Table of Contents

Introduction

Jesus’ Three Days and Three Nights of Entombment and the Resurrection

The Events on the First Day of the Week—The Wave Sheaf Day to the Ascension

Christian Biblical Church of God Offices

© 2018
Fred R. Coulter
Christian Biblical Church of God
P. O. Box 1442
Hollister, California 95024-1442

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. This includes electronic and mechanical photocopying or recording, as well as the use of information storage and retrieval systems.

The God of the Old Testament I

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The God of the Old Testament II

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The God of the Old Testament III

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The God of the Old Testament IV

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The God of the Old Testament V

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Contents

Booklet

God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament I

God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament II

God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament III

God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament IV

God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament V

Compact Disc

[When included]

Tracks 1 & 2 God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament I

Tracks 3 & 4 God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament II

Tracks 5 & 6 God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament III

Track 7 God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament IV

Tracks 8 & 9 God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament V

Was God the Father the God of the Old Testament?

Foreword

This series on Is God the Father the God of the Old Testament is a compilation of five sermons by Fred Coulter that will help you to come to an understanding. An overview of these transcripts follow.

The first sermon transcript “God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament #1” teaches about the false doctrine that the God of the Old Testament was the Father. This false teaching has been taught before. It goes in hand with the false doctrine that Jesus Christ was not divine before He was born of Mary as a human being. This transcript takes what the Bible says about the God of the Old Testament and shows that it is not God the Father.

The second sermon transcript, “God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament #2”, adds to what the previous transcript sermon covered regarding Jesus Christ being the God of the Old Testament. This transcript sermon addresses how Satan and the demons answer prayers so that the people praying think that God is hearing them. In this way Satan can keep people feeling that they have a relationship with their Creator when they do not.

The third sermon transcript, “God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament III”, investigates even more scriptures that prove that Jesus Christ was the God of the Old Testament. These scriptures need to be looked at thoughtfully and how they, upon examination, do support that the Being that became Jesus Christ was the God of the Old Testament.

The fourth sermon transcript, “God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament IV”, notes that in order for false doctrines to be supported that some Bible scriptures will be overlooked or twisted so the false doctrine can appear as a teaching of the Bible. An interesting note is that at some point the angels and demons knew that God’s plan was going to be the sending of a Savior the way He did through Jesus Christ.

The fifth sermon transcript, “God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament #5” analyses even more Scripture that prove that Jesus Christ was the God of the Old Testament. This sermon covers Scriptures that are, when it comes to this false teaching, twisted so that their intended meaning is hidden. As a result the false teaching appears a genuine Bible teaching.

An expeditious summary is that the Most High (God the Father) was part of the Old Testament because He was over the One Who became Jesus Christ. However, in the Old Testament it is found that the Most High never spoke to any man, never was seen by any man, and was not the God Who led the children of Israel out of Egypt.

A special thanks goes to Bonnie Orswell, Laila Patterson and Nancy Spaller for producing the transcripts.

God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament I

Proof that The Most High and the Ancient of Days cannot be Jesus Christ

Fred R. Coulter

Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services. What goes around, comes around. It seems like every false doctrine comes and goes, almost in every generation.

Rather than get into 2-Corinithians, we need to cover something that is happening right now. There is a Church of God leader is saying that the God of the Old Testament was the Father. With the next conclusion, it will be Jesus was not Divine before He came.

Think about it! Every time that there is a doctrinal question, what’s the first thing they go after? There are three of them! What’s one of the three that you can think of they go after?

1. Passover

2. Sabbath

3. nature of God

This is why we have these study packs. It’s more important than ever before that you get them. Here’s a great one: The Nature of God. We have the CDs to go with it. It starts out with the Holiness of God and then Who was Jesus. There are a good number of sermons on who was Jesus. If you go on churchathome.org:

- Who Is Jesus?

- Was Jesus God?

- Nature of the Father

- God the Son, Jesus Christ and Nazareth

- Love of God

- God’s Love Toward Us

All right here in detail. I want to mention that so you can order this.

Now we’re getting close to 100 of the Transcript Books. If there’s any one thing we can say, we have stood for the Truth all the way through, the best that we can.

Assaults Against the Church: You need this one as well. There are a lot of people on our mailing list who do not have jobs. You’re retired. We can keep you active with these and help you prepare for eternal life even more.

Scripturalism vs Judaism: You might say that that’s a lot of stuff. It is, but you do need it for today.

If they get into something like this, and want to find the real Jesus, they’ll never find Him. You find it here.

- How do you come to Jesus?

- What do the Scriptures tell us?

- The Father draws you and none can come to Jesus unless the Father draws.

- None can come to the Father except through Jesus.

I had one man tell me that Exodus 20:3: “You shall have no other gods before Me,” was a plural me meaning actually us. Since it was a question concerning the Hebrew, I sent it off to Carl Franklin. He wrote back, and said, ‘I’ll get right to the point. The Father was not the God of the Old Testament—that’s what we’re going to go through today—there are two simple Scriptures to answer this question:

Exodus 20:1: “And God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me’” (vs 1-3). The Lord God of the Old Testament!

1-Cor. 10:4 is very simple, and this is why we have to:

- know the Scriptures

- know that we know the Scriptures

- study and re-study the Scriptures

- have the Scriptures taught every Sabbath

What happens when people do not hear the Truth, do not study the Truth on their own, but come to Church every Sabbath? You don’t know your Bible! Someone can come along and say, ‘I have a new doctrine.’ Think about this for a minute, how important it is and why we need to do so:

- God is a God of Truth

- Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life

- His Word is God-breathed

- it is written so we would have the Truth

In the original manuscripts there are no errors. In the authentic copies there are no errors. Anything that comes out of Egypt, Caesarea or the Western texts are nearly all false.

1-Corinthians 10:1: “Now I do not wish you to be ignorant of this, brethren… [if you don’t know this, you’re ignorant] …that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And they all ate the same spiritual meat…. [the Word of God!] …And they all drank of the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them. And that Rock was Christ” (vs 1-4).

Think about this. God sent them manna six days every week. He sent them water out of the rock. Miracle, spiritual power to do so. “…And that Rock was Christ,” not the Father!

John 1—you all know where we’re going. You all know that one very well. But just like anything else, the more you go over it, the more you learn, and the more you understand the profundity of what is said here.

Why did John write this? We find the answer in 1-John 2, many antichrists have come and they left us. He wrote, ‘There is not one lie of the Truth.’ He said, ‘You cannot have the Father without the Son. You cannot have the Son without the Father.’ You must have both! What verifies that we have both? What is the Scripture that tells us both? ‘We will make Our abode in you’ (John 14:23). What Satan likes to do is come along and give half of the story.

It’s like the woman who made this wonderful chocolate cake. She forgot to put in the baking powder, so it didn’t rise. So, she put the frosting on it and said, ‘I’ve invented brownies.’ You have to have everything together.

Here’s why he wrote this: Because the same doctrine was back then! Who did Paul say they said they were? Chinese? Russians?—no, they were Israelites, of the seed of Abraham! They had the Old Testament; the New Testament hadn’t been finished.

So they came with cunningly to say that the Father was the God of the Old Testament, because they actually did not believe in Jesus, but they preached another Jesus, which is what happens. So, this is why we have it.

John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word…” When was the beginning? Before there ever was anything!

“…and the Word was with God…” (v 1). How many does this tell us there are? Two!

“…and the Word was God” (v 1). Granted the Greek does not have the definite article for the second Word of God.

So the Jehovah Witnesses come along and say He was a god (small g). That’s how men get things going. Failing to understand that when it says, ‘theos ein ho logos’: ‘theos’ is in front: God the Word was. This means everything that God is, the Word ‘Logos’ was God! You’re either God or you’re not.

- Is there any in between step?

- Is there any such thing as evolution to become God? No, not at all!

It does not say that the Word was inside of God as the thought. I remember the sermon, thanks for telling us. The Thinker… [the Father] …and The Thought… [the Word] …‘I [the Father] will think on this for eternity and maybe it’ll happen.’ Right in the Church of God (former WCG) by one of the leading ministers. Every account is that he was probably a secret Buddhist. That’s why to the Word of God:

- check it

- prove it

- analyze it

- find out what it says

- Is it the Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth?

The things we don’t understand, we have to admit we don’t understand. God can reveal it to us later through His Word.

Verse 2: “He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and not even one thing that was created came into being without Him” (vs 2-3).

For those who think that Jesus did not exist until He was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary means you reject Phil. 2, how He gave up all of His Divinity and glory to become a man.

Colossians 1:14: “In Whom we have redemption through His own blood, even the remission of sins; Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (vs 14-15).

They turn there to tell us Jesus was firstborn. They fail to read on. When He was born as a human being, as far as all human beings were concerned, He was the firstborn of human beings in the flesh the way that He gave up His Divinity to come in the flesh. So you could say that could apply here.

Verse 16: “Because by Him were all things created… [If He’s the firstborn of all creation, did He create Himself? No!] …the things in heaven and the things on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether they be thrones, or lordships, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before all, and by Him all things subsist. And He is the Head of the Body, the Church; Who is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead…” (vs 16-18).

Jesus was the firstborn of Mary and the firstborn from among the dead, which means Jesus was born again! Isn’t that the true meaning for us, born again from flesh to spirit?

“…the Firstborn from among the dead so that in all things He Himself might hold the preeminence” (v 18). That helps answer the question.

John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh…” Since He was God, He was existing. If you become flesh, then you modify your existence. The way The Thinker and the Thought goes is that the Thinker, the Father, had His ‘Thought’ born in the flesh. That was right in the largest Church of God.

“…and tabernacled among us (and we ourselves beheld His glory…)” (v 14).

- Who is writing this? John!

- Who were the ones that went with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration? Peter, James and John!

So when John says, “…we ourselves beheld His glory…” he did! After He was resurrected from the dead, we don’t know if He displayed His glory to any of them; it’s not accounted that He did, but He proved that He was resurrected from the dead to all the apostles, all the disciples. Paul says as many as 500 brethren at once came out and met Him on the mountain down somewhere in Galilee. They saw Him!

“(…the glory as of the only begotten with the Father), full of grace and truth” (v 14). Where else did John see the glory of Christ? Rev. 1! All ties together.

John 5 becomes one of the most important chapters concerning the Father and Christ. Remember that John wrote in 1-John 4 that the one who doesn’t believe in God says He did come in the flesh. But what did we read in the John 1? He became flesh!

Remember Jesus healed the man who had the infirmity for 38 years. He told him, ‘Take up your bed roll and walk.’ How heavy is a sleeping bag? The Jews considered it a burden on the Sabbath, but they thought nothing of plotting to kill Him as a sin on the Sabbath. Which is worse? Carrying a sleeping bag? or Devising murder?

John 5:16: “And for this cause, the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on a Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working until now…’” (vs 16-17). What kind of work does the Father do on the Sabbath?

1. He upholds the universe and keeps it going When the Sabbath Day comes the Earth doesn’t stop. The sun doesn’t disappear. He upholds that.

2. He’s doing spiritual work on the Sabbath by healing

Is that a work? Yes, indeed!

“…and I work.’ So then, on account of this saying, the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, not only because He had loosed the Sabbath, but also because He had called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God” (vs 17-18).

They understood that if you are God, you’re God! If the Father is God and the Son is God, He made Himself equal. Now tie in there John 10 where He said the same thing and He told them, ‘And the Scriptures cannot be broken’ ( quote from Psa. 82).

Verse 19: “Therefore, Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, the Son has no power to do anything of Himself, but only what He sees the Father do.…’”

- Was the Word with God before the creation of the world? Yes!

- Were they in complete agreement with everything? Yes!

- When the One Who became Jesus Christ became the Lord God of the Old Testament, did He do the same thing?

- Did He do anything that the Father didn’t want Him to do? No!

So, this applies to Christ and the Father from the beginning, not just here. When they created man—

Genesis 1:26: And God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image... [v 27]: …He created them male and female.”

John 5:19: “…For whatever He does, these things the Son also does in the same manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him everything that He Himself is doing.…” (vs 19-20).

- Did He do that before He became a human being? Yes!

- Did He do that again during His ministry? Yes!

- Did He do it again when He was resurrected from the dead? Yes!

Verse 21: “For even as the Father raises the dead and gives life, in the same way also, the Son gives life to whom He will…. [because God gave Him that authority] …the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son” (vs 21-22).

Why? Because only the Son experienced human existence! Also, in order to fully experience human existence and to be tempted.

Think on this with the other Jesus. They say that He was 100% God and 100% flesh, and it was impossible for Him to sin. Then why was He tempted? If it was impossible for Him to sin, He could not be tempted. Everything concerning Matt. 4 and Luke 4 about the temptation of Satan the devil against Him was not a temptation.

He could sin. Why? Because when Jesus told them that if ‘I agreed with you, I would be a liar like you’ (John 8)!

Why was it possible for Jesus to sin, but He had to never sin? Because He carried ‘the law of sin and death’ in Him! Why did He carry ‘the law of sin and death’ in Him? Because as the One Who created man and woman (John 1:3 [transcriber’s correction]) and Who judged them for their sin—remember, they ate of the fruit—they just didn’t take a little nibble, they ate!

If you eat a meal, or you eat fruit, it didn’t say they only ate one apple, if it was an apple-- maybe it was something else—maybe they ate a whole lot. We’re not told.

In judging them for their sin, what did He do? Sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and every man has the law of sin and death in him (Rom. 5)! That’s why even little babies sin before they know anything else. This is important to understand, because once you change the nature of God, you must change the nature of Jesus, or reject Him—one of the two.

I want to interject in here to everyone to remember this. The Jews have no advantage today unless they are converted and believe everything in the New Testament and the Old Testament the way it was written.

All the Hebrew roots—Mark Blitz, Jonathan Cahn—they all keep a 15th Passover and have nothing to do with Jesus, except what they preach to their advantage so they can get money from the Protestants. They let the Protestants worship on Sunday, and they keep temple on Friday night, don’t even keep the whole Sabbath. Enough said!

If anyone comes in and says, ‘I’m a Jew’—which they generally announce that they are when they enter into a congregation—they’re coming in to try and intimidate you so that they can get a position above you.

Because we have the ‘law of sin and death’ in us, you go back over the sermon I did on Rom. 7 and that’s important to cover: Meaning of Law in Romans 7 & 8. Why did God leave within us ‘the law of sin and death’ after we’re baptized? Because we have to overcome sin! If He removed it, then we would have to become spiritual, and we would have no sin. We wouldn’t know how to overcome sin.

So here’s why Jesus took it; Romans 8:1: “Consequently, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who are not walking according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit; because the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has delivered me from the law of sin and death” (vs 1-2).

Hasn’t removed it, but delivered. How? By giving us the Spirit of God to overcome! Did Jesus have to overcome? Yes, He did!

Verse 3: “For what was impossible for the Law to do, in that it was weak through the flesh…”

You can never be perfect without the Holy Spirit of God. You can never be perfect until you’re resurrected from the dead. Can the Law do that? No! The Law tells you what sin is; that’s what the Law does. That shows you the blessing for keeping and the cursing for not keeping.

So to solve the problem, v 3: “…God, having sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh…”—‘homoiomati,’ meaning the exact sameness of sinful flesh.

Did Jesus die? He could not have died unless He had the law of death in Him! He also had the law of sin in Him because as the One Who gave ‘the law of sin and death’ to all human beings, He took it upon Himself likewise so it could cover all of humanity, and yet, never sinned!

How do we know that? “…and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (v 3). Whose flesh was sin condemned in? Jesus Christ’s, because He bore ‘the law of sin and death’ within Him and never sinned! That’s why He had to cry out with strong crying and tears to the One Who was able to save Him from death. That’s how He was able to do it.

Verse 4: “In order that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who are not walking according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

John 5:22: “For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son.” It’s given to Him because He knows what it’s like to be tempted in every way like we are (Heb. 4). If He didn’t have ‘the law of sin and death’ within Him, He could not have been tempted!

Look at it this way: Suppose you had a seethrough substance that was so strong, that was so powerful, that no weapon of any kind could pierce through it to destroy you. What would happen if people came, were shooting their guns and throwing their rocks and everything, you’d just sit there and say, ‘Oops, BING, doesn’t matter.’ That’s what it would have been like if Christ did not have ‘the law of sin and death.’ He couldn’t have been temped! That’s why He’s so great. He understands the workings of Satan the devil and the temptations of men.

Verse 23: “So that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father… [Does that sound like a little equality? Yes, indeed!] …The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father Who sent Him.”

Isn’t it interesting that the Protestants have Jesus and Jesus only. The Jews have God, and say it’s the Father and the Father only. They are both wrong! Jesus said you have to have both.

Verse 24: “Truly, truly I say to you, the one who hears My Word, and believes Him Who sent Me… [you have to believe the Father] …has everlasting life and does not come into judgment; for he has passed from death into life”—as far as God is concerned and if he remains faithful.

(go to the next track)

We have to establish several things here that are important for us to understand.

Verse 30: “I have no power to do anything of Myself; but as I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father Who sent Me.”

Then He talks about witnessing Himself, v 37: “And the Father Himself, Who sent Me, has borne witness of Me. You have neither heard His voice nor seen His form at any time.” That’s collective you.

Here is the spike in the whole doctrine. Think about this. If the God of the Old Testament were the Father, how do you reconcile that with this verse?

John 6:46: “No one has seen the Father except He Who is from God… [Who is from God? Christ] …He has seen the Father.”

- Is the Word of God true? Yes!

- What does “No one…” mean? It means no one!

Let’s see what Jesus’ mission was to do.

Matthew 11:25: “At that time Jesus answered and said, ‘I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to babes. Yes, Father, for it was well pleasing in Your sight to do this’” (vs 25-26).

That takes care of all of the intellectuals. Do we know of a single intellectual who has really been honest with the Scriptures and Truth of God? Not one!

Verse 27: “All things were delivered to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son personally chooses to reveal Him.”

Let’s put these Scriptures together. If no one has seen the Father, and Christ had to reveal Him, how can anyone say that the God of the Old Testament was the Father? Impossible!

Remember the sermon News, Flesh & Bone, & New Testament Fraud. How did God appear to Adam and Eve? He couldn’t appear in His glorified form because they would have disintegrated! He appears to them in flesh and bone. They looked at Him and thought, ‘We’re just like Him.’ They didn’t understand the spiritual aspect of it. They didn’t understand the glory of it. If that were the Father, Adam and Eve would have seen Him—right?

How about Moses? Did he see Him? Yes, he did! Moses was walking along and all of a sudden here’s a burning bush dropping down from heaven and says, ‘I am the Father.’ No! He didn’t say that! He said, ‘I AM!’

- Did Moses see that? Yes!

- Did Moses go up on the mountain and talk with God? Yes!

- Was it said that Moses talked to Him face-to-face like a man? Yes!

Therefore, the God of the Old Testament has to be exactly the One that the New Testament says it is and He is the One Who became Jesus Christ. Could not be any other way.

How about when He spoke the Ten Commandments? Jesus also said, ‘No one has heard His voice at any time!’ Did they hear the voice of God? That could not have been the Father because:

- Jesus said no one has heard His voice

- No one has seen Him

- No one knows Him except the one to whom Jesus reveals Him

Isn’t that clear and easy to understand? Yes, indeed!

Exo. 20—here’s Mount Sinai. It looks like there’s a big volcano going on up there, because God came down on it. Down below are all the children of Israel. God came down on the mountain and they didn’t hear a single word. NO!

If no one has seen God and no one has heard God, how then could the children of Israel—and how many were there? Numbers vary from 600,000 to a 1.8-million! Who knows the total amount?

Exodus 20:1: “And God spoke all these words, saying… [they all heard Him] …‘I am the LORD your God… [didn’t say, ‘I’m the Father’] Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me’” (vs 2-3). We covered that. That doesn’t mean Us.

Then He gives all the Ten Commandments. So powerful was it, so absolutely earth-shaking was it, and all the people were wondering what was this that was going on? Was it really God? ‘We didn’t hear a thing.’ If no one’s heard the voice of the Father, if no one has seen the Father, then who was it that they saw? The One Who became Christ (1- cor. 10)!

Verse 18: “And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw, they trembled and stood afar off. And they said to Moses, ‘You speak with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, lest we die’” (vs 18-19).

- Did they hear the voice of God? Yes, they did!

- Why would Satan want to pervert that?

Let’s see that all the people said they heard the voice of God. Deut. 5, the second giving account of the Ten Commandments.

Sidebar: Dwight Blevins deals in numbers. Let’s think on this just a minute. How many times were the Ten Commandments given in their full form in the Old Testament? Twice, # 2.

- What commandment is the Sabbath commandment? Fourth!

- What day of the week is the Sabbath? Seventh Say!

Numbers 2-4-7: That is an adjustment period for the Calculated Hebrew Calendar: 247 years. The year that Israel was granted to be able to have a statehood in the area of the Middle East, or Palestine, was when that 247th-year cycle came. It was in October, which is when the new calendar year begins. So that 247-year adjustment happened right then at that time, which tells us as we look back, does God do things at an appointed time? Many things! What is the appointed time we do all the time? Sabbath!

Deuteronomy 5:22: “The LORD spoke these words to all your assembly in the mountain out of the midst of the fire of the cloud and of the thick darkness with a great voice. And He added no more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and delivered them to me. And it came to pass when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, for the mountain burned with fire, you came near me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders, and you said, ‘Behold, the LORD our God has revealed His glory and His greatness…’” (vs 22-24).

What did they see? The glory of God They didn’t see Him directly, but what happened after that? When He brought all the statutes and then came down and Moses had all the statutes and read it to the people, he said, ‘What are you going to do?’ They said, ‘All that the Lord has said, we will do.’

What happened? Then they had the sacrifice, the sprinkling of the blood on the Book of the Law, sprinkling on the people. Then what happened? Moses, Nadab and Abihu, and Aaron and 70 of the elders went up on the mountain part way!

They looked up and saw a Sea of Glass. They saw the Lord on it. If that were the Father, that absolutely makes Jesus a liar that no one has seen Him at any time. Was that a particular time? Yes! That’s why you need to stick with the Truth. You can’t listen to these silly arguments of men.

So they said, “…we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire. We have seen today that God talks with man yet he still lives. Now, therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die. For who of all flesh has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?…. [this becomes ridiculous to try and defend] …You [Moses] go near and hear all that the LORD our God shall say. And you speak to us all that the LORD our God shall speak to you, and we will hear it, and do it” (vs 24-27).

- What do human beings like to do? Put someone between them and God!

- What did they do? They always attack the person between!

They said, ‘Moses, why did you take us out here in this wilderness?’ This becomes stupid.

How is the Father known of, but not known in the Old Testament? The Most High God! It’s about 35 times there. We’ll look at some of them. When God dealt with the patriarchs, the Most High dealt with them through the Lord God. And they understood that.

This is the account of Melchizedek after the battle that Abraham won; Genesis 14:18: “And Melchisedec the King of Salem brought forth bread and wine. And He was the Priest of the Most High God.” Two different individuals!

The Jews like to say that Melchizedek was Shem. We will answer that question in a bit.

Verse 19: “‘And He blessed him, and said, ‘Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the Most High God, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.’ And he gave Him tithes of all. And the king of Sodom said to Abram, ‘Give me the people …’” (vs 19-21).

Why would the king of Sodom like to have the people? Answer very simple: How many children do homosexuals produce? Zero! They’ve got to go out and get new people from someone else or like it is today, seduce them through our school system.

Sidebar: The school systems in California are not for education in how to learn and think. It’s an education in perverted sex, starting in kindergarten. So, if you have any kids in California, going to school, you ought to teach them at home. You can go from kindergarten to graduate college all online. You don’t need to put up with all that stuff.

The one Who is Melchizedek was the one Who became Jesus Christ. It’s said there in Psa. 110 that He’s ‘of the order of Melchizedek forever,’ which is the very substance of the reason for writing the book of Hebrews. This will tell us that it cannot be Shem.

- Who was Shem? The son of Noah!

- Who was Noah? His father!

- Who was Noah’s wife? His mother!

This is what happens when people go through the Bible and they don’t apply themselves to understand all of the Scriptures. You have to get them all together.

Hebrews 7:1: “For this Melchisedec, King of Salem, Priest of the Most High God, Who met Abraham as he was returning from his slaughter of the kings, and blessed him, and to Whom Abraham gave a tenth part of all; on the one hand, being interpreted King of Righteousness; and on the other hand, King of Salem, which is King of Peace; without father… [human father] …without mother, without genealogy; having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but having been made like the Son of God, remains a Priest forever” (vs 1-3). The One Who became Jesus Christ was the One Who was Melchisedec (Gen. 14).

Abram understood about the Most High. This is absolutely the most important prophecy of the Old Testament. What it does, it establishes all prophecy from that time to the setting up of the Kingdom of God (Dan. 2). In Dan. 4 we find what Nebuchadnezzar wrote. He was given the knowledge that there was the Most High God through the experience that he went through. He didn’t know Him, but he knew of Him.

What I found in searching this out is that on every important thing in the Old Testament, it has reference to the Most High because that would transfer over into the New Testament as the Father. That tells us that the Most High is the One Who is behind everything that there is in the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament.

Isa. 14 helps us understand something as to why Satan wants to separate Jesus Christ and God the Father.

Isaiah 14:12: “How you are fallen from the heavens, O shining star… [Lucifer is a wrong translation] …son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart…” (vs 12-13).

There are some people who say that God is going to forgive Satan the devil for what he did. No way! He committed absolutely the unpardonable, unpardonable, unpardonable sin, worse than any man who rejects the Holy Spirit of God from God the Father.

Verse 13: “For you have said in your heart, ‘I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High’” (vs 13-14).

Not the Lord God, but the Most High. So, whenever you have spectacular event in the Bible, the Most High is brought in, showing a greater power above God, but carrying out the work of God.

Here’s Nebuchadnezzar, back to Daniel 4:2: “It seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.” Very interesting that he would say that, but it’s mentioned throughout chapter four.

Verse 17: “This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the Holy ones, so that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men…”

In spite of what Satan says, they’ve been delivered to Nebuchadnezzar. God the Father is going to carry out His plan and it’s going to work.

“…and gives it to whomever He will, and sets up over it the basest of men” (v 17).

What was he doing? He was saying, ‘I [Nebuchadnezzar] am one of the basest of men,’ after losing his mind for seven years and then having it given back to him. How did he know it was the Most High? Because Daniel told him!

Verse 24: “This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king.” The only knowledge he had was that it came from the Most High. Daniel, the prophet of God, told him.

Verse 25: “…the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever He will.”

Verse 32: “And you shall be driven from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like oxen, and seven times shall pass over you until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever He wills.”

Think about how important those statements are.

Verse 34: “And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored Him Who lives forever, for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation.”

Daniel has more about the Most High than any of the books of the Old Testament. There is another title given to the One Who became the Father of the New Testament and that is the Ancient of Days.

Daniel 7:13: “I saw visions in the night and, behold, One like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him.” Then he was given the kingdom. That ties in with 1-Cor. 15.

Of all the kingdoms of the earth it says that “…the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever He wills.”

Verse 18: “‘“But the saints of the Most High…” They couldn’t understand what that meant until you come to the New Testament where we have the Father and the Son.

“…shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever” (v18).

Verse 21: “‘I watched, and that same horn made war with the saints and overcame them.” That ties in with Rev. 6 & 12, so this is a paramount and important prophecy which shows that it’s coming from the Most High, which is the New Testament is the Father that Jesus revealed.

Verse 22: “‘Until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High. And the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.”

This is the one who is fighting against Christ, v 25: “‘And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change the set times and the laws. And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and one-half time. But the judgment shall sit, and his dominion shall be taken away to be consumed and to be destroyed unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of’” (vs 25-27).

The other one who has knowledge of the Most High, not known as a Father, but understand that there’s one higher than the Lord God of the Old Testament, you find that in the Psalms. Almost all of those Psalms are the Psalms of David, who is going to be in the Kingdom.

I think that just about covers everything we need to cover.

Scriptural References:

1. Exodus 20:3, 1-3

2. 1-Corinthians 10:1-4

3. John 1:1-3

4. Colossians 1:14-18

5. John 1:14

6. John 5:16-19

7. Genesis 1:26-27

8. John 5:19-22

9. Romans 8:1-4

10. John 5:22-24, 30, 37

11. John 6:46

12. Matthew 11:25-27

13. Exodus 20:1-3, 18-19

14. Deuteronomy 5:22-27

15. Genesis 14:18-21

16. Hebrews 7:1-3

17. Isaiah 14:12-14

18. Daniel 4:2, 17, 24-25, 32, 34

19. Daniel 7:13, 18, 21-22, 25-27

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

- 1-John 2

- John 14:23

- Philippians 2

- Revelation 1

- 1-John 4

- John 10

- Psalm 82

- Matthew 4

- Luke 4

- John 8

- Romans 5

- Hebrews 4

- 1-Corinthians 10

- Psalm 110

- Daniel 2

- 1-Corinthians 15

- Revelation 6, 12

Also referenced:

Study Packs: The Nature of God

Sermon Series:

- Holiness of God

- Who Was Jesus?

- Assaults Against the Church

- Scripturalism vs Judaism

- True Lies

Sermons:

- Meaning of Law in Romans 7 & 8

- News, Flesh & Bone, & New Testament Fraud

churchathome.org:

- Who Is Jesus?

- Was Jesus God?

- Nature of the Father

- God the Son, Jesus Christ and Nazareth

- Love of God

- God’s Love Toward Us

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 1-23-18
Formatted: bo—1/23/18

Copyright 2018—All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. This includes electronic and mechanical photocopying or recording, as well as the use of information storage and retrieval systems.

God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament II

No one has seen nor heard the Most High, the Father of the New Testament

Fred R. Coulter

Greetings, brethren! Welcome to Sabbath services.

I got in the mail all I need to know about God the Father and Jesus Christ, and what is going on in one of the Churches of God. I got this from a man in New Mexico. He sent me the whole thing, all bound and ready to go. He says:

Dear Fred, I know you are aware of the situation that has been building in Pacific Church of God, wherein the ministers are claiming God the Father is the God of the Old Testament. In addition, they have produced study papers that show the wider extent that they are planning to take with this. I thought you would find them useful. For instance, one of the papers says that Jesus Christ is a divine being and is just the servant of God.

Rick Railston also told a friend of mine who questioned Rick’s claims that accepting this new truth is a matter of salvation.

That if you don’t accept it, you won’t be saved!.

