The Bible is the story of one God changing His form or unfolding Himself from the eternal Spirit alone with His thoughts to the flesh of His glorified family. Since God's thoughts are eternal and they are real, they are the attributes of what He is and must manifest in their designated and decreed season and time. His Word is His eternal thoughts expressed and is therefore the absolute, but It can only manifest what was spoken when It is received by faith.
Jesus Christ was the beginning of this creation when He was born of a virgin, 2,000 years ago. As Eve was formed from a rib taken from the side of the first Adam, the true Church is made up from the Holy Spirit taken from the side of the last Adam. The New Testament saints are the continuation of the creation of God in Christ. We are each born-again Spiritually once our soul is quickened to transform our lives into written epistles of the revealed Word for our day.
Father, Son and Holy Ghost are the pivotal offices or dispensation claims of Gods many Titles.
Father is the Office or Title God received when His first Son, Adam, was formed (Genesis 2:7). And since Jesus came in His Father's Name, the compound redemptive Name of the Father is Lord Jesus Christ (John 5:43; 17:26).
Holy Ghost is what God is. God is one Spirit, not two Spirits and one Man as He would be if "the Father" were a person other than the Holy Spirit (Numbers 23:19; Matthew 1:20; John 4:24; Acts 17:24). The compound redemptive Name of the Holy Spirit is Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:16,26).
Son is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the virgin-born Jesus to fulfill the part of Kinsman Redeemer for Adam's race (Isaiah 7:14; I Timothy 3:16). Scripture informs us that the fullness of the character and nature of the godhead was expressed bodily in Jesus Christ. Scripture does not say that the fullness of Jesus Christ dwelt in the godhead (I John 18; II Corinthians 5:19; Colossians 2:9). When He was born, Joseph called His Name Jesus which means "Jehovah-Savior." As Jehovah means "the Self-existent One," not two or three, Jesus means, "the Self-existent One, the Savior." Joseph so-named Him because Isaiah had prophesied, "they shall call His Name Emmanuel" which means "God with us." or Jesus (Matthew 1:21-25).
When John baptized Jesus in the Jordan He was anointed for His ministry by the Shekinah or Pillar of Fire in the form of a Dove, and became the Christ or Anointed One (John 1:31-34). Later, when He had overcome in the garden of Gethsemane, He became Lord (John 17; Acts 2:36; 5:31). He is Lord Jesus Christ.
God revealed Himself in the Old Testament as: Jehovah-Jireh (The Lord our Provider - Genesis 22:14), Jehovah-Rapha (The Lord our Healer - Exodus 15:16), Jehovah-Nissi (The Lord is our Banner - Exodus 17:15), Jehovah-Shalom (The Lord our Peace - Judges 6:24), Jehovah-Raah (The Lord is my Shepherd - Psalms 23), Jehovah-Tsidkenu (The Lord our Righteousness - Jeremiah 23:6), and Jehovah-Shammah (The Lord is Present - Ezekiel 48:35).
These many different names or titles described different offices or manifestations of one God as He revealed Himself to His people. These names and attributes were expressed when the fullness of the nature and character of God dwelt bodily in our Lord Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:1-3).
"Jehovah," means "the self-existent One." This one Lord of the Old Testament Who was many things to His people finally became our Savior, manifesting all of these attributes in "Jesus," which means "Jehovah-Savior." "Call His Name Jesus," the Angel told Joseph, for He shall SAVE His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21 and Isaiah 45:15, 21).
Jesus is Prophet, Priest, and King - Son of man, Son of God, and Son of David. This does not make Jesus a "Trinity" of three persons or three gods. These are simply the three major offices or dispensation claims of the first God-Man from His birth to the Millennium just as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three offices or dispensation claims of one God who has revealed Himself as the Father in creation, the Son in redemption, and the Holy Ghost in regeneration (Isaiah 41:4; Revelation 1:8, 17-18).
- The Uniqueness of The Son of God -
Jesus is the visible manifestation of the invisible God. I Timothy 3:16, "Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory".
The key word in understanding the supreme Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ is "manifestation." Jesus is the fullness of the nature and character of God manifest in virgin-born flesh in order to meet the requirements of a sinless, spotless kinsman Redeemer for Adam's fallen race. Prior to His birth by the virgin Mary, the Man Jesus existed only in the foreknowledge of God.
Luke 1:35, "The Angel Gabriel told Mary, The Holy Ghost will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God".
When Mary told her espoused husband Joseph of her Supernatural pregnancy he was minded to quietly divorce her as a dishonorable woman. Matthew 1:20-23, "But the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, fear not to take to you Mary your wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call His Name Jesus: for He will save His people from their sins. Now all this was done, that the words of the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated, God with us".
In the Old Testament the Son of God is only mentioned in a prophetic sense because He did not exist other than in the mind of God as One Who was to come. No Scripture speaks of an eternal Son; the begotten son is familiar to all. In John 14:10-14, Jesus clearly explains who He is, "Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The Words I speak are not My own, they are spoken on authority of the Father who dwells in me and does His work through Me. Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. Or believe it because of the mighty works you have seen Me do. In solemn truth I tell you, anyone believing in Me shall do the same miracles I have done, and even more, because I (will be raised for your justification and) go to the Father. And whatsoever you ask in My Name, I will do it that the Father may be glorified in the Son".
Our Father condescended to reveal Himself in His first begotten Son, a man born of a virgin, the first God-man in the new creation. To see the Son is to see the Father. Jesus said, "Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). To know the Father is to know the Son. Since Pentecost, the same God dwells in His elect. John 14:19-20, "When you are born-again you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you".
Jesus Christ was the "Beginning of the creation of God" just 2,000 years ago (Colossians 1:18: Revelation 3:14). His elect Church is the continuation and the Capstone Bride is ending or completion of the same creation (Hebrews 2:10-18). Jesus Christ is "the Alpha and the Omega, the (Word at the) beginning and the (same Word restored and manifest in the Sons of God at the) ending" (Revelation 1:8).
- Objections Considered -
We will briefly review what appear to be the major arguments presented by the Trinitarians to support their doctrine:
1. The Use of Plural Pronouns in the Old Testament
Genesis 1:26 says, "Let us make man in our image." And Isaiah 6:8 says, "...I heard the Voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"
In such references, Trinitarians have tendered the use of the plural pronoun conclusive proof of the plurality of persons in the godhead. They forget that the Bible is the story of the eternal Spirit unfolding Himself, His eternal thoughts, through the expressed Word, into the flesh of that Word in the form of His glorified Family - Jesus Christ and the New Testament Church. So when God says "us," He is speaking of the Logos or Word which is the expressed attributes of Himself: His eternal thoughts. Once we understand this revelation the mystery of the godhead becomes wonderfully clear, and we see how we as His elect were with Him in eternity, for by foreknowledge He knew who would become "written epistles" or the manifestation of His Word in their flesh.
Hereby we see the elect were always eternal with God. Ephesians 1:4-5, "God has chosen us in Jesus before the foundation of the world. Having predestinated us (by His foreknowledge of how we would exercise our free moral agency when presented with His Word) to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will".
That means that we were right there with Him in the mind and thoughts of God before the foundation of the world. That gives an eternal quality to the elect... In very plain language the True Bride of Christ was in the mind of God eternally, though not expressed until each came forth in their designated, decreed season. As each member was born-again by expressing the Word for their Age, they took their place in the body. Thus this Bride is the literal Spoken Word Seed Bride. And though she is feminine in designation she is also called the "body of Christ." It is very apparent that she ought to be called that for she was predestinated in Him, came from the same source, was eternal with Him, and is now manifesting God in a many membered Body whereas once God was manifested in One Member, even our Lord Jesus Christ. (William Branham, An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 150).
Another illustration of the plural pronoun is found in John 14:23, "Because I only reveal Myself to those who love Me and keep My Words, The Father will love them too, and We will come to them, and make our abode with them".
As already shown in I Corinthians 12:13 and Acts 2:4, there is in fact one Person who came to us at our new birth - the Holy Spirit (to this the Trinitarians agree). Yet Jesus said, "We will come," so who is this "We?" It is the revelation of the Father, who is the Holy Spirit, manifest in the flesh of the Son, quickening and uniting with the soul of His elect upon regeneration.
One God, One Person manifesting Himself in three offices or dispensation claims is Savior, Healer, Baptizer, Judge, Mediator, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
2. The Use of the Plural Title, Elohim
Elohim is a plural word. In English we would say "gods" were we speaking of two or more pagan deities. Baal and Beelzebub, are both called Elohim but they were not trinities (Judges 6:31; II Kings 1:2). When used with reference to the One Creator God it is the Hebrew plu-perfect meaning ONE God who is the sum of all Deity, so our English translation is "God" singular. And one day Jesus Christ and His glorified New Testament Church will be the manifestation of those glorious attributes - Elohim in the flesh of His Family.
Trinitarians mistakenly maintain that this word indicates a plurality of persons in the godhead. One of the best known Titles of Elohim is "Jehovah" which means "the Self-Existent ONE" and when manifested in the flesh as our Kinsman Redeemer He was known as "Jesus," meaning "Jehovah Savior." Jesus Christ is not a second or third Person, He is the Person of the Holy Spirit MANIFEST in virgin-born flesh. The burning bush, the Pillar of Cloud and Fire that led Israel through the wilderness, and the created Men who spoke with Abraham and Jacob were earlier manifestations of the same Holy Spirit.
Trinitarians sometimes link Genesis 1:26 with Colossians 1:13-19 to prove to their satisfaction Jesus of Nazareth created the world with the Father and Holy Spirit, but "Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb, I am the Lord who makes all things; who stretched forth the heavens ALONE; who spread abroad the earth by Myself" (Isaiah 44:24; 37:16; Nehemiah 9:6; Psalms 33:8).
God created all things by the spoken WORD when time began, NOT the Man from Galilee Who is that Word made flesh, born of a virgin trillions of years later. As the first resurrected son and firstborn in the new creation, Jesus has preeminence over all things. To make Jesus the beginning of God's creation, as Trinitarians teach is to make Him less than God. The beginning of God's creation is the sun, the planets, the rivers and trees. Jesus is the beginning of ANOTHER Creation. He is the beginning of God creating HIMSELF a part of a finished new creation redeemed to original perfection (Revelation 3:14).
RALPH E. KNUDSEN: "The word Elohim is one of the more general names for God and is plural in form. This is what is usually known as the plural of 'majesty or eminence,' or the plural of 'fullness or greatness.' It is not uncommon in the East to use the plural to express the idea of the singular in an intensified form. The singular of Elohim means strength, power, or might, and the plural is simply an intensifying of the singular meaning. There is no idea of making God more than one by the use of the plural form Elohim" (CHRISTIAN BELIEFS, 1947, Page 26).
THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA: "By far the most frequent form of the Old Testament writers is the plural Elohim, but they use it regularly with singular verbs and adjectives to denote a singular idea" (Page 1254).
DR. WILLIAM SMITH: "The plural form of Elohim has given rise to much discussion. The fanciful idea that it referred to the Trinity of persons in the Godhead hardly finds now a supporter among scholars. It is either what grammarians call the plural of majesty, or it denotes the fullness of divine strength, the sum of the powers displayed by God" (DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE, Page 216).
"For in Him (Jesus) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in Him, who is the Head of all principality and power" (Colossians 2:9-10).
3. The Water Baptism of Jesus Christ
It is pointed out by the Trinitarians that there were three present at the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. The Father was in heaven, the Holy Spirit was somewhere between heaven and earth and Jesus, the Son, was on earth. There is no clearer proof of God's majesty and manifestations than this picture of Jesus in the River Jordan. Do you see that God can be in heaven and manifested on earth at the same time? Jesus claimed Himself to be just that (John 3:13; 1:18). Together with all of the New Testament saints I am even now seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:28-30; Ephesians 2:6).
He claimed also, in John 14:10 that it was the Father Who dwelt in Him that did the marvelous works. If the Father remained in heaven while the Spirit descended, where and how did the Father finally get into Christ?
The Spirit who descended had also to be the Father. "God is a (ONE) Spirit" - He is the Holy Spirit (John 4:24).
Trinitarians invariably overlook the fact that the Pillar of Fire in the form of a dove was a SIGN promised to John to identify the One he was to introduce. The Voice and the sign were seen and heard by John alone. Furthermore, Scripture does not say the dove was the Holy Ghost but that it was a manifestation of the Holy Ghost; the concept of a presence of three persons evaporates - yet there were three witnesses (I John 5:7).
4. To Whom Did Jesus Pray?
Incidents in the Gospels, as when Jesus prayed to the Father from the cross, have been used to support the idea that there must be two in the Godhead. A Trinitarian would ask, "Did Jesus pray to Himself? If not, then there must be two - one praying to the other." But recognizing His Deity and His humanity provides the key which makes understanding very simple. Jesus was not praying to Himself.
"O You who hear prayer, to You shall all flesh come" (Psalms 65:2). Prayer is defined in the Bible as flesh praying to deity. Like EVERY Son of God, the humanity of Jesus was praying to the Divinity dwelling within Himself. To Whom do you pray? If you are born again, you speak to the Holy Spirit Who dwells "in" you. Isn't that true? "In Jesus dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily," He was the manifestation of God in the physical Form of a man. Yet God is not a man but a Spirit, alone with His eternal thoughts in another dimension we call heaven (John 14:10; Matthew 12:50).
"In the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared" (Hebrews 5:7).
"As a man," Jesus hungered, slept, wept, learned, prayed, and experienced all that is common to mankind. "As God," He healed the sick, raised the dead, calmed the seas and forgave sins. When the disciples were at sea and a storm threatened their lives, it was a man who was fast asleep in the boat, but when He awoke and lifted His voice to rebuke the wind and waves, then it was God who spoke! As a man, He wept before the tomb of Lazarus, as God He cried, "Lazarus, come forth!" It should not be difficult to comprehend that as a man Jesus prayed, but as God, He heard and responded to those prayers.
"The vessel or manifestation of God can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do: for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner" (John 5:19; 14:19). And is this not so with His brethren who are written epistles of the Word God is manifesting in THIS hour? A life lived by the Word is the Word expressed. "It is no longer I that live but Christ living through me by faith in the Son of God" (Galatians 2:20).
The only way God can be omnipresent is by the manifestation of His Word. That is how He was in Jesus and that is how He is in His saints today - the New Testament Church. We receive the Spirit as we receive the understanding of the Word - by faith. We can only receive the Spirit in Word Form (Galatians 3:2,5).
5. John 1:1 - "The Word Was with God"
Trinitarians maintain that because the Word was with God, that makes two persons. For those who feel that John 1:1 indicates two divine persons, let us read it as a Trinitarian would see it, bearing in mind, God, by their definition, is a Trinity.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the Trinity, and the Word was Trinity." If the Word was with the Trinity, we now have four persons. If we say that in this verse, God stands not for trinity but for Father, we would read, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with the Father and the Word was the Father." The Word, then is not he Son but the Father - It was His eternal thoughts yet unexpressed - which is precisely what we maintain.
The simplest paraphrase of John 1:1 would say, "In the beginning God was alone with His eternal thoughts".
What is true for God, is true for man also. How can you separate a man's word from himself? Although your word is with you and it is you, that does not make you two persons. God's thoughts he has always had, they are Eternal and they are real, they cannot be added to or taken from and we know them as Logos or concept. A thought expressed is a Word. In Jesus the fullness of the nature, character and purpose of God was manifest bodily. That is why He is called the "Word" or "Logos." This verse only substantiates that it was God manifest in the flesh of the Man we know as Jesus Christ, the beginning of the creation of God - just 2,000 years ago.6. New Testament Usage of the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Frequently, in the epistles, we find a variety of expression embodying the words Father or God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. For example, Ephesians 1:2, "Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ." To whom, asks the trinitarian, can this refer if not to two divine persons? We will illustrate it in one source and it will suffice for all others, because the meaning is the same.
I Peter 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead".
Notice what is being expressed - the Father and Jesus Christ who is risen from the dead. God and the man who died and rose again. Very simple, when we realize that God desires to reveal to the Church, not only His Deity, but also His justice in meeting sin's penalty and His righteousness and grace fulfilled in the humanity of the last Adam Who was raised for our justification. It identifies the sinless Source of the Son, for since Adam, "all are born in sin and shapen in iniquity." NOT a second person in the Godhead but THE Person. Our Kinsman Redeemer was GOD manifest in the flesh, or we are all lost. The Bible calls Him "Emmanuel" meaning, 'God with us', not a second, third or any other fraction of God (Matthew 1:18)
7. John 17:5 - "The Glory I had with Thee before the World was"
This verse of Scripture, when understood in the Light of God's foreknowledge cannot be interpreted to mean a preexistent glorified Son. Such an interpretation would contradict all other passages of Scripture which reveal the Son in relation to time and humanity.
