By David A. Green
Jer2329@juno.com

Jesus is the Word of God
The Word of God is God

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being ...The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us" (Jn. 1-3,14).

Five points may readily be gleaned from the above quote, which are these:

1. The Word was in the beginning.

2. The Word was with God in the beginning.

3. The Word was God in the beginning.

4. All created things were created through the Word in the beginning.

5. Jesus Christ is the Word.

Since #5 identifies the Word as Jesus, we may logically reduce the above list to four points:

1. Jesus Christ was in the beginning.

2. Jesus Christ was with God in the beginning.

3. Jesus Christ was God in the beginning.

4. All created things were created through Jesus Christ in the beginning.

Since #2 states that Christ was "with God in the beginning" while #3 states that He also "was God in the beginning," we may thus far Scripturally infer only two things regarding the Deity of Christ:

1. "Jesus Christ with God" "was God in the beginning."

2. This one God created all created things in the beginning.

These two points echo Genesis 1:1,26: "In the beginning Elohim created the Heavens and the Earth. ...And Elohim said, ‘Let Us make man in Our Image, according to Our likeness.’" (See also Isa. 6:8: "And I heard the Voice of Adonai saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’")

If Christ was "with God" and "was God" in the beginning, then there is surely no Biblical conclusion at which we may arrive except that "Christ with God" is God, for the Scriptures teach us throughout that there are not two gods in Heaven for God's people to honor. The Scriptures teach no such doctrine that we are to glorify THE God and A god/creator along side of Him in heaven, as the Scriptures declare:

"You are the God, You ALONE, of all the kingdoms of the earth" (II Kings 19:15; Isa. 37:16).

"He who sacrifices to any god, other than to Yahweh ALONE, shall be utterly destroyed" (Ex. 22:20).

" . . . Yahweh, he is God; there is NO OTHER besides Him" (Deut. 4:35).

" . . . Direct your hearts to Yahweh and serve Him ALONE" (I Sam. 7:3).

"You ALONE, O Yahweh, are God" (II Kings 19:19; Isa. 37:20).

"[Elohim] ONLY is my rock and my salvation" (Ps. 62:2,6). (Compare Isa. 8:14 with I Peter 2:8; and Acts 4:11 with I Peter 2:4,7).

"You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him ONLY" (Matt. 4:10; Lk. 4:8).

" . . . For us there is but ONE God" (I Cor. 8:6).

"Now to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the ONLY wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen" (I Tim. 1:17).

" . . . the blessed and ONLY Sovereign, the King of those being kings and Lord of those being lords; Who ALONE possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light . . . ." (I Tim. 6:14- 16; cf. Rev. 1:5; 17:14; 19:16).

Jesus, being the Word of God and Himself God, is surely "the Word of Yahweh" Who appeared unto Abram in Gen. 15:1, saying, "Do not fear, Abram, I am a Shield to you." And Abram answered the Word of God saying, "O Lord Yahweh . . ."

Jesus, the Word of Yahweh Who became flesh and tabernacled among His people Israel, was in the beginning with Yahweh and was Himself Yahweh; all creation came into being through Him (Jn. 1:1-3,14). As Hebrews 11:3 says, "The ages were prepared by the Word of God."

As Scriptures teach, there is only one God for us believers (I Cor. 8:6), but let us be more specific in saying that not only is there one God, but there is only one Creator, and He is God. God did not designate a created being to create the universe on His behalf, as the Scriptures confirm:

"I, Yahweh, am the Maker of all things, stretching out the heavens BY MYSELF, and spreading out the earth ALL ALONE" (Isa. 44:24).

"You ALONE are He, O Yahweh. You have made the heavens, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them and the heavenly host bows down before You" (Neh. 9:6).

"[God] ALONE stretches out the heavens and tramples down the waves of the sea" (Job 9:8).

God alone created all things. There was no one who helped God create the universe in the beginning.

Now let us look at the following verses that teach us that God created all things through (by means of) His Son Jesus Christ:

"His Son, . . . through Whom also [God] made the ages" (Heb. 1:2).

