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The WMM E-Mail Bag! Question: Can God Become a Man? |
| Martha called again. It was two years since her last call. She said that she had been reading the information about Yeshua (the Hebrew way of saying Jesus) on our website, especially the article “How can a man become God?” She became curious as to how I could believe that Yeshua (“even if He was the Messiah”) can be God? So we spent more than an hour discussing this vital Biblical issue. |
| Martha is an Ultra orthodox teacher of Judaism in NYC, so when I asked her to look at the Hebrew text with me she leaped right into it. I said I felt that the real question is whether God can come into this time space continuum, material universe at all. So we looked at Genesis 18:13. In that section three visitors have breakfast with Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre. (I chuckle every time I see in Genesis18:8 that Abraham fed them [God and the two angels] a breakfast consisting of milk and meat, which by Jewish tradition is not permitted! Oh well.) Though two of the three are clearly angels (they go off into Sodom to rescue Lot in Genesis 19), one is clearly identified as HaShem, the LORD himself, for the sacred name of God is used to identify the one speaking with Abraham. Martha blurted out, “I can never accept that interpretation.” I responded, “But Martha, its not an interpretation. Its exactly what the text says. HaShem Himself was talking (and eating) with Abraham.” “I know you’re Jewish,” Martha said, “ but that cannot be right. We Jews do not believe that God can come into the flesh. Only Jews have the truth, not the Gentiles!” “No, Martha, “I said, “Jews don't have the truth, and Gentiles don't have the truth either: Scripture alone has the truth. Whoever accepts the Scripture has the truth.” “Yes, that's true, Sam,” she responded back, “but we know that the Scriptures tell us that God cannot come in the flesh. It states in Numbers 23:19 that “God is not a man” ; so how can you say that God is a man? (I have encountered this argument many times before. This verse in Numbers is used by traditional rabbis as a proof text (or rather a dis-proof text) to show the impossibility of the incarnation.) |
| “Martha, let's understand the entire verse and see what it means: “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent ('nacham' in Hebrew); Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19). When we look at the Scriptures we see there are a number of times when God has actually “repented” (or relented, nacham) as in Jonah 3:10, “God relented (nacham) concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them.” Or Jeremiah 18:8... |
| “If that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent
(nacham) concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.” Though the verse in Numbers seems to say that God can't repent, there are many Scriptures that indicate otherwise. Therefore, what does Numbers 23:19 mean? It does not mean that God cannot come 'in the flesh', that is, become a man. What it does mean is that He will not be vacillating, capricious or 'wishy-washy' in His judgments, as sinful men tend to be.
When God ‘repents/relents’, it is to withhold His judgment upon sinners who repent. So Martha, there is nothing in the Scriptures that says that God can't come in the flesh, and everything that states He can.” “But, Sam” she asked, “how can a Jew believe such a thing and remain Jewish?” “Martha,” I replied, “How about if we consider that one next week. Okay?” Martha laughed, “Okay, Sam, I'll call you again next week.” Please pray for this inquiring Jewish woman and for the many others that are reading our website articles, and finding Scriptural evidence for Yeshua as both Messiah and Lord! |
| *Names
have been changed to protect individuals’ privacy. |
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