Chapter 4

But God was not only manifested through angels. 'The book of the Covenant' given through Moses (Exodus 21-23) has an interesting comment about the judges in Israel. As God's representatives they were admonished to hear cases impartially, acquitting the innocent but condemning the guilty. Being 'rulers instituted by God' (Romans 13:1-2) it should not be considered inappropriate that they are called 'God' (i.e. 'elohim'). As a comment in the NIV Study Bible notes (on Exodus 22:11): "the judges were God's representatives in court cases". Consider the following passages: " But if the slave plainly says,' I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free', then his master shall bring him to God ..." (Hebrew 'elohim', [Exodus 21:5-6]). RV agrees here with RSV but RVm, AV and NIV read 'the judges'; similarly in the next two passages.

"... the owner of the house shall come near to God, to show whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbour's goods".

"For every breach of trust ... the case of both parties shall come before God; he whom God shall condemn ['condemn' is plural here, to agree with 'elohim'] shall pay double" (Exodus 22:8-9)

"You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people" (Exodus 22:28). AVm and NIVm have 'the judges' instead of 'God'; the parallelism supports this alternative.

N.B. Girdlestone in his Synonyms of the Old Testament (1871) pp 40-42 confirms and amplifies these conclusions.

A special case of the above, which could be easily overlooked, is that of Moses himself. If rulers of thousands and hundreds were appointed to judge smaller matters, while he adjudicated in the more difficult cases (as was agreed following Jethro's suggestion Exodus 18:24ff), Moses was unquestionable 'Lord Chief Justice' in Israel, as well as God's prophet and therefore supreme among Israel's 'elohim'. This was true both as regards Moses' relationship with his people and with Pharaoh. In view of Moses' extreme reluctance to shoulder this burdensome responsibility, God had earlier assigned to Aaron the public role of proclaiming His words, but Moses himself was the channel of communication: 

"He [Aaron] shall speak for you to the people; and he shall be a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God" (ELOHIM, Exodus 4:16).

"And the LORD said to Moses, 'See, I make you as God (elohim) to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet ..." (Exodus 7:1).

Moses' special position is further illustrated in certain passages where he makes statements about himself which fundamentally belong to God alone:

"The LORD will send upon you curses, confusion and frustration ... because you have forsaken me" (Deuteronomy 28:20, cp 31:16).

"And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them ...'I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out upon you ... that you may know that I am the LORD your God'" (Deuteronomy 29:2-6).

"And if you will obey my commandments which I command you this day .. I will give the rain for your land ... And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle ... Take heed lest your heart be deceived ... and the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens, so that there be no rain, and the land yield no fruit ..." (Deuteronomy 11:13-17, RSV footnote).

The 'I' in verses 14 and 15 of the last passage is a correct translation of the Hebrew text. But sensitive to the apparent 'anomaly' of attributing to Moses power over rain and crop yields, the ancient versions (Samaritan, Greek and Latin) have altered this to 'he' (i.e. God) and the RSV text follows suit, but with the principle of God-manifestation clearly understood, no difficulty need be felt about the verses here cited literally. The identification of Israel's judges as 'elohim' received full endorsement from the lips of Jesus, when he condemned the rulers of his own day for sitting in judgment on him and coming to an unjust verdict. He quoted a line from Psalm 82, and in so doing illustrated the principle outlined above:

"The Jews answered him, 'We stone you for no good work but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God!' Jesus answered them, 'Is it not written in your law (i.e. Psalm 82:6), "I said, you are gods"? If he called them 'gods' to whom the word of God came (and Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, "You are blaspheming", because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?" (John 10:33-36).

So, unarguably, the Scripture called some men 'gods'. Perusal of this psalm reveals a graphic picture of these wicked 'gods', i.e. the judges of Israel, being reproved for their neglect of the poor and needy (see Matthew 23:4,23 and Mark 12:40 as illustration of this neglect). The reprover is also styled 'elohim' (verse1) and in the final verse is bidden to "arise and judge the earth" because he will "inherit all nations". From many other passages we know that this judge and heir is Jesus himself (e.g. Psalm 2:7-8; 72:1-8; Isaiah 9:6-7, 11:1-4; Revelation 19:11-16). This consideration leads us to the next phase in which we can recognise a crucial further stage in the development of God's great purpose with the earth and man.

GOD MANIFESTATION IN JESUS ³

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt [Greek 'tabernacled'] among us, full of grace and truth: we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father" (John 1:14).

"No-one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known" (John 1:18).

"... He who believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And he who sees me sees him who sent me" (John 12:44-45).

"Philip said to him, 'Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied'. Jesus said to him, 'Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, "Show us the Father"? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works'" (John 14:8-10).

"All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us unto himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself ..." (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).

"He [margin: Greek 'Who'; other ancient authorities read 'God'; others 'which'] was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory" (1 Timothy 3:16).

"- the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us -" (1 John 1:2).

The passage from John 14:8-10 quoted above is particularly enlightening. Clearly we must not confuse Father with Son, otherwise we should, in the words of the creed, be 'confounding the persons'! It is a simple fact of life that in most sons we can see the image of their fathers, and this is equally true of the Son of God, as the following verses demonstrate:

"... the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God" (2 Corinthians 4:4).

"He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation" (Colossians 1:15).

"He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature" (Hebrews 1:3).

