The Earth belongs to HaShem
"The Earth Belongs to HaShem and the Fullness Thereof."

Is Y'shua God?

A Consideration of Colossians One and Related Texts

By Yochanan ben Avraham (John of AllFaith) 01.24.10 (last updated 7.5.10)

Short answer: No.

    Y'shua is "the Only Begotten Son of HaShem" as the scriptures say.
    He is however uniquely divine and not simply another prophet.
    He is our Cohen Gadol ("High Priest"), the Mediator between Adonai and humanity, and will in due course fulfill the role of Mashiach (Messiah)

Adon Y'shua's Emissary Paul writes (italics is mine):

Colossians 1:12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Go Here to read the biblical selections of this study in the modern English Complete Jewish Bible version. All quotes on this page are from the Authorized King James version with the exception of correcting our master's name.

Let's take a closer look at these verses:

Adon Y'shua as the Son of Adonai

1:12: The Father is HaShem: the God of Adam, Noah and Israel as revealed in the Torah and Tanakh (i.e. the "Old Testament").
The Father (of the Son) is the Source of all creation. HaShem has made us all qualified (or "meet" in the old English) to receive our inheritance as His sons and daughters (i.e. to inherit eternal life in the Kingdom -- John 3:14). This is the essence of the Good News or Gospel.

1:13: The Kingdom we have been made fit to inherit is that of "His dear Son." What is a son?

Son: noun
  • a male child or person in relation to his parents.
  • a male child or person adopted as a son; a person in the legal position of a son.
  • any male descendant: eg. a son of Israel.
  • a son-in-law.
  • a person related as if by ties of sonship.
  • a male person looked upon as the product or result of particular agencies, forces, influences, etc.: eg. a true son of the soil.
  • a familiar term of address to a man or boy from an older person, an ecclesiastic, etc.

Throughout the books of the B'rit Hadashah (or "New Testament") HaShem is referenced as the Father. Y'shua is referred to as His Son. A son is not the same person as his father even though they share certain traits which the son inherits from the father. When referring to Y'shua the word "Son" is generally capitalized in English language Bibles to show that his Sonship with the Father is unique: Y'shua is the "Only Begotten Son." He is in a unique position as "the only begotten" as will be discussed below.

1:14 It is Y'shua of Nazareth who has earned our redemption. HaShem "earns" nothing, everything belong to Him and yet we are utterly indebted to Y'shua for what he has done to earn our salvation. The Kingdom has been earned by Y'shua and we are all indebted to him due to his work of redemption:

Philippians 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

God has exalted Y'shua. The language is clearly of one being exalting another due to his accomplishments.

1:15: "The image of the invisible God:" "Image" here is the Greek word eiko and means (according to Strongs' G1503) a likeness, that is, (literally) statue, profile, or (figuratively) representation, resemblance: - image.

Adon Y'shua as the Reflection of Adonai

How is Y'shua the image or reflection of HaShem? He answers this question for us:

John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
5:31 If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.
5:32 There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.

Such verses make no sense if Y'shua is literally his own father -- and of course being ones own father makes no sense either.

What the text is telling us that is that Y'shua is the perfect and undefiled eiko or reflection of HaShem's Will and Mind. An eiko is not the original. It is a reflection of the original, as a son is a reflection his father, although in perfection in this case.

Adon Y'shua as the Firstborn of Adonai

Y'shua is "...the firstborn of every creature..." According to the text Y'shua was the first born or first created of all of HaShem's creations. Again this directly states that Adon Y'shua is a created being while HaShem is not. HaShem is the creator of all.

This word "firstborn" tells us a lot. It is, in the Greek, prototok'os from which we get the word prototype. HaShem has no beginning, middle nor end. When HaShem decided to begin creation He first created a perfect prototype: Y'shua.

From and through that Prototype all else was created. This is what the emissary of HaShem, under direction of the Ruach HaKodesh, is seeking to explain. Some of this material is, as Peter explained concerning Paul's writings, difficult to understand (II Peter 3:16). Paul is here speaking of events that occurred before the dawn of creation and explaining how it is that Adon Y'shua -- whom his readers knew had lived and died just a few short years before and some had even known personally-- had not only already existed but had done so in such an awesome situation. This is truly difficult to understand!

Adon Y'shua as the Logos of Adonai

We now turn our attention to John chapter one in order to understand how this prototype was employed to manifest the creation into material existence.

It is clear that Adon Y'shua is the Word referenced here. We will now seek deeper understanding of what this means by considering the opening verses of the Book of John:

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

There is strong reason to believe that the books of the B'rit Hadashah ("New Testament") were originally composed in Hebrew (note 1). This at times makes interpretation tricky as we are going from a now lost Hebrew text through a Greek translation and then into English. Remember that the Greek word translated here as "Word" (logos) is actually conveying a Hebrew concept rather than the multifaceted Greek term. The Greek word has many meanings however when read in terms of Jewish theology its meaning is clarified for us.

