Becoming One with God, in God:

A Reality Lost, but Found through a Spirit-enlightened
Hebraic Worldview

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by Harvey L. Diamond

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”  What a concept. Is it a reality?  If Psalm 133:1 expresses the heart of God—it is God’s will and hope.

To a hostile and confused world, the name Jesus Christ stirs up all types of emotions.  Amazingly enough, before He was crucified, He prayed an incredible prayer He believed the Father would fulfill:

I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;  that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.  And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.  (John 17:20-23)

A Lost Generation Faces Reality

There has been much concern amongst religious leaders that our postmodern society has replaced a traditional Biblical worldview with liberal spiritual philosophies tainted with forms of spiritual relativism.  What the church at large is coming to grips with, is the fact that this generation has lost sight of what a life centered in God is about. 

Leaders have seen that peoples’ hearts have swayed from God’s truths, and that society has been overcome by a dominating humanistic culture.  As a result, their sermons and messages have had to vigorously compete with prevailing thoughts of the day to capture the hearts of the people.

A reality many leaders are facing is that the message of the gospel is not transforming lives the way they would hope.  They, therefore, are asking, “How can we change our course?”  The answer can be found by understanding the root cause of the problem, and making the appropriate correction at the root level.

Is there Death in the Pot? 

The prophet Elisha was traveling in Israel.  He came to a place where there was a famine in the land.   So he told his servant to make a stew.  His servant went out in the field, gathered some vegetables, and cooked the stew.  As the people were eating, they cried out, “Man of God, there is death in the pot.”  Elisha poured some flour in the pot, and it was transformed.

God truly wants to enrich the food His people are consuming.  How can this happen?

God originally communicated His word in the Hebrew language to the Hebrew people, and related to them by addressing their Hebraic mindset.  He made a series of covenants with the Hebrew people, and delegated to them the responsibility of communicating and demonstrating His words and ways to the people groups they would encounter in life.  In that, our fathers have failed to live up to the call.  Please forgive us, world, and church. Others, though, have responded to God’s heart and call, and have been communicating His word.

God’s kingdom, meanwhile, continues to advance.  God said there would come a day when men from every language of the nations will “grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."'"   (Zechariah 8:23)  That day is dawning as Jewish people embrace their Messiah in increasing numbers, learn of Him, and answer the call to proclaim His word.

Truly, the way to know God intimately is to embrace and understand the perspective of the writers and original recipients of the Holy Scriptures:  the Hebrew people.  Unfortunately, however, due to various forms of social conflict that existed during the evolution of Christian thought and doctrine, many of the key parameters essential to apprehending a deep understanding of the nature of God have largely been lost, and replaced by streams of thought that are inherently opposed to many of the very oracles and covenant patterns communicated by God and recorded in the Holy Scriptures.

By discovering and reviving the lost Hebraic roots of the faith and discerning truth from a Hebraic perspective by the Spirit of God, believers can more fully understand the mind and heart of God, discern God’s purposes, and enjoin in a very real and dynamic relationship with Him; and as a result, experience the fullness of the kind of life He envisioned.

How has Christianity by and Large Lost the Original Roots of the Faith?

Unbeknownst to many Christians, much of classical church teaching over the centuries has been influenced by Greco-Roman philosophies that are very different than that those etched by the writers of the very Scriptures referenced.  For, such thoughts find their roots in the debates of thinkers like Plato and Aristotle, and the theology of a Jewish man known as Philo of Alexandria.

Philo’s thoughts were embraced by Christians because he developed a form of philosophy that combined the popular teachings of Greek thinkers like Plato with those of the Jewish rabbis. One of his particular contributions was in the way he allegorized scripture and interpreted a popular line of thought termed dualism.     

Dualism, popularized by Plato, at its root, distinguishes an inferior material world from a superior spiritual world.  Along that line of thought, it sