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About Jesus Steve Sweetman The
Revelation Of Elohim One reason why the
apostle Peter wrote his second letter was to refute the heresy taught by
the Antinomian Gnostics. Antinomian
means "no law". The
English word "Gnostic" is translated from the Greek word
"ginosko", meaning, "knowledge".
Antinomian Gnostics were an elitist group who claimed to receive
special knowledge from angels. They believed there were multiple levels of
angels separating a holy God from an unholy humanity.
They believed all things spiritual were holy and all things
physical were unholy. They
also believed that no law could restrain them from unholy behaviour so
they willfully gave into their fallen human nature, indulging in every
kind of sexual promiscuity imaginable.
Because they believed all things spiritual were holy and all things
physical were unholy, they didn't believe that God could reside in a human
body. Therefore, they denied
the Deity of Christ and believed that Jesus was just an angel. First
century Christian leaders fought off attempts to fuse the worship of the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with both Greek Gnosticism and a
fallen Judaism. Such attempts
at unity were nothing new. Old
Testament Jews mixed worship of Yahweh with worship of Canaanite pagan
gods. In later years Roman
Emperor Constantine fused his brand of legalized Christianity with
paganism. Today, some are
trying to unite Islam, Aboriginal Creator worship, or new age philosophy,
with the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ.
With
this confusion in mind, I understand the revelation of God in the Bible to
be progressive in nature. The
first revelation of God is seen in Genesis 1:1; "In the beginning was
God"; Elohim in Hebrew. "Elohim",
derived from the Hebrew word "El", was a somewhat generic word
for God. As various
distortions of Elohim worship emerged over time on earth, the word
"Elohim" was incorporated into pagan worship of other so-called
gods. The
Bible doesn't leave us with a generic Elohim.
It provides further revelation of who He really is, as seen in the
following Hebrew terms. Adonai
Elohim (the LORD God – Genesis 2:4) Adonai
Avinu (the LORD our Father – Isaiah 64:8) El
Echad (the one God – Malachi 2:10) El
Hanne'eman (the faithful God – Deuteronomy 7:9) El
Emet (the God of Truth – Psalms 31:5) El
Tsaddik (the righteous God – Isaiah 45:21) El
Shaddai (the all sufficient God or breasted one – Genesis 17:1) El
Elyon (the Most High God – Genesis 14:20) El
Olam (the everlasting God – Genesis 21:33) El
Roi (the God who sees me – Genesis 16:13) El
Gibbor (the mighty God – Isaiah 9:6) El
Deot (the God of knowledge – 1 Samuel 2:3) El
Haggadol (the great God – Deuteronomy 10:17) El
Hakkadosh (the Holy God – Isaiah 5:16) El
Hashymayim (the God of the heavens – Psalm 126:36) El
Chaiyai (the God of my life – Psalm 42:8) El
Channun (the gracious God – Jonah 4:2) El
Yisrael (the God of El
Sali (the God of my strength – Psalm 42:9) El
Erekh Apayim avi ha-tanchumim (the God of patience and consolation –
Isaiah 57:18) El
Rachum (the God of compassion – Deuteronomy 4:31) El
Yeshuati (the God of my salvation – Isaiah 12:2) El
Yeshuatenu (the God of our salvation – Psalm 68:19) El-Kenno (the
jealous God – Exodus 20:5) El
Hannora (the awesome God – Nehemiah 9:32) Immanuel (God is with us –
Isaiah 7:14) Elohei
(God who is near – Jeremiah 23:23) Elohei
Marom (God of heights – Micah 6:6) Elohei
Mispat (God who is just – Isaiah 30:18) I
could add more, but I think you get my point.
The revelation of Elohim progresses far beyond Genesis 1:1. The
Hebrew word Adonai is one of the most used words associated with Elohim in
the Old Testament. "Adonai"
means "lord, master, or owner".
