It Just Keeps Going, and Going, and Going….

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Buried within Surah 26 of the Qur’an, we find a passage dealing with the Qur’an and its relation to prior revelation. In this passage, the Qur’an tries to build for itself a basis of authority founded upon its continuity with the earlier Scriptures. However, in the process, a logical problem arises. Let us begin by looking at the ayat in question:”And most surely this is a revelation from the Lord of the worlds. The Faithful Spirit has descended with it, Upon your heart that you may be of the warners. In plain Arabic language. And most surely the same is in the scriptures of the ancients. (26:192-196, Shakir)

Traditional Muslim interpretation of this passage has been that it is saying that the earlier revelations¹ contained the Quranic revelation. The object is to show that the revelation given to Mohammed was not new, but rather was something previously understood and received by man, but lost or corrupted, and thus making necessary the Quranic revelation to the Arabs through their prophet Mohammed.

The postmortem editors of Yusuf Ali’s commentary comment on the previous revelation to which the Qur’an is making reference,”The word Zubur, used here, is plural of Zabur, which is mentioned in the Qur’an as the Book revealed to the Prophet Dawud. It has also been used in the Qur’an in the generic sense of “Book” (54:52). Here the word refers to the earlier revelations.”²

Some who contest the Qur’an attempt to argue that this passage is saying that these earlier revelations were themselves revealed in Arabic, and thus the Qur’an is in error since, obviously, the earlier Biblical material was in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. I personally do not believe this argument can be made, as the Quranic passage can just as easily be understood to say that the “faithful spirit” gave Mohammed a revelation in Arabic to bring to the Arabs, so that they could understand the revelation this particular time around. In fact, given the wider context of the surah, this seems the most likely interpretation. It does not necessarily have to be understood as saying that these prior revelations were IN Arabic, and hence I find the claim to error on this point tenuous at best.

However, this being said, it must be noted that there is a much more fundamental logical problem with this passage. We must note again that 26:196 says that the Quranic revelation was in the Scriptures of the earlier revelation. Essentially, this would mean that the entirety of the information presented in the Qur’an would be found in these earlier works, and Muslims would argue that the reason it does not now appear there is because of alterations to the earlier Books made by the Jews and Christians, and they would claim that where the Bible DOES agree with the Qur’an, it is because the earlier revelation was not corrupted at that point.

However, looking aside to any issue of corruption, it should be noted that what ayah 196 is claiming leads to an infinitely regressive loop, a serious logical problem. Let us assume that the “original” earlier revelations did indeed contain the Quranic revelation in sum total. This would therefore include the information contained in 26:196, about the true revelation being revealed in former books. These former books then, containing the statement referring to their true revelation being revealed in former books, would point backwards to a more previous Book. Thus, the revelation immediately previous to the Qur’an would refer back to the previous, which would refer to the previous…..and so on ad infinitum. There would be no place for this series of revelations to ever begin, since even the first revelation from Allah would contain information referring backwards to a prior revelation. Essentially, there could be no beginning to Allah’s revelation to mankind, since any particular instance of Allah revealing his perspicuous truth is always referring back to a previous Book. There is logically no place for the cycle of revelation and corruption to ever begin!

Hence, we see an example of a logical flaw which argues against a divine authorship of the Qur’an.

End Notes

(1) – Traditionally held by Islam to be the Torah, the other Hebrew scriptures, and the Gospels (Injeel, usually though not always referring to the entirety of the New Testament)]
(2) – ‘Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an, p. 931, note #3226, on 26:196

Examining Some Muslim Nonsense at “Examinethetruth”.com

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One of the hallmarks of Muslim apologetic efforts which is widely recognised is that they are very poor. Defenses of Islam, and the concurrent efforts at polemicising against other religions, are generally marked by all sorts of logical errors, ranging from non-sequiturs to circular reasoning to outright reliance upon ad hominem. The webpage which I will be deconstructing below is a perfect example of this. The contention found on this page – http://www.examinethetruth.com/hitler.htm – is that Adolf Hitler was a “Bible-believing Christian”. One may surmise that the author of this page, one Nadir Ahmed, has prepared it in an attempt to turn criticism away from Islam with regards to that religion’s traditional and unreasoning Jew-hatred. Instead of defending Islam on this matter (which, given the statements in the Qur’an and the ahadith, would be well-nigh impossible anywise), Mr. Ahmed has opted to “turn the tables” and accuse Bible-believing Christians of harbouring the same beliefs as Adolf Hitler. This is certainly Mr. Ahmed’s prerogative, but as we will see, it is a prerogative based upon wishful thinking rather than sound reason or fact.

Let us begin now to examine Mr. Ahmed’s page and his arguments. My responses will be in italics.

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Yes, Hitler was a Christian.

http://www.ExamineTheTruth.comContrary to popular beliefs, One of the most Evil men of our times, Adolf Hitler was actually a Bible believing Christian. Simply reading his book Mein Kampf sent chills down my spine. Many Christians will vehemently deny this, but they are in clear denial of the historical truths and clear facts. Some, will even go so far as to declare Hitler was an Atheist! In fact, Ann Coulter, a Christian extremist who has made hate filled, bigoted comments towards Islam, stated:

“this was the approach of all the great mass murderers of the last century — all of whom were atheists: Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot”

I would like to begin my address of this section by noting that Mr. Ahmed at least, unlike many of his coreligionists (as we shall see later), is able to recognise that Hitler was evil with a capital “E”! 😉

Seriously, however, let us examine what he has said here. Mr. Ahmed has laid the foundations of his argument thus:

• Hitler was a Bible-believing Christian, and
• “Historical truths and clear facts” show this to be true.

What does the actual testimony of history say on this matter? Something quite different than what Mr. Ahmed seems to think. Let us take a look at the *actual* Nazi programme for Christianity in Nazi Germany. William Shirer, perhaps the foremost chronicler of the Nazi regime, after noting that the attraction of the German people to Hitler was based upon the successes which the Nazi regime had in building up the army and reviving industry and jobs, writes thus concerning the Nazi plans for Christianity,“And even fewer paused to reflect that under the leadership of Rosenberg, Bormann, and Himmler, who were backed by Hitler, the Nazi regime intended eventually to destroy Christianity in Germany, if it could, and substitute the old paganism of the early tribal Germanic gods and the new paganism of the Nazi extremists. As Bormann, one of the men closest to Hitler, said publically in 1941, ‘National Socialism and Christianity are irreconcilable‘.”What the Hitler government envisioned for Germany was clearly set out in a thirty-point program for the ‘National Reich Church’ drawn up during the war by Rosenberg, an outspoken pagan, who among his other offices, held that of ‘the Fuehrer’s Delegate for the Entire Intellectual and Philosophical Education and Instruction for the National Socialist Party.’ A few of the thirty articles convey the essentials:”1. The National Reich Church of Germany categorically claims the exclusive right and the exclusive power to control all churches within the borders of the Reich: it declares these to be the national churches of the German Reich.”5. The National Church is determined to exterminate irrevocably….the strange and foreign Christian faiths imported into Germany in the ill-omened year 800.”7. The National Church has no scribes, pastors, chaplains, or priests, but National Reich orators are to speak in them.”13. The National Church demands immediate cessation of the publishing and dissemination of the Bible in Germany…”14. The National Church declares that to it, and therefore to the German nation, it has been decided that the Fuehrer’s Mein Kampf is the greatest of all documents. It….not only contains the greatest but it embodies the purest and truest ethics for the present and future life of our nation.”18. The National Church will clear away from its altars all crucifixes, Bibles, and pictures of saints.”19. On the altars there must be nothing but Mein Kampf (to the German nation and therefore to God the most sacred book) and to the left of the altar a sword.”30. On the day of its foundation, the Christian Cross must be removed from all churches, cathedrals, and chapels…and it must be superseded by the only unconquerable symbol, the swastika.”¹

Whatever else one might think about these goals, I doubt that there are very many people who would consider these to be part of a program implemented by “Bible believing Christians”. The Nazis, under Hitler’s direction, wanted to stop the printing and spread of the Bible, and to replace it with Mein Kampf. The Nazis wanted to remove the cross and replace it with the swastika, a symbol steeped in Eastern and Hindu mythology. The Nazis wanted to “exterminate irrevocably the foreign Christian faiths imported into Germany in the ill-omened year 800”, probably a reference to the conquest and “Christianisation” of the pagan Saxons by Charlemagne. Indeed, Hitler stated at one point to Bormann concerning his true attitude towards the Christian clergy in Germany,“I’ll make these d***ed parsons feel the power of the state in a way they would have never believed possible. For the moment, I am just keeping my eye upon them: if I ever have the slightest suspicion that they are getting dangerous, I will shoot the lot of them. This filthy reptile raises its head whenever there is a sign of weakness in the State, and therefore it must be stamped on. We have no sort of use for a fairy story invented by the Jews.”²

Further, Hitler also stated,“It would always be disagreeable for me to go down to posterity as a man who made concessions in this field. I realize that man, in his imperfection, can commit innumerable errors — but to devote myself deliberately to errors, that is something I cannot do. I shall never come personally to terms with the Christian lie. Our epoch in the next 200 years will certainly see the end of the disease of Christianity…. My regret will have been that I couldn’t… behold.”³

