One God & One Lord

This is an update to the previous entry, Was Jesus Omniscient?

Someone responded that Jesus had to be God manifest in the flesh because he could read the thoughts of men. This person quoted the following verses as proof texts:

• Matthew 9:3-4
  (3)  And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This fellow blasphemes.”
  (4)  And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?
• Luke 11:17
  (17)  But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls.
• John 1:47
  (47)  Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and *said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”

To study and learn and know the word of God is to grow in wisdom. Here is a word of wisdom from Psalms 12:5:

The thoughts of the righteous are just, But the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.

Are there other examples in scripture of righteous men “knowing the thoughts” of other men? Yes.

• Job said he did:
  Job 21:27
  (27)  “Behold, I know your thoughts, And the plans by which you would wrong me.”
• David knew the thoughts of his enemies:
  Psalms 56:5
  (5)  All day long they distort my words; All their thoughts are against me for evil.
• God revealed to Daniel what the thoughts of Nebuchadnezzar were:
  Daniel 2:29
  (29)  “As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts turned to what would take place in the future; and He who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will take place.

Therefore, Jesus knowing the thoughts of others, that there was evil or deceit in their thoughts or hearts, is not unusual among the righteous men and prophets of God.

As a defense of the deity of Christ, trinitarians cite certain verses as demonstrations that Jesus was indeed omniscient. He knew of a certain coin that would be in a fish’s mouth before the fish was caught (Matthew 17:27), he knew specific details about the life of a woman he had not previously met (John 4:16-19), and he knew the very thoughts of others (Matthew 9:4). However, these were not unique abilities to be attributed only to the omniscient Almighty God. Well, actually they are, but it doesn’t have to mean that it is “God in the flesh” demonstrating this knowledge. Rather, it is through special equipping by God that men can know such things.

We will look first at 1 Samuel chapter 9. A prophet (”man of God,” 1 Samuel 9:6) was called a “seer” in those days (1 Samuel 9:9). It was expected that the seer/prophet would know everything about the person who consulted him. That is, indeed, why seers were sought out. Here are examples from 1 Samuel 9:

• 1 Samuel 9:6 NASB - He said to him, “Behold now, there is a man of God in this city, and the man is held in honor, all that he says surely comes true. Now let us go there, perhaps he can tell us about our journey on which we have set out.
• 1 Samuel 9:19 NASB - Samuel answered Saul and said, “I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for you shall eat with me today; and in the morning I will let you go, and will tell you all that is on your mind.”
• 1 Samuel 9:20a NASB - “As for your donkeys which were lost three days ago, do not set your mind on them, for they have been found.”

Now lets compare what we know about the seer/prophet/man of God from 1 Samuel 9 with some passages about Jesus.

In John 4:17-18, Jesus reveals to the Samaritan woman at the well that he knows about her past and present life, her having had five husbands and that the man she now has is not her husband. Her reaction is, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet” (John 4:19). Then in verse 25 the woman tells Jesus of her expectation of the Messiah, who “will declare all things to us.” Jesus responded in verse 26, “I who speak to you am he.”

• John 4:29 NASB - “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”

One does not have to be God to know the hearts and intentions of man, they need only be a “man of God,” a prophet. Look at Luke 7:39 -

• Luke 7:39-40a NASB - Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet he would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.” And Jesus answered him…

From 1 Samuel chapter 10 we can see an example of a prophet telling someone specifically what they will see and do later that day.

• 1 Samuel 10:2-5 NASB  (Samuel speaking to Saul)—
  “When you go from me today, then you will find two men close to Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys which you went to look for have been found. Now behold, your father has ceased to be concerned about the donkeys and is anxious for you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?”‘
  “Then you will go on further from there, and you will come as far as the oak of Tabor, and there three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a jug of wine; and they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from their hand.
  “Afterward you will come to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is; and it shall be as soon as you have come there to the city, that you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and a lyre before them, and they will be prophesying.”

Stating matter-of-factly what will take place is what prophets of God do. One does not have to be God to know such things.

• Matthew 21:2-3 NASB - [Jesus sent two disciples,]  saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me.”If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”

• Mark 11:5-6 NASB -  Some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission.

These demonstrations of knowledge do not prove that Jesus is God in the flesh any more than they prove that the prophet Samuel was God in the flesh.

See also Mark 1:1-10, Luke 6:8, Luke 11:17, Luke 19:29-38, John 2:24-25, John 13:11, Hebrews 1:1-2.

Many Old Testament (OT) prophets wrote of a future “last days.” New Testament (NT) writers confirmed that they were in the generation of the “last days” that the OT prophets wrote about. The most direct identification being in Acts 2 and Hebrews 1. In Acts 2:16-17, Peter describes what was happening, saying “this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel.” He then quotes the prophet Joel, saying “And it shall be in the last days that I will pour forth of my spirit on all mankind… .” In Hebrews 1:2, the writer states that “in these last days [God] has spoken to us in His Son… .”

