Program 151: The origins of YahushuaPart 1

Scripture reveals Yahushua originated in Mary’s womb. He did not exist prior to that point in time.

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: Hello! Welcome to World’s Last Chance Radio. I’m your host, Miles Robey, and with me is Dave Wright!

Dave Wright: Hello and thanks for tuning in! We’ve got an interesting program planned for you today. We’re going to be sharing quite a few Bible texts today, so if you want to write them down for later study, you might want to grab a pen and paper.

Miles, you’re a father. Your kids ever say anything particularly note-worthy?

Miles: Oh, yeah. Yeah. They had—and still have—us laughing quite a lot, actually. I remember when our son was about three, he was watching a nature video showing a mother bird feeding her babies. With a revolted look on his face, he turned to my wife and said, “I’m glad I don’t have to be fed that way!”

Dave: The other day, my wife was reading through a HuffPost article. Apparently, Huffington Post had invited their readers to send in funny things their kids had said and she was literally “laughing out loud.” She shared one of them with me. Apparently, this one mother had informed her kids that they were no longer allowed to say “shut up” to each other because it was rude and caused hurt feelings.

Miles: Yeah, my mum wouldn’t let us say “shut up” to each other, either. We could say “shush up” but not “shut up.” So, what happened? Did the kids continue telling each other to “shut up”?

Dave: No. No. They obeyed their mum, but they did get creative in coming up with different ways to communicate the same idea. One day, her 9-year-old daughter was talking on and on and on, and her six-year-old son had had enough. When he couldn’t take his sister’s incessant chatter anymore, he turned to her and yelled, “Silence, you peasant!”

Miles: He was six and he said this?

Dave: Rather creative way to get his point across, wasn’t it?

Miles: Yeah. Reminds me of an old American TV show with Art Linkletter called “Kids Say the Darndest Things.”

Dave: Oh, yes! They really do. Hilarious. Embarrassing.

Miles: For me, it’s not so much what kids say as what they ask.

Dave: Like, “Where do babies come from?”

Miles: Yeah, yeah. I thought I had that one all worked out. My son came and asked where babies came from and I told him, “Go ask your mum.”

Dave: And?

Miles: He said, “She told me to come ask you!”

Dave: Explaining origins can be tricky. That’s actually what we’re going to be talking about today. Yahushua’s origins.

Now most Christians believe that Yahushua was eternally pre-existent with the Father. Some may believe that he was brought into existence at some point in eternity past before anything else was created, but part of the standard Christian belief in a triune godhead is the belief that Yahushua had an existence prior to his conception in Mary’s womb.

Miles: Yeah, that’s rather standard Christian dogma.

Dave: Yes, but it’s not Biblical. It’s a carry-over from the pagan trinity doctrine that took over in the fourth century. As we covered in earlier programs, the idea of a triune godhead came in several hundred years after Christ. The earliest Christians did not believe in it. Consequently, it doesn’t show up in Scripture the way we’ve always assumed.

Yahushua’s assumed “pre-existence” is a correlative doctrine that goes hand-in-glove with the doctrine of a trinity. But, again, it’s not Biblical. And that’s what I want to discuss today: the Biblical parameters for Yahushua’s existence. He came into being at his conception and not before.

Miles: There are actually very few passages of Scripture that would seem to suggest a literal pre-existence for Christ.

Dave: We’re going to take a look at those but as we begin our study, there are a few things I want everyone to keep in mind. First, the Old Testament consistently presents the Messiah as someone future. In other words, he was not yet in existence.

Miles: Huh! That’s true. Never really thought about it before, but you’re right.

Dave: Another thing that comes out with careful Bible study is that the status of Yahushua as the “son of Yah” is presented in the Old Testament as a prophesy. So, again, something yet future, not current.

Miles: Which it wouldn’t if Yahushua had been in existence prior to his conception.

Dave: Right. Furthermore, Yahushua was exalted to pre-eminence only after his resurrection. This wasn’t a position he held before. He was exalted afterward as a reward for his faithfulness.

We speak of Yahushua going “back” to his Father, but Scripture doesn’t, which you’d expect it would if he’d lived in Heaven with Yah prior to his conception.

Miles: That’s true. And another thing! There are no recorded statements quoting Yahushua from his supposed pre-existence, are there?

Dave: No. Some denominations extrapolate and assume that Yahushua pre-existed as the archangel Michael, but that’s simply extrapolation and assumption. Scripture doesn’t actually say that.

Miles: Before we go on, could we take a look at any passages of Scripture that do seem to suggest a pre-existence for the Saviour?

Dave: Sure! Uh, Genesis 1:26. Why don’t you turn there. Here, Yahuwah is speaking in the plural, so that’s why it’s been easy for trinitarians to assume He’s speaking of Himself and the son. Go ahead.