"You, Lord [Yahweh, the Son], in the beginning did lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands . . . As a mantle You will roll them up; as a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end" (Heb. 1:8,10,12). (Ps. 102:25-27)

"By [the Son] all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities - all things have been created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together" (Col. 1:16,17).

As we have observed, it would be an error for us to conclude from these verses that God created the Son and then designated Him to create the universe on God's behalf. The Bible is emphatic that there is only ONE God and He is the ONE Creator Who created all things BY HIMSELF. God is the only Creator and Jesus is the Creator.

On this point, John 1:3 is very precisely worded: "Apart from Him [Jesus] nothing came into being that has come into being." It is impossible to get around the force of that saying, as it teaches us that no less than all "that has come into being" "came into being through [Jesus, the Word]." Again we may use deduction:

1. If, positively, all things came into being through Christ, and

2. If, negatively, apart from Christ nothing came into being that has come into being,

then it irresistibly follows that

3. He Himself (Christ) never "came into being," but always Is. He can be none other than the God Who is from everlasting.

Did Jesus express this teaching concerning Himself? Yes, when He said, "Before Abraham was born, I Am" (Jn. 8:58, 59). Since Jesus did not say, "Before Abraham was born, I was," we know that He was saying that He not only was alive when Abraham was alive (about 2000 B.C.), but that before Abraham ever came into being, He has always been and always will be. He was revealing Himself as the God of Israel, Who has no beginning or end; He was applying to Himself the Name of God in Ex. 3:13,14, where it is written:

"Then Moses said to God, ‘Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, "The God of your fathers has sent me to you." Now they may say to me, "What is His name?" What shall I say to them?’ And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM’; and He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, "I AM has sent me to you."’"

This reveals to us the meaning behind the notable account of Jn. 18:4-6 where Jesus asked, "Whom do you seek?" They answered Him, "Jesus the Nazarene." The Lord Jesus then uttered the words: "I Am," and instantly, the battalion of some 600 armed men who had come with the Jewish leaders that night to arrest Jesus, "drew back and fell to the ground."

Jesus repeated the teaching that He has no beginning, in Rev. 22:13: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last [Rev. 1:17; 2:8], the Beginning and the End." We find in Rev. 1:8 that the Lord God Almighty says the same thing about Himself: "‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’, says the Lord God, ‘Who is and Who was and Who is to Come, the Almighty’" (See also Rev. 1:4). "I am ...the Beginning and the End" (Rev. 21:6).

Concerning Jesus "the Son" (Heb. 1:8), God says, "You, Lord, in the beginning did lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands. ...As a mantle You will roll them up; as a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end" (Heb. 1:10,12).

The writer of Hebrews thus teaches us that Ps. 102:25-27 is speaking of Jesus; the immutable Creator and Lord in that Psalm is none other than Yahweh. Compare Heb. 13:8 with Jms. 1:17:

Heb. 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever."

Jms. 1:17, "The Father of lights, with Whom there is no variation or shifting shadows."

Jesus is the unchangeable God, the Beginning and the End, Who is from eternity to eternity; or as was written in Ps. 90:2: "Before the mountains were born, or You did give birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God."

Consider for a moment the consequence of believing that the Word of God is actually a created being. Did God exist at one time without His Word? Is that a biblical doctrine? Was God ever mute like the "voiceless idols" of I Cor. 12:2? There is no evidence or basis for such an idea.

Using this same argumentation, we do well to observe that Jesus not only is the Word of God, but that He is also "the Wisdom of God" in I Cor. 1:24,30. (Compare Matt. 23:34 and Lk. 11:49). As God was never without His word, He was never without His Wisdom. Prov. 8:22-31 validates this method of reasoning as it powerfully iterates John 1:1-3, but uses "Wisdom" where the Apostle John used "the Word":

"The Lord possessed Me [Wisdom] at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. From everlasting I was established, from the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills I was brought forth; while He had not yet made the earth and the fields, nor the first dust of the world. When He established the heavens, I was there; when He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep, when He made firm the skies above, when the springs of the deep became fixed, when He set for the sea its boundary, so that the water should not transgress His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth; Then I was beside Him, as a master workman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in the world, His earth, and having My delight in the sons of men."

