There is only ONE YHVH….not two, not three….YHVH IS the Father, YHVH is the Son, and YHVH is the Spirit (but the Father is not the Son or Spirit, neither is the Son the Father or the Spirit, neither the Spirit the Son or Father)….the Father is the Lord, the Son is the Lord, the Spirit is the Lord, but there are not three Lord’s, only one. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God but there are not three God’s only one. God IS the Father, and the same one and only God IS the Son, and the same one and only God IS the Spirit.
In Genesis 18, "
YHWH appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre" but He is in the form of a man. Just like the previous chapter, this one opens with almost identical language (compare
wyera YHWH el Abram, Gen.17.1;
wyera elyaw YHWH, 18.1). This YHVH (the One Abraham knew as his Lord) is before Him in a flesh form as a Man. YHVH enters his tent, sits and dines with him and then He sends forth the two men (angels in flesh form) to rain fire and brimstone down upon Sodom from YHVH in heaven. So who is the YHVH with Abraham and the YHVH in heaven…two YHVHS? God forbid! One YHVH revealed in two personae.
In Exodus 3 the I AM who says He is the
THE God of Moses fathers (Abrahm, Isaac, and Jacob) is identified as (YHVH-Malak) the Angel of the Lord. Read Exodus 3:1-3…it is the Angel of the Lord who says He IS YHVH. Yet here He is in a seeable form speaking to Moses, commanding and empowering Moses, commissioning Moses. He is the one Abraham knew as Lord!
When Deuteronomy 6 says “
Hear O’Israel, the LORD our God (YHVH-Elohim),
the LORD (YHVH)
is one (echad – a Unity), it tells us the one and only God is also a Unity. This is played out rather subtly but here are a couple of examples.
Let us begin with Zechariah 2:10, 11. The scriptures read, “
Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of you, says YHVH. And many nations shall be joined to YHVH in that day, and shall be my people: and I (YHVH) will dwell in the midst of you, and you shalt know that YHVH of hosts hath sent me unto you.”
So YHVH is going to come and dwell in the midst of His people when YHVH of Hosts sends Him. The original Masoretic even renders it this way…(note: the modern JPS Masoretic version has changed it because of its obvious implications).
Now turn to Isaiah 48 where YHVH is definitely speaking…
“
I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I hurried them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass. Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow like unto brass. I have even from the beginning declared it to you. Before it came to pass I showed it to you so you could not say, My idol has done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, have commanded them.
You have heard, see all this, and will not ye declare it? I have showed you new things from this time, even hidden things, and you could not know them. They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when had not yet heard them so you could not say, behold, I knew them. Yea, you heard not; yea, you knew not; yea, from that time when your ear was not even opened: for I knew that you would say how you would deal very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb.
For my name's sake will I defer mine anger (YHVH’s), and for my praise will I refrain and not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not with silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, even for my own sake, I will do it: for how should my name be polluted? I will not give my glory unto another. Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. My hand has also laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spanned the heavens. When I call unto them, they stand up together. All of you assemble yourselves and hear…which among them has declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
I, even I, have spoken it. I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous. Come near unto me, hear this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.”
So once again, in the Hebrew we see YHVH speaking to Israel and though they are stubborn and even idolatrous, He loves them, has chosen them, and He will come to them. The LORD (YHVH) of Hosts and His Spirit will send Him (the YHVH who is speaking). Some renditions say the LORD of Hosts has sent me
WITH His Spirit.
So there is much more that can be said but this is already a four page answer. So I hope it has helped. I accepted the Triune explanation because of many instances such as these but I know there is ONY ONE YYHVH in nature, substance, essence. How the yachid God (numerically one) can be echad ( a Unity) is a mystery to me…many have tried to say iot is like the Sun…the radiance of brightness we can see would be the Son, the power and effectual doing of it would be like the Spirit, while the essence of it producing and controlling it is the Father but it is all ONLY ONE. Augustine tried to explain it this way.
YHVH as the Son became a human (He did it), as the Father YHVH sent Him for this purpose (He did it), and as the Holy Spirit He conceived Him incarnate to make the body happen in the virgins womb (He did it).