That's why "Adonai" is translated as "LORD",
(all capital letters) in our English Bibles and is seen as "the LORD
over all lords". Here are
some Hebrew terms associated with "Adonai". Adonai
Yireh (the LORD who sees – Genesis 22:14) Adonai
Nissi (the LORD my miracle – Exodus 17:15) Adonai Osenu (the LORD our
Maker – Psalm 95:5) Adonai Tseva'ot (the LORD of armies – 1 Samuel
1:11) Adonai Eloheikhem (the LORD God - Leviticus 19:3)
Adonai Sal'i (the LORD my rock – Psalm 18:2)
A
significant event took place in human history when Moses enquired of
Elohim His name. (Exodus 3:14) Elohim
answered by saying, "I AM who I AM". (ehyeh-asher-ehyeh"
– in Hebrew – from "hayah hayah" meaning, "to be or
will be") "I
AM" tells us that Elohim lives in the eternal present, outside of
what we know as time. He
exists in the past, present, and future, all at once.
All things that are or ever will be exist because "Yahweh
is". Moses now had a
personal name to the face of Elohim. He
understood Yahweh to be "Hashem", Hebrew for the sacred name –
Leviticus 24:11. It
should be obvious. Elohim has
left us with a very clear Biblical picture of who He is. There
shouldn't be any confusion, but there is to the Biblically illiterate.
The
most important revelation of God took place when on the behalf of Yahweh,
an angel told a young lady that the Holy Spirit would overshadow her,
causing her to conceive and give birth to a son.
Back then fathers named their children, so the angel told Mary that
Yahweh wanted her to name His Son "Jesus" since He'd be called
the "Son of the Most High". (Luke 1:31 - 34)
Whether you call Him Jesus in English, Iesous in Greek, or
Yehowshuwa in Hebrew, His name means "Yahweh is salvation" who
would be embodied in a human being from the womb of Mary. Besides
Jesus being Yahweh in human form, He was given two titles.
As Lord, He is supreme over all things spiritual, physical, or any
other realm that may exist. He
has no rivals or competition, and has the last word in all things.
As Christ, He alone provides us with all aspects of salvation,
including reconciliation to Yahweh. Hebrews
1:3 says that Jesus "is the exact representation of His (Yahweh's)
being". Revelation 1:8
quotes Jesus to say; "I am the Alpha and Omega, says the Lord God,
who is, who was, and who is to come. The Almighty".
Jesus is "the exact representation of Yahweh".
The words "who is, who was, and who is to come, is what the
name "Yahweh" means. Jesus
is "the Lord God Almighty", words only attributed to God (El
Gibbor - the Mighty God and El Elyon - the Most High) in the Hebrew Bible.
There's no doubt, Jesus is the
Elohim of Genesis 1:1. No
other revelation of Elohim is needed beyond the revelation seen in the
Lord Jesus Christ. No one
could possibly trump this revelation; certainly not Mohammed, Joseph
Smith, or anyone else.
No
other religion or philosophy views Jesus as Elohim in human flesh.
No other religion or philosophy views Elohim as Jesus.
There's no logic in fusing Allah of the Koran with Yahweh of the
Bible. Yahweh isn't Allah, and
Allah isn't Yahweh. It makes
no Biblical sense for a North American Christian Native to revert back to
the original revelation of Elohim being Creator unless there is a clearly
stated acknowledgement that the Creator is in fact the Lord Jesus Christ.
To incorporate new age philosophy into Christian theology distorts
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We need to take the Biblical record seriously and obey the command.
"I am the LORD (Yahweh) your God (Elohim) … you shall have
no other gods besides me". (Exodus 20:1- 2) Our
present day attempts to add, subtract, or change, the Biblical revelation
of Elohim is no different than the attempts by the Antinomian Gnostics in
Peter's day to make Jesus into an angel.
We should vigorously refute these heretical attempts as we stand
firm on the Biblical revelation of who Elohim really is.
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