Could it be true that Yahushua the messiah preexisted prior to his becoming a fleshly man living on the earth?
Who was it that spoke to Moses and said:
I am the eloahi of your fathers, the eloahi of Abraham, the eloahi of Isaak, and the eloahi of Jacob. (Exod. 3:6)
In Exod. 3:7 this eloahi is identified as Yahweh. At the same time, this very eloahi is identified as an angel in Exod. 3:2! It even gets more interesting when you consult Acts 7:30-35.
What’s going on here? Are we to ignore these seeming anomalies or is there a grievous mistranslation taking place?
If you are willing to investigate further then it is highly suggested that you continue to read on as we delve into Scripures to uncover the truth of the matter.
There are at least 8 proofs contained in Scriptures that demonstrate that Yahushua preexisted as a ruach being or angel.
1. John the Baptist Testifies
Yahushua is explicitly said to have preexisted. John the baptist notified his followers that Yahushua existed “before me (John 1:29-34),” this despite the fact that John was conceived six months prior to Yahushua (Luke 1:24).
Yahushua himself told the Jews that he existed “before Abraham”:
Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad. The Jews then said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Yahushua said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, ἐγὼ εἰμί (ego eimi, I am he.” (John 8:56-58)
Also, in a prayer to father Yahweh just prior to his death, Yahushua asked father Yahweh:
Now glorify me father with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was made. (John 17:5)
2. Son of Eloahim
Yahushua is specifically identified as an eloah (θεός; deity) “manifested in flesh (1Tim. 3:16).” Thomas, for example, calls him, “my sovereign and my deity (eloah) (John 20:28).” The apostle John, in reference to Yahushua as the λογός (logos; innermost expression, word), writes:
In the beginning was the logos, and the logos was with the deity (the father), and the logos was a deity. He was in beginning with the deity (the father) . . . And the logos became flesh, and tabernacled among us. (John 1:1-2, 14)
Paul twice makes the claim that Yahushua is one of the two deity (eloah) beings called Yahweh (i.e., Yahweh eloahi).
Paul, bondman of Yahweh and the apostle of Yahushua the messiah according to the trust of the elect of Yahweh and the knowledge of the truth which is according to piety; in the hope of eternal life, which the deity (the father) who cannot lie promised before the ages of time, but manifested in its own seasons his logos (word, innermost expression = the messiah) in the proclamation which I was entrusted with according to the commandment of our saviour the deity (Yahushua). (Titus 1:1-4)
For the grace of the deity (father Yahweh) which brings salvation appeared for all men, instructing us that, having denied impious and worldly desires, discreetly and righteously and piously we should live in the present age, awaiting the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great deity and saviour, Yahushua the messiah. (Titus 2:11-13)
Both Yahushua’s followers and others, as demonstrated by the ancient Shem Tob Hebrew edition of Matthew, either recognized or ridiculed his claim as to being בן אלקים (ben eloqim; son of eloahim), בן האלקים (ben ha-eloqim; son of the eloahim), בן האלוק (ben ha-eloq; son of the eloah), and בן האל (ben ha-el; son of the el).
All of these terms, whether singular or collective nouns, were translated into the Greek of the New Testament as singular forms of the Greek word for deity, namely, θεοῦ (theou), θεος (theos), etc.—thereby, calling him the “son of the deity,” knowledge of which was basic scriptural doctrine.
Indeed, Yahushua not only claimed that he was “the son of eloahim (John 10:36)” but also reported, “I and the father are one (akhad in Hebrew, i.e., unified).” At hearing his claim, the Jews wished to stone him (John 10:22-40). The grounds for this stoning were twofold.
The first charge was blasphemy (see SNY, chap. 13), because Yahushua said, “I am the son of eloahim.” Since Yahushua was also saying that he was unified with father Yahweh, the Jews understood his claim as “the son of eloahim” to mean that Yahushua was proclaiming himself to be the archangel carrying the sacred name, i.e., the second or lesser Yahweh.
To demonstrate the Jewish understanding during this period, the mid-first century C.E. Jewish priest and writer Philo writes:
But if there be any as yet unfit to be called the son of the θεοῦ (theou; deity) let him press to take his place under his (the deity’s) first-born, the logos (word, innermost expression), who holds the eldership among the angels, their ARCHANGEL as it were. And many names are his, for he is called, “the beginning,” and (having) the name of the deity (i.e., the name Yahweh), and (being) his logos, and the man after his image, and “he that sees,” that is Israel. (Philo, De Confusione Linguarum, 28 §146)
Philo refers to this archangel as our “controlling guide, the divine logos” and adds:
For as long as he (mankind) falls short of perfection, he has the divine logos as his leader; since there is an oracle which says, “Lo, I send my ANGEL before your face, to guard you on your road, that he may bring you into the land which I have prepared for you: give heed to him, and hearken to him, disobey him not; for he will not withdraw from (i.e., pardon) you; FOR MY NAME IS IN HIM (Exodus 23:20-21).” (Philo, De Migratione Abrahami, 31 §174)
The last line in the Hebrew text more precisely reads, “for he will not forgive your transgressions; for my name is within his midst.”
The Jews, therefore, were fully aware of the archangel known as the son of the deity and the logos of father Yahweh. They clearly understood that there was an angel discussed in Exodus 23:20-23, who carried Yahweh’s name, who would or would not forgive their sins, and to whom the Israelites were to be obedient.
On this point both Jews and Christians of the first century C.E. agreed. The Jews differed from the Christians in that they did not believe that Yahushua, who they saw as only a mortal man, was the preexistent archangel Yahweh.
This disagreement brings us to the second charge made by the Jews against Yahushua: “AND because you, being a man, you make yourself a deity (John 10:33).” That is, by claiming that he and the father were unified, Yahushua was also making the claim that he was in fact a deity and also one of the members of Yahweh eloahi, for Yahweh eloahi is unified.
It should be noted that the term Yahweh eloahi strictly limits the inclusion of only those who are deities making up the ruling hierarchy of father Yahweh. Angels or ruach beings under Yahu-shua the messiah (Yahu Yahweh) and father Yahweh are not members of Yahweh eloahi.
Many Jews felt that his claim was impossible. How could Yahushua, since he was merely a mortal flesh-and-blood man, be the preexistent angel Yahweh, the son of eloahim (eloah, el), that is, the son of the deity?
The early Christians, of course, argued with the Jews that this preexistence of Yahushua as the angel Yahweh was precisely the case (see Justin Martyr Trypho, 56:4, 58:3; Tertullian Adversus Marcionem, 5:19:3; Eusebius, De Demonstratio Evangelica, 5:5, 6:1, Preparatio Evangelica, 7:12; Origen De Principiis, Pref., 1:4; Hippolytus Noetus, 5, 8, 14).
3. Created All Things By Means of Father
Yahushua was the creator under instructions from father Yahweh. By means of Yahushua, father Yahweh created all things (John 1:3-4, 10; Col. 1:15-18; Heb. 1:1-2; Eph. 3:8-9). It is said of father Yahweh, “because you did create all things, and for your will they are, and were created (Rev. 4:1-11).”
Therefore, father Yahweh was speaking to the preexistent Yahu-shua (Yahu Yahweh) when he commanded in Genesis:
Let US make man in our image. (Gen. 1:26)
These verses prove that father Yahweh did the creating, but the statement, “Let us make man in our image,” also shows that there was another being involved in the project. As Ephesians and Hebrews observe, the father created the world “through Yahushua the messiah.”
And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in the deity (Yahweh), WHO CREATED ALL THINGS THROUGH YAHUSHUA MESSIAH. (Eph. 3:9)
But in these last days he has spoken to us by a son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, THROUGH WHO ALSO HE CREATED THE WORLDS. (Heb. 1:2).
