113 Jesus is not Jehovah

Babylon Will Fall

As was stated earlier, much that is written in the Books of Prophecy in the Bible has a double meaning.  The first sense pertains to the prophet's current surroundings when he speaks to his peers; the second has to to with futuristic forecasts, or perhaps, historic events.  The Book of Isaiah is a perfect example of this kind of biblical interpretation.

Earlier it was said that Isaiah's ministry began in about the middle of the 8th century BCE. By this time Assyria was in the decline and Babylon was on the rise.  An observant person, like Isaiah, probably, could easily have seen the possibility of Babylon attacking Judah as they had already attacked other nations.  

In chapter 13+14 he predicts the rise of the Babylonian kingdom, he warns his own people of what Babylon will do to Judah, and he writes of Babylon's demise at the hands of the Persians.  The futuristic interpretation of this prophecy sounds as if it refers to the cataclysm of the upcoming end of human society as we know it.

For the stars of the heavens and their constellations shall not give light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not reflect its light. And I will visit evil on the world, and their iniquity on the wicked. And I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease; and I will humble the pride of tyrants. 13:10-11.

Compare this with the words of Christ.  And immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give her light, and the stars will fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the heavens. And then all the tribes of the land will wail. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and much glory. Mat. 24:29-30.

Then, compare that with the words of Peter: But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. And the earth and the works in it will be burned up. Then, all these things being about to be dissolved, what sort ought you to be in holy behavior and godliness, looking for and rushing the coming of the Day of God, on account of which the heavens, being on fire, will melt away, and the elements will melt, burning with heat? 2 Peter 3:10-12.

By reading Isaiah 14 carefully it is obvious that Isaiah is speaking of a human; namely the king of Babylon, at the time when the Persians destroyed Babylon.  Twice he refers to him as the man.  On the other hand, chapter 14 finds its second meaning not by looking forward, but rather by looking back into history.  In that view, the application does not fit a man, but Satan at the time when he, the evil one, attempted to usurp the throne of Jehovah.  John Milton in Paradise Lost had much, that is very interesting, to say about that battle.

How you are fallen from the heavens, O shining star, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart, I will go up to the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. I will go up above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. Yet you shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the Pit. 14:12-15.

There is a similar arrangement of themes in chapters 39 and 40.  Again the writer speaks of the devastation that Babylon will bring to Judah.  

Behold, the days come when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says Jehovah. 39:6.  He also speaks of the overwhelming peace that Jehovah will pour out on the returning exiles.

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak lovingly to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is done, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received of Jehovah's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him who cries in the wilderness, Prepare the way of Jehovah, make straight a highway in the desert for our God. 40:1-3.

Again, this prophecy is also relevant in the future realm (future to Isaiah and his peers, but fulfilled prophecy for our times) referring to the birth of Christ in Bethlehem.  In fact, the words of Isaiah, The voice of him who cries in the wilderness, Prepare the way of Jehovah, 40:3,  are applied directly to John the Baptist, the man who baptized Jesus.   As it is written in the book of the Words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight." Luke 3:4.

False Concepts

How easily we accept the teachings of our masters in college, or anywhere else, without ever bothering to think.  All my life I had learned that John the Baptist was to prepare the way for the Lord for Jesus Christ.  This Bible text clearly says, Prepare the way of Jehovah. 40:3.  The second time Isaiah uses that phrase he uses the word "Lord", with a capital "L", that choice of spelling tells us that Isaiah was not speaking of Christ, but of Jehovah.

In spite of the fact that the Bible distinctly uses the name "Jehovah" which, in no case, ever refers to Christ, one Bible commentator writes, prepare ye the way of the Lord by whom is meant the Messiah ... being called "Jehovah" and "our God". John Gill's Exposition of the Bible.   No, definitely not, Jesus is never called Jehovah and Jehovah is never brought down to the level of the Messiah.

Bible teachers who believe in the Trinity will grasp at anything they can find in the Bible to prove their point.  If the Bible does not agree with their beliefs they will change the words in the Bible, or rearrange the words until the words they have accepted, as being genuine, agree with their false teaching.  

One example proves the point: and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Greek translation,  and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. KJV;  notice the change, in the more modern versions, and denying the only Master, God, even our Lord Jesus Christ.  Jude verse 4 LITV.   They are trying to prove that the Bible teaches that Jesus is God, by changing the words in the Bible but, even so, the Bible does not support that theory.

When the reformers left the Roman Catholic Church they dropped a lot of that church's false teachings; teachings such as transubstantiation, infant baptism, salvation by good works, and penance.  

One of that church's false teachings, which was invented in the fourth century, which they did not drop, but by all means should have, is the doctrine of the Trinity.  Protestant churches would be so much closer to the truth if they would quit teaching this ungodly doctrine and rather teach what the Bible actually says?