This information alone is sufficient to completely destroy Mr. Ahmed’s thesis, since it is quite apparent that the Nazis themselves did not consider themselves to be Christians (let alone Bible believing ones!), nor were they interested in acting on Biblical principles. However, let us continue on to address the rest of Mr. Ahmed’s essay.But not only was Hitler a Christian, but he used Christianity to justify the evil he did against Jews and other people. This is very relevant for today’s time, because this is there are lunatics who are Muslim like Osama “Pajama” Bin Laden who use Islam to justify their acts of evil. Here are some excerpts from Adolf Hilter’s book, Mein Kamph (italics are ours):

Note that the key word here is used. More specifically, he used the *name* of Christianity, while he and his party quite openly rejected what Christianity actually taught, as we shall see soon below. Mr. Ahmed seems to be completely unaware that a person can *say* they are one thing while yet *doing* another. Hitler might well have played himself off as a Christian, or his party as an organisation for Christians, in the early years when he was still groping for power and needed every vote he could get. However, we must also note that the measure of what a person is can be seen in the fruit they bear, not the words they say. We note thus, of course, that if a person is a Bible believing Christian, then they will hold a completely contrary attitude towards the Jews than that which was held by the Nazis.“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.” (Romans 10:1)”O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!” (Luke 13:34)”Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.” (Psalm 122:6)”For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.” (Romans 9:3-5)

Paul here even says that he would give himself to be accursed from Christ, if his people Israel could be saved! A Bible believing Christian will demonstrate the same attitude as the Lord Jesus Christ and as Paul His apostle – they will love the Jewish people, pray for their peace, and seek to see them saved and receive eternal life from God through His Messiah. Indeed, one cannot find a single statement in the Scriptures, either Old or New Testament, which commands Christians to hate the Jews. Instead, Christians are commanded to do good unto all men (Galatians 6:10), because God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (II Peter 3:9) and receive eternal life.

Quite the opposite should be said about Islam, however. Contrary to Mr. Ahmed’s claim that “lunatics” are responsible for the violence attributed to Islam, we can quite openly see that the whole history of Muslim theology and jurisprudence is supportive of waging violent jihad against infidels, and that this was supported from both the Qur’an and the ahadith. The fruit borne by those who take the Muslim religious texts seriously has been anti-Semitism in particular, and violence and hatred against “kufrs” (unbelievers) in general.http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv1ch02.html

Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.

This is all somewhat vague…..there is nothing specifically Christian in referring to God as “the Almighty Creator” or as “the Lord”. Indeed, both of these terms for God can be found in the Qur’an, and are general terms which any monotheist would probably be comfortable in attributing to God. Nothing here supports the contention that Hitler was a “Christian” because he wrote this paragraph.http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv1ch11.html:

“Concerning the moral value of Jewish religious instruction, there are today and have been at all times rather exhaustive studies (not by Jews; the drivel of the Jews themselves on the subject is, of course, adapted to its purpose) which make this kind of religion seem positively monstrous according to Aryan conceptions. The best characterization is provided by the product of this religious education, the Jew himself. His life is only of this world, and his spirit is inwardly as alien to true Christianity as his nature two thousand years previous was to the great founder of the new doctrine( he is referring to Jesus Christ). Of course, the latter made no secret of his attitude toward the Jewish people, and when necessary he even took to the whip to drive from the temple of the Lord (John 2:15) this adversary of all humanity, who then as always saw in religion nothing but an instrument for his business existence. In return, Christ was nailed to the cross, while our present-day party Christians debase themselves to begging for Jewish votes at elections and later try to arrange political swindles with atheistic Jewish parties-and this against their own nation.”

Just as the New Testament condemns “being of this world”, or being materialistic, Hilter shows how the Jews are against True Christianity, and Hilter’s Lord, Jesus Christ, made no secret his attitude towards the Jewish People.

My my, it looks like Mr. Ahmed found quite a “gotcha quote” during the course of his studies, does it not? Well, not really.

First, we should note that both Hitler’s statement, and Mr. Ahmed’s argument against Christianity on the basis of that statement, neglect to recognise a very important fact. Jesus Christ was a Jew. That’s the reason for all that “King of the Jews” business in the Gospels. Further, Jesus’ attitude toward the Jewish people is shown in verses such Luke 13:34 above, where He spoke of His desire to protect the Jewish nation (personified as Jerusalem) as a mother hen protects her chicks. Far from indicating a hatred for the Jewish people, the incident in John 2:15 whereby Christ cleansed the temple of the moneychangers shows the zeal of the Lord Christ to maintain the sanctity and purity of the Jews’ temple which was built to God, and in which the poor of the Jewish nation were oppressed by those who exacted usurious rates of exchange for temple offerings.

More to the point, however, is the implied argument that Hitler, because of his claim to be doing so, represented “true Christianity” in his doctrines. Again, we turn to Shirer to note what exactly the Hitlerist regime believed was “true Christianity”,“The party [Kerrl said] stands on the basis of Positive Christianity, and Positive Christianity IS National Socialism…..National Socialism is the doing of God’s will….God’s will reveals itself in German blood….Dr. Zoellner and Count Galen [the Catholic bishop of Meunster] have tried to make clear to me that Christianity consists in faith in Christ as the Son of God. That makes me laugh….No, Christianity is not dependent upon the Apostle’s Creed….True Christianity is represented by the party, and the German people are now called by the party and especially by the Fuehrer to a real Christianity….The Fuehrer is the herald of a new revelation.”⁴

So much for early Christianity being found among all those Jews and Greeks and Romans and spreading outward from there. According to the Nazi regime, “real” Christianity did not appear until the “new revelation” from Hitler. Further, the party rejected the foundational basis of Christianity, which is that salvation comes by faith in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Indeed, this indicates that far from being “Christian”, the Nazi creed was in the spirit of antichrist,“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.” (I John 2:22)

Clearly, the testimony of the Nazi mouthpieces themselves demonstrates the falsity of Mr. Ahmed’s claims. Mr. Ahmed continues with several more rather non-germane quotations from Mein Kampf,http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv2ch01.html:

“To undermine the existence of human culture by exterminating its founders and custodians would be an execrable crime in the eyes of those who believe that the folk-idea lies at the basis of human existence. Whoever would dare to raise a profane hand against that highest image of God (Genesis 1:27)among His creatures would sin against the bountiful Creator of this marvel and would collaborate in the expulsion from Paradise.”

http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv1ch11.html:

“To bring about such a development is, then, nothing else but to sin against the will of the eternal creator. And as a sin this act is rewarded…”

http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv2ch01.html:

“This is also hurriedly patched on to the whole, should there be any space available for it: until finally it is felt that there are good grounds for hoping that the whole normal host of philistines, including their wives, will have their anxieties laid to rest and will beam with satisfaction once again. And so, internally armed with faith in the goodness of God and the impenetrable stupidity of the electorate, the struggle for what is called ‘the reconstruction of the Reich’ can now begin.”

http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv2ch10.html:

“Everybody who has the right kind of feeling for his country is solemnly bound, each within his own denomination, to see to it that he is not constantly talking about the Will of God merely from the lips but that in actual fact he fulfils the Will of God and does not allow God’s handiwork to be debased. For it was by the Will of God that men were made of a certain bodily shape, were given their natures and their faculties. Whoever destroys His work wages war against God’s Creation and God’s Will. Therefore everyone should endeavour, each in his own denomination of course, and should consider it as..”

http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv2ch06.html:

“If these people try to disparage the importance of the spoken word today, they do it only because they realize – God be praised and thanked – how futile all their own speechifying has been.”

Aside from demonstrating for us Mr. Ahmed’s apparent intimate familiarity with the website hitler.org, these quotations do little to actually support his thesis that Hitler was a Bible believing Christian. After all, each of the underlined statements (underlined in Mr. Ahmed’s original text) which have been highlighted for the apparent purpose of showing Hitler’s “Christianity” are again general statements which *any* monotheist of any persuasion would not object to. Indeed, these statements could be said to be Islamic just as easily as they could be said to derive from any “Christianity” on Hitler’s part. This, in fact, would be much more likely considering the ideological affinity and outright collaboration between Nazism and Islam. Please note that the scripture references given in the quotations above are supplied by Mr. Ahmed himself.