The one providing the power and the instructions was father Yahweh and the one carrying out these orders was his son, the angel Yahu Yahweh, who later became Yahushua the messiah. As a result, Yahushua had to preexist as an eloah being and as part of the eloahi of the eloahim.
These eloahi of the eloahim, who are also simply called eloahim, created the world and all things in it (Gen. 1:1-2:4, 5:1-2; Deut. 4:32; Mal. 2:10).
4. Angel of the Covenant
Yahushua is identified with Yahu Yahweh. In a direct reference to Yahushua, John the baptist cites Isaiah, which states:
The voice of one calling in the wilderness, Prepare the road of Yahweh, make straight in the desert a highway for our eloahi. (Isaiah 40:3, quoted in Matthew 3:3; Mark, 1:3, compare with 14-15)
John’s comment, and his recognition that Yahushua had previously existed (John 1:29-34), reveals that John the baptist knew that Yahushua was Yahu Yahweh, the son of Yahweh.
Indeed, this fact is also revealed by Yahushua’s earthly names, Yahushua and Immanuel (Matt. 1:21-23). Yahushua means, “Yahu saves (see FSDY p.7, footnote 4),” for Yahushua was to save his people Israel (Matt. 1:21), and Immanu-el means, “el is with us,” Yahu Yahweh being the el (mighty one) of Israel.
In addition, Yahushua was the eloah called Yahweh who was seen by Abraham and the other patriarchs. This detail is uncovered by the fact that father Yahweh is the only being who has always been innately immortal. No human, except for the preexistent messiah, has either seen father Yahweh in his actual form or heard his actual voice at any time (John 1:18). No earthly man is capable of seeing him because father Yahweh dwells in unapproachable light (1Tim. 6:13-16).
On the other hand, the Yahweh with whom the patriarchs had contact was both personally seen by men, and his voice was heard by men. At the same time, Yahushua claimed that he and Abraham personally saw each other.
Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad. (John 8:56)
Accordingly, Yahu Yahweh was the eloah who made the Covenants of Promise containing the inheritance of eternal life with Abraham.
Yahu Yahweh was the angel Yahweh, the “angel of the covenant.”
Behold, I WILL SEND MY ANGEL, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the sovereign, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to this temple, even the ANGEL OF THE COVENANT, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Yahweh of hosts. (Mal. 3:1).
As another example, Yahushua, while healing a paralytic, forgave him of his sins. The Jews watching this immediately charged Yahushua with blasphemy, stating, “Who is able to forgive sins, except the deity (eloahi) alone?” Yahushua retorted by reaffirming his claim, stating that he forgave the man so that ”you may know that the son of man has authority on the earth to forgive sins (Mark 2:1-12).”
We know that the collective noun form “eloahi” is the correct translation of the Greek word θεός (theos; deity) in the above passage because the Jews were fully aware that both the angel Yahweh, as well as father Yahweh, could forgive sins (see Exod. 23:20-23). Indeed, only those who have the power to pass on something in a covenant contract can forgive those who sin under that covenant.
As John notes:
If we confess our sins, faithful he (Yahushua) is and righteous, that he may forgive our sins, and may cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:7-9)
These statements clearly identify Yahushua with the angel Yahweh, who was the eloah who made the covenants with Abraham and the Israelites. He could forgive sins against these contracts because he authored them.
5. Yahushua Was Sent by Father Yahweh
Yahushua (Yahu Yahweh) was sent by father Yahweh out of heaven to do his will among men. Yahushua is several times reported to have been sent to earth by father Yahweh. Yahushua, for example, states:
For I have come down out of the heaven, not that I should do my will, but the will of him who sent me. (John 6:38)
In the book of Zechariah we read that one Yahweh will be sent to mankind by the other Yahweh.
Sing and rejoice daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I WILL DWELL IN YOUR MIDST, SAYS YAHWEH; and many nations shall be joined to Yahweh in that day, and they will be to me for a people and I WILL DWELL IN YOUR MIDST, and you shall know that YAHWEH OF HOSTS HAS SENT ME TO YOU. (Zechariah 2:10-11)
In this passage, Yahweh the son will dwell in our midst. In that day many nations shall be joined to Yahweh the father and we shall know that Yahweh of hosts, i.e., father Yahweh, has sent him (Yahweh the son) to us.
Likewise, in Isaiah we once more find Yahweh speaking of another Yahweh. Yahweh states:
Come near to me; hear this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning. From the time of its being there I was; and now my sovereign YAHWEH HAS SENT ME, and (has sent) his ruach. Thus says Yahweh your redeemer, the sacred one of Israel, I am Yahweh your eloahi who teaches you to profit, leading you on the road you should go. (Isaiah 48:16)
This passage reveals that Yahweh existed at the beginning of creation, and now Yahweh his sovereign (i.e., the father Yahweh) has sent Yahweh and his ruach. The one being sent is, by definition, less than the one sending him. For this reason, Yahu Yahweh is often referred to as an angel (dispatched messenger), for he has been dispatched by father Yahweh to give humankind his messages.
Further, as Yahushua points out:
The servant is not greater than his sovereign nor a messenger greater than he who sent him. (John 13:16)
For that reason Yahushua reports, “my father is greater than I (John 14:28),” and when someone called him good he retorted, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one, eloah (father Yahweh) (Matt. 19:16-17).”
A servant and a messenger do not go out to do their own work or send their own message. Instead, they do the work of their sovereign and speak the message of the one sending them. Yahushua, for example, notes, “For he whom eloah sent speaks the words of eloah (John 3:34).” Therefore, it is no surprise that Yahushua clarifies his own position relative to father Yahweh when he said:
THE FATHER WHO SENT ME himself gave me the commandment of what I should say and what I should speak. (John 12:49)
He reported back to father Yahweh, “for the words which you have given me I have given them (John 17:8).” With regard to the work Yahushua performed, he clearly stated that the many good works he showed were “from my father” and challenged those opposing him by saying, “If I do not do the works of my father do not trust me; but if I do, even if you do not trust me, trust the works (John 10:32, 37).”
The evidence proves that father Yahweh sent the angel Yahu Yahweh out of heaven down to earth to do his work and to bring his message to men. Since no man has been in the third heaven, where father Yahweh dwells, this can only mean that Yahushua preexisted as the angel Yahu Yahweh, sent from heaven to do the father’s bidding.
6. Yahushua Came Out of Heaven
Yahushua was sent by father Yahweh out of the heavens to become a fleshly human. To begin with, Yahushua described himself as the one “whom the father sanctified and sent into the world (John 10:36).” He tells us:
And no one (of human flesh) has gone up into the heavens EXCEPT HE WHO OUT OF THE HEAVENS has come down, the son of man who was in the heavens. (John 3:13)
Not that anyone (of human flesh) has seen the father, except he who is from Yahweh, he has seen the father. (John 6:46)
There is no scriptural statement, whatsoever, that Yahushua, while he was a fleshly man living on the earth, ever visited father Yahweh, who resides in the third heavens. Indeed, as a flesh-and-blood human he would be incapable of such a feat (John 3:13). Only the angels (ruach beings) can behold father Yahweh’s face (Matt. 18:10).
The comment that Yahushua is from the father, the unapproachable eloah, and has seen him points to the fact that he preexisted and saw father Yahweh while he lived as one of the eloahi and an archangel in the heavens. It was only after Yahushua was resurrected and quickened that he ascended again to see father Yahweh and sit at his right hand (John 20:17; Heb. 8:1).