So the “last days” cannot be the last days of the church or the “church age,” regardless of how long one may believe the “last days” last, because the church was just starting in NT times, not ending or entering a “last days” period! Therefore, the “last days” had to refer to the ending of something that was already begun and had been around before NT times.

The “last days” prophecies refer to the ending of the old covenant and its temple and worship system. The last days of the physical shadows which pointed to the spiritual reality inaugurated by the Messiah Jesus: the new covenant of God’s law being “written on our heart” (Jeremiah 31:31-33, Hebrews 10:15-20) and our worship of God being “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24).

The NT tells us that the Law was taken out of the way by the death of Christ (Colossians 2:14, Ephesians 2:15), that the old covenant was obsolete and ready to disappear (Hebrews 8:13). Eventually, the whole physical system of old covenant worship would finally be destroyed with the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

Every once in a while you’ll hear someone talk about the curse that God placed on the ground in Genesis 3:17 -

• Genesis 3:17 NASB
  (17) Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.

Some are even convinced that the ground is still cursed today. But I’m not convinced of that. The following scriptures indicate that the ground is no longer cursed, that the Flood cleansed the earth and removed the curse.

• Genesis 8:20-22 NASB
  (20) Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
  (21) The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.
  (22) “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.”
  

If the ground is still cursed, what is the point of God saying that He will never curse the ground again… unless the curse had been reversed with the Flood?

Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD (Genesis 6:8). Since Noah and his family were the only ones saved through the flood, it would not make sense that God would send him out to freshly populate (Genesis 9:1) a cursed earth.

God brought the flood to destroy all of mankind “with the earth” (Genesis 6:13), so in God’s eyes it was a new (or at least a cleansed) earth onto which Noah stepped from the Ark.

Lamech, Noah’s father, prophecied of God’s plan for Noah when Noah was born and Lamech named him:

• Genesis 5:29 NASB
  (29) Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed.”

The curse of the ground was cleansed from the earth by the Flood, after which God promised to never curse the ground on account of man again. God promised that as long as the earth remains, there shall always be seedtime and harvest. Yes, thorns and thistles still grow, but they do not prevent man from cultivating the land and producing crops.

I don’t believe that the ground is still cursed.

When we are taught something since childhood, or even for very many years, it becomes difficult to see any other meaning besides that which we were taught. Such is the case with verses like Matthew 1:23 -

• Matthew 1:23 NASB
  (23) “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.”

Most Christians have been trained to read this verse and imagine that it means that Jesus is God himself, come to be with them. However, if we let scripture interpret scripture, we shall discover the true meaning of this verse.

In the New American Standard Bible translation, when you encounter all capital letters in a New Testament text, it means that the translators have determined that the capitalized text is a quotation from the Old Testament. In the case of Matthew 1:23, the quotation is from Isaiah 7:14 -

• Isaiah 7:14 NASB
  (14) “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.

Let’s look first at a little more context for Matthew 1:23 -

• Matthew 1:21-23 NASB
  (21) “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
  (22) Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
  (23) “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.”

In Matthew 1:21 we see that Jesus (which means “YHWH saves”) would save his people, the people of Israel, from their sins. The birth of this holy child, who would be called the Son of God, was a sign to the people that God was “with them,” as opposed to being against them.

When God, through His prophets, instructs what to name a child, or when God gives someone a new name, that name always has prophetic meaning. The prophecy may involve the named person or child directly, such as in the name Jesus, through whom God indeed would save; or changing Abram to Abraham, which changed the meaning of his name from “high father” to “father of a multitude”:

• Genesis 17:5 NASB
  (5) “No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

An example of a name given that does not involve the child himself but signifies to others a promise or prophecy of God is in Isaiah 8:3-4 -

• Isaiah 8:3-4 NASB
  (3) So I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the LORD said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz;
  (4) for before the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

The Hebrew name in Isaiah 8:3 is rendered in the Jewish Targum as “hasten to seize the prey, and to take away the spoil.”

Even in the context of Isaiah 7:14 itself, we see the same thing: that of the name given to the child meant as a sign to the people of what God would do:

• Isaiah 7:14-16 NASB
  (14) “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.
  (15) “He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good.
  (16) “For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.

God would be with His people by desolating the land of their enemies.

God encourages His people by telling them that He is with them:

• Joshua 1:9 NASB
  (9) “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
• 1 Samuel 10:7 NASB
  (7) “It shall be when these signs come to you, do for yourself what the occasion requires, for God is with you.
• 1 Chronicles 17:2 NASB
  (2) Then Nathan said to David, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.”
• 2 Chronicles 13:12 NASB
  (12) “Now behold, God is with us at our head and His priests with the signal trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the LORD God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”
• Psalms 14:5 NASB
  (5) There they are in great dread, For God is with the righteous generation.
• Isaiah 8:10 NASB
  (10) “Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; State a proposal, but it will not stand, For God is with us.”
• Zechariah 8:23 NASB
  (23) “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”‘”
• John 3:2 NASB
  (2) this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

“God is with you” or “God is with us” means that He is with the people in plan and purpose. He is “for them.”

