Testament is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. Israel were reminded that at the giving of the law at Sinai, they

heard a voice `but saw no similitude' (Deut. 4:12) and were enjoined to make no graven image or `the similitude of

any figure' (Deut. 4:15,16,23,25). Yet the same Moses is said to have beheld the similitude of the Lord :

`With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the

LORD shall he behold' (Num. 12:8).

And again, the Psalmist looked forward in resurrection to beholding the face of the Lord, and awaking in His

likeness (Psa. 17:15). The word `apparently' (Num. 12:8) indicates visibility. The Hebrew word mareh being a

derivation of raah `to see', it is, nevertheless, stated soberly and categorically, that `No man hath seen God at any

time' (John 1:18; 1 John 4:12). In addition to this John records the Saviour's own declaration :

`Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape' (John 5:37).

Yet every reader knows that passages can be found in the Old Testament which declare that man has both `seen'

and `heard' His voice. In Genesis, Jacob in some apprehension says of Esau his brother, `Afterward I will see his

face' (Gen. 32:20), and before the chapter is finished Jacob says `I have seen God face to face, and my life is

preserved' (Gen. 32:30). When Moses and the elders of Israel went up into the mountain `they saw the God of

Israel' (Exod. 24:10). So with respect to hearing. Moses asks :

`Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as

THOU HAST HEARD,

and live?

(Deut. 4:33).

No man has seen God at any time; no man has heard His voice at any time, yet Israel saw the God of Israel and

heard His voice. Once again Christ is the glorious solution of the mystery. He is the IMAGE of the invisible God, He

is the WORD, the God of Israel seen by Moses and the Elders, the God Who gave the law at Sinai, and the `Man' who

would not reveal his name Who wrestled with Jacob at Peniel (the face of God). He is none other than the selfsame

One Who in the fulness of time emptied Himself, took upon Him the form of a servant and stooped to the death of

the cross. He is Emmanuel `God with us'. He is God `manifest in the flesh', and we today, even as Israel of old in

their degree, see the glory of God `in the face of Jesus Christ'. If Christ be not God, then we must admit that there

are contradictions of a most serious nature in the Scriptures concerning God. No one has seen Him at any time, yet

Israel saw the God of Israel. No one has heard His voice, yet Israel heard the voice of the Lord. If however, the

God of Israel be He Who was the Image of the invisible God and the same as the One Who in the fulness of time

became man and lived on earth, Who could say `He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father' then, although still

confessedly great is the Mystery of godliness (1 Tim. 3:16), this most glorious fact does reconcile all the statements

of Scripture that otherwise must remain contradictions to the honest enquirer after truth.

`God was not always Lord until the work of creation was completed. In like manner he contended that the titles

of Judge and Father imply the existence of sin and of a Son. As therefore, there was a time when neither sin nor

the Son existed, the titles Judge and Father were not applicable to God'. (The Bishop of Bristol on Tertullian in

The Ecclesiastical History of the second and third centuries).

These admissions of Tertullian, if taken to their logical conclusion, would have led to the construction of a very

different creed from that attributed to Athanasius.

One of the most conclusive pieces of evidence that `Jesus' is `Jehovah' is provided by the last chapter of the book

of the Revelation. When John records the actual words of the Lord Himself he says `I JESUS have sent Mine angel'

(Rev. 22:16) but when he records the statement of the angel he writes:

`THE LORD GOD of the HOLY PROPHETS sent His angel' (Rev. 22:6).

This is conclusive. Argument must cease and adoring worship take its place. We bow in this august Presence

and unreservedly take the words of the angel, of Thomas and of Paul on our lips and their attitude in our hearts and

in our testimony, and in full consciousness of what we are saying and doing we say: