushua’s resurrection was an awed, “Wow! Yahuwah has raised him back to life!”

It was never “Wow! He’s divine!” There are over 30 times in the New Testament where the apostles referred to the resurrection of Yahushua and each time, they say that Yahuwah raised him back to life. They don’t once even suggest that this makes Yahushua divine.

You’ve got your Bible there? Turn to Acts chapter 2 and read verse 24. This is Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost and he’s talking about Yahushua.

Miles: “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.”

Dave: And verse 32?

Miles: “This Yahushua God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.”

Dave: I want you to notice that in both verses the title—“God”—is being used. Why? Because resurrecting someone takes divine power. And it draws a comparison to Yahushua, the one resurrected. Yahushua received the act of being resurrected. That did not make him divine.

There are so many more passages, and they all say the same thing. Acts 4 verse 10 says “Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Yahushua Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.”

And Acts 5:30 says “The God of our fathers raised Yahushua, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.”

Again: “God.” If Yahushua were himself “God” then Luke—the author of Acts—could not draw a comparison between Yahushua and the one raising him because they’d be one and the same.

Read Acts 10 verses 39 and 40.

Miles: “We are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day.”

Dave: “God,” of course, is Yahuwah, our divine creator. The Creator, the life-giver, is also the only one who can restore life, either directly or working through a representative.

But do you see the repeating theme here? And it’s not just Acts. The book of Galatians opens with: “Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Yahushua Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.” Yahuwah raised Yahushua. “God” raised a human. The very fact that the apostles kept repeating that “God” raised Yahushua means that Yahushua cannot be “God.”

What does Romans 10 verse 9 say?

Miles: “If you confess with your mouth that Yahushua is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Dave: One Peter 1 verse 21 says that Yahushua was “foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”

Again, the way it’s phrased makes it clear that Yahushua and “God” are not the same entity. Yahushua is not Yahuwah. Yahuwah is divine; Yahushua is not. And the one thing that never appears anywhere is the claim that the act of being resurrected makes Yahushua divine. In seeing Yahushua raised back to life, the disciples understood clearly that they were seeing Yahuwah at work.

Miles: That’s true. And this really proves another point: that Yahushua and Yahuwah were two distinct entities. They couldn’t be one and the same because Yahushua was on the receiving end of a divine act. Yahushua couldn’t be either Yahuwah or divine. First, because he really did indeed die and divinity can’t die. And second because he received the act of being resurrected, so he couldn’t have been the one that performed the act.

Dave: That’s a good way to put it. To repeat: nowhere in the New Testament do any of the apostles point to Christ’s resurrection as proof of his divinity. Instead, it was viewed as a divine act by Yahuwah.

Now, how do we know that when Thomas said, “My Lord and my God” he was acknowledging seeing Yahuwah in Yahushua? Well, because that is what Yahushua himself taught. He taught that to see him was to see the Father.

This is an important point of doctrine because no sinful human can see the Father and live. Consequently, no human (since Adam and Eve) has seen the Father. What does John 1 verse 18 say?

Miles: “No one has ever seen God.
The One and Only Son—
the One who is at the Father’s side—
He has revealed Him.”

Dave: Notice again the distinction that is being drawn between “God”—Yahuwah—and the Son, Yahushua. They are two distinct and separate entities. They aren’t both “God.” Only Yahuwah is divine. Yahushua is human.

Turn now to John 12. Read verses 44 and 45. Yahushua is going to teach an important principle here that’s going to explain Thomas’s exclamation. Go ahead.

Miles: “Then Yahushua cried out, “The one who believes in me believes not in me, but in Him who sent me. And the one who sees me sees Him who sent me.”

Dave: This was just days before his crucifixion, because in the very next chapter we have the account of the Last Supper. And the lesson that Yahushua was hammering home was that to look at him, to see how he treated people, to see how he accepted and welcomed them, was to see the Father.

Again, we have a clear demarcation between Yahuwah and Yahushua. You can’t have Yahushua being Yahuwah and any of this make the least little bit of sense.

You know John 3:16?

Miles: Sure! “For Yahuwah so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Dave: The very next verse says, “For Yahuwah did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through him, might be saved.”

Who sent Yahushua?

Miles: Yahuwah.

