Jesus is Yahweh

Reading the Old Testament Trinitarianly

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Ebendroth, and I don't want you to forget, I think it's probably on our website by now, nocompromiseradio .com, the trip to Germany, to Switzerland, and to, well, I guess Geneva is in Switzerland, it's right by France, Reformation Tour, hosted by me, Mike Ebendroth, and Mike Gendron.

We're going to start off in Wittenberg. I believe it's May 20th through 30th. You can go to our website and get the information about the trip. We'd love to have you come. I'll already be out there for a conference, a REF 500 conference with EBTC.

Lawson will be speaking, and MacArthur and James White. I am not a plenary session guy, but I'm glad to be there with the little booth off to the side. We're actually going to have No Compromise Radio live a couple times.

I'll be interviewing the men who are preaching. I think I'm supposed to do the five solos in preaching as my breakout session. Anyway, if you'd like to order some of the books, Sexual Fidelity, Things That Go Bump in the Church, those are found online, and eventually, probably within the next couple months, the new book, Evangelical White Lies will be out, and we look at things that seem like they're true, but they're not really true.

Living the Gospel, Friendship Evangelism, Tithing, those type of things. Sadly, it's volume one, because there's so many things out there that need addressing. Some ask me, what does heno mean? If we ever say heno, heno is a grandmother speak for hello, and that's how grandma used to talk.

She'd answer the phone, heno. So then when I thought about there's so many things wacky in Christianity today and in the world, my response when I see wackiness is, heno. The other word, if you'd like to have the inside Gnostic, insider, noco radio stuff that Fred can even hear at 1 .5 speed.

I do listen to podcasts at 1 .5 speed, but they're not usually theological podcasts. This American Life or Serial, those type of things, I listen to 1 .5, because it's not sacrilegious, but if you listen to a Christian podcast at 1 .5 speed, I think James White and Fred Butler at 1 .5 speed noco radio, I just don't think it's fair.

I just think there's something wrong with that. What was I talking about? Where were we? Where was we at? Oh, the other word is, it's a single word that if we want to reject something, stiff-arm something, say no to that.

It's the one word noco, speak, forget you. Today, I would like to talk a little bit about how do you read your Old Testament. Reading the Old Testament, when you come to the word in the Old Testament, Lord, capital L, and then smaller case, O-R-D, you probably have read the front of your Bible and have understood by now that that means Adonai.

This is sovereign, in charge. I don't want to say boss, that's not quite the right idea, but we have the sovereign Adonai Lord. Then when you read in your Old Testament L-O-R-D, all caps, then what happens?

Then what do you do? Well, you know, that's the translator's attempt to tell you that it's Yahweh, the tetragrammaton, tetra, four, gramma, letter, four letters, and the four letters of God, and then we add in some consonants, Yahweh.

We don't add in consonants, we add in vowels. The four consonants for Yahweh, with some vowels in there, and that would be the personal name of God, the covenant-keeping name of God, the God's own description of himself in a personal, loving, not just transcendent way, but imminent way, and what I would ask you on No Compromise Radio today at 1 .5 speed, when you're reading the New Testament and you come to the word Lord, Kurios, L-O-R-D, first letter capitalized in smaller case, what do you think of Jesus as Lord?

What goes through your mind? When you read the Old Testament and you're reading, well, you could read the word God, Elohim, powerful, mighty, creator, those are the nuances there that the author usually tries to bring out.

Hebrews 1 and the Worship of the Son

How do you read your Old Testament? Now, I'm preaching through the book of Hebrews, and Hebrews begins to extol the person and work of Christ Jesus, and he is better than the angels, chapter 1, verse 5, all the way through the end of chapter 2, and in the middle of the section in chapter 1, he, the author, writes down and discusses seven Old Testament passages that explain, give reasons for, gives reasons to, is that proper English?

Reasons to believe that Jesus is greater than the angels, and he pulls out some passages like Psalm 2, 7, and we would get that. We would say messianic, we understand that. The second passage he alludes to and gives direct attention to is 2 Samuel, chapter 7, the Davidic covenant.

But then, all of a sudden, we get to Hebrews, chapter 1, verse 6, and it says, and again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all God's angels worship him. Let all God's angels worship him.

Now, this section, we have the Father speaking, and it is as if we are eavesdropping on the Father commending the Son. The Son is speaking well of, the Father speaking well of the Son. Of course, on earth you would see, for the most part, the opposite.

When Jesus was on the earth, he would be speaking well of the Father. And, of course, we did have the Father at the baptism of Jesus, or the transfiguration. The Father would speak well of the Son, but most of the time, it's Jesus speaking well of the Father.

Well, here we have the Father using the Old Testament, speaking well of the Son. Psalm 2 7, 2 Samuel 7, I understand, along with you, the messianic implications of those verses. And when you would read them, and you would think Davidic Covenant, and you would think Psalm 2, or maybe you think Psalm 110, Psalm 22, you would say to yourself, I see that.