Miles: “Then Elohim said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’”

Dave: Elohim is a plural form. In Hebrew, this was a literary device to give more honor to the person. That’s all that’s happening here. Uh, Proverbs 8 and verses, uh … 22 and 30. This is often used to “prove” a pre-existence for Yahushua.

Miles: Okay, it says, quote: “Yahuwah possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him.”

Yeah, I can see why this would suggest a pre-existence for Yahushua.

Dave: When it’s taken out of context. However, when you read it in context, it’s clearly talking about something else. Read verse 12.

Miles: “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
And find out knowledge and discretion.”

Dave: This entire chapter is dealing with “Wisdom.” To say that two verses out of the entire chapter refer to a pre-existent Christ is to extrapolate a lot. It’s simply not consistent with the context.

The last verse that is used as “proof” of Yahushua’s pre-existence is Micah 5 verse 2. But, again, when you read it carefully, you see that there’s nothing there that actually says Yahushua pre-existed in Heaven—or anywhere else for that matter. So listen carefully to what it actually says, not what we’ve imputed to it. Go ahead.

Miles: All right, it says, quote:

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.

Dave: From everlasting, it was within Yah’s heart to provider a saviour if the need should arise. However, there’s a deeper meaning we’ll get into later. In any case, that’s very different from the Saviour actually being in existence all along.

Miles: Well, I noticed it says, “out of you shall come forth to Me.” That’s future tense!

Dave: Right! Moving to the New Testament books, fully three-quarters of them contain no statement whatsoever that can even be construed as to suggest a pre-existent Christ. That’s Matthew, Mark, Luke—the gospels known as the “Synoptic” gospels—Acts (which was written by Luke), Romans, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude. None of these contain any statement that can even be twisted to suggest that Yahushua had a pre-existence.

Miles: And if he did, you’d think it would at least show up in either the Synoptic gospels or Jude. I mean, Jude quotes extensively from the book of Enoch, sharing prophecies.

Dave: Right, but you won’t find it there anywhere.

Miles: So where do people get the idea that he had a pre-existence? John?

Dave: Yes, the gospel of John, Philippians 2, Colossians 1 … uh, Revelation 3. There are half a dozen places that can be construed to suggest a pre-existence. However, there are two very important questions that need to be asked. First, are these passages literal or notional?

Miles: What do you mean?

Dave: Yahuwah prophesied the coming of a Redeemer. That was always His plan should the need arise. So, any such passage refers to the idea, the promise. Not the literal reality when the prophesy was given.

Miles: Okay. I can see that. If it were already in existence, it wouldn’t be a prophecy, would it? So, what’s the second question?

Dave: Has this handful of passages that we’ve taken to “prove” pre-existence been translated and analyzed correctly? Or have we analyzed and translated them according to our preconceptions?

Miles: Hmm. That’s really easy to do, isn’t it? We have a particular belief set and we tend to project that on any interpretation we give Scripture.

Dave: The synoptic gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—contain no references to a pre-existence. In fact, Luke, in his introduction to his gospel, says, quote: “I resolved also, because I have traced all things from the start with accuracy, to write them in logical order to you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know fully the certainty of the things that you have been taught orally.” Unquote.

Now, if Luke were going to “trace all things from the start with accuracy to write them in logical order,” wouldn’t the place to start be with Yahushua’s actual existence—his pre-existence as supposed—rather than just starting with his human conception?

Miles: Yeah, you’d think.

Dave: But he doesn’t say one word about any pre-existence. Doesn’t even hint at it. Luke doesn’t describe the transformation of a divine being into a human being, or even of an angelic being into a human being. He doesn’t suggest that Yahushua had previously hung around as a disembodied spirit. Instead, Luke starts as early as he can, which is the birth of John the Baptist being announced. He then moves to Gabriel’s announcement to Mary.

It’s here that he spells out the very beginning of Yahushua’s existence. Why don’t you read it for us? Luke 1 verse 35.

Miles: Okay, uh, Mary asks, How can I have a baby when I’m a virgin. “And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.’”

Dave: This, right here, is Yahushua’s point of origin. Luke says he carefully and logically traced his story back to the point of origin? It’s right here. And notice, too, that when the angel tells Mary, it’s said in future tense. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you.” It hasn’t happened yet. He’s not in existence yet. He won’t exist until the Holy Spirit comes upon her.

Likewise, Matthew, in discussing Yahushua’s lineage and birth, never refers to a pre-existence. Mark doesn’t even discuss the Saviour’s conception and birth at all.

Miles: Okay, but what about … uh, give me just a moment to find this, um. … Hebrews 1 verse 2. I think this is a pretty clear reference to pre-existence.

Dave: Actually, it’s just the opposite. It disproves any pre-existence whatsoever. Why don’t you go ahead and read it for us? Hebrews 1, verses 1 and 2.

Miles: All right, it says:

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.

Unquote. Doesn’t that phrase, “by whom also He made the worlds” indicate pre-existence?

Dave: I’m glad you asked. This is the sort of passage I was talking about when I asked if the various passages of Scripture used to “prove” a pre-existent Christ have been properly analyzed &/or translated.

This is a verse that, in the past, I used to “prove” that Yahuwah worked through a pre-existent Christ to create the world. But that’s due to a mistranslation. The word here translated “worlds” actually comes from the same Greek word from which we get the word “eon.”

I think we’ve got … uh, yeah. Do you see the Bible dictionary there? Why don’t you grab it and turn to #165 in the Greek portion. Read what it says.

Miles: Okay, uh.

Properly an age . . . A messianic period (present or future): The primary stress of this word is time in its unbroken duration. Aion, as a noun, means “an age, era” and signifies a period of indefinite duration, or time viewed in relation to what takes place in the period. The force attaching to the word is not so much that of the actual length of a period, but that of a period marked by spiritual or moral characteristics. This is illustrated in the use of the adjective in the phrase “life eternal.”

Dave: To put Hebrews 1:2 another way, thanks be to the gift of the Messiah, time—especially present and future—is divided up into epochs. Right now, sin is running its course in the world. However, when Yahushua returns, the kingdom of Yah will be established on earth. Later, after sin and sinners are no more, peace will reign for eternity. These are the various epochs made possible through Yahushua’s sacrifice. It’s not saying he had pre-existence.

Biblical scholars know this, too. I’ve printed off a few quotes here I’d like you to read. Go ahead and read that first one at the top.

Miles: All right. This is William Sanday. He was a 19^th century professor at Oxford. He says, quote, “there is not a single reference in the Synoptic Gospels to Yahushua having been the Son of Yahuwah before his birth.”

Dave: The next quote is from F. C. Bauer, a German Protestant theologian. What did he say?

Miles: “The idea of pre-existence lies completely outside the Synoptic [Matthew, Mark and Luke] sphere of view.”

Dave: The last quote is from a book called Birth of the Messiah. It was written by Raymond Brown, a well-respected Catholic theologian. He says that Matthew and Luke, quote, “show no knowledge of Yahushua’s pre-existence; seemingly for them the conception was the becoming ([or] begetting) of Yahuwah’s Son.”

Miles: Could you say that Yahushua’s status as Yahuwah’s son began at his conception?

Dave: Yes! Because he simply did not exist before then. He may have existed in the mind and plans of Yah, but in reality, he did not exist. What’s the next quote?

Miles: Uh, this is by Protestant theologian, Wolfhart Pannenberg. He writes, quote: “In Luke the divine Sonship is established by the almighty activity of the divine spirit upon Mary…In Luke 1:35 Yahushua’s divine Sonship is explicitly established by his miraculous birth…Yahushua’s virgin birth stands in an irreconcilable contradiction to the Christology of the incarnation of the pre-existent Son of Yahuwah.”

Dave: You can’t get more clear than Luke’s account. Turn back to Luke 1:35 and read that again.

Miles: “And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.’”

Dave: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you . . . therefore.” For that reason the child will be called the son of God. It was the act of the Holy Spirit coming upon her, the act of the Father in conceiving in the womb of a virgin, that made Yahushua the son of Yah.

The word we translate into English as “therefore” comes from the Greek dio kai which means “precisely for that reason.” It was the Holy Spirit conceiving Yahushua in Mary’s womb that was the cause of him being Yahuwah’s son. Therefore, he wasn’t Yah’s son before his birth. There was no “only begotten son” before his birth.

Miles: You can’t come into existence if you’re already in existence! Okay, we’re going to take a quick break. We’ll be right back!

* * *

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* * *Part 2: (Miles & Dave)

Dave: The idea that Yahushua had a pre-existence prior to his conception is a natural progression from the trinity heresy. If you believe that Christ is one-third of a triune godhead, then naturally, he would have to have had a pre-existence. But that’s not what Scripture teaches.

Let’s take a look at what Mathew has to say. Turn to the first chapter of Matthew. Matthew 1, verse 18.

Miles: Let’s see, it says: “Now the birth of Yahushua Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.”

Dave: “Now the birth of Yahushua Christ was as follows.”

Miles: Is that a mistranslation?

Dave: No, no. It’s fine. But there are nuances that are lost in translation. The word translated into English as “birth” comes from the Greek word, gennesis.

Miles: Really??

Dave: Yes. It means a birth, or begetting, producing. In Bauer’s Greek/English Lexicon the word is defined as, quote: “One’s coming into being at a specific moment, birth.” It is a “state of being, existence” and refers to “ancestry as point of origin.”

Miles: Basically, “origin.”

Dave: Right. So what was Yahushua’s origin?

Miles: When he was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Dave: Not a thousand, or ten thousand, or a million years before. Not an untold eternity before. But at conception. Notice that immediately following the word gennesis, we’re told that Mary was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.

Miles: So the word has less to do with his actual birth and more to do with conception as his point of origin, his “coming into existence,” as it were.

Dave: Yes. Bart Erhman is an author, New Testament scholar, and professor of religious studies. He wrote a book called The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture. The subtitle is: The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament.

Miles: Sounds interesting!

Dave: It is. I don’t agree with everything Erhman teaches, but he does do some good research. In that book, he writes that “the earliest and best manuscripts agree in introducing the passage with the words: ‘The beginning of Yahushua Christ happened this way.’”

Miles: Interesting. So this text alone is enough to prove that Yahushua’s origin began in Mary’s womb. It wasn’t just a … chrysalis through which he passed to take on a human body.

Dave: No. His origin began at conception, not before.

Another place this word, gennesis, is used, is in Mathew 1 verse 1. Would you read that?

Miles: “The book of the genealogy of Yahushua Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.”

Dave: Another translation says, “This is the written story of the family line of Jesus the Messiah.” Still another translates Mathew 1:1 as, “This is the record of the ancestry of Jesus Christ who was the descendant of both David and Abraham.”

This is how gennesis is used to refer to his origin, his ancestry, even though he didn’t come into existence until his conception.

Now, with this understanding, let’s take a look again at Micah 5:2.

Miles: All right. Give me just a second … It says:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.”

Dave: All right. We said earlier that the phrase, “from everlasting” could refer to the plan in the Father’s heart to provide a Saviour should sin arise. But there’s more. This text comes alive when you understand that this text is referring to the Saviour’s origins: his ancestry.

Here. Read it again in this translation.

Miles:

But you, O Bethlehem Eph′rathah,
who are little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient days.

Huh! That’s really interesting! But … how do you know that this isn’t referring to ancient days before our world was created?

Dave: That’s a good question. Turn over two chapters to Micah 7 and read verse 20. There’s a very similar phrase used there. Micah 7 verse 20. Go ahead.

Miles:

Thou wilt show faithfulness to Jacob
and steadfast love to Abraham,
as thou hast sworn to our fathers
from the days of old.

Dave: Now, obviously, Yah couldn’t have sworn anything to their forefathers before the forefathers were even in existence!

Miles laughs: Not really!

Dave: Try a couple more translations.

Miles: All right, this one says:

You will give truth to Jacob
And mercy to Abraham,
Which You have sworn to our fathers
From days of old.

Dave: And one more.

Miles:

You will be faithful to Jacob’s people.
You will show your love
to Abraham’s children.
You will do what you promised to do for our people.
You made that promise long ago.

Dave: Clearly, this is referring to lineage, ancestry. Not a period of time before the world was created. We find this same thing in Amos. Turn there. Amos 9, verse 11.

Miles:

On that day I will raise up
The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down,
And repair its damages;
I will raise up its ruins,
And rebuild it as in the days of old.

Dave: The study notes in the New American Bible says that Micah 5:2 is a reference to the Saviour’s descent from the ancient dynasty founded by David. Go ahead and read it, uhhhh … right here.

Miles: “The tiny city and clan of Bethlehem-Ephrathah, from which comes the ancient Davidic dynasty (whose origin is from old, from ancient times) with its messianic king, one who is to be ruler in Israel.”

Dave: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges also agrees that the “origins” in Micah 5:2 refers to Yahushua’s descent from the ancient Davidic dynasty. So, again, we’re talking lineage here, the line of descent which embraces the prophecy in Genesis 49:10 that the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah, that he’d be an Israelite, prophesied in Numbers 24:17 to 19, and that he would be both Yahuwah’s son and a male heir to David. You can read that prophecy in 2 Samuel 7:14.

Miles: It’s interesting that these are prophecies. You can’t have two points of origin. So for there to be prophecies of Yahushua’s origins, he can’t have already been in existence! It’s really quite ridiculous when you think about it logically.

Dave: It is. But that’s the problem when you just accept what you’re told without studying it out for yourself.

Another point is that if the origins in Micah 5:2 were referring to Yahushua’s pre-existence, it would be contradicting Matthew 1:18 which pinpoints his origin as the moment of conception.

Miles: That’s a good point. And what about Luke, as well? Listen to this again. Luke chapter 1, verses 30 to 35. It says:

Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with Yah. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call his name Yahushua. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the son of Yah.

Unquote. I don’t know why I’ve never seen it before, but if it is the act of being conceived that qualifies this person to be called the son of Yah—and that’s clearly what the angel is saying—then he could not have had a pre-existence!

Dave: Exactly! It is the act of the Holy Spirit in overshadowing Mary that is the point of conception, of origin, and it is that very act that is the reason why he is referred to as the son of Yah. It says it right here in Luke 1!

The late James Dunn, he just died in, uh, June of 2020. It was a real loss. Anyway, he was a well-respected professor of divinity at the University of Durham here in England. He also stated that Micah 5:2 does not suggest a pre-existent Christ. Instead, he suggested that Micah 5:2 was what the Jews were remembering when, in Matthew 7, they were confused to learn that Yahushua was from Nazareth.

Miles: Huh? I’m not remembering that.

Dave: Well, let’s read it. You turn to Matthew 7 and while you’re doing that, I’m going to re-read Micah 5:2 so we have it clearly in mind. It says:

But you, O Bethlehem Eph′rathah,
who are little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient days.

Okay, now read Matthew 7, verses 40 to 43.

Miles:

Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, “Truly this is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.”

But some said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee?! Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?” So there was a division among the people because of Him.

Dave: The Pharisees knew their Scriptures! So, if it sounds like Matthew 7 was referring to Micah 5, they probably were.

Everyone knew the Messiah was to be a descendant of the ancient, Davidic dynasty. So, to extrapolate from Micah 5 that it is suggesting Yahushua had a pre-existence is to read into the text what simply isn’t there. It’s not saying that the Messiah existed before Creation. It’s simply saying that his ancestry would be that of the Davidic line. That’s all.

Miles: Well, clearly, Yahushua, as a descendant from David, is part of an ancient lineage, an ancient dynasty. When you read it all in context, it’s obvious that these verses were not intended to imply he existed before the world was made!

Dave: No. Nowhere does Scripture actually present Christ as some sort of pre-human.

Miles: You know, this reminds me of another place in the New Testament. People were all the time wondering just who Yahushua was. Was he really the Messiah? Or just a rabbi? John 7: some people were saying he was “the prophet” while others insisted he was the anointed one.

When Yahushua himself asked the disciples what everyone was saying, the answers were very revealing. They told him that some people were saying he was John the Baptist. Others were saying he was Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. But when Christ asked them what they thought, Peter says, “You’re the Messiah. The son of the living God.”

None of them ever pointed to him being an eternally existent being.

Dave: That’s a good point. In John 1, Nathaniel told Yahushua that he believed him to be the Messiah, the king of Israel. Again, no mention—and no naming—of a pre-existence.

Turn again to Matthew 1 and read verse 20. This is where Joseph is wondering if Mary has cheated on him and the angel comes to tell him what’s going on. Go ahead.

Miles: “But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.’”

Dave: The word here translated “conceived” comes from the Greek gennao. It means to beget and in fact, in other translations, that’s what it says: “That which is begotten in her is from the Holy Spirit.” When you look up the word “beget” in the dictionary, it literally means “to cause to exist,” to procreate or generate. That this word was used in relation to Yahushua’s own existence is sufficient proof that he came into existence, like every other human, at conception, not millennia before.

James Dunn wrote Christology in the Making. On page 51, he explains this well. Would you read it for us? Just there where it’s bracketed.

Miles: Uh, it says, quote: “Begetting…the coming into existence of one who will be called, and will in fact be the Son of Yahuwah, not the transition of a pre-existent being to become the soul of a human baby or the metamorphosis of a divine being into a human fetus.”

Dave: The word “beget” is used throughout Scripture to apply to humans. The fact that it is also applied to Yahushua proves that he did not exist prior to that point.

Every single person mentioned in Scripture as having been begotten, came into existence only when he (or she) was conceived. The same holds true for Yahushua.

Miles: You can’t really say that the Saviour was begotten only as a human. As we said before, you can’t have two origins!

Dave: And you can’t be begotten twice. It’s the word itself, the meaning of it, that establishes Yahushua came into existence at his conception, not before.

Miles: What about Christians who are born again?

Dave: Well, that’s different. That’s a symbolic birth, of course. When we surrender to Yah and accept the gift of salvation, we are spiritually begotten. Read 1 John 5:18 for us. This is an interesting verse.

Miles: All right, it says, “We know that anyone born of [Yah] does not continue to sin; the One who was born of [Yah] keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.”

Dave: All right. Listen now while I read it from Young’s Literal translation. It says, quote: “We have known that every one who hath been begotten of [Yah] doth not sin, but he who was begotten of [Yah] doth keep himself, and the evil one doth not touch him.”

Unquote. We know that we will continue to stumble into sin so long as we have fallen natures. But we are to continue to strive against that fallen nature. And some day, when Yahushua returns and gifts us with a higher nature, we will quit sinning.

Miles: The very fact that any of us even wants to quit sinning shows the work of the Spirit upon our hearts!

Dave: This phrase here, “everyone who hath been begotten.” Grammatically speaking, in the Greek, this appears in the perfect tense. This is interesting because, grammatically, it shows our ongoing condition. We still have fallen natures so we continue on with our spiritual begetting.

The next phrase, though, “He who was begotten of Yah,” which obviously refers to Yahushua, is different. In the Greek, this is in the aorist tense.

Miles: What do you mean?

Dave: Well, it’s in past tense, showing something that occurred in the past, but it is not an on-going past action. Being in the aorist tense, it makes clear that the action was a single event. So, this phrase, “He who was begotten of Yah,” refers to Yahushua’s single, physical begetting. It was a single, never-to-be-repeated event and it occurred when he was supernaturally conceived in the womb of a virgin.

Miles: In past programs, we’ve looked at the evidence that Yahushua was fully human. So, how are we to take the repeated phrase “only begotten son”? Or, “only-begotten of the Father”?

Dave: Well, they refer to Yahushua’s unique status. Yes, he’s fully human. Not that confusing idea of fully human and fully divine. He is fully human. Full stop. That’s it. But he’s unique in that he was born of a virgin and Yah is his real father. Unlike the rest of us, he didn’t have a biological human father.

Miles: And, because “begotten” literally means to be “brought into existence,” that rules out the term referring to a limited form of reincarnation, being transformed from an angelic preexistence, into Mary’s womb.

Dave: Exactly. Yahushua is repeatedly referred to as the “only begotten son of Yah.” Yah begot him, but that doesn’t change the definition of the word! He came into existence at conception, not changed form at conception.

The apostle Paul affirms Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts of Yahushua’s coming into existence. Would you read it for us? Galatians chapter 4, verses 4 and 5.

Miles: All right, give me just a second …

”But when the fullness of the time had come, [Yah] sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

Dave: Okay, this phrase, “born of a woman,” is further evidence that Yahushua’s point of origin was his conception. In other translations it says “made of a woman” or “who came to be out of a woman.” However it’s translated, it comes from the Greek word, ginomai. It means “to cause to be, to become, [or] come into being.”

Miles: “To come into being.” That kind of rules out a transformation from one existence into another.

Dave: It does. And it’s been there the whole time. Bauer’s Lexicon defines ginomai as “to come into existence” and “to come into being through process of birth.”

Miles: That’s all really clear. But what about Psalm 2 verse 7 where it says, um … here it is:

I will declare the decree:
Yahuwah has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.

Dave: This is a prophecy. According to Hebrews 1:5 and Acts 13:33, this was fulfilled at the Saviour’s birth.

Now, there are two genealogies given for Christ in the gospels. Matthew 1 and Luke 3. The record in Matthew starts at Abraham and works down to Christ. It says “Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, Jacob begot . . .” etc., etc. Luke takes it in reverse, working his way backward from Christ and taking it all the way back to Adam.

The point I want you to notice is that both Matthew and Luke, in tracing the lineages leading to Christ, were concerned with what went before his birth. They had plenty of opportunities to mention a pre-human existence if they believed in such a thing.

Miles: Hmmm. It’s not there, is it?

Dave: No, it’s not. In fact, in the very same chapter that Matthew gives his lineage from Abraham, he uses words that make very clear Yahushua came into existence … In. Mary’s. Womb. Luke does the same thing in Luke 1:35 when he quotes the angel’s explanation to Mary of how she was going to get pregnant.

Miles: I’ve noticed, too, that throughout the synoptic gospels Yahushua is repeatedly referred to as “the son of man.” He’s never referred to as Michael or linked to him in any way.

Dave: Or any other angelic being, for that matter. If Yahushua truly had a pre-existence, whether as Michael or someone else, that would have been spelled out. They certainly didn’t lack to vocabulary to say so!

But more, if he’d had a pre-existence, he could not have been the biological or lineal descendant of David. The gospels focus on his connection to David, but he couldn’t have been David’s descendant if he’d had a pre-existence. You can’t exist before you exist.

Miles laughs.

Dave: There’s one more point I wish to make. We touched on it earlier, but I want to come back to it and look at some specific verses. And that is, in the Hebrew Scriptures, which are the books that comprise the Old Testament, the Messiah is always spoken of as someone who is yet to exist. He’s always spoken of in the future tense, in prophecies of the future.