Jesus, the immutable, creative Word and Wisdom of God, was in the beginning with God, beside Him; and He was Himself God in the beginning, from everlasting. He created all things that ever came into being; that is to say, nothing that has ever come into being came into being apart from Jesus. He is Yahweh.

In John 12:39-41, we read the following: "For this cause [the Jews] could not believe Him [Jesus], for Isaiah said again, ‘He has blinded their eyes . . .’ These things Isaiah said, because he saw His [Jesus’] glory, and he spoke of Him [Jesus]. Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him [Jesus] . . . "

The quote from Isaiah was from Isa. 6:10. John tells us that Isaiah said what he said in Isa. 6:10 because Isaiah saw Jesus' glory. What exactly did Isaiah see when he saw Jesus’ glory? From the words of Isaiah:

"I saw Adonai sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him... And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is Yahweh of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory’" (Isa. 6:1-3). Then Isaiah said, "My eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of hosts" (vs. 5), and Adonai said to Isaiah, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" (vs. 8).

In seeing Adonai, the King, Yahweh of Hosts, Isaiah saw Jesus.

In I Cor. 10:26, it is said that, "The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains." "The Lord" in that verse is identified in verses 21,22 as being none other than the Lord Jesus. The verse was quoted from Ps. 24:1: "The earth is Yahweh's, and all it contains."

In Matt. 21:15,16, the children were praising Jesus in the Temple, saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David." The chief priests and the scribes reacted indignantly to this praise and protested to Jesus, "Do you hear what these are saying?" Jesus answered them, "Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have prepared praise for Yourself?’"

In defending the children's praise of Him, Jesus quoted Ps. 8:2 (LXX). In the Hebrew we see that it is a psalm of praise to Yahweh. The Son of David is Yahweh.

In Eph. 4:8, we see it taught that Ps. 68:18 (LXX) is speaking of Jesus: "You [Yahweh God, from the Hebrew] are gone up on high; You have led captivity captive, You have received gifts for man, yea, for they were rebellious, that You might dwell among them."

In Rom. 14:11 we read, "For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall give praise to God." Phil. 2:11 identifies "the Lord" in this verse as being Jesus. The verse is quoted from Isa. 45:23 (LXX) where "the Lord" is Yahweh, in the Hebrew.

In Jude 4,5, we read, " . . . our only Master and Lord [cf. Jude 14,25], Jesus Christ. Now I desire to remind you, . . .that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe." Jude, immediately after calling Jesus "our only Lord" (cf. Eph. 4:5), said that it was "the Lord" Who saved the people out of the land of Egypt.

Who exactly was "the Lord" Who saved the people out of Egypt? His Name is I AM (Ex. 3:13,14), and He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Ex. 3:6). He became flesh and they called His name Jesus.

In I Kings 8:39, it is written, "You [Yahweh] alone know the hearts of all the sons of men," and in II Chron. 6:30: "You [Yahweh] alone know the hearts of men." (Cf. Ps. 7:9; 44:21; Acts 1:24; 15:8).

Now see that in Rev. 2:23, Jesus declares that He Himself is "He Who searches the minds and hearts" (cf. Jn. 1:47; 2:24,25; 6:64; I Cor. 4:5; Heb. 4:12). Jesus is Yahweh.

Here are eight Scriptural prohibitions against worshiping anyone but God alone:

"He who sacrifices to any god, other than to Yahweh ALONE, shall be utterly destroyed" (Ex. 22:20).

" . . . Direct your hearts to Yahweh and serve Him ALONE" (I Sam. 7:3).

In the wilderness, Satan tempted Jesus to "fall down and worship" him. But Jesus replied, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only" (Matt. 4:9,10; Lk. 4:7,8).