Logos as the Torah of Adonai

The Word is God's Torah, God's True Utterance/Wisdom/Purposes:

    Genesis 1:3 And God said...

    Psalm 119:160 Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

Adonai's Torah was the spark of creation when HaShem said: "Let there be light." His Word brought about all existence ex nihilo, from nothingness when "God said, Let us make man in our image..." HaShem's eternal Torah is His Word and Purpose.

The Torah was present in Eden and partially revealed to Adam and Eve. Later it was further revealed to Noach and later still more fully to Avraham and still later to Moshe. Torah was carried through the wilderness and later placed within the Beit HaMikdash (the holy Temple). It is partially transcribed as the Pentateuch (the five books of Moshe). The Word was further disclosed in the Tanakh and expounded in the Talmud, the Mishnah, and so on by the elders of Elders. Torah is eternal.

Of the Torah before Moses we read:

Origin and Preexistence:
"Moses received the Torah from Sinai" (Avot 1:1). Yet there is an ancient tradition that the Torah existed in heaven not only before God revealed it to Moses, but even before the world was created. The apocryphal book The Wisdom of Ben Sira identified the Torah with preexistent personified wisdom (1:1–5, 26; 15:1; 24:1ff.; 34:8; cf. Prov. 8:22–31). In rabbinic literature, it was taught that the Torah was one of the six or seven things created prior to the creation of the world (Gen. R. 1:4; Pes. 54a, et al.).
    For more on this topic see The Jewish Virtual Library
This is the very point being made here in John 1. The Word that was "in the beginning" is this preexisting eternal Torah. The word "Torah" refers to different reflections of the eternal Torah depending on the context. The "Word" being discussed at John 1 should not therefore be thought of as book or series of scrolls, but as the eternal Torah, the Word created by HaShem at the dawn of creation before anything else. Through Torah HaShem created all.

John 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.

    --- This Wisdom, this Truth was created by God in the beginning of creation.
John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
    --- All things were made by HaShem. Everything else that exists is built upon the foundation He established. Matter can be manipulated but not created by anyone other than HaShem. HaShem created everything "through" His Torah

Now here is where the nature of Adon Y'shua is revealed! John 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

    --- The Word or Torah was present and fully harmonious with HaShem at the beginning. Now we are seeing the personification of Torah reflected as an individual being. Remember that Colossians 1:12 says we have been made "partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light."

We continue... John 1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

    --- The Light of God's Truth, the Heavenly Torah or Word, has been shining into the world since the point of its creation, however humankind was disobedient and limited in our understanding of what was revealed.

    Through Adam that Light was revealed but he and his wife disobeyed Torah and went their own ways. Later our father Noach was spared and received the Noachide Covenant that brought the Light to all humankind but again that Light was rejected as humanity went its own way.

    The Light of Truth was then clarified for the Hebrews as the Mosaic Law. The Torah was revealed as the Written Torah, however again the people did not obey it. Through legalism and the traditions of men knowledge of Torah became confused, adulterated and again disobeyed.

    But then in due course HaShem sent His Son Adon Y'shua to reform Judaism and rekindle the love of HaShem that underscores proper Torah observance. Not everyone accepted the reforms of Y'shua but many did, both Jews and Gentiles.

    By the third century CE however the Way of Y'shua was being undermined by the Nicolaitan Heresy and his reforms and teachings were contaminated. Among these non-biblical (even anti-biblical) doctrines was the introduction of the dogma of the deity of Y'shua and the Trinity that challenges the very Oneness of HaShem:

    Deuteronomy 6:4 Sh'ma Yis'ra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad:
      "Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One."

    This period of contamination referenced by Adon Y'shua as the Times of the Gentiles (Luke 21:24) is now drawing to a close (Rev. 3:14-15).

    Once again HaShem is preparing those who would serve Him in spirit and in truth for what is coming. This is the reason for the growing interest in rediscovering the original reform movement of Adon Y'shua. This growing desire to rediscover and return to biblical religion is a wonderful thing. This desire is the inspiration behind this website. This rediscovery movement must be willing to abandon all doctrinal alterations made by Pagan Rome if is to be successful in sounding the clarion call of Adon Y'shua HaNatzrati. This includes rejecting the Pagan doctrine of the Trinity that seeks to compromise the absolute oneness of HaShem our Adonai. We need to do this in love, always remembering that at the present time we can see but glimpses of Light as we gaze in the mirror of God's Truth (I Corinthians 3:12). We need to understand that before the coming of the sun we have yet to pass through the darkest portion of the night: the Great Tribulation. Promises of a Rapture or "End Time Revival" are deceiving millions of people. We need to be preparing to stand, not to escape what lies ahead.

John 1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John [Yochanan].
    --- This of course was John the Immerser who came to point the way to Adon Y'shua and to warn the people to repent. Had they done so Y'shua would have established the Kingdom and taken upon himself the mantle of Mashiach (Psalms 110).

