How many God-persons? "I SAW..", Scenes from heaven,1 God Series

 "I SAW" by the Witnesses

Scripture Scenes from heaven, From the 1God Series:
by Rory Moore

Confused over the Creator of all things? 
Mystified by Genesis 1:26 "Let us"?

Confused by conflicting, confusing, contradicting church teachings regarding the Almighty? 

Well congratulations, you have a lot of company, and I once shared your dilemma.

"ONE" should be simple, but how often people make one complicated!
Can One be two or three? Can 1/3 or 1/2 be equal without diminishing the whole? 

You are probably reading this from the perspective of what we were taught or influenced to believe. Some of us became zealots for our belief and countless books, articles, and debates bear witness to our passion.

After 30 years in Christianity, countless studies, books, and opinions including my own, I realized in all honesty, what I had believed had problems with scriptures that did not reconcile with my church doctrine.

Before arguing, I hope you will do where I began in using this particular approach to solve my own questions regarding the #1 Subject in the universe and the questions I had in His Word, the holy scriptures..  

.... A simple search.
If you will look at scripture verses search for "I SAW" and what the witnesses described as the ONE on the throne. https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?search=I+saw&version=ASV&searchtype=phrase&spanbegin=1&spanend=73

Thus results a scripture search for "I SAW" , exact phrase, and filtered out passages that were not about God, heaven, and the Throne of God. 

These are the literal eye-witnesses: Moses, Macaiah. Isaiah. Daniel. John. Stephen. Ezekiel especially as it is most detailed, but all agree.

As I read and compared, prayed and pondered the eyewitnesses descriptions, I began to "see" what they "saw". And I found I had been wrong about some things.

First witness,  
Exodus 24:9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:

10 And THEY SAW the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.
11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid not his hand: also 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝑮𝒐𝒅, and did eat and drink.

Num 12:8  With him <Moses> will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude H8544 of the LORD shall he behold:
similitude:
similitude (4x), image (1x).
Outline of Biblical Usage: form, image, likeness, representation, semblance
Strong’s Definitions : from H4327; something portioned (i.e. fashioned) out, as a shape, i.e. (indefinitely) phantom, or embodiment, or (figuratively) manifestation (of favor):—image, likeness, similitude.

Second witness Macaiah said "I saw"

1kings 22:9  And Micaiah said, Therefore hear thou the word of the Lord: >>> I saw The Lord sitting on his throne <<<, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.

Third witness Isaiah.  “I saw”
Isaiah 6 (ASV) :1  In the year that king Uzziah died

 I saw the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and His train filled the temple.

Fourth Witness Daniel.  He wrote “I saw”
Dan. 7: Daniel spoke and said, I SAW in my VISION by night, and, behold, the four winds of heaven broke forth upon the great sea. 9  I beheld till thrones were set, and one that was Ancient of days did sit:
His raiment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool; His throne was fiery flames, [and] the wheels thereof burning fire.

10  A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousands of thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.  .....................

Fifth Witness Ezekiel:  “I saw”
1:1.. and I saw visions of God.....and the hand of 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓛𝓞𝓡𝓓 was there upon him.
1:26  And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne as the appearance of a sapphire stone;  and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above.**

26 Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man.

27 Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him.
28 As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance.

Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.  (YEHOVAH)

Sixth Witness angels. Jesus said:
Mat. 18:10   See that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say to you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.

Seventh witness Stephen said "I see"
Acts 7:56 and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. 

Eighth Witness: John    He wrote "I saw.."
Revelation 4:1
:1 After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven 2 Straightway I was in the Spirit: and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and One sitting upon the throne; 3 and He that sat was to look upon like a jasper stone and a sardius: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, like an emerald to look upon.
10 the four and twenty elders shall fall down before him that sits on the throne, and shall worship him that lives for ever and ever, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 

11 Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power: for You did create all things, and because of thy will they were, and were created.

Solomon: 2 Chronicles 7:12 And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said to him: “I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself for a house of sacrifice.

