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This is a non-WLC article. When using resources from outside authors, we only publish the content that is 100% in harmony with the Bible and WLC current biblical beliefs. So such articles can be treated as if coming directly from WLC. We have been greatly blessed by the ministry of many servants of Yahuwah. But we do not advise our members to explore other works by these authors. Such works, we have excluded from publications because they contain errors. Sadly, we have yet to find a ministry that is error-free. If you are shocked by some non-WLC published content [articles/episodes], keep in mind Proverbs 4:18. Our understanding of His truth is evolving, as more light is shed on our pathway. We cherish truth more than life, and seek it wherever it may be found. |
The God of Our Fathers
When Yahuwah revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush, He referred to Himself as the God of your fathers,1 more specifically, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob:
Exodus 3:6 He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, afraid to look at Yahuwah.
Moses later related that Yahuwah manifested miracles so that the Israelites might know that there was no other God besides Yahuwah:
Deuteronomy 4:35 “To you it was shown that you might know that Yahuwah, He is God; there is no other besides Him.
O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as Yahuwah, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. “Hear, O Israel! Yahuwah is our God, Yahuwah is one! “You shall love Yahuwah your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deut. 6:3-5)
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Yahuwah instructed Moses to teach the Israelites all of His commands, statutes, and judgments so that it might go well for them in the Promised Land.2 Chief among the commands was that they were to love the one God, that is, the God of their fathers:
Deuteronomy 6:3-5 “O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as Yahuwah, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. 4 “Hear, O Israel! Yahuwah is our God, Yahuwah is one! 5 “You shall love Yahuwah your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Throughout antiquity, the Israelites understood this simple creedal statement: Yahuwah is one, and there is no other. King Hezekiah’s prayer exemplifies this understanding:
2 Kings 19:19 “Now, O Yahuwah our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O Yahuwah, are God.”
Centuries later, Yahushua affirmed this one-God creed and said that to love and obey this singular God was the greatest commandment.
Mark 12:28-30 One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” 29 Yahushua answered, “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! YAHUWAH OUR GOD, YAHUWAH IS ONE; 30 AND YOU SHALL LOVE YAHUWAH YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’
Peter, after he healed the man at the gate Beautiful, preached to the crowd that had gathered that the God of our fathers had glorified His servant, Yahushua:
Acts 3:13 “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Yahushua, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.” Peter distinguishes the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as someone other than Yahushua. Indeed, Yahushua is not Yahuwah but the servant of Yahuwah.
Subsequently, when Peter appeared before the high priest and the Sanhedrin Council, he and the other apostles once again identified Yahushua as someone other than the God of our fathers:
For Peter and the apostles, Yahushua is not the God of our fathers, but the one whom the God of our fathers raised from the dead and exalted to His right hand.
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Acts 5:29-31 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey Yahuwah rather than men. 30 “The God of our fathers raised up Yahushua, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. 31 “He is the one whom Yahuwah exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”
For Peter and the apostles, Yahushua is not the God of our fathers, but the one whom the God of our fathers raised from the dead and exalted to His right hand.
Many years later, the apostle Paul (Saul) recounted the time when Ananias came to him to heal him and deliver a divine message:
Acts 22:12-15 “A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, 13 came to me, and standing near said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very time I looked up at him. 14 “And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth. 15 ‘For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard.
The God of our fathers determined that Paul (Saul) would see and hear the Righteous One, that is, the Messiah.3 He was to be an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ, not an eyewitness of Yahuwah.
The God of Our Church Fathers
Which testimony regarding Yahuwah’s identity should we believe? The testimony of the Biblical fathers (OR) the Church Fathers from the post-Biblical era?
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Sadly, the Church Fathers, from the second century onward, interpreted the Scriptures through the prism of Greek philosophy, thereby altering the identity of the God of the Jews. The evolution of their beliefs is chronicled in the creeds that they penned. Instead of worshiping the one God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they expanded the definition beyond that of Scripture to include two other persons, Yahushua and the Holy Spirit. Even though the God of our fathers said that Yahushua was His servant, the Platonically inspired Church Fathers insisted that Yahushua is Yahuwah the Servant. Instead of being a man whom the God of our fathers exalted, Yahushua is himself god, co-equal in every way, something Scripture never says.4 Indeed, it contradicts Yahushua’s own testimony that the Father is the only true God, while he is the Christ.
John 17:1-3 Yahushua spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. 3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Yahushua Christ whom You have sent.
Which Fathers Should We Believe?
Which testimony regarding Yahuwah’s identity should we believe? The testimony of the Biblical fathers to whom Yahuwah revealed Himself in majesty and wonder, yet with clarity and simplicity? Or the Church Fathers from the post-Biblical era who painted a different portrait than the one Yahuwah painted of Himself?
1 The God of your “father” here, but also the God of your “fathers” in Exodus 3:13-16 and elsewhere.
3 Acts 3:14; 7:52; 1 John 2:1.
4 See John 5:18 and John 10:30.
This is a non-WLC article. Source: https://oneGodworship.com/the-God-of-our-fathers/
We have replaced the English titles and names of the Father and the Son with those employed by the apostles. In the scriptural quotations provided, we have restored their original names as used by the inspired writers. Nevertheless, we acknowledge the historical development by which the name Yahushua came to be rendered as “Jesus.” Additionally, we recognize that the English term “God” has been commonly employed as an equivalent for the Hebrew Eloah or Elohim. -WLC Team
