| YHWH Is ONE... Not Two, Not Three According to The Torah, The Prophets, and Yahshua The Messiah By Yochanan Mascaro According to The Torah, The Prophets and Yahshua The Messiah, YHWH is strictly one Person, not two - not three. Believers who value Yahshua as the supreme revealer of the truth of scripture should consider his powerful words, uttered in his final prayer: 3“And this is everlasting life, that they should know You, the only true Elohim, and Yahshua Messiah whom You have sent. (John 17:3). Thus Yahshua defined salvation …eternal life itself…as being centered upon the understanding that one must have belief in that One and only true Elohim - YHWH, and in himself (Yahshua) as the Messiah. It is therefore a serious hijacking of the words of Yahshua if one adds to Yahshua's own creed. For Yahshua, his Father is "the one who alone is truly Elohim, the only one who is truly Elohim, the one true Elohim." http://www.eliyah. com/thescriptures/yahushua.gif 44“How are you able to believe, when you are receiving esteem from one another, and the esteem that is from the only Elohim you do not seek? (John 5:44). 29And Yahshua answered him, “The first of all the commands is, ‘Hear, O Yisra’ el, YHWH our Elohim, YHWH is one. (Mark 12:29). Those utterances are more than clear. They are without a hint of ambiguity. Yet they have been abandoned by both a “church” bearing the name of “Jesus” just as much as they have been abandoned by Messianics and some Nazarenes who claim to possess the true faith in and of Yahshua, The Messiah. The church, for example, has for centuries since post-biblical times defined what they call “God” as three Persons. Yahshua defined YHWH Elohim as one Person, the Father. There is a very great difference. That difference calls for extensive rethinking and reform. We cannot risk fragmenting YHWH. Yahshua believed and taught strict unitary monotheism. He had never heard of the Trinity in its post Nicene Creed sense - or if he had heard of similar pagan beliefs from earlier sources - he rejected it via his reminder of the greatest commandment. So should all those who call themselves his followers. And those who argue that early Yisraelites and the scriptures really were based upon henotheism (a fancy Greek word for polytheism) are making a distinction ultimately without any difference. For while it is true that the ancient Yisraelites were routinely curious about the multiple false “deities” and practices found among the pagan nations – false “deities” and practices which Yisrael often decided to follow, it is equally true that YHWH was everywhere admonishing them through direct commandments not to follow in those false beliefs and practices. YHWH routinely admonished Yisrael with words like, “learn not the ways of the heathen” (Yermiyahu (Jeremiah) 10:2) and “when you come into the land I am giving you,... do not seek to worship how the pagans worship,... nor are you to have names of their false mighty ones on your lips” Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:38; Chps. 6, 7, 9, 11, 31) etc. So clearly, even if our carnal nature tempts us into believing that there is more than one true Elohim, ultimately YHWH Himself through His Scriptures tells us that it is not so. Centuries later, after church councils had invented iron-clad creeds and imposed them on the “faithful”, Augustine came face to face with Yahshua's definition of YHWH as the "only one who is truly Elohim (God)." What was he to do? The church by then had lost Yahshua's own creed. It propagated everywhere belief that YHWH was three Persons. That innocent sentence in John 17:3 stated that YHWH was a single Person, not three Persons. Here is Augustine's "solution." He wrote: "The proper order of the words is 'that they may know You and Jesus Christ, the only true God." (Homilies on John). One can choose to believe the words of Yahshua on this great issue, or the words of the post-biblical creeds from the likes of the so-called “early church fathers.” It is hard to see how one can have both at the same time. Following Yahshua means believing his teachings. Yahshua's teaching about how many Persons are the One true Elohim is really not difficult: "Father, …You, are the only true Elohim." (John 17:1,3) Yahshua is the Master (Adon) Messiah (Mashiach). 11“Because there was born to you today in the city of Dawid a Savior, who is Messiah, the Master.” (Luke 2:11) Compare this to Tehillim (Psalms) 110:1 110 YHWH said to my Master, “Sit at My right hand, Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” Yahshua clearly is The Son of Elohim (Matt. 4:3,6; 8:29;14:33;Luke 1:35;4:41:8: 28:22:70;Mark 1:1;3:11 John 1:34,49 etc.) Yahshua is also like the Tabernacle or Temple where YHWH agrees to place His Name (Devarim (Deut) 12:5; 14:23; 16:2,6,11; 26:2 etc.) but that did not make the Tabernacle or Temple YHWH Himself just as it does not make Yahshua YHWH Himself - the One True Elohim (Yochanan (John) 17:3). The word "one" should be clear to all. If anyone has any question about this, let him consult the thousands upon thousands of singular personal pronouns used for YHWH in the Bible. "I," "Me," "Mine," "Myself," "Thee," "Thy," "Thine," "Thyself," "He," "Him," "His," "Himself." All these words, together with YHWH's proper name (Heb: yode-hey-vav-hey) which is surrounded by singular verbs approximately 6,700 times, ought to convince the open-minded that YHWH is one Person, not more. Not two. Not three. And monotheism - belief that YHWH is one - is, according to Yahshua, of critical importance (Mark 12:29). The Torah teaches us that Yahshua The Messiah was not to be manifested as a Roman gladiator on a chariot riding down from heaven or like some Greek mythological preexistent god among the pantheon of false Greek deities. It does so because it everywhere teaches us that those patterns are not of YHWH, they are of the pagan nations. Instead, Yahshua was to be raised up from among his earthly tribesmen for it is on this earth where man must be repaired (Heb: Tikkun). The Torah also teaches us that we are not to partake of forbidden mixtures (Devarim (Deut) 22:9 Heb: kilayim) thereby reminding us of the Torah rule that like- must-beget-like according to the pattern of Creation itself. So it would be unlike YHWH’s character and pattern shown to us in His Torah to use a pattern of a God- man to repair the one whom YHWH called His earthly-red-soil-man. (Heb. lit.: adamah, red soil from where Adam – the red soil-man gets his Hebrew name). Yahshua, the Son of YHWH, is the perfect human reflection of the One true Elohim, YHWH, his Father. But he is not YHWH. However, he is to be viewed as YHWH’s single-most important representative who ever walked the face of this earth. He is the sinless second Adam through whom YHWH is restoring the first broken Adam. He is “That Prophet” who was to be raised up from the tribes of Israel. The Torah teaches us through Moshe’s own words given to him from YHWH that: 15“YHWH your Elohim shall raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brothers. Listen to Him, 16according to all you asked of YHWH your Elohim in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of YHWH my Elohim, nor let me see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 “And YHWH said to me, ‘What they have spoken is good. 18‘I shall raise up for them a Prophetu like you out of the midst of their brothers. And I shall put My Words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19‘And it shall be, the man who does not listen to My Words which He speaks in My Name, I require it of him. (Deut. 18:15-19). Did you notice that Moshe said That Prophet was to be “like me” (i.e. like Moshe)? Moshe was not a God-man. Moshe was a man. Moshe was created in the womb of his mother and then manifested as a man. To follow this pattern according to Torah itself, one must thus see that Yahshua was also created through the power of YHWH's set-apart spirit, in the womb of his mother Miryam and then manifested as a man. Indeed, it is precisely for this very reason that the messenger of YHWH announces to Miryam that her child is to be designated "Son of The Most High” ben Elyon i.e., “Son of Elohim." The Brit Chadashah (Renewed Testament) teaches us that: 28And the messenger, coming to her, said, “Greetings, favored one, the Master is with you. Blessed are you among women!” 29But she was greatly disturbed at his word, and wondered what kind of greeting this was. 30And the messenger said to her, “Do not be afraid, Miryam, for you have found favor with Elohim. 31“And see, you shall conceive in your womb, and shall give birth to a Son, and call His Name Yahshua. 32“He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And YHWH Elohim shall give Him the throne of His father Dawid. 33“And He shall reign over the house of Ya'aqob forever, and there shall be no end to His reign.”b 34And Miryam said to the messenger, “How shall this be, since I do not know a man?” 35And the messenger answering, said to her, “The Set-apart Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you. And for that reason the Set-apart One born of you shall be called: Son of Elohim. (Luke 1:28-35). The idea that Yahshua is "eternally begotten" not only has no recognizable meaning in the English language, but it is a false teaching being contrary to Scripture. For first and foremost, "eternal begetting" or "eternal generation" is an oxymoron. One is either eternally in existence like YHWH Himself, or one is begotten or generated. One cannot be both. Furthermore, “eternal generation” contradicts the important Scriptural fact that the Son of YHWH was literally declared by YHWH Himself as having been begotten "today," – at a specifically appointed time (moed) - not in eternity. That appointed time started at his baptism in the Yarden river and was brought to its fullest measure upon Yahshua's resurrection by being "born again". YHWH is all about appointed times. Why would YHWH suddenly “change His mind” about His appointed times when it comes to the quintessentially important appointed time of publicly declaring Yahshua to be His Son? 7“I inscribe for a law: YHWH has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have brought You forth. 