Issued: 11/19/22

PLEASE NOTE:  All bracketed material may be authorial comments, attempts at proper syntax, or minimal rewordings of Scripture for the sake of clarity and continuity.  These emendations will not be italicized.  The “/” will be used to signify “and/or.”

   In differentiating between Yahweh of hosts [later Jesus] and Yahweh the Most High God, lower case letters have been used when discussing the former; upper case letters are reserved for the One and Only Highest God.  Since Jesus was at pains to differentiate himself from God the Father, we have followed his lead here.

   The term neo-Christians will be used to differentiate between false Christians and Jesus’ true followers.

   When Paul preached to the Athenians, he noticed an altar bearing the inscription “To the Unknown God” (Acts 17:23).  That altar existed for the sole purpose of not slighting any one deity that had been overlooked.  The Greeks were pragmatists who liked to keep all religious bases covered and all options open.

   Despite their indisputable, intellectual brilliance, Paul did not despair of Greeks fearing ideological rifts.  On grounds that Scripture posits the existence of only One, True Deity (Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 45:5), Paul understood—as should we—that Olympian gods and foreign imports worshipped in Athens were satanic constructs, exactly as their modern counterparts given Christian veneers—all clones of those “alien” gods Yahweh railed against in the Old Testament.  Thus Paul sought to extract Yahweh the Most High from men’s polytheistic hodgepodge by defining Him as the only Invisible Divinity filling the whole of Creation (Jeremiah 23:24; Acts 17:28; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 11:7; 1Timothy 1:17).  And because Paul knew that His Son, Yahweh of hosts/Jesus had been appointed as proxy God/Steward over all things in the Father’s absence (1Corinthians 15:24-28↔Genesis 41:40-44,55), he ranked Yahweh the Most High higher than the Jesus Paul acknowledged as his Angelic Master (Acts 17:31↔John 5:22-23, 14:28 / Acts 27:23↔Hebrews 1:5-14; Revelation 22:9). 

    That Paul failed to sway some Athenians was predictable (Acts 17:32-34).  He knew what to expect (Daniel 12:10; John 8:47; 1Corinthians 2:14), especially since telling people to slaughter their sacred cows invariably unleashed skeptics/sworn enemies (Proverbs 9:8; Acts 21:21,28,36).  Jesus gave us proof of this (Matthew 9:11, 11:18-19; Mark 11:18, 12:12; Luke 15:2); as did Stephen (Acts 7:53-54); and all the “saints” who throughout the centuries would run afoul of secular/religious powers that be for not toeing partisan agendas (Daniel 7:21,24-25, 8:24-25↔Revelation 13:5-6, 17:6, 18:2,8,20-21; Matthew 24:9; 2Timothy 3:12; Revelation 13:7).

On Paul’s Defense

   Paul has been accused of inventing Christianity by making Jesus into the God Jesus did not claim to be.  On the Gentile side, this is scholarly poppycock; on the Jewish side, it is a smear campaign against someone viewed as a traitor to Mosaic norms and beliefs.  To their detriment, Jews have always prioritized national ethos over obedience to the will of God (Isaiah 30:15-17; Jeremiah 38:1-4; John 11:47-53); and will never understand the dangers involved until it is too late (Deuteronomy 31:29-30; Jeremiah 23:20).

   Paul, of course, preached what he read in the Old Testament (Acts 26:22), where definitive proof of who Jesus was had been enshrined for subsequent generations of believers.¹  The fact that Biblical interpreters, Jewish and Gentile, have not been able to assimilate Paul’s arguments bears out assertions made in Isaiah 29:10-12,14↔1Corinthians 1:20-21, and by Jesus in Mark 4:11-12↔Isaiah 28:13, both of which had their roots in Deuteronomy 29:29:  The “hidden” wisdom Yahweh the Most High had predestined for true believers to keep them in His loop (1Corinthians 10-13).  This wisdom came directly from Yahweh the Most High/Father through His Holy Spirit, the latter not the initiator of said wisdom but its conveyor, the symbolic anointment “poured” by Jesus over his disciples (John 15:26, 16:13; 1John 2:27↔Isaiah 32:15; Joel 2:28).  It was not available through priests, pastors, rabbis, self-appointed prophets, or any mortal agency.

   While scholars try to impress each other with opinions as to when books of the Bible were written, the fact remains that the Holy Spirit inspired men to write them (2Peter 1:20-21).  It is true that given degrees of faith or personal commitment, people like Paul were given depths of knowledge above and beyond the norm (2Peter 3:16).  We should not believe that this amounted to preferential treatment, especially when God prides Himself in not being partial to anyone (Deuteronomy 10:17; Job 34:17-19; Acts 10:34-35; Romans 2:11).  Rather this follows Jesus’ methodology in Mark 4:25:  More will be given to the ones exhibiting greater zeal in divine matters, which is the reason why Jesus chose Paul, a zealous Pharisee, to bring Gentiles into God’s fold (Acts 9:15-16, 22:3,14-16, 26:5-7; Galatians 1:14; Philippians 3:5-6).  If such a distinction were possible, it is Paul, not Peter, who should be called the first pope, for Peter’s ministry focused primarily on his Jewish compatriots (Galatians 2:7).²

   It should therefore not matter to us if Paul had access to the Synoptic Gospels, for whatever the Holy Spirit communicated about Jesus to us through them, He revealed through Paul to his generation.  And these revelations, grounded on the Old Testament, depicted a created Jesus who had preexisted Creation (John 17:5↔Genesis 1:3; John 1:1, 8:12; Colossians 1:15; Revelation 3:14); who had interacted with Abraham (John 8:56-58↔Genesis 18:25; John 5:22; Acts 17:31); who could not have been the unseen/unheard Most High God because he spoke to and was seen by men (Deuteronomy 5:4; John 1:18, 5:37; 1Timothy 6:16↔Genesis 21:17, 22:11-18, 32:23-30↔Hosea 12:4; Exodus 24:10, 33:11↔Numbers 12:6-8; Judges 13:16-22); and who unlike the Eternal Father had died and had to be resurrected by Him (Acts 2:24,32).

The Angel of Yahweh and His God

   There is nothing esoteric or difficult to grasp in any of these—unless one is unwilling to part with preconceived or entrenched beliefs.  For it is abundantly clear that two distinct beings are spoken about here (Isaiah 44:6):  The Most High God Who is the one and only Sovereign, and an Angel who has been appointed His co-ruler after the hierarchy modeled in Genesis 41:40-41,44,55.  Not to belabor the obvious but when Joseph, a Jew, received his commission he was 30 years old, the age when Jesus started his earthly ministry extending to end-times (Genesis 41:46; Luke 3:23).  So that if we further extend the parallel, the Egypt Joseph ruled over symbolized Satan’s global realm (Ezekiel 29:3↔Revelation 20:2), the stewardship entrusted but mishandled by him (Isaiah 22:15-18↔Luke 4:6; 1John 5:19), yet under Jesus’ absolute dominion and control (Psalms 2:8-9; Isaiah 22:20-23↔Revelation 3:7; Matthew 28:18; Revelation 12:5).

   Supremely most important is the identity of this Angel who, unlike his angelic peers, ranked higher than them (Hebrews 1:5-14; Revelation 22:9).  Paul knew who he was:  The Angel of God Paul served and to whom he belonged (Acts 27:23).  As the angel in Revelation 22:9 and Hebrews 1:14 make clear, angels and humans are fellow servants; but the Angel of God was due special reverence, so that when Moses spoke to him—again not the unheard Most High—inside the burning bush, the Angel demanded Moses remove his sandals, “for you are standing on holy ground,” he being the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exodus 3:2-6).³  Mind you, the Angel God was only saying that he was the proxy God who had personally interacted with the Patriarchs, not that he was the Most High God.  Which is the sense derived from Genesis 21:17 and 22:15, where the Angel God relays messages to mortals he has heard from God Himself—the quintessential role Jesus plays as Spokesperson for the Divinity (Isaiah 64:4; John 12:49; 1Timothy 2:5).⁴

   Where does this all lead to?  That there are two Beings in the Old Testament who are termed Gods:  The Eternal Divinity, by nature and right, and an Angel God, by appointment and endowment.  This does not violate Scripture:  As Joseph was inferior to Pharaoh in regards to the throne (Genesis 41:40) but in control of things, Jesus rules the world in lieu of his God and King (Revelation 2:27, 3:12), until the time he abdicates that Godship, subordinating himself to the Most High (1Corinthians 15:24-28) in order to assume his eternal role as King/High Priest in God’s Kingdom (Hebrews 7:21-28).  In the sense that Joseph was the symbolic embodiment of Pharaoh, Jesus was the actual embodiment of God on earth (John 14:10; Colossians 2:9).

   Which is also the reason why upon his ascension to Heaven, Jesus acquired plenipotentiary powers from the Father (Matthew 28:18↔Revelation 5:1-7); whereupon he did not occupy God’s throne, but sat on another to His right (Psalms 110:1; Mark 16:19; Acts 7:55-56; Hebrews 8:1).  It does not take rocket science to understand that two Beings in control of human affairs but equally meriting praise are being spoken of:  The Father on the highest throne and the Lamb on his subordinate position to His right.

   This dual hierarchy had been intimated as early as Genesis 1:26, which has lead to misinterpretations of a plurality of gods.  Instead the “our image” which Yahweh of hosts, the proxy Creator God, decided to impress upon Adam, referred to those humanoid—for lack of a better word—features he shared with the Divinity:  hair, face, eyes, ears, arms, torso, legs, etc. (Exodus 2:24; Daniel 7:9, 10:5-6; Ezekiel 1:26-27; Zechariah 2:8; Matthew 18:10; Revelation 1:13-16).  And hence the reverence for the human form (James 3:9), which being God’s image, is not to be corrupted with tattoos or any external aberration (Leviticus 19:28)—a warning unheeded in our apostate times of body modifications.⁵

   Now this is where Scripture gets tricky.  We know Jesus—or Yahweh of hosts in his preexistence—was the de facto Creator of the natural world (John 1:3,10; Colossians 1:16-17); but as he himself was created on Day One (Colossians 1:15; Revelation 3:14), some other Creator had to have called him into existence:  The God who Paul described as calling into being previously non-existent things (Romans 4:17).  It was this Creator, Yahweh the Most High God, Who willed Light into existence (Genesis 1:3), Light being a symbol for Yahweh of hosts/Jesus (John 1:9, 8:5) manifested in the context of time (Psalms 2:7); and it was the latter who Yahweh the Most High empowered to complete Creation from Days Two to Seven.

   Consequently every attribute generally ascribed to Jesus, King, Savior, Redeemer, or Creator—but excepting specific ones like Messiah, Husband, Judge, High Priest, King of Kings (Isaiah 33:22, 44:6, 54:5; Acts 17:31; Hebrews 7:21, 8:1; Revelation 19:16—is equally applicable to the Most High God, Who by calling Jesus into being and endowing him with these attributes is Himself the ultimate embodiment of all of them (Isaiah 43:3,15).  When reading the Old Testament where identification is blurred by the name Yahweh shared by Father and Son (Exodus 23:21), attention to detail is essential to differentiate between Them.  Thus Isaiah 9:6, which refers to Jesus, differs from Genesis 22:15 where the Most High God is intended (Hebrews 6:13); the immutable Yahweh of Numbers 23:19↔1Samuel 15:29 cannot be the Yahweh who changes his mind in Exodus 32:14↔2Samuel 24:16; Jonah 3:10; and in Ezekiel 34:11-31, both Yahweh of hosts (verses 11,17-22) and the Most High God (verses 23-31) are alluded to. 

The “Unknown” Yahweh the Most High in Judaism

   The usage of Yahweh to refer to two distinct beings is what stumps monotheistic Judaism.  It matters not to non-Christian Jews that the same Scriptures the Apostles quoted to prove the divinity of Jesus is part of Jewish theology; though we have been told that God has blinded Jews to this fact due to their recalcitrance and exegetical proclivities (Deuteronomy 9:6; Isaiah 29:10-14; Jeremiah 8:8).  Like the Athenians, Jews will not slaughter their sacred cows:  For them tradition is more compelling and immutable than God Himself.

   Fine; but does the Most High God really remain unknown amongst Jews?  By His own admission, yes:  “My people are bent on backsliding from Me: though they call Me the Most High, none at all will exalt Me” (Hosea 11:7).  None at all!

