The Messenger
Jesus, the Christ of God, at His first advent had several missions to accomplish, one was to be a messenger for His Father "Jehovah", another was to select and train others to carry on the messages that His Father gave to Him to give to the world, and also to establish His Father's salvation for humanities sake. After Christ ascension to Heaven, He would share with those He had chosen, additional messages through inspiration by His spirit, which now makes up much of the New Testament. Christ was also sent to fulfill all the requirements of Jehovah God's laws in order to qualify Himself as the "Lamb of God", by living a perfect righteous human life, then, allowing His blood to be shed as the final perfect sacrifice, which was the complete requirement for the payment of a transgression of God's unchangeable laws. He accomplished all these assignments perfectly, and on time, according to the prophecies recorded about Christ in the Old Testament. Jehovah, Christ's Father, gave Him those who would make it their passion to seek eternal life, which God made available to us through all the messages Christ would deliver to the world, "As You gave to Him authority over all flesh, so that all which You gave to Him, He may give to them everlasting life."(John 17:2), to lead them through this sinful world in preparation for His Father's coming kingdom, "Then is the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He makes to cease all rule and all authority and power." (1Corinthians 15:24). We are to follow Christ using the Book He gave us by inspiration to His many Bible writers. By accomplishing His duties, Christ unlocked the only gate to Heaven, by the price He paid for man's repented sins, for the ones written in the "Book of Life", and by Him revealing to us His Father's plan for salvation, "And this is everlasting life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." (John 17:3). In His inspired words and from His own lips, Jesus delivered messages from His Father, presenting the purposes of His Father, God Jehovah, "Jesus said unto her, Do not touch Me, for I have not ascended to My Father, but go to My brother and say to them, I am ascending to My Father and your Father, My God and your God." (John 20:17), also, revealing Jehovah's sovereign authority, read (John 10:29), (John 14:28) and it was God's sovereignty that gave Christ His authority, "Behold, My Child whom I chose, My beloved, in whom My soul has delighted! I will put My Spirit on Him and He will declare judgment to the nations." (Matthew 12:18, this was taken from Isaiah 42:1). Jehovah's authority was established at creation and was cemented by the Ten Commandments, given by God's breath and His finger onto stone, stated in the fourth Commandment "For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all which is in them..." (Exodus 20:11), "You alone are He, O Jehovah; You have made the heavens and the heavens of the heavens, and all their host; the earth and all which is on it; the seas and all that are in them; and You shall preserve them all alive..." (Nehemiah 9:6), "or have you not heard? Jehovah, the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth..." (Isaiah 40:28), Creator and sustainer "For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what his thought is...Jehovah, the God of Host, is His name." (Amos 4:13) "...yet the Father in Heaven feeds them..." (Matthew 6:26) and (Matthew 5:45), also "...I praise You Father, Lord of heaven and earth..." (Luke 10:21) and, "Heaven is My throne and the earth a footstool of My feet; what house will you build Me, says the Lord (Jehovah); or what the place of My rest? Did not My hands make all these things?" (Acts 7:49,50, Quote from Isaiah 66:1.2).
Jesus, the predicted Messiah, bearing messages from His Father and confirming
that Jehovah is our God and Father, "Answering at that time, Jesus said, I praise
You Father, Lord of Heaven and earth..." (Matthew 11:25), Jesus was quoting the inspired
words He gave to Abram, "...I have lifted my hand to Jehovah, the most high God,
the possessor of Heaven and earth." (Genesis 14:22). Moses spoke saying, "know today
and lay it in your heart, that Jehovah, He is God in the heavens above and on the
earth beneath; there is no other." (Deuteronomy 4:39). Christ asks us to pray to
our Father, "...Our Father who is in Heaven, let be sanctified Your name...for Yours
is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory to forever, Amen." (Matthew 6:9-
Christ is now our Mediator to the Father, our only mediator and He came to us in the name of His Father, as Jehovah's representative, "And the crowd, the ones going before and the ones following were crying out saying, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the One coming in the name of the Lord." (Matthew 21:9, Mark 11:9, Luke 19:38 & John 12:13) and the name of the "Lord" of the Old Testament is "Jehovah", "And let them know Your name is Jehovah, that You alone are the most high over all the earth." (Psalm 83:18) and the One coming in this name is the Stone that the builders rejected, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of Jehovah; we blessed You from the house of Jehovah." (Psalm 118:26) and (Matthew 23:39), (Luke 13:35), (John 7:28,29). Jesus came in the name of the Father, just as we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus, as our Advocate and Mediator. I need to point out that sometime after Christ's first advent, God's personal name "Jehovah" was replaced in the common Bibles with "Lord" or "God" 6742 times in just the Old Testament, which can be proven by the Hebrew text in an Interlinear Bible. During Christ earthly walk, He consistently gave full credit to His Father, "...the Son is not able to do anything for Himself, except what He may see the Father doing..." (John 5:19), "Jesus answered them, I showed you many good works from My Father..." (John 10:32), "The words I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me, He does the works." (John 14:10), (John 5:20), (John 10:25) and not only His works but also His words, "...but the One sending Me is true, and what I heard from Him, these things I say to the world." (John 8:26), and Christ speaking to His Father, "I have given them Your word, " (John 17:14).