    This window of opportunity would not last forever however. Because the elders of Israel repeatedly refused to bow to HaShem in genuine repentance this opportunity closed as the Times of the Gentiles began. As we read:

    Acts 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
    13:47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.
    13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
John 1:7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
    --- John bore witness to the Light of God's Torah and warned the people to return to proper Torah observance and to accept Y'shua as Cohen Gadol (our mediator with HaShem). Had they done so the Kingdom would had been established (Matthew 3:1,2)
John 1:8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
    --- John the Immerser was an Essene -- a devout sect of Torah observant Jews who broke off from the P'rushim (Pharisees) circa 103 B.C.E. following the Alexander Jannaeus affair. He was a holy prophet of HaShem. John bore witness that HaShem was about to manifest His Light to the world as never before in the person of His dear Son.
John 1:9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
    --- Again, the Torah is the light given to every human, to every creature, that comes into the worlds (Psalm 119:105).
John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
    --- Now we see that something different is happening. John was "in the world" but he was not that Light, but watch this, John was proclaiming that the Light of Heavenly Torah had entered the world in a new and unique way! He proclaimed that the Torah (NOT God) had been made flesh (see verse 14 below)!
John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
    --- Scriptures confirms this:

    Matthew 15:24 But he [ie Y'shua] answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

    In the person of Y'shua the Light of heavenly Torah entered the world in human form! Most Nicene Christians say Y'shua was the Word however few truly understand the immensity of this claim. Adon Y'shua, our master, is the very image or reflection -- the eiko -- of HaShem's eternal Torah! No wonder he could say:

    John 14:9 ... he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
    14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
    Adon Y'shua was the very embodiment of Torah! HaShem's Truth and Will. When he spoke he spoke Torah! He was one with the Torah of HaShem. No one else can make such a claim.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: John 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth.
    --- The point is further clarified here. The eternal Torah was manifested in human form as Y'shua, the first born of HaShem and the only being created by Him without Y'shua as mediator.

Continuing now with our consideration of Colossians One:

Colossians 1:16: Y'shua was the firstborn of all creation, the prototype of all that followed. This includes not only things of the earth, the material manifestation, but also of all things in Heaven, the Ouranos or spirit realms. Nothing existed prior to Y'shua and nothing exists apart from Him.

Note that "all things were created by him, and for him." The biblical presentation is hierarchical. We can more fully understand this verse if we consider the following:

1 Corinthians 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept....
15:24 Then cometh the end, when he [ie Y'shua] shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
15:25 For he [ie Y'shua] must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him [ie under HaShem], it is manifest that he [ie Y'shua] is excepted, which did put all things under him.
15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him [ie Y'shua], then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him [ie HaShem] that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

This is the biblical hierarchy. Y'shua is the firstborn of all creation. During the final seven years of the age (and perfected during the thousand year theocratic kingdom) all things will be subject to Y'shua HaMashiach as he sits upon the Throne of David (Isaiah 9:7; Psalm 110). At the conclusion of the thousand year theocratic kingdom the war of Gog of Magog will take place. Once that war is concluded Adon Y'shua himself, having placed everything under his own authority, will then submit himself and everything he has to HaShem and the Rebellion will be no more.

Colossians 1:17: Y'shua is therefore already the head of everything, but there remains the matter of the Luciferian rebellion.

1:18: As Cohen Gadol he is the head of the Church, our mediator with HaShem. In the future Y'shua will rule as Mashiach and the whole world will bow to his lordship and authority (Zechariah 8:20-23).

1:19: "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell." See this? It pleased the Father (HaShem), that Y'shua (His Son) should serve Him in this role, that in him the fullness of God's Will, His Torah or Word, should dwell bodily:

This is the meaning of the following often cited verse:

Colossians 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

And again:

John 14:9 Y'shua saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

Everything Y'shua does, his every thought, word and deed, is in perfect harmony with that of the Father. As our Elder Brother (Hebrews 2:11) he is the example we should follow. This is the testimony of John 14:10.

Adon Y'shua completely and perfectly serves the Father. Yet with even this perfect oneness Y'shua stated that he not have absolute knowledge. The Master tells us:

Mark 13:32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

Colossians 1:20: The world has already been reconciled to HaShem through Y'shua. This reconciliation was completed at Calvary, however the Luciferian rebellion will continue until the Times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Luke 21:24), the Man of Sin is revealed (II Thessalonians 2:3) and destroyed, and the Theocratic Kingdom is inaugurated. I discuss this in more detail in other studies on my prophecy site and in depth in my verse by verse commentary on the Revelation of Y'shua. The point here is that Adon Y'shua is the pure reflection of HaShem, our exemplar and our Way to the Father.

As for the Father:

Sh'ma Yis'ra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad:
    [which means] "Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One" (Deuteronomy 6:4 )

    If you have questions about this topic read the other studies on my websites and blogs or Contact me directly.

    May HaShem and our Adon, Y'shua HaNatzrati bless and enlighten you,

      ~ Yochanan ben Avraham

      ~ John of AllFaith



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