3
לְפָנָיו אָכְלָה אֵשׁ וְאַחֲרָיו תְּלַהֵט לֶהָבָה כְּגַן־עֵדֶן הָאָרֶץ לְפָנָיו וְאַחֲרָיו מִדְבַּר שְׁמָמָה וְגַם־פְּלֵיטָה לֹא־הָיְתָה לֹּו׃
Yoel 2:3
True Christian Religion #82
82. (i) JEHOVAH GOD CAME DOWN AND TOOK UPON HIMSELF HUMAN FORM, IN ORDER TO REDEEM AND SAVE MANKIND.
Christian churches today believe that God the Creator of the universe fathered a Son from eternity, who came down and took upon Himself human form to redeem and save mankind. But this is an error and collapses of its own accord, so long as the mind concentrates on the oneness of God, and the reason looks upon as fiction or worse the idea that the one God fathered a Son from eternity, and also that God the Father together with the Son and the Holy Spirit, each of whom is severally God, is one God. This fiction is utterly exploded, like a meteorite in the atmosphere, when it is shown from the Word that it was Jehovah God Himself who came down and became man and also was the Redeemer.
[2] The first point, that it was Jehovah God Himself who came down and became man, is established by these passages:
Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, who shall be called God with us, Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23.
A boy is born for us, a son is given to us, on whose shoulder the dominion shall be; and his name shall be called Wonderful, God, Hero, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace, Isaiah 9:6-7.
On that day it will be said, Behold, He is our God, whom we have awaited to free us. He is Jehovah, whom we have awaited. Let us exult and rejoice in His salvation, Isaiah 25:9.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way for Jehovah, make smooth in the desert a path for our God; and all flesh shall see it together, Isaiah 40:3, 5.
Behold, the Lord Jehovih comes in strength, and His arm shall bear dominion for Him. Behold, His recompense comes with Him; He will tend His flock like a shepherd, Isaiah 40:10-11.
Jehovah said, Shout for joy and rejoice, daughter of Zion; behold, I come to dwell in your midst; then shall many nations cleave to Jehovah on that day, Zechariah 2:10-11.
I Jehovah have called you in righteousness, and I will give you to be a covenant with the people. I am Jehovah, this is my name; my glory I shall not give to another, Isaiah 42:1, 6-8.
Behold, the days will come when I will raise up for David a righteous shoot, who will reign as king and do judgment and righteousness upon earth; and this is His name, Jehovah our righteousness, Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16.
There are also the passages where the Lord's coming is called 'the day of Jehovah', as Isaiah 13:6, 9, 13, 22; Ezekiel 31:15; Joel 1:15; 2:1-2, 11, 29, 31; 3:1, 14, 18; Amos 5:13, 18, 20; Zephaniah 1:7-18; Zechariah 14:1, 4-21; and elsewhere.
[3] It is openly stated in Luke that Jehovah Himself came down and took upon Himself human form.
Mary said to the angel, How shall this happen, since I have no knowledge of a man? The angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, so that the holy thing that is born of you will be called the Son of God, Luke 1:34-35.
And in Matthew the angel said in a dream to Joseph, who was betrothed to Mary, that that which was born of her was of the Holy Spirit; and Joseph did not know her until she had borne a son, and he called His name Jesus, Matthew 1:20, 25. The Holy Spirit means the Divine which proceeds from Jehovah God, as will be seen in Chapter 3 of this book. Everyone knows that a child gets its soul and life from the father, its body from the mother. 1 So how could it be more openly stated that the Lord's soul and life were from Jehovah God, and because the Divine cannot be divided, that the Father's Divine itself was His soul and life? That is why the Lord so many times called Jehovah God His Father, and Jehovah God called Him His Son. Can anything more ridiculous be said than the idea that our Lord's soul was from His mother Mary? Yet such is the dream of both Roman Catholics and Protestants today, and they have not woken up to what is said in the Word.
Footnotes:
1. Reading ex matre 'from the mother' for ex anima 'from the soul', apparently a repetition from the preceding clause, cf. 92[1]; 103[1].
Joel 3
1
"For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
2
I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment on them there for my people, and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided my land,
3
and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.
4
"Yes, and what are you to me, Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will you repay me? And if you repay me, I will swiftly and speedily return your repayment on your own head.
5
Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my finest treasures into your temples,
6
and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their border.
7
Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your repayment on your own head;
8
and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a faraway nation, for Yahweh has spoken it."
9
Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up.
10
Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, 'I am strong.'
11
Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together." Cause your mighty ones to come down there, Yahweh.
12
"Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
13
Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the winepress is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great."
14
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Yahweh is near, in the valley of decision.
15
The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
16
Yahweh will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake; but Yahweh will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.
17
"So you will know that I am Yahweh, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more.
18
It will happen in that day, that the mountains will drop down sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, all the brooks of Judah will flow with waters, and a fountain will come forth from the house of Yahweh, and will water the valley of Shittim.
19
Egypt will be a desolation, and Edom will be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20
But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
21
I will cleanse their blood, that I have not cleansed: for Yahweh dwells in Zion."