Christ was sent by the Father because of God's love for us, we are His creation,
"And Jehovah God formed the man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils
the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7), sending His Son
to a death sentence was the ultimate sacrifice, our salvation was that important
to Jehovah, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only-
Christ warns us, "...the one rejecting Me, also rejects the One having sent Me." (Luke 10:16), "The one who does not love Me, does not keep My words, and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father who sent Me." (John 14:24). And He also commands us, "So let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works, and may glorify your Father in Heaven." (Matthew 5:16), "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness..." (Matthew 6:33), "Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the ones who do the will of My Father in Heaven." (Matthew 7:21), "And Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." (Matthew 22:37), (Matthew 12:50) (Mark 12:30) & (Luke 10:27), these verses are a quote from Deuteronomy 6:5. "And you shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might", Christ continues, "And answering Jesus said to them, Have faith in God." (Mark 11:22), "Truly, truly, I say to you, The one who hears My word and believes the One who sent Me, has everlasting life..." (John 5:24).
Jesus last act as the "Son of man", dying on the cross, established His Father's salvation for our repented sins, "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinner to repentance." (Luke 5:32 & Matthew 9:13, Mark 2:17), and God Jehovah gave His Son this commission in order to establish salvation for the world "And it shall be that everyone who shall call on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Acts 2:21), a direct quote from the Old Testament, "For it shall be, all who call on the name of Jehovah shall be saved..." (Joel 2:32), "and I saw and beheld, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion! And with Him were a 144,000, with the name of His Father having been written on their foreheads." (Revelation 14:1). Without Christ's willful act, allowing His blood to be shed at Calvary for our sins, salvation would not be possible and no matter how righteous we would try to be, we can never achieve perfection on our own, we would be lost to the second death, but with Christ's help we can achieve righteousness. Christ's sacrifice makes Jesus our Savior, for His Father sent Him to establish salvation for us, "and my spirit exulted in God my Savior." (Luke 1:47) a reference to Isaiah, "For I am Jehovah your God, the holy One of Israel, your Savior..." (Isaiah 43:3). Here is just a small portion of the list of Old Testament verses that present Jehovah God, the originator of our Salvation: 2 Samuel 22:3, Psalm 37:39, Isaiah 43:3,11, 45:21, 49:26, 60:16, "For so says Jehovah, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chiefs of the nations. Cry out and give praise and say, O Jehovah, save Your people, the remnant of Israel." (Jeremiah 31:7 and, Hosea 13:4). And a few from New Testament verses stating God as Savior: Luke 1:47, "and my spirit exulted in God my Savior)" 1Timothy 1:1, 2:3, 4:10, Titus 1:3, 2:10, 3:4 and Jude 1:25. Keep in mind that Old Testament verses contain "Jehovah" but not the New Testament.
