Hands Twice Mentioned - One Hand Understood
Expressions In Scripture
God is quoted in Scripture as speaking in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person.
The narrations in Scripture, especially in the New Testament, describes Messiah from a humanistic point of view, and also from a divine description.
Messiah is also quoted in Scripture speaking in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person.
The descriptions of God are thus expressed in at least five manners; from a human's point of view, from Above, 1st person, 2nd person, and 3rd person.
The Old Testament is filled with allusion and metaphor and literally explicit messages about God and about Messiah.
Calling Forth Messiah
One striking passage which mentions glory is found here:
“I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a Covenant for the people
and a Light for the Gentiles,
to open eyes that are blind,
to free captives from prison
and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
“I Am the Lord; that is My Name!
I will not yield My glory to another
or My praise to idols.
See, the former things have taken place,
and new things I declare;
before they spring into being
I announce them to you.”
- Isaiah 42: 6-9Isaiah was a prophet who lived about 800 years before Christ.
Notice God declares He does not yield His glory to anyone else.
Only God and God alone is glorified and to be given glory.
Read the several definitions of glory for a greater understanding of what God is talking about.
Messiah - Prophet Yet Uniquely Divine
Did God send His Messiah as He had done previous prophets, born of women and speaking inspired words when enabled by the Holy Spirit, and then their own words after inspiration leaves?
In the narratives of the prophets, we read how they speak their own words and personal testimony, then they share what God had spoken, either through themselves or from hearing God speak to them.
However, the Messiah was a very unique experience for mankind.
Don’t you believe that I Am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? The words I say to you I do not speak on My own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in Me, who is doing His work. Believe Me when I say that I Am in the Father and the Father is in Me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.
- John 14: 10-11Let us read what Yeshua said in also mentioning glory:
After Yeshua said this, He looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify You. For You granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those You have given Him. Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Yeshua Christ, whom You have sent. I have brought You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave Me to do. And now, Father, glorify Me in Your Presence with the glory I had with You before the world began. I have revealed You to those whom You gave Me out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me and they have obeyed Your Word.
- John 17: 1-6Notice how God glorified the Son, as the Son glorified the Father.
Notice also how Yeshua mentions His Father as the only true God.
Does this disqualify Yeshua's further claims?
Did God give glory to 'another', to a mere human being - or a human prophet?
Notice it clarifies that God has been made clearly known and fully revealed in and through Yeshua's testimony.
God Revealed In Messiah
God had been revealing Himself bit by bit since Adam, and through covenants and experiences with the various men of God and prophets.
The culmination of the ages shows God revealed Himself in the Messiah as previous prophecies have mentioned.
Did God then yield His glory to another, namely to Yeshua?
Was Yeshua another prophet of God and without divinity nor glory?
“You know the way to the place where I Am going.”
Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Yeshua answered, “I Am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you really know Me, you will know My Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.”
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Yeshua answered: “Don’t you know Me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
- John 14: 4-9Did God give glory to a human being?
God's Glory Revealed
Did God become a human being while never vacating heaven's throne nor the expanses of the universes?
Let us answer the questions further:
Yeshua answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in My Father’s Name testify about Me, but you do not believe because you are not My sheep. My sheep listen to My Voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are One.”
Again His Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone Him, but Yeshua said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone Me?”
“We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
- John 10: 25-33Notice how Yeshua mentions hand twice; the first time referring to His hand, and then referring to the Father's hand.
Notice also the claim to be One with the Father.
Rightfully Accused
Quite clearly, we read the accusation from those who contended with Yeshua.
The accusation was valid; it was true...and for such did Yeshua stand 'accused' and condemned to die.
Consider that everything Yeshua did and said was to glorify the Father.
This was a lesson for all mankind: to always do and say things to give glory to God.
Simply because Christ exemplified giving glory to God does not disqualify Yeshua from being One with the Father...yet the confused accuser desires to convince people of this.
Some would contend further and say that it was God who raised Christ from the dead, but not Christ Himself.
Can it be both God and Christ who resurrected the body?
Since the Father and the Son are One, then the answer is yes and yes.
The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.
- John 10: 17-18Again glory and honor is given to the Father, yet clarifying that Yeshua has the choice in obedience and also in raising Himself.
This includes a humanistic lesson for us (obedience and submission in all things, even death), and also insight into things decreed in heaven (law and order).
Resurrection Means Much More
Yeshua being One with the Father and also having a full role in the resurrection is further clarified:
The Jews then responded to Him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”
Yeshua answered them, “Destroy this Temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the Temple He had spoken of was His body. After He was raised from the dead, His disciples recalled what He had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Yeshua had spoken.
- John 2: 18-22Since the flesh perished, and the flesh is the Temple made by God's Hand (as opposed to buildings made by the hands of men), then conclusively the Temple that was destroyed by the wicked yet raised to life anew by God's Hand, was the body of the Messiah: Yeshua.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.
- Colossians 1: 15-20Surely there is more found in Yeshua than is understood.
Since Yeshua is the Lord thy God, the Almighty and Everlasting Father revealed in all finality and fullness as the prophets messaged, then it was no great task for Yeshua to enliven the body that was slain by the wicked.
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