Jesus is the God of the Burning Bush
John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word [1] and the Word was with The God and God was the Word [2] The same was in the beginning with God All things were made by him [The Word] and without him was not anything made that was made Genesis 1:1, Colossians 1:16
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Genesis 1:1 says that In the beginning ELOHIYM ALEPH TAV [3] [אֵת Aleph Tav the First & Last)] created [bara] [4] the heavens [\] shamayim [5] the earth erets [6]
In Revelation 1:8 Jesus said, “I am ALPHA AND OMEGA THE BEGINNING AND THE ENDING [1] declares the LORD WHO IS and WHO WAS and WHO IS TO COME, … THE ALMIGHTY”[2]
[1] in Genesis 1:1, The word ELOHIM, is followed by the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet … but remain untranslated in virtually every English Bible. If the two letters Aleph Tav were translated in Genesis 1:1, the verse would read, “In the beginning ELOHIYM אֱלֹהִים FIRST LAST אֵת created the heavens and the earth.”
This is remarkable. The very first verse of our Bible says that the Hebrew ALEPH TAV, who is the same person as the Greek ALPHA and OMEGA, is the Creator of all things.
[2] Revelation chapter one, verses 4-5, 8-9, 12, and 17, leave no question that Jesus is Jehovah. The Alpha and Omega—the Almighty—the same as the one who “was” (who died), the one who “is” (who now lives again), and the one who “is to come” (who is coming again), is the Creator of all things.
Revelation chapter one reveals that Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the First and Last, the ALEPH TAV of Genesis 1:1. There are many more witnesses to this in scripture, John and Paul being just two who identify Jesus as the Creator of all things, thus refuting that he is a created being himself—a lesser god—who was used to create all other things).
Colossians 1:13-17 says, “…who has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son In whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins who is the image of the invisible God [7] the FIRSTBORN [8] of every creature For by him were ALL things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers ALL things were created by him and for him [9] And he is before ALL things and by him ALL things consist”
Colossians 2:9 says, “For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in physical form.” [10]
Philippians 2:5-6 of the Majority Text [TR] says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who existing in the [physical] form of God [11] deemed it not a robbery [12] to be equal with God.”
In John 8:58, Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you Before Abraham was, I AM.”
Jesus said in John 8:24, “I said therefore to you that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I AM, you shall die in your sins,”
Jesus is not “a” god. He is “The” God. He claimed to be the I AM. He claimed to be Jehovah—the God of the Burning Bush.
[1] G3056
[2] The Greek text of Colossians 2:9, is clear that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus in physical form. Jesus is YHWH.
Some refer to the lack of the definite article ho (“the” G3588) before the word, God (Theos), in various verses, as an excuse to claim that Jesus is not Jehovah, but lack of the definite article is of no consequence, as Almighty God is referred to throughout the New Testament, both with and without the definite article.
Also, keep in mind that the writer of John’s gospel was a Jewish man, the apostle John, and all Jews, have only ONE GOD. John would never call anyone GOD but Jehovah, which brings to mind another Jew, Thomas, who worshipped Jesus, calling him, “My LORD and my GOD.”
[3] The word, Elohim, which is used exclusively in Genesis chapter one, is a plural word—specifically meaning three. It literally translates as “Gods,” meaning The Godhead.
All references to “God” in Genesis chapter one, is the Hebrew word, Elohim, which is designated in the Strong’s Hebrew Concordance, as word number H430.
The Hebrew word, Elowahh, which is Strongs H433, means “God,” and is the singular of Elohim.
The word, Elohim, refers to more than two (Martin/Ankerberg 1985). There is a word in Hebrew that refers to more than one but not more than two, but Elohiym is not that word. The word Elohiym, when referring to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is a reference to the Triune Godhead.
According to Philippians 2:10-11, which is a New Testament quote of Jehovah speaking to Isaiah (45:23), Jesus is the LORD GOD. He is Yahweh Elohiym of the Old Covenant.
The fullness (the entirety) of the Godhead resides in the mortal, Christ Jesus, in physical form (Colossians 2:9). We serve a God who is one yet three. The Holy of Holies in the temple, formerly located in Jerusalem, literally means the Holy place of the Holy Ones—the Holy Ones are the Godhead (Cooke).
Do we understand how God can be three yet one? No, we cannot. It is as impossible for mortals to analyze and dissect the Godhead as it would be to attempt to separate the soul and spirit; only God has sufficient understanding and power to accomplish such a thing in humans, who are all triune beings made in the image of God (we are spirits who live in bodies and who have souls).
God is triune in his personage, each member of the Godhead is separate and distinct, yet uncompromisingly a triune ONE. As the Apostle John wrote, “There are Three in heaven….”
It is sin to theologically transform the Triune Godhead into a hierarchical and idolatrous triad of one big God, followed by two lesser and subordinate gods, which hierarchical religion, of necessity, does.
[4] One of the meanings of, bara [H1254], means to create something new.
[5] Strong’s Hebrew reference 8064 Heaven is, SHAMAYIM, the Hebrew word that comes from SHAMEH. The word, SHAMAYIM is used exclusively for all references to heaven from Genesis 1:1 through Psalm 78:8. In these passages, only the context can determine which “heaven” the verse is referring to, whether the sky, beyond the sky, or the third Heaven that Paul referred to in the New Testament.
[6] The shamayim and the erets constitute the entire universe. There is no separate Hebrew word for universe.
[7] Jesus is the image of the invisible God, because he is God. All the fullness of the Godhead resides in him in physical form. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with The God and The God was the Word. Yeshua is YHWH. Jesus is God.
[8] Now, let’s talk about Jesus being the FIRSTBORN of all Creation.
In addition to being a birth order, the term firstborn, in biblical usage, is also a status Deut 21:16, Psalm 78:27, Jeremiah 31:9 [Genesis 48:14]. Jesus is firstborn of all creation because he is both the source and savior of all creation. He is the preeminent one. He is not a created being.
Jesus is the one to whom every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is Jehovah to the glory of God the Father. Compare Philippians 2:10-11 with Isaiah 45:23, where the LORD GOD—the Godhead—himself told Isaiah that Jesus is The Most High God Romans 14:11, Philippians 2:10-11, Isaiah 45:23.
[9] YHWH Elohiym created everything by himself Isaiah 42:5 & 44:24. That means he did not create a lesser and subordinate god, Jesus, and then use him to create every other thing, as some altered texts—such as the Hort Westcott edited Greek Text used by Watchtower Society—attempt to make it appear.
The Old Covenant states that Jehovah created all things by himself, and the New Covenant, which is “The Covenant that makes New,” states that Jesus created everything that was made, and without him was not anything made.
Genesis says that YHWH Elohiym is the Creator. Colossians says that Jesus is YHWH Elohiym.
[10] Colossians 2:9 cannot be clearer. The phrase: “All of the fullness…,” leaves no room for argument. Jesus is Jehovah John 14:9 references the Father as the Godhead.
[11] (Philippians 2:6, is an air-tight verse showing complete equality within the Godhead. That means no hierarchy, and when compared with Colossians 2:9, that says “All the fullness of the Godhead dwelled in Jesus, in physical form,” how can there be any question?
[12] Back to Philippians 2:6, where it says that Jesus did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Yes, most Bible say that Jesus did not consider it something to be “grasped at” to be equal with God. That is because most New Testaments are translated from the critical and eclectic Minority Texts, whereas the New Testaments of the King James Version, The Youngs Literal Translation, and some others, are translated from Majority Texts.
The differences between the Majority Text and Minority Text are many. Importantly, is the fact that there are over 5000 extant (still existing) texts attesting to the veracity of the Majority Text. Hence the name Majority Text. These texts are in amazing agreement with one another, whereas there are relatively few extant minority texts, (hence the name Minority Text), which disagree with one another in what should be a disturbing number of instances.
Majority texts agree that Jesus did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. One cannot steal what one already owns.
One’s own identity cannot be considered stolen property, and the Greek word, translated as “robbery, TR as seen in the Majority Text, is not the same as the words “grasped at,” translated from the minority texts.”
Bibles translated from critical/minority/eclectic texts undermine the deity of Christ by misleading readers to believe that Jesus felt equality with God (the Godhead) was something he did not already have, something “to be grasped at,” something he would need to steal if he wanted it. But Jesus himself claimed he already had equality with God. He had no need to grasp at something he already possessed. The Majority Text is correct, Jesus did not consider it a robbery or theft to be equal with God, because he was and is God.
Jesus is Immanuel, Yahweh in the flesh. The God with Us.
Jesus, rightly, does not consider his intrinsic equality and existence as himself (God in physical form), to be ill-gotten gain, because there was no gain to be had, because there is no hierarchy within the Eternal Godhead.
Equality as God and with God is and always has been intrinsically his.
All references to YHWH, or YAHWEH ELOHIM, when referencing the Almighty, are references not to the Father but to the Godhead. All references to the Hebrew ADONAI when referencing the Almighty, are also references to the Godhead, because all of these words are plurals.
References to the Greek word, KYRIOS, meaning Lord, when used by Jews addressing Jesus, are all references to the Eternal Godhead, for Jews worshipped only One God. They had only One LORD—only One Immanuel, The God with Us.
Due to bias, hierarchical Bible translators have many times deliberately mistranslated the Greek word, “God” as “Father,” when the Greek text does not say father, it says “God.” This misleads Believers about God and the nature of the Godhead.
The Father is a co-equal member of the Godhead, as is the Son (who previous to his incarnation was known as the Word) and the Holy Spirit. All three, individually and/or collectively, throughout scripture, call themselves YAHWEH, as well as Elohim and Adonai.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with The God, and the Word was God. This is not something Jesus acquired at some point in his existence. It is simply who he is and always has been.
Paul wrote that the fullness (the absolute entirety) of the Godhead resides in Jesus in physical form. Peter called Paul’s writings scripture (sacred writings). Peter also wrote that rebellious ones would struggle against the writings of Paul.
Jesus is God, and at no time, did the WORD, Jesus, ever give up his eternal existence and identity as Yahweh, the I AM of the Burning Bush—not even when he entered the kosmos as Immanuel, “The God with Us.”
Jesus is The Almighty, God the Word, Yahweh Elohim, the Aleph Tav of Genesis 1:1, and the Alpha and Omega of Revelation 1:8. Jesus is God Almighty, who took on human flesh and was incarnated as the mortal Son of God.
Isn’t that something? The one who alone has immortality, freely chose to become a mortal, so he could eliminate sin and death, forever, by dying on the cross and rising again, so that all who come to him in faith can live forever with him.
John 1:14 And the WORD was made flesh and dwelt among us….
The book, “Jesus God of the Burning Bush,” by Jocelyn Andersen, explores the nature of Jesus’ relationship with God, questioning hierarchy within the Godhead. The book addresses questions such as whether Jesus is a submissive god-son to an all-powerful God-Father and whether the Holy Spirit is truly God or merely a lesser being. It emphasizes the belief that Jesus is the Eternal Father and Beloved Son, challenging traditional views on the Godhead.
Jocelyn Andersen challenges the status quo with an often non-traditional and out-of-the-box approach to biblical understanding. She writes and speaks on a variety of subjects including Bible Prophecy, God and Women, and Christian response to domestic violence. Her work has been featured in magazines, newspapers, radio, and television.
Note from the editor: I read my Bible every day, always picking up today where I left off yesterday. I call this my “on track” Bible reading. I have been doing this for over 45 years. It was the best advice I was ever given, and it changed my life. If you are not presently doing the same, I invite you to join me. How much you read on a daily basis is up to you. What matters is that you read, feeding your spirit with a prayerful dose of the living and powerful Word of God.
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