There are also verses declaring Jesus as our Savior, "God has exulted this One as a Ruler and Savior to His right hand, to give to Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins." (Acts 5:31), also "And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world." (1John 4:14), plus Luke 2:11, John 4:42, 2Timothy 1:10, Titus 1:4, 2:13, 3:6, 2Peter 1:1,11, 2:20, 3:2,18. According to all these verses, it shows that God Jehovah is the originator of the available salvation, and in God sending His Son to establish salvation for Him, this makes Christ Jesus the Savior along with the Sender, Jehovah. I desire to make this point clear, the Father Jehovah sent His Son, Jesus, to establish salvation by His Son's blood and by Christ's righteousness, which He earned by His perfect fulfillment of His Father's laws, during Christ's lowered state as a man at His first advent. Christ accomplished this by His complete faith in His Father, who was the only man (being the Son of man at that time) to have a personal knowledge of God Almighty, His Father. Jesus is the predicted Messiah, spoken of in the midst of the twenty three hundred year prophecy, revealed to us by Daniel (Daniel 9:25,26) and He willingly stepped down from His place in Heaven to unlock the door to God's eternal kingdom, not to open this door for everyone to pass through, but for those who commit to cleansing themselves by seeking the knowledge of God Jehovah and by doing His will, once we understand the purity of God's righteousness, which the promise of Christ's power made available to those who ask for His guidance and His strength in seeking the truth of His Father, Jehocah.
Christ spoke of His learning and doing what He sees the Father doing, "...and
from Myself I do nothing; but as My Father taught Me, these things I speak." (John
8:28). This indicates that, at some point Christ (Michael in the Old Testament) learned
His Father's ways, and the only time mentioned in the Bible that this took place
was in the Old Testament. Not only was Christ inspiring the Bible writers, being
the Word of God (John 1:1), but He also was by His Father's side learning while with
His Father at creation, "Then I (Christ) was by Him (Jehovah) as one brought up with
Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him." (Proverbs 8:30, King
James Version). I uses the KJV here because the J.P. Green Interlinear Bible, which
I used for all other verses, translated Proverbs 8:30 incorrectly, according to the
Hebrew text. By using the Strong's Concordance dictionary part, the KJV translated
the word with one listed, but both the KJV and the I-
At times in the OT, angels (messengers) of Jehovah appeared to men, Gabriel was named in the OT twice and twice in the NT, and Michael, the Archangel is mentioned twice in the NT, (I Thessalonians 4:16 and Jude 1:9), and three times in Daniel, but there were other Heavenly angels sent that names were not mentioned, only as an angel or as "the angel of Jehovah". "And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him in a flame in the middle of a thorn bush...and God called to him and said...do not come near here, pull off your sandals from your feet, for the place in which you are standing is holy ground." (Exodus 3:2,4 & 5). Paying close attention to the language in this verse, The "Angel of Jehovah" was visible in the midst of the fire, but God Jehovah spoke from the burning bush to Moses. The one speaking was not the angel of Jehovah because it says, "God called" and we know that angels are not God, but messengers of God. Since Jehovah God was present and speaking, the ground was declared holy. If the angel of Jehovah was Michael, as most Bibles indicate by capitalization, then Jesus was with the Father in appearance only, and according to the Hebrew text, Jehovah spoke for Himself, as Jehovah sometimes did in the Old Testament and three times in the NT. We can understand that the Son of God was with Jehovah in the OT, learning and working with His Father, and by using logic, Christ received this training because He was to be given the commission and authority to prepare and gather men for God's kingdom with His Father, the ones God had given to Him, "I revealed Your name to the men whom You gave to Me out of the world. They were Yours, and You gave them to Me; and they have kept Your word." (John 17:6).
Jesus directs us to do the will of His Father, "For whoever does the will of God, this one is My brother, and My sister and My mother." (Mark 3:35). All these messages listed were to reveal the Father and His name to us "And I made Your name known to them and I will make it known, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." (John 17:26), "...but I will reveal the Father plainly to you." (John 16:25). The apostles must have correctly received these messages Christ gave, "who gave Himself for our sins, so that He might deliver us out of the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever, Amen." (Galatians 1:4,5), "And every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father." (1Philippians 2:11). His Son made this plain, by inspiration that we should give His Father the glory He justly deserves. And God also said, "I am Jehovah, that is My name; and I will not give My glory to another..." (Isaiah 42:8). And God's Son, Jehovah's Messenger, the Messiah, also deserves His glory, establishing salvation for us, with His own blood, and much more. It is so important to consider ALL of God's words, "But answering He said, It has been written: 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word going out of the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4), which Christ quoted to Satan, "...in order to cause you to know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man shall live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of Jehovah." Christ's quote was from (Deuteronomy 8:3). Can we ignore God's messages any longer, given to us by His messenger? You just read many of Christ's messages giving credit and praising His Father, it is for us to follow Jesus in praising our Father as Jesus did, as we follow Christ to the kingdom of God, by preparing our heart to be in the presence of our Creator, Jehovah, God Almighty.