THREE MANIFESTATIONS BUT ONLY ONE AND THE SAME GOD

The apostle Thomas was theologically correct in exclaiming, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).  Y’SHUA IS YHVH—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is really what 1 Corinthians 12:3, Romans 10:9 and Philippians 2:11 imply in saying “Y’shua is Lord.”  Lord originates from Adonai, a veiled Jewish reference to YHVH.

Y'shua is Jesus Christ to the world. YHVH is God Yahweh in the Catholic versions of the Bible.

Why do you think Y’shua fulfilled a promise made by YHVH in the Old Testament? YHVH said, “I Myself will be the Shepherd of My sheep. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak” (Ezekiel 34:15-16). Y'shua fulfilled the promise and then identified Himself as the Good Shepherd (John 10:11). And as if to emphasize in our minds what the “Good” means, He said, “No one is good—except God alone” (Mark 10:17).  

Y’shua fulfilled another promise of YHVH (“All your sons will be taught by the Lord, and great will be your children’s peace”—Isaiah 54:13).

³⁴ He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So He began teaching them many things. MARK 6  

²² The people were amazed at His teaching, because He taught as one with authority, not as the teachers of the Law. MARK 1 

Is there a contradiction when Isaiah 8:14 says YHVH is “the stone that causes men to stumble” and 1 Peter 2:8 says Y’shua is “the stone that causes men to stumble”? Is there contradiction when Isaiah 8:12, 13 says, “Do not fear what they fear… The Lord Almighty is the one you are to fear,” while 1 Peter 3:14, 15 says, “Do not fear what they fear… In your hearts set apart (Y’shua) the Messiah as (the) Lord (you are to fear)”? There is no contradiction because YHVH and Y’shua were one and the same (John 10:30).

They share one throne (Revelation 7:17, 22:1, 3) and one name (Matthew 28:19, John 17:11).

John 14:16 ("YHVH would send the Holy Spirit to His children") is not opposed to John 16:7 ("Y’shua would send the Holy Spirit to His children"). YHVH saying in Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega  (the beginning and the end), who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” is not opposed to Y'shua saying in Revelation 1:17-18 “I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!”.

Y’SHUA IS THE HOLY SPIRIT (2 Corinthians 3:17). Listen to His prayer the night before His death:  

²⁶ I have made You [Father] known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in them, and that I Myself may be in them. JOHN 17

And to what He said to His disciples:  

⁷ It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you. JOHN 16

¹⁸ I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. JOHN 14

Forty days after His resurrection Y’shua ascended unto heaven then returned to earth in Spirit-form to indwell those who shall submit to water baptism. The NIV Study Bible noted that the Scripture talked of the “indwelling” by interchangeably naming Y’shua as the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:6), the Spirit of God (Romans 8:9), the Spirit (Romans 8:9), the Spirit of Y’shua (Acts 16:7), the Spirit of the Messiah (Romans 8:9), the Spirit of truth (John 14:16) and the Counselor (John 16:7). 

¹⁷ Now the Lord [Y’shua] is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ And we, who with unveiled faces reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed [restored] into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 CORINTHIANS 3

⁹ You are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of the Messiah, he does not belong to the Messiah. ¹⁰ But if the Messiah is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. ROMANS 8

¹³ When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own… ¹⁴ He will bring glory to Me [Y’shua] by taking from what is Mine and making it known to you. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is Mine. JOHN 16

⁸ I am the [Spirit of] truth. JOHN 14

²⁷ And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to follow My laws. ²⁹ I will save you from all uncleanness. EZEKIEL 36

⁶ Because you are sons [of God], God sent the Spirit of His Son to our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, Abba, Father. GALATIANS 4

⁴⁵ The first Adam became a living being; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 1 CORINTHIANS 15

THROUGHOUT THE SCRIPTURE, THE NAMES AND FORMS OF GOD VARIED BUT ONLY ONE GOD SPOKE.

Y’shua was the Ancient of Days who told Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of life. Y’shua was the Lord of history, the God who made a covenant with Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David. Y’shua was the Burning Bush who spoke with Moses and gave the Ten Commandments. Y’shua was the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).  Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made (John 1:3). 

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. JOHN 1

Nowadays Y’shua is the Spirit who whispers to our hearts about LOVE and obedience.  

                ⁸ Messiah Y’shua is the same yesterday and today and forever. HEBREWS 13

¹ In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ² but in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed Heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. ³ The Son is [the sh’khinah] the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things [the entire creation] by His powerful Word. HEBREWS 1

WE MUST UNDERSTAND WHY Y’SHUA NEVER EXPLICITLY SAID “I AM GOD!”

Y’shua is a respecter of the human freewill. He would not preempt anyone’s freedom to choose which God to love and worship. It is left to every man to discern for himself who He really was and what was meant by His statements “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me” (Luke 4:18) and “I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12) and “I have come down from heaven” (John 6:38).

His God-being was so camouflaged that even Lucifer failed to see early on. The devil went to tempt Him in the wilderness, but to Y’shua’s credit, He rebuked him simply, saying, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test” (Luke 4:12).

IT IS NEVER TOO SOON TO ACCEPT THAT Y'SHUA IS GOD.

⁵ The Messiah… is God overall. ROMANS 9

²⁰ We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true—even in His Son Y’shua the Messiah. He is the true God and eternal life. 1 JOHN 5

Do your best to study, evaluate and identify the God we must love. Commandment No. 1 requires it. It is wise to know who really is the kingdom Owner, who is the source of life, and to whom we must be reconciled.  

Unfortunately much as we want to discuss the matter extensively, we have limited space; it cannot accommodate all the proofs that make evident why Y’shua is it. Besides, we better not discuss the matter extensively here because spoon-feeding you all the way might not be good for your spiritual growth.

Take the initiative of knowing God on your own. Read the Scripture and meditate on it. You are welcome to come and seek our help on passages you cannot understand. Better still, pray that God may flash inspirations and understanding to you as you read and meditate, because He would if you do.

Knowing the God we must love will shield us from being carried away by any false claim. Understanding why Y’shua is God will help us stand firm in our faith and explain its basis to our neighbors.

²⁴ Unless you believe that I am who I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins. JOHN 8 nlt

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THE PURPOSE OF CREATION

The purpose of creation is LOVE. God created us to love and be loved. When He thinks, He thinks of propagating and perpetuating LOVE. When He acts, He acts to propagate and perpetuate LOVE. When He speaks, He speaks to propagate and perpetuate LOVE.

Our Creator is LOVE. His nature is LOVE. Rick Warren said, “1 John 4:16 says God is love. It doesn’t say God has love. He is love! Love is the essence of God’s character.” (Purpose-Driven Life, p. 24)

LOVE too is our nature. Remember, we were created in the image and likeness of the First Tree. Matthew 5:48 says, “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” It means we are potential perfections (seeds) that must grow into actual perfections—into trees that constantly produce fruits of LOVE.

¹⁸ What is the kingdom of heaven like? What shall I compare it to? ¹⁹ It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. LUKE 13

³¹ It is the smallest seed you can plant in the ground. ³² Yet it grows and becomes [a tree] the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch on its shade. MARK 4

In us is LOVE that “yearns to be expressed and shared; it needs an outlet,” said Billy Graham (The Journey: How to Live by Faith in an Uncertain World, p. 27).

It is most natural for us to love and most unnatural for us not to. Act contrary to our nature—immobilize or isolate it—and we feel heavy, down and lonely; our life becomes empty and meaningless. However, let our nature fly, let it find an outlet, and we feel light… excited… inspired… fulfilled… easy to smile and laugh… 

What is our world without LOVE? Rosario “Boots” Zulueta Santos said: “Without LOVE, our week would be Sin-day, Tears-day, Wasted-day, Thirst-day, Fight-day and Shatter-day.”

We are created to build and nurture LOVE-relationships. God blessed our first parents and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number” (Genesis 1:6). A mandate has been given and it extends to us, their seeds. The mandate is to propagate and perpetuate LOVE. In this context John 15:12 becomes our accountability—an obligation—to our Creator.

¹² Love each other as I have loved you. JOHN 15

⁶ Fill all the world with fruit. ISAIAH 27

¹⁷ Wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then… full of good fruit. JAMES 3

Gratefulness dictates that we reciprocate God’s love for us in a manner most acceptable to Him. He deserves nothing less.