Obviously, the whole topic is ridiculous and heretical lie about the nature of God. Moreover, several people in other groups are quite upset about the whole matter, so I’d appreciate your perspective on the papers. I have spoken with brethren and sent some of your papers to them, but there’s still confusion because they do not have an in-depth background in the nature of God. Feel free to use these papers in whatever way you choose.

So, thank you very much for sending it. PCG is Pacific Church of God.

Then someone else sent me something that’s very interesting. This is commercial time:

- Sermon Series and Study Pack—Satan’s Ten Most Believable Lies (based on a book by David Breese; #9 is Satan’s Way is the Best Way.)

- The Nature of God with the CDs that go with it

- Assaults Against the Church

Just remember this: Whenever you think everything’s going nice and smooth, something is going to happen.

I look back at the sermons that we started right after the Feast, and was one of the first ones about to watch out for Messianic Jews! We will see part of this does relate to some Messianic Jewish thought.

Someone else sent me something, so I get some good things once in a while; I thought I’d share it with you.

Wal-Mart: CORRECTION NOTICE

Flyer ending Jan 27th.

Grocery—Page 2

The 4 for $10 price is incorrect.

The correct price is 2 for $5

(www.images.search.yahoo.com )

Then someone else sent me this one:

The problem isn’t that we don’t have access to the Truth, it’s that most people don’t want to hear it.

That’s true, most people don’t want to hear it! That’s where we are today. This is why we have the things that we have.

- Does Satan ever give up? No!

- Why do we have so many things come along that challenge what we believe?

They kind of come in cycles. It’s always concerning, the first two things we’ve covered before: the nature of God and the Passover.

I got another one from someone who says that the Jews keep their 15th Passover because they go by the Deuteronomy Code, which supersedes Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, but not Deuteronomy, it succeeds it.

Deut. 16 gives the appearance of a 15th Passover. They have forgotten about the animals necessary for the redemption of the firstborn, so the Jews will keep their 15th Passover, which means they don’t keep the Passover properly, so they’re not in covenant with God with the New Covenant, though they may preach a form of Jesus.

You stop and think about—and I’ve almost given up watching TBN, that is a mess. It is so bad that they have hired Mike Huckabee. He’s got a whole hour at the eastern time of 8 o’clock slot where he talks politics. That’s to bring more people to the channel.

Why not just preach the Truth? Because people don’t want it! It’s inconvenient.

We have an astonishing writing by the Apostle Paul in 1-Cor. 11 concerning the Passover. This answers the question: why are there heresies?

1-Corinthians 11:17: “Now in this… [that he’s going to discuss now] …that I am commanding you, I do not praise you, because when you assemble together, it is not for the better but for the worse.”

Have you ever had a terrible, bad Sabbath? You go to Church, and the week before it wasn’t too good, so you’re all mad and upset. You pray about it. After a week of prayer, you get yourself in a reasonable attitude to go to Sabbath services. What happens, you get there and you hear things contrary to the Word of God again!

Verse 18: “For first of all, I hear that there are divisions among you when you are assembled together in the Church, and I partly believe it.”

He also told all the elders of Ephesus, ‘You better take heed to yourself, because there are going to come in those who are going to bring damnable heresies and even among yourselves there will be those who will rise up.’

Verse 19: “For it is necessary that heresies be among you…”

How are you going to be tested whether you know and prove the Truth or not? By what you say and by what other people try and say that the Bible says, but doesn’t say!

What was their problem with the Passover? Their problem was having a meal! Paul told them twice, ‘If you’re hungry, eat at home.’ Today there are still people who think that on the New Testament Passover you have to have a meal.

“…so that the ones who are approved… [approved of God because they preach the Truth] …may become manifest among you. Therefore, when you assemble together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s supper” (vs 19-20). The Greek there is ‘ouk,’ which means there’s no reality of you eating the Lord’s supper.

1. He ate His

2. for the New Covenant, you don’t have a meal

It’s not a time of rejoicing. It’s a time of commemorating His death. That’s why!

We have been covering: is the God of the Old Testament really the Father or not? How do we study the Bible so we know? That’s why we have the Fourteen Rules for Bible Study as the first appendix in the Faithful Version Bible. Begin with what you know! When you study, prove all things! If you’re new, or even well grounded in the Bible, for difficult topics, what do you start with first? The simple Scriptures to understand!

How do you know we should keep the seventh day? The simple Scripture says, ‘Remember the seventh day to keep it Holy.’ That’s the first one everyone wants to forget!

John 6:46: “No one has seen the Father except He Who is from God…”—Jesus Christ. He said, ‘I have come down from heaven. I did not come down to do My will, but the will of the Father.’

“…He has seen the Father” (v 46). That’s very clear! It is true the angels have seen the Father, but this is talking about human beings. “No one has seen the Father except He Who is from God; He has seen the Father.”

John 5:36: “But I have a greater witness than John’s… [John the Baptist] …for the works that the Father gave Me to complete, the very works that I am doing, themselves bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father Himself, Who sent Me, has borne witness of Me. You have neither heard His voice nor seen His form at any time” (vs 36-37).

- How can God the Father witness of Jesus, but no one has seen Him?

- No one has heard His voice?

- How is that possible?

Here’s the first clue:

Verse 38: “And you… [the religious leaders] … do not have His Word dwelling in you, for you do not believe Him Whom He has sent.”

Let’s see something very important concerning God the Father and Jesus Christ, v 30: “I have no power to do anything of Myself… [from His own human existence] …but as I hear…” The Father teaches (Isa. 50), ‘He wakens Me morning by morning.’ Of course, God the Father was probably speaking to Jesus regularly.

“…but as I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father Who sent Me” (v 30). Do you suppose that that applies through all eternity? But of course, it would have to!

What is the first thing He taught us to pray? ‘Our Father Who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come!’ That means the Father’s rule and eventually the Kingdom on the earth, headed up by Christ and the saints. ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ Isn’t that the first thing we pray? What does that mean for us? That we do the will of God as Jesus did the will of God!

Verse 38: “And you do not have His Word dwelling in you, for you do not believe Him Whom He has sent. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think that you have eternal life…” (vs 38-39).

They do talk about eternal life in the Prophets, but not like the New Testament. At this point, a lot of the Jews were believing their traditions and their Kabbalist theories of the soul going to heaven.

“…and they are the ones that testify of Me” (v 39).

Remember v 37: “And the Father Himself, Who sent Me, has borne witness of Me.…” How can He bear witness if ‘you have neither heard His voice nor seen His form at any time’? Through the Word of God! We’ll see two examples.

Verse 40: “But you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life. I do not receive glory from men; but I have known you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves” (vs 40-42).

Isn’t that a key thing? Isn’t that the first commandment to love God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your being? Yes, indeed! If you do, you’ll do like the hymn that we sing, meditation on the Law of God all the time.

Verse 43: “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; but if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How are you able to believe, you who receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses, in whom you have hope. But if you believed Moses, you would have believed Me; for he wrote about Me. And if you do not believe his writings, how shall you believe My words?” (vs 43-47).

Key to understanding the New Testament! You need both the Old and the New Testament.

Let’s look at how the Father testified of Jesus Christ in Deut. 18. How did God do it when no one has heard His voice, nor seen His form? Through His servants! Was Moses the servant of God? Yes! We will see that Moses saw God! So, if Moses saw God, how can that be the Father when it says no one has seen Him except the One Who came down from heaven? Did Moses come down from heaven?

Deuteronomy 18:15: “The LORD your God will raise up unto you a Prophet from the midst of you, of your brethren, One like me. To Him you shall hearken.”

What was said by God when He made Adam and Eve? Because the next thought is: Jesus really wasn’t known until He came. So, if that were the case, what would have to have happened in Genesis 1:26? God would have said, ‘Let Me make man in My image.’ He didn’t say that! He said, “…‘Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness…’’

We covered about the Most High. So, I’ll say this, like Jesus would say. ‘Search the Scriptures and find any place where it says that the Most High said…’ There are quite a few places where it talks about the Most High. We’ve examined some of those. We’ll examine some more today.

We know this is a prophecy of Christ. What about the word God? What is the Hebrew for God? Elohim! That’s plural. The Most High is over everything! Everything that was done in the Old Testament through the One Who became Jesus Christ, was also according to the will of the Most High. Jesus said He did nothing that was not the will of God.

Do you think He did anything before that statement in the book of John that was not the will of God? What was the sin of Satan the devil? He rebelled, executed his own will, and said, ‘I will be like the Most High’! Not just rebellion against the One Who was the Lord God of the Old Testament, but the great Sovereign of the whole universe.

Deuteronomy 18:15: “…To Him you shall hearken, according to all that you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, so that I do not die’ And the LORD said to me, ‘They have spoken well what they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet…’” (vs 15- 18).

Did Jesus raise up Himself? No! This is a message from the Most High through the One Who became Jesus Christ to Moses, to be a witness that God was going to do it.

Therefore, God the Father Himself gave this witness, but He did not speak it Himself. He had Moses speak it. First it came to the One Who was Lord God, Who gave it to Moses. Could Jesus give a prophecy from the Most High about Himself? Yes!

Verse 18: “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, One like you, and will put My words in His mouth. And He shall speak to them all that I shall command Him.”

What did Jesus say? ‘As I see the Father, whatever the Father does, that’s what I do.’

John 12 becomes very important. Knowing that this would have to be also concerning the things that are in what we call the Old Testament. This is the Prophet that was prophesied back in Deut. 18.

John 12:37: “Although He had done so many miracles in their presence, they did not believe in Him, so that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled who said, ‘Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’ For this very reason they could not believe because again Isaiah said, ‘He has blinded their eyes…’” (vs 37-40).

- How does God blind the eyes? ‘In seeing they shall see, but not perceive!’

- How does He do it? Very simple: If you do not obey, there’s automatic blinding!

- If you don’t obey, whose will are you doing? Your own or someone else’s! That brings an automatic blinding!

It’s like this cartoon we have here. Everybody’s lined up to the reassuring lie. ‘Oh, don’t worry about that. Look, everybody keeps Sunday.’

Sidebar: Why do the wicked prosper? Because they are following Satan! What did he tell Jesus? ‘If You worship me, I’ll give you all the nations, the wealth, the glory, and everything of them!’ Since there are false christs, and the ones behind the false christs are Satan the devil and the demons. They control the society!

Think about this: When they pray to the false Jesus, because they don’t obey and they are blinded, who can answer their prayers? The false christ: Satan! Be very happy to. To what? To keep you deceived, to let you think it’s really coming from God, but it’s coming from Satan!

Verse 40: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts so that they would not see with their eyes and understand with their hearts, and be converted, and I would heal them.”

In other words, this is the whole basis for the second resurrection. If God blinds them because they won’t obey, who is responsible for the blinding? God! How is He going to take care of that when He says He wants all to be saved, if they live their lives and die and there’s not the second resurrection? Can’t happen! So, when you read Ezek. 37 with the second resurrection, God asks Ezekiel, ‘Who are these, Lord?’ The Lord says, ‘This is the whole house of Israel.’ He’s going to remove the blinding at that point!

Verse 41: “Isaiah said these things when he saw His glory… [in vision] …and spoke concerning Him. But even so, many among the rulers believed in Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue” (vs 41-42).

- Does that apply to a lot of people today? I couldn’t keep the Sabbath, I’d lose my job!

- Can you get another job? Yes!

- Do you want eternal life, or just physical life?

Verse 43: “For they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God. Then Jesus called out and said, ‘The one who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but in Him Who sent Me’” (vs 43- 44).

Who is the One Who sent Me? The Father! The Father was only revealed as the Most High God in the Old Testament. When the prophecies that would come from the Most High God came, they were through the prophets. We’ll see that in just a minute. Even the prophecies concerning Christ.

Verse 45: “And the one who sees Me sees Him Who sent Me…. [that’s an amazing statement] … I have come as a light into the world so that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness. But if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects Me and does not receive My words has one who judges him; the Word, which I have spoken, that shall judge him in the last day…. [Why? Let’s apply this to the whole Bible] … For I have not spoken from Myself; but the Father, Who sent Me, gave Me commandment Himself, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is eternal life. Therefore, whatever I speak, I speak exactly as the Father has told Me.’” (vs 45-50).

Same way with the will of God, didn’t do His will. We approach the Old Testament in the same way. Let’s talk again about Deut. 18. Let’s see how the Most High, the One Who became the Father, gave this prophecy, but He Himself did not speak. However, since it came from Him, through Moses, did God the Father bear witness Himself? Not personally, but He did bear witness!

It’s the same thing in court. You go to court, you have a witness who can’t come, but he gives a written deposition. Is that a witness? Yes!

Deuteronomy 18:18: “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren…” The I here has to be the part of Elohim Who was the Most High, but He had Moses bring the message. Do you understand that? Moses gave the message, because the One Who became Jesus gave him the words.

If Jesus speaks about Himself, before He comes in the flesh and those actually the words which came from the Most High, therefore, then, the Father has borne witness through this means without having to speak personally for anyone to hear His voice. We’ll see another example here in just a minute.

“…and will put My words in His mouth. And He shall speak to them all that I shall command Him” (v 18). Does that not agree with John 12? I do nothing of My own self!’

Verse 19: “And it shall come to pass, whatever man will not hearken to My words, which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him.”

Then it talks about the prophet, so all of those who are prophets and teachers, you better be very careful. Remember, Satan does not ever come along and say, ‘I want you to do this most evil thing.’ He comes along and says, ‘Did you know that there’s a benefit that God hasn’t told you about?’ He presents it as good.

Isaiah 41:8: “But you, Israel, are My servant… [He calls the One Who became Jesus His servant (Isa. 42)] …Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, My friend; whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called you from its uttermost parts. And I said to you, ‘You are My servant; I have chosen you, and have not cast you away’” (vs 8-9).

Though He sends them off into captivity, He hasn’t gotten rid of them. Then He says three times in the next couple of verses, ‘I will help you.’

He talks about the prophets, v 22: “Let them bring them out… [all their strong reasons] … and declare to us the things that shall happen; let them reveal the former things, what they are, that we may consider them and know the final end of them; or declare to us things to come.’”

He’s saying Israel in their self-righteousness didn’t listen to God, so He’s saying, ‘You tell Me what has been and what will be, if you’re so smart you reject Me, then tell Me why you are so smart. What have you done?’

Verse 23: “Reveal the things that are to come after this, so that we may know that you are gods.…” Isn’t that true today? Look at what they’re trying to do with human beings.

“…Yea, do good, or do evil, so that we may be dismayed and see together. Behold, you are of nothing, and your work is of nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination (vs 23-24).

Then God says, v 25: “I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come from the rising of the sun; he will call upon My name…”—the one who would become Cyrus.

Verse 26: “Who has declared from the beginning, that we may know?.… [God] …And beforetime…” Do we have things beforetime as human time is? We have a few things in the Bible that tells us, rebellion of Satan, creation of the world, the heavens.

“…that we may say, ‘He is right’? Yea, no one declares; yea, no one proclaims; yea, no one hears your words. I first said to Zion, ‘Behold! Behold them!’ And I gave to Jerusalem one who bears good news, For I looked, and there was no man; and there was no counselor among them, that I might ask and be given an answer. Behold, they are all false; their works are nothing; their images are wind and vanity” (vs 26-29).

This leads up to Isa. 42; here’s how the Most High explains about the coming of Jesus without speaking it Himself!

(go to the next track)

Here’s a prophecy about Jesus, Isaiah 42:1: “Behold My Servant…” He’s talking about Himself. As the Lord God of the Old Testament, could He talk about His future coming in the third person? Yes!

Verse 1: “‘Behold My Servant, Whom I uphold; My Elect, in Whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He shall bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He shall not cry out, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed He shall not break, and a smoking wick He shall not quench; in Truth He shall bring forth justice. He shall not fail nor be discouraged until He has set justice in the earth; and the isles shall wait for His Law.’ Thus says the LORD God, ‘He who created the heavens and stretched them out, spreading forth the earth and its offspring; He who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it. I the LORD have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand … [His servant] …and will keep You, and give You for a covenant of the people, for a Light to the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison…’” (vs 1-7).

What did He say in Luke 4 when He went to the synagogue? There you have it!

“‘…those who sit in darkness out of the prison house. I am the LORD; that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to graven images’” (vs 7-8).

You can go on and read it. If you say that the God of the Old Testament was the Father, then you could say the Father had to give this to Isaiah. But nowhere does it say that in the New Testament or the Old Testament. This is the witness of the Father Himself in advance of sending Jesus. The Father Himself gave this Scripture so that when Jesus came it would be understood that it came from the Father, though it was given through the Lord God in the third person to Isaiah as a prophecy.

Let’s talk a little bit about the servant here. When they first began preaching about Jesus Christ, how much of the New Testament was written? None!

Study Paper by Pacific Church of God:

The Bible is clear that Christ is also a God-being and worthy of worship. So by stating that the Father is the only God, Christ is not denying that He is a God-being.

What do you do with that? You separate them and do not include in the word God the plurality of it— Elohim. So, you see how very cleverly that they do it.

Clearly Christ’s point in making this statement was expressing the Father’s superiority to Him. It is also interesting to note that we never see statements in Scripture of the Father referring to Christ as His God.

Can’t figure that out!.

Rather we find that Christ is always described as subordinate to the Father. For example, Christ is described as the Servant of the Father. Acts 3:13: “The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His Servant Jesus, Whom you delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate,” when he was determined to let Him go.

What are they referring to? Isa. 42, preaching Christ out of the Old Testament.

Acts 3:26[transcriber’s correction] “To you first, God having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you in turning everyone from your iniquities.”

We also find that the Father is Christ’s head. The head of Christ is God. The Son Himself is subject to Him, Who puts all things under Him.

Then it talks about the throne. We’ll get to that a little later. Let’s talk about seeing God.

In the book of Exodus He gives the Ten Commandments and everybody heard His voice. All the people lived, and they said, ‘Who has heard the voice of God and lives?’ We find after the Ten Commandments:

Exodus 20:18: “And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw, they trembled and stood afar off. And they said to Moses, ‘You speak with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, lest we die.’ And Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear, for God has come to prove you and so that His fear may be before your faces, so that you may not sin.’ And the people stood afar off…” (vs 18-21).

Moses went back up. Exo. 21, 22, 23 Moses got the judgments. When we come to Exo. 24, here is where they confirmed the covenant. ‘No one has seen the form of the Father at any time.” Isn’t that what Jesus said? Or heard Him!

Exodus 24:1: “And He… [God] …said to Moses, ‘Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship afar off. And Moses alone shall come near the LORD, but they shall not come near. Neither shall the people go up with him.’ And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words, which the LORD has said, we will do’” (vs 1-3).

Then rose up early in the morning, took the Book of the Covenant, had the sacrifices, took the blood, sprinkled half of it on the people and half on the Covenant.

Verse 8: “And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant…’ [v 9]: And Moses went up, and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. And they saw the God of Israel…” (vs 8-10) Jehovah Elohim! They saw Him; they saw His form!

“…And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the heavens in clearness…. [a sea of glass; so they saw Him] …And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay his hands. Also they saw God, and ate and drank” (vs 10-11).

How could God the Father be the One Who gave the Ten Commandments, if after they received the Ten Commandments and the Book of the Law they all went up partway on the mountain and had a confirmation meal to confirm the covenant that was already sanctified with the blood. They saw God; that could not be the Father!

Verse 12: “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Come up to Me in the mountain, and be there. And I will give you tablets of stone, and the law, and commandments which I have written, so that you may teach them.’ And Moses rose up, and his attendance Joshua…” (vs 12-13).

You add them up and there are 75 people who saw the Lord. The 70 of the elders of Israel, plus Nadab, Abihu, Aaron, then Moses and Joshua; that’s 75.

(continuing with the booklet):

They saw the God of Israel. It is often assumed that the God that made the covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai must be the one Who became Jesus Christ, because Exo. 24 mentions a group of people seeing Him.

How’s that for accuracy?

And therefore, it would not be possible for this to be God the Father. This idea is based upon the following Scripture: They went up…

the ones we just read

…they saw God, and they ate and drank.

Notice Moses is included in this group. We have seen that unlike the rest of Israel, Moses actually saw some form when he interacted with God (Num. 12:8); whereas, God made it a specific point of not letting the rest of Israel see any form or likeness of Him….

If Moses had seen God in detail here in Exo. 24, he wouldn’t be making this request in Exo. 33 that he might see God’s glory.

- How did God appear to Moses?

- How did He appear to Adam and Eve?

- To Abraham?

- As flesh and bone!

- What happened? Even Sarah saw Him!

Remember the Lord and two angels came and said, ‘Okay, Sarah, next year you’re going to have a baby.’ Sarah said, ‘Ha, ha! But I didn’t laugh,’. And God said, ‘Yes, you did laugh.’ Any woman would laugh at age 89!

What did they do? They sat down under a tree, Abraham went out and had one of his servants kill a calf, slaughter it, probably cut off the best part! They roasted it, Sarah brought some bread and they had some milk. The Jewish tradition is that you have to have separate dishes for dairy goods and meat is ‘baloney.’ They ate! Then the three got up and the One Who was the Lord said, ‘Now, shall we hold back from Abraham what we’re going to do? No, we’ll tell him.’ Abraham bargained with God. Obviously, God had to be in flesh and bone.

Can a spirit being be flesh and bone, but not flesh and blood? Yes, Jesus was! Didn’t He say, ‘I’m flesh and bone,’ but then He disappeared. How much control does He have over His body to do whatever He wants? Sometimes we wish we could do that and just disappear!

If Moses had seen God in detail here in Exo. 24 He wouldn’t be making the request in Exo. 33, so logically we can conclude that this group didn’t see God in detail either.

Missing the whole point! The comment was made: remember what we read earlier—‘or seen His form.’ Did they see a form of God? Yes!

They simply saw some kind of form or likeness of God and the statement they saw God is significant because this group was the only people in Israel to see this. Everyone else just heard the voice coming out of the midst of the fire…

…Concerning all the information presented here, we can see of the many conclusions that are drawn in regards to the issue of hearing and seeing God, are incorrect or incomplete.

As a result, we have to be careful with using this issue to make dogmatic conclusions regarding which God Being is being addressed at any particular place in Old Testament Scripture.

How many times was the voice heard, ‘This is My Beloved Son, listen to Him?’ Twice!

1. once when He was baptized

2. once at the Mount of Transfiguration

What they have done here to make it look like that this is a big, big deal, they quote all the Scriptures which brings this out, to make it look like it was said more often.

When He was baptized, the Spirit of God descending upon Him as a dove and suddenly a voice…

They have right up here:

The first instance where the Bible records God the Father testifying that Christ is His Son was at Christ’s baptism.

Not so! You read the account of His begettal and His birth and His presentation and there were prophecies by Simeon, Anna, and also John the Baptist’s father.

First instance: And suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, ‘This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.’

If this were the Father and the first time, what would you expect to be written? ‘And the Father spoke from heaven saying Himself…’ No! This is a message conveyed probably by an angel. A voice, because if it were God Himself that would be big time. After this point is when He said, ‘No one has seen His form or heard His voice.’ That was after this occurrence.

Why didn’t Jesus say, ‘Now you remember when I was baptized, all of you who were standing there, remember the Holy Spirit came down on Me in the form of the dove and you heard the voice of God the Father.’ That’s what He would have said IF it were true! Then they quote Mark 9 same thing.

Luke 3:22[transcriber’s correction]: “…and there came a voice from heaven, saying...” Then they quote Matt. 17 ‘…a voice came out of the clouds saying…’; Mark 9 repeating it. What they have done, they have shown seven instances when this was done, because you have 2-Pet. 1:16, 18.

Here’s the logic. If this voice were from God the Father, it wouldn’t have been just a voice. It would have been mammoth, greater than what they heard at Mount Sinai. Let’s read their conclusion here:

God the Father is the only individual in existence Who could make the claim that Christ is His Son…

True!

…There is no one else who can say this.

True, but someone could convey the message of that, an angel, maybe Gabriel. You find almost everything having to do with the Messiah in Daniel and in the Gospels; it was the angel Gabriel.

In addition, there’s nothing stated here in any of these Scriptures to indicate an angel is speaking on the Father’s behalf.

Yes, there is, a voice, not the Father declares!

Not only this, there is never stated or even implied in any of these Scriptures, but the statement, ‘This is My Beloved Son,’ is stated in the first person, which gives us no indication that there was an intermediary speaking on the Father’s behalf.

You don’t have to have an angel say, ‘I’m here to tell you what God said,’ because what it was, the angel was to speak, ‘This is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.’ Because God the Father would not speak it Himself directly.

It’s kind of like the Most High and Christ are one. The Most High was revealed in the Old Testament. You come to the New Testament and He’s revealed as the Father, not a father, as we’ll cover in another sermon.

Given Christ’s clear statement in John 5:37 that the Father Himself, i.e. personally, has testified of Me and the fact that the Bible gives us examples of this in at least seven separate Scriptures…

They count the 2 occasions as 7!

It is clear that Jesus’ use of the word you in John 5:37 should be understood as a reference to the specific audience He was making the statement to, rather than to all mankind.

Let’s go back and just read into the record John 6:46 here. “No one has seen the Father except He Who is from God; He has seen the Father.”

Then after the instance of the declaration of the voice. Was He not baptized at the beginning of His ministry? Yes, He was!

John 5:37: “And the Father Himself, Who sent Me, has borne witness of Me….” Can you bear witness without having to have your voice heard by everyone? Yes, you can write it. You can have someone else deliver it. ‘I testify,’ The Father never said, ‘I testify.’

“…You have neither heard His voice nor seen His form at any time” (v 37).

- Do you suppose that those to whom Jesus was talking to never went to the baptism of John?

- Do you suppose there may have been at least one or two to whom He was speaking right at that time that could have been there when Jesus was baptized? Yes!

- Did all the people hear the voice, ‘This is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased,’? Yes!

- Would other people have heard it? Yes!

Therefore, it cannot be the voice of God, because Jesus said, ‘You have neither heard His voice nor seen His form at any time.’ How far back does that go? Any time! So, He’s not just talking to those people there.

It is clear that the use of Jesus’ word you in John 5:37 should be understood as a reference to the specific audience He was speaking to when He made this statement and is not an all inclusive statement meant to apply to all mankind.

What does it say here? At any time! That includes all time.

Seeing God:

The issue of seeing God the Father is much more a complex subject. First of all there are several Scriptures in the Bible that obviously make dogmatic and allinclusive statements regarding God the Father not being seen by any human.

How do they get around that? You have a clue that they’re going to have to weasel around this some way because they say it’s more complex.

John 1:18: “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son Who is the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”
John 6:46…

We already read that!

… “Not that anyone has seen the Father except He Who is come from God; He has seen the Father”
1-John 4:12: “No one has seen God at any time…”

That’s written years and years later, let’s see how they explain it!

These verses are obviously making dogmatic, all-inclusive statements that no human has ever seen God the Father.

Are you going to be reasoning in circles here?

In light of the above Scriptures, how are we to understand the numerous Old Testament Scriptures that speak about God appearing to humans, or having faceto- face interaction with humans?

flesh and bone!

Do these references to God appearing to humans or speaking to them face-to-face automatically mean that these Scriptures could not possibly be speaking about God the Father, and that they must be referring to the One Who became Jesus Christ? To answer this question, we need to take a closer look at both of these issues.

So then they give the one here:

Deut. 5:1-4: “The Lord talked with you face to face in the mountain…”

They knew that was not face-to-face, but as close as you’re going to get to God.

Deut. 4: “Take care, for you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb in the midst of the fire.”

But who did see the form of God? The 75!

Exodus 33:11: “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to His friend.”

He couldn’t do it in glory because Moses would have been dead.

“So, He told them no man can see My face and live. You’ll see My backside, but My face shall not be seen.”

Since it is clear that all of the above examples of the face of God was not seen by humans, He was interacting with the term face-to-face, should be understood more in a sense of a direct interaction taking place without necessitating that the parties are involved or able to see each other’s face and look into each other’s eyes.

Because He said, ‘God talked to you face-to-face.’ They were looking up at the mountain. Could they see God? No! God was up on the mountain and He was looking down. Was that face-to-face? True! But did they see God? No! Did God see them? Yes! Then we have:

Num. 12:6-8: “Hear My words. If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD make Myself known to him in a vision. I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses who is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings. And he sees the form of God. Why then are you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?”

If no one has seen the form of God at any time, how could that be the Father? That’s why you have to start with the simple Scriptures that are easy to understand. I wrote on this page: You lost your argument! Let me read it:

If we look at the Hebrew words that are translated into the English phrase face-toface, in the Scriptures that describe God having face-to-face interaction with humans, we will see that the meaning of the Hebrew words does not mean that the parties involved are able to look into each other’s eyes.

With Moses it was. What did He do? Look in Moses’ ear?

In fact the primary meaning of these words are just general expressions for direct communications. The Hebrew word translated face-to-face, and actually Exo. 33:11, Deut. 5:4; 34:10, Eze. 20:35 is ‘paneh,’ Strong’s Concordance #6440. The Complete Word Study of the Old Testament by Warren Baker and Eugene Carpenter defines the word as a masculine, plural noun meaning a face. Although the literal meaning of the face is possible, most of the time this word occurs in a figurative idiomatic expression.

Where are they drawing their authority? From the writings of a commentary, who do not want to admit that Moses and God did talk face-to-face, and they know nothing about flesh and bone going clear back to Adam and Eve.

We see the meaning of the Hebrew in these verses is consistent with face-toface, being understood as an expression referring to direct communication without requiring the literal meaning we typically apply to this phrase in English today.

God Himself said, ‘I speak to Moses face-to-face.’

Then it says there are two additional words, face-to-face, need to consider as well. They say that it is masculine, singular noun meaning mouth. Mouth-to-mouth. That’s a phrase that John uses in 2- John, where he says, ‘I don’t want to write it in paper and pen.’ The Greek is mouth-to-mouth. In other words I want to see your face and we’ll talk. That’s generally translated face-to-face.

Besides the literal meaning, this term is used as an instrument of speech and figuratively for speech itself.

Then they have Strong’s and here is the meaning of Num. 14:14.

By extension it refers to being in the presence of another. Given that Num. 14:14 makes it clear that Israel only saw the cloud during the day and fire by night, in this face-to-face interaction with God.

Was there any face-to-face interaction with God because they saw the pillar of fire and the cloud? No! That was there to protect them. God gave them cloud covering.

- If you’re in the desert and it’s hot, wouldn’t you like to have a cloud covering? Yes!

- If at night when it’s pitch black out there and you don’t anything, would you like to have a pillar of fire so you can see what’s going on in the camp around you? Yes!

That’s why that was no direct interfacing between the people and God.

I’ll end it here because this requires quite a bit of reading so you understand what they have written. We’re doing what Patton did with Rommel’s book: He read his book and knew his tactics and beat him in the North African desert. So, we’ll read their book and see where they’re missing the point.

God Appearing to Humans:

There are numerous accounts in the Old Testament that describe God appearing to humans. Often the use of the word appeared in these accounts as interpreted to mean that we can assume that humans in these accounts actually saw the face of God.

Assume! So, this new doctrine is based a commentary and assumptions. You can’t assume anything.

I can call my wife, talk to her on the phone. I can hear her voice in my ear, but unless I have the super-duper one where she can have her face up on the phone and I can have mine, I can’t see her, but I can hear her. She can hear me.

A comment was made that in Exo. 34, after Moses was up there the second time that he absorbed some of the glory of God into his face. He had to put a veil over his face when he talked to the people. He took the veil off when he talked to God when the presence of God was there in the special tabernacle. Why would he take it off, if he didn’t see God faceto- face, whether it be in vision or directly?

When Jacob wrestled with God, he said, ‘I saw the face of God and lived.’ Wrestled with Him. What form was Christ in at that time? Flesh and bone! Jacob must have been so strong, God said, ‘I have to get out of this,’ so He made Jacob lame.

Often the use of the word appears in these accounts is interpreted to mean that we can assume that the humans in these accounts actually saw the face of God.

Why can you assume that?

As a result, it is also assumed that all the accounts must be referring to the One Who became Jesus Christ, as it would not be possible for the God the Father to be spoken of if His face is seen by humans.

So, they lost their argument! You reason in a circle and pretty soon you go around your conclusion, and you have lost it. That’s what they just did.

However, concluding that we can always assume that any reference to God appearing to human beings always means the One Who became Jesus Christ is being referred to and can result in significant Biblical contradictions.

No! If you understand the Word of God! I think it’s interesting that all of this is coming right as we are beginning to study 2-Cor. with all the false christs and false apostles and satanic behavior going on in Corinth.

Scriptural References:

1. 1-Corinthians 11:17-20

2. John 6:46

3. John 5:36-38, 30, 37-39, 37, 40-47

4. Deuteronomy 18:15

5. Genesis 1:26

6. Deuteronomy 18:15-18

7. John 12:37-50

8. Deuteronomy 18:18-19

9. Isaiah 41:8-9, 22-29

10. Isaiah 42:1-8

11. Exodus 20:18-21

12. Exodus 24:1-3, 8-13

13. Luke 3:22

14. John 6:46

15. John 5:37

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

- Isaiah 50

- Ezekiel 37

- Luke 4

- Exodus 21-23

- Mark 9

- Matthew 17

- 2-Peter 1:16-18

Also referenced:

- Book: Satan’s Ten Most Believable Lies by David Breese

- Sermon Series: Satan’s Ten Most Believable Lies

- Study Packs:

- The Nature of God

- Assaults Against the Church

- Satan’s Ten Most Believable Lies

- Appendix A: Fourteen Rules For Bible Study (From The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version)

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 2-4-18
Formatted: bo—2/5/18

Copyright 2018—All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. This includes electronic and mechanical photocopying or recording, as well as the use of information storage and retrieval systems.

God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament III

Refuting false doctrines about The Father

Fred R. Coulter

Show me any other book in the world that was written hundreds or thousands of years ago where you can say it applies to me today. The only book in the world that can do that is the Bible. That’s quite an amazing thing. It’s written in such a way that the only way you can understand it is that you believe and obey!

You can pick up a math book and it virtually doesn’t matter what your attitude is toward God. If you apply yourself to the math book, you can understand it. If not, then they’ll give you a calculator.

But it’s not that way with the Word of God. The Word of God is the only thing that can convict us unto repentance. All that’s the entire process.

We’re going to look at some different Scriptures in the Old Testament. We have to look at them carefully and understand what they say.

This is the message from Nathan when David wanted to build the temple, 2-Samuel 7:12: “And when your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your father… [you’re going to die; you’re not going to build a temple for Me, because you’re a bloody man] …I will set up your seed after you who shall come forth from your loins. And I will make his kingdom sure. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him for a father, and he shall be to Me for a son…” (vs 12-14).

Does this establish the God of the Old Testament as the Father? No, it just tells the kind of relationship that He would have with Solomon! Doesn’t make Him the Father. If He were the Father, it would have been phrased differently. This actually, when you looked at it, proves that the God of the Old Testament was not God the Father, because the God of the Old Testament had to tell him that if he does well—that goes on with the rest of it—‘I will be like a father to him.’

Can that happen with different people in their relationships today? Yes! Even though they’re not the actual father.

Let’s just look at the result of the New Testament Father. Remember what was the most important verse in John 14? The one who loves Me will keep My Word and the Father will love him and We will come to him and make Our abode—or dwelling place—with him!

The key to understanding the Father relationship in the New Testament is the Father relationship with God the Father. In the Old Testament they had a relationship with the One Who became Jesus Christ. He was never called The Father, but could He have a relationship with Solomon, as a father to a son? Why would He say that? Because Solomon was very young!

If He were the Father, He wouldn’t have to say, ‘I would be like a father.’ He would say, ‘I am the Father.’

Let’s look at another one. Isa. 9 is a very, very perplexing Scripture, a prophecy of the birth of Christ.

Isaiah 9:6: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulders; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

When will Jesus become a Father? After the marriage with the Church! All those coming into the Kingdom of God, through the Millennium, will be the children of the Church and Christ. He will be an Everlasting Father, because He lives forever.

That’s pretty hard for them to figure out, because this actually disproves the theory that the God of the Old Testament was God the Father. If He was the Father of the Old Testament, why would Jesus have to reveal Him? Wouldn’t have to be revealed. Just to clarify: God the Father is a Father to those whom He calls!

We’ll jump a little bit ahead to Passover. Who is spared the Passover night in Egypt? Firstborn! If He didn’t spare them, all the rest of the children of Israel would have lived, because the curse was only on the firstborn. They were special to God.

God said, ‘Set aside the firstborn of man and beast for Me,’ special to God. That was a fore-type of the Church. God the Father is the One Who calls us and draws us, and so forth. But we are in a relationship with God the Father that only Christ could reveal and only the Father could execute! That is having God’s Spirit, so that we, who will be in the first resurrection, are called the Church of the Firstborn!

So, all the firstborn were a type of Christ—because He was the only Begotten, the Firstborn of Mary, the Firstborn from the dead—and we, for those whom God is calling, are the Church of the Firstborn and having the Spirit of God the Father and Jesus Christ. We are in a totally different relationship than those in the Old Testament. No place in the Old Testament does it say, ‘We will make Our dwelling in them.’

Psalm 89:20: “I have found David, My servant…” He’s talking about the promise given to David for building the house and the continuation of the throne. This is by Ethan the Ezrahite (v 1). This was one of the priests who came back with Ezra.

What were the circumstances of the kingdom of Judah at that time, when they came back out of the Babylonian captivity? They didn’t have the throne and they didn’t have a king! That’s why you have to look at why Jeremiah had the daughters of the king.

They come back and they can’t have a king. The Persians would not let them have a king. A governor was okay, but not a king.

Here’s Ethan the Ezrahite. If you read this carefully, this is really an extended complaint against God. ‘Why don’t we have a king when You said the throne would be established forever?’ You might want to read that from that point of view. That will help you understand it.

Verse 20: “I have found David, My servant; with My holy oil I have anointed him. My hand shall be established with him; My arm also shall strengthen him” (vs 20-21). What he’s doing is he’s rehearsing all of the promises given to David, so that he was going to, in a way, force God to admit something. But God never admitted it.

His complaint is, ‘God, You made all these promises. You’ve said all of these things and here we are. We don’t have a throne and we don’t have a king, but You promised.’ He ended up at the end, ‘You’re God and we’ll wait on you.’ So, he ended up okay.

Verse 21: “My hand shall be established with him; My arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not extract from him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. And I will beat down his foes before his face and plague those who hate him. But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him; and in My name his horn shall be exalted. I will set his hand also in the sea and his right hand in the rivers. He shall cry to Me, ‘My Father, You are my God, and the Rock of my salvation’” (vs 21-26).

Look at that very carefully. Will David be in the first resurrection? Of course! This is a prophecy of the first resurrection and David calling God the Father ‘My Father,’ and Christ ‘the Rock of Salvation.’ This does not make the God of the Old Testament the Father! This is a prophecy of the Father, by David, being recited by Ethan the Ezrahite.

Referring to all the corruption that they have in Deut. 32:5: Deuteronomy 32:6: “Is this the way you pay back to the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father Who bought you? Has He not made you and established you?”

This is the only Scripture that comes close to where you could interpret that it was God the Father in the Old Testament. But one Scriptures does not undo all the others; it has to be taken in context.

Verse 7: “Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam…’” (vs 7-8).

- When did that happen? Gen. 11!

- What was said there by God? ‘Let Us…’

That includes the Most High, Who became the Father, and the Lord God of the Old Testament. This one we can say does not totally refute that theory, but one Scripture cannot undo all the rest of the Old Testament.

(go to the next track)

Isaiah 63:15: “Look down from heaven, and look down from the place of Your Holiness and of Your glory. Where is Your zeal and Your strength, the multitude of Your tender affections and of Your mercies toward me?.…” This is Israel calling out:

Verse 8: “…‘Surely they are My people…’”

“…Are they withheld? For You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us…” (vs 15-16).

This doesn’t change the God of the Old Testament to being God the Father. It’s just merely saying that God, in that sense, is a father through Abraham. We’ll see that in John 8 in a little bit.

“…though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer; Your name is from everlasting” (v 16).

Does this blend into the beginning of the Millennium when they will understand about the Father and they will understand about Christ. Christ will become their Father? Very likely! Again, we find no established words that say that God the Father was the Father of the Old Testament! It shows:

- the Most High

- the Ancient of Days

- some prophecies into the future

Isaiah 64:8: “But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; and we all are the work of Your hand.” That’s a prophecy of the Church.

Remember, the Old Testament has it this way: you go along and it talks about one topic. All of sudden there’s an injection of another topic that doesn’t fit exactly. This is one of those.

The Gospel of John is very important when we understand it was John who supervised the canonization of the New Testament. There are certain things that when you look at the Greek tell us that this particular part of it is added in later. Let’s look at one of those in John 3.

John 3:13: “(And no one has ascended into heaven, except He Who came down from heaven, even the Son of man, Who is in heaven.)”

- Why is that there?

- Interjected right here?

- Remember what Paul wrote?

- ‘Some of you who say there’s no resurrection…and some of you who say the resurrection is over’!

- What was the prevailing philosophy and religion of the Greeks?

- Immortal soul and those who were the important people ascended up into the heavens!

- Could it be that there were those who were saying, ‘Mary ascended into heaven’?

- Could it be that they were saying that the other apostles who had died ascended into heaven?

- Why is this put here and in a parenthetical statement? Because there was a problem concerning the resurrection, that’s why!

As you analyze the book of John you will see that it addresses certain problems that would have come up later. This was a problem that came up later and Jesus never said those words, even if it’s red lettered in the King James Version.

After He told them if one is born again, he’s like the wind, v 10: “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘You are a teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things? Truly, truly I say to you, We speak that which We know, and We testify of that which We have seen; but you do not receive Our testimony’” (vs 10-11).

He’s talking about Himself and the apostles and also the testimony of the Father. The testimony of the Father came through Christ.

Verse 12: “If I have told you earthly things, and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”

Verse 14: “And even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, in the same way…”

This verse is put right in there at a point to make sure that everyone knew the only One Who ascended into heaven was Christ. No one else! This was a problem and it’s right there in the ‘born again’ section. ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’

When you die, you’re in the grave. The spirit goes back to God, but there’s no consciousness. Just like with the recorder that I have. It cannot produce anything unless there is a chip in it. Our spirit that goes back to God, which is perfected, is much like a chip on storage. Be put into a new spiritual body and a new spiritual mind. That’s why you have the section on ‘born again.’ That’s why that verse is there to make sure that everyone understood no one goes to heaven!

When John wrote that, this was probably added in when he was very old, when they were finalizing the New Testament. Likewise with:

John 1:18: “No one has seen God at any time…” Were there any of the scribes and Pharisees around where He made this statement?

John 5:37: “…You have neither heard His voice nor seen His form at any time.” If there were any of them around when Jesus was baptized and that voice came and said, ‘This is My Son in whom I am well pleased,’ and all the people that were there, did they all hear it? If they did, and if that was the voice of the Father, then they heard it. If it was spoken by an angel conveying a message from the Father, it was a voice.

Therefore, if it was really the Father Who said that, then Jesus’ words here would not be true. Because they would have heard it.

Now then the other instance where they were on the Mount of Transfiguration. Same thing happened. In the paper that we covered last week in #2, they put all of these in sequence and referred to them as multiple times (Study paper from Pacific Church of God). But how many times were there actually?

1. once when Jesus was baptized

2. once on the Mount of Transfiguration

And the disciples heard the voice. Jesus told them, ‘Tell no man about this until after the Son of man is raised from the dead.’

John 12:27: “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour? But for this very purpose I have come to this hour.”

If you follow the chronology of what was taking place in those days, this was on the 10th day of the first month. What was supposed to happen on the 10th day of the 1std month? Select the Passover lamb! Is Jesus called our Passover Who was sacrificed for us? Yes, He is! Would the Father then select Him on that day?

Verse 28: “Father glorify Your name.’ Then a voice… [if it says a voice, it doesn’t tell us who said it] …came from heaven, saying ‘I have glorified it and will glorify it again.’ Then the people standing there, who heard it… [Was it clear to them? No!] …said, ‘It thundered.’ Others said, ‘An angel spoke to Him.’ Jesus answered and said, ‘This voice did not come because of Me, but because of you’” (vs 28-30).

Why? To save them from their sins! He was selected, but none of them understood it. You can’t say this is the Father’s voice. Jesus heard it, but the people heard some thunder. Very interesting.

Jesus repeats this phrase over and over again. John 6:33: “For the Bread of God is He Who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They wanted to have this bread, that they could eat it always.

Verse 35: “Jesus said to them, ‘I AM the Bread of Life; the one who comes to Me shall never hunger; and the one who believes in Me shall never thirst at any time. But as I said to you, you also have seen Me, yet, you do not believe. All whom the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will in no wise cast out. For I did not come down from heaven to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me. And this is the will of the Father Who sent Me: that of all whom He has given Me, I should not lose any, but should raise them up in the last day. And this is the will of Him Who sent Me…’” (vs 35-40). Where is the Father? In heaven!

Verse 41: “…‘I AM the Bread that came down from heaven.’ And they were saying…‘Why then does He say, “I came down from heaven”?’” (vs 41-42).

Verse 46: “No one has seen the Father except He Who is from God; He has seen the Father.”

You tie all of these together: No one has seen God at any time! That’s always referring to the Father. The Father is not going to come down to the earth until New Jerusalem. He has given us of His Holy Spirit as a begettal. He deals with us as His children spiritually. But we don’t see Him directly. We don’t hear Him directly, but He guides us spiritually.

Verse 65: “And He said, ‘For this reason, I have said to you, no one can come to Me unless it has been given to him from My Father.’ From that time, many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him” (vs 65-66).

