Messianic Perspectives

Liz Aiello: Stay with us as we discuss the question, do Christians worship three gods? Right here on Messianic Perspectives. Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctive first century Jewish point of view. I'm Liz Aiello. Today Dr. Gary Hedrick is discussing the doctrine of the Trinity. Does it really mean that Christians worship three gods, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Some people think so, and that's what we want to find out. I'll be back at the close of the program to tell you about our special offer.

And now with today's installment, here's Gary Hedrick.

Dr. Gary Hedrick: All right, thank you. It's good to have you with us listening friend as we continue this series of studies on the Trinity. And some people might think it's strange that we would be looking into the Old Testament to uncover information about the Trinity because most of us think of the Trinity as a New Testament teaching. But believe it or not, there are many indications in the Old Testament that God exists as a complex unity. That is a unity that's actually a tri unity, three persons, the Father or Abba, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the all three of whom are God, three in one and one in three.

So we've been looking at some of the indications of tri unity in the Old Testament. And on the last program we had just met this unusual person in the Old Testament known as the Angel of the Lord, the Angel of Yahweh. And what makes him unusual is that he speaks as though he were God. When he meets Hagar in the wilderness for example in Genesis chapter 16, he says, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, not the Lord will multiply thy seed exceedingly as we would expect an angel to say, but he says, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly.

And Hagar doesn't say that an angel spoke to her. She said God spoke to her. It says in verse 13 that Hagar called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me. Now, do you see what we've got here? We have someone who's distinct from God the Father in heaven, but he's called God. It's God manifesting himself in physical form on earth as the Angel of Yahweh. And as we follow this Angel of the Lord through the scriptures, it becomes more and more apparent that he is nothing less than God himself.

For example, flip over a few pages to Genesis chapter 18 if you're following along in your Bible because here we have the mysterious third angel who's called the Lord or Yahweh. Genesis 18:1 says, And the Lord appeared unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre. And he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. Verse two, And he lifted up his eyes and looked and lo three men stood by him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward the ground. Now notice the three visitors are described as men.

So they're appearing to Abraham in human form. These are three angels. You might say, well, I didn't know angels looked like men. Well, over in the New Testament Hebrews 13:2 says that many of us have encountered angels without even being aware of it because they can assume human form and walk among us without being noticed. So these are three angels who've come to visit Abraham. But one of Abraham's three visitors is the Lord. It says in verse one, the Lord appeared unto him. So what we have here are three angels and one of them is the Angel of Yahweh or God himself.

And then look down at the end of the chapter, verse 33. What does it say? The Lord departed. And when he's gone, who's left? Well, the other two angels. The very next verse, chapter 19 verse one says, And there came two angels to Sodom at even. So at the beginning of chapter 18 you've got three angels. Then at the end of the chapter, the Lord departs leaving the other two angels at the beginning of chapter 19. So what you've got there is two angels plus the Angel of Yahweh who is God in human form. And there's more.

Let's keep on moving through Genesis here. How about chapter 22? This is where we see the next appearance of this Angel of Yahweh. Now watch this. In the first part of the chapter, God is the one who tells Abraham to take Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice. It was a test of Abraham's faith. So Abraham obeys God. This was to be a burnt offering. And the procedure for a burnt offering was first to slay the sacrifice and then to burn it on the altar. The Jews had a special way of slaying the animal so that the procedure was virtually painless for the animal.

What they did was first they used a knife that was extremely sharp like a surgical instrument. And secondly, they cut the animal around the throat severing the major arteries. The animal felt virtually nothing and he was unconscious in a matter of seconds. By the way, if you buy kosher meat, those animals are still slaughtered that way by the the slaughterer who's usually a rabbi. So Abraham takes Isaac up to Mount Moriah. They get the wood in place. Then he positions the knife at the boy's neck and he's ready to make the surgical cut. But then just as Abraham is about to offer the sacrifice, what happens?

It says the Angel of Yahweh spoke to him from heaven saying, Lay not thine hand upon the lad. Now look at what we 've got here. This is an angel who instantly nullifies the command of Almighty God. In verse two God himself said, Take now thy son and offer him there for a burnt offering. And just as Abraham is about to carry out the Lord's command, the angel says, Lay not thine hand upon the lad. Now let me ask you, who else but God himself would have the authority to countermand a command that had been given by God?