   How can this be true of Yahweh-worshipping Jews?  Because to this day they cannot see that their Yahweh of hosts is the Jesus they have always rejected; and that by rolling him along with Yahweh the Most High into one Deity—as Christians have done with Trinitarian dogma, the latter is not uniquely exalted; which going back to Exodus 34:5-7 is exactly what Yahweh of hosts, parading himself before Moses, was teaching readers of Scripture to do.  This Highest God is the One who empowers His symbolic David (Isaiah 11:1-5↔Revelation 22:16; Isaiah 22:20-23↔Revelation 3:7; Ezekiel 21:10, 34:24); not the Israelite warrior/king, son/root of Jesse, awaiting his resurrection but Jesus, God’s only begotten Son (Isaiah 11:10; Matthew 12:23, 15:22; Mark 12:35; John 1:18, 7:42; Acts 2:29-36; Romans 1:3; Revelation 5:5, 22:16).  And since Jesus has spiritually if not bodily remained constant throughout the ages (Hebrews 13:8), he was the Yahweh of hosts who shared the Father’s glory before the world was (John 1:1, 17:5).

   The Apostles were hip to this.  What was Thomas’ response when touching the resurrected Jesus’ bodily wounds?⁶  “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28); but only in the specific sense that Yahweh of hosts had been the interactive God of the Patriarchs, the Angel God Jacob/Israel acknowledged as his guide and protector (Genesis 48:15-16).  Ever careful of keeping his Gods separate (1Timothy 1:17, 6:16), Paul refined Yahweh of hosts’ nature further:  “Have the same attitude among yourselves that was also in the Messiah Jesus, who though he was in the form of God [appointed all-powerful deity], did not regard equality with God as something to cling to” but gave everything up to become mortal externally (Ephesians 2:5-7).  What is Paul saying?  That Jesus was God-like but not God Himself; and that within Jesus’ human body dwelled the preexistent Yahweh of hosts, who could claim to have been present at Creation and predate Abraham (John 8:58, 17:5).

   It is this proxy Steward, Yahweh of hosts, who the Old Testament depicts always at loggerheads with the Jewish nation hell-bent on rejecting him.  He is the liberator/husband/new covenant bringer alluded to in Jeremiah 31:31-32↔Exodus 13:21-22, 14:19; Isaiah 54:5; Mark 2:19; Ephesians 5:23; Hebrews 7:22.  He is the heavenly Advocate interceding before the Most High on behalf of his people, promising deliverance (Isaiah 51:22-23↔1John 2:1).  He is the Creator who no matter Jewish ingratitude will always remain by them (Isaiah 46:3-4, 49:15↔Luke 13:34; Hebrews 12:2-3).

   Thus Jesus’ initial ministry was focused on the Jews (Matthew 15:24):  He had become incarnate in a last ditch effort to reconcile them with the Most High.  As Mark 7:27↔John 6:51intimate, he was the “bread” sent to nourish Jewish religiosity; the Gentiles would have to wait until Paul’s conscription to be spiritually fed.  And when he cried over Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives, Jesus bore witness in Matthew 23:27↔Isaiah 65:2 to the fact that Jews had consistently resisted his past attempts at reconciliation.

   Of course it was all foreknown to fail.  Since their introduction in Canaan, Jews had not followed instructions and done what they wished; even before borders were crossed, they were foreknown to invalidate the Mosaic Covenant (Deuteronomy 31:20).   If they were told to obey, they did as was their wont (Deuteronomy 12:8, 29:19-20; Judges 17:6; Jeremiah 16:10-12, 23:17, 44:16-17); if they were expected to follow the moral high ground, they did anything but (Isaiah1:23, 59:12-15); if they were told to stay put and to grin and bear divine discipline, they hedged their bets on external alliances and tried to get out of harm’s way (Isaiah 30:7,12-17);⁷ all the while believing that Yahweh was either dilly-dallying (Zephaniah 1:12↔2Peter 3:9); that He was none-the-wiser (Isaiah 29:15); or even doubting Yahweh’s existence (Ezekiel 8:12↔Jeremiah 51:5).  Understanding would come late (Deuteronomy 31:29; Jeremiah 23:20). 

   They would oppose the early Apostles; they would be rooted out of their homeland following the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple; no matter where they went, they would be reviled, despoiled, persecuted, and killed.  Nevertheless, they would continue to hold on to Mosaic traditions which first of all were double-edged and set them to fail (Ezekiel 20:25; Acts 15:10); and which having been upgraded by Jesus’ covenant of faith (Galatians 3:11-14; Hebrews 9:9-10) were no longer capable of preventing dire consequences from befalling them—be them diasporas, pogroms, exiles, holocausts, or what have you (Deuteronomy 28:15-68).