I want to take a look at some of these. Would you please turn to Numbers chapter 24? Numbers 24 and read verses 14 to 17. This is Balaam speaking to Balak, when Balak asked him to curse Israel and instead Balaam pronounced a blessings. He’s going to tell Balak what the future holds.

Miles:

And now, indeed, I am going to my people. Come, I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the latter days.” So he took up his oracle and said:

“The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor,
And the utterance of the man whose eyes are opened;
The utterance of him who hears the words of God,
And has the knowledge of the Most High,
Who sees the vision of the Almighty,
Who falls down, with eyes wide open:

“I see Him, but not now;
I behold Him, but not near;
A Star shall come out of Jacob;
A Scepter shall rise out of Israel,
And batter the brow of Moab,
And destroy all the sons of tumult.

Dave: This is a well-known prophecy of the Messiah: “A star shall come out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.” But it’s future tense. This person, being, is not yet in existence.

Okay, now turn to Deuteronomy 18 and read verses 17 to 19.

Miles: “And Yahuwah said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which he speaks in My name, I will require it of him.”

Dave: This is a prophecy of Yahushua. If Yahushua were a divine or angelic being, he would already have been speaking the words Yah gave him. It wouldn’t need to be a prophecy. The New Testament writers repeatedly refer to this prophecy. In Peter’s sermon in Acts 3, he says, quote:

For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘Yahuwah your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever he says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ [Acts 3:22-23]

Acts 7:37 and John 6:14 also refer back to this prophecy in Deuteronomy.

Miles: And it’s interesting that in none of them is there even a hint that he’s already in existence or to come from an angelic lineage. Instead, the focus is on coming from a human lineage.

There’s another very clear statement about Yahushua’s origins and it’s from Yahushua himself. Now, I know we’ve all read it before, but when you lay it out like you have for us today with the words that show his point of origin was his conception, this statement is really clear.

Dave: Which verse?

Miles: Revelation 22:16. I want to read it to you. It says: “I, Yahushua, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”

Dave: There you have it. Yahushua himself lays out his link to David as his offspring.

One final verse: Psalm 22 verses 9 to 11. Now this is a very important psalm. It’s a prophecy of the Messiah. In fact, Psalm 22 verse 1 is what Yahushua said on the cross. When he said, “My God! My God! Why hast thou forsaken me?” he was quoting this psalm!

It even describes how the soldiers cast lots for his robe, how his joints were dislocated from the crucifixion, what the priests said in mocking him. It’s all there in this psalm. Now read verses 9 to 11.

Miles:

But You are He who took me out of the womb;
You made me trust while on my mother’s breasts.
I was cast upon You from birth.
From my mother’s womb
You have been my God.
Be not far from me,
For trouble is near;
For there is none to help.

Dave: David, under inspiration and speaking as the Messiah, is here very clearly tracing Yahushua’s point of origin back to his birth. Not before. Not in some mysterious, misty past. He’s speaking under inspiration! He could have established a pre-existence if there actually had been one, but there wasn’t. Yahushua, like every other human being, came into existence at conception. Not before.

* * *

You are listening to World's Last Chance Radio.

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

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I have a question for you. What do Enoch and Elijah have in common? Well, if you’re like the majority of Christians, you’re probably thinking, “It’s obvious! They were both taken to Heaven without seeing death!”

I know that’s what we’ve all been taught … but careful study of the Bible reveals that the assumption Enoch and Elijah were taken to Heaven without seeing death is based on a misunderstanding of the word “translated” and actually contradicts other passages of Scripture! In fact, 2 Chronicles quotes a letter sent by Prophet Elijah four years after he was supposedly taken up into Heaven by a fiery chariot!

This may seem unimportant, but it’s not. Satan builds his most deceptive delusions on the errors we cling to. It may not seem all that important a point right now to know that Enoch and Elijah were not taken to Heaven without seeing death as we’ve always assumed, but guaranteed, any point of doctrine that is not in line with the truth, any particular where we’ve read into it what Scripture does not actually say, opens us up to more easily accepting Satan’s lies.

To learn more, look for the radio program, “Learn what happened to Enoch and Elijah. (It’s not what you think!)”

Past radio episodes can be found on both WordsLastChance.com and YouTube. Look for it today!

* * *Daily Promise

Hello! This is Elise O’Brien with your daily promise from Yah’s word.

During the Covid-19 lockdowns, Micah Harold’s tattoo shop, Red Handed Tattoo in Shreveport, Louisiana in the United States, was closed because it was considered “non-essential.” Micah didn’t loaf around, though. In fact, he was busier than ever! Watching the news reports, Micah anticipated that there would be outages of essential goods. He had ordered disinfectants, hand sanitizer, and other important items in bulk ahead of time so, a few days after his tattoo parlor was closed, he opened it again. But not to charge exorbitant prices to those in need. Micah provided the needed items free of charge to any who needed them.

