Ain Keloheinu: "There is none like our God"

[Mark]

Ain Keloheinu

"There is none like our God. There is none like our Lord. There is none like our King. There is none like our Deliverer.
"Who is like our God? Who is like our Lord? Who is like our King? Who is like our Deliverer?
"Let us give thanks to our God. Let us give thanks to our Lord. Let us give thanks to our King. Let us give thanks to our Deliverer.
Blessed be our God. Blessed be our Lord. Blessed be our King. Blessed be our Deliverer.
You are our God. You are our Lord. You are our King. You are our Deliverer.
You are He to whom our Fathers offered before us the fragrant incense."

I’ve noticed a sense of conflict in the Christian portrayal of God. He is God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; yet we can only speak of Him in terms of one of those at a time. It is hard for us to imagine God the Father as He whose hands were pierced in the house of His friends, as we are told in Zechariah 13:6. It’s difficult for us to imagine that it was the Holy Spirit who purchased us with His own blood, as we are reminded by Paul in Acts 20:28. The Ain Keloheinu reminds us, very powerfully and with absolute consistency that it is one God whom we serve and worship and obey. The four terms that are used repeatedly are descriptors of the One, not unique identities: eloheinu, adonainu, malkaynu and moshieynu have a ring of familiarity as words by which we acknowledge Him: God, Lord, King and Deliverer (or Messiah); but they are speaking of Him, not of four different fellows.

The same conflict appears in the Ain Keloheinu for the Jew; though many have come so familiar with the song that they forget it. He who is God, King and Lord is also the Messiah. If we are waiting for the appearing of the Messiah, we are waiting for the appearance of God. This is the seeming paradox of Isaiah 9:6, that the child who is born shall be called "Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father." Yet, this is decidedly the greatest barrier to the Jewish heart accepting Yeshua as Messiah.

The Ain Keloheinu declares what is consistently understood by the New Testament writers, that all things were created by the Messiah and for His purposes (Colossians 1:16). It is because He is God, Lord and King as well as Messiah. If He is not both then He can be neither.

It is for our benefit that distinctions are made between the descriptive nature of Messiah, Father and Spirit. We can see these as qualities which describe the same Entity, just as we have grown accustomed to understanding Him to be God, Lord, King and Messiah. He has to be all of them and must fill each of these roles as they relate to us, His people, or He can really be none of them.

He is! And we praise Him and offer our prayers before Him, knowing that these prayers, as incense come before the God who is One.

[yeshuafreak]

Yeshua is a mediator btwn God and Man, but is not God himself. he is seperate and distinct from God, and the bible makes it clear that God is higher in authority to Yeshua though yeshua himself is second only to God, higher than the angels.

but this is my personal beleif i gues. you seem to believe in the idea of the trinity or something like it. i dont.

shalom- john

[Mark]

Your argument is not with me but with not only Christian tradition but Jewish liturgy as well. This song declares Adonai to be Moshiakh. Now, this is explained away, particularly in Conservative theology; but the text reads that the Deliverer is God. He does not share. He would not pass on His identifying characteristic to another, as Moses was not the Deliverer; but His representative. Isaiah 56 is pretty clear that this child described will be called "Mighty God and Everlastig Father." You don't have to be convinced; but I see the evidence as overwhelming.

[yeshuafreak]

okay look at this: eliyahu means "my great God." or "my God is Great." and abner means "father of light." does this mean that eliyahu is the great god, or that avner is a father of light? no. it is just a prophetic message displayed through the names- they do not have to refer to the person themselves, and more often than not refer to the god of these people. Yehsua's "name" was "mighty God" and "wonderful conselor" but this does not refer to him.

Now, yeshua is our deliverer in the sense that he did something so that god our deliverer could work through him to deliver us. Yeshua is the perfect manifestation of God, and is the living personification of who God is, and his attributes.

but anyway, i dont know if this is the place to discuss this. is it? if not could you direct me to the place that i should discuss this? you guys seem to be pretty strict around here about the rules which is a good thing on such a big forum, but i dont want to break any myself. like, a man who had an opinion that i had about the brit chadashic writings i think go tbanned for expressing it. so i thought i should be careful.


shalom- john

[Mark]

Yes, this is the textbook Jewish answer against the Messianic prophect of Isaiah 56. Then I ask, what is the prophecy then? A young girl (not a virgin) is going to have a son? Okay, still waiting for something that's going to validate the message. The kid is going to be given names that honor and glorify the Most High... still waiting. The explanation works if the only purpose is to explain away the legitimacy of it's Messianic nature; but in so doing destroys all credibility as a prophecy at all.