   Not for Jews the notion of fearing the God to be taken at His word; instead they were the first to reduce fear of God to a watered-down notion (Isaiah 29:13) rather than the sobering advice to bow down to His will.  Proverbs 1:7 call this fear the beginning of wisdom that fools dismiss; yet the word “fear” in this context is not trembling before a bully, but recognizing that since negotiations with the Most High are off the table and He will act as He sees fit (Numbers 23:19; Daniel 4:35), one had better submit to Him—or else.  Both Jesus (Matthew 10:28) and Paul (1Corinthians 10:22) advised tempering faith in with fear of God.

   The destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE perpetually deprived Jews of the only means to remit their sins; so in their Diaspora they turned to Plan B:   Concocting tomes of Biblical commentaries enshrining/updating Mosaic traditions, all in violation of injunctions not to add or delete anything from Scripture (Proverbs 30:6; Ecclesiastes 3:14).  Not for Jews the more pragmatic strategy of accessing God in a heavenly temple from every point on earth, irrespective of physical limitations/economic considerations, than travelling to Jerusalem three times a year as required by Mosaic Law (Deuteronomy 16:16↔Zechariah 14:16).  In Hebrews Paul floated the notions of Jesus as High Priest and of his flesh as the veil separating men from the Divine Presence (Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 10:19-21↔Exodus 26:33); but these arguments coming from a branded turncoat failed to resonate with Jews.

   The reality underlying anti-Semitism is that living in a state of unremitted sin [no Temple to offer the animal blood needed for such remission (Hebrews 9:22)], Jews remain perpetually alienated from God.  Despite God’s wishes to the contrary, Jews doubled down on their intransigence, so that God abandoned them to their own devices pending a return to their senses (Isaiah 63:10; Romans 11:7-8,23,25-26; 2Corinthians 3:14-16), while at the same time allowing Satan to deploy enemies against them (Psalms 81:10-14; Ezekiel 21:11-15,19).  Jews forget at their peril that transgressions may be forgiven but punishment is inescapable (Jeremiah 30:11)—however much God may be distressed by Jewish suffering (Isaiah 63:9).

Yahweh’s Conditional Love for Jews

   Does any of this means that the Most High has written off Jews?  No, for as His promise to Abraham is binding and irrevocable (Hebrews 6:13-18), Jews will be counted among the redeemed, not on ethnic considerations, but on individual morality congruent with Christian doctrine (Romans 2:28-29).  Given the “potentiality” factor, they are to this day beloved as issue of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Romans 11:26-29).  And what do we mean by this?  The Scriptural precedent that the initiator of something carries in his loins unborn generations; so what is set in motion or accomplished by him is applicable to the latter—examples being Adam/Jesus (1Corinthians 15:21-22) and Abraham (Galatians 3:6-9; Hebrews 7:9-10).

   That God is Love (1John 4:16) does not mean He is a genie catering to the whims of His beloved creatures or some amoral machine dispensing love and forgiveness no matter their egregious behaviors.  If by definition God is perfect, no aspect of His personality can prevail over any other:  not love over His sense of righteousness, nor favoritism over collective justice (2Chronicles 19:7; Deuteronomy 10:17), nor free passes in matters of sin (Exodus 34:7; Numbers 14:18; Jeremiah 30:11; Nahum 1:3; Revelation 21:8).  Irrespective of how loving He might be, He will bring transgressors to task.  And the same will hold true for imprisoned angels slated for the bonfire (2Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6):  Beloved though they may have been at one time, the Most High will consign them and Satan to heavenly fire along with countless generations of men from Cain to Jesus’ second coming (Revelation 20:7-10).  When it comes to payback, His mind is set (Deuteronomy 32:35).

   It is not coincidental that the 144,000 first fruits of Revelation are grouped by tribal names; and we would be silly indeed to believe that these are strictly composed of ethnic Jews rather than an admixture of Jews and Christians on bonds of shared Abrahamic faith.  Since Christians are seen as grafted branches into the family tree of faith whose roots are the Patriarchs (Romans 11:16-24), Scripture defines them as one nation:  The Israel that will be saved at Jesus’ second coming (Romans 11:26-27).  To what end?  To forge the national identity that Jews and Christians have been at loggerheads to prevent (Ezekiel 37:15-28).

Chosen but not Morally Superior

   We all know the adage that familiarity breeds contempt, but familiarity also breeds a sense of entitlement, especially amongst Jews who trumpet themselves as the “chosen” race.  There was nothing intrinsically meritorious about that choice:  Yahweh consistently profiled them as stubborn (Deuteronomy 9:6), not singularly righteous (Deuteronomy 9:4-5), lacking religious enlightenment (Jeremiah 4:22), and at loggerheads with Him (Isaiah 55:8-9).  Yahweh’s choice had more to do with specific objectives:  To display His might amongst the nations by choosing the weakest one in order to bring down the powers that be (Deuteronomy 7:6-8; Job 12:23; Isaiah 60:22; 1Corinthians 1:26-29).  It was His wish that mankind’s salvation should come from non-contenders on the world stage (John 4:22).

   Most importantly, the implication that “chosen” means “uniquely favored” shows us how little Jews “get” their Yahweh, Who is not respecter of persons, “but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right” (Deuteronomy 10:17; Acts 10:34-35).  It is interesting to see that despite his three-year exposure to Jesus, Peter held on to this elitist mindset so intrinsic in Judaism until given a vision to correct his spiritual myopia (Acts 10:28).  Thus it was not surprising that Jesus should commission Paul to evangelize the Gentiles (Acts 9:5), given that notwithstanding his Pharisaic upbringing, Paul was able to break free from Mosaic constraints because he could grasp the grander vision superseding monolithic tradition.

   It may be argued that Mosaic elitism grew out of injunctions like Leviticus 11:32-34 and Deuteronomy 7:3, where contact with unclean animals or alien nations compromised Jewish spiritual integrity (Deuteronomy 7:3; Acts 10:28).  These were imposed on Jews to keep them from adopting pagan customs (Leviticus 18:3-5), but did nothing to achieve God’s primary objective:  Preserving the soul from the contamination of evil inclinations—as latter reaffirmed by Jesus (Matthew 15:17-20; Acts 10:13-16).  So even if the letter of Mosaic Law was misconstrued as endorsing a sense of uniqueness, specific teachings like Isaiah 65:2-5 preempted such notions.

   Now the Mosaic Covenant is Jesus’ Covenant saddled with “food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies—physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established” (Hebrews 9:10)—i.e., Jesus’ new covenant of faith, where perfection is made possible by the imitation of Christ (Luke 6:40).  The covenant of faith jettisons all the inessentials of Mosaic Law; and what is worse makes its observers irremissibly accursed (Galatians 3:10-20,23-26).  Thus during his earthly ministry, Jesus differentiated between Mosaic chains and Christian freedoms (Matthew 15:1-6; Mark 10:4-12; Luke 6:1-5), holding fast to those aspects of Mosaic Law that were congruent with Christian aims:  The Ten Commandments and loving one’s neighbor as oneself (Matthew 22:37-39↔Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18).  With Luke 18:20 Jesus broke new ground:  Dispossessing oneself of material privileges—as he himself had done in Heaven (Philippians 2:5-7)—in order to prove one’s love for one’s neighbors by tending to their needs (Matthew 25:35-40; Acts 4:32-35; 2Corinthians 8:14; 1John 3:17).  In other worlds:  To put one’s money where one’s mouth was and thus validate one’s faith through deeds (James 2:14-17).

   But through the centuries, Jews have relied on material wealth to secure social standing among and political influence from the powers that be.  It is a strategy that has not always worked, but when it did brought them respite from all the catastrophes that befell them alienated from God (Deuteronomy 28:15-68).  Not for them Yahweh’s dreary format of the truly repentant lifestyle (Isaiah 22:12-14), but enjoying the here and now until Messiah Day; so while still piously observant of Mosaic traditions, they have missed the forest for the proverbial trees.  Instead they have chosen to keep the veil of Moses over their eyes and circumcise prepuces rather than hearts (Jeremiah 4:4; Romans 2:29; 2Corinthians 3:14).  Heaven can wait.

   And it is in this sense that Yahweh the Most High remains “unknown” to them even before switching to Plan B; for that very switch, consisting of self-serving, concocted pieties—let alone their inability to offer blood for the remission of sins—could not and will not reconcile them with Him (Romans 8:1-8).  The plants of Yahweh of host’s vineyard did not hark to his voice (Isaiah 5:7, 61:3), so Yahweh the Most High uprooted them and cast them to the four winds (Jeremiah 2:30, 29:14; Ezekiel 22:14-16; Luke 20:13-16; Romans 11:17-21).

   Today Israel sits pretty in lands arbitrarily demarcated [Balfour Declaration] and expanded by browbeating and dispossessing native populations, all the while evincing the bankrupt piety of their forebears (Isaiah 58:2-7).  And since they still hedge their bets on military might and alliances with nations committed to Israel’s survival, they will again see their beloved Jerusalem, heart and soul of their religion, besieged and brought down (Luke 21:20).

   How and why this will happen remains to be seen, but the prophesied Great Tribulation, unprecedented in human history (Matthew 24:21), tells us future events will not be business as usual.  In dealing with their own upheavals, nations now committed to Israel may be unable to come to Israel’s aid, providing an opportunity for Israel’s enemies to swoop down for the kill.

   And if out of that dismal fate souls will be cleansed and prove worthy of salvation, Yahweh the Most High will allow it (Jeremiah 16:18).  Because in their agony, they will turn to Him with all their hearts and finally find Him (Deuteronomy 30:1-10; 2Chronicles 15:2-7,15; Jeremiah 29:11-14).

¹ We have discussed these things at length in previous series.

² Which evinces the duplicity of papal wannabees enabling and abetting Jewish persecution through the ages, while claiming a spurious pedigree of succession through Peter the Jew back to Jesus the Jew.

   It may have been for this exact reason that to expose the chicanery to be perpetrated, Jesus chose Paul, whom he had not interacted with during his ministry; especially since Paul would warn about the spiritual repercussions involved in persecuting Jews (Romans 11:16-24).

³ As he would again demand of Joshua when facing and speaking to him (Joshua 5:13-15).  It was then that the Angel identified himself as Prince [see Daniel 9:25]—both Commander and High Priest—of God’s angelic host; and since he shared Yahweh the Most High’s name (Exodus 23:21), hence the descriptor Yahweh of hosts the Redeemer vs. Yahweh the Most High, King of Israel (Isaiah 44:6).

   Note that no other angels interacting with humans throughout the Bible require this reverence.

⁴ Let us not forget Exodus 34:1-9, where the Yahweh of hosts parading himself before Moses is praising the higher Yahweh Who had revealed Himself earlier in those exact terms:  He Who visited the iniquity of previous generations upon latter ones, yet was merciful to those who obeyed Him (Exodus 20:5-6).

  Also Isaiah 22:25:  “In that day,” says Yahweh of hosts, “the nail [Satan] that was fastened in a sure place will give way.  It will be cut down, and fall. The burden that was on it will be cut off, for Yahweh [the Most High God] has spoken it.”

⁵ To see grotesque extremes of this practice, search “Body Modifications” in YouTube.

⁶ A supremely important teaching:  Jesus is immortal flesh whereas the Most High is Spirit (John 4:24); therefore not co-substantial.  Hence the related teachings of Psalms 17:15 and 1John 3:2:  All the redeemed will share Jesus’ immortal flesh (1Corinthians 15:50-53; Colossians 1:18↔Isaiah 26:19; Ezekiel 37:1-14; Daniel 12:2); so that at last men will be made in God’s image and likeness, and Genesis 1:26 truly fulfilled.

⁷ When Jeremiah was trying to escape the siege of Jerusalem, he was caught and put into prison (Jeremiah 37:11-16).  He may have been Yahweh’s prophet, but Jeremiah was Jewish to the core: He was not to keen on facing his own music (Jeremiah 27:6-8). If others had to submit to Yahweh’s will, Jeremiah could not be exempted. Obviously, Yahweh wanted him there to record Yahweh’s judgments in the Book of Lamentations.

Compare Jeremiah’s with Micah’s decision to face what Yahweh had in store for him (Micah 7:9), the only possible course of action available to the righteous (Psalms 50:5, 51:4; Hebrews 12:5-8; 1Peter 3:17, 5:6).