Did Jesus Ever Make a Cameo in the Old Testament? — Part 1 | Michael Heiser

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWF4EnxYSWE&t=9s Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqU1ejJZOOE The core idea for tonight's talk centers on the concept of "God as man" in the Old Testament, focusing on what's known as the "two Yahweh" or "two powers in heaven"—a teaching found in early Judaism that posits two distinct but equal divine figures, both identified as Yahweh, rather than one good and one evil being. This was not always considered heretical; in fact, it was part of Second Temple Judaism until the second century AD, when the rise of Christianity prompted Jewish leaders to suppress it, largely because Christians used this framework to defend the deity of Christ and the concept of the Trinity. Passages like Exodus 24:9-10, where Moses and the elders see "the God of Israel," and John 1:1, where the Word is both with God and is God, illustrate this duality, as do texts such as Daniel 7, which describes both the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man as divine figures. The angel of the Lord in Exodus and other books further complicates the picture, as this figure often speaks and acts as God, leading to the Old Testament idea that God's name or presence can be embodied in a visible form, such as an angel or human manifestation. This "name theology" means that when the Bible says God will establish His name somewhere, it is a way of saying He will dwell there, and when an angel bears God's name, it is a visible representation of God Himself. For first-century Jews, this did not violate monotheism, as they understood the Shema ("the Lord is one") to accommodate these divine distinctions, a concept that became controversial only later. This historical context helps explain how early Jewish Christians could worship Jesus as God without feeling they were abandoning monotheism, and why certain Old Testament passages are foundational to both Jewish and Christian theology. #OldTestament #MichaelHeiser #BiblicalTheology #AngelOfTheLord #TwoPowersInHeaven #GodAsMan #Binitarianism #Trinity #DivineCouncil #BibleStudy #ChristianScholarship #HeiserHeritage #OTChristology #BiblicalWisdom