WHO IS THE GOD OF THE BIBLE?
The God of the Bible, when He gave an appearance to mankind, is identified by the phrase: “The Angel of the LORD.”
Moses encountered “the Angel of the LORD, that is God Himself, for we read, “And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, ‘I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.’ So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then He said, ‘Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.’ Moreover He said, ‘I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God” (Exodus 3:2-6). Whenever one sees the phrase the Angel of the LORD, it always means the LORD Himself, the very God appearing to man, the very Angel of the LORD.
To see an angel of the LORD is to see not God but another angelic being. When God appeared to man, He had the appearance of a Man, “Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the wine-press, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!’ Gideon said to Him, “O my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.’ Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?’ So he said to Him, ‘O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.’ Then he said to Him, ‘If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me. Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You.’ And He said, ‘I will wait until you come back.’ So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them. The Angel of the LORD said to him, ‘Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.’ And he did so. Then the Angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord. So Gideon said, ‘Alas, O Lord God! For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die’” (Judges 6:11-23).
What does it mean that God is the 'LORD of hosts'?
“Host” can refer to either an army or a great number or multitude. The word “LORD” with every letter capitalized, represents YHWH, called today the Tetragrammaton, with the one vowel and only vowel “a”, as found in earliest proto-Hebrew, during the time of Moses, and therefore, we have His name “YAHAWAH,” which means “I AM Ever-present.” The word “hosts” is a translation of the Hebrew word sabaoth, meaning “armies,” a reference to the angelic armies of Heaven. Adonai Tzvaot, the “Lord of Hosts,” is one of the descriptive phrases of God, used 235 times in the Bible. The first time it appears is in the story of Hannah and her husband Elkanah, in Hannah’s struggle with barrenness. Hannah is the first person to call God by this name. The literal meaning in Hebrew is “Lord of armies”: Tzava is the word for army. Tzavaot is the plural form for Armies.
ARMIES OF ANGELS
One of the passages of Scripture that so well paints this picture Tzavaot of the unseen reality for us is found in 2 Kings chapter 6. The prophet Elisha knows very well that they are surrounded by unseen warriors, but his servant was more focused on the vast Syrian army right in front of them… When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. ‘Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?’ the servant asked. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ the prophet answered. ‘Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ And Elisha prayed, ‘Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.’ Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, ‘Strike this army with blindness.’ So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked. Elisha told them, ‘This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for.’ And he led them to Samaria. After they entered the city, Elisha said, ‘LORD, open the eyes of these men so they can see.’ Then the LORD opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria. When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, ‘Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?’ ‘Do not kill them,’ he answered. “Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master.” So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel’s territory.” In this passage we can see a few important points.
One, of course, is the numerical multitude of the resources at God’s disposal. The key verse being “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them”.
We as Nazareans regard all appearances of God in the Hebrew Scriptures, what many call the “Old Testament,” as Christophanies, which are manifestations of the Son of God, the Christ, who is Israel’s Messiah and one and only God. No one has seen God {The Father} at any time. The only begotten Son (our God YAHSHUA), who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him (John 1:18). YAHSHUA said, “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form” (John 5:37). Therefore, we, as human beings, have never seen, encountered, or heard the voice of the Father except through and by YAHSHUA, (who is “YAH ever-present” in the Old Testament). The Father did indeed testify to the Son, but always through the Son, at the occasion of His baptism by John the baptist, and at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8).
“Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
‘For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song;
He also has become my salvation’” (Isaiah 12:2 NKJV).
Angels are Heavenly beings, which pertains to all spiritual beings in Heaven. We get the term angel from the Greek word “angelos, however, the Hebrew term is “malak,” which means, “messengers.”
Psalm 148, HALLELUYAH!
HALLELUYAH from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights!
Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts!
Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all you stars of light!
Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and you waters above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of YAH, For He commanded and they were created.
He also established them forever and ever; He made a decree which shall not pass away.
HALLELUYAH from the earth, you great sea creatures and in all the depths; Fire and hail, snow and clouds; Stormy wind, fulfilling His word; Mountains and all hills; Fruitful trees and all cedars; beasts and all cattle; creeping things and flying fowl; kings of the earth and all peoples; princes and all judges of the earth; both young men and maidens; old men and children. Let them praise the name of YAH, For His name alone is exalted;
His glory is above the earth and heaven. And He has exalted the horn of His people,
The praise of all His saints—Of the children of Israel, A people near to Him.