Dave: For someone to be sent requires a second party. You can’t send yourself. You just go! To “send” someone implies that there are, at a minimum, two parties.

Miles: And the greater sends the lesser.

Dave: Exactly.

Miles: Okay but let me ask you this. This seems a bit contradictory. How could Yahushua say, “he who sees me sees Him who sent me” and “whoever has seen me has seen the Father”? Those are both in the gospel of John, and yet it’s in the book of John that we get the clear statement in chapter 1 verse 18 that “no one has seen Yahuwah at any time.”

Dave: Because John 1 verse 18 was using the word “seen” in a literal sense. Yahushua was using it in a figurative sense. The rest of John 1:18 says, “the only begotten son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared Him.”

Yahushua “declared” the Father. What does that mean? That means that his words and acts, the miracles he performed, the lessons he taught, the way he befriended sinners, all revealed what the Father was like. So, in a figurative sense, whoever had seen Yahushua had seen the Father.

We often use “see” in a figurative sense. We’re not just speaking of literal sight. When we say that we see something, we understand it, we perceive what’s happening or what is meant.

Miles: I see what you mean.

Dave: I see what you did there!

And this reveals still more proof that Yahushua is not divine. He was sent—by Yahuwah—to be Yahuwah’s representative. Now, if Yahushua were divine, if he were one-third of a triune godhead, he’d simply be revealing himself. He wouldn’t be representing another. You can’t “represent” yourself—except in a court of law, and if you do, you’ve got a fool for a client.

Miles: True! True.

Dave: If Yahushua were indeed “God” in the trinitarian sense, then John 1:18 that no one has ever seen “God” would be a lie … because they’d spent three and a half years looking right at him! Listening to his parables, observing his miracles. Only if Yahushua were fully human and but Yahuwah’s representative could this be true.

So, in a figurative sense, and in a figurative sense only, those who see Yahushua, see Yahuwah, because Yahushua is Yahuwah’s human representative.

* * *

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* * *Part 2: (Miles & Dave)

Dave: Trinitarians will say that when Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God,” he was seeing “God incarnate,” or “God the Son.” They believe he was speaking to and of Yahushua, expressing his faith in Yahushua’s supposed divinity.

There’s a problem with that, though. When you get out your concordance and look up the word “Lord” in the New Testament it almost invariably applies to Yahushua. There are a handful of exceptions, but none of those exceptions apply to Yahuwah.

On the other hand, if you look up the word “God” in the New Testament—or theos, in the Greek—it always refers to Yahuwah. The word theos never applies to Yahushua. Not a single time.

Miles: So, could you say that when Thomas said “my Lord and my God,” what he was acknowledging was that he was seeing Yahuwah in Yahushua, His representative?

Dave: Exactly. Believers are to let people see Yahuwah in us, too. That doesn’t make us divine any more than it made Yahushua divine.

Christ himself taught that people were to see Yahuwah in him. Turn to John 14.

Go ahead and start reading at verse 1. There’s a lot in here and it all supports the idea of Yahushua being Yahuwah’s human representative.

Now, before you start, it’s important to notice that this conversation occurred after the last supper, but before his betrayal in Gethsemane. It’s like Yahushua was squeezing in every last bit of instruction he could.

Go ahead. Verse 1.

Miles: “Your heart must not be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”

Dave: Christ himself is using the title theos or “God” here. In that one sentence, he makes it clear that he’s not “God.” Why? Because he says “believe—also—in me.” That means he cannot be theos. He can’t be “God.”

So then, he goes on to comfort them, adding, “You know where I’m going.”

At that, Thomas pipes up and say, “We don’t know where you’re going! How can we know the way?”

Read Yahushua’s answer: verses 6 to 9.

Miles:

Yahushua told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”

“Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.”

Yahushua said to him, “Have I been among you all this time without your knowing me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

Dave: We learn from this passage that Thomas was standing right there, listening to Christ’s lesson. He was hearing Yahushua say that whoever’s seen him, has seen the Father. As we clarified in our last segment, Christ’s statement that they’d already “seen” the Father was in a figurative sense, and Thomas understood Christ’s explanation.

So, then. To skip ahead a few chapters and try and claim that Thomas was calling Yahushua “God,” is to contradict this lesson, right here in John 14, that Thomas was present for. He wasn’t calling Yahushua divine. He was recognizing that in Yahushua, he could behold the Father. That’s all.