As a human being under the Old Covenant He was obedient unto death, even death on the cross. In His humanity He was subordinate to the Father, but not in His deity. YHVH is not subordinate to Himself as if He is two different beings, different in substance or essence. YHVH-Elohim is one in essence (
Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 Timothy 2:5), but three in personae or person. Jesus is the brightness of the Glory (that of YHVH which can be seen) and the exact “representation” (outward manifestation) of His substance (see Hebrews 1:3). So they are not different in substance. YHVH is equally and totally YHVH, and ever remains so, regardless of revealing Himself as the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, Because all three are the same one and only YHVH-Elohim. They all have the same fullness of authority, fullness of power, and as the persons or personae, they have wills which are 100% in agreement. As a man however acquainted with hunger, sadness, and pain, the Messiah says “Not my will but yours be done.” He came to know what a person facing such judgment and peril would go through, but He went through it anyway for our sakes and for the sake of His Holy name, because He knew we could not gain remedy over the consequence of sin (the second death) and because He had promised (Genesis 3:15).
So let me ask you? Do you believe Jesus is at least an honest man? You believe He would only tell us the truth? That He would not lie? Then carefully read this statement He made…
John 5:37 Jesus says “
And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form.”
Did you get that? Jesus is telling us NO ONE has EVER SEEN
the Father or ever HEARD Him…
YHVH is seen and heard. Did Jesus lie? No! He tells us elsewhere that the Son reveals Him…
Exod 3:6Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
Who appeared to Him and Spoke? The Angel of the LORD appears yet He is afraid to look upon God. It is YHVH but it was not the Father… But He is YHVH, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
In Genesis 16:7–14Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”
Then the angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.” Moreover, the angel of the LORD said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.” The angel of the LORD said to her further, “Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because the LORD [
e]has given heed to 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 [
f]live [
g]to the east of all his brothers.” Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “
You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
Genesis 22:11–12And the Angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not your hand upon the boy, neither do anything to him: for now I know that you fear God,
seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son
from me.
From who? It was YHVH who commanded him to sacrifice Isaac! The Angel of the LORD IS YHVH.
Numbers 22:31-38 The Angel of the Lord meets the prophet
Balaam on the road. He allows Balaam to see Him. In verse 38, Balaam identifies the Angel who spoke to him as God.
In
Judges 2:1-3And an Angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said,
I made you to go up out of Egypt (but it was YHVH), and have brought you unto the land which
I swore unto your fathers (but it was YHVH); and I said, I will never break my covenant with you (YHVH made the covenant with Israel).
And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.
Judges 6:11–23 The Angel of the Lord appears to
Gideon but in verse 14 He refers to himself as God and in verse 21 He allows Gideon to sacrifice to him as to YHVH. Verse 22 shows Gideon fearing for his life because he has seen God.
Judges 13:3–22 The Angel of the Lord appears to
Manoah and his wife, they realize in verse 22 they have been dealing with God Himself.
In
Genesis 31:11the Angel of God calls out to
Jacob in a dream and tells him "I am the God of
Bethel" but if you remember when He wrestles with the “Man” at “Peniel” it was God he wrestled with. He even says he had seen God “face to face”.
So this being Who many have seen and heard is undoubtedly YHVH and thus He is God, but not the Father because no one has ever seen or heard the Father at any time (unless Jesus s a liar). The Angel of the LORD is YHVH and He is Christ before He was born as a baby, and He is God…He is YHVH the Savior and there is none else (Isaiah 43:10)
You are correct however when you say JESUS is not the Father! Jesus was born as a baby in Bethlehem as a human But before He came to earth as a human Baby He was God. He became God with us, God incarnate. But YHVH is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The one and only YHVH is all three and all three are the one God.
Now then there is only ONE YHVH….not two not three….YHVH is the Father, YHVH is the Son, and YHVH is the Spirit (but the Father is not the Son or Spirit, neither is the Son the Father or the Spirit, neither the Spirit the Son or Father)….the Father is the Lord, the Son is the Lord, the Spirit is the Lord, but there are not three Lord’s only one. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God but there are not three God’s only one. God IS the Father and the same one and only God IS the Son, and the same one and only God IS the Spirit.