Halleluyah (Praise YAH)!
Angels, or better stated angelic beings, are of different types with different functions. They are described as spirits. There are the heavenly sons of God, the Elohim (Psalm 82), and there are the messengers, known as cherubim, and there are those angelic beings who serve the Heavenly court known as seraphim. The heavenly sons of God, the Elohim, are a creative force in the Universe (Genesis 1:1), as man is in the image of the Elohim, the sons of God (Genesis 1:26), and man is also creative, however, these sons of God are of Heaven (Job 38:4-7). Sons of God from Heaven can and have materialized into human physical form indistinguishable from the earthly sons of Adam (Genesis 6). And it is written: “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels” (Hebrews 13:2). Only the sons of God can materialize into human form, as the cherubim and seraphim were never given that power. All angels are personal beings. YAH is the Son of God, as Adam was a son of God till he fell in sin by disobedience (Luke 3:38). So cherubim at best can appear to man as ethereal. “And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). Satan cannot appear in physical form, as only the sons of God may do so.
The Father of our God, YAH, gave all things to Him at the time of the angelic rebellion in Heaven. For a high ranking cherub known by the Hebrew name “Heylel,” who became known as “Satan” (which means “Adversary”), against the Most High Son of God, YAH. For what is said of Satan in the Bible, here called “Lucifer,” “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High’” (Isaiah 12:12-14).
Satan, like any angelic demon, can spiritually possess a human being, as Satan possessed the king of Tyre, we read, “Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God: ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. ‘Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you. ‘You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading; therefore I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; you have become a horror, and shall be no more forever’” (Ezekiel 28:11-19).
Satan convinced a third of the host of Heaven to follow his egalitarian argument (Revelation 12:3-4), which is to be equal with the Most High YAH, and therefore, the Father Exalted His preeminent Son Above the angels, and remember Satan as a cherub of the cherubim is not a son of God, but an angel, and it is written: “For to which of the angels [cherubim] did He ever say: ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You’? And again: ‘I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son’? But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: ‘Let all the angels of God worship Him.’ And of the angels He says: ‘Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire.’ But to the Son He says: ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.” And the Father continues speaking about the Son.
“And: ‘You, Lord {YHWH, for this is the name of the son of God in the Bible}, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands’” (Hebrews 1:5-10).
“YAH, our Savior, the Son of God, indeed our LORD, “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome...” (Deuteronomy 10:17).
“He {YAHSHUA} is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him {YAHSHUA} 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 He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.”
The World is Reconciled Only by the Messiah of Israel
“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made shalom (peace) through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister” (Colossians 1:15-23).
The above describes the birth of YAH upon the earth as the first born over all creation, for YAH becomes the only begotten Son of God at His birth, but He was and is the Son of God from all eternity, and His Kingdom will never end. He is the only begotten Son at His birth on earth. YAH at His birth is given the name of YAHSHUA because He will save His people (Matthew 1:21). As it is written: “that YAHSHUA said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM’” (John 8:58). In English this statement may not be clear, but in Hebrew it was very clear that He was claiming to be the “I AM,” that is YAH of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), indeed that He is the God of Israel. And all this is to the glory of His God and Father, who gave all things to Him, YAHSHUA the Son of God. The work of YAH our God, which was given to Him by His God and Father, is to destroy the sinful rebellion of Satan and of fallen angels specifically those “sons of God” and “the cherubim,” and all unrepentant sinners, for without repentance in YAHSHUA we have no hope; “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He {YAHSHUA} must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For He {The Father} has put all things under His feet. ‘But when He says ‘all things are put under Him,’it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:20-28). YAH, the Son of God, claimed to be the only God for us, as the Father gave all things to Him especially for the work of cleansing and making us pure without sin to be presented to His God and Father, at that point, YAHSHUA becomes subject to the Father, even though He was always subject to the Father, but the Son of God ruled supremely as our only God. We through the Messiah are His body, the Church as the Father Abba is our God who is all in all.
When YAHSHUA told the Jews that He was and is the “I AM”, which means YAH, He was revealing His identity to them. That in fact He was their God as revealed to them in their Holy Scriptures. Deuteronomy 6:4, the Shema of Israel, “Hear, O Israel: YAHAWAH our God, YAHAWAH is one!” The Shema is for YAH, the Son of God, only. He emphatically told them, that He existed, not just in Word, but in actuality as a Person, indeed the very Son of God, as He is the sole God of Israel. The Son of God is known in the Old Testament as YAH-ever-present YAHAWAH, and in the New Testament He is known as the Savior “YAH-Saves”, that is “YAHSHUA.” For all those who reject Him as well as His name, YAHSHUA said, “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:38-40). The Person of God and His name are of equal importance, for you cannot reject one without rejecting the other. In other words, you cannot reject the name of the Savior without rejecting the Person of the Savior. The name of God was revealed to Moses. “Then Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?’ And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM’ {HAYAH ASHAR HAYAH} And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM {YAH} has sent me to you.’ Moreover God said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations’” (Exodus 3:13-15). YAH, who is ever-present, said that this name YAH is His name forever to all generations. Jehovah is not the name of God, for the name Jehovah is a concoction of the vowels of Eloah [e-o-e], Eloah means “God,” as these vowels [e-o-a] placed onto the Tetragrammaton YHWH, which when pronounced with the letter J becomes Jehovah, as the letter J has only been in the English alphabet since the 17th century. The name Jehovah was never revealed by God but is of the tradition of men. Starting in 605 BC, the Jews hid the name of God from the Gentiles. In 1100 AD, the Jews placed vowels from mainly three different words, Adonai, Eloah, or Elohim onto YHWH, which was done to remind the reader in the synagogue not to pronounce the name of God, but to say, “Adonai” instead, as “Adonai” is a title meaning Lord. Around 1200 AD, Raymondus Martini, who is remembered for his polemic work found in his book “Pugio Fidei” (c. 1270), and in this book he used the name Iehova for God’s name. He saw the Hebrew vowel points on the Tetragrammaton found in the Hebrew Scriptures absconded from Jewish synagogues, and he thought the name was Iehovah. Later in 1520, a man by the name of Peter Galatinus, Confessor to Pope Leo X, also noted the vowels placed onto the Tetragrammaton, and not knowing the Jewish practice, he thought he had found the true name of God. Through the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church mankind was saddled with false names for God, Jehovah and Jesus. The true name is YAH, as in YHWH, literally YAHAWAH, which means “YAH-ever-present,” and YAH-Saves, YAHSHUA.
Our Savior YAH, the Son of God, is the one speaking here, “I am the Lord {literally YHWH}, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images” (Isaiah 42:8). When the Father and God of our Lord and Savior gave all things to Him, this made our Savior our God, and He has the right to claim it. Therefore, our God YAH, said, “There Is No Other God!” “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God. And who can proclaim as I do? Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me, since I appointed the ancient people. And the things that are coming and shall come, let them show these to them. Do not fear, nor be afraid; Have I not told you from that time, and declared it You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one’” (Isaiah 44:6-8). The apostle Paul made it very clear who the Rock was and is, for he writes, “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 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” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4).
Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
Extol Him who rides on the clouds,
By His name Yah,
And rejoice before Him (Psalm 68:4 NKJV).
“The names of Jehovah and Jesus are of the traditions of men, and not from God, nor ever reveal by God, and therefore, these names are not recognized by God. Nor to be recognized by His people. The essence of the Gospel is this:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:16-19).
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4). God has revealed the name of salvation and there can be no other name, as testified by the apostle Peter “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” No other name but YAHSHUA.
Since by man the name Jesus and Jehovah were placed into Holy Writ erroneously as recently in the 17th century, consequently by right and by the revelation of God, the revealed name of YAHSHUA must needs be restored in the New Testament. There are, of course, those who abide by the traditions of men, and they would say, “This sounds like a semantic issue, as each language clearly has a different name for the Savior, and it seems legalistic to insist on a name for the Savior.” And yet the Gospel would disagree with this position, for we read, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of YAHSHUA 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 YAHSHUA the Messiah is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of YAHSHUA 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 YAHSHUA Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”