Though Hitler was certainly no Muslim, he *did* have an affinity for the Islamic religion, which he compared favourably against the Christianity in Germany. Albert Speer, Hitler’s wartime Minister of Armaments and Munitions, records in his memoirs,“Hitler had been much impressed by a scrap of history he had learned from a delegation of Arabs. When the Mohammedans attempted to penetrate beyond France into Central Europe during the eighth century, his visitors had told him, they had been driven back at the Battle of Tours. Had the Arabs won this battle, the world would be Mohammedan today. For theirs was a religion that believed in spreading the faith by the sword and subjugating all nations to that faith. The Germanic peoples would have become heirs to that religion. Such a creed was perfectly suited to the Germanic temperament. Hitler said that the conquering Arabs, because of their racial inferiority, would in the long run have been unable to contend with the harsher climate and conditions of the country. They could not have kept down the more vigorous natives, so that ultimately not Arabs but Islamized Germans could have stood at the head of this Mohammedan Empire.”Hitler usually concluded this historical speculation by remarking, ‘You see, it’s been our misfortune to have the wrong religion. Why didn’t we have the religion of the Japanese, who regard sacrifice for the Fatherland as the highest good? The Mohammedan religion too would have been much more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness….”⁵

This does not, of course, really amount to any more than idle speculations on Hitler’s part. However, they do show that Hitler saw in Islam something which he found more to his liking than what he saw in Christianity. He was attracted by the penchant for violence that is the most outward manifestation of Islamic theology, and as seen in the link above, there was also the common connexion of Jew-hatred which the Nazi party had with Muslim leaders in the Arab world at that time. Indeed, while Nazi anti-Semitism is quite well known, one point which has not been remarked upon as often is that the Nazi hatred of Christianity also stemmed from anti-Semitic roots, due to the belief on the part of Hitler than Christianity (and its “child” Bolshevism) was the result of a deliberate conspiracy on the part of the Jews,“National Socialism and religion cannot exist together….The heaviest blow that ever struck humanity was the coming of Christianity. Bolshevism is Christianity’s illegitimate child. Both are inventions of the Jew. The deliberate lie in the matter of religion was introduced into the world by Christianity….Let it not be said that Christianity brought man the life of the soul, for that evolution was in the natural order of things.”⁶

Hitler likewise iterated this belief later in that same year,“Originally, Christianity was merely an incarnation of Bolshevism, the destroyer…. The decisive falsification of Jesus’ doctrine was the work of St.Paul. He gave himself to this work… for the purposes of personal exploitation…. Didn’t the world see, carried on right into the Middle Ages, the same old system of martyrs, tortures, faggots? Of old, it was in the name of Christianity. Today, it’s in the name of Bolshevism. Yesterday the instigator was Saul: the instigator today, Mardochai. Saul was changed into St.Paul, and Mardochai into Karl Marx. By exterminating this pest, we shall do humanity a service of which our soldiers can have no idea.”⁷

As such, the facts hardly bode well for one who wishes to pin the “Christian” label onto Adolf Hitler. His own words, spoken in private and thus without the necessity of assuaging the feelings and beliefs of the masses of the common people, demonstrate his hatred for Christianity. Hence, while Mr. Ahmed may try to snow his readers into believing that a few indeterminately theistic statements in Hitler’s book “proves” that he was a Christian, the words recorded⁸ from Hitler’s own mouth speak to the contrary.But, the real question is, did Adolph Hitler preach a perverted form of Christianity? The answer will shock you.

Likely it will not, considering we have already seen that the “Christianity” espoused by the Nazi regime not only bears no resemblance to orthodox, Bible-based Christianity, but indeed was *openly hostile* to true faith in Christ. However, as if what we have already seen was not enough, Shirer provides yet more details,“On November 13, 1933, the day after the German people had overwhelmingly backed Hitler in a national plebiscite, the ‘German Christians’ [Ed. note – these were the “blood, soil, and folk” people who went on to establish the “Reich Church” mentioned above] staged a massive rally in the Sportspalast in Berlin. A Dr. Reinhard Krause, the Berlin district leader of the sect, proposed the abandonment of the Old Testament, ‘with its tales of cattle merchants and pimps’ and the revision of the New Testament with the teaching of Jesus ‘corresponding entirely with the demands of National Socialism.’ Resolutions were drawn up demanding ‘One People, One Reich, One Faith,’ requiring all pastors to take an oath of allegiance to Hitler and insisting that all churches institute the Aryan paragraph and exclude converted Jews….”⁹

Now, the question is “did Hitler preach a perverted form of Christianity?” Obviously, if the Nazi “Reich Church” people, acting at the direction of Nazi leadership (whose fountainhead of thought was Hitler himself, and his book), felt it necessary to *revise* the New Testament to bring the teachings of Jesus Christ into line with the precepts of National Socialism, then yes, Hitler preached a perverted form of Christianity. Christianity existed before National Socialism, and National Socialism felt it necessary to *change* the teachings of Christianity to fit the “new order”. Further, the whole basis of the New Testament, and thus New Testament Christianity, is the Old Testament. The removal of the Old Testament would cast New Testament Christianity adrift without the anchor of two-thirds of God’s Word. So, thus again, we see that the Nazis sought to pervert Christianity and remove it from its Scriptural foundations. Even more so, we see that the demand for churches to exclude converted Jews on the basis of their race is completely unbiblical,“For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26-28)

When a person gets saved, all the worldly differences that the natural man looks to and uses to divide people from each other disappear. In Christ, there is no spiritual difference in God’s eyes whether a person is a Jew or Gentile by birth, a servant or a freeman, a man or a woman. All who are in Christ are the children of God by faith, and have equally a share in the inheritance of the saints of light.First, it is important to state that Jews do not believe in Jesus Christ. Rather, they believe that he was a false Messiah, or a liar. This is what the Bible states about those who do not accept Jesus:

John 8:

8:42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded and came forth from God; I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.

8:43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.

8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

The Bible makes it very clear, that if you don’t love Jesus, your God is the devil. Therefore, the Jews worship the Devil and are evil. This of course, does not apply to Muslims, because Muslims believe in and love Jesus Christ. But at the same time, we don’t believe that the Bible is an accurate record of Jesus Christ, as it has been changed and altered. Therefore, I don’t believe the Jews are “evil” and worship the devil, I personally think that is crazy, but this is what the Bible clearly teaches. I find it amazing, that all this talk about the Mel Gibson movie, Passion, yet, not a single Christian to my knowledge honestly stated what the Bible really teaches about Jews!

Perhaps the reason Mr. Ahmed has yet to hear a Christian “honestly” state what the Bible “really” teaches about the Jews (i.e. what Mr. Ahmed *wants* to hear) is because Mr. Ahmed has completely miscomprehended what the passage he quoted is saying. Mr. Ahmed is playing a little game known as “proof-texting”, whereby a person will pull a verse or two completely out of context and use it to argue a point which is totally contrary to the testimony of the rest of Scripture. This he has done here, as well as simply misrepresenting what the passages says in its simple reading.

Note first that, in context, the Jews being spoken of in this passage are identified earlier in the narrative (v. 13) as “Pharisees”. In other words, Jesus was not haranguing all Jews or making a general statement against the Jewish people. He was, rather, disputing with a single group of religious leaders who were firmly opposed to His ministry, and were not above using slurs and threats of physical violence against Him to try to silence His preaching (as happens in this very chapter).

Further, let us note that nowhere in the passage does it say that those who do not believe in Jesus as their Saviour “worship the devil”. Nor does it say that “Jews are evil”. Rather, Jesus draws on the allusion of spiritual kinship. That those who trust in the Lord and believe His Word are called the children of God is a common enough artifice, in both the Old and New Testament (Gen. 6:2, Hos. 1:10, Mal. 2:10, Rom. 8:14, I John 3:2). As the counterpoint to this, those who choose not to believe God’s Word, which Jesus was bringing to these Pharisees, are those who believe a lie, and thus are in the same spiritual position as the devil, who has rejected and disbelieved God’s Word. Indeed, Jesus Himself states this explicitly just a few verses afterwards,“He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” (John 8:47)

This passage is not saying that a person who does not follow Jesus “worships the devil” or has the “devil as their god”. Rather, it is an expression of spiritual affinity – if one chooses to disbelieve God’s Word, that puts him into the devil’s camp, even though that person may very well not even believe in the devil, much less “worship” him.

Mr. Ahmed engages in a little unsubstantiated special pleading when he tries to extricate Islam from the position of being condemned as following the devil’s lies which Jesus’ words put it into. Further, he brings up the typical Muslim saw about the Bible being “changed and altered”. Of course, the fact that the preservation of the Bible is well-attested factually is lost on Muslims who do not bother to investigate the matter beyond the repetitious assertions of their imams and mullahs. Indeed, though Muslims make the claim, I have never yet seen a Muslim provide any sort of evidence to substantiate the claim, such as to show who corrupted the Bible, when was it corrupted, how was it corrupted, and most importantly, the *evidence* backing up these. Indeed, the uniform testimony of every source of evidence, from ancient manuscript to patristic quotation to manuscripts from the Dead Sea Scrolls to the recent discovery of a fragment of Numbers dating to the 7th century BC, shows that the Bible, both Old Testament and New, has remained the same in its substance and reading. Individual manuscripts may vary slightly, but the sum total of manuscripts and other evidences yield at every point, through the systematic application of sound textual criticism, the readings originally contained in the autographs. Muslims have produced no evidence, beyond Quranic assertions, to counter this. The Qur’an, on the other hand, cannot factually make this same claim.Now, let us see what is the Bible’s prescription for “evil” people:

1 Samuel 15

15:3 Now go and smite Am’alek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

Here we see that the Bible openly prescribes genocide! And that is exactly what Hilter did. How is it ‘ok’ to exterminate Am’alek but it is wrong to exterminate Satan worshiping Jews? Therefore, all Hitler did, was take the teachings of the Bible, and logically worked them through. I pose the question to the Christians, how can you condemn Hitler, when your Bible openly condemns Jews as “evil”, and endorses genocide? But thank God, a person like Hilter according to Islam, would be clearly frying in hell, as Islam condemns all forms of terror, please click here.

