181 – THE AUTHOR AND PERFECTER OF FAITH

1.    If the kingdom of God came only in Jesus Christ—“From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matt. 4:17)—, the law and the prophets lasted until John, and from then on the kingdom of God was announced (Luke 16:16), how could the god Jehovah have established the kingdom of god 1600 years before that? “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:6). “I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King” (Is. 43:15). The right thing would be for Jehovah to announce that the kingdom of god would yet come, something he did not do. We do not find the kingdom of heaven in the Old Testament. If Jesus and the Father are one in purpose (John 10:30), and the kingdom of Jesus is not of this world, Jehovah—if he were Jesus, or if he were the Father of Jesus—would never establish his kingdom in this world.

2.    If the kingdom of God is a kingdom of love, according to the declaration of Paul: “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col. 1:12-13), how could Jehovah rule with wrath and hatred, if the kingdom of God is a kingdom of love? “‘As I live,’ declares Jehovah God, ‘surely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out, I shall be king over you’” (Ezek. 20:33). This declaration of Jehovah conflicts with the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will accomplish this” (Is. 9:6-7).

3.    If salvations comes through faith and without the works of the law, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law (Rom. 3:28), and if the Law is necessary for salvation, Jesus is not the author and perfecter of faith (Heb. 12:2).

4.    “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus”(Gal. 2:16). “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone” (Rom. 9: 30-32). Contrary to the New Testament, Jehovah declares that man obtains life through the works of the Law. “So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am Jehovah” (Lev. 18:5). “The wages of the righteous is life, the income of the wicked, punishment. He is on the path of life who heeds instruction” (Prov. 10:16-17). The contradiction lies in that, if Jehovah were the Father, or even Jesus, and if he did not wish to go against the New Testament and break the unity of the Bible, he could not justify men by the works of the law.

5.    If God is good [even better than Jesus, for it is written, “And behold, one came to Him and said, ‘Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?’ And He said to him, ‘Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good’” (Matt. 19:16-17)], and James tells us, “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow” (James 1:17) (These verses teach us that God does only what is good. As he does not change, he will never do something that is not good.), how can it be that, before Jesus revealed the goodness of God the Father through his ministry and works, the god of the Old Testament would do such evils and hate the poor human beings? “I will heap misfortunes on them; I will use My arrows on them” (Deut. 32:23). “So now, then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says Jehovah, “Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you”’” (Jer. 18:11). “And it shall come about that as Jehovah delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so Jehovah will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you” (Deut. 28:63). If James said that God does only what is good and never changes, how can Jehovah change so much, to the point of delighting in evil? The one who delights in doing and practicing evil is perverse, and we can expect anything from a god who mocks at men (Prov. 1:24, 26). This behavior among men is fit only to the narrow-minded and sadistic minds.

6.    If God is the Father of mercies, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3), and this mercy was revealed in the cross,“Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor. 5:19), the mercy of the Father is towards lost sinners. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-6). God, the Father, is kind even to evil and ungrateful men (Luke 6:35). Let us look at the declarations of Jehovah himself: “‘And I will dash them against each other, both the fathers and the sons together,’ declares Jehovah. ‘I will not show pity nor be sorry nor have compassion that I should not destroy them” (Jer. 13:14). “Therefore, I indeed shall deal in wrath. My eye will have no pity nor shall I spare; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I shall not listen to them” (Ezek. 8:18).Jehovah says that he is merciful, but he truly is not (Deut. 7:9; Ex. 34:6-7). Jehovah does not forgive sin. He treats sin with rigor: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot (Ex. 21:24).

7.    If Jesus must raise from the dead before he could send the Holy Spirit from heaven to teach, guide, and comfort the disciples, this is why he said, “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). Now, if the coming of the Holy Spirit would only be possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, how can we explain that Jehovah filled people with the Holy Spirit before the death and subsequent resurrection of Jesus? Or is not Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith? To worsen matters, the Holy Spirit of the Father is a counselor, advocate, helper, guide, intercessor and love; but the Holy Spirit of Jehovah was an adversary and a warrior (Is. 59:19). In Is. 63:10, we read that the Holy Spirit of Jehovah became an enemy to Israel. There are three problems: the coming of the Holy Spirit before the death of Christ takes from the merit of resurrection; second, the work of the Holy Spirit of the Old Testament was destructive. Samson, when filled of the Holy Spirit, killed thousands. The anointing of the Spirit in the Old Testament was for the purpose of killing, and it was given also to wicked men (1 Kings 19:15,17): Hazael was evil and wicked. The third problem is that in John 7:38-39, when Jesus reveals that the Holy Spirit is a fountain of living waters in the Christian, we read in the Bible that it had not been given, but in the Greek it reads that there was no Holy Spirit; that is, the Holy Spirit of Jehovah was not Holy.

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira