Program 290
Man Under Authority

Yahushua was a man under God’s authority; he was not God.

Welcome to WLC Radio, a subsidiary of WLC Radio Ministry, an online ministry dedicated to learning how to live in constant readiness for the Savior's return.

For two thousand years, believers of every generation have longed to be the last generation. Contrary to popular belief, though, Christ did not give believers “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, he repeatedly warned that his coming would take even the faithful by surprise. Yahushua urgently warned believers to be ready because, he said, “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” [Matthew 24:44]

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.

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Part 1: (Miles & Dave)

Miles Robey: According to German sociologist and political economist Max Weber, there are three types of authority. There is traditional authority, charismatic authority, and legal-rational authority. These all represent different types of power that can influence others, even controlling their behavior.

So the question is: what type of authority did the Savior have? Well, if you’re a trinitarian, you’re going to say that his authority was not just delegated from the Father, but also inherent because he’s God the Son.

But does Scripture support such a claim?

Hi, I’m Miles Robey and you’re listening to World’s Last Chance Radio where we cover a variety of topics related to Scripture, prophecy, practical piety, Biblical beliefs, and living in constant readiness for the Savior’s unexpected return.

It may seem a rather rudimentary question to contemplate: from where did Yahushua obtain his authority? But once you realize that Scripture actually contradicts the claims that Christ’s authority was naturally derived by virtue of him being divine, it becomes an important point to consider because the truth of where Christ derived his authority challenges many assumptions Christians have made. Today, Dave Wright is going to be leading us in a study on what Scripture reveals about Yahushua’s authority. Later, Jane Lamb will share with us a promise for anyone in danger. It can be stressful to find yourself in a dangerous situation, but Yahuwah has the power to protect us in even the most hazardous circumstances.

Dave? Authority is an interesting concept. “Bucking authority” can get you into real trouble.

Dave Wright: It can indeed! A proper understanding of authority can benefit you, while abuse of authority can cause lots of problems. I recently read about a Homeowners’ Association in the United States that really overstepped its boundaries and ended up paying a high price for it.

Miles: Hold on a sec. For listeners in countries that don’t know what a Homeowners’ Association is, it’s a way of maintaining shared amenities in housing developments. HOAs, as they’re called, are common in North America, parts of South America, and the Philippines. They’re less common in Australia and Europe, although they can be found here, too. We call it a Residents’ Association, but they’re not as common or as powerful as in North America.

Dave: There are a lot of horror stories of power-hungry HOAs in North America. If you paint your house a color the HOA hasn’t approved, you can be fined. If your curtains are any color but white, you can be fined. If the grass on your lawn is too long, you can be fined. And, of course, there are monthly fees you have to pay as well.

Miles: Why would anyone voluntarily join such a restrictive organization?

Dave: Well, a lot of people don’t! A man named Matt Buettner shared a story on Quora about an HOA near him. Apparently, a house on a large corner lot beside the entrance to this HOA was not actually a part of it. On their lot, they parked their boat and a camping trailer. They also had an above ground swimming pool, a couple of sheds and a 6-foot privacy fence. All of these things were not allowed under the HOA rules and to have them on the lot right at the entrance to the HOA?

Miles: Not a good look.

Dave: No. So, the HOA starts sending the homeowner letters, fining him for being in violation of their rules. But, since he wasn’t a member, he just tossed them in the garbage. Eventually, the HOA took him to court over unpaid fines.

Miles: Are you serious?

Dave: Oh, yes! But he counter-sued for harassment and, get this: he won!

Miles laughs: That’s brilliant!

Dave: Well, the HOA wasn’t very happy. They were ordered to pay $20,000, but they didn’t pay … and they didn’t pay … and they didn’t pay. Finally, five years later, the guy filed with the court to seize and sell their community pool area and playground at auction in order to pay the debt.

Miles laughs: That’s insane!

Dave: But legal. Anyway, the guy ended up buying it at auction for what was owed him. The HOA was even more unhappy than before. They tried suing him again but, again, they lost. He now owns their pool and playground and leases it to the HOA, making a nice little profit every month.

Miles: Poetic justice for the little guy. I love it!

Dave: My point is, a correct understanding of authority—and its limitations, if any—is important. If you look up the word “authority” in the dictionary, it has a number of interconnected meanings. It includes “the power or right to give commands, enforce obedience, [and] take action.” It also includes “the position of one having such power” and “such power as delegated to another.” A perfect example of this is seen in law enforcement. Officers have authority over civilians while, at the same time, they are under the command of still higher authorities.

And we see this in a story recorded in Matthew 8. Would you read it for us, please? Matthew 8 verses 5 to 9.

Miles:

When [Yahushua] had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

Dave: We all know this story. Typically when we read it, we focus on the fact that the centurion had incredibly strong faith, and Yahushua commended him for that faith. Verse 10 says …?

Miles: Uhhh … “When Yahushua heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, ‘Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.’”

Dave: There are a lot of lesson on faith we can learn from this story. But there’s something else here we overlook too frequently, and that is the reason for the centurion’s faith. We need to learn this, because faith is only as strong as the foundation we give it to rest on.

The centurion was a military man. He understood power and delegated authority. It was because of this that he had complete and total faith in Yahushua’s ability to heal with just a word. Read verse 9 again. This is key because this is the reason for his strong faith.

Miles: “For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

Dave: The centurion’s saying, “I understand delegated authority. Delegated authority is as strong as the power backing it. Just as I have the backing of Caesar, you have divine backing. So, you’ve got the power to heal with just a word.”

Miles: Would it be accurate to say that the centurion’s faith wasn’t in the man, Yahushua, but in the Yahuwah, the God who had granted Yahushua power to act on his behalf?

Dave: Absolutely. We’ve spoken in other programs that Yahushua was Yahuwah’s delegated agent. That is a legal designation. Yahushua had the power to act and speak on behalf of Yahuwah, so that everything he did and said was to be accepted as if Yahuwah Himself were there.

Because the centurion was in a hierarchy of delegated power and authority, he understood this. His faith was in the God of Israel to heal his servant. He recognized that Yahushua was also a man acting under Yahuwah’s authority.

And Yahushua himself said as much. What did he tell the disciples in John 14 verse 28? Just the last phrase

Miles: Uhhh … “The Father is greater than I.”

Dave: A trinitarian is going to say, “Oh, he’s talking about just his human nature here.” But that’s not what it says. It’s a straightforward statement without exceptions: “The Father is greater than I.” We need to quit reading into Scripture what isn’t there.

Paul also clearly states that Yahushua is subordinate to Yahuwah. Turn to 1 Corinthians 11 and read just the last part of verse 3. Paul’s talking about hierarchy here. He says that the “head” or authority over every man is Christ. And who’s the head over Christ?

Miles: “The head of Christ is God.”

Dave: He states it another way in verse 23 of chapter 3. Would you turn there next?

Miles: Um, “You are Christ's, and Christ is God's.”

Dave: Again, showing a hierarchy.

Before we go on, I want to just clarify something for our listeners. In today’s program, you’ll be hearing me use the title “God” quite a bit. There’s a reason for that. Number one: that’s what appears in the original. But secondly, as we go through the passages from Scripture that show Yahushua is subordinate to “God,” ask yourself if that’s even possible if Yahushua himself is “God.” Or is that only possible if just Yahuwah is “God”?

The point is, in a hierarchy, no one elevates or appoints himself. An outside power, a higher authority up the chain of command, must do the appointing and the elevating. In Acts 2:33, Peter states that Yahushua has been exalted to the right hand of …?

Miles: Yahuwah.

Dave: No. “God.” Yes, Yahuwah is God, but Yahushua isn’t. If Yahushua were God, he wouldn’t need to be exalted to a position that was his by right of being divine.

The exaltation of Yahushua by God to sit at God’s right hand is a theme that appears frequently in the apostles’ early sermons. What do they say in Acts 5:31?

Miles: “God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”

Dave: Yahuwah—“God”—is the one doing the exalting. This demonstrates that Yahushua could not in any degree be “God.” Not even with a dual nature because he would then be exalting himself.

Turn to Micah 5 and read verse 2. You’ll recognize this as a prophecy of the Savior, but there’s a little phrase here we’ve been skipping over; a little phrase that is very revealing. Micah chapter 5 and verse 2.

Miles:

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for Me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.

Dave: This is one of those passages of Scripture a lot of believers have kinda/sorta memorized just because it’s easy to remember. I’ve heard people quote—and I have myself—quoted it loosely. I’ll say something along the lines of, But you, Bethlehem, out of you will come one who will be ruler of Israel, whose goings-forth have been from of old.”

And that’s kind of what it says. But an important detail has been left out. This’s Yahuwah speaking. He says, “Out of you will come” … what? What’s next?

Miles: “For Me.”

Dave: For. Me. This is a statement of delegation. Yahushua acts in Yahuwah’s stead because Yahuwah has granted him the authority to do so. This is designated authority. The higher power grants the subordinate the right to act and speak on His behalf.

Verse 4 expounds on this point. Speaking of Yahushua, the one that is to come for Yahuwah, what does it say?

Miles:

He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of Yahuwah,
in the majesty of the name of Yahuwah his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.

Dave: Yahushua has a God, and it’s the same God you and I worship. Yahuwah is our God. Yahushua’s God isn’t himself!

Yahushua was a man under the authority of God, and that God is Yahuwah.

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* * *Part 2: (Miles & Dave)

Dave: When the centurion told Christ that he recognized him as also being a man under authority, the word that appears in our modern Bibles as “authority” comes from the Greek word, exousia.

I brought my copy of Strong’s Expanded Dictionary. Would you please look it up and tell us how the dictionary defines exousia? It’s number 1849.

Miles: Sure, uh. It says exousia “denotes authority. From the meaning of ‘leave or permission,’ or liberty of doing as one pleases, it passed to that of ‘the ability or strength with which one is endued,’ then to that of the ‘power of authority,’ the right to exercise power or ‘the power of rule or government,’ the power of one whose will and commands must be obeyed by others.”

It adds that it includes a meaning of “one who possesses authority, a ruler, magistrate.”

Dave: Okay. Good. According to HELP Word Studies on Biblehub.com, it means authority, conferred power; delegated empowerment (“authorization”) operating in a designated jurisdiction. So, again, power that has been bestowed on another. Authorization to act within a hierarchy.

What the centurion was acknowledging was that, just as his power and authority had been bestowed on him by a higher power—in his instance, Caesar—Yahushua had also been granted authority. But Yahushua’s authority was derived from a much higher power: Yahuwah.

Charles Spurgeon, the great English preacher, gave a sermon entitled A Man Under Authority in October of 1895. I’d like you to read a quote where he compares Yahushua and the centurion. Go ahead and read the bracketed paragraph.

Miles:

[The centurion] was a commander who derived his position and power from the great Emperor at Rome! He was “a man under authority.”…this centurion meant to say [to Yahushua], “I recognize in you, also, a man under authority,” for this blessed Christ of ours had come into the world commissioned by God. …[Yahushua] was here as the One whom the Father had chosen, anointed, qualified and sent to carry out a divine commission! This officer could see about the person of Christ the marks of his being commissioned by God. By some means…he had arrived at this very safe and true conclusion that [Yahushua] Christ was acting under the authority of the great God who made heaven and earth! And he looked at him, therefore, under that aspect—as duly authorized and commissioned for his work.

Dave: As a man who was also acting under the authority of power greater than his own, the centurion recognized the same in Yahushua.

The late Harry Whitaker published a book in 1984 called Studies in the Gospels. I’d like you to read what he had to say.

Here … by the asterisk.

Miles:

What [the centurion] did say was: “For I also am a man set under authority.” The word “also” pointedly stresses a similarity in status between himself and [Yahushua]. What was it? In effect, he declared: “My men obey every command of mine because I am under the authority of Caesar. They do my bidding because behind me is the supreme power of the Emperor. But I recognize that you, [Yahushua], are under the direction of the One greater than Tiberius. Behind you is the authority of Almighty God.”

Dave: Yahushua’s power was not from himself. And even if he were the trinitarian “God the Son” who had a dual nature, the human part of his nature would still have been authorized by the divine part of his nature. But that’s not what Scripture says. Instead, we’re repeatedly told that Yahushua’s power was from … God. And that God we know is Yahuwah. It’s not God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Just Yahuwah.

Yahushua never once claimed equality with Yahuwah. He consistently placed himself in rank lower than the Father. When the Pharisees sarcastically asked Christ, “Are you greater than our Father Abraham?” it was the perfect for Yahushua to tell them that yes, he was actually God. But he didn’t. Instead, what did he say? John 8:54.

Miles: “Yahushua replied, ‘If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.’”

Dave: Placing himself subordinate to God.

What did he say in John 17 verses 1 to 3?

Miles:

After Yahushua said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your son, that Your son may glorify You. For You granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those You have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Yahushua Christ, whom You have sent.

Dave: God granted Yahushua authority. God “sent” Yahushua. Now, if Yahushua is God, what does that mean? Yahushua granted himself authority? How does that work? Yahushua sent himself? That’s ridiculous! The use of the title here draws a distinct difference between Yahushua and “God.” Yahushua isn’t “God,” only Yahuwah is.

Miles: Okay, but to be fair to trinitarians, they do say that Yahushua laid aside his divinity. So, wouldn’t that mean that God sent the son to save us?

Dave: All right. Let’s look at that. Saying that Yahushua “laid aside” his divinity is trinitarians go-to answer whenever a contradiction rears its ugly head. But what does that even mean? What’s the significance of that? Does it mean that Yahushua is no longer God? Does that mean that, instead of a triune godhead, we serve a biune godhead comprised of only the Father and the Holy Spirit?

I’m not being sarcastic here. I’m genuinely wanting to parse out the full significance of what it means for Yahushua to “lay aside” his divinity. What are the ramifications of that? Because if he were, as I was taught growing up, wholly divine and wholly human, then he never truly stopped being divine even when he “laid it aside.” This meant that his own divinity sent himself. His own divinity raised him after his death. And his own divinity exalted himself to sit beside himself on the throne of heaven.

This is not what Christ or the apostles taught. Paul never placed Yahushua in a position equal to the Father. How does he phrase it in his opening greeting to the Corinthians? 1 Corinthians 1 verse 3.

Miles: Ummm … “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Yahushua Christ.”

Dave: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father … and … the Lord Yahushua Christ.” They weren’t one and the same.

He’s even clearer in chapter 8. Turn there and read verses 5 and 6, if you would.

Miles:

For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Yahushua Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

Dave: This is where the mistranslation of the Old Testament confuses people. In the Old Testament, the word “God” is frequently applied to Yahuwah. And that’s fine. That title which also refers to false gods appears in the Hebrew, as well. You have to have a word that can apply to both the true and the false in order to make statements of comparison.

The problem is, that while the original Hebrew named the true God as being Yahuwah, the translators covered that up and instead inserted the generic title, “Lord.” So then trinitarians get to this passage, they remember all the references to the one true God by the title “Lord” in the Old Testament, and they go, “Oh, of course! Yahushua is God, too. He’s called ‘Lord’ here. He’s God the Son.”

But that’s not what Paul’s saying. He’s saying there is only one God, and that’s Yahuwah. In addition to that, there is only one Lord. That’s Yahushua. They are not one and the same. They certainly aren’t united in some “godhead.”

Paul is consistent. He always separates, not unites, Yahuwah and Yahushua. What does he tell Timothy in 1 Timothy 1 verse 2?

Miles: “To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Yahushua our Lord.”

Dave: And chapter 2 verse 5?

Miles: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Yahushua.”

Dave: There is one God … and … there is one mediator between God and men. The man: Christ Yahushua.

Miles: You can’t really get clearer than that.

Dave: No, you can’t.

Paul and Peter and Christ – they all had a full working vocabulary. Divine triads were not unknown in the ancient world. In Egypt, you had Osiris, Isis, and Horus. Ancient Greece had many triads. There was the Olympic triad of Zeus, Athena and Apollo. The Eleusinian Mysteries focused on Demeter, her daughter Persephone, and Triptolemus. The Roman Capitoline triad was comprised of Jupiter, his wife Juno, and their daughter Minerva.

Miles: Egypt had a lot of divine triads. In Thebes, there was Amun, Mut, and Khonsu. In Memphis, they worshiped Ptah, Sekhmet, and Nefertem.

Dave: There’s so many. My point is, if the God of Israel were comprised of a triad, it would have been easy enough for the apostles and Christ to teach that. It was a known concept. But they never did. Because the God of Israel, the only true God, is just Yahuwah. No one else.

Yahushua’s position is subordinate to Yahuwah. Not because he laid anything aside but because he’s just a human being. That’s all he is and all he’s ever been. Consequently, any power or authority that he exercised, or exercises, is power and authority that has been granted, it’s been gifted to him by God.

What did he say in Matthew 11 verse 27?

Miles: Uhhh … let me see … “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.”

Dave: That’s an “all-ness” statement! All things have been handed over or committed to Christ. They aren’t his by right of being “God.” Instead, God is the one that has handed them over to Yahushua.

Miles: Even the power to forgive sins! Let me look for this really quick … it’s where Yahushua healed a lame man.

Here we go. It’s Matthew 9. Listen to this. Verses 2 to 7.

Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Yahushua saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!”

Knowing their thoughts, Yahushua said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” Then the man got up and went home.

I find this passage interesting because this clearly isn’t authority that is his because he’s “God.” He refers to himself right there as the “Son of Man.” This is authority that has been given to him. And only another, higher power can do that.

Dave: You’re absolutely right. And we find this throughout Yahushua’s teaching. Turn to John chapter 3. There’s some deep theology in this chapter.

Drop down to … uh … verses 31 to 36. This whole passage is talking about delegated power: who empowers whom to speak and teach? The power of the spokesman is directly related to the authority of the one who sent him. Go ahead and read that: John 3, verses 31 to 36.

Miles:

The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

Dave: “The one whom God has sent” cannot himself also be God. God isn’t sending himself.

That would have been easy enough to communicate: “In the eternal councils, I decided to come to earth as a man.” But that’s not what he says.

Let’s look at another passage. John 5 verses 26 to 27.

Miles: Okay, um: “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the son also to have life in himself. And He has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.”

Dave: Once again we see that this power to have life, this authority to judge, is delegated power and authority. It has been given to Christ. It doesn’t originate within himself.

Near the end of Christ’s life, he really repeated such statements over and over. Read John 13 verses 3 and 4. This is talking about the Last Supper.

Miles: “Yahushua, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.”

Dave: This translation says that Yahushua knew Yahuwah had given all things into his hands. That’s an all-encompassing statement! I’m curious to know what it says in another translation. This one isn’t wrong, but reading it in another one might help us catch nuances we’d miss otherwise. Do you have another version you can read it from?

Miles: Sure, uh … “Yahushua knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.”

Dave: Okay, so this one says that Yahuwah “put all things under his power.” Also, that he had come from God and was returning to God. This doesn’t mean that he had a pre-existence. It simply means that he’d been sent by Yahuwah to do a special work. And now, as his work was drawing to a close, he would return to Yahuwah.

Even in the Great Commission we find this same point repeated. Would you please turn to Matthew 28 and read verses 16 to 20.

Miles:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Yahushua had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Yahushua came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Dave: These words of Yahushua are the last recorded words in the gospel of Matthew. This is what he told them before being taken up into heaven, and it was a reminder that he had great authority and power because God—Yahuwah—had given it to him. It was to inspire faith and courage in the disciples as they took the gospel to the world.

This is a promise to inspire our faith, too! We can trust that our Savior, seated at the right hand of power, has all the power and authority to help us.

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The reward awaiting all who stay faithful to Yahuwah, be the price what it may, is beyond comprehension. First Corinthians 2 declares: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which Yah hath prepared for them that love him.”

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* * *Part 3: (Miles & Dave) 2075

Dave: The apostles theology was founded upon Christ’s teachings. Even Paul learned directly from Yahushua after his return to Heaven. So let’s look at what the apostles had to say. Would you please turn to 1 Peter chapter 1 and read the first sentence of verse 3. What does that say?

Miles: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Yahushua Christ!”

Dave: “God” here clearly refers to Yahuwah. Not a triune godhead of which Yahushua is a member.

Flip over to chapter 3. Uh … this is one of those interminably long sentences. I want to get to verse 22 but let’s start with verse 21.

Miles:

Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Yahushua Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

Dave: This again shows Yahushua’s position as subordinate to God. He’s seated at the right hand of God. He has not subjected authorities and powers under himself. Rather, they have been subjected to him. That’s what “God” has done when He elevated Yahushua to sit at His right hand.

This same theme is developed in the messages to the churches in Revelation. Turn to Revelation chapter 2 and read verses 26 and 27. What’s interesting in this passage is that Yahushua is setting up a hierarchy where believers are under him, just as he is under Yahuwah.

Miles: “The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. “

Dave: I think it goes without saying that if Yahushua were “God,” he would not need to receive authority from “God.” Authority would be his intrinsically by right of being God!

But that’s not what he says. The mighty works that Yahushua did were to be accepted as proof that he had been sent by Yahuwah. The greater, the more powerful, the one with more authority does the sending. Yahushua was subordinate to “God.” The fact that he could do such wonderful works was to be accepted as proof that God had sent him, not that he was God.

John has a lot to say about this. What does John 5 verse 36 say?

Miles: “But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.”

Dave: The greater sends the lesser.

What does John 10:25 say?

Miles: “Yahushua answered, ‘I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me.’”

Dave: As we’ve covered in other programs, Yahushua was Yahuwah’s agent, representing Him, acting and speaking on His behalf.

Drop down now to verse 32.

Miles: “Yahushua said to them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?’”

Dave: And verse 37?

Miles: “Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father.”

Dave: This is making a powerful connection we need to understand. Yahushua’s miracles are proof that he was sent by God. Not that he is God, but that he was sent by God; by Yahuwah. To be sent means that he is subordinate, not equal to, or the same as “God.”

John 14 verse 10 is even more clear. Read that now, please.

Miles: “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.”

Dave: The apostles took Christ at his word and this was the theology they taught. What did Peter say in Acts 2:22?

Miles: “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Yahushua of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.”

Dave: Yahushua was a man, accredited, or attested to, or endorsed … confirmed … by God. How? By the miracles he performed!

Miles: That’s really interesting how Peter makes a point of distinguishing between the two. And we’ve just ignored it, assuming he was talking about Yahushua’s supposed dual nature. But even if he had a dual nature, part of him would still be “God,” so these statements don’t make sense.

Dave: No. R. C. Sproul was an American theologian. He passed away rather recently in … I guess it has been a while now. He passed in 2017. Anyway, he pointed out that a subordinate is never a peer. There’s a difference.

I printed off a copy of his article, “The Subordination of Christ.” Go ahead and start reading his opening paragraph.

Miles: All right. It says:

What is a subordinate? In our language it is clear that to be subordinate to someone is to be “under” that person’s authority. A subordinate is not a peer; a subordinate is not on an equal level of authority with his or her super-ordinate. The prefix sub- means “under” and super- means “over” or “above.”

Dave: So, this is a clear statement. And he’s right. To be subordinate means to be under someone else. Remember the centurion’s words? “I, too, am a man under authority”?

But even with this acknowledgement, Sproul stumbles over saying that Yahushua is subordinate to “God,” because Sproul was a trinitarian. To him, Jesus is God!

Keep reading. See what he says next.

Miles:

When we speak of the subordination of Christ we must do so with great care. Our culture equates subordination with inequality. But in the Trinity all members are equal in nature, in honor, and in glory. All three members are eternal, self-existent; they partake of all aspects and attributes of deity.

Dave: So this is the problem when you’re a trinitarian: Scripture repeatedly states that Yahushua is subordinate to “God.” That refers, of course, to Yahuwah. But when you’re trinitarian, you believe that Yahushua is also “God.” So, in order to reconcile this belief in a triune godhead—a belief that came in much later—with clear biblical statements showing that Yahushua is subordinate to Yahuwah, they have to claim that Yahushua was subordinate in function only. But everything else was still divine; in everything else, co-equal with the Father. To a trinitarian, he's still “God” in his essence.

The problem is, that’s not scriptural! Fortunately, a growing number of intellectually honest Bible scholars are starting to admit that. I’ve collected some statements here I’d like you to read. As you can see, there are quite a few and we won’t take the time to read all of them, but let’s just read through a few.

Miles: Huh! James Strong. Of Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance? Wow. Oh, look! Here’s a quote by Philip Schaff, the renowned church historian. He says, quote:

… Many of the early Christians, in turn, found peculiar attractions in the doctrines of Plato, and employed them as weapons for the defense and extension of Christianity, or cast the truths of Christianity in a Platonic mold. The doctrines of the Logos and the Trinity received their shape from Greek Fathers, who…were much influenced, directly or indirectly, by the Platonic philosophy, particularly in its Jewish-Alexandrian form. That errors and corruptions crept into the Church from this source cannot be denied.

Listen to this from Graham Greene. He’s a Catholic scholar and author. He writes: “Our opponents sometimes claim that no belief should be held dogmatically which is not explicitly stated in Scripture … but the Protestant Churches have themselves accepted such dogmas as The Trinity, for which there is no such precise authority in the Gospels.”

Wow. That’s saying something.

Dave: Insisting, as Sproul tried to, that Yahushua had a dual nature and was subordinate in function but equal in essence is not found in Scripture. In fact, just the opposite. In Matthew 12:18, Yahushua quote a prophesy of Isaiah in which the Messiah is referred to as Yahuwah’s servant. Go ahead and read that for us. Matthew 12:18.

Miles:

Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will proclaim justice to the nations.

Dave: This was Yahushua’s belief about himself: he’s God’s servant. This was repeated by Peter. Read Acts 3 verse 13. Just the first part of it.

Miles: “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Yahushua.”

Dave: A clear line of demarcation is being drawn between “the God of our fathers,” and “His servant Yahushua.” What does verse 26 of that same chapter say?

Miles: “When God raised up His servant, He sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

Dave: There’s a very important passage I want us to look at in 1 Corinthians 15. Would you please turn there and read verses 21 through 28. This brings out a vast difference between Yahushua and Yahuwah that we don’t pay enough attention to.

Go ahead.

Miles:

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the son himself will be made subject to Him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

Dave: This is hugely significant! First, we have a clear statement that since death came through a man, a human being, the resurrection of the dead also must come through a man: a human being. Not some impossible-to-define admixture of divinity and humanity, but just … a man.

Miles: You know, a thought I just had was that people back then had no difficulty describing a part-man, part-god being. They even had a word for it: demigod. The New Testament writers would have had no problem teaching a dual-natured Messiah if that’s what they’d actually believed. They even had the vocabulary for it since the belief was so widespread among the pagans.

Dave: That’s an excellent point. So, the reason they didn’t teach that wasn’t an inability to communicate the concept, but a knowledge that that belief was in error.

Notice the next big revelation about this passage is that eventually, when the end comes, Yahushua will hand the kingdom over to God. Why? Because he’s human! And God—Yahuwah—was the one who first put Yahushua the man over everything! So of course Yahuwah isn’t subordinate to Yahushua! And that’s what he says in verse 27. Read that again for us.

Miles:

For He “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God Himself, who put everything under Christ.

Dave: This is further evidence that “God” by definition does not include Christ. Because it was “God” who put everything under Christ! And verse 28 again?

Miles: “When He has done this, then the son himself will be made subject to Him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.”

Dave: Further confirmation that Yahushua is subordinate to “God.” This makes it very clear that Yahushua never has been and never can be “God.” Only Yahuwah is God. God is not subservient to Himself! But Yahushua, since he is only a human being, is.

The fact that everything was put under him during his reign simply reinforces that he is subservient to Yahuwah, because Yahuwah had to put everything under Christ. Yahushua couldn’t do that for himself. It was done for him by God, proving that he himself is not “God.”

Miles: This passage really makes that clear, doesn’t it? There’s so much we’ve missed!

Okay! Up next is Jane Lamb with today’s daily promise.

* * *Daily Promise:

Hello! This is Jane Lamb with your daily promise from Yah’s Word.

Friday, March 6, 2015, was a day of both tragedy and miracles for the Groesbeck family. Twenty-five-year-old Lynn Groesbeck was driving home to Springville, Utah in the United States after visiting her parents in Salem. In the car with her was her 18-month-old daughter, Lily.

No one knows for sure what happened, but about 10:30 that night while halfway home, Lynn’s car struck a cement barrier as she was crossing a bridge. The car, with mother and daughter in it, came to rest upside down on the rocky banks of the Spanish Fork River. The vehicle was partially submerged in the icy, fast-moving waters. The temperatures that night and into the next morning were hovering around freezing.

Although the bridge gets a lot of traffic, no one saw the car below because the cement barrier blocked their view. Saturday, shortly after noon, a fisherman saw the upside-down car and called it into authorities. Soon police and rescue workers were on site. As they gathered there, everyone clearly heard an adult voice call, “Help me! Help me!”