¹⁹ We love each other because God loved us first. 1 JOHN 4 nlt

¹⁴ Anyone who does not love remains in death. 1 JOHN 3

Now, why must we love God with all our heart and with all our mind and with all our soul and with all our strength?

The teacher of the Law in Mark 12:28 asked the question. Y’shua replied, “When a man loses a purse, does he turn only his eye to look for it? Or only his hand to feel for it? Or only his tongue to ask for it? Certainly not! He turns his whole body and employs all his powers to find it. Is this not true? Now, is not your Father in heaven more valuable than your purse?” (Gospel of Barnabas, chapter 100)

 Why does God command us to love Him? DOESN’T IT SOUND LIKE GOD IS selfish?

God is not selfish. Our existence is one proof of this. He created us to share with us what He has.

Rick Warren said, “God made us so He could love us. This is a truth to build our lives on.” (Purpose-Driven Life, p. 24)

God has no need to be selfish. The whole creation belongs to Him; everything in it is His (Job 41:11, Psalm 24:1, Leviticus 25:23, Psalm 50:10, Haggai 2:8). God is called God because He is perfect and complete. Nothing can be added to Him and nothing taken away (Sirach 42:21).

²⁵ He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything. ACTS 17

The command to love Him is for our own good. You see, our journey through life is always a matter of choice between the kingdom of God and the evil empire. Life is like standing at the edge of a cliff—with Lucifer urging us to jump and God urging us not to. Lucifer is urging us to jump because it would kill us. God is urging us not to jump so we might live. The devil does not have our best interest in mind (John 10:10). But God is the opposite. He wants us to keep busy living, not dying.

⁶ I am the way, the truth and the life. JOHN 14 

Strictly speaking, God cannot be served by human hands. Nothing can be added to HIM and nothing taken away. How then should we translate “Love God” into action?  

Love of God = Love of neighbor. That is the equation.

⁸ If you really keep the royal law found in the Scripture, which is Love your neighbor as you love yourself, you are doing right. JAMES 2 

²⁰ For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. ²¹ [God] has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. 1 JOHN 4

The term neighbor encompasses our family members, friends and relatives, churchmates, schoolmates, workmates, townmates and countrymen—even the strangers that come into our sphere and the peoples that live in foreign lands.

God identified “Love your neighbor as yourself” as the second greatest commandment (Mark 12:31). Now, if “Love God” is Commandment No. 1 and “Love your neighbor” is Commandment No. 2, isn’t that two? If we add the Two to the Nine, there would be Eleven, isn’t that right?

No, it isn’t. God gave Ten, not Eleven.

There is only one LOVE Commandment. Y’shua said Love your neighbor is “like” Love God (Matthew 22:39). For whoever loves God must also love his neighbor and whoever loves his neighbor must also love God. No one can love God and put his neighbor aside; neither can he love his neighbor and put God aside. The two commandments are corollary, made to be part and parcel of one another. In the sight of God one is not pleasing without the other. To love God is to love your neighbor and to love your neighbor is to love God. Love God and Love your neighbor are clamped together. They are not really two separate commandments, but one. 

Y’shua said, “When you have seen your brother, you have seen the Lord.”—Tertullian, On Prayer

Does it follow that our neighbor must be loved as well with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength?

The answer is Yes. That precisely is how Love God is translated into action. “And since a neighbor is every person, regardless of race, gender or age, we get to love everyone!” said Paul J. Meyer (Unlocking Your Legacy, p. 31).

If an occasion arises wherein we must choose between GOD AND NEIGHBOR, who must we choose? 

Remember that God called one “first” and the other “second”. Choose Love of God over Love of neighbor. Prioritize the Creator over the creation.

Why was the patriarch Abraham called righteous? He was called righteous because he chose God over his beloved son Isaac. Abraham always prioritized God.  

We love our neighbor only because we love God. Make no mistake about it. Love your neighbor is but an offshoot (meaning only a subsidiary or an extension) of Love God. God should be our first and foremost priority, and Love God our primary focus.  

²³ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. COLOSSIANS 3

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