Miles: You know, listening to you just now, it struck me that Philip’s request: “Lord, show us the Father,” refers to two distinct individuals. There’s the “Lord”—Yahushua—and there’s the Father. They aren’t one and the same.

Dave: They’re not. And Yahushua’s response confirms it: If you’ve seen ME (one distinct individual), you’ve seen the FATHER (the second distinct individual). It’s clear that between these two individuals, only one is Yahuwah. These are the exact same two individuals Thomas was seeing when he exclaimed “My Lord and my God!”

Another point to consider is this: if “God” is a triune entity, why didn’t Philip ask Yahushua, “Show us God the Son?” or even “Show us God the Holy Spirit?” Why would he only express interest in seeing the Father? Think about it.

Miles: Well … the only reason I can come up with is that he didn’t believe in any God but Yahuwah. He didn’t believe in a “God the Son.” He didn’t believe in a trinity. Like all the Jews, he was a strict monotheist who believed that only Yahuwah was God.

Dave: That’s exactly right. In Mark 12 when Yahushua was asked, “What’s the greatest commandment,” he actually quoted Deuteronomy 6:4 as his response: “Hear, O Israel. Yahuwah our God, Yahuwah is one.”

Yahushua emphasized Yahuwah’s sole status as “God” in John 5:44. Why don’t you read that for us? John 5 verse 44.

Miles: “How can you believe? While accepting glory from one another, you don’t seek the glory that comes from the only God.”

Dave: He’s not talking about himself here. He’s talking about Yahuwah who he calls “the only God.” That doesn’t even make sense if you’re trinitarian because then Yahushua would also be God, as would the Holy Spirit.

Turn over to John 17 and read verse 3 for us. This is just hours before Yahushua’s betrayal in Gethsemane. As you read, I want you to notice that Yahushua is establishing that there’s a difference between himself and Yahuwah. They aren’t, as trinitarians claim, united into one godhead. They’re distinct and separate.

Go ahead.

Miles: “This is eternal life:
that they may know You, the only true God,
and the One You have sent—Yahushua Christ.”

Dave: Notice that all-important word: “and.” And is a coordinating conjunction. It joins two separate parts together. Therefore, the two separate parts cannot, by definition, be the exact same thing! And yet, you read the Nicene Creed, and that’s what trinitarians are trying to claim. It doesn’t work.

We see this same use of coordinating conjunctions to join Yahuwah and Yahushua in 1 Corinthians 8. Would you please turn there and read verse 6 for us? 1 Corinthians 8 verse 6.

Miles: “For us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Yahushua Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”

Dave: There’s only one God. That’s Yahuwah. AND there’s only one Lord: Yahushua Christ. These are the same two individuals Thomas recognized when he said, “My Lord and my God.”

In Paul’s opening salutation to the Ephesians, he makes a very interesting statement that again underscores that Yahuwah and Yahushua are not one God. Could you read it for us? Ephesians 1 verse 17.

Miles: “I pray that the God of our Lord Yahushua Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.”

Dave: Yahushua can’t be God if he has a God.

Miles laughs: Yeah, that doesn’t make sense. And like you said before, the title “God” as used in the New Testament always refers to Yahuwah. It never once refers to Yahushua.

But what about that passage that talks about “one Lord, one faith, one baptism?” Doesn’t that seem to suggest a triune godhead?

Dave: Well, let’s look at it. That would be, uh … Ephesians 5. No, four. Ephesians 4. Why don’t you turn there and read verses 4 to 6?

Miles: “There is one body—”

Dave: That’s referring to the body of believers. The called-out ones. Go on.

Miles: “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”

Dave: So, far from uniting them all into one godhead, when you read this passage, it’s actually emphasizing separation. There’s one Lord. That’s Yahushua. And there is one God. And so that we’re not left in doubt as to who that God is, he tells: It’s the Father of all. That’s only Yahuwah. Not Yahuwah and Yahushua and some disembodied third person.

Miles: Huh. That’s actually really clear.

Dave: It is when you take off your trinitarian lenses and read it just as it’s written.

So let’s go back to John 14 now and finish reading what Yahushua said to Philip—and we know Thomas was present, listening to what was said—and you’ll see how Yahushua emphasizes the difference between himself and Yahuwah.

