Sabitlenmiş Tweet
Is the God of the Old Testament the same God as the New Testament? Is Jesus Jewish?
When God calls Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3, Moses asks God “…And they will say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” (Exod. 3:13b)
God responds by telling Moses to call Him “I AM WHO I AM” (Exod. 3:14a). Most English Bibles translate this as “LORD” instead of the correct translation, Yahweh. The reasoning behind this is that many translators followed Jewish custom and would not translate 'LORD' to 'Yahweh'. Translators know that Jews will not pronounce the divine name (YHWH), also known as the tetragrammaton. Only a small number of English translations use ‘Yahweh,’ the Legacy Standard Bible being one of them.
Using the proper name of ‘Yahweh’ is important because it points directly to ‘Jesus’ in the New Testament. The name ‘Jesus’ means ‘Yahweh Saves’ or ‘Yahweh is Salvation.’ Jesus is the One and only begotten Son of God, born of a virgin and sent to save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:21; John 3:14–21).
Jesus makes seven critical “I AM” statements in John’s Gospel. This is undeniably Christ claiming His deity and referencing back to the Old Testament every single time Yahweh says, “I AM.”
1. I AM the Bread of Life. (John 6:35)
2. I AM the Light of the World (John 8:12)
3. I AM the Door (John 10:9)
4. I AM the Good Shepherd (John 10:11)
5. I AM the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)
6. I AM the Way the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)
7. I AM the True Vine (John 15:1)
Jesus makes a profound statement in John 8:58, “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” The Jewish audience of Jesus’ day knew exactly what He was saying; Christ was applying the name of Yahweh to Himself. In fact, the Jews were so enraged that John writes in John 8:59 that they “picked up stones to throw” at Jesus because they assumed He was being blasphemous.
At this point, it goes without saying that the Jews accepted the fact that Jesus was/is Jewish. In Matthew 1, the Gospel lays out a tedious and long genealogy of Christ. Verse 2 begins with Abraham. Simply put, Jesus has a royal lineage all the way back to Abraham. Verse 6 continues with King David and descends all the way to Joseph, who is the husband of Mary.
Likewise, Luke has a genealogy of Christ in chapter 3. Luke even begins by writing that Jesus “was about thirty years of age” (Luke 3:23). This was the age that Jewish priests began their priestly duties; another proof that Jesus came to fulfill the Law and become a Great High Priest for His people. Luke takes his genealogy further back than Matthew; he goes past Abraham all the way to “the Son of God” (Luke 3:38). The lineage of Christ is listed because Jesus is Jewish. In fact, Luke 4:16 says, “And He (Jesus) came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read.” Gentiles are not able to do this, only one who is a Jew.
We can biblically conclude that Yahweh is in fact the same God of the Old Testament and He is of the New Testament; and He is the same God today. God is unchanging and eternal (Mal. 3:16; Num. 23:9; Ps. 102:25–27; Heb. 13:8; James 1:17; Heb. 1:10–12).
Furthermore, we can biblically conclude that Jesus was and is Jewish. Anyone who is claiming otherwise has no hope of the forgiveness of sins, as the Law had to be fulfilled by the Messiah; One who is Jewish. Jesus being a Jew is non-negotiable. Corey Mahler said recently, “Jesus was not and is not a Jew.” There is no biblical proof for this horrendous claim, and he needs to renounce it if he claims to be a Christian.
Why is there a need to make this post? Gnosticism, just as when 1 John was written, is once again on the rise. I plan to post more about this in the future. This time, Gnosticism is being merged with New Age thought and Paganism. The lie that many are starting to proclaim is that “Yahweh is the grand conspirator against humanity” (@DonnieDarkened on an X post condemning this Gnosticism). For example, they say that the Old Testament (i.e., Yahweh Himself) is a conspiracy that has given the Jews worldwide power today and has financed our churches.
New Gnosticism is fairly easy to identify. I saw a post on X that had these two claims: “Most Jews do not like to admit it, but our God is Lucifer…and we are his chosen people,” and “Yahweh=Moloch=Saturn=Satan… (He is) NOT the Father.”
These heretical and blasphemous statements are easily disproven by opening the Bible and fact-checking. Stay on guard and take every claim back to our ultimate authority, the Word of God.
English
