“But when the angel stretched out his hand toward Yerushalayim to destroy it, Adonai changed his mind about causing such distress and said to the angel destroying the people, ‘Enough! Now withdraw your hand.’ The angel of Adonai was at the threshing-floor of Aravnah the Y’vusi.”-2 Samuel 24:16
In verse 16, we encounter the controversial term MALACH YEHOVAH or the “Angel of the Lord.”
Why do I say controversial?
Because usually the Angel of the Lord is God Almighty Himself.
But not in this case.
Why can I say that with such confidence?
Because when the Angel of the Lord is Almighty God Himself, He speaks in the 1st person.
He’ll specifically say, “I” or “me.”
But not in this context.
The narrator wants to make it clear that this MALACH is not a human messenger, like a prophet.
Instead, the point is that he is a messenger of heavenly origin.
In other words, this MALACH is a full-fledged angel.
And this angel was sent to destroy…
Which it did very well…
Until the Lord restrained it when it was about to destroy Jerusalem.
Why did the Lord refuse to allow Jerusalem to be touched?
Because Jerusalem was set apart to be the home of God’s Holy Temple.
So, the Lord, in His divine mercy and wisdom, stayed the hand of the destroying angel before it could touch the holy city.
So what’s today’s takeaway?
Simple.
It goes back to what I said about how you can tell whether the MALACH YEHOVAH is God Himself or not.
If He speaks in the first person using “I” or “me,” then you know it is God.
But if the Lord refers to the MALACH as a separate third-party entity from Himself, then you know the being is NOT God.
Ya feeling me here?
The takeaway is, why not apply that same basic logic to Yeshua and his relationship with his Father in Heaven?
When you do, you’ll find it kinda throws a whole monkey wrench into this “Yeshua is God” idea.
For example…
“My Father,
If it is possible,
let this cup pass from me;
yet not as I will,
But as You will.”
-Matthew 26:39
Here we have Yeshua praying to God, but NOT as God.
This is two wills, man!
One submits to another.
Or how about this verse?
“Father, if You are willing,
remove this cup from me;
nevertheless, not my will,
But Yours, be done.”
-Luke 22:42
Again, submission only makes sense between two distinct parties.
Next, Yeshua often speaks about God as “my God.”
“I am ascending to
My Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.”
-John 20:17
Notice, Yeshua does not say “to myself.”
Or how about this one?
“My God, my God,
Why have You forsaken me?”
-Matthew 27:46
The idea of God forsaking God collapses under its own weight.
Onward.
Yeshua also makes a distinction between authority and knowledge.
“I can do nothing on
my own initiative…
I do not seek my own will,
but the will of Him who sent me.”
-John 5:30
Obviously, the sender and the sent are NOT the same being.
And take a look at this verse:
“But concerning that day or hour,
no one knows,
not even the angels in heaven,
nor the Son,
but only the Father.”
-Mark 13:32
So again, you have one being who knows what the other does not.
Next, Yeshua explicitly defines who “the only true God” is.
“That they may know You,
the only true God,
and Messiah Yeshua
whom You have sent.”
}-John 17:3
As you can see, Yeshua separates himself from “the only true God” and positions himself as the sent one.
Finally, let’s see what Yeshua says about himself and his relationship to God the Father post-resurrection.
“I will write on him
the name of my God…
the city of my God…
which comes down out of heaven
from my God.”
-Revelation 3:12
Three times, homie!
Even after the resurrection, Yeshua still refers to the Father as “my God.”
So the point holds.
When God speaks in the first person, He is acting as God.
When God speaks of another, distinction exists.
So the lesson here is be freakin’ consistent in your theology instead of falling for trinitarian hypocrisy!
YHWH ↔ His angel
Father ↔ His Messiah
Yeshua never speaks as if he is the Father.
Yeah, I know some folks will throw out the “I and the Father are one” verse to try to prove that Yeshua is God.
On the surface, trinitarians read “one” and quietly smuggle in “one being” or “one God.”
But the text itself never says that.
The question becomes One what?
The truth is, the Greek word destroys the “one being” claim.
The word translated as “one” is HEN (ἕν), and it does NOT mean one person.
It is a neuter word, not a masculine one.
Linguistically speaking, Yeshua is saying, “the Father and I are one thing in purpose and mission.”
