Do Christians Worship Three Gods? - Part 09

Liz Aielo: Stay with us as we discuss the question, do Christians worship three gods? Right here on Messianic Perspectives. Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctive first century Jewish point of view. I'm Liz Aielo. Today Dr. Gary Hedrick is discussing the doctrine of the Trinity. Does it really mean that Christians worship three gods, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Some people think so, and that's what we want to find out. I'll be back at the close of the program to tell you about our special offer. And now with today's installment, here's Gary Hedrick.
Dr. Gary Hedrick: Thank you. It's good to have you with us listening friend as we continue this series of studies on the subject of the Trinity. And as we've been making our way through the Old Testament scriptures, we've been able to discern three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all three of whom are identified as God. And what we're talking about now is something that really goes to the main point of this whole discussion, and that is the question of whether or not Jesus of Nazareth really is God. Because when you get right down to it, that's the bottom line. Is Jesus who he said he was or isn't he? I was talking to our friend Yitzhak on the phone the other night. Yitzhak Yeshaya, he's the Hasidic Jewish man who came to faith in Jesus Christ a couple of years ago. And Yitzhak said he went down to Los Angeles with a friend not long ago to do some street witnessing in the Jewish area there on uh Fairfax Avenue in downtown LA. Yitzhak said it was the first time in his life that anyone had ever spat on him. When those Orthodox Jews and ultra Orthodox Jews find out you're a Christian and you're trying to tell their people about Jesus, some of them will spit on you. I mean it goes with the territory. And you might say, well isn't that a terrible thing to do to spit on somebody? Well of course it is. But look at it from the standpoint of the Orthodox Jew. Put yourself in his place. He doesn't believe Jesus is God. And if you're a Christian, he thinks you're an idolater because you worship a false God. And if you're a Jewish Christian, you're even worse in his eyes because you're an apostate. You're a seducer and a deceiver and an apostate and when you die, you're going to Gehenna with all the rest of the Jewish apostates. You see, you've got to look at it from his point of view. And so it comes down to one central issue once again and that is the fact that Christians believe that Jesus Christ is God. And if he isn't God, then let's face it. Everything the rabbis have been saying for the past 2,000 years is true. If Jesus isn't God, listen. If Jesus isn't God, the New Testament is a sham. If Jesus isn't God, then Saul of Tarsus was an apostate who invented a strange new religion just like the rabbis say. If Jesus isn't God, Christians are some of the worst idolaters in the history of mankind. You see, if Jesus isn't God, then everything the rabbis have been saying is true. If Jesus isn't God, Christianity is a false religion that has deceived millions of people. If Jesus isn't God, then the great Sanhedrin in the first century was correct in condemning Yeshua of Nazareth for blasphemy. It's all true. That is if Yeshua was not and is not God. But if he is God, the picture radically changes. If he is God, then do you know what that means? It means that after all of those centuries and centuries and centuries of waiting for the fulfillment of the Messianic promises, after hundreds and thousands of years of anticipating the fulfillment of the words of the prophets, it means that after all of that when the Messiah finally came, they rejected him. They crucified him. Or I should say we crucified him because it was Jew and Gentile alike my friend. The Romans too. We all had complicity in what was done to Jesus. It wasn't just the Jews. But if he was the Messiah, then what happened to Jesus of Nazareth is particularly tragic for the Jewish people because he was their Messiah. He came unto his own and his own received him not the New Testament says. But isn't it wonderful how God in his sovereignty can take tragedy and turn it into triumph? Because although the crucifixion was indeed a tragedy, it is through that old rugged cross that atonement has been made for our sins. Jesus was the sacrificial lamb of God who died for our sins. Through faith in him we can have forgiveness, absolute forgiveness, total forgiveness. Not just from one year to the next or from one day of atonement to the next day of atonement, but permanent forgiveness. Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 5:1 says. That's why the apostle Paul, Saul, said in 1 Corinthians 1:18, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Verse 23, but we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness. You see, to the Gentiles the cross is foolishness. Here was a Jew from Galilee hanging on a cross between two thieves. The Gentiles thought, so what? And to the Jews the preaching of the crucified Messiah was a stumbling block. Now what's a stumbling block? It's something you trip over. You try to step over it but you can't. And the idea of a crucified Messiah, Mashiach, was something the Jewish people just couldn't get past. They had been indoctrinated with the traditional picture of the Messiah as a great political leader. And here he was hanging on a cross. Most of them just couldn't deal with it. And if you say the Messiah is God, then it's even harder for them to deal with because nothing could be further from traditional Jewish thinking than the idea of God hanging on a cross. To them the very idea is blasphemous. It's a stumbling block. They just can't get past that point. And that 's why the central question in all of this is still the same as it was 2,000 years ago and that is, is Jesus really God? And what I try to do is to get our Jewish friends to look beyond