(204) – DIFFERENCES BETWEEN JEHOVAH AND THE FATHER

204 – DIFFERENCES BETWEEN JEHOVAH AND THE FATHER

 

Some say that Jehovah is the Father of Jesus Christ, and they do it with such conviction that they persecute, curse, and condemn to hell anyone who opposes this doctrine. These fanatics affirm that, whoever does not accept Jehovah as being the Father, is not saved by Jesus. What the New Testament clearly teaches is that whoever has the Son has the Father. By the words of Jesus, nobody knows the Father. Only through Jesus it is possible to come to the Father. Mathew, the evangelist, said, “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son, except Father; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matt. 11:27).

It does not matter if one believes in the Father, the important thing is to believe in the Son; and it does not matter if one is an enemy of the Father, for Christ reconciles him with the Father. For this reason Paul declares, “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son…” (Rom. 5:10). Ana Paul repeats this reconciliation in Col. 1:21.

Others defend that Jehovah is Jesus Christ who revealed himself in the Old Testament as God creator of all things, intolerant with sin. If Jehovah is Jesus, God has disguised himself in the New Testament as meek and humble, and this is a form of lie. To disguise is to fake, dissimulate; it is to cover up the true nature. This is to be condemned in men, and it is monstrous in God. Our thought on the subject is that Jesus revealed in his life the true nature of God the Father, kind, gentle, loving and merciful, for he only practiced this kind of work, and said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:7-9).

Let us focus on the differences between Jehovah and the Father, to prove that they are not the same person.

  1. Jehovah was seen many times by men. In Gen. 17:1 we read that he appeared in visible form to Abraham, and declared that he was the God Almighty. Jehovah actually says that he appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Ex. 6:3). Later Moses wrote that Jehovah appeared to 74 people (Ex. 24:9-11). Isaiah himself saw him (Is. 6:1). The Father of Jesus was never seen by anyone. John declares it in his Gospel (John 1:18; 4:12). Paul goes further; he affirms that no man will ever see the Father (1 Tim. 6:16).
  2. Jehovah manifested himself in darkness. In Deut 4:11-14, Jehovah pronounced the Ten Commandments out loud in the midst of the darkness (Deut 5:23). And Moses went to the middle of the darkness where Jehovah was (Ex. 20:21). The apostle John affirms that God is light, and that there is no darkness in him (1 John 1:5). It is obvious that, where there is light, darkness goes away. Being so, Jehovah is not light, for he spoke from the middle of darkness, and there was no light on Mount Sinai. Therefore, Jehovah and the Father are not the same person.
  3. Jehovah tempts and is also tempted. He tempted Abraham in Gen. 22:1. He tempted his people in the desert (Deut. 8:21). Jehovah himself declares that men tempted him ten times (Num. 14:22).He declares it again in Ps. 95:8-9. Jehovah was tempted by the very Satan, and fell (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7). In the New Testament we read that God cannot be tempted by evil and does not tempt anyone (James 1:13). They are not the same person.
  4. Paul calls the Covenant of Sinai, established by Jehovah with the people of Israel, when they left Egypt, as the ministry of death and condemnation (Deut. 9:9-11; 2 Cor. 3:6-9). The covenant of Jesus is the concert of reconciliation and of eternal life (John 5:24: 2 Cor. 5:19). But the father does not condemn anyone, for he wants everyone to be saved (1 Tim. 2:3-4; 4:10).
  5. Jehovah reigns over this world “For the Lord Most High is to be feared, and a great King over all the earth” (Ps. 47:2). “For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a skillful psalm. God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne (Ps. 47:7-8; Jer. 10:7; Ps. 96:10; 99:1, etc.). When Jesus arrived to this world a thousand years after, he said, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” How can that be? Does God have two kingdoms? But Jesus declared that his kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36; Matt. 12:28). How can Jehovah reign over this world if the devil does, too? (Luke 4:5-8; Heb. 2:14-15). The truth is that Jehovah reigns over the darkness, and the Father reigns in the future light. In Rev. 11:15, we read that the kingdoms of this world will only belong to God at the end of this world, at the sounding of the seventh trumpet. Jehovah is not the Father of Jesus.
  6. Jehovah blinds the understanding of his people so that they are not converted from evil to good and healed (Is. 6:10). Contrary to Jehovah, Jesus opens the eyes of the blind so that they are converted and therefore healed (Eph. 1:17-18).
  7. Jehovah handed the righteous into the hands of Satan to be oppressed, devastated and stuck by malignant pestilences. That was what he did to the faithful and sincere Job. Jesus, on the contrary, tears from the hands of Satan those that Jehovah mercilessly handed to him. A woman was paralytic and bound by Satan under the indifferent sight of Jehovah. Jesus delivered her to the glory of the Father (Luke 13:16). In Acts 26:18 we read that Jesus tears away from darkness and the power of Satan unto God the Father. Jehovah is the author of pestilences (Deut. 28:21-22, 27; 28:59-63). If the malignant plagues, pestilences and sicknesses all come from Jehovah, it is strange that Jehovah would take the blame. One thing is certain: Jesus delivers and heals from the hands of the devil and of Jehovah.
  8. Jehovah places the world into the hearts of men (Eccl. 3:11). In the New Testament we read that the entire world is in the evil one (1 John 15:19). We also read that what there is in this world takes us far from God (1 John 2:15-17)We read that the friends of this world are enemies of God(James 4:4). If Jehovah places the world in the hearts of men, he wants to take them away from God. Jehovah is an enemy of God the Father, and a friend of the devil. Luckily Jesus uproots us from this world (John 8:19; 15:19; 17:16).
  9. In the book of the law of Jehovah we find that the children will not die for the sins of the parents(Deut. 24:26). Isaiah, though, prophesied judgment of Jehovah over Babylon, saying, “Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter because of the iniquity of their fathers” (Is. 14:21). Jehovah contradicted himself, or does he suffer from amnesia? Hophni and Phinehas were great sinners and the priest Eli, their father, died because they were sons of Belial (1 Sam. 2:12, 22-25). His death is prophesied and fulfilled (1 Sam. 3:11-12; 4:18). We cannot forget that Eli and his two sons were Levites and predestined to serve in the sanctuary of Jehovah. In the New Testament, if the father is a thief and his sons, murderers, if they turn to Jesus Christ, the sacrifice of the cross causes all the sins to be forgiven, and they are saved. There in the law, the evil committed by the father was charged against the innocent son. Here under grace, all are made innocent by the sacrifice of Jesus. Glory be to God!!!
  10. In the New Testament the gifts and the blessings of God are without reproach, that is, whatever God gives, he does not take away anymore (Rom. 11:29). With Jehovah it was another matter. Jehovah repents from the good he has done, and creates evils instead (Jer. 18:10-11). Jehovah curses the promised blessings (Mal. 2:2). Jehovah makes an evil oath to undo another good oath(Deut. 1:34-35).

Jehovah is not the Father, for the differences between them are too big; and he is not the Son either, because the Son and the Father are identical in nature (John 14:7-11).

 

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira

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