Miles: Which verses do you want me to read?

Dave: Ummm … go ahead and repeat verse 9 and read through verse 11.

Miles:

Yahushua said to him, “Have I been among you all this time without your knowing Me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who lives in me does His works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves.

Dave: So here Yahushua is pointing to the incredible miracles Yahuwah has worked through him. Not as proof of his divinity, but as proof that Yahuwah is IN Yahushua, and Yahushua is IN the Father. This does not make Yahushua divine any more than it makes us divine when we speak of “Christ IN you, the hope of glory,” or the Father living in our hearts by faith.

In fact, when you look at what Christ is actually saying here, he’s again emphasizing that separation that exists between Yahuwah and himself. He says, verse 11, “I am IN the Father. And the Father is IN me.” He is not saying “I AM God and God IS Me” which would be a perfectly reasonable thing to say if he were part of a triune godhead. He’s also not saying, “I am in Yahuwah, and I am Yahuwah.” He doesn’t say that. Instead, by emphasizing the figurative aspect of their oneness, he’s admitting that he and the Father are, in fact, two distinct and separate individuals.

Miles: I noticed another point of separation is here in verse 10 where Yahushua says, “The Father who lives in me does—His—works.” He’s not saying “We do our works. He’s only the vessel through which the Father works, but it remains the Father’s works.

Dave: Good point. I’m glad you caught that.

Yahuwah being in Yahushua, and doing His will and works through Yahushua, does not make Christ divine or part of a trinity any more than it makes us when Yahuwah works in and through us.

What does Philippians 2 verse 13 say?

Miles: Uhhh … give me just a sec and I’ll tell you.

Here we go. It says: “For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose.”

Dave: It doesn’t make us divine for Yahuwah to work in and through us. It didn’t make Yahushua divine, either.

Trinitarians overlook who Yahushua really was: the only begotten, fully human son of Yahuwah. And instead of seeing who he really was, they’ve confabulated in their minds this completely artificial creation of a “God the Son.” They project that onto Scripture and that’s what they see when they look at Christ.

But no one in Scripture ever mentions a “God the Son.” And to try and say that the divine nature of some “God the Son” was working through the human nature of Yahushua—

Miles: Which is utter rubbish because no one can have a dual nature, not even Yahuwah Himself.

Dave: Right. But if you try and claim that God the Son was working through the humanity of Yahushua, you have to ignore the many passages of Scripture where Yahushua clearly and emphatically states that it’s Yahuwah, it’s the Father working through him. No one else.

This is why Yahushua could tell Philip, “If you’ve seen me, you have seen the Father. He’s in me. He’s working through me. So by looking at me, you see—you perceive, you understand—the Father.” And Thomas, standing right there, listening in, learned that lesson. So, when he said “My Lord and my God,” he was addressing Yahushua as his “lord” and Yahuwah alone as his “God.”

Now, continuing on this same conversation, Yahushua acknowledged that it would be after his death and resurrection that they would “see” (or perceive) that the Father was indeed in Yahushua.

Please read verses 19 and 20 of John 14.

Miles: “In a little while the world will see me no longer, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you.”

Dave: That’s true unity. It’s true oneness. But that level of closeness does not transform the mundane, the human, into the divine. If it did, we’d all be God.

Thomas may have been slow to believe in Yahushua’s resurrection, but he wasn’t slow of comprehension. He “got” it. He understood. When, a week after Yahushua’s resurrection, he finally got to see him, notice that he didn’t say “You are my Lord and my God.” He didn’t say that.

This isn’t just splitting verbal hairs. Back in John 1, when Philip invited Nathaniel to meet Yahushua, and the Savior greeted him with, “Here is a true Israelite; no deceit is in him,” Nathaniel wanted to know how Yahushua knew him.

Let’s read it. John 1 verses 48 and 49.

Miles:

“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

“Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Yahushua answered.

“Rabbi,” Nathanael replied, “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

Dave: “You are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.”

That’s different from what Thomas said. He didn’t say “You are my Lord; you are my God.” Thomas had learned the lesson from a week before and he was acknowledging that in beholding Yahushua, he was beholding the one who sent him.

* * *

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* * *Part 3: (Miles & Dave)

Dave: Before we go on, I want to clarify certain views of the trinity. Now some trinitarians believe that Yahushua IS Yahuwah, just Yahuwah incarnate in human flesh. And you read through the Nicene Creed, that seems to be what it’s saying.

Others believe that the trinity always existed.

Miles: Yeah, I remember being told that the disembodied hand that wrote on the wall at Belshazzar’s feast was the hand of the Holy Spirit. Then, of course, you’ve got the “spirit of God hovering over the waters” in Genesis 1. We know now that refers to Yahuwah’s breath, but that seemed to refer to “God the Holy Spirit” back when we were trinitarians.

Dave: You can see why, if you believe in a triune godhead, you’d believe it always existed. These trinitarians tend to be those who believe that “Michael” and the “angel of the Lord” were the pre-incarnate Christ.

Now. There’s nothing in Scripture that actually says that. And it’s quite contradictory because if no sinful human can look on the face of God and live—which is what Yahuwah told Moses—then the preincarnate Christ could not have been seen and spoken to either, but we know that the “angel of the Lord” was seen and spoken to by Samson’s parents—

Miles: Jacob wrestled with the “angel of the Lord” at Jabbok.

Dave: Right. So, again, that’s a contradictory belief. There’s nothing in either the Gospel of John or Scripture in its entirety that credits “God the Son” with the acts Yahushua performs as the Messiah. There’s nowhere in Scripture that even speaks of a “God the Son” let alone connects that concept to Yahushua.

There’s the “son of God” and the “son of man,” that Yahushua preferred to call himself. But nowhere is there a “God the Son.”

Miles: You know, this phrase, “Son of Man,” is actually really interesting. I looked it up once because, as you say, it was Yahushua’s favorite way to refer to himself. The word translated “man” comes from the Greek word, anthrōpǒs, which means, literally, “human being.” So every time Yahushua called himself the “son of man” he was, quite literally, calling himself a human being. Every. Single. Time.

Dave: That’s fascinating. Thanks for sharing that.

The truth is, Scripture does not teach that Yahushua was anything but a human being. Full Stop. Furthermore, Scripture does not teach that Yahushua was, in fact, a part of Yahuwah that split off and took on human flesh. That’s a pagan concept that came in centuries later.

Instead, what Scripture repeatedly teaches is that Yahushua and Yahuwah were separate entities: Yahuwah’s divine; Yahushua’s human. Yahuwah works in and through Yahushua, just as He works in and through believers, but that never implies divinity on the part of the vessel being used by the Divine.

So, for the rest of our time, I’d like to look at some passages of Scripture that show only Yahuwah is God. Yahushua is not God; he’s not Yahuwah. He’s fully human, and everything he did, the great works he did, the words he spoke, were all the Father living and doing in Christ according to the Father’s good pleasure.

Let’s start with John 17. Would you please read John 17, verses 1 to 3.

Miles:

When Yahushua had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your son that the son may glorify You, since You have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom You have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Yahushua Christ whom You have sent.

Dave: Again, we’ve got the coordinating conjunction “and” here. Life eternal is to know Yahuwah … and … Yahushua whom Yahuwah has sent. The very fact that Yahushua is mentioned separately proves that Yahushua and Yahuwah are not both “God.” They’re not one and the same as the Nicene Creed would have us believe.

Miles: I noticed, too, that for the Father to glorify the son, or the son to glorify the Father, implies two separate entities. Christ isn’t praying to himself saying, “Let’s now glorify ourselves.” You can’t have the Father glorifying the son, or the son glorifying the Father if they’re the same entity. It doesn’t work that way.

Dave: You’re right. How come we never saw this before?

Okay. Uh … John 10:32. Would you read that, please?

Miles: “Yahushua replied, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. Which of these works are you stoning me for?’”

Dave: The works Yahushua has performed, that he’s “shown” them, are from the Father. They’re not from himself. Again, establishing distinction.

And verse 36?

Miles: “Do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?”

Dave: The only way this verse makes sense is if Yahuwah alone is God and Yahushua is not. The Father sanctified … whom? Himself?

Miles: No. Yahushua.

Dave: And whom did He send into the world? Himself?

Miles: Yahushua.

Dave: Keep going. Verses 37 and 38.

Miles: “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

Dave: Yahushua did not do his own works. If he were God—either God the Son, or some incarnation of Yahuwah himself—then he could truthfully say that he was doing the work of his own accord from his prerogative as God. But that’s not what he said.

With this understanding, Peter’s words on Pentecost carry much more weight. Read Acts 2 verse 22.

Miles: “Men of Israel, listen to these words: This Yahushua the Nazarene was a man pointed out to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs that God did among you through Him, just as you yourselves know.”

Dave: Again, Yahushua was only the vessel used by Yahuwah to perform signs and miracles and wonders. He couldn’t be “God,” because according to this passage, he was pointed out by God and, additionally, God performed signs and wonders through him. One being points out another.

Miles laughs: Yeah. You don’t “point out” yourself.

Dave: Now, one point that can cause confusion is the sheer number of incredible works Yahushua performed. It’s easy to assume, “Oh, he did those because he’s God. Even if he laid aside his divine nature so he had to use Yahuwah’s power to do it, he still had the power to do it because he’s God.”

But that’s not what Yahushua himself says. What does he tell the disciples in John 14 verse 12?

Miles: “I assure you: The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.”

Dave: So, all of Yahushua’s works were actually the Father’s works done in and through Christ. The same holds true for Yahushua’s words.

Turn to John 8 and read verses 46 and 47.

Miles: “Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

Dave: And verse 51?

Miles: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

Dave: This same thought is repeated in John 12, verses 49 to 50. Could you read those, please?

Miles: “For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has Himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that His commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”

Dave: Yahushua was speaking the words the Father gave him to speak. This wouldn’t make sense if Yahushua were “God,” or if he were Yahuwah.

Miles: Yeah, this is interesting. When you take off the trinitarian lenses, when you quit trying to warp and twist Scripture and fit it into a predetermined interpretation, it becomes clear that there’s no way Yahushua is divine. He’s not God. Only Yahuwah is God.

Dave: That’s right. This is why it’s so important we keep learning and keep going back over what we think we know.

Next, could you please flip over to John 14 and read verse 10 for us?

Miles: “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”

Dave: This is a direct fulfillment of prophecy. By speaking Yahuwah’s words, Yahushua was fulfilling a very specific prophecy found in Deuteronomy 18 verses 17 to 19. Would you read that, please?

Miles:

Yahuwah said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put My words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I Myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to My words that the prophet speaks in My name.

Dave: Yahuwah, as God, is not prophesying that He shall raise Himself up. He’s clearly referring to Christ, but that’s because Christ is separate. He’s not one and the same as Yahuwah. He’s not even Yahuwah incarnate.

Miles: He’s the “son of man.”

Dave: A human being.

The same concept is at work whenever we read of Yahushua’s “glory.” His glory was gifted from the Father. It didn’t originate within himself as would be His right as God.

Please read John 1:14.

Miles: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Dave: The “Word” here refers to Yahuwah’s thought. Yahuwah’s plans for the redemption of mankind were made manifest, they were made flesh in the person of the son of man.

What does John 17 verse 5 say?

Miles: “And now, Father, glorify me in Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed.”

Dave: This isn’t teaching Christ had a divine pre-existence. It’s simply saying that his coming as the Messiah was in the mind of Yahuwah should the human race sin and a redeemer be needed.

Turn to John 8 verses 13 and 14. Here, Yahushua is repeating what he would later tell Philip, which is that if you know him, you know the Father. John 8:13 to 14.

Miles:

So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” Yahushua answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.”

Dave: At this point, the Pharisees are just quibbling. They’re taking offense at every word he’s saying.

Miles: I’ve known a few people like that!

Dave: You’re not alone!

Anyway, keep going. Read verses 17 to 19.

Miles:

In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?”

Dave: This was an incredibly nasty thing to say. It shows they knew the circumstances of his birth. They were trying to embarrass him by making sure the onlooking crowds knew he was considered illegitimate. But Yahushua stayed calm. Go ahead and finish verse 19.

Miles: “Yahushua answered, ‘You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.’”

Dave: This is a very enlightening verse. You can’t read this and, in good conscience, claim that Yahushua was the Father. He’s saying, “You know neither me NOR my Father.” They’re two distinct entities. They’re not both Yahuwah and they’re certainly not both “God.”

Dave: Let’s turn now to John 12. Would you please read verses 44 and 45?