A few things bear noting here. First, we should note that Mr. Ahmed’s statement here is actually a non-sequitur, since the situation encountered by the Israelites in I Samuel vis-a-vis the Amalekites is vastly different from the situation of the Germans and the Jews during the Nazi period.

The Amalekites had a long history of unprovoked attacks upon Israel. They attacked the Israelites as they were escaping from Egypt, at a time when the Israelites would have been facing rather serious organisational and logistical difficulties (i.e. taking advantage of Israel in a moment of serious weakness). They then made another direct attack on Israel soon after, again unprovoked. The Amalekites continued to oppress Israel at several points throughout the period of the Judges. Finally, their escalating violence against Israel led to even more atrocities committed *against* Israel (before slaying Agag, Samuel mentions in verse 15:33 that the swords of the Amalekites had “made women childless”, indicating devastation committed with enough violence to wipe out whole families). The judgment placed upon the Amalekites by God was most certainly not unprovoked, and indeed was righteously placed because of the Amalekites refusal to repent of their wickedness towards God’s people, and indeed, their *increased* efforts to destroy the people of God as time went on. The Amalekites had a period of 300-400 years in which God showed mercy to them in withholding judgment, but rather than turning from their ways, they actually grew *worse* in their rebellion against God’s authority and promises. Glenn Miller provides a very detailed exposition of this situation, and why this incident cannot rightly be used as a basis for attacking the Bible.

The situation in Nazi Germany, of course, was far different. There, a group of people who had committed no crime against the people of Germany, and who in fact greatly contributed to German society (Many scientists, artists, bankers, musicians, writers, and intellectuals in the Germany of the time were Jewish) were rounded up for industrialised extermination. There was no provocation from the Jews. There were no centuries of repeated attempts to oppress and wipe out the German people. There was no violence committed by the Jews against the Germans, no destruction of crops, no pillaging of wealth and the fruits of labour. The Nazi extermination of the Jews was unprovoked, unheralded, and undeserved.

Mr. Ahmed’s attempt to link a very *special case* of God’s judgment in the Old Testament with the unprovoked systematic murder of innocent civilians (note, the Amalekites, by their repeated deeds, were hardly “innocent”) is completely ridiculous. It only shows both his ignorance of the contextual circumstances in the Bible and his ignorance of the historical facts of the Nazi holocaust against the Jews. Further, it also shows his hypocrisy, since if he wants to complain about “genocide” in the Bible, he must also face the fact of genocide (indeed, complete annihilation) depicted in his own Qur’an, which is amply shown in Surah 69:6-8, where it is related to us that the ‘Ad people (a pre-Islamic Arabian tribe) were completely destroyed (“Then seest thou any of them left surviving?” – ayah 8) by a judgmental act of Allah. Here, we do not just see a command to punish a people who had committed repeated murderous and unprovoked attacks upon their neighbour. We see the complete annihilation, presumably of every last man, woman, and child, of the ‘Ad tribe. The reason given in ayah 4 is simply that they had disbelieved in coming judgment. Thus, if Mr. Ahmed wants to complain about an act in I Samuel which came after several centuries of longsuffering and patient bearing of violence from the Amalekites, then surely he will also want to take issue with Allah’s much-less-provoked genocide against the ‘Ad people.

Another error in Mr. Ahmed’s reason is that the Bible in I Samuel 15 is not “prescribing” anything. The command is specifically given to one Israelite king (Saul) for one particular instance. Nothing in the context of this passage suggests this course of action as a determinate or programmatic means of conducting the Lord’s business, especially for believers under the church age dispensation. Indeed, just the opposite is seen in Scripture. The Lord prefers mercy to judgment (Lam. 3:33,Ezek. 18:23, II Peter 3:9), though if mercy is rejected, then He will resort to judgment. What Mr. Ahmed has essentially done is proof-text, pulling a verse which (when taken out of its textual and cultural context) he thinks will help him to score some cheap points against the Bible.

Lastly, it should be obvious to the reader who has noted Hitler’s own statements, and those of his often-times more impertinent subordinates, that whatever their impetus for the attempt at genocide against the Jews might have been, the Bible certainly was not it. What we see Mr. Ahmed doing is simply compounding his non-sequitur by drawing two points and trying to get his readers to assume that there is a line which can be drawn between them. However, he has completely failed to demonstrate any causal connexion between the judgment of God upon the Amalekites in I Samuel 15 and the Nazi assaults on the Jews in the Third Reich. Considering the attitudes of the Nazis towards the Bible noted previously, this would seem to be a line which cannot logically be drawn.

In summation, it ought to be amply obvious that Mr. Ahmed’s contentions in his essay are completely baseless. Indeed, far from being being supported by history and facts, Mr. Ahmed’s arguments are stunningly refuted by the evidences of first-hand observers to the Nazi regime. Further, his attempt at arguments based upon Biblical statements are easily seen through and demonstrably illegitimate when taken in the context of the full body of God’s Word.

End Notes

(1) – W.L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, p. 240
(2) – quoted from Hitler’s ‘Table Talks’ in A. Bullock, Hitler: A Study in Tyranny
(3) – Hitler quoted on 27 February 1942, in H.R. Trevor-Roper, Hitler’s Secret Conversations 1941-1944, p.278
(4) – W.L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, p. 239; quoting a report by S.W. Herman, Jr. in It’s Your Souls We Want, pp. 157-158
(5) – A. Speer, Inside the Third Reich, pp. 142-143
(6) – Hitler quoted on 11 July 1941, in H.R. Trevor-Roper, Hitler’s Secret Conversations 1941-1944, pp. 6-7
(7) – Hitler quoted on 21 October 1941, in H.R. Trevor-Roper, Hitler’s Secret Conversations 1941-1944, pp. 63-65
(8) – Hitler’s words were literally recorded. Between 1941 and 1944, Borman ordered that Hitler’s conversations in the headquarters of government be taped secretly.
(9) – W.L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, p. 237

REFUTING ANOTHER ANTI-TRINITARIAN RUSE

There are anti-Trinitarian cults that interpret the following words of the Lord as a denial of his being Jehovah by his very nature:

“I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, watch over them on account of your own name, which you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them, I used to watch over them on account of your own name, which you have given me; and I have protected them, and not one of them is destroyed except the son of destruction, so that the scripture might be fulfilled.” John 17:11-12

These groups understand Jesus to be speaking of God’s covenantal name, represented by four Hebrew consonants which are typically referred to as the Tetragrammaton, namely, Yod-Heh-Vav/Waw-He (YHVH/YHWH).   

The Tetragrammaton is variously rendered in English as either Jehovah or Yahweh, as we find in the following translations:

“Then God said once more to Moses: ‘This is what you are to say to the Israelites, “Jehovah the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.” This is my name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered from generation to generation.’” Exodus 3:15

“Again Elohim said to Moses, “This is what you must say to the people of Israel: Yahweh Elohim of your ancestors, the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever. This is my title throughout every generation.” Names of God Bible (NOG)

“Then God said to Moses: ‘I am Jehovah. And I used to appear to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but with regard to my name Jehovah I did not make myself known to them.’” Exodus 6:2-3

“Elohim spoke to Moses, ‘I am Yahweh. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shadday, but I didn’t make myself known to them by my name, Yahweh.’” NOG

It is argued that since Christ claims that this name that belongs uniquely to the Father was given to him this implies that he didn’t always possesses it. And since he hasn’t always had the divine name this then proves that he cannot be Jehovah by his nature. Rather, the Father granted the Son the status and honor of Jehovah without this making Christ Jehovah ontologically, i.e., Jesus is not and has not become Jehovah as to his very Being and essence.  

In this post I will primarily be using the 2013 edition of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition) to demonstrate that the God-breathed Scriptures proclaim that Jesus has eternally existed as the one true God, and has therefore always been Jehovah by his very nature. I will then establish from this divinely revealed fact that this is a misreading of John 17:11-12 since Jesus has always possessed the very name, e.g., the essence, characteristics, honor, glory, etc., of Jehovah.  

THE ETERNAL CREATOR AND SUSTAINER OF ALL CREATION

The Holy Scriptures teach that the prehuman Christ was the Word who was there with God from before the beginning of creation, and who was existing as God:  

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was theos.” John 1:1 

I left the Greek word for God untranslated since the NWT decided to render it as “a god,” signifying the belief of [J]ehovah’s [W]itnesses’ that Jesus is a secondary, inferior, created divinity. This translation is not possible since the inspired author goes on to describe Jesus as having produced all creation from nothing and who gives creation its very life, being the true Light that grants enlightenment to a world that is plunged into darkness:

“This one was in the beginning with God. ALL THINGS came into existence through him, and apart from him NOT EVEN ONE THING came into existence. What has come into existence by means of him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light is shining in the darkness, but the darkness has not overpowered it… The true light that gives light to every sort of man was about to come into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into existence through him, but the world did not know him… So the Word became flesh and resided among us, and we had a view of his glory, a glory such as belongs to an only-begotten son from a father; and he was full of divine favor and truth.” John 1:2-5, 9-10, 14

Christ himself affirms that he is the Light and Life that grants believers immortality and who is the very One that raises all the dead at the last day to judge them:  

“For just as the Father raises the dead up and makes them alive, so the Son also makes alive whomever he wants to… Most truly I say to you, the hour is coming, and it is now, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who have paid attention will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted also to the Son to have life in himself… Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his [the Son’s] voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, and those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.” John 5:21, 25-29

“‘All those whom the Father gives me will come to me, and I will never drive away the one who comes to me; for I have come down from heaven to do, not my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose none out of all those whom he has given me, but that I should resurrect them on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who recognizes the Son and exercises faith in him should have everlasting life, and I will resurrect him on the last day.’ Then the Jews began to murmur about him because he had said: ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’And they began saying: ‘Is this not Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ In response Jesus said to them: ‘Stop murmuring among yourselves. No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him, and I will resurrect him on the last day.’… So Jesus said to them: ‘Most truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has everlasting life, and I will resurrect him on the last day;’” John 6:37-44, 53-54

“Then Jesus spoke again to them, saying: ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will by no means walk in darkness, but will possess the light of life.’” John 8:12

“We must do the works of the One who sent me while it is day; the night is coming when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the world’s light.” John 9:4-5

“Jesus said to her: ‘Your brother will rise.’ Martha said to him: ‘I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.’  Jesus said to her: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who exercises faith in me, even though he dies, will come to life; and everyone who is living and exercises faith in me will never die at all. Do you believe this?’ She said to him: ‘Yes, Lord, I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’” John 11:23-27

“So Jesus said to them: ‘The light will be among you a little while longer. Walk while you still have the light, so that darkness does not overpower you; whoever walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, exercise faith in the light, so that you may become sons of light.’ Jesus said these things and went off and hid from them… However, Jesus called out and said: ‘Whoever puts faith in me puts faith not only in me but also in him who sent me; and whoever sees me sees also the One who sent me. I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone putting faith in me may not remain in the darkness.’” John 12:35-36, 44-46

“Jesus said to him: ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” John 14:6

John’s Gospel isn’t the only inspired writing that describes Jesus as the ternal Creator and Sustainer of all creation. Note what some of the inspired [N]ew [T]estament documents state:

“who delivered you out of the jurisdiction of darkness and transferred you into the kingdom of the Son of his love, in whom we have redemption, the pardon of sins,—Who is image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation,  because IN HIM everything was created in the heavens and on earth, the visible and the invisible, be it thrones or lordships or governments or dominions—everything has been created THROUGH HIM and to come to him, and before everything HE IS, and IN HIM everything holds together. And he is the head of the body, the church, he who is the beginning, the firstborn out of the dead, in order that he may take the first place in every respect,” Colossians 1:13-18 The Bible in Living English (BYINGTON)

“has at the end of these days spoken to us by means of a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the systems of things. He is the reflection of [his] glory and the EXACT REPRESENTATION (charakter) of his very being, and he sustains all things by the word of his power; and after he had made a purification for our sins he sat down on the right hand of the majesty in lofty places… But when he again brings his First-born into the inhabited earth, he says: ‘And let ALL God’s angels worship to him.’” Hebrews 1:2-3, 6 (New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures Rendered from the Original Languages by the NEW WORLD BIBLE TRANSLATION COMMITTEE – Revised A. D. 1961)

Not only is the Son said to be the Agent of creation who is actively preserving all things by his powerful word, he is even described as being the EXACT imprint/representation/copy of God’s infinite, uncreated essence. This would be an impossibility if Jesus were a mere creature since no created being is the exact duplicate of God’s uncreated essence. After all, God by his very nature is infinite, beginningless, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, everything that a finite, temporal creature is not and cannot become.  

And this is precisely what the God-breathed Scriptures proclaim, namely, there is nothing in creation that is equal to Jehovah, and there is absolutely no heavenly being who is exactly like the true God and can do the works that the true God Jehovah does in the same manner that Jehovah does them:

“There is none like you among the gods, O Jehovah, There are no works like yours. All the nations that you made Will come and bow down before you, O Jehovah, And they will give glory to your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; You are God, you alone.” Psalm 86:8-10

“The heavens praise your marvels, O Jehovah, Yes, your faithfulness in the congregation of the holy ones. For who in the skies can compare to Jehovah? Who among the sons of God is like Jehovah? God is held in awe in the council of holy ones; He is grand and awe-inspiring to all who are around him. O Jehovah God of armies, Who is mighty like you, O Jah? Your faithfulness surrounds you.” Psalm 89:5-8

The foregoing poses a problem for JWs and other anti-Trinitarian cults.

The [O]ld [T]estament emphasizes the fact that Jehovah alone created and preserves all creation, and that he is the light that illuminates mankind:

“You ALONE are Jehovah; you made the heavens, yes, the heaven of the heavens and all their army, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. And you preserve all of them alive, and the army of the heavens are bowing down to you.” Nehemiah 9:6

“He spreads out the heavens by himself, And he treads upon the high waves of the sea.” Job 9:8

“With you is the source of life; By your light we can see light.” Psalm 36:9

“This is what Jehovah says, your Repurchaser, Who formed you since you were in the womb: ‘I am Jehovah, who made everything. I stretched out the heavens by myself, And I spread out the earth. Who was with me?” Isaiah 44:24

Therefore, since neither Trinitarians or anti-Trinitarian cult groups believe that the NT contradicts the OT writings, this means that the only way to harmonize the inspired witness of the Holy bible is to affirm that this one true God who alone created all things,

“and should make everyone see the administration of the sacred secret that has been hidden through the ages in God, who created all things.” Ephesians 3:9

“You are worthy, Jehovah our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they came into existence and were created.” Revelation 4:11

Having created mankind all by himself,

“This is a history of the heavens and the earth in the time they were created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven. No bush of the field was yet on the earth and no vegetation of the field had begun sprouting, because Jehovah God had not made it rain on the earth and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a mist would go up from the earth, and it watered the entire surface of the ground. And Jehovah God went on to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living person.” Genesis 2:4-7

 Is not a singular Person or Hypostasis, but eternally exists as a multi-Personal Being:

“Then God said: ‘Let US make man in OUR image, according to OUR likeness, and let them have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and the domestic animals and all the earth and every creeping animal that is moving on the earth.’ And God went on to create the man in HIS image, in GOD’S IMAGE HE created him; male and female HE created them.” Genesis 1:26-27

Ironically, even anti-Trinitarians like the JWs acknowledge that the Father was speaking to his Son here, proving that the Son is just as much responsible for the creation of all things, and is therefore just as much the Creator and Life-giver as the Father is!

4. Who are meant by “us” in his words, “Who will go for us”? Why?

4 Jehovah links someone else up with him at the temple when he adds: “And who will go for us?” The pronoun “us” here includes the same ones as are meant when God spoke at creation and said: “Let us make man.” Also: “The man is become as one of us.” And at Babel: “Let us go down, and there confound their language.” (Gen. 1:26; 3:22; 11:7) So by the plural pronoun “us” Jehovah was meaning, not himself and the seraphim at the temple, but himself and his only-begotten Son who became the man Christ Jesus and by whom He had created all things. Hence the glory which Isaiah saw at the temple represented primarily the glory of Jehovah and secondarily that of his Son. This glory the Son shows forth when Jehovah sends him as His “messenger of the covenant” to the temple for judgment work. As it is written: “The Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye desire, behold, he cometh, saith Jehovah of hosts. And he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer unto Jehovah offerings in righteousness.” (Mal. 3:1, 3, AS) At his glorious coming to the temple in 1918 he took up the work of judging and cleansing his devoted remnant upon the earth, that these might go for him and for Jehovah with the “pure language”. (Commissioning of Witnesses in the Time of the End, “The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom”—1951, p. 215 https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1951243; bold emphasis mine)

13. What question does Jehovah propound, and whom does he include when he says “us”?

¹³ Let us listen with Isaiah. “I began to hear the voice of Jehovah saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I proceeded to say: ‘Here I am! Send me.’”(Isaiah 6:8) The question propounded by Jehovah is clearly designed to elicit a response from Isaiah, as no other human prophet appears in the vision. It is unmistakably an invitation for Isaiah to be Jehovah’s messenger. But why does Jehovah ask, “Who will go for us?” By switching from the singular personal pronoun “I” to the plural pronoun “us,” Jehovah now includes at least one other person with himself. Who? Was this not his only-begotten Son, who later became the man Jesus Christ? Indeed, it was this same Son to whom God said, “Let us make man in our image.” (Genesis 1:26; Proverbs 8:30, 31) Yes, alongside Jehovah in the heavenly courts is his only-begotten Son.​—John 1:14. (Isaiah’s Prophecy–Light for All Mankind 1, 8 Jehovah God is in His Temple, pp. 93-94 https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1102000028; bold emphasis mine)

As “Wisdom” in his prehuman existence, Jesus goes on to say that he was “by his [God’s] side, a master craftsman.” (Proverbs 8:30, JB) In harmony with this role as master craftsman, Colossians 1:16 says of Jesus that “through him God created everything in heaven and on earth.”—Today’s English Version (TEV).