the traditions, beyond the Talmud, beyond the traditional ideas of who the Messiah would be. Let's break the mold of tradition and look at the scriptures themselves. What does the Bible say? For example, the traditional Jewish view of the Messiah is that he will be a man, not a God man, but just a man born in the normal way. But the New Testament portrays the Messiah as God in human flesh conceived by the Holy Spirit under the most miraculous of circumstances. In fact, let's go over to the New Testament book of Matthew where we read about the events leading up to the birth of Jesus. It says in Matthew 1:19, then Joseph her husband, Mary's husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put Mary away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream saying, Joseph thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus. The Hebrew is Yeshua which means salvation now. The Greek is Iesous and the uh anglicized form of Iesous is Jesus. Thou shalt call his name Jesus or Yeshua, Joshua, salvation. For he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled. Now watch this, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, Behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which being interpreted is God with us. That's Matthew chapter 1 verses 19 through 23. So the book of Matthew interprets Isaiah 7:14, the passage we were looking at on the last program, as a prophecy of the coming Messiah. Speaking of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, Matthew says, now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet. And then Matthew quotes from the Septuagint which was the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament and he says, Behold a virgin in the Greek a parthenos, literally a virgin, not a young woman, not a young maiden, but literally a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son. Now you might say, well why is that so important Gary? I'm glad you asked. The reason this is so important is that some people say the virgin birth was an invention of the early church. They say it was the early church that manipulated the New Testament documents to teach that Christ was virgin born. But here's the problem with that theory my friend. The Septuagint teaches that Messiah would be virgin born and the Septuagint wasn't translated by Christians. In fact, when the Septuagint was translated there were no Christians. It was translated by Jewish scholars who according to Jewish tradition were appointed by the Jewish high priest of that time which was more than a hundred years before the birth of Christ. So it's significant that these Jewish scholars with no Christian prejudices whatsoever translated the Hebrew word alma with the Greek word parthenos, not the Greek word neanis which means young woman, but parthenos which means virgin. And the meaning is the same not only in Koine Greek but also in classical Greek. There is no other meaning for the Greek word parthenos. What that means is that the virgin birth of Jesus Christ isn't based merely on Christian scholarship, but also on legitimate Jewish scholarship. Well there's a lot more we could say about Isaiah 7:14 and the virgin birth, but unfortunately we're out of time. Join us again next time, won't you? I'll see you then. Take care. Bye bye.
Liz Aielo: Thank you Gary and thank you listening friend for tuning in today. Now let me tell you about our special offer for this month. It's Gary Hedrick's booklet entitled, Do Christians worship three gods? In this 70 page booklet Gary addresses head-on the question of whether or not the doctrine of the Trinity makes Christianity incompatible with the teachings of the Jewish Bible or what we call the Old Testament. It's available for a suggested gift of $7. After all, the Jewish people have always been champions of monotheism. The central creed of Judaism is Deuteronomy 6:4 which says, the Lord our God is one Lord, not three. So when a Jewish person becomes a believer in Jesus, isn't he forsaking his monotheistic Jewish heritage? Surprisingly enough, the answer is no. And you'll find out why in this interesting booklet. It has an informative question and answer section and also a helpful glossary of Hebrew words at the end. The title again is, do Christians worship three gods? Then we also have the programs you're hearing here on the broadcast available on two CDs with the same title, do Christians worship three gods? This series is available for a suggested gift of $12. Just visit our secure online store at messianicspecialties.com to place your order. If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, PO Box 345, San Antonio, Texas 78292. To order by phone, use our toll free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397. Let me remind you that when you order the materials we offer here on the program, you're not only enabling us to remain here on your station, but you're also helping us take the good news of Yeshua Ha Mashiach to Jewish people and Gentiles all over the world. Even if you're one of our regular listeners, you still may not know that we're much more than just a radio program. Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries, one of the largest missionary organizations in the world. We currently have missionary families serving the Lord all over the world including the United States, Canada, South America, England, France, and of course Israel. So when you write, consider helping us with a gift above the suggested amount. We'd be very grateful. And as always, when you're in touch with us, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. I'm Liz Aielo. Join us next time won't you as Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series of studies on, do Christians worship three gods right here on Messianic Perspectives? Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries of San Antonio, Texas and is made possible on this station by the free will contributions of our listeners in this area.