That Yahushua came out of heaven is also testified to by Paul. He writes:
So also it has been written, the first man, Adam, was made into a living nephesh; the last Adam into a quickening ruach. But the ruach (man) was not first, but the nephesh (man), then the ruach (man): the first man out of the earth, made of dust; the second man, the sovereign, OUT OF HEAVEN. Such as he made of dust, such also are those made of dust; and such as the heavenly, such also the heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:45-49)
This passage shows that Yahushua came out of heaven to become a man. Yahu Yahweh’s eloah or ruach angel form was altered into that of a human being. Paul writes:
For let this mind be in you which is also in the messiah Yahushua; who, in the form of θεοῦ (theou; a deity) subsisting, esteemed it not a thing to be grasped to be like θεῷ; (theo = father Yahweh); but EMPTIED HIMSELF, A BONDMAN’S FORM HAVING TAKEN, IN THE LIKENESS OF MEN HAVING BECOME; and in figure having been found as a man, he humbled himself, having become obedient unto death, even death of the (torture-) stake. (Philippians 2:5-8)
By saying that Yahushua had emptied himself and took on a form in the likeness of men, we have here a clear statement that Yahushua preexisted in a different form and then was altered to become a fleshly man. This point is reinforced by the apostle John, who states:
And the logos (innermost expression, word) BECAME FLESH, and tabernacled among us, and we discerned his glory, a glory as a μονογενοῦς (monogenous; united, beloved one) with the father, full of grace and truth. John witnesses concerning him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I said, HE WHO AFTER ME COMES HAS PRECEDENCE OF ME, FOR HE WAS BEFORE ME. (John 1:14-18)
Paul notes that the “deity (father Yahweh), having sent his own son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the requirement of the Torah should be fulfilled in us, who not according to flesh walk, but according to ruach (Rom. 8:3-4).” A Psalm predicts that one of the eloahim, called the son of Adam (being the messiah), would be made into a fleshly man.
What is a male that you remember him, and the son of Adam that you visit him? And you made him lack a little from eloahim (angels, see Heb. 2:7-8); and glory and honor have crowned him. You made him rule over the works of your hands; you have put all under his feet. (Ps. 8:5-6)
According to the epistles of Paul, this passage refers to the messiah, the son of man, who was made a little lacking from angels, then later raised to a high position over the works of Yahweh (Heb. 2:5-9; 1 Cor. 15:24-28; Eph. 1:20-23).
7. Ancestor of King David
Yahushua was both the ancestor and a descendant of King David. In the book of Revelation, for example, the messiah states:
I am the root and the offspring of David. (Rev. 22:16)
This statement brings together the fact that Yahushua was both the ancestor of David (i.e., Adam, the ancestor of David, was the son of Yahweh eloahi; Luke 3:31-37) as well as David’s offspring (Luke 3:23-31).
This circumstance is true only if Yahu Yahweh (preexistent Yahushua) was Yahweh the creator who was later joined with the egg of Mariam, the descendant of David, to become Yahushua the messiah.
As another example, while teaching at the Temple in Jerusalem, Yahushua answered a question from the Jewish Pharisees—the response being in front of a large crowd. During this conversation, Yahushua asked the Pharisees, “What do you think concerning the messiah? Whose son is he?” They responded, “David’s.” Yahushua (speaking Hebrew) then inquired of them about the puzzle their answer created. Quoting Psalm 110:1, Yahushua asked them:
How then does David in the ruach call him אדני (adeni; my foundation)? (see FSDY, App. H), saying, “A declaration of יהוה (Yahweh) to אדני (adeni; my foundation), Sit at my right hand until I set your enemies as a stool for your feet.” If therefore David (who wrote the Psalm) calls him אדני (adeni; my foundation), how can he be his son? (Matthew 22:44; quoting Psalm 110:1)
None of his opposition was able to solve the riddle. Yet the answer is obvious: Yahushua preexisted as Yahu Yahweh, one of the eloahi who created Adam—i.e., Yahu Yahweh was the progenitor and foundation of Adam, the ancestor of David. Simply put, Yahushua was the progenitor and also the descendant of King David.
8. Gave Covenants of Promise to Abraham
Yahushua died in order to pass on an inheritance left in a Covenant-Will that Yahu Yahweh (the preexistent Yahushua; angel Yahweh) made with Abraham. Paul wrote of this inheritance:
For if THE INHERITANCE be of the law, it is no more of promise: but THE DEITY GAVE IT TO ABRAHAM BY PROMISE. (Gal. 3:18)
Importantly, as the book of Hebrews points out, for this inheritance to be of any value, the one making the will must first die:
And for this reason he (Yahushua) is the mediator of a New Covenant, so that, death having taken place for redemption of the transgressions of the first covenant (i.e., the Old Covenant or Torah of Moses), the PROMISE OF THE ETERNAL INHERITANCE they who have been called might receive. For where there is a διαθήκη (diatheke; COVENANT-WILL) IT IS NECESSARY FOR THE DEATH OF THE TESTATOR TO COME ABOUT. (Heb. 9:15-18)
It is therefore manifest that the angel Yahweh (preexistent Yahushua) who left Abraham the “Covenant-Will” had to die, otherwise the promised inheritance is of no value. Also, the angel Yahweh could not sin, otherwise he would be eliminated from receiving the inheritance that was promised to the single seed of Abraham.
Now to Abraham were spoken the promises and to his σπέρματι (spermati; single seed). He does not say, “And to σπέρμασιν (spermasin; plural seed),” as of many; but as of one, “And to your σπέρματί (spermati; single seed),” who is the messiah. (Gal. 3:16)
By Yahu Yahweh becoming the human, Yahushua, he became mortal, and by dying without sinning, he could receive and then share this Eternal Inheritance.
A more detailed explanation is as follows. Upon resurrection from the dead, as a descendant (single seed) of Abraham, Yahushua could receive the inheritance back to himself. With ownership of the inheritance, he is capable of sharing the Eternal Inheritance by gift (grace) with those whom he deems worthy. Of course he has promised to share this inheritance with Abraham and all those who become the children of Abraham (Gal. 3:6-7).
The very fact that Yahushua died in order to pass on an inheritance left by Yahweh eloahi (the ruling headship of the eloahim) in the Covenants of Promise to Abraham proves that Yahushua preexisted as one of the eloahi named Yahweh (more specifically, Yahu Yahweh). As a result, it was the preexistent Yahushua the messiah (Yahu Yahweh) who personally knew Abraham and left the promise of an inheritance to Abraham and his single seed (Yahushua).
If Yahushua was not “the angel of the covenant,” as he is called in Malachi (i.e., one of the eloahi named Yahweh who promised the Eternal Inheritance to Abraham), then his death was meaningless.
Behold, I SEND MY ANGEL to prepare the way before me, and the sovereign whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the ANGEL OF COVENANT in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says Yahweh of hosts. (Mal. 3:1)
For if the Yahweh who gave the Abrahamic Covenant did not die then no one can ever receive any of the Eternal Inheritance which includes eternal life. The plan works only if Yahushua preexisted as Yahu Yahweh, THE TESTATOR of the Covenant-Will.
When all the evidence from Scriptures is considered, there can be no doubt that Yahushua the messiah preexisted as a deity (divine being), the son of the deity, father Yahweh.
Furthermore, Yahushua was Yahu Yahweh, one of the angels or more specifically archangels, known as the “angel Yahweh” thereby making him part of Yahweh eloahi.
It was this deity and angel (Yahu Yahweh), the son of the father deity (Yahweh), who as part of the eloahi left a last will and testament granting the Eternal Inheritance to Abraham and his single seed (Yahushua the messiah) (Gal. 3:16).
Furthermore, it was this particular Yahweh, Yahu Yahweh, the son of the deity, who became a flesh-and-blood human and died as a son of Adam in order to both pass on the Eternal Inheritance and to receive it again to himself, being the only human heir to qualify by not sinning under the Torah of Trust and the Torah of Moses (the Law).
More Information
For more information regarding Yahu Yahweh see Chaper IX of the The Sacred Name Yahweh by Qadesh La Yahweh Press.
For an in-depth discussion of “The Eternal Inheritance” and “The Torah” see Chapters I-VII of The Festivals and Sacred Days of Yahweh, also by Qadesh La Yahweh Press.