Then just a few verses later, Yeshua clarifies what he means:
“If I do not do the
works of my Father,
Do not believe me;
But if I do them…
The Father is in me,
and I in the Father.”
-John 10:37-38
That’s functional unity, not identity, homies.
And here’s the knockout punch.
Yeshua uses the same ONENESS language for believers!
“That they may all be one,
just as You, Father,
are in me and I in You…
that they may be one
as we are one.”
-John 17:21-23
So let’s ask the obvious question.
Are believers literally God, too?
If:
“One” = same being
Then:
Every believer becomes God
That’s absurd
And you know it.
The bottom line is Yeshua speaks to God, about God, obeys God, learns from God, and returns to God.
And when he speaks about being one with God…
He always means it in a one-in-purpose sense.
It’s a statement of mission, not biology.
The Father ain’t morphing into a man like that liquid metal terminator did in the movie Terminator 2.
Ya feel me, man?
Same logic.
Same test.
Same conclusion.
Done.
The truth doesn’t matter to those who refuse to listen to it.
Another point is that throughout the Gospel of John, Yeshua continually states that he says and does only what his Father in heaven tells him to do or say. As such, when he says he and the Father are one, he is (as you point out) stating one in purpose, not one being.
Just about every Believer, Christian or Jewish, I have ever met has been in agreement that Yeshua is our Intercessor with God, and Yeshua says that when we pray, we are to pray in his name (not to him, but rather to refer to him; it’s like name-dropping) in order to receive that which we pray for.
So, I ask Trinitarians to explain how, if Yeshua and God are one entity, how does someone intercede with themself?
If God the Father and Yeshua the Messiah are the same entity, how does he sit at his own right hand? How would he argue for something with himself as both judge and Intercessor?
Is God acting like Tevya in “Fiddler on the Roof”, saying…
“On the one hand, I should punish them, but then again, on the other hand, they are trying, But on the other hand, they did it, but on the other hand, they tried not to, but on the other hand….”?
I don’t think so.
I am not sure I am as certain as you are regarding the use of first or third person when angels are speakinng because they are here acting under God’s authority, so when they use first or third person, it is still repeating what God tells them to say. So if an angel says, “God wants you to do this, and then later says “.. and if you refuse, I will do these things” (or something to that effect), the angel hasn’t switched from messenger to God, or back again, but is simply acting and speaking on God’s behalf. When I was the XO of a company of Unites States Marines, when I signed things, I wrote “ByDir” underneath my signature- that stood for “By Direction” (of the commanding officer). I was giving the order, it was me telling them what to do, but I had the authority given to me by my superior, so even though I spoke in the first person, it was the same as coming from the superior officer.
I believe this is what happenes when an angel goes from first to thrid person, and back again, but in any case, it doesn’t affect your correct examples of how Yeshua never considered himself to be God.
The idea of trinity was not from the Bible, it was first introduced by a man named Tertullian around 200 AD, and apparently caught on well with Christians, who by then were nearly entirely made up of Gentiles who had so mutated and polluted what Yeshua taught, using misinterpretations of Paul’s letters, that such a ridiculous idea became popular. It is my belief that from the end of the First Century, when the Sabbath was changed and all the Jewish leadership of the movement believing in Yeshua had died off, that to avoid being considered Jews by Rome (due to the Jewish rebellions against Roman rule) they seperated themselves from Judaism and this idea of a Trinity, which is an anethma to Jews, is just one other man-made belief that helped to keep them away from being considered Jews, while simultaneously by making it nearly impossible for any self-respecting, God-fearing Jew to want to even hear about this guy Jesus.
Which is still the way it is, today.
This trinity vs. unity thing serves only one person- the Enemy of God- because it causes dissension within the body of the Messiah.
The truth is that it doesn’t really matter if they are one or two because we are not saved by faith that Yeshua is God, but by faith that Yeshua is the Messiah God promised to send, that by his death and resurrection we can be forgiven of sins (which is how we are saved), and that is it!
Whether Yeshua is God or not is not a salvation issue!
But believing Yeshua is the Messiah, that through his sacrifice we can be forgiven of sins, and faithfully obeying what God said to do (in the Torah) IS a salvation issue, and that is what really matters.
Great comments, Steven.
I really truly appreciate the insights you shared here.
Let’s have a catch-up call soon.
Be blessed and talk soon!
Shalom brother.