However, Jesus was glorified before the world was, He was also a Lamb before the world was, and was slain before the world was (Revelation 13:8).
The whole plan of salvation including Christ's redemptive Work was established in the mind of God from eternity. This is the glorification for which Jesus prayed.
Even we as redeemed sons of God are ALREADY glorified. "For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified" (Romans 8:29-30).
We are even now glorified because it is established in the mind of God that we shall be glorified. He foreknew whom they would be, therefore we too can pray like Jesus, "Father glorify me with the glory I had with You before the world was".
8. How Many Did Stephen See?
"Behold I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56). It is ridiculous to suppose that Stephen, as his life was being dashed out of him, beheld two divine persons standing side by side. It is ridiculous because:
(a) "NO man has seen God at anytime" (John 1:18; I John 4:12).
(b) God "The Father," is a Spirit and as such is invisible (Colossians 1: 15; I Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:27).
Stephen did not see two Gods and He did not say, "I see Jesus standing beside God." The term, "right hand of God" provides us with the key that gives the explanation. In Exodus 15:6 Moses and the Israelites claimed to have "seen the right hand of God." But God is a Spirit with neither right nor left hand; what they saw was a manifestation of God's power and glory. As an Israelite Stephen knew what "the right hand of God" meant. He saw the Son of Man in power and glory. He saw the Son of Man on the right hand of God. When Jesus ascended, "ALL power was given unto Him in heaven and in earth," He was God's right hand Man, His first adopted son with all the Authority of His Father."
John 10:30 - "I and My Father are One"
Jesus is actually saying "I and the Father are in perfect agreement by faith, or at-one with each other." His prayer for the New Testament saints was, "That they ALL might be one; as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, THAT THEY MIGHT BE ONE IN US..." (John 17:21-26). God and the soul that's joined together with God is ONE Spirit manifest in a many-membered Body (I Corinthians 6:17). And "ALL the saints speak the same thing" because they are each a manifestation of the same (One) Spirit of God (I Corinthians 1:10; 12:4-12.)
Not "three in one" but "thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand" in One (Daniel 7:10; Hebrews 12:22-24; Revelation 5:9-13).
What perfect clarity and certainty comes to the heart of the believer when he begins to rest on the majesty of the revelation that there is one God with one Name! And through the Spiritual Marriage Union or new birth, that Name is the Name of the Bride also - Christ is the Head and She the Body (Ephesians 1:21-23).
Holy Spirit is "what" God is, Father is a Title or office He received when He formed His first son, Adam; Son is what He became when He began unfolding HIMSELF into the flesh of His Family (John 4:24; Genesis 2:4; Revelation 3:14). "Hear O Israel, the Lord thy God is ONE Lord," unfolding Himself from the eternal Spirit alone with His thoughts to the Flesh of those thoughts in the Form of His Glorified sons and daughters among Whom Jesus is the firstborn of many (Colossians 1:18; Hebrews 1-3).
Comparing the words of Isaiah and Paul we can see that Jehovah of the Old Testament is Jesus of the New:
"Take counsel together, argue your case and state your proofs that idol-worship pays. Who but God has said from ancient times that these things concerning Cyrus would come true? Who has told it from that time; have not I the Lord: and there is no other God but Me - a just God and a Savior - no, not one! Let all the world look to Me for salvation! For I am God, there is no other! I have sworn by Myself, and I will never go back on My Word, for it is true - that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear" (Isaiah 45:21-23).
At the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth; and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father" (Philippians 2:10-11).
The believer longs to behold the face of the Son in glory; when he falls at Jesus' feet, he will be at the feet of Jehovah - HIS GOD AND HIS SAVIOR.
- THE MESSAGE -
The "Message" sent by God through His prophet can change your life and make the Word of God come alive to you. Paul spoke of the Bereans in this manner: "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things Were so" (Acts 17:11).
Take this message, consider it, check it out with the Scriptures and let the Lord reveal Himself to you.
For sermon tapes, CDs or books by Brother Branham, contact:
VOICE OF GOD RECORDINGS
P.O. Box 950
Jeffersonville
Indiana 47131 USA
http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/