Many Christians try to distinguish the God of the Old Testament from
the person of Jesus Christ. Yet your Bible shows that Jesus Christ,
who pre-existed with God the Father from eternity, was the One who
spoke to Abraham and Moses and gave the Ten Commandments!
Most religious scholars and commentaries know the clear scriptures we
will be discussing in this article. They are aware of what a number of
biblical passages make very clear. But most of them avoid these
scriptures like the plague! Or, on the other hand, they may do a
little verbal "dance" around them—touching on them in their technical
commentaries—but then gliding on to "safer" subjects without fully
explaining them one way or the other.
WHY?
Why should professing Christian leaders be afraid of the fact that the
One who became Jesus Christ pre-existed with God the Father from
eternity? That He was the God of the Old Testament—the God
who spoke to Abraham and Moses—the God of David, the One who actually
spoke the Ten Commandments? Why be fearful of these clear
biblical teachings?
We will explain the dark origins of this fear later on. But first, we
need to understand the genuine origin of Jesus Christ—the One who died
for our sins. Who was Jesus Christ, really? Where
did He come from? Why is His life so valuable as to
constitute a payment for all of our lives—BILLIONS of us—put together?
The truth about this topic is very important to
understand. And it is truly inspiring!
The Origins of Jesus Christ
The Apostle John makes it clear that the One who became Jesus Christ
existed from eternity: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made
that was made" (John 1:1-3).
Here John points out that the Word—the Logos or Spokesman—had been
with God from the beginning. He was the creative agent—acting for God
the Father in making everything that is. Later: "He was in the world,
and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He
came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as
received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to
those who believe in His name" (vv. 10-12).
In several scriptures the inspired Apostle Paul makes the same point.
In Colossians 1:15-16, Paul speaks of Jesus Christ: "He is the image
of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all
things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible
and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or
powers. All things were created through Him and for Him." And the book
of Hebrews tells us that God, "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" (Hebrews 1:2). And again, "But to the Son He says:
'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of Your Kingdom'" (v. 8). And finally, "You, Lord, in
the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are
the work of Your hands" (v. 10).
Note that in verse 8 above, Christ is addressed, "O GOD." He is
described as the One who "made the worlds" (v. 2) and who "laid the
foundation of the earth" (v. 10). There is absolutely no indication
that any of these verses written by Paul or by John were "poetic" or
metaphorical! They simply state the fact that the Personality who
became Jesus Christ was "in the beginning" with the Father, that He
was the "Word" or Spokesman for the Father and that ALL things were
directly created through Him, Jesus Christ!
How did all this come about?
Turning to Genesis 1:1, we read, "In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth." All scholars know that the Hebrew word here
translated God is "Elohim," a plural noun—like church or
family—one family, several members. And now notice Genesis 1:26, "Then
God 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.'"
Note that God said, "Let US make man in OUR image." So the Father and
the Logos or "Word"—who later was born as Jesus of Nazareth—were both
included here. Acting for the One we call God the "Father,"
the One who became Jesus Christ was used by the Father from the
beginning in dealing with mankind.
We see this also in Genesis 18. Here the Logos appeared to Abraham. He
did NOT appear in His full glory in dealing with Abraham, Moses and
others, but more in human form—yet apparently with a "difference" so
that Abraham recognized that he was dealing with the "Lord" (vv. 3,
27). After the Lord had explained to Abraham His desire to destroy
Sodom and Gomorrah because of their perverted sins, Abraham asked,
"Shall not the JUDGE of all the earth do right?" (v. 25).
Here Abraham was certainly dealing with the One who became Jesus
Christ! For Christ Himself revealed later, "For the Father judges
no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son" (John 5:22).
Abraham was certainly NOT dealing with God the Father. For the
inspired Word also tells us, "NO ONE has seen God at any time" (John
1:18).
Jesus Himself said: "'Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and
he saw it and was glad.' Then the Jews said to Him, 'You are not yet
fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?' Jesus said to them, 'Most
assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM'" (John 8:56-58).
The Jews recognized that the expression "I AM" referred to the God of
Israel. They thought that Jesus was both lying and blaspheming. So
"then they took up stones to throw at him" (v. 59). These Jews were
BLINDED to the fact that the Personality who became Jesus was, in
fact, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel! They were standing right
there talking to the One who was their God! And they did not
know it.