Officer Jared Warner recalls, “[It] wasn't just in our heads. To me, it was plain as day. I remember hearing a voice that didn't sound like a child, just saying ‘help me.’”

Spanish Fork Police Officer Tyler Beddoes agreed, telling CBS News affiliate KUTV, “Someone said ‘help me’ inside that car.”

Rescue workers quickly turned the car over. Lynn was dead in the front seat, but Lily was still alive, strapped into her car seat in the back! She had been dangling above the water rushing through the car’s broken windows. A firefighter jumped into the icy river and cut the straps of the car seat, carefully extracting the unconscious child. A human line was formed as they quickly passed the little girl from one person to the next. The water was so cold that four firefighters and three police officers were treated for hypothermia at a local hospital.

The question is: who called for help? Lynn died in the crash and Baby Lily was not only too young to call for help but was unconscious from exposure. But someone had and Lily’s life was spared. The officers who heard the voice call for help all agree it was divine help to save Lily’s life.

In Matthew 18 verse 10, Yahushua said, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.”

Psalm 34 verse 7 says, “The angel of Yahuwah encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.”

We have been given great and precious promises. Go and start claiming!

* * *Part 4: (Miles & Dave)

Dave: Have you heard of the “hypostatic union”?

Miles: Uhhh … yeah! But don’t ask me what it means. I don’t remember.

Dave: It’s a technical, theological term that refers to a heresy that came in several hundred years after Christ. It’s a doctrine developed to resolve an obvious contradiction that occurred when Christian theology became warped by pagan philosophy.

Miles: Sounds like a topic that deserves its own program.

Dave: Sure, we can do that. For now, suffice it to say that the hypostatic union refers to this idea that Yahushua had a dual nature.

See, Scripture is very clear that Yahushua was subservient to Yahuwah. Any power to perform miracles, any authority he had was given to him by the Father. And that makes perfect sense if he’s human. But Christian theology became corrupted by the influence of the early Church Fathers who’d been educated in pagan philosophy. With the Council of Nicea, Yahushua was no longer just the human son of God, he was now the divine “God the Son.” Suddenly, he was both in some impossible-to-explain, illogical, pagan admixture of the two.

Miles: Ohhhh! That’s where we get the claim that Yahushua was fully God and fully man. Both at the same time.

Dave: Exactly. The idea is that Yahushua was subservient to God the Father in only his human nature. It’s claimed that his divine nature was equal to Yahuwah.

The problem is, no where does Scripture teach this. Instead, as we’ve seen in today’s program, Yahushua was a full human being—he did not have a divine nature—he was a man under God’s authority.

Let’s take a quick look at e. Here, Paul is telling the believers in Ephesus what he asks Yahuwah for them.

Read verses 16 to 23, please.

Miles:

I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Yahushua Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way.

Dave: Who raised Yahushua?

Miles: God. Yahuwah.

Dave: And who exalted Yahushua to sit at Yahuwah’s right hand in the heavenly realms?

Miles: Yahuwah.

Dave: If Yahushua had a dual nature, if he were fully divine while still being fully human, he could not have been exalted. It would still be his by right of being God. But clearly Paul does not believe Yahushua is “God.” He tells us who God is: “the glorious Father.” That’s Yahuwah. It’s not Yahushua.

The Roman centurion had a correct understanding of Yahushua’s position in relation to God. He’s a man under authority. And that has not changed in the 2,000 years since then. What was true then is true today.

And that’s what gives us hope! There is a human being sitting at the right hand of God! And the Father wants us to know: we are accepted in the Beloved.

Miles: Praise Yah. What a gift.

Thank you for joining us for today’s program called “Man Under Authority.” If you’d like to share it with a friend, you can find it uploaded to our website at WorldsLastChance.com. It’s Program 290 called “Man Under Authority.”

We hope you can join us again tomorrow, and until then, remember: Yahuwah loves you . . . and He is safe to trust!

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In his teachings and parables, the Savior gave no “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, the thrust of his message was constant … vigilance. Join us again tomorrow for another truth-filled message as we explore various topics focused on the Savior's return and how to live in constant readiness to welcome him warmly when he comes.

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