The One True God

Priorities. As the New Year approaches, many of us are considering what is truly important in life. Many will put family and friends at the top of their list, making resolutions to spend more time with people who matter most in their lives. This is a start but the Bible puts things in a slightly different order and perspective. When Yeshua was asked what was the greatest of all the commandments he answered,

" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:37-40

Look at the order here: To love GOD with all our heart, soul and mind is first. Yeshua is telling us that THIS is the first and greatest commandment and he followed through by doing his Father's will all the way up to an ignoble death on the cross. We can only love ONE person in this way. To divide our affections among other "gods" is polytheism. The Bible clearly teaches that Yah is ONE, not three in one or one in three. "And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord." Mark 12:29

Yeshua confirmed this fact among his monotheistic peers: "There is one God; and there is no other but He." (Mark 12:32) There is no mystic language here. The Hebrew word for one used in the Shema, ("Hear O Israel") is "echad". It simply means one. Yeshua never himself claimed to be God Almighty but his chosen agent. Under the Hebrew law of agency, acting as God's representative, his word's would be in effect his Father's. That is precisely what the office of Messiah is and exactly what Yeshua said himself!

"So Jesus said, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me." John 8:28 Now do we accept what Yeshua said? Does it honor Yeshua to ascribe to him titles he never used of himself? It is quite human to make "gods" of that which we can see but the Bible clearly says:
"No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us." 1 John 4:12 This was written well after Yeshua had appeared to his disciples and ascended to heaven. If Yeshua was "God in human flesh" then this scripture is false because thousands saw him. Believe me it is not for Numbers 23:19 says,

"God is not a man, that he should lie, Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and will he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and will he not make it good?"

No, God is not a man nor did He ever become a man. The scriptures promised a human Messiah from the fleshly line of David. Yeshua was created in his mother's womb by the Father so he would have no sin nature. That is why Yeshua is also called the Last Adam. He had to be whatever Adam was before his fall. Yeshua is NOT God but our wonderful High Priest & King!

The scriptures say: "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus," 1 Timothy 2:5 This one scripture tells us several things: 1) There is only ONE GOD, the Father. 2) There is only ONE Mediator, the MAN Christ Jesus. 3) As Yeshua fills the office of Mediator between God and man he can not be God himself. Life in the coming reign of Yeshua will be based on this one truth: "and this is the life age-during, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and him whom Thou didst send -- Jesus Christ;" John 17:3

The qualifier, "only" means there can be no other god who is THE True God. Yahweh alone holds that title. Yeshua chose not to include himself in the Godhead. Paul said, "But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by means of whom are all things, and we by means of him." (I Cor. 8:6). It really doesn't get any clearer. To us Christians, there is only ONE God, the Father and ONE Lord Messiah, Yeshua.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please help me to truly love you with my whole heart, soul, mind and strength. Let me hear Yeshua's voice rather than others and not be ashamed to speak what I know is true. In Yeshua's faith, Amen.