Continue from: By William F. Dankenbring
Only ONE "Saviour" Jesus Christ is plainly called the Saviour in many passages. An angel told Joseph at the conception of Christ, ". . . you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins" (Matt.1:21). Christ is "the Savior of the world" (John 4:42). Paul preached, "God has brought Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised" (Acts 13:23). Paul goes further, in his letter to Titus, and exclaims, ". . . while we wait for the blessed hope -- the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13). Here he clearly calls Jesus not only our Savior but also "our great God." It is Jesus whose appearing, or return, that we await with bated breath and anxious yearning. Are there two Saviors? Not according to your Bible! There is only ONE Savior - - and that is Jesus Christ! The Father has given that responsibility to Christ. The apostles clearly taught, "Savation is found in NO ONE ELSE, for there is NO OTHER NAME under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Now notice what Isaiah wrote: Quoting the LORD YHVH, Isaiah declared, "I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is NO savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed -- I, and not some foreign god among you" (Isa.43:11-12). Clearly, then, there is only ONE Savior -- the YHVH, the One who BECAME Jesus 52 Christ! Again, Isaiah quotes God as saying, "And there is no God apart from me, a righeous God and a Savior; there is none but me. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am GOD, and there is no other" (Isa.45:21-22).
The reason the One who became Christ says, here, that only He is God and there is no other is not because the Father did not also exist, but because the Father had not been revealed to the world at this time. The Father's identity and existence had been hidden, and was not to be revealed until Christ came and revealed Him! Isaiah continues along this theme, "The LORD has made proclamation to the ends of the earth; 'Say to the Daughter of Zion, "See, your Savior comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him"'"(Isa.62:11). Notice also the plain and clear statement in Jeremiah: "The days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the NAME by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness" (Jer.23:5-8; see also Jer.33:14-16). What could be clearer than this? Christ is plainly called "The LORD [YHVH] Our Righteousness," and God always names individuals what they are! Jeremiah also tells us, "Yet their Redeemer is strong; the LORD Almighty is his name" (Jer.50:34). In many Scriptures the LORD is referred to as our Redeemer (Isa.41:14; 43;14; 44:6, 24; 47:4; 59:20; 60:16, etc.). Who is our Redeemer? The disciples said to Jesus, whom they did not recognize, after His resurrection, about Christ: ". . . and they crucified him, but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to REDEEM Israel" (Luke 24:20-21). Jesus Christ "redeemed us to God" by His shed blood (Rev.5:9). He is therefore YHVH, the Redeemer! Ezekiel the Prophet Tells Us Plainly The prophet Ezekiel explains that the new Temple which is to be built after the return of the Messiah will have an outer gate facing eastward. Ezekiel was told, "This gate is to remain shut. It must not be opened; no one may enter through it. It is to remain shut because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it" (Ezek.44:2).
Christ will enter His Temple when He returns (Mal.3:1). The Father will still be in heaven at this time. Therefore, it should be crystal clear that Ezekiel is here calling Christ, the Messiah, who returns to the Temple, "the LORD, the God of Israel." Interestingly, at that time the city of Jerusalem will also have another name. Ezekiel says, "And the name of the city from that time on will be: THE LORD IS THERE" (Ezek.48:35). Which "LORD" or YHVH will be there at that time? Christ the Messiah! 53 Joel is also very explicit in referring to the returning warrior-king, the Christ, as the YHVH or LORD. This prophet exclaims, prophetically of the second coming, "Come quickly, all you nations from every side, and assemble there. Bring down your warriors, O LORD! Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for therre I will sit to judge all the nations on every side" (Joel 3:11-12). This clearly refers to Christ returning at the head of a huge army of angelic warriors, the same as we find described in Matthew 24:30-31 and Revelation 19:11-16. Jude also referred to this truth, when he wrote: "Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: 'See, the LORD is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him" (Jude 14-15).
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