All reaction

God "alone" scriptures:

Job  9:8 That alone stretched out the heavens,
Psalm 83:18 That they may know that You alone, whose name is YHWH, Are the Most High over all the earth.
Psalm 136:4 To Him who alone does great wonders; For his loving kindness endures for ever:

Isaiah 37:16 O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, that sits above the cherubim, You are the God, even You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; You have made heaven and earth.

Isaiah 44:24 Thus says the LORD, thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from the womb:

I am the LORD (YHWH), that makes all things; that stretched forth the heavens alone; that spread abroad the earth (who is with Me?);

In the above passages, there is no visual, pre-Bethlehem evidence or witness of a second or third person with Him (God the eternal One, YHWH). 

There will be more in this series and I know what you are thinking  "BUT WHAT ABOUT...?",

and I will address those just as I myself asked the same "WHAT ABOUT's"..

So before getting upset with me, please look at those passages and imagine yourself being the one reporting their witness, step into their sandals and see through their vision, read their words and imagine in your mind what they say ...

© All rights reserved. Rory Moore 2018 

Tags:
trinity, Oneness, mono theism, universalism, Pentecostal, triune, fully god fully man, deity, deity of christ, one God, God in three persons, unitarian

"My Lord and My God"

Thomas answered and said to him, My Lord and my God.

People often point to that verse as a "Jesus is God" proof,
 but ignore two other passages in the same chapter that do not agree with what they think Thomas meant. 

Let’s examine in context three key verses in the same chapter.

20:17 Jesus *said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them:
‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God’

20:28 And Thomas answered and said to him, My Lord and my God.

20:31  <John>  but these have been written  that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

These are FOUR possible meanings.

1.  Thomas calling Jesus Lord ( a master, of authority) and God , <theos/ eloheim.  A word also applied to men, judges and kings) 

2.  As an exclamation, MY LORD AND MY GOD! -as an expression of shock and surprise to GOD above, as people do.

3. Calling him LORD (Yhwh)  and GOD (The Almighty)

4. Jesus responded to Thomas: John 20:29  Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Believed what? That he was God? 
-Or believe that God raised him from the dead?
The context of the conversation is the resurrection of Christ, and not deity

There's only one answer and it was the fact that God raised him from the dead.
Reading a few verses prior should help us understand the best choice.

John 20:17 (NASB) Jesus *said to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say, 
'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'"

Because the word “God” or “theos” are not exclusive terms for the Almighty. 

It may refer to anything likened unto God, Gods Representative, or one entrusted with the word of God, a judge, a ruler, or king. All of which apply to Jesus.

Jesus said the Father is the ONLY true God and he said the Father is "MY God".
John said exactly why he wrote in John 20:31(NASB)

but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; 
and that believing you may have life in His name.

Summary:
How many times did anyone say or preach  “Jesus IS GOD”?  -0.
How many times did anyone say or preach Jesus is the “SON of God?  42 Times (NASB)
How many tome did they call Jesus "GOD THE SON"?     -0-.
What are we to believe?
-that "Jesus is God" or "Jesus is the CHRIST, the SON of GOD"?
-and that God raised him from the dead, which is what Thomas came to believe in the context.

..................................................

Does Thomas' exclamation  PROVE JESUS is GOD?

While GOD Almighty was still on the throne?

Did Thomas know that Jesus had just said "....I ascend TO MY GOD AND YOUR GOD" and somehow think Jesus was God?

DID JOHN knowingly write that Jesus was ascending "TO MY GOD AND YOU GOD"

and yet John still finished his gospel with "these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the CHRIST, the SON OF THE LIVING GOD"?

And WHY did NONE of the Spirit filled diciples in Acts say "Jesus is our GOD" or a simple "JESUS IS GOD"

***IF*** it was so?

These are clear reasons to think about and stop trying to prove what no scripture says:
 i.e. "Jesus is God".
John wrote in one of his letters to the saints:

"He that overcomes is he that believes Jesus **IS** the Christ, the Son of God".

-which was repeatedly preached and stated in contrast to zero times where the apostles said "Jesus is God".  And THAT is why we repented from what is said and taught around the church world.