When Cornelius fell at Peter's feet and worshiped him, Peter raised him up and said, "Stand up! I too am just a man" (Acts 10:25,26).

While Herod was giving a victory speech, "the people kept crying out, ‘The voice of a god and not of a man!’ And immediately an angel of the Lord struck Herod because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died" (Acts 12:22,23).

In Acts 14:11-15, a crowd cried out concerning Paul and Barnabas, "The gods have become like men and have come down to us!" And the crowd began calling Barnabas Zeus, and Paul, Hermes. And the priest of Zeus brought oxen and garlands to the gates to sacrifice with the crowds. But when Paul and Barnabas heard about this they tore their robes, ran out into the crowd and cried out, "Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the Gospel to you in order that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, Who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them" (Acts 14:11-15).

In Rev. 19:10, the Apostle John fell at the feet of a messenger to worship him. But the messenger said, "Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God."

And again, in Rev. 22:8,9, John fell at the feet of a messenger to worship him. And the messenger said to him, "Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God!"

The above references make it evident that only God may be lawfully worshiped and that for anyone who is not God to accept worship is blasphemy. It is unthinkable then, that if Jesus were not God He would allow anyone to worship Him. But He did. And the Bible even explicitly teaches us to worship the Lord Jesus:

After Jesus had walked on the water, His disciples, understandably, "worshiped Him." (Matt. 14:33). Jesus did not rebuke them.

After Jesus had miraculously healed a man who had been born blind, the man "worshiped Him" (Jn. 9:38). Jesus did not rebuke him, but freely accepted his worship.

In the day that Jesus had risen from the dead, He met Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, and they "took hold of His feet and worshiped Him" (Matt. 28:9). Jesus did not rebuke them.

When His eleven Apostles later saw Him that day, they also "worshiped Him" (Matt. 28:17). Jesus did not rebuke them either.

After Thomas saw the proof that Jesus had risen from the dead, he said to Jesus, "My Lord and my God!" (Jn. 20:28). Jesus did not rebuke him.

In Rev. 5:13,14, we read that "every created thing" in heaven and earth made the following declaration: "To Him Who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." At this, "the elders fell down and worshiped."

This passage tells us that all creation worshiped "Him Who sits on the throne" and "the Lamb." Can we believe that anyone may lawfully give God and a created heavenly being the same worship as is recorded here in Rev. 5:13,14? As Isa. 42:8 says, "My glory will I [Yahweh] not give to another."

Finally, Heb. 1:6 explicitly says of the Lord Jesus, "Let all the angels of God worship Him".

If that command by itself were not imperative enough, note that it was quoted from Deut. 32:43 (LXX) where the object of worship is the God of Israel Who said in the same chapter, verse 39, "There is no other God with Me."

As the Word says, the Word Who became flesh was God. But who can comprehend the depth of this Mystery (I Tim. 3:16)? For He not only became flesh, but He suffered, poured out His blood, died for our sins in satisfaction of His holy Law and rose from the dead, wonderfully saving His elect from the wrath of His justice. It is no wonder that the writer of Hebrews rhetorically asked, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation" (Heb. 2:3)! No wonder the sin was so great to "regard as unclean the blood of the covenant" (Heb. 10:29)! The holy God Himself is our Savior, and no other. A rejection of His salvation is a blasphemy against His Own act of incomprehensible love. He alone was the One Who was worthy and powerful enough to Fulfill His Law on behalf of His sinful people and raise them from the dead.

In this light, let us read Gal. 3:19,20:

" . . . The Law . . . was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to Whom the promise was made; and it was ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator . . . Now a mediator is not of one; but God is One."

The old covenant was mediated by a sinner. The New Covenant in stark contrast was mediated by God Himself (He is "the Seed" in verse 19). Under the New Covenant we see God as He is. "God is One" (Gal. 3:20), Who now represents Himself to us, uniting men of all nations in His own Body.