• Romans 8:31 NASB
  (31) What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

When we choose to follow Jesus, the one whom God has sent, then we are involved in the plan and purpose of God and surely God is with us.

• John 6:29 NASB
  (29) Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
• John 17:3 NASB
  (3) “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

• Luke 16:16-17 NASB
  (16) “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.
  (17) “But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.

Verse 17 speaks of the difficulty, the unwillingness, of the Jews to depart from the Law to which they were married and enter the kingdom of God, the very thing to which the Law and the Prophets pointed: the coming of the Messiah, ushering in the kingdom of God. Jesus here was addressing the Pharisees specifically, who John tells us are “lovers of money” (Luke 16:14).

“But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away” is an exageration to mark the difficulty the Jews would have. Jesus here is basically saying the same thing that he said in Luke 18:

• Luke 18:24-25 NASB
  (24) And Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!
  (25) “For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

“For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle…”
“But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away…”

Both describe the difficulty of leaving one and entering another.

Note also that in Luke 16, Jesus follows up with a word about divorce and adultery:

• Luke 16:18 NASB
  (18) “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.

Every transgression is a betrayal of the Law; unfaithfulness to it and dishonoring to God. (See Romans 2:23-25, James 2:10.)

Likewise, he also follows up the same in Luke 18 with a word about leaving things (divorcing) to follow him (enter the kingdom):

• Luke 18:28-30 NASB
  (28) Peter said, “Behold, we have left our own homes and followed You.”
  (29) And He said to them, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,
  (30) who will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life.”

The old must be completely left behind in order to fully embrace the new. They cannot be mixed without disaster:

• Matthew 9:16-17 NASB
  (16) “But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results.
  (17) “Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

And to leave the old only to long for it and turn back to it is equally as disastrous:

• Luke 9:62 NASB
  (62) But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

• 2 Peter 2:20-22 NASB
  (20) For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
  (21) For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.
  (22) It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

For Jews, it was life under the Law that they had to choose to leave and follow Christ. For Gentiles, it is life in the world, a life ruled by the desires of the flesh. Both are wide paths to condemnation. Only in Christ, the narrow path to Life, can we be redeemed from the sins committed in the past. And all of us have sinned, there is no denying it.

• Romans 3:23 NASB
  (23) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

• 1 John 1:8 NASB
  (8) If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Do you want your old sins forgiven and forgotten? Do you want the power to deny the temptations of the world and of your flesh, the power to live righteously in this life?

• Titus 2:11-14 NASB
  (11) For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
  (12) instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,
  (13) looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,
  (14) who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

Do you want the promise of eternal life?

• John 3:16 NASB
  (16) “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

• John 14:6 NASB
  (6) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

If you are a Jew following the Law of Moses, do not turn your back on your Messiah, sent to you by God the Father. Read his words for yourself; let him speak to your mind and to your heart. If you are not a Jew, but just someone wondering about God, if he exists, pick up a Bible and start reading. The words of Jesus, who proclaimed the very words of life given to him by God, are contained in the four gospel records: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Read and pray. Ask God to lead you to the truth.

Jesus said that if you continue to learn about him through his word, if you believe him and follow him, then you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free (John 8:31-32).

1 John 2:19 is a verse often used by proponents of OSAS (Once Saved, Always Saved) to show that the truly regenerated will never depart from the faith. In other words, if they fall away, they were never saved to begin with. However, 1 John 2:19 is not about salvation security at all. What is it really about then? Let’s find out.

• 1 John 2:18-19
  18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.
  19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.
  

Who went out from them? Verse 19 states that “they” went out from them. Who are “they”? Verse 18 provides the answer: Antichrists. Who are antichrists? Those who deny that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

• 1 John 2:22 - Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.

Why did they go out from them? “So that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”

John is the only one who writes of “antichrists.” These are the same ones that Matthew, Mark, and Luke write about: false prophets. Antichrist is John’s word for a false prophet. He says as much himself:

• 1 John 4:1-3
  1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
  2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;
  3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.
  

In 1 John 2:19, these were not mere “false conversions” dropping away from the flock, these were false prophets speaking lies and convincing disciples to follow after them.

• Matthew 7:15 - “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
  

• Acts 20:29-30
  29 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
  30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
  

How many “church splits” over the centuries have these false prophets, these ravenous wolves, these antichrists, been responsible for, taking gullible disciples along with them and forming new denominations?