Miles: “And Yahushua cried out and said, ‘Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees Him who sent me.’”

Dave: You can see how this theme just keeps repeating over and over in Christ’s statements. These very clear statements completely refute the idea that Yahushua somehow is Yahuwah, or that they are both one God. That’s not what Yahushua was teaching.

Yahushua revealed the Father because his words and his works were the words and the works of the Father.

In all of these passages, and many more we don’t have time to get into, we can see that Yahushua reveals Yahuwah. Not because he IS Yahuwah, not because he IS divine, but because he speaks the words and does the works Yahuwah gave him to do.

And that’s how we’re to reveal Yahuwah, too. Just because we surrender and let the Father will and do according to His good pleasure never makes us divine, and it didn’t make Yahushua divine, either.

Thomas understood this concept and his greeting to his resurrected Lord demonstrated his knowledge and acceptance of this great truth: Yahushua was his Lord, and through every act of his life, including his death and resurrection, Yahushua revealed the Father, the only true God.

Miles: Coming up next is Jane Lamb with your daily promise.

* * *Daily Promise

Hello! This is Jane Lamb with today’s daily promise from Yah’s word.

Johnny Cash was an American singer-songwriter whose music spanned multiple genres, from rock and roll, to blues, to folk, and gospel. His wide-ranging abilities in music are reflected in the fact that he was inducted into:

• The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame . . . and
• The Country Music Hall of Fame . . . and
• The Memphis Music Hall of Fame . . . and
• GMA’s Gospel Music Hall of Fame . . . and
• The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!

In fact, when he died in 2003, Rolling Stone Magazine said that, other than Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash was the only artist to ever be inducted as a performer into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame. But there was something else Johnny did, and that was give concerts to inmates in state penitentiaries. It’s said Cash had a soft spot for prisoners because he himself had spent a night in jail on several different occasions for misdemeanors, a non-violent criminal offense under US law.

On January 1, 1959, Johnny Cash gave a concert for the prisoners at San Quentin State Prison. In the audience was a 21-year-old kid who’d been in trouble with the law throughout his teens. Finally, after a robbery and then trying to escape his previous prison, he ended up at San Quentin, a penitentiary notorious for the hardened criminals and infamous serial killers it contains.

Cash’s concert transformed this troubled youth’s life. Years later, in looking back, he recalled, quote: "[Johnny] had the right attitude. He chewed gum, looked arrogant and flipped the bird to the guards – he did everything the prisoners wanted to do. He was a mean mother from the South who was there because he loved us. When he walked away, everyone in that place had become a Johnny Cash fan."

That a huge star like Johnny Cash would care enough to give a thought to society’s outcasts set the young man’s life on a new trajectory. He later said, quote: "It set a fire under me that hadn’t been there before." As soon as the kid was released in 1960, he began performing and recording. Just 10 years later in 1969, and now with numerous hits under his belt, the reformed ex-con was invited to appear on Johnny Cash’s show.

Cash made a comment about having played a concert to the prisoners at San Quentin.

His guest replied, "It’s funny you should mention that, Johnny."

"Why’s that?" Cash wanted to know.

"The first time I ever saw you perform it was at San Quentin."

Cash was confused. "I don’t remember you being in that show."

"I was in the audience, Johnny."

Unless you’re a fan of Country Western music, you may not recognize his name, but that troubled youth whose life was transformed by an unselfish act of kindness was Merle Haggard, a man who became a music legend in his own right, winning the Academy of Country Music Awards 19 times, the Grammy awards four times, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1994.

It doesn’t matter what your past has been. With Yahuwah in control, your future can be a series of one triumph after another. Jeremiah 29 verse 11 says: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares Yahuwah, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

We have been given great and precious promises. Go and start claiming!

* * *Part 4: (Miles & Dave)

Miles: I want to thank you for joining us for today’s program. You can also listen to it on our website. It’s program number 260: “My Lord and My God!”

We hope you can join us again tomorrow, and until then, remember: Yahuwah loves you . . . and He is safe to trust!

* * *

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In his teachings and parables, the Savior gave no “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, the thrust of his message was constant … vigilance. Join us again tomorrow for another truth-filled message as we explore various topics focused on the Savior's return and how to live in constant readiness to welcome him warmly when he comes.

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.