So it was by means of this master worker, his junior partner, as it were, that Almighty God created all other things. The Bible summarizes the matter this way: “For us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things . . . and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things.” (Italics ours.)—1 Corinthians 8:6, RS, Catholic edition.

It no doubt was to this master craftsman that God said: “Let us make man in our image.” (Genesis 1:26) Some have claimed that the “us” and “our” in this expression indicate a Trinity. But if you were to say, ‘Let us make something for ourselves,’ no one would normally understand this to imply that several persons are combined as one inside of you. You simply mean that two or more individuals will work together on something. So, too, when God used “us” and “our,” he was simply addressing another individual, his first spirit creation, the master craftsman, the prehuman Jesus. (Should You Believe in the Trinity?, What Does the Bible Say About God and Jesus?, p. 15 https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1101989304; bold emphasis mine)

Jehovah’s first creation was his “only-begotten Son” (Joh 3:16), “the beginning of the creation by God.” (Re 3:14) This one, “the firstborn of all creation,” was used by Jehovah in creating all other things, those in the heavens and those upon the earth, “the things visible and the things invisible.” (Col 1:15-17) John’s inspired testimony concerning this Son, the Word, is that “all things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence,” and the apostle identifies the Word as Jesus Christ, who had become flesh. (Joh 1:1-4, 10, 14, 17) As wisdom personified, this One is represented as saying, “Jehovah himself produced me as the beginning of his way,” and he tells of his association with God the Creator as Jehovah’s “master worker.” (Pr 8:12, 22-31) In view of the close association of Jehovah and his only-begotten Son in creative activity and because that Son is “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15; 2Co 4:4), it was evidently to His only-begotten Son and master worker that Jehovah spoke in saying, “Let us make man in our image.”​—Ge 1:26.

After creating his only-begotten Son, Jehovah used him in bringing the heavenly angels into existence. This preceded the founding of the earth, as Jehovah revealed when questioning Job and asking him: “Where did you happen to be when I founded the earth . . . when the morning stars joyfully cried out together, and all the sons of God began shouting in applause?” (Job 38:4-7) It was after the creation of these heavenly spirit creatures that the material heavens and earth and all elements were made, or brought into existence. And, since Jehovah is the one primarily responsible for all this creative work, it is ascribed to him.​—Ne 9:6; Ps 136:1, 5-9. (Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 1, p. 527 https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200001061#h=8; bold emphasis mine)

Finally:

If the estimates of modern-day scientists as to the age of the physical universe are anywhere near correct, Jesus’ existence as a spirit creature began thousands of millions of years prior to the creation of the first human. (Compare Mic 5:2.) This firstborn spirit Son was used by his Father in the creation of all other things. (Joh 1:3; Col 1:16, 17) This would include the millions of other spirit sons of Jehovah God’s heavenly family (Da 7:9, 10; Re 5:11), as well as the physical universe and the creatures originally produced within it. Logically, it was to this firstborn Son that Jehovah said: “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.” (Ge 1:26) All these other created things were not only created “through him” but also “for him,” as God’s Firstborn and the “heir of all things.”​—Col 1:16; Heb 1:2…

Doubtless on many occasions during his prehuman existence as the Word, Jesus acted as Jehovah’s Spokesman to persons on earth. While certain texts refer to Jehovah as though directly speaking to humans, other texts make clear that he did so through an angelic representative. (Compare Ex 3:2-4 with Acts 7:30, 35; also Ge 16:7-11, 13, 22:1, 11, 12, 15-18.) Reasonably, in the majority of such cases God spoke through the Word. He likely did so in Eden, for on two of the three occasions where mention is made of God’s speaking there, the record specifically shows someone with Him, undoubtedly his Son. (Ge 1:26-30; 2:16, 17; 3:8-19, 22) The angel who guided Israel through the wilderness and whose voice the Israelites were strictly to obey because “Jehovah’s name was within him,” may therefore have been God’s Son, the Word.- Ex 23:20-23; compare Jos 5:13-15. (Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 2, p. 57 https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200002451; bold emphasis mine)

And here is what one prominent and leading Arian cultist wrote in respect to Gen. 1:26:

“God was addressing the Word when He said: ‘Let Us make in Our image.’ (Genesis 1:1, 26)” (Greg Stafford, Jehovah’s Witnesses Defended: An Answer to Scholars and Critics [Huntington Beach, CA; Elihu Books 1998, first edition], p. 165 http://elihubooks.com/content/books_media.php)

The above explains why the epistle to Hebrews has the Father attributing the following description of Jehovah as the immutable Creator and Sustainer of all creation,

“A prayer of the oppressed one when he is in despair and pours out his concern before Jehovah. O Jehovah, hear my prayer; Let my cry for help reach you… But you remain forever, O Jehovah, And your fame will endure for all generations… Long ago you laid the foundations of the earth, And the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; Just like a garment they will all wear out. Just like clothing you will replace them, and they will pass away But you are the same, and your years will never end.” Psalm 102:1, 12, 25-27

To his beloved and glorious Son!

“But about the Son, he says: “God is your throne forever and ever, and the scepter of your Kingdom is the scepter of uprightness… And: ‘At the beginning, O Lord [the Son], YOU laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the works of YOUR hands. They will perish, but YOU will remain; and just like a garment, they will all wear out, and YOU will wrap them up just as a cloak, as a garment, and they will be changed. But YOU are the same, and YOUR years will never come to an end.’” Hebrews 1:8, 10-12

And since the Father himself identifies Jesus as that one eternal, unchangeable Creator and Sustainer of all things, this helps us appreciate why every created being in all of creation worships and glorifies the Son in the exact same manner that they worship the Father:   

“When he took the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, and each one had a harp and golden bowls that were full of incense. (The incense means the prayers of the holy ones.) And they sing a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, for you were slaughtered and with your blood you bought people for God out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,and you made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth.’ And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, and they were saying with a loud voice: ‘The Lamb who was slaughtered is worthy to receive the power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.’ And I heard EVERY CREATURE in heaven and on earth and underneath the earth and on the sea, AND ALL THE THINGS IN THEM, saying: ‘To the One sitting on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing and the honor and the glory and the might forever and ever.’ The four living creatures were saying: ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshipped.” Revelation 5:8-14

The fact that Jesus is distinguished from every created thing in the entire creation proves that the Son is no mere creature. Rather, like the Father he is the uncreated, eternal God who is worthy of receiving the exact same honor that his Father receives since he is equal to him in essence, glory and majesty.

And since Jesus has eternally existed as this one true God in union with the Father and the Holy Spirit, this means he has always been Jehovah by his very nature.

With the foregoing in perspective, I shall have more to say about the name given to Jesus in the next segment of my discussion: HAS JESUS ALWAYS BEEN JEHOVAH GOD? PT. 2.

FURTHER READING

JEHOVAH GOD: OUR PLURAL CREATOR AND SUSTAINER

Anti-Trinitarians agree that the reason why God in the OT referred to Himself in the plural is because He was speaking with his Divine Son!

DISMANTLING ANOTHER ANTI-TRINITARIAN SMOKESCREEN

In this post I intend to refute a typical claim by anti-Trinitarians that all throughout the Hebrew Bible there are angelic creatures, which are identified as Jehovah due to their being God’s authorized emissaries.

The assertion is made that a created angel whom Jehovah sends to speak on his behalf can refer to himself as Jehovah God. This is not because the spirit creature is Jehovah, but because he has been authorized to speak on behalf of Jehovah.  

I will prove that this is not what the inspired Scriptures teach since it is not a group of angelic creatures that speak as Jehovah God, but rather it is one unique Messenger that does so. And the reason why he does is because that particular Angel is not a spirit creature but the eternal Word and Son of God in his prehuman existence.

Unless indicated otherwise, I will be employing the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition).

CREATED ANGELS ARE NOT IDENTIFIED AS JEHOVAH

In the proceeding examples, the readers will see that not a single angelic creature identifies himself as Jehovah God, nor do the people who behold these created spokespersons describe them as such. Rather, they are either referred to by their own names or are clearly distinguished from the God whom they represent:

“While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and seeking to understand it, suddenly I saw standing in front of me someone who appeared to be a man. Then I heard the voice of a man in the midst of the Uʹlai, and he called out: ‘Gaʹbri·el, make that one understand what he saw.’ So he came near to where I was standing, but when he came I was so terrified that I fell facedown. He said to me: ‘Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end.’ But while he was speaking with me, I fell fast asleep with my face to the ground. So he touched me and made me stand up where I had been standing. Then he said: ‘Here I am causing you to know what will happen in the final part of the denunciation, because it is for the appointed time of the end.’” Daniel 8:15-19

“While I was still speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request for favor before Jehovah my God concerning the holy mountain of my God, yes, while I was yet speaking in prayer, the man Gaʹbri·el, whom I had previously seen in the vision, came to me when I was extremely weary at about the time of the evening gift offering. And he gave me understanding, saying: ‘O Daniel, now I have come to give you insight and understanding. When you began your entreaty the word went out, and I have come to report it to you, because you are someone very precious. So consider the matter and understand the vision. There are 70 weeks that have been determined for your people and your holy city, in order to terminate the transgression, to finish off sin, to make atonement for error, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and the prophecy, and to anoint the Holy of Holies.’” Daniel 9:20-24