Not only that, but watch what this angel says to Abraham in verse 12. The angel says, Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. Withhold from whom? From me, the angel says. Who commanded the sacrifice? God did. If Abraham didn't obey, from whom was he withholding the sacrifice? From God. The conclusion is inescapable. This angel identifies himself as God. But that's still not all. Let's keep on going. Genesis chapter 32. This is where we read about Jacob's famous all night wrestling match, verse 24.

And Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him unto the breaking of the day. Now who was Jacob's mysterious opponent here? Jacob knew who he was because he told him. He said, I'm not going to let you go until you bless me. He wanted God to bless him. He knew he was wrestling with God. Look at verse 30. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved. Years later Jacob recalled that wrestling match. He talked about the God man who had blessed and redeemed him referring to him as an angel.

Genesis 48:16 and in Hosea chapter 12 verses one through five Jacob's angel is identified as the Lord God of hosts. What else could this have been but a pre incarnate appearance of Yeshua Ha Mashiach, the angel of Jehovah? And there's more. Exodus chapter three beginning in verse two. Now watch this. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. And he looked and behold the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed. Now who is this angel of the Lord who appeared to Moses?

Well, skip down to verse four and let's see who called Moses out of the burning bush. Here it is, verse four. God called unto Moses out of the midst of the bush and said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God. He knew he was in God's presence. That fire was the Shekhinah glory of Almighty God, the presence of God. So again the angel of Yahweh is identified as God himself. But we 're not finished.

Let 's go over to the book of Joshua chapter five. This is after the 40 years of wandering in the desert. Finally the Israelites are moving in to take possession of the land of Canaan. Their first major test would be the battle at Jericho. And before the battle Joshua goes out like any good general would do and he surveys the battlefield. He takes a look at the great walled city of Jericho. Can't you imagine what was going through his mind? Lord, how are we going to do this? Look at how big that city is. Look at the massive walls and we're nothing in comparison.

But look what it says. Joshua 5:13, And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went unto him and said unto him, Art thou for us or for our adversaries? And the man said, Nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his feet to the earth and did worship and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? Now what would you expect an angel to say if someone fell down and worshipped him?

He'd say, Get up. Don't worship me. I'm just an angel like that angel in Revelation 19 who when John started to worship him said, Don't do that. I'm your fellow servant. Don't worship me. Worship God. That's what the angel said in Revelation 19. So here in Joshua chapter five Joshua falls down to worship this captain of the Lord's host. And what does this man say? Watch this, verse 15. And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot for the place where upon thou standest is holy. Does that sound familiar?

It's the same thing the Lord told Moses back in the book of Exodus. Take off your shoes, Moses. You're standing on holy ground. This captain of the Lord's host was God in human form, a pre incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. You see this is Immanuel, God with us, God among us, God in human form. And yet another indication that there are three distinct personages who are described as God in the Bible. Well, that's all we have time for today. Join us next time, won't you? I'll see you then. Take care. Bye-bye.

Liz Aiello: Thank you Gary and thank you listening friend for tuning in today. Now let me tell you about our special offer for this month. It's Gary Hedrick's booklet entitled, Do Christians worship three gods? In this 70 page booklet Gary addresses head on the question of whether or not the doctrine of the Trinity makes Christianity incompatible with the teachings of the Jewish Bible or what we call the Old Testament. It's available for a suggested gift of $7. After all, the Jewish people have always been champions of monotheism. The central creed of Judaism is Deuteronomy 6:4 which says the Lord our God is one Lord, not three.

So when a Jewish person becomes a believer in Jesus, isn't he forsaking his monotheistic Jewish heritage? Surprisingly enough the answer is no. And you'll find out why in this interesting booklet. It has an informative question and answer section and also a helpful glossary of Hebrew words at the end. The title again is, Do Christians worship three gods? Then we also have the programs you're hearing here on the broadcast available on two CDs with the same title, Do Christians worship three gods? This series is available for a suggested gift of $12. Just visit our secure online store at messianicspecialties.com to place your order.

If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, PO Box 345, San Antonio, Texas 78292. To order by phone use our toll free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397. And as always when you're in touch with us, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. I'm Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won't you? As Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series of studies on, Do Christians worship three gods? Right here on Messianic Perspectives. Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries of San Antonio, Texas and is made possible on this station by the free will contributions of our listeners in this area.