Word spread about Micah’s shop. Soon, others started dropping off extra supplies they had on hand: a gallon of hand sanitizer, alcohol, a few rolls of toilet paper. Whatever they had to spare. Soon, healthcare workers began going to the tattoo parlor for supplies when the hospitals ran out.

At first, Red Handed Tattoo had a hard time keeping up with the demand but as word spread of the work Micah was doing, more and more people stepped forward to help. Restaurants called Micah to pick up food they couldn’t sell. A local store set aside a portion of the most in-demand products as soon as they were unloaded from the supply trucks. A group of 20 volunteers organized contactless deliveries to people who couldn’t come to the shop for themselves.

Micah’s mother, Deborah Allen, got involved, too. As a clothing designer, she turned her talents into making masks she then gave away. The number of people helped, whose lives were made better by these acts of generosity, is known only in Heaven.

Second Corinthians chapter 9, verses 6 to 11 says:

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for [Yahuwah] loves a cheerful giver. And [Yah] is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written:

“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.

In Matthew 25, Yahushua taught that anything we do to help relieve the suffering of others, is accepted by Yah as done unto Him.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ [Matthew 25:31-40]

When you help someone else, you’re helping Yahuwah. When you give to someone else, you’re giving to Yahuwah. When you relieve suffering in other people, you are literally relieving Yahuwah’s suffering because He feels what they’re feeling.

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

* * *Part 3: (Miles & Dave)

Miles: You know, it always amazes me, when I learn something new, to see how the truth was staring me in the face all along. When I was a trinitarian, I just assumed Yahushua had always been in existence—or, at the very least, he came into being so far in the past that, for all intents and purposes, he had always been in existence. Either way, I definitely believed he pre-existed Bethlehem!

Dave: I know. I was raised in a church that taught that “Michael” was the name for the pre-existent Christ. Of course, there was never any Scriptural proof given for it, but it was just accepted in the church that that’s who Michael was.

Once, a Jehovah’s Witness, uh, witnessed to me. I knew that they also taught that Michael was the pre-existent Christ so, out of curiosity, I wondered if they could prove something my church couldn’t. I asked him what the Scriptural evidence was for Michael being Christ.

Miles: What did he say?

Dave: Well, he was really honest, which I appreciated. He told me he didn’t know but that he would look into it and get back to me.

Miles: And did he?

Dave: Yes. He emailed me a few days later. Basically, he just reiterated the same sorts of arguments my church did. There was no real Scriptural evidence for it. Of course, now I know that it just doesn’t exist. The Saviour was fully human. He needed to be to redeem us where Adam fell. He came into being like we all do: at conception, not before.

Miles: Why do you suppose the devil has propagated this myth of Yahushua’s pre-existence? I mean, he always has a reason for the lies he tells. I’m not seeing what the point is for this one.

Dave: Well, I think it is to buoy up this idea that the Saviour was divine. If you believe he was divine, he naturally had to have had a pre-existence. That means that he had an edge the rest of us don’t have.

The result of this belief is one of two reactions. Some people react by throwing up their hands and saying, Jesus did it all at Calvary. We’re under grace now. Since the law was nailed to the cross, it doesn’t matter what I do or don’t do. And they quit striving to bring their lives into conformity with Yah.

Miles: I know what the other response is because I fell into that camp myself for many years, and that is to become—even without realizing it—very legalistic. You realize the law is still binding, so you do everything in your power to make a full surrender and become perfect just as Yahushua was perfect.

Dave: And the net effect of that is to become confused and discouraged when you inevitably stumble and fall into sin yet again. Then you question your own sincerity and Satan sweeps right in to convince you that you’ve sinned so much you can’t ask for forgiveness yet again. Not until you’ve proven your repentance by resisting temptation for a while.

Miles: Which ends up keeping you away from Yah. I know. I’ve been there, stumbling through that cycle. It’s horrible.

Dave: But thanks be to Yah, we now know the truth!

Miles: Amen! I’m so thankful for how Yah is leading us on into ever more truth.

I want to thank you for tuning in today. Please join us again tomorrow, and until then, remember: Yahuwah loves you . . . and He is safe to trust!

* * *

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This program and past episodes of WLC Radio are available for downloading on our website. They're great for sharing with friends and for use in Bible studies! They're also an excellent resource for those worshipping Yahuwah alone at home. To listen to previously aired programs, visit our website at WorldsLastChance.com. Click on the WLC Radio icon displayed on our homepage.

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.