“Now as he was serving as priest in the assignment of his division before God, according to the established practice of the priesthood it became his turn to offer incense when he entered into the sanctuary of Jehovah. And the entire multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of offering incense. Jehovah’s angel appeared to him, standing at the right side of the incense altar. But Zech·a·riʹah became troubled at the sight, and he was overcome with fear. However, the angel said to him: ‘Do not be afraid, Zech·a·riʹah, because your supplication has been favorably heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to name him John. You will have joy and great gladness, and many will rejoice over his birth, for he will be great in the sight of Jehovah. But he must drink no wine or any alcoholic drink at all, and he will be filled with holy spirit even from before birth, and he will turn back many of the sons of Israel to Jehovah their God. Also, he will go ahead of him with E·liʹjah’s spirit and power, to turn back the hearts of fathers to children and the disobedient ones to the practical wisdom of righteous ones, in order to get ready for Jehovah a prepared people.’ Zech·a·riʹah said to the angel: ‘How can I be sure of this? For I am old, and my wife is well along in years.’ In reply the angel said to him: ‘I am Gaʹbri·el, who stands near before God, and I was sent to speak with you and to declare this good news to you. But look! you will be silent and unable to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their appointed time.’” Luke 1:8-20

“In her sixth month, the angel Gaʹbri·el was sent from God to a city of Galʹi·lee named Nazʹa·reth, to a virgin promised in marriage to a man named Joseph of David’s house, and the name of the virgin was Mary. And coming in, the angel said to her: ‘Greetings, you highly favored one, Jehovah is with you.’ But she was deeply disturbed at his words and tried to understand what kind of greeting this might be. So the angel said to her: ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And look! you will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus. This one will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and Jehovah God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule as King over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end to his Kingdom.’ But Mary said to the angel: ‘How is this to be, since I am not having sexual relations with a man?’ In answer the angel said to her: ‘Holy spirit will come upon you, and power of the Most High will overshadow you. And for that reason the one who is born will be called holy, God’s Son. And look! Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son, in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her, the so-called barren woman; for no declaration will be impossible for God.’ Then Mary said: ‘Look! Jehovah’s slave girl! May it happen to me according to your declaration.” At that the angel departed from her.’” Luke 1:26-37

“There were also in the same region shepherds living out of doors and keeping watch in the night over their flocks. Suddenly Jehovah’s angel stood before them, and Jehovah’s glory gleamed around them, and they became very fearful. But the angel said to them: ‘Do not be afraid, for look! I am declaring to you good news of a great joy that all the people will have. For today there was born to you in David’s city a savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this is a sign for you: You will find an infant wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.’ Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God and saying: ‘Glory in the heights above to God, and on earth peace among men of goodwill.’ So when the angels had departed from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another: ‘Let us by all means go over to Bethʹle·hem and see what has taken place, which Jehovah has made known to us.’” Luke 2:8-15

“While they were perplexed about this, look! two men in shining garments stood by them. The women became frightened and kept their faces turned toward the ground, so the men said to them: ‘Why are you looking for the living one among the dead? He is not here, but has been raised up. Recall how he spoke to you while he was yet in Galʹi·lee, saying that the Son of man must be handed over to sinful men and be executed on the stake and on the third day rise.’… ‘Moreover, some women from among us also astonished us, for they went early to the tomb  and when they did not find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a supernatural sight of angels, who said he is alive.’” Luke 24:4-7, 22-23

“After he had said these things, while they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud caught him up from their sight. And as they were gazing into the sky while he was on his way, suddenly two men in white garments stood beside them and said: ‘Men of Galʹi·lee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who was taken up from you into the sky will come in the same manner as you have seen him going into the sky.” Acts 1:9-11

“About the ninth hour of the day, he saw plainly in a vision an angel of God come in to him and say: ‘Cornelius!’ Cornelius stared at him, terrified, and asked: ‘What is it, Lord?’ He said to him: ‘Your prayers and gifts of mercy have ascended as a remembrance before God. So now send men to Jopʹpa and summon a man named Simon who is called Peter. This man is staying as a guest with Simon, a tanner who has a house by the sea.’ As soon as the angel who spoke to him left, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who were his attendants, and he related everything to them and sent them to Jopʹpa… They said: ‘Cornelius, an army officer, a righteous and God-fearing man who is well-reported-on by the whole nation of the Jews, was given divine instructions by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say…Then Cornelius said: ‘Four days ago counting from this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour; just then a man in bright clothing stood in front of me and said: “Cornelius, your prayer has been favorably heard, and your gifts of mercy have been remembered before God. Therefore, send to Jopʹpa and call for Simon who is called Peter. This man is a guest in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.” I then sent for you at once, and you were kind enough to come here. So now we are all present before God to hear all the things you have been commanded by Jehovah to say.’” Acts 10:3-8, 22, 30-33

“When Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping bound with two chains between two soldiers, and guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison. But look! Jehovah’s angel was standing there, and a light shone in the prison cell. Hitting Peter on the side, he woke him, saying: ‘Get up quickly!’ And the chains fell off his hands. The angel said to him: ‘Get dressed and put on your sandals.’ He did so. Finally he said to him: ‘Put your outer garment on, and keep following me.’ And he went out and kept following him, but he did not know that what was happening through the angel was real. In fact, he thought he was seeing a vision. Going past the first sentinel guard and the second, they reached the iron gate leading into the city, and this opened to them by itself. After they went out, they made their way down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. And Peter, realizing what was happening, said: ‘Now I know for sure that Jehovah sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s hand and from everything that the Jews were expecting to happen.” Acts 12:6-11

“This night an angel of the God to whom I belong and to whom I render sacred service stood by me and said: ‘Have no fear, Paul. You must stand before Caesar, and look! God has granted to you all those sailing with you.’” Acts 27:23-24

Moreover, these created emissaries refuse to be worshiped since they claim to be nothing more than slaves of the one true God:

“At that I fell down before his feet to worship him. But he tells me: ‘Be careful! Do not do that! I AM ONLY A FELLOW SLAVE of you and of your brothers who have the work of witnessing concerning Jesus. Worship God! For the witness concerning Jesus is what inspires prophecy.’” Revelation 19:10

“Well I, John, was the one hearing and seeing these things. When I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing me these things. But he tells me: ‘Be careful! Do not do that! I AM ONLY A FELLOW SLAVE of you and of your brothers the prophets and of those observing the words of this scroll. Worship God.’” Revelation 22:8-9

Now contrast this with the testimony of Revelation that every created being throughout the entire creation grants Jesus the exact worship which God the Father receives:

“When he took the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, and each one had a harp and golden bowls that were full of incense. (The incense means the prayers of the holy ones.) And they sing a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, for you were slaughtered and with your blood you bought people for God out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and you made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth.’ And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, and they were saying with a loud voice: ‘The Lamb who was slaughtered is worthy to receive the power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.’ And I heard EVERY CREATURE in heaven and on earth and underneath the earth and on the sea, AND ALL THE THINGS IN THEM, saying: ‘To the One sitting on the throne AND TO THE LAMB be the blessing and the honor and the glory and the might forever and ever.’ The four living creatures were saying: ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshipped.” Revelation 5:8-14

The foregoing cases refute the notion that spiritual creatures representing Jehovah can be called Jehovah God.  

JEHOVAH’S ONE AND ONLY DIVINE MESSENGER

This brings me to my next point. The God-breathed Scriptures know of only one spiritual Envoy that is both distinguished from the God whose Angel/Messenger he happens to be, and is also identified as being Jehovah God Almighty appearing in a visible form of some kind in order to be seen:

“Later Jehovah’s angel found her at a spring of waters in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said: ‘Haʹgar, servant of Sarʹai, where have you come from and where are you going?’ To this she said: “I am running away from my mistress Sarʹai.’  Jehovah’s angel then said to her: “Return to your mistress and humble yourself under her hand.’ Then Jehovah’s angel said: ‘I will greatly multiply your offspring, so that they will be too numerous to count.’ Jehovah’s angel added: “Here you are pregnant, and you will give birth to a son, and you must name him Ishʹma·el, for Jehovah has heard your affliction. He will be a wild donkey of a man. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him, and he will dwell opposite all his brothers.’ Then she called on the name of Jehovah, who was speaking to her: “You are a God of sight,’ for she said: ‘Have I here actually looked upon the one who sees me?’ That is why the well was called Beʹer-laʹhai-roi. (It is between Kaʹdesh and Beʹred.)” Genesis 16:7-14

“Moses became a shepherd of the flock of his father-in-law Jethʹro, the priest of Midʹi·an. While he was leading the flock to the west side of the wilderness, he eventually came to the mountain of the true God, to Horʹeb. Then Jehovah’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire in the midst of a thornbush. As he kept looking, he saw that the thornbush was on fire, and yet the thornbush was not consumed. So Moses said: ‘I will go over to inspect this unusual sight to see why the thornbush does not burn up.’ When Jehovah saw that he went over to look, God called to him out of the thornbush and said: ‘Moses! Moses!” to which he said: ‘Here I am.’ Then he said: ‘Do not come any nearer. Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground.’ He went on to say: ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at the true God… But Moses said to the true God: ‘Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your forefathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, “What is his name?” What should I say to them?’ So God said to Moses: ‘I Will Become What I Choose to Become.’ And he added: “This is what you are to say to the Israelites, ‘I Will Become has sent me to you. Then God said once more to Moses:” Exodus 3:1-6, 13-15

Notice how the Angel is clearly identified as the Jehovah God who sees what takes place and who is able to create life and grant individuals’ numerous offspring.  