Christ WAS the "God of Israel"
In Matthew 22:42-45, Jesus challenged the religious leaders: "'What do
you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?' They said to Him, 'The
Son of David.' He said to them, 'How then does David in the Spirit
call Him "Lord," saying: "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at My right
hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool'"? 'If David then calls
Him "Lord," how is He his Son?'" The Pharisees were not able to
answer. For they knew that King David of Israel certainly had no
human "lord." This scripture had to be describing two
personalities in God's Family—one greater than the other. And, as
should be obvious to us, David's immediate "Lord"—the one who
later became Jesus of Nazareth—was told to sit at the right hand of
the Father UNTIL it was time for Him to become King of kings.
Yet the Jews had known that the coming Messiah was to be a literal
"son of David." How could this one also be David's "Lord" yet having a
still "greater" Lord telling Him what to do?
In 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, we read that ancient Israel was baptized into
Moses and they all "ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the
same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual ROCK that
followed them, and that ROCK was Christ." Again, it is clear—as a
number of commentaries acknowledge—that the spirit Personality who
dealt with ancient Israel was the One who became Christ. For, as we
have seen, Jesus said that "no one" had ever seen "God"—obviously
meaning the One we call the Father. Yet right after giving the Ten
Commandments and some of the statutes to ancient Israel, we find that
the "God of Israel" did indeed appear to some of Israel's leaders!
"Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the
elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under
His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like
the very heavens in its clarity. But on the nobles of the children of
Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and
drank" (Exodus 24:9-11). So more than 70 of the leaders of Israel "SAW
the God of Israel." Could anything be more clear?
It was the One who became Jesus Christ who literally walked and talked
with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He was the One who
dealt directly with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He was the One
who spoke "face to face" with Moses (Numbers 12:8). He was
the One who spoke the Ten Commandments from the top of Mount Sinai!
WHY Is This Truth So Seldom Acknowledged?
When you understand that last sentence in the paragraph above, you can
begin to grasp why so many professing priests and ministers shy away
from explaining the real origin of Jesus Christ. For they have nearly
all been taught that the Ten Commandments were a product of some harsh
"God of the Old Testament" and that Jesus somehow "knew better" than
His Father. In many cases they say, instead, that somehow the Apostle
Paul "knew better" than either Jesus or the Father—and that
he did away with God's law, the Ten Commandments.
These misguided men may be sincere. But they are "blinded"
(2 Corinthians 4:3-4)—as is the WHOLE world. Remember Jesus'
instruction about most of the religious leaders of His own day: "Let
them alone. They are BLIND leaders of the blind. And if the blind
leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch" (Matthew 15:14).
It is embarrassing—to men who have been taught that the Ten
Commandments were "done away"—to admit that it was the One who became
Jesus Christ who gave the Ten Commandments in codified form to Moses.
He is the One who commanded, as an integral part of God's great
spiritual law: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days
you shall labor and do all your work, but the SEVENTH day is the
Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor
your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female
servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and
all that is in them, and rested the SEVENTH day. Therefore the Lord
blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" (Exodus 20:8-11).
Most ministers understand that God, through Christ, specifically
commanded His people to keep the seventh day—NOT just any
day. They know that during His entire human lifetime Jesus kept the
seventh-day Sabbath—the same day the other Jews were
observing! And they probably also realized that the original
Apostles kept the seventh day Sabbath. Along with scores of other
respected scholars, mainstream Protestant church Historian Jesse Lyman
Hurlbut acknowledges: "As long as the church was mainly Jewish, the
Hebrew sabbath was kept" (The Story of the Christian Church,
p. 45).
Again, most ministers understand that the inspired writer of Hebrews
tells us, "Jesus Christ is the SAME yesterday, today, and forever"
(Hebrews 13:8). And they know that neither Christ nor the Apostles
ever attempted to "do away" with the biblical Sabbath. If they had
made such an attempt to overthrow such a MAJOR precept coming from the
very hand of God, the Jews surrounding them would have rioted,
persecuted them unmercifully, NOT allowed them to continue worshipping
in the temple as they did for many years, and would quickly have
proclaimed them heretics and LAWLESS. The enormous UPHEAVAL
that would have ensued from such an action would have made the Jewish
upset over circumcision—described in Acts 15—seem like a "tea party"
by comparison!