In Christ’s body, God became His Own Mediator for His sinful people, as Isa. 59:16 teaches, "Yahweh saw . . . that there was no one to intercede; then His own arm brought salvation to Him; and His righteousness upheld Him." In dying for Israel's sins and rising for her justification, God became the Mediator of the New Covenant --the "Just and the Justifier" (Rom. 3:26) of all who have the faith of Jesus.

Note that in Jn. 2:19-22, Jesus said that He Himself was going to resurrect His own body three days after He died; yet in Acts 2:32 and elsewhere, it was God who resurrected Jesus. Also, in I Jn. 3:5,16, it is God Who died for the Church: " . . . He [God] appeared in order to take away sins . . . He [God] laid down His life for us."

It is evident what we must infer from these things: The Just, the Justifier, the Lamb, the Mediator, He is God.

This God, who became flesh and redeemed us, is the same God who was to come in His eternal Kingdom in the end of the age, and the Scriptures verify this:

In I Jn. 3:2, it is God Who was coming for the Church's Salvation: "Beloved, now we are children of God . . . When He [God] appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is." Rev. 1:4, 8; 4:8 teaches us this same doctrine, as there it is God Himself Who is called "Him Who is and Who was and Who is to Come."

In Dan. 7:13; Matt. 24:30; Mk. 13:26; Lk. 21:27; Rev. 1:7; 14:14, we learn that the Son of Man was going to come "on the clouds of heaven with power and much glory" to punish the wicked and save His Church. What can we learn about Christ from the use of this imagery of His "Coming on the clouds?" Much, from Deut. 33:26:

"THERE IS NONE LIKE ...GOD, ...Who rides the heavens to your help, and through the skies in His majesty."

See also, Ps. 68:33, "[God is He] who rides upon the highest heavens"; and Ps. 104:3, "[Yahweh] makes clouds His chariot."

The fact that Jesus’ "Coming on the clouds" denotes His Deity well explains the high priest’s reaction when Jesus made His declaration before the Sanhedrin:

"The high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, ‘Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?’ And Jesus said, ‘I Am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and Coming with the clouds of heaven.’ And tearing his clothes, the high priest said, ‘What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to you?’ And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death" (Mk. 14:61-64; Matt. 26:63-66; Lk. 22:69-71).

After Jesus announced that He was going to be "Coming with the clouds of heaven," the high priest tore his clothes as Paul and Barnabas did when men tried to worship them in Acts 14:14. As the Jews knew very well, Jesus was "making Himself out to be God."

The teaching that the Parousia of the Son of God is the Parousia of God Himself is further confirmed in the parable of the householder:

A householder (God) planted a vineyard and leased it to farmers (the Jews). The householder (God) sent His son (Jesus) to them, and they (the Jews) killed him. Then the householder (God) came and he destroyed the farmers (Matt. 21:33-41; Mk. 12:1-9; Lk. 20:9-16).

If we accept that the parable refers to the Parousia of Christ (and we should) then we must also accept that this parable teaches the Deity of Christ, in that the One Who Comes to destroy the wicked is God Himself.

In I Thess. 4:14, it is God Who was going to bring the saints with Him at the Parousia of Christ: "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him [God] those who have fallen asleep through Jesus."

In Jude 14 it is "the Lord" Who was going to bring the saints with Him to judge the world. That verse was quoted from I Enoch 1:9 where "the Lord" is "God."

The Parousia of Christ is the Parousia of God. It cannot be said that God came and was exalted along with a special created being whom He designated as His king. We have seen that there is one God and that Jesus is God. We have also seen that the One God is the one Creator, and Jesus is the Creator. In view of these things, and the Scriptures which confirm them, it should not surprise us that the Scriptures explicitly teach that God, in His Great Day, was not going to be worshiped along side of a created being.

Isa. 2:11 declares to us:

"Yahweh ALONE will be exalted in that Day."

The Church was waiting for Yahweh alone. The Church was waiting for the Lord Jesus.

As Paul said in Titus 2:13, the Church was "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus." The Apostle Peter also called Jesus Christ "our God and Savior" in II Peter 1:1.

We know that Jesus Christ has come. But Who exactly do the Scriptures say it is Who dwells today in the hearts of believers?

In Eph. 4:6, it is God the Father.

In II Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:22; I Jn. 4:4, 12, 15, 16; Rev. 21:3, it is God.

In I Cor. 3:16; I Jn. 3:23,24; 4:13, it is God, and the Spirit of God.

In Rom. 8:9-11, it is the Son and the Spirit of God.

In I Cor. 6:19; II Tim. 1:14; Jms. 4:5, it is the Holy Spirit.

In Gal. 4:6, it is the Spirit of the Son.

In Jn. 6:56; 15:4,5; 17:23, 26; Gal. 2:20; 4:19; II Cor. 13:5; Eph. 3:17; Col. 1:27; 3:11; II Peter 1:19, it is the Son.

And in that great Trinitarian passage, in Jn. 14:16, 17, 20, 23, it is the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Now are we to believe that God and someone else have made their Covenant-dwelling in the hearts of redeemed men and women for eternity (Eph. 2:22)? If God and Jesus both tabernacle within us through faith, and if God and Jesus are separate beings --One the Deity and the other a sub-deity-- then we have the Spirit of God and a spirit of someone else dwelling among and within us as our Saviors! That idea is manifestly false.

Let us examine a key passage that speaks of the Christ Who dwells among us:

Heb. 3:3-6, "For He [Christ] has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, . . . but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house, Whose house we are . . . "

Moses built "a copy" (Heb. 8:5; 9:24), but Christ built the true House of promise in the heavens, which is the New-Covenant Tabernacle among believers. As Heb. 3:3 teaches: "He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses [who built the typical house] by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house." Other Scriptures confirm that it was Christ Who built the New-Covenant Temple:

Matt. 16:18: "I will build My Church."

Jn. 14:2: "I go to prepare a place for you."

Heb. 3:6: "Christ ...Whose house we are."

Rev. 3:12: "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God."

However, we know that it was God Who built the True House of promise in the heart of redeemed humanity, as Heb. 3:4 states in context, "The Builder of all things is God." Other Scriptures confirm that it was God Who built the New-Covenant Temple:

"We have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (II Cor. 5:1).

" . . . the City ...whose Architect and Builder is God" (Heb. 11:10).

"God ...has prepared a City for them (Heb. 11:16; cf. I Cor. 2:9,10).

God is the Builder of His New-Covenant Tabernacle/City in the hearts of men. In this light, note that it was Yahweh Who poured out His Church-building Spirit in the last days, according to Joel 2:28,29. Yet in Acts 2:32,33 we find that it was "Jesus" Who poured out the Spirit.

Now again, is it at all believable that someone other than God Himself built the Tabernacle of God within the very heart of believing humanity? Did God and someone else make their dwelling within man? Did God and someone else pour forth of God’s Spirit upon all flesh?

Who other than God may say of himself, "Thus says the high and exalted One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell on a high and holy place, even with the contrite and humble of spirit; to make live the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." (Isa. 57:15)?

The Scriptures tell us that it is "God Himself" (Rev. 21:3), and no other, Who dwells within the Holy of Holies in the heart of redeemed humanity. Christ in the heart is the Tabernacle of God among men. This is the essence of Christianity. To teach otherwise is blasphemy.

Yahweh of hosts, the Son of God, became flesh and tabernacled among His sinful people under the Law. By the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, His people nailed Him to a cross and put Him to death. He was buried, and was raised from the dead on the third day. In His great grace and tender mercy, the Messiah from Heaven, the God and Savior of the world, had made atonement for sin. He then ascended to the Father, and thereupon poured out His resurrecting Spirit upon His elect ones, thus building up His Church, His Body, until it reached maturity and became the eternal dwelling place of God in spirit (Eph. 2:22).

"The Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him Who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life" (I Jn. 5:20).