What was this 'glory' that Christ reflected? Apart from the literal brilliance of Jesus during his transfiguration (Matthew 17:2), Jesus did not appear 'glorious' in a physical sense. ⁴ What in fact the disciples witnessed was the normal appearance of Jesus while on earth, but at the same time he was in some way an exhibition of the glory of the Father (John 1:14, 2:11). Clearly Jesus was a perfect manifestation of all the attributes of God.

The latter part of John 14:8-10 (quoted above) shows the close parallel between this and previous manifestations of God that we have already considered, viz. that in each case it was the Father's words being spoken by the agent of His choice, and the Father's deeds being done through that same agent. Time and again Jesus makes his own subordinate role perfectly clear: 

"Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing" "I can do nothing on my own authority ..." "... the testimony which I have is greater than that of John; for the works which the Father has granted me to accomplish ... bear me witness that the Father has sent me" (John 5:19,30,36).

"Jesus answered them, 'My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me: if any man's will is to do his will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority'" (John 7:16-17).

"I have not spoken on my own authority: the Father who sent me has himself given me commandment what to say and what to speak ... What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has bidden me" (John 12:49-50, see also 14:10 and 17:8).

In Jesus, then, we have not a fresh and different phenomenon of God manifestation, but an extension of what God had done previously by angels. He was applying the same principle through a special man, son of the virgin Mary, who was also and uniquely 'Son of God' (although made temporarily 'lower than the angels 'Hebrews 2:5-9). When we 'hear' Christ's words (or, as it is now, read them in the inspired pages of the Bible), we are hearing God's words; when we obey Christ's commands, they are God's commands given through Christ that we are following. The pattern of Old Testament revelation is logically developed; we should no more confuse the agent with the source in Jesus' case than we would when noting how the angel of the LORD fulfilled what God had commissioned him to do. Nor are we to assume from these simple facts an equality of Father and Son, any more than we would infer it in relation to an angelic manifestation of the Deity. But the process does not end here; God's purpose is to bring into being not just one but a multitude of sons, to be glorified together with His first-born.

GOD-MANIFESTATION IN BELIEVERS

We have examined some of the numerous Scriptural references to God-manifestation through angels and through the judges of Israel. To these examples one should add the Old Testament prophets, whose word was with power to effect whatever God had decreed. They too were His spokesmen and representatives on earth. We have seen also that the greatest manifestation of God's power and authority has been (and always now will be) vested in His dear Son. But Jesus is the firstborn among many sons and daughters of God, ⁵ who are all to bear His likeness, being heirs with him of the coming kingdom of God on earth. ⁶ Because they are to be kings and priests in the age to come, we might reasonably expect that they also will, with Jesus, manifest God's great Name and power in their coming exaltation. This is exactly what we do find quite clearly taught in Scripture. Two phases of this manifestation can be noted. The first was in the apostolic age, and is partly anticipatory of the second. This was when Jesus' apostles were granted miraculous power to perform signs and wonders, explicitly to confirm the truth and authenticity of their preaching.⁷ At that time they (like some others, whose fidelity was open to question) had "tasted the heavenly gift and the powers of the age to come". ⁸ Clearly the fuller use of these same powers is reserved for the second and greater phase the future kingdom of God. Here are some key passages for each period. Note particularly that because Jesus has now been given "all authority in heaven and on earth", and because "all the fullness of God" was pleased to dwell in him, the words and deeds of his apostles and prophets are therefore his words and deeds, just as his words and deeds were those of his Father.

Phase 1: the Apostolic Age

"He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me" (Luke 10:16).

"So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20).

"I am an ambassador in chains" (Ephesians 6:20).

Phase 2: the Age to Come

"...in the new world, when the Son of man shall sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matthew 19:28).

"Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities" (Luke 19:17, similarly in verse 19).

"... those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead ... cannot die any more, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection" (Luke 20:35-36).

"Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? ... Do you not know that we are to judge angels?" (1 Corinthians 6:2-3).

"... if we endure, we shall also reign with him" (2 Timothy 2:12 thus obtaining "the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory" verse 10).

"For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come .. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see Jesus ... crowned with glory and honour ... it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect though suffering" (Hebrews 2:5,8-10).

It will be apparent from the foregoing that, in he coming kingdom of God on earth,⁹  the glorious reward of those judged worthy of everlasting life will be to share with Jesus not only his throne and personal companionship,¹⁰ but also the honour of ruling the world in place of the present (and mainly unseen) control of the angels. Their noble task will be to teach the nations God's law, guiding them into all religious truth and righteous conduct, and in every way manifesting themselves as God's appointed rulers, shepherds and teachers. With all necessary wisdom and power of God bestowed on them (of which the first century miracles were but a foretaste) they will, under Christ's supervision, bring the whole world into subjection to God, ready for "the end". Then the Son of God himself "will also be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be everything to everyone".¹¹ In this way God's great purpose in creating the world, the purpose we understand to be expressed in His name YAHWEH ELOHIM ("He who shall become mighty ones") will be brought to fruition.

In conclusion, we can apply this principle of God-manifest-ation to our present study. We have seen that God in the past invested His agents, be they angels or men, with His own Name. Thus they were able without impropriety to use the personal Name of God when conveying the divine message, although they clearly were not the Almighty Himself. This principle particularly applies to Jesus, who pre-eminently was the manifestation of the Father: "For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell" (Colossians 1:19). But this does not mean that Jesus was therefore God, any more than the previous agents of manifestation had been God.

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