Of course, no such change in God's great spiritual LAW was ever
discussed or instituted by Christ or the Apostles. For a quarter of a
century after the cross, and after the Holy Spirit
had come upon the early church to guide it, the original Christians
were still "zealous" for the LAW (Acts 21:20). Even the Apostle Paul
was still obedient to the spiritual law of God, the Ten Commandments.
For notice the inspired account of the instruction given by
"headquarters" Apostle James to Paul: "…this will let everyone know
there is no truth in the reports they have heard about you, and that
you too observe the Law by your way of life" (Acts 21:24, The New
Jerusalem Bible).
The Logical Consequence of This TRUTH
If all professing Christians were taught the TRUTH that the One who
became their Savior is the One who gave the Ten Commandments, perhaps
their actions would be quite different. The world would probably be a
MUCH safer place! All would realize that true Christianity is a
LAW-ABIDING religion—a WAY of life based on the great spiritual law of
God. They would learn that—although no one is suddenly
perfect, and we are commanded to GROW in Christ's character—it is
possible to follow Christ's inspired example through His Spirit within
us.
As the Apostle Paul wrote: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I
live; yet not I, but Christ LIVETH in me: and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me,
and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20, KJV). Christians would then
understand the beloved Apostle John's explanation of the very love of
God and HOW it functions: "For this is the love of God, that we KEEP
His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome"
(1 John 5:3). They would read with new understanding John's
inspired statement in Revelation 14:12: "Here is the patience of the
saints; here are those who KEEP the COMMANDMENTS of God and the faith
of Jesus."
The true Christ revealed clearly in the Bible co-existed with the
Father from eternity. He and the Father planned together the
creation of mankind. Speaking for Himself and the Father, the
Logos—who became Christ—said, "Let US make man in OUR image." About
4,000 years later, the Logos was willing to give up the indescribable
glory, power and majesty He had always shared with the Father.
As correctly translated, Paul tells us that: Christ "emptied" Himself,
then "taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of
men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and
became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the
earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:7-11).
Jesus said, "I and My Father are ONE" (John 10:30). So the One who had
been totally "one" with God—and who was GOD—"emptied Himself"
to become our Savior. Truly His life is worth more than ALL of ours
combined, because He created not only the human race, but the entire
universe as well. Having bought and paid for us by
His death on the cross, Christ now doubly "owns" us. He is
our Maker. He is our God. He is our Master.
Yet after the death of the original Apostles, a great apostasy took
over the name of "Christianity." The clear teachings and examples of
Christ and the Apostles began to be altered. The very concept of
Christ being a real "Master" began to be undone and permanently
altered. He came to be considered a "Lord" who demanded no
obedience to the very spiritual LAW—the Ten
Commandments—that He had given mankind. His clear and persistent
teaching, "If you want to enter into life, KEEP the commandments"
(Matthew 19:17), was now explained away as instruction only for the
Jews. So also were dismissed the powerful statements of the Apostle
John such as, "He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:4).
These clear statements were explained away as applying only to the
"spirit" of the law or to some "new" commandments of Jesus. But when
you study these new commandments, they are only magnifications of the
Ten Commandments, which Jesus Himself gave on Mount Sinai! And again,
"Jesus Christ is the SAME yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews
13:8).
May God help all of you who read this to UNDERSTAND and to
respond to the true Jesus Christ of the Bible. As He said, "WHY do you
call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say?" (Luke
6:46). If you really want to obey the Christ of the Bible, write us
today and request your FREE copy of our very revealing and fully
documented booklet entitled,
Which Day is the Christian Sabbath?.
We, in this publication, are involved in restoring Apostolic
Christianity, the religion which Jesus and the Apostles actually
taught and practiced. The Living Jesus Christ—the One who existed with
the Father from eternity—is the One who will guide you,
strengthen you and bless you IF you determine to
do what He says and worship Him not only as Savior, but as
Lord and Master now and forever.