What is interesting about this Angel is that, unlike the other angels this particular Messenger refuses to give out his name due to it being too wonderful for human comprehension:

“So the true God listened to Ma·noʹah, and the angel of the true God came again to the woman while she was sitting in the field; her husband Ma·noʹah was not with her. The woman quickly ran and told her husband: ‘Look! The man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.’ Then Ma·noʹah got up and went with his wife. He came to the man and said to him: ‘Are you the man who spoke to my wife?’ He said: ‘I am.’ Then Ma·noʹah said: ‘May your words come true! What will be the child’s manner of life, and what will be his work?’ So Jehovah’s angel said to Ma·noʹah: ‘Your wife should keep herself from everything that I mentioned to her. She should not eat anything that the grapevine produces, she should not drink wine or anything alcoholic, and she should not eat anything unclean. Everything that I commanded her, let her observe.’ Ma·noʹah now said to Jehovah’s angel: ‘Please stay, and let us prepare a young goat for you.’ But Jehovah’s angel said to Ma·noʹah: ‘If I stay, I will not eat your food; but if you wish to present a burnt offering to Jehovah, you may offer it up.’ Ma·noʹah did not know that he was Jehovah’s angel. Then Ma·noʹah said to Jehovah’s angel: ‘What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?’ However, Jehovah’s angel said to him: ‘Why are you asking about my name, seeing that it is a wonderful one?’ Then Ma·noʹah took the young goat and the grain offering and offered them on the rock to Jehovah. And He was doing something amazing while Ma·noʹah and his wife were looking on. As the flame ascended from the altar heavenward, Jehovah’s angel ascended in the flame from the altar while Ma·noʹah and his wife were looking on. At once they fell with their faces to the ground. Jehovah’s angel did not appear again to Ma·noʹah and his wife. Then Ma·noʹah realized that he was Jehovah’s angel. Ma·noʹah then said to his wife: ‘We are sure to die, because it is God whom we have seen.’ But his wife said to him: ‘If Jehovah wanted to put us to death, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hand, he would not have shown us all these things, and he would not have told us any of these things.’” Judges 13:9-23

“Finally Jacob was left by himself. Then a man began to wrestle with him until the dawn broke. When he saw that he had not prevailed over him, he touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated during his wrestling with him. After that he said: ‘Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.’ To this he said: ‘I am not going to let you go until you bless me.’ So he said to him: ‘What is your name?” to which he said: “Jacob.’ Then he said: ‘Your name will no longer be Jacob but Israel, for you have contended with God and with men and you have at last prevailed.’ In turn Jacob inquired: ‘Tell me, please, your name.’ However, he said: ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ With that he blessed him there. So Jacob named the place Pe·niʹel, for he said, ‘I have seen God face-to-face, yet my life was preserved.’ And the sun rose upon him as soon as he passed by Pe·nuʹel, but he was limping because of his hip. That is why to this day the sons of Israel are not accustomed to eat the thigh sinew, which is on the socket of the hip joint, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip joint by the thigh sinew.” Genesis 32:24-32

The proceeding texts affirm that the Man that Jacob wrestled with and identified as the God whom he beheld face-to-face was the Angel:

“Jehovah has a legal case against Judah; He will call for an accounting against Jacob according to his ways, And he will repay him according to his deeds. In the womb he seized his brother by the heel, And with his vigor he contended with God. He kept contending with an angel and prevailed. He wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethʹel, and there He spoke with us, Jehovah the God of armies, Jehovah is his memorial name.” Hosea 12:2-5

“Once when the flock got into heat, I raised my eyes and saw in a dream that the he-goats mating with the flock were striped, speckled, and spotty. Then the angel of the true God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob!’ to which I said, ‘Here I am.’ And he continued, ‘Raise your eyes, please, and see that all the he-goats mating with the flock are striped, speckled, and spotty, for I have seen all that Laʹban is doing to you. I am the true God of Bethʹel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now get up, go out of this land, and return to the land of your birth.’” Genesis 31:10-13

This Angel is even described as the Messenger of Jehovah’s Face who is sent to redeem God’s covenant people:

“For he said, Surely, they are my people, children that will not deal falsely: so he was their Saviour. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.” Isaiah 63:8-9 American Standard Version (ASV)

The expression “Angel of His presence” denotes the fact that this Messenger embodies the very nature/essence of God, since the Hebrew term for presence refers to God’s nature, to his infinite Being. As such, this Messenger completely partakes of the very essence of God, which is precisely what God himself stated in regards to the Angel:

“I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you on the way and to bring you into the place that I have prepared. Pay attention to him, and obey his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgressions, because my name is in him. However, if you strictly obey his voice and do all that I say, I will show hostility to your enemies and oppose those who oppose you. For my angel will go ahead of you and will bring you to the Amʹor·ites, the Hitʹtites, the Perʹiz·zites, the Caʹnaan·ites, the Hiʹvites, and the Jebʹu·sites, and I will annihilate them.” Exodus 23:20-23

To have God’s name within oneself is simply another way of saying that this divine Messenger possesses the fullness of Deity, since the Holy Bible employs the term “name” in respect to the characteristics, nature, and/or authority of an individual.

Moreover, note carefully that Jehovah didn’t give the Angel his name, but rather affirms that he already possessed it, which explains why this Messenger does what only Jehovah is capable of doing, namely, forgive sinners or punish transgressors:

“And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of Jehovah, and Satan was standing at his right hand to resist him. Then the angel of Jehovah said to Satan: ‘May Jehovah rebuke you, O Satan, yes, may Jehovah, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this one a burning log snatched out of the fire?’ Now Joshua was clothed in filthy garments and standing before the angel. The angel said to those standing before him, ‘Remove his filthy garments.’ Then he said to him, ‘See, I have caused your error to pass away from you, and you will be clothed with fine garments.’ So I said: ‘Let a clean turban be put on his head.’ And they put the clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments; and the angel of Jehovah was standing nearby. The angel of Jehovah then declared to Joshua: ‘This is what Jehovah of armies says, “If you will walk in my ways and carry out your responsibilities before me, then you will serve as a judge in my house and take care of my courtyards; and I will give you free access among these who are standing here.”’” Zechariah 3:1-7

The final proof that there aren’t many angels who speak as Jehovah comes from the plain witness of both the Hebrew Bible and the inspired Christian Greek Scriptures that it was one specific Angel that appeared to the Patriarchs, Moses and Israel as God:

“Then he blessed Joseph and said: ‘The true God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The true God who has been shepherding me during all my life until this day, THE ANGEL who has been recovering me from all calamity, bless the boys. Let my name be called upon them and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, Let them increase to a multitude in the earth.’” Genesis 48:15-16

“Then Moses sent messengers from Kaʹdesh to the king of Eʹdom: ‘This is what your brother Israel says, ‘You well know all the hardship that we have experienced. Our fathers went to Egypt, and we dwelled in Egypt many years, and the Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers. Finally we cried out to Jehovah, and he heard us and sent AN ANGEL and brought us out of Egypt, and here we are in Kaʹdesh, a city on the border of your territory.’” Numbers 20:14-16

“After 40 years had passed, AN ANGEL appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Siʹnai in the flame of a burning thornbush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. But as he was approaching to investigate, Jehovah’s voice was heard: ‘I am the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ Moses started trembling and did not dare to investigate further. Jehovah said to him: ‘Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have certainly seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Now come, I will send you off to Egypt.’ This same Moses whom they had disowned, saying: ‘Who appointed you ruler and judge?’ is the very one God sent as both ruler and deliverer by means of THE ANGEL who appeared to him in the thornbush. This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years.’ This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel: ‘God will raise up for you from among your brothers a prophet like me.’ This is the one who came to be among the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Siʹnai and with our forefathers, and he received living sacred pronouncements to give us.” Acts 7:30-38

And since the evidence that this Angel is none other than Jesus Christ in his prehuman existence is overwhelming to present here, I will post links to the articles and rebuttals which discuss this issue in great detail.

FURTHE READING

OT Appearances of Christ as the Angel of God

Is Jesus Christ the Archangel Michael?

God spoke through his Son only “in these last days”, thus he could not have been the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament

The Lord Jesus Christ – The Glorious Messenger of God

The Divine Name and Glory of Yahweh – More Biblical Evidence for the Deity of God’s unique Angel/Son

Jesus Christ – The God of Gods and the Prince of princes

Jesus as the God of Gods Revisited

‘I AM What I AM’: A Bible Commentary [Part 1]

THE DEBATE WITH ALAN STORKY RESPONSE

YHVH’S DIVINE ANGEL AND ETERNAL SPIRIT

Did Christians just make up the ‘THE” in “The Angel of YHWH”?