Before the death of Jesus the Christ, the apostle Peter was unwilling to take a stand to identify with his friend and teacher in his hour of need, saying instead, “I know not the man.” After the resurrection and the Day of Pentecost when the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter was a changed man. He spoke boldly, and openly declared his message, even when beaten and straightly charged to cease and desist by the religious leaders. What was Peter’s message?
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter lifted up his voice and declared to the large crowd that had assembled:
Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. Acts 2:22-24
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Acts 2:36
Peter made the people to understand that the man called Jesus of Nazareth, who was killed, was dead no longer. He was alive!
Peter was proclaiming the good news of the resurrection.
Woven into Peter’s message that day was another tremendously important teaching, one that Peter affirmed over and over again. Peter taught two important truths:
(1) Jesus of Nazareth was a man, and
(2) God raised Jesus up from the dead.
"God" can only refer to God the Father, for it is He that raised up Jesus from the dead. If "God" refers to Jesus, then Jesus raised himself from the dead, a highly suspicious claim: If one is really dead, how can one raise oneself from the dead?
In the next chapter, Peter continues to proclaim his resurrection message. In doing so, he specifies exactly whom he is talking about:
The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. Acts 3:13-15
Peter identified the God who raised Jesus from the dead as “The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers.” Who is that God? We know the answer, for He identified himself in a conversation with Moses:
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, YHWH God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. Exodus 3:15
The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers is the God of the Old Testament. Who is he? Whoever he is, He glorified His son Jesus. Consider this:
IF the Creator God, the God of the Old Testament was the one who became Jesus, then Acts 3 reads like this: Jesus has glorified his son Jesus.
He is his own son! This is, of course, a contradiction. The God of the Old Testament—the Creator—was a separate being who raised up His son Jesus from the dead.
The “God of our fathers” is the one Creator God, the God of Israel, whose name is YHWH. Once again, Peter unequivocally described the God of his fathers as a being who was distinct from Jesus of Nazareth.
YHWH God raised Jesus from the dead.
Soon after, in another sermon, Peter becomes even more explicit:
And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together. Acts 4:24-27
The God which made heaven and earth is the only Creator God, our Father YHWH. He it is who has a holy child [1] named Jesus whom the kings of the earth stood up against. The Creator God is the Father of Jesus.
Jesus is not the Creator God. To think that Jesus was the Creator is to think that he is his own son.
Peter preached with power that it was the Creator God who raised his son Jesus from the dead. Peter informs us that:
The one who raised the man Jesus from the dead was:
The Creator
The God of our Fathers
Distinct from the man Jesus
How then could Jesus BE the Creator God? Is he his own son?
In each case, Peter holds firmly to the monotheism that was at the core of his upbringing and faith: there is ONE Creator God. Peter affirmed the central tenet of the Israelite faith, expressed by the Creator himself in the first commandment:
And God spake all these words, saying, I am YHWH thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:1-3
Moses prophesied in Deuteronomy 18 that YHWH God would raise up another prophet unto Israel. Peter continues his message by identifying the fulfillment of that prophecy:
For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall YHWH your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
Acts 3:22-26
Jesus of Nazareth was that prophet that Moses foretold. The name translated ‘Jesus’ in English is “Yeshua” in the Hebrew. It means “Yah saves.” Yah is the root of YHWH, the name of the Creator God. From the meaning of his name we can see he is the fulfillment of the promise made to Moses. YHWH, the Creator, promised to Moses to save Israel by sending Yeshua. How did YHWH save Israel? By sending Yeshua (“Yah saves”) to them. For those who believe Jesus (Yeshua) was the Creator, the God of Moses, or that the Creator was a Triune God, they are left to reckon with the puzzle of Yeshua promising in Deuteronomy 18 to send himself.
Peter continued to preach the same message of resurrection, the resurrection by God of a man from the dead.
The God of our fathers raised up his son. The son did not raise himself. YHWH and his son Yeshua are two distinct beings. One is the immortal Creator God. The other a mortal man who died and was raised to immortality by his Father.
Peter repeats this truth yet again:
The God of our fathers raised up Yeshua, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. Acts 5:30-31
YHWH, the Father, was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was the Creator, the God of Israel. YHWH God raised his Son from the grave.
The God of Moses, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, the Creator, identified Himself to Moses by name as YHWH. He commanded, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” The Creator God condemns polytheism—the worship of more than one God. There is ONE Creator God, not two Gods (Bi-theism) or three Gods (the Trinity). Monotheism is fundamental to the Bible. Peter’s resurrection message is completely based on this central truth of the bible: we are to worship only the ONE Creator God. He repeatedly identifies that one God as YHWH, the Father of our Messiah Yeshua. Peter was explicit in identifying who the Creator God was. He identified the God of our fathers, the Creator, the God of the Old Testament, as God the Father. He further made the distinction between the Creator God and His son Yeshua. The language that Peter used was plain and clear—no mystery, or polytheistic nuances, but rather plain witness that there is one and only one God: God the Father. Peter’s words do not indicate the polytheistic teachings of the “God Family” with two God beings, or the three-part God of the Trinity.
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