There
is also a Son in the Godhead. Jesus Christ is called the Father's "beloved
Son." (Ps. 2:7; Matt. 3:17) In the view of the Apostle Paul, God raised
Jesus from the dead because he is his Son:
"And
we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the
fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath
raised us Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son,
this day have I begotten thee." (Acts 13:32, 33)
Jesus
Christ is "the Great I AM." (D. and C. 29:1; 38:1; 39:1; 110:1-3)
Compare the vision of Moses as related in Ex. 3:1-14. Here we learn that the
Great I AM is none other than the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob (v. 6), whose name is Jehovah, or Yahveh.
Jesus
Christ is also called, God's "Holy Child":
"The
kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the
Lord, and against his Christ. For of 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 4:26, 27)
See
also John 1:34; 5:25; 19:7; Acts 9:20; Rev. 2:18.
Jesus
speaks of his angels. (Matt. 13:41; 16:27; 24:31) He makes the claim that the
Father has delivered "all things" to him, and that knowledge of the
Father can be obtained only through him. (Matt. 11:27) He claims, furthermore,
that prayers offered in his name will receive special attention by the Father:
"Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will
give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: Ask, and ye shall
receive, that your joy may be full." (John 16:23, 24)
No
mere human being could make such a claim, truthfully. (George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl, Commentary
on the Book of Mormon, 7 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Press, 1976], 1:93,
emphasis in bold added)
In
the old Testament, Jehovah is one of the Elohim. This is very clear from
numerous passages. Note that it was "the Lord God" who made the earth
and the heavens. (Gen. 2:4) "The Lord God" is the English of
"Jehovah Elohim," or, as I think we should understand it,
"Jehovah, the Elohim." It was Jehovah Elohim who "planted a
garden" (Gen. 2:8), who "took the man and put him into the
garden" (Gen. 2:15), who commanded man concerning the tree (Gen. 2:16),
and who appeared in the story of the fall and promise of redemption. It is
Jehovah who has promised to create "new heavens and a new earth" (Is.
85:17).
It
was Jehovah who spoke to Abraham, concerning Sodom and Gomorrah. (Gen. 18)
Jehovah seems to have been one of the three men who stood before him, as he sat
in the tent door. It may have been Jehovah in person, or it may have been one
who was his representative, his "angel," having authority to speak in
his name. Jehovah was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Gen. 28:13 and
many other passages.) He, probably, it was who wrestled with Jacob (Gen.
32:24-30). For, although he did not tell his name, he conferred upon Jacob, in
blessing him, the authority of a "prince"—a title bestowed upon our
Father, Adam, at Adam-ondi-Ahman (Doc. and Cov. 107:54)—and Jacob felt
impressed with the fact that he had seen Elohim "face to face."
It
was "the angel," or messenger of Jehovah, who first appeared to Moses
in the burning bush (Ex. 3:2), but later, as soon as the attention of Moses had
been attracted to the miraculous manifestation and he drew near to investigate,
then, it seems, Jehovah Elohim addressed him (v. 4-17).
At
the exodus from Egypt, the Angel of Elohim went before the camp of Israel, and
when the Egyptians pursued, this divine Personage "removed and went behind
them," so that he stood in the fiery cloud between Israel and the
pursuers. (Ex. 14:19, 20) This Angel of Elohim was Jehovah, for so we read:
"And Jehovah went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them
the way." (Ex. 13:21)
Jehovah,
the great Angel, or Messenger, of Elohim,—the representative, in other words,
of the great Council of Elohim, in which this plan of salvation was accepted,
and on account of which he was afterwards known as the "Wonderful
Counselor," (Is. 9:6), but when Israel, after the many manifestations of
his power, turned to the golden calf, possibly with ceremonies of which obscene
practices formed a part (Ex. 32:25), then he threatened to withdraw entirely.
At this critical juncture of the history of Israel, Moses went up on the
mountain and plead before Jehovah for Israel, whereupon Jehovah, in answer to
the prayers of his faithful servant, gave him the promise that he would send
his Angel with him. From this time Jehovah withdrew, and left one of his angels,
or representatives, in charge.
Who
this angel of Jehovah is, we are not expressly informed, but since Daniel says
that "the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people"
is Michael (Dan. 12:1; 10:13 and 21), there can be no harm in the suggestion
that Michael, our venerable ancestor, possibly was the angel of Jehovah, who
had already at this time performed the mission, of which Daniel speaks. But be
this as it may, Jehovah withdrew, and as a sign of this, the tent in which
religious ordinances were performed and which hitherto had stood in the center
of the camp, was now removed a long distance from it. The cloudy pillar, in
which the angel of Jehovah manifested his presence, rested there. (Ibid.,
200-1)