These are messianic. But now we come to Hebrews 1 6, let all God's angels worship him. The Father telling the angels to worship the Son. Now, I will on another show probably address Sola Deo Gloria, I will not give my glory to another, God says, and yet he wants the Son to be worshiped and to be glorified.

And the only way this can happen, Jehovah's Witnesses and Arians, beware of this verse. The only way this can happen is if God, the Father, and God, the Son, of course, the Spirit here, he applies, but just talking about the Son and the Father, particularly at the moment, they have to be equal, co-equal, they have to be of the same essence and nature.

We are talking Trinitarian language here, the Father and the Son, and we have one God, not manifested in three persons, but subsisting in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And here is what is going on.

We don't know if it's Deuteronomy 32 or Psalm 97, probably it's Deuteronomy 32, but both of these Old Testament passages with the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, talk about these angels are to worship the Son.

Now when you look at the ESV in Psalm 97, hang in there with me, this is all gonna be worth it, Psalm 97, all worshipers of images are to be put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols. Worship him all you gods.

That's Psalm 97 7 ESV, but the Septuagint, it has it this way, worship him all you his angels. In that enthronement psalm, worship him all you his angels. Now if you look at Deuteronomy 32 verse 43, you see something similarly.

In English ESV, rejoice with him O heavens, bow down to him all gods. But when you look at the Septuagint, and the book of Hebrews uses the Septuagint, it says this in Deuteronomy 32 43, let all the angels of God worship him.

And if we don't know which one it's from, Psalm 97 or Deuteronomy 32, what we do know, the point of the author is very very clear. Jesus is greater than angels, and one of the reasons we know that is because God says to the angels, worship him.

Worship him. Now, Deuteronomy 32 is where I think the passage comes from. But both in Deuteronomy 32 and Psalm 97, don't you think those passages talk about the sons, the son being worshiped by the by the angels.

But neither of those passages are what we would consider Messianic passages. They're not like Psalm 2, they're not like Psalm 110. I could put it this way, are all the Old Testament passages Messianic?

Now remember, when Jesus is on the road to Emmaus, and he's talking about the Old Testament, Moses and the prophets and the Psalms, speaking of Jesus, to what degree do they speak? Is everything in the Old Testament now Messianic?

And I don't think that's the case. We have Messianic Psalms, Psalm 2, Psalm 110, and Psalm 1 isn't as Messianic. Now, I see how I could preach Christ from that Psalm. I understand this redemptive historical preaching and how to do it properly, how to do it improperly.

But everything so far that I've said on No Compromise Radio today is leading up to this particular point. Since Jesus is God, the Old Testament passages that refer to God, how do we then think of them?

If you read the Lord in the Old Testament, should you be thinking Trinitarianly? If you see Yahweh, is that not the name of Jesus? If you see God, Elohim? If you see Lord, should you not be thinking in a Trinitarian fashion?

The New Testament authors, and particularly here in the book of Hebrews, they knew this fact, and you should know it too. Since Jesus is God, the Old Testament passages that refer to God apply to and speak of the triune God.

Right? We don't have a New Testament God who's now triune. God is immutable. God is the same. God doesn't change. And now, in light of having all the Bible and even the New Testament revelation, right, found in Scripture, from Matthew through Revelation, when I begin to read now the Old Testament, and it speaks of, the Lord is my shepherd, and you say to yourself, I'm thinking Trinitarianly now.

I think about Jesus is the Son. The Father is a different person, but part of the Godhead, and the Son in the same manner. The author of Hebrews, quote, like other New Testament authors, is willing to apply Old Testament texts about the Lord Yahweh to Jesus.

These authors were not saying that the Old Testament texts were directly messianic, but they were certainly recognizing that if Jesus was in fact the God of Israel in human flesh, then these texts apply to him.

That is the ESV study Bible. By the way, excuse me, I didn't think I was gonna like the ESV study Bible when it first came out, but I was mistaken. Oh, there are a few kind of mental charley horses in the notes here there.

Excuse me, but I like, I like it overall. I guess I have my coffee. I should probably use that on No Compromise Radio. Think about it. We're not saying Deuteronomy 32 is messianic, but we are saying these texts apply to Jesus, because that's exactly what the book of Hebrews 1 is doing.

Hebrews 1 .6. He's going back, the author of Hebrews, he's going back to Deuteronomy 32, or Psalm 97, if you please, and he's saying, look at, this is, this is applied, applying to, I'm applying this to Jesus, and he as an apostle, or one closely related, certainly writing scripture, the author of Hebrews, he can do that.

Jesus is God. True? Yes. The New Testament speaks of that. So the God of Deuteronomy 32 is Jesus. Well, that God is more than Jesus, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. But what we're saying is that Deuteronomy 32, while not messianic, certainly Jesus is the God of Israel.

Now, Jesus in human flesh now, but the God of Israel before he had human flesh was Israel's God. Applying Old Testament texts about Yahweh to Jesus, that's the point. And when you read the Old Testament, the way the writer of Hebrews reads it, when he reads Deuteronomy 32, he thinks Jesus.

He thinks more than Jesus. He thinks Trinitarianly, but he's here applying these texts to Jesus. So Deuteronomy 32, I wonder if we reread that now. Saying these passages in Deuteronomy 32, these verses, while not directly messianic, since Jesus is the God of Israel in human flesh as revealed by the New Testament, before he had a body, he was the God of Israel, and these texts apply to Jesus.

That's what I'm trying to say. Deuteronomy, the context of chapter 32, you can find out that quickly if you just read the chapter before. I won't read that, but Deuteronomy 31 says in verses 14 through 16, And the Lord said to Moses, Behold the day's approach when you must die.

Call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may commission him. And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. And the Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent.

And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them.

That's what's going on here. And then it says in verse 19, Deuteronomy 31, all setting up the context, Now therefore write this song and teach it of the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel.

Verse 22, so Moses wrote the song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel. Now as you work through Deuteronomy 32 in light of Hebrews 1 6, Make sure you read Deuteronomy 32 with the attitude of the author of Hebrews.

When you read about God, you think about Jesus. Okay? That's the story. When you read about God in Deuteronomy 32, I want you to think of Jesus, because that is Hebrews 1 6. That's exactly what he did.

Moses is speaking, Give ear, O heavens, Deuteronomy 32, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distil as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb.

Every time you're thinking about this passage or reading the Old Testament, you ought to be saying, hmm, I'm reading about God, should I not in fact think about the triune God? And particularly here, thinking about Jesus, Moses calling heaven and earth to listen to what he was going to say.

Kind of a call like Isaiah would have later, and Micah would have. We want you to understand calling heaven and earth with this illustrative language, this is important, and it says in verse 3,. For I will proclaim the name of the Lord, ascribe greatness to our God.

As you think about God in Deuteronomy 32, are you thinking the way the author of Hebrews would think? This is about Jesus. This is about, think Jesus, the rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just.

A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he. I wonder when the word rock is used, stable God, permanent God, firm God, trustworthy God, the rock of Israel. I wonder if you're thinking Jesus.

Well, it's not just the author of Hebrews that would do this. The author of the book of 1st Corinthians would do this, Paul chapter 10,. And all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.

Here Jesus provides them all the food and drink via spiritual means that they would need out in the middle of the desert. For the 40-year sojourn in the middle of the wilderness, the spiritual rock struck by Moses's rod.

When you read the Old Testament and think about the words God and Yahweh, I'm wondering, do you think Jesus? They have dealt corruptly with him. They are no longer his children because they are blemished.

They are a crooked and twisted generation. God cared for them early on, verse 6,. Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is he not your Father who created you, who made you, and established you?

Fathers care for and watch over. He's not saying think Jesus now as Father. That's not the point. Israel is God's inheritance. It says in verse 8, When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.

I'm wondering, when you read about God in the Old Testament, do you, along with Hebrews 1, 6, think Jesus? The Lord's portion, verse 9, is his people. Jacob, he allotted heritage, the special love that God has in this language, the Lord's portion.

I wonder if you're thinking Jesus, verse 12, the Lord alone guided him. I wonder if you're thinking Jesus, the rock of his salvation, verse 15, the rock, verse 18, the Lord saw it, verse 19. I wonder if you're thinking about Jesus.

Our hand is triumphant. It was not the Lord who did all this. I wonder if you're thinking Jesus, vengeance is mine and recompense for the time when their foot shall slip, for the day of their calamity is at hand and their doom comes swiftly.

I wonder if you're thinking about Jesus. The Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, and when he sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free. I wonder if you're thinking about Jesus.

See, when we think about the Bible, and I say the word God to you, and I say Yahweh to you, that's Yahweh's, I think, a little bit better. I say Yahweh, I hope you think Father, Son, Spirit, the Father, the Son, the Spirit.

See now that I, even I, am he, and there's no God beside me, verse 39. I wonder if you're thinking about Jesus. Very interesting, isn't it? Of course, it's very interesting. And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, verse 6 of Hebrews 1, let all God's angels worship him.

Fascinating. Fascinating to see that he, the author of Hebrews, when he reads Deuteronomy 32, he thinks about Jesus. That's what he does. All right, so let's see where we are here. Rejoice with him, O heavens, bow down to him, all gods.

Verse 43, but as the Septuagint said, all ye his angels. Now that's fascinating, because it says in chapter 32 of Deuteronomy, verse 43, that all God's angels worship him, and the way the author of Hebrews reads Deuteronomy is that this text speaks of Jesus.

It applies to Jesus. So in summary today, God doesn't change. God is triune. Jesus adds humanity. Right? And when he's born, he's the God-man, and forever will be. And when we now realize, as Scripture has taught us with progressive revelation, that Yahweh's Trinitarian.

Correct? Yes, it has to be. And when you read the Old Testament, there are, of course, messianic passages. But even non-messianic passages, if you think like the book of Hebrews thinks, let all God's angels worship him, you're thinking about Jesus, applying these texts to Jesus.

So my name is Mike Gabenroth, this is No Compromise Radio. We'd love to see you in Europe. Don't forget to get online and send me an email, say we're signed up. You can write us, info at NoCompromiseRadio .com.