8‘Ask of Me, and I make the gentiles Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth Your possession. (Tehillim (Psalms) 2:7-8) Compare this to Acts 13:32-37 referring to the birth of Yahshua: 32“And we bring you the Good News, the promise made to the fathers, 33that Elohim has filled this for us, their children, having raised up Yahshua, as it has also been written in the second Psalm, ‘You are My Son, today I have brought You forth.’ 34“And that He raised Him out of the dead, no more to return to corruption, He has said thus, ‘I shall give you the trustworthy kindnesses of Dawid.’ 35“For this reason He also says in another Psalm, ‘You shall not give Your Kind One to see corruption.’ 36“For Dawid, indeed, having served his own generation by the counsel of Elohim, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption, 37but He whom Elohim raised up saw no corruption.” Psalm 2 and the other Psalms alluded to by Luke in these verses from The Book of Acts are prophetic Psalms, as are all of the prophecies about Messiah. These Scriptures looked forward to an appointed time in which they would be fulfilled, not backwards to force issues relating to preexistence. All of Scripture is a love letter from YHWH telling us what is to come based on what already happened at Beresheit (Genesis) 3 after the first Creation. The prophetic references to Yahshua “not seeing corruption” in the grave would be meaningless if Yahshua is a pre-existent God-man. And that of course means that Yahshua was a man who otherwise, when dead, would clearly “have seen corruption” had YHWH not intervened to prevent that from happening in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Furthermore, at Yeshayahu (Isaiah) chapters 65 and 66 YHWH is speaking about His new Creation. Specifically, YHWH at Yeshayahu 65:15c-19 commands us that we are not even to think about or remember “the former distresses” (some versions have “the former things”) i.e., the former troubles, tribulations, and trespasses all of which resulted after the first Creation at Genesis 1 and the fall of Adam at Genesis 3. YHWH instead wants us to focus upon the fact that He is in the process of re-creating the earth and fallen man into His renewed Creation in the not too distant future. It is the future renewed Creation that we are to focus upon not the past Creation. So why do some people continue to feel the need to invest so much time arguing about “the former things” including some alleged pre-existence issues regarding Messiah and whether or not he was there at the first Creation when YHWH Himself tells us we are not even to remember that first Creation? Didn’t Lot’s wife get into big trouble for looking backwards? Didn’t Yahshua say that once you have placed your hand to the plow you should not look back? Doesn’t Scripture tell us to keep our sights on things above (the spiritual matters, the renewed Creation) and not on things below (carnal earthly things, an indirect reference to our having fallen from the first Creation)? What is worse, why do some feel that acceptance of certain “former things” i.e., the preexistence or “deity” of the man Messiah who is then resurrected unto eternal life in the same Torah pattern as we are to be resurrected is a necessary precondition to salvation when Yahshua and Scripture do not even hint at this except when giving important admonitions against thinking like this because it reflects pagan beliefs? Why don’t we instead spend our time focusing upon the renewal of Creation that YHWH promised us and which was ushered in through the resurrection of the man Yahshua who is the first-fruits of that renewed Creation? Think too about this - if Yahshua pre-existed this would mean that he already had eternal life prior to his birth from the womb of Miryam in Beth Lechem. If so, he could not be the representative for us as the “first-fruit” of the renewed Creation of YHWH’s earthly-red-soil-man – as Adam Sheni (The Second Adam). For that requires that Yahshua follow the Torah pattern of being a man who, after being recognized from among his tribesmen as That Prophet and as Messiah, would nevertheless be subject to The Torah’s death penalty (i.e., Yahshua was “born under the law” Gal 4:4). Yet because of his perfect obedience to YHWH he is then resurrected unto eternal life as the renewed earthly-red-soil-man. Then, it is our belief in this work of perfect obedience to YHWH under practically insurmountable pressures which Yahshua overcame, coupled with the graceful, merciful and loving kind plan of YHWH to raise Yahshua because of his perfect obedience, that allows all “whosoever will” trust YHWH to do likewise for them through their trusting faith in what YHWH did for Yahshua to be saved. John 3:16. That is The Gospel brothers and sisters. Like begets like – beware of all forbidden mixtures and the ongoing leaven of the modern day Pharisees. |
| YAHWEH Is ONE... Not Two, Not Three |
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