Messianic Perspectives

Liz Ayala: 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 Ayala. 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 programs on the Trinity. And today we get into my favorite part of this study, and that is where we see the Trinity at work because this is where we get into the practical stuff. Theory and theology and philosophy are all okay, but I like it when it gets practical, don't you? This is where it gets exciting because when you see the triune God in action, you realize that this is more than just religion. It's reality. It's dynamic.

The Trinity helps us understand who God is and how he works and how he relates to us because he's more Listen. He's more than just religion. He's more than theology. He's more than some stuffy doctrinal statement that collects dust on your bookshelf. He's God, the creator of the universe. He's the one who created us and loved us and provided a way for us to be redeemed and restored to the position we were originally created for. So this is where we shift into high gear and we're going to see what the Trinity is really all about.

By the way, if you sent for the booklet when we started this series, you've probably got it by now, so you can follow along here in chapter four. The title of chapter four is the Trinity at work. And we're going to talk about the Trinity at work under two headings. First, the persons of the Godhead working collectively, and second, the persons of the Godhead working distinctly because there are some functions, some responsibilities that are shared by all three persons of the Trinity. And then there are other functions where each of the three persons of the Trinity works more distinctly.

All right. Let's talk first about how the persons of the Godhead work collectively, how they work together. Let's turn to the book of Genesis in chapter one. In the Hebrew, it's called the book of Bereshit. Bereshit means in the beginning. It's the first Hebrew word in Genesis 1:1. In the Hebrew, it reads In the beginning, God created. Now just for the fun of it, I think I'll read a few verses here from the Jewish Bible. What I have here is the Pentateuch and Haftorahs by Rabbi Hertz, Chief Rabbi of the British Empire. It's the English translation of the Torah that's used by most orthodox Jews in the English speaking world today.

I think you'll be surprised at how much it sounds like our old King James version. Here's what it says, Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Now the earth was unformed and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. Verse three. And God said, let there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night.

And there was evening, and there was morning, one day. You say, well that sounds almost like you're reading right out of the old King James, and it does. When you get into it, it's even got the these and the just like the old King James version. It's beautiful, I think. And when you go to synagogue for a Shabbat service and they do the scripture reading, that's what you'll hear. So here in Genesis chapter one, we have the creation. And the creation is described as the work of Elohim. And remember, we've already seen that the name Elohim is plural.

Now the rabbis will say, now wait a minute. It's a plural of majesty. It doesn't mean more than one God. And they're right. It doesn't mean more than one God. It means one God, but one God who includes three divine persons. And when the plural name Elohim is combined with other plural nouns and plural adjectives and pronouns like let us make man in our image, then you have an indication of triunity. So the creator is Elohim, God. And look who's here. It says, and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. That's the Holy Spirit, the the third person of the Trinity.

Job said, by his spirit he hath garnished the heavens. Job 26:13. And again Job said, the spirit of God hath made me and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. Job 33:4. So the Holy Spirit was active in the creation. What about God the Father, the first person of the Trinity? Well, King David said, of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands. Psalm 102 verse 25. Now we've said before that the the New Testament is the best midrash you'll ever read. You know what the midrashim are?

The singular is midrash, the plural is midrashim. Remember what we said about the I am ending? A midrash is one of the ancient writings where the rabbis explained the Bible. And it'll have commentary and stories and illustrations and some of the midrashim make interesting reading. But they're based mainly on speculation where the rabbis were trying to fill in the gaps in the Old Testament like who were the other young men who went with Abraham and Isaac up to Mount Moriah in Genesis chapter 22? Well, the Bible doesn't say, but there's a midrash that says one of the other young men was Ishmael because Abraham didn't want Ishmael to feel left out when this whole episode about the sacrifice of Isaac was going on.

That's what a midrash is. It's where the rabbis explain the scriptures and where they try to fill in those gaps. And that's why I say that the New Testament is the best midrash of all because it's inspired by God. It's authoritative. It 's infallible. Now with that in mind, let's see what the New Testament tells us about who else was present at the creation besides God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. If you have your Bible handy, turn with me to Colossians chapter one. Now watch what it says. He's talking about Jesus Christ, and here's what he says in verse one.

In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of the creation. Now watch this. For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for him. That's Colossians chapter one verses 15 and 16. So who else was present at the creation? That's right. God the Son. Can you imagine the tremendous expenditure of raw power that took place during the creation week as he created the huge land masses and the oceans and all the animals, everything from small fish and birds all the way up to the sperm whale that's longer and heavier than a Boeing 737 passenger jet?

The sperm whale can reach a length of 110 feet and weigh 150 tons. And it was all created by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit working in harmony as Elohim, the triune Godhead. Do you have any idea how vast our universe is? You know light travels at 186,000 miles per second squared. That is 186,000 miles per second per second. And that figures out to about 700 million miles an hour. That means that if you could shoot a bullet that traveled at the speed of light and you aimed it straight ahead, it would travel around the world and hit you in the back before you could ever step out of the way.

In fact, it would hit you in the back before you could even blink. All right. Now our Milky Way galaxy is so vast. If we could travel at the speed of light, 700 million miles an hour, it would take us 100,000 years to travel from one end of the Milky Way galaxy to the other, a thousand centuries. And remember, the Milky Way galaxy is just one galaxy of millions, maybe billions scattered all over the universe. You know something else that's interesting? Before Copernicus, a lot of people thought the earth was the center of the universe.

But then modern science figured out that the earth revolved around the sun and all that other good stuff. But isn't it interesting that the more science advances in our day, it seems like we're coming full circle now because astronomers now are telling us that this really is the center of the universe because now we're able to trace the movements of the galaxies by analyzing their light, you know the light shift. And you know what? They're all moving away from us. Some of the evolutionists say it was a big bang. We believe it was the creation, but whatever it was, it happened right here because everything is moving away from us in every direction.

So this is the center. And do you know who did it all? You know who made it all? God, Elohim, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. We're running out of time, but let's turn quickly over to the Gospel of John chapter one. Here's what he says, verse one. In the beginning. Does that sound familiar? Genesis 1:1 Bereshit. In the beginning God created. John's talking about the same thing, the creation. So he says, in the beginning was the word. That's the Greek word logos. And the word was with God, and the word was God.

John 1:1. And who's the divine logos? He's Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah. Well, there's a lot more we could say, but we'll have to call it quits for now. Thanks for being with us listening friend. It's always a pleasure to have these few minutes to visit with you, and I hope you'll join us next time when we'll talk about the Trinity in redemption. I'll see you then. You take care. Bye-bye.

Liz Ayala: 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. Even if you're one of our regular listeners, you still may not know that we're much more than just a radio program. Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries, one of the largest missionary organizations in the world. We currently have missionary families serving the Lord all over the world including the United States, Canada, South America, England, France, and of course Israel. So when you write, consider helping us with a gift above the suggested amount.

We'd be very grateful. 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 Ayala. 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.