He said, v 62: “What if you shall see the Son of man ascending up where He was before?” Came down from heaven, said, ‘What if you see Him going up?’ The apostles saw that when He ascended to heaven.

John 8 becomes really quite a thing here. We covered part of this last time, but let’s go ahead and review it again. Notice, because this tells us something very important, because He said:

John 8:38: “I speak the things that I have seen from My Father, and you do the things that you have seen from your father.” Who was their father? Did they not say, ‘God is our father.’ Does this tell us from whence this doctrine comes?

Verse 39: “They answered and said to Him, ‘Our father is Abraham.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has spoken the Truth to you, which I have heard from God; Abraham did not do this. You are doing the works of your father.’.…” (vs 39-41).

They said they were worshiping the Father. How could they worship the Father if He was not yet revealed?

“…Then they said to Him, ‘We have not been born of fornication. We have one Father, and that is God.’ Therefore, Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, because I proceeded forth and came from God.… [the Father] … For I have not come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why don’t you understand My speech? Because you cannot bear to hear My words” (vs 41-43).

- Why do people reject things? Because they can’t stand to hear the Truth!

- Why do they get involved in false doctrines? Because they want their own way rather than God’s way!

If you want God’s way always, when you see that you’re wrong, incorrect, or sin, you repent and change. Were they doing that here? No!

They said, ‘God is our Father,’ referring to God the Father Who Jesus came to reveal.

Jesus said, v 44: “You are of your father the devil…”

- Does that tell us where that doctrine comes from?

- Is this more than a simple mistake?

or:

- Does this kind of thing come from Satan the devil?

- Where does all false doctrine come from? From Satan!

When they said, ‘You’re calling Yourself the Son of God, You’re making Yourself equal with God,’ and yet, if God were their Father, they would have accepted Him. You can’t have it both ways. Go take a shower and stay dry; an oxymoron! Put out the fire; throw some gasoline on it.

Verse 44: “You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you desire to practice….”

What did they have to replace the Truth of God? They had the skeleton of the Truth of God. They had the:

- Sabbath

- Holy Days

- Old Testament

- prophecies of Jesus

They had all of those things. They could have known. But what did they have? They had their own traditions! That’s what they practiced. What does that tell you about well-intentioned human traditions? Doesn’t Satan come with benefits? Yes! {note sermon series: Judaism vs Scripturalism, we’ll send you the book, too, along with it}

Jews place their traditions above God. Yes, so do the Catholics. Who then is their father when that happens? ‘He who is of God hears God. He who is not of God, does not hear God.’

“…the lusts of your father you desire to practice. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the Truth because there is no Truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he is speaking from his own self; for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I speak the Truth, you do not believe Me. Which one of you can convict Me of sin? But if I speak the Truth, why don’t you believe Me? The one who is of God hears the words of God. For this reason you do not hear, because you are not of God.’” (vs 44-47). The god that you claim as your father is the devil.

With this coming into the Church, who’s inspiring this? Is it God? or Is it Satan?

John 17—this is the true Lord’s prayer, because this was His prayer. Think of what He had to do to bring to the memory of John to write this down. Think what a tremendous thing that was. You read all of John 17 and that’s the outline of all of the plan of God together.

John 17:1: “Jesus spoke these words, and lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify Your own Son, so that Your Son may also glorify You; since You have given Him authority over all flesh… [that’s a lot, every human being] …in order that He may give eternal life to all whom You have given Him…. [the firstborn, the Church of the Firstborn] …For this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God…’” (vs 1-3).

- Why did He say that?

- What did He say to the rich man who came to Him and said, ‘Good Master, what things should I do to inherit eternal life?’? ‘Don’t call Me good; there’s only one Who is good’!

Most of them miss the point and the Protestants don’t have a clue about this. Jesus had to carry the law of sin and death within Him. As long as He was in the flesh He was not true God. He was God manifested in the flesh for the purpose of becoming the sacrifice for the sins of the world.

When you hear someone say, ‘We believe in the incarnation, 100% God/100% man.’ You can’t have both together except as a begettal and a birth and human flesh.

- Was Jesus fully God after the resurrection? Yes!

- Was He fully God when He was giving this prayer? No, He wasn’t!

He had not yet gone through the agony of the crucifixion.

Verse 3: “For this is eternal life… [that is when you receive it] …that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom You did send. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work that You gave Me to do” (vs 3-4).

The Protestants read that and say, ‘That’s the crucifixion.’ No, that had not yet taken place. The work that He was given to do that He finished was preaching the Gospel and training the apostles, bearing witness to the world. He finished that, but now He was about to enter in to the time of the crucifixion. What did He say later, just before He died, when He was on the cross? ‘It is finished!’

Verse 5: “And now, Father, glorify Me with Your own self, with the glory that I had with You before the world existed.”

If the God of the Old Testament were the Father, then you have to say Christ was not the God of the Old Testament, and now you must create a new doctrine to explain about Christ, the only Begotten. What do you come up with? He did not exist until He was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary!

- A little leaven leavens the whole lump!

- One false doctrine leads to another false doctrine!

That’s how all these traditions in Catholicism and Judaism and every other religion came about.

Just got a report that they haven’t yet put this on their website with the Pacific Church of God. They just had a ministerial conference. I talked to one of the men before that occurred and I know now since then he has resigned because they are going to make this issue a salvational issue which means you cannot receive salvation unless you believe this. I hope this helps you!

Scriptures Referenced:

1. 2-Samuel 7:12-14

2. Isaiah 9:6

3. Psalm 89:20-26

4. Deuteronomy 32:6-8

5. Isaiah 63:15, 8. 15-16

6. Isaiah 64:8

7. John 3:13, 10-14

8. John 1:18

9. John 5:37

10. John 12:27-30

11. John 6:33-42, 46, 65-66, 62

12. John 8:38-47

13. John 17:1-5

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

- John 14

- Psalm 89:1

- Deut. 32:5

- Genesis 11

Also referenced: Sermon Series:

Judaism vs Scripturalism

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 2-13-18
Formatted: bo—2-13-18

Copyright 2018—All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. This includes electronic and mechanical photocopying or recording, as well as the use of information storage and retrieval systems.

God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament IV

If the God of the Old Testament were the Father, why then did Jesus have to come and reveal the Father?

Fred R. Coulter1

False doctrines come along and they present things that look really good. Referring to the Study Paper recently put out by the Pacific Church of God; they give all ‘4’ quotes: ‘And a voice said: This is My Son, the Beloved, in Whom I am well pleased.’

When were the two times that it was said? Baptism and transfiguration! How many times was it said? Once, each time! So you write a paper and you stack up all 4 and say, ‘Look at this.’

They say, ‘This is the voice of the Father.’ Yet, that contradicts what Jesus said, ‘You have never heard His voice, nor seen Him at any time. And no one has seen God except He Who comes down from heaven.’ But then they say that doesn’t mean what it says.

1-John 4:12, written after the Gospels, late—we don’t know how late—but it was when the apostasy was already beginning where there were those in 1-John that were leaving. John called them antichrists.

He said in 1-John 4:12: “No one has seen God at any time….”—period! Think about all the years from the time that they were called, became apostles, did their preaching, did their writing, did their teaching, and so forth. The Greek there is very strong.

Let me tell you about two Greek nots, translated not in English. The first one is ‘me.’ That means don’t think it. Where do you find that in Matt. 5? ‘Think not…’ Don’t think it! What does that mean? Don’t think it!

The other word is ‘ou,’ sometimes ‘ouk,’ and sometimes ‘oux.’ That Greek word means the utter impossibility of that stated fact occurring.

So when John writes in 1-John 4:12: “No one…” it’s a compound word of ‘ou’ and one. No one has seen God! We covered last time that Jacob wrestled with God and said, ‘I’ve seen God face-to-face and lived.’ Remember the sermon that I gave on flesh and bone: News, Flesh & Bone, N.T. Fraud. How did Jesus appear to the disciples after He was resurrected? He said that a spirit—a demonic spirit—does not have flesh and bone ‘as you see Me.’

How did He appear to the two disciples walking to Emmaus? He appeared in a form that they didn’t know Him! That’s after His resurrection.

When Moses said, ‘Show me Your glory,’ God’s answer was, ‘No one can look upon My face and live.’ So, the supposition is with this, that this had to be the Father. But God said—when Aaron and Miriam sinned against Moses—‘Don’t you dare to presume to put yourself above Moses because him I speak face-to-face. Any prophet I will appear in a dream or a revelation.’

How did He appear to Moses face-to-face? Couldn’t be in His glory because He’d burn him up. How did God appear to Adam and Eve? Flesh and bone! They don’t even bring this up in the papers that they produce.

Psalm 110:1: “The LORD said unto my Lord…” We’re going to see Jesus quoted this. In the Hebrew it was originally YHVH said to my YHVH. But the Jews couldn’t handle that after Christianity came on the scene. So they reduced this to another form of Lord: Adonai. But since those are the keepers of the Masoretic text, always keep track of any changes. They noted 134 instances where they changed YHVH to Adonai.

It’s just like a forensic investigation. Somebody’s going to make a mistake along the way. They did the right think in writing it down, but then they revealed their mistake and didn’t even realize it because they probably figured if they don’t note the change, they’ll probably be struck with a bolt of lightning for changing the Word of God without making a notation.

“…‘Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies as Your footstool’” (v 1).

Where is this quoted in the New Testament, the second half? Who quoted it? It also says, ‘You’re a priest after the order of Melchizedek forever.’ 1- Cor. 15 says that Jesus is going to carry out the plan of God until every enemy is put under His foot and then He delivers the Kingdom to the Father.

So, the Lord, being the one Who is the Most High. The Most High was known in the Old Testament, but never revealed. Nowhere does it say in the Old Testament, ‘And the Most High spoke.’ If it looks like He spoke, it was through the One Who became Jesus Christ.

We’ll see some other very interesting Scriptures, because know this. In order to bring about a false doctrine, you must change the meaning of the Scriptures. So, they say, ‘It doesn’t mean that no man would see Him.’ Matt. 22 is also parallel in Mark, Luke, and in Acts 2.

- Are there some things in the Bible that are hard to understand? Yes!

- Are there some things in the Bible that are an overview with no details? Yes!

Here’s something hard to understand. That’s very interesting because that comes after, ‘What is the first and greatest commandment? Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and being! And ‘Your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two hang all the Law and the Prophets.’ So, the Pharisees have to come with another question.

Matthew 22:41: “While the Pharisees were assembled together, Jesus questioned them, Saying, ‘What do you think concerning the Christ? Whose son is He?’ They said to Him, ‘The Son of David’” (vs 41-42)—because there are a lot of prophecies that you find that show the Son of David.

Sidebar on the two genealogies: Why do we have two leading up to Christ? Matt. 1 is the legal one! Luke was the physical lineage. The names of the name begin with the father of Mary: Eli. Joseph was the son-in-law of Eli, the father of Mary. It comes down through the line from there all the way to Adam.

But when you get to David, it is David and then the son of Nathan. Solomon’s lineage was cut off leading to the Christ because of his sins. So, it came through Nathan.

How are you going to figure the Son of David? Verse 43: “He said to them, ‘How then does David in spirit call Him Lord, saying, “The LORD said to my Lord…’”’” (vs 43-44). In the Greek the words are the same, ‘kurios,’ the Lord says to my Lord.

“‘…“Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet”? Therefore, if David calls Him Lord…’” (vs 44-45).

All you smart people out there—you Pharisees and everybody—how is He His Son? Does God do things that people don’t know about? The genealogy written in Luke 3 wasn’t even in existence when He asked this question. There’s no way they could check it.

- you have two Lords, the Old Testament

- you have in the beginning ‘Let Us…’

- you have the One Who became the Lord God

- you have the One Who became the Most High

Nothing is revealed about the Most High because that’s not revealed until Jesus comes to reveal the Father.

If the God of the Old Testament were the Father, why then did Jesus have to come and reveal the Father? The answer is in Matt. 11. I imagine at that time—and before the completion and compilation of the New Testament—there were a lot of things that were difficult to understand.

I’ll give you a little assignment for reading the book of Psalms. As you read the book of Psalms pick out the verses that relate

1. directly to Christ as a person

2. the inspired words that He would say

Remember when the apostles started preaching they were preaching Christ from the Old Testament. You look in the Psalms and remember what Jesus told the disciples after He was resurrected and appeared to them: ‘And He opened the Scriptures to their understanding,’ showing the prophecies of Himself in the Law, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms. The Lord said to my Lord!

Matthew 11:25: “At that time Jesus answered and said, ‘I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth…’”

- Was He Lord of heaven and earth as the Most High?

- Was Christ Lord of heaven and earth having that authority delegated to Him?

- Yes!

What did Jesus say when He was on the earth? I do nothing of My own, but I do the will of the Father! Do you not suppose that was the same under the Most High that He did the will of the Most High? Yes!

“…that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent...” (v 25). God hides things but it’s the honor for the king to search it out (Prov. 25). A lot of hidden things in the Bible.

The only book in the world that you can read the Scriptures and apply it to today’s world and society. Is there any other book in the world that doesn’t quote the Scriptures that can convict you of sin? Maybe wrong doing. This is fantastic. The Bible is the greatest, greatest book of all time, not just in the world.

“…You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent…” This will become important when we get to a particular Scripture a little later. All the philosophies we have today came from Babylon through Greece. All their ideas of the leaders of the world being immortal, come from Satan the devil. But they all died. Every time you see them open a coffin from one of the pyramids, they’re still dead.

Verse 26: “Yes, Father, for it was well pleasing in Your sight to do this”—because He wants us to seek Him! That’s where Christ comes in.

Verse 27: “All things were delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one… [apply this verse to you personally] …to whom the Son personally chooses to reveal Him.”

How does God do that without the world knowing? He does it with His Spirit! He does it in your life! Remember what it says: ‘No one can come to Me unless the Father draw him.’ How does God do that? Why did you all of a sudden get interested in God and the Bible? Look at all the millions of people out there, billions of people out there.

- Why did you get interested?

- How did that happen?

- How did it happen that you wouldn’t stop until you found the true answers?

- That’s a miracle from God!

How many people are searching for whatever? Christ reveals it! That’s a fantastic miracle in your life. Think about that. Don’t get lifted up and say, ‘Look at me; I’m better than anybody.’ No, that’s a very humbling experience that God would do that.

When was it that the two of Elohim— remember at the very beginning, what did it say in the making of mankind? Let US make man in OUR image. That includes the Father and that includes the One Who became the Son.

But in the meantime, the word God itself is a plural meaning more than one: ‘Elohim.’ It does talk about God in the singular: ‘Eloh’ in certain places. But the Lord God is Jehovah Elohim. In every place where the word God is, it’s telling you there’s more than one, though only one is speaking.

Psalm 2:7: “I will declare the decree of the LORD. He has said to Me, ‘You are My Son; this day I have begotten You.’”

What did all of that require? This becomes very important in understanding why Christ is our Savior. “…This day I have begotten You.’ That’s obviously a quote from the Most High. Have to be!

What did it take? He had to divest Himself of His glory and His power (Phil. 2)! If you want to know another false doctrine: 100% God and 100% man, same body—impossible!

He had to give up His glory, have Him reduced or reduce Himself—however God the Father and Christ worked that out—and He became a pinpoint of life. Was there still enough God in Him to be the Son of God? Yes!

Let’s see how this occurred and why this is so great. Think about what you know about God, which really is very little, but like Paul says, ‘We look through a glass darkly but then face-to-face.’ Think of what Christ gave up:

- all the glory

- all the power

- upholding the universe

- all the authority that He had to become a pinpoint of life

If you think you’ve been humbled through different things, hey, we don’t even get into the dugout, let alone get up to bat.

Luke 1:26: “And in the sixth month of her pregnancy… [Elizabeth] …the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth.”

Isn’t it interesting how God worked it out for Jesus to be born at Bethlehem but didn’t live there. Even the scribes and Pharisees couldn’t figure it out. Remember when Herod called all the priests, the wise men, and said, ‘The king of the Jews, where is he to be born?’ Bethlehem—no record, hidden.

Verse 27: “To a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the lineage of David; and the name of the virgin was Mary. And after coming to her, the angel said, ‘Hail, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you; blessed are you among women’” (vs 27-28).

Women are a very special creation of God, perhaps the finest. God works with them to bring forth children into the world. Is that important? We wouldn’t be here without her!

Verse 29: “But when she saw him, she was greatly perplexed at his message, and was considering what king of salutation this might be.”

I guess! All of a sudden an angel shows up in your house. What are you going to think? In today’s world, if you had one of these emergency buttons, you would have reached up and pushed 9-1- 1 immediately.

Verse 30: “Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, because you have found grace with God; and behold, you shall conceive in your womb and give birth to a son; and you shall call His name Jesus…. [already stated what His name would be] …He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest…’” (vs 30-32).

Who is the Father? The Most High! Not revealed in the Old Testament. Known of, but not revealed.

“‘…and the Lord God shall give Him the throne of David, His forefather’” (v 32). That’s how ‘the Lord said to my Lord.’

Verse 33: “‘And He shall reign over the house of Jacob into the ages… [on into eternity] …and of His kingdom there shall be no end.’ But Mary said to the angel, ‘How shall this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?’ And the angel answered and said to her… [tie this back into v 32] ….‘The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest… [the Most High] …shall overshadow you… [listen carefully to what comes next] …and for this reason, the Holy One being begotten in you…’” (vs 33-35).

In the Greek that is present tense passive occurring, meaning it was being done at the very instant he uttered those words.

How many times have I said to take a pen, put a dot on a piece of paper. Make it so small you can’t even see it with your glasses. You were less than that when you were conceived. How much did the One Who became Jesus Christ—the One of Elohim, where it said there in Psa. 2, ‘today I have begotten You,’—this is the day He did it. This is the day the Most High became the Father and the one of Elohim became the Son!

Some people like to translate it with different words, but there can be no human reproduction without the seed from the father. There can be no human reproduction without the egg from the mother.

Jesus was reduced to this pinpoint of life, put into the womb of virgin Mary and then He was born at the set time, everything in the Scriptures.

Mary had to really take care of Him. Joseph—stepfather of Jesus—had to be a great provider, did he not? Yes, indeed! Why did it have to be this way? So that we would have a Savior whose eventual sacrifice can cover the sins of all mankind! That could not be done unless the One Who created and formed Adam and Eve became the Son of God, and became a man. Could not have happened!

This girl was giving this speech up in Canada and she talked about ‘mankind’ and Trudeau Jr. told her to say ‘people-kind.’ You can’t change the reality of creation by changing the name. We are mankind and the word woman has man in it because she came from man. That’s just the way it is.

So, He was born. We won’t go through anymore of that, but let’s come over to Col. 1. Here’s a Scripture that may have caused you difficulties in the past, but let’s see if we can clear it up here.

Colossians 1:15: “Who is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation.” Therefore, Jesus did not exist as a spirit being— that’s another false doctrine! He was born! What does this mean, “the Firstborn of all creation”?

Verse 16: “Because by Him were all things created, the things in heaven and the things on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether they be thrones, or lordships, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before all, and by Him all things subsist. And He is the Head of the Body, the Church; Who is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead…” (vs 16-18). Why does it say Firstborn twice?

Could we not say that His human birth, which was Mary’s firstborn? Why then the Firstborn of all creation? Because no other being was created the way that Jesus was! Being born in the flesh made Him the Firstborn of all creation, because none others came before and none others came after like that. He’s called the Firstborn in Matt. 1 and He’s called the Firstborn from among the dead here and in Rev. 1. This also tells us that the One Who became Jesus Christ did the creating.

Let’s look at some other things to go along with this. How many times have we heard that when God laid the foundation of the world, the sons of God and the stars of God sang for joy. And that Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world, etc.

We have, in many cases said, is that when Satan the devil became Satan the devil and rebelled and a third of the angels followed him when they found out that those who were going to be mankind would be greater than the angels? Do we have a clue that that’s probably true?

In Mark 5 this is the one who was possessed of many demons, called Legion. When he saw Jesus coming, he came running to Him.

Mark 5:7: “And crying out with a loud voice, he said, ‘What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of God the Most High?…. [How did he know He was Son of Most High?] …I adjure You by God, do not torment me.’”

That’s quite a statement! This tells you that at some point the angels and demons knew what God’s plan was going to be in sending a Savior the way He did through Jesus Christ. Isn’t that a fantastic and marvelous thing that God has done? Can God plan something and do it?

I sent something to Randy that I read about the cell. How many cells do we have in our body? So many, it’s hard to count: trillions! One cell, a speck you cannot even see unless it’s magnified, has 100,000 atoms. That’s mind-boggling! When I first heard that, that blew my mind!

Not only that, every cell has a structure. It’s got a little skeleton. Not only that, every cell has an oily substance on it that acts like an electrode crystal because we operate by the power of electrodes that are generated in our bodies. That has to come from the spirit of man. It’s something. I’m going to do a special sermon on that because that is overwhelming.

Think of what you have become from something that couldn’t be seen. Think about what a great plan that God has that we’re going to be born again into the Kingdom of God and become the sons and daughters of God and live forever. But that cannot take place without Jesus Christ. That could not take place without Him becoming the Son of the Most High, also called the Son of man. That could not take place unless God Himself, in the person of the one Who became Christ took upon Him complete human nature, and yet, never sin!

That’s how God condemned sin in the flesh, Jesus’ flesh, so that we can come to Him and we can become the sons and daughters of God.

When you have a false doctrine that the God of the Old Testament was the Father and the next thing you have to change is the nature of Jesus Christ!

- Isn’t that true?

- Isn’t it true that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

- Isn’t it true that the two things that they attack first for those who know the Truth:

1. the nature of God

2. 2. the Passover, which then comes from the nature of God through Christ

Scriptural References:

1. 1-John 4:12

2. Psalm 110:1

3. Matthew 22:41-45

4. Matthew 11:25-27

5. Psalm 2:7

6. Luke 1:26-35

7. Colossians 1:15-18

8. Mark 5:7

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

- Matthew 5

- 1-Corinthians 15

- Acts 2

- Matthew 1

- Luke 3

- Proverbs 25

- Philippians 2

- Revelation 1

Also referenced: Sermon: News, Flesh & Bone and N.T. Fraud

FRC:lp
Transcribed:2-28-18
Formatted: bo—3/1/18

Copyright 2018—All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. This includes electronic and mechanical photocopying or recording, as well as the use of information storage and retrieval systems.

God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament V

Refuting a false doctrinal paper, and proving the God of the Old Testament was indeed the One Who became Jesus Christ

Fred R. Coulter

Let’s start out in the New Testament, because this becomes very important.

Let’s come to the last part of 2-Peter 3 because here’s a warning. This is what’s very important. When it gets down to it, this is God’s book. He is the One Who tells us what to do and how to do it, plus He provides the Holy Spirit so we can.

2-Peter 3:15: “And bear in mind that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation… [He’s having to put up with us] …exactly as our beloved brother Paul… [he recovered from the rebuke of Gal. 2] …according to the wisdom given to him, has also written to you; as he has also in all his epistles, speaking in them concerning these things; in which are some things that are difficult to understand…” (vs 15-16)—especially with the different translations. Once in a while they make it easier to understand.

“…which the ignorant and unstable…” (v 16). That doesn’t mean stupid. Stupid means you’re unable to learn. Ignorant means you don’t have the knowledge.

“…are twisting and distorting…” (v 16). That’s exactly what is this subject here: Was God the Father the only God of the Old Testament? {Study paper produced by Pacific Church of God}.

Then we can project ahead, then the next thing is: Who really was Jesus

“…as they also twist and distort the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction” (v 16). Notice what’s important here. Paul’s writings are equated to Scriptures. So they knew!

This is quite important. This is why the apostles were very, very important. Different than Moses. Moses had access to God all the time. Whenever God would want to get in touch with Moses, He would come to the special meeting tent and meet him there.

Now with the apostles, they were taught personally for three and a half years. They are the ones who would write all the things necessary for spiritual salvation.

On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus took Peter, James and John, and He was transfigured before them. Who was standing on each side of Him? Moses on one side, Elijah on the other side. We have God, Who gave the Law. Jesus was transfigured to show Who He was, which was a vision. He didn’t change from flesh to spirit and back to flesh again. It was a vision. It showed that what they were going to do was as important, maybe even more so, than the Old Testament.

It turns out to be very, very true, because it is the New Testament that unlocks the things in the Old Testament. The parts of the Old Testament help us understand the New Testament, especially the prophecies concerning Christ.

What has happened is, every false doctrine turns out to be a twisting and turning and distorting of the Word of God. Or, a wrong interpretation.

Paul told Timothy; 2-Timothy 2:15: “…rightly dividing the Word of Truth.” The Greek can also mean straightly, meaning in Truth. That also ties together with Jesus said that the way to life is straight or narrow and difficult, likewise with the Scriptures. They have to be put together correctly.

How many times have we said it… I’ve seen this Amoco transmission ad where it shows a transmission and it all blows apart. Here every part is separated and it’s all floating in the air. It’s true. If you have a part that’s not quite correct, it will work in degree. But if you have a major part that isn’t correct, you’re not going anywhere.

Every time I think about putting the Scriptures together, I think about the ad. They blow it apart and they bring it together and say, ‘Okay, we have the miracle man over here at Amoco, he’ll take care of your transmission. We have the miracle man right here, Mack, he’s a good mechanic. He’ll take care of everything. If he can’t take care of it, he’ll weld it shut.

2-Peter 3:16: “…to their own destruction.” That’s how important the Word of God is. You don’t want to misuse it.

Verse 17: “Therefore, beloved, since you know this in advance, be on guard against such practices… [this is why understanding doctrine is important] …lest you be led astray with the error of the lawless ones, and you fall from your own steadfastness; rather, be growing in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and into the day of eternity. Amen” (vs 17-18).

One of the things that they bring up is that this also leads to devaluing Christ as the God of the Old Testament. They apply this to God the Father and this is completely misapplied.

This is one of the reasons why in the Faithful Version Bible we have Appendix A, Fourteen Rules for Bible Study. One of the rules is the context.

1-Timmothy 6:13: “I charge you in the sight of God, Who gives life to every living thing, and Jesus Christ, Who in testifying before Pontius Pilate gave the exemplary profession of faith, that you keep this commandment without fault… [or spot] … and without rebuke until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; which in His own times the blessed and only Sovereign will make known, the King of kings and Lord of lords; Who alone has immortality… [think about that] …dwelling in light which no man can approach; Whom no man has seen, nor has the ability to see; to Whom belong eternal honor and power. Amen” (vs 13-16).

No man has seen Christ in His glory, but who is He compared to here? He’s King of kings. Doesn’t He say that He is Lord of the kings of the earth (Rev. 1)? Yes! What did most of the kings back then assume? That they were immortal! That’s why they worshiped the emperor. The word immortal does not mean eternal! Immortal means undying, because that refers back to these kings of the earth who claim immortality, but are going to die.

Jesus now resurrected from the dead, as He said, ‘I am alive evermore’ (Rev. 1). There’s no way He’s going to die! This has nothing to do with only God the Father having immortality, or the fact that this means eternal life. It’s completely taken out of context and this is used to show that there is only one God.

They also, in all of this, get everything all twisted around.

Isaiah 45:19: “I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth. I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. Gather yourselves and come; draw near together, you who have escaped of the nations; they have no knowledge who carry the wood of their graven image, and those who pray to a god that cannot save” (vs 19-20). This is compared to the gods of the nations, gods of the earth.

Verse 21: “Declare and bring near; yea, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this of old? Who has told it from ancient times? Have not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me…”

- Does that exclude the Most High?

- Does this mean that the God of the Old Testament was the Father?

- If it does, then how are you going to bring out the teaching of Jesus Christ?

- What’s the first step? He was a Divine being

- The next step: He did not exist until He was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary

- What is he talking about?

- Is he talking about the Most High?

- Is this one and there are no other gods?

or

- Is the One Who is the Lord God of the Old Testament telling Israel that none of the gods of the nations are God and there is no god beside Me?

That does not eliminate the Most High. The Most High was not revealed in detail in the Old Testament.

“…a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me.… [instead of your gods] …Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else” (vs 21-22). This does not mean the Father only.

- Why?

- What is the word God in Hebrew? Elohim, which is plural!

Even though He’s talking about Himself personally in relationship to Israel, the gods of the nations and the world, this is not God the Father because the Most High is not mentioned nor revealed. In the word Elohim He is not excluded. Does that make sense? Do you understand that?

Isaiah 43:9: “Let all the nations be brought together, and let the people be gathered; who among them can declare this and show us the former things? Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, ‘It is Truth.’ ‘You are My witnesses,’ says the LORD, ‘and My servant whom I have chosen…’” (vs 9-10).

- Who were those to be the witnesses of God? The nation of Israel!

- Did God choose Israel? Yes, He did! He didn’t chose any others!

“‘…that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed…’” (vs 9-10).

That’s quite interesting. This is talking about the false gods, the idols, the statues. It’s not eliminating the Most High, nor is it revealing the Most High. The word here is Elohim. Neither Christ was formed nor the Father. Everyone asks: Where did God come from? When we’re in the Kingdom of God, we’ll find out! Until then He hasn’t told us.

Verse 11: “‘I, even I, am the LORD; and besides Me there is no savior…. [Who is the Savior? Jesus Christ the Lord!] …I have declared, and have saved, and I have shown, when there was no strange god among you; therefore, you are My witnesses,’ says the LORD, ‘that I am God’” (vs 11-12).

- that doesn’t eliminate the Most High

- that doesn’t restrict it to God the Father

Let’s talk about I AM. We’ve covered this already back in John 8 where Jesus said when they asked Him, ‘Who do You say You are?’ He said, ‘I AM.’ They said, ‘How could that be? You’re not even 50 years old? And You’ve seen Abraham?’

Exo. 3 is another example that we need to read the whole thing because when He says I AM, He is telling everyone Who He is. Moses makes a great deal out of that the angel of God spoke to him from the burning bush. Was that just an angel or was it God? The burning bush is right here, it was God! Was He also a messenger from the Father? Yes, He was.

Exodus 3:13: “And Moses said to God, ‘Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and shall say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they shall say to me, “What is His name?” What shall I say to them?’ And God said to Moses, ‘I AM THAT I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.”’ And God said to Moses again, ‘You shall say this 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 title from generation to generation”’” (vs 13-15).

That means all generations of human beings! Was this His name, even to Adam and Eve, though He is called the Lord God? Does God have more than one name? Yes, indeed. But here it is: I AM THAT I AM.

When Jesus said, ‘I AM,’ ‘ego emi,’ to the religious leaders, they understood that meant God. That was startling!

Why did they want to take stones and cast against Him to kill Him, but He escaped? Think about it. Being a Jew, if there’s any man who says he’s God, blasphemous! That’s why they wanted to kill Him. But He told them, and if they would have checked the Scriptures, they would have found out that yes, it was prophesied that He would come. Did we not already cover:

Isaiah 9:6: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulders; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God…”

How do you get an infant human being coming in the flesh saying, ‘I AM,’ and carry the name of God to every generation? That’s how you do it. Let’s see how this is twisted. You have to bring all of the knowledge that you have to bear whenever there is a difficult Scripture to understand.

Matthew 15:4: “For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’...” Here’s what has been written concerning that, which is this:

How could this be Christ saying God commanded. He says it only means that the God of the Old Testament was the Father and that whenever Jesus used the word God, it was always exclusively of the Father.

Is that true? NO!

Why didn’t He say, ‘I told you when I was on Mount Sinai honor your father and mother’?

Why did Jesus not say that? They would stone Him! Can He still talk about Himself when He says, ‘God commanded you shall honor your father and mother’?

Have you ever told a story to someone, which was really your story and you said, ‘I knew this woman, or I knew this child, or I knew this man.’ But you were really talking about yourself? Yes.

Was it time for Jesus to reveal to those religious leaders who were following their traditions that He was God manifested in the flesh? No! So, He was just quoting what He said from Mount Sinai in the third person, God commanded saying, ‘honor your father and mother.’

What was the topic? The topic was they were telling children that if you dedicated something to the temple, then you didn’t have to give it to your father and your mother.

Did they know that that was in the Law? Yes, they did. So he’s sticking to the subject: God commanded… It’s not exclusively God the Father, but that’s what they do. We’ll look at some here in just a little bit.

They twist the Scripture for their own interpretation to make your theory fit, rather than look at all of the facts to put it all together.

(go to the next track)

Genesis 17:1: “And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD… [YHVH] …appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am the Almighty God!….’” In this doctrinal paper, it says:

This has to be God the Father.

How do you disprove that?

You can’t take Scriptures in isolation and say that is the final word. What you have to do is get all the Scriptures. In addition to being I AM, Jesus says:

Revelation 1:8: “‘I AM… [‘ego emi’] …the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending,’ says the Lord, ‘Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come—the Almighty.’”

- Is Jesus Almighty?

- Is He God?

- Is He Almighty God? Yes!

Jesus is all of these things here:

- Alpha and Omega

- Beginning and Ending

- Who is

- Who was

- Who is to come

- the Almighty

Is the Father called the Almighty? Yes, because the two are Elohim!

Remember that we covered all the Scriptures that ‘no one has seen God at any time.’ That’s referring to the Father. Still no one has seen Him except the One Who came down from heaven—the Elohim Who became Jesus Christ.

Genesis 17:1: “And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am the Almighty God!.... [that didn’t make Him the Father] …Walk before Me and be perfect. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly’” (vs 1-2).

Then God changed his name from Abram to Abraham because he would be the father of many nations.

Acts 3—here is how they make that Scripture appear to be God the Father, instead of the One Who became Jesus Christ.

Acts 3:13: “The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His Son Jesus, Whom you delivered up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, after he had judged to release Him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One… [referring to Christ] …and requested that a man who was a murderer be granted to you; and you killed the Author of life Whom God… [the Father] …raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. And through faith in His name, this man whom you see and know was made strong in His name; and the faith that is through Him gave this complete soundness to him in the presence of you all. And now, brethren, I realize that you acted in ignorance, as did your rulers also; but what God had before announced by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer, He has accordingly fulfilled. Therefore, repent and be converted in order that your sins may be blotted out, so that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Him Who was before proclaimed to you Jesus Christ Whom the heaven must indeed receive until the times of restoration of all things, of which God has spoken by the mouth of all His Holy prophets since the world began” (vs 13- 21).

Verse 22: “For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to you from among your brethren, like me; Him shall you hear in all things that He shall say to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the people.’ Now indeed, all the prophets from Samuel and those who followed, as many as prophesied, also proclaimed these days. You are the children of the prophets and of the covenant that God Himself appointed to our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ Unto you first has God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you in turning each of you from your wickedness” (vs 22-26).

…because God raised up Jesus, His servant, therefore God of the Old Testament has to be the Father.

No, does not! It didn’t say the Most High appeared to Abraham.

It says in 1-John 4:12: “No one has seen God at any time.”…” You can’t have it both ways. When it talks about Elohim in the Old Testament, though the Father was not revealed, except being the Most High, whenever it talks about what God has done, or the covenant that He made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, does that exclude the Father, the One Who became the Father? Or does Elohim also include the Most High, but does not reveal Him?

So, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers… That’s what they have said here. I wonder what translation he is using in his paper. I’ll have to look this up.

Acts 3:26: “Unto you first has God, having raised up His Son Jesus…” The translation he {the author of the false doctrinal paper} is using ‘having raised up His servant, Jesus.’ The difference in the translation is that:

- the word Son in v 26 is ‘paida,’ which means child

- ‘yios,’ which is literally son, but in this case it is ‘the child His’

Son would be a proper translation. The only time ‘pedia’ is used as servant is if you have a child that is a servant but not your own offspring. You have to find out which translation. I didn’t catch that when I went through this the first time. But he’s saying here:

These verses tell us that God, Who made the covenant with Abraham, raised up Jesus Christ, that Jesus is His servant. Both these statements make it clear that it was God the Father Who made the covenant with Abraham…

No, it doesn’t!

Christ certainly didn’t resurrect Himself, nor did He by His own power do anything, His work performed….

Let’s look at another one. They use several other Scriptures in Acts, along the same line, and then they come to this:

Since it is clear that Israel was definitely aware of both God the Father and the one Who became Jesus Christ….

It has not been made clear.

…an important question to ask is which God Being was the One that spoke the Ten Commandments and made the covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai. To look at this question, let’s start by looking at how God spoke the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, identified Himself to Israel.

Exodus 20:1: “And God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage’” (vs 1-2).

Just before speaking the Ten Commandments, the God at Mount Sinai identified Himself as ‘the God Who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’ We have just seen that Israel gave God of our fathers credit for leading them out of Egypt and that the book of Acts identifies the God of our fathers as God the Father.

Sleight of hand with that! Then they take some Scriptures from Psa. 78.

Whenever there are some things that are very important in the Old Testament, the Most High is identified as having part of it. This is something, because it brings out the Most High four times.

Daniel 4:1: “Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: ‘Peace be multiplied to you. It seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me’” (vs 1-2).

What happened to Nebuchadnezzar came directly from the Most High through the One Who was God of the Old Testament. Because when you read here in revealing the dream that Daniel said:

Daniel 2:20: “‘Daniel answered and said, ‘Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals the deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him. I thank You, and praise You, O God of my fathers” (vs 20- 23)—Elohim!

Does that include the Most High? But the One Who became Jesus Christ was the One directly involved.

Dan. 4 is so important because it is an actual experience and a prophecy of Babylon. Remember the image (Dan. 2), came all the way down, the toes. What are the toes called at the end? Babylon the Great.

Daniel 4:2: “It seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.” This is above the Lord God and so important that it is stated the Most High is the One Who caused this to happen. This does not make Him the revealed God of the Old Testament. A revealed action, but not the person! Let’s use an example:

- Can the President of the United States do something that can affect us clear down here?

- Can you say, ‘Look what the President did to me’?

- Did he do it? No, he just signed the bill!

- Did he personally bring it about? No!

- Did you see him? No!

- Do you know that he was responsible? Yes! He did it to you!

Here we have the same thing:

Verse 24: “This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High… [Daniel understood that] …which has come upon my lord the king; that you shall be driven from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and you shall be made to eat grass like oxen. And you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over you until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever He will” (vs 24-25).

Shows complete understanding that the Lord God, Yahweh Elohim, the One Who appeared to men, the One Who spoke to Moses, also does what the Most High directs Him to do. BUT:

- He’s not revealed

- He hasn’t talked to anyone

- He didn’t deliver this verbatim to him

This was told to Daniel and it happened

He counseled the king. ‘Why don’t you repent and avoid it?’ But the king didn’t do it. He got out on the balcony, was looking over the city of Babylon and said, ‘Look at this great city that I made.’ Then it happened!

Verse 34: “And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored Him Who lives forever, for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation.” How does He carry that out?

- through the One Who became Jesus Christ

- through angels

- through Satan and the demons

- through people

Ultimately, it all goes up to the Most High!

When are men and women going to see the Most High? When they’re resurrected and New Jerusalem comes to the earth.

When we’re resurrected and are on the Sea of Glass, we may have an opportunity to see God the Father, because then we’ll be resurrected beings. But what are we going to do? We’re all going to be under Christ, Who is King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 19). We’re going to come back to the earth, take over the earth. That’s going to be quite a operation.

Nowhere does it ever say the Father spoke directly to anyone in the New Testament. He did give dreams and visions. He spoke through Christ, and so forth. Nowhere does it say in the Old Testament that the Most High spoke directly or even in vision. This was made known to Daniel by the One Who became Jesus Christ that this came from the Most High.

Psa. 78:12-17: Marvelous things he did in the sight of your fathers in the land of Egypt, the field of Zoan. He divided the sea; caused them to pass through. He made the waters stand up like a heap. In the daytime also He led them with the cloud and all the night with a light of fire.

He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink in abundance like the depths. He brought springs out of the rock. He caused the waters to run down like rivers, but they sinned more and more, even against Him by rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness.

If you sinned against God, are you in rebellion against the Most High? Yes. But does that mean that the Most High was the One Who was leading them? No!

Verses 18-20: And they tested God in their heart, asking for food for their fancy. Yes, they spoke against God; they said, ‘Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out, the waters overflowed. Can He give bread? Can He provide meat for the people?’”

Verse 24: Rained down manna on them to eat, and gave them bread from heaven… [v 27]: …He also rained meat on them like dust, and feathered fowl like the sand of the sea…. [v 35]: Then they remembered that God was their Rock, and the Most High their Redeemer.

They say this proves that the God of the Old Testament was the One Who was the Father. But again, we have the same situation here. Is Jesus going to redeem anyone the Father does not approve of? No. Would the Lord God of the Old Testament, Who became Jesus Christ, do something that the Most High didn’t want Him to do? No!

In the prayer Jesus said, ‘You, Father, and I are One. You in Me and I in You, and that We… [we and us] …may become one with them’ (John 17).

This does not prove that the God of the Old Testament was the Father. Can anyone come to the Father except through Christ? No, they cannot!

John 6:44, Jesus said: “No one can come to Me unless the Father, Who sent Me, draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Verse 46: “No one has seen the Father except He Who is from God; He has seen the Father.” That makes it clear!

What this shows is this, John 14:6: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.’” And ‘no one comes to Me unless the Father draw.’ So yes, They’re working together, of course!

This is why Jesus came to reveal the Father so that we understand that it all comes from the Father.

Verse 23: “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me… [Christ] …he will keep My Word; and My Father will love him, and We… [the two] …will come to him and make Our abode with him.’” There are two aspects to the Holy Spirit:

1. the begettal by the Father

2. the Spirit of Christ for the mind of Christ

Together! The two parts of eternal life come from God the Father and Jesus Christ. They work together.

- Did they start working together only when Jesus was conducting His ministry?

or

- Were they working together through all eternity?

- Did they both agree when it came to creating the earth?

- When it came to creating mankind?

What is said in Gen. 1? ‘Let US make man in Our image after Our likeness and let them have dominion over the sea, the earth, and everything that there is.’ Yes, They worked together there!

I am sure of this. We have the sermon that I gave. I remember Vera Olson asked this years and years ago. She said, ‘Fred, what would the world been like if Adam and Eve and had not sinned? Can you give a sermon on that.’ I did, I gave one: What Would the World Have Been Like IF Adam and Eve Had Not Sinned—and it would have been more like the Millennium. Would the Father have been revealed sooner if Adam and Eve had not sinned? Of course!

I think we’ve covered just about all of it here. Isn’t it interesting that in John 6:44, eternal life is so important. Think of it this way. Your calling is so important, it doesn’t say Jesus drew you to the Father. It’s the other way around.

John 6:44: “No one can come to Me unless the Father, Who sent Me, draws him… [the Father starts it] …and I will raise him up the last day.” Jesus finishes it. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore, everyone who has heard from the Father, and has learned, comes to Me” (vs 44-45).

How do you hear from the Father? Since no one heard His voice, how do you hear? The Word of God, the preaching of the Gospel of the words of God! If you hear the words of God, who are you hearing, though a man may speak? You’re hearing what God has said. Those are the words of God. If you act upon them, then God will begin drawing you.

1-Corinthians 15:21: “For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the Firstfruit; then those who are Christ’s at His coming” (vs 21-23).

So no one has gone to heaven. Christ hasn’t returned. No one is going to go to heaven, in the sense of an immortal soul.

Verse 24: “Afterwards the end comes, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to Him Who is God and Father… [Is Jesus God, but Son? Is the Father God, but the Father? Yes!] … when He shall have put an end to all rule and all authority and power…. [all human and satanic] …For it is ordained that He reign until He has put all enemies under His feet” (vs 24-25). Didn’t we read that in part four in Psa. 110:1?

Verse 26: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death….. [When does that happen? Lake of Fire!] …For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when it is said that all things have been put in subjection, it is clearly evident that it does not include Him Who put all things in subjection under Him” (vs 26-27).

The Father gave all that authority to Christ. Everything Christ does has no authority over the Father, but everything the Father told Him to do has authority over Christ.

Verse 28: “But when He has put all things in subjection to Him, then shall the Son Himself also be subject to Him Who put all things in subjection to Him, so that God may be all in all.”

Right there in these verses, from v 21-28, you’ve got compressed in there the whole plan of God!

The Father was never known in the Old Testament. The Most High was known, but not in the sense to know as you would know a person, but to know that there was the Most High.

- He never spoke to anyone

- He was never seen by anyone

- He was not the God Who led the children of Israel out of Egypt

Obviously the Most High was part of it, because He was over the One Who became Christ!

Scriptural References:

1. 2-Peter 3:15-16

2. 2-Timothy 2:15

3. 2-Peter 3:16-18

4. 1-Timothy 6:13-16

5. Isaiah 45:19-22

6. Isaiah 43:9-12

7. Exodus 3:13-15

8. Isaiah 9:6

9. Matthew 15:4

10. Genesis 17:1

11. Revelation 1:8

12. Genesis 17:1-2

13. Acts 3:13-21, 25-26

14. 1-John 4:12

15. Acts 3:26

16. Exodus 20:1-2

17. Daniel 4:1-2

18. Daniel 2:20-23

19. Daniel 4:2, 24-25, 34

20. John 6:44, 46

21. John 14:6, 23

22. John 6:44-45

23. 1-Corinthians 15:21-28

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

- Galatians 2

- Revelation 1

- John 8

- Revelation 19

- John 17

- Genesis 1

- Psalm 110:1

Also referenced:

- Appendix A: Fourteen Rules For Bible Study (The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version)

- Sermon: What Would the World Have Been Like IF Adam and Eve Had Not Sinned

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 3-2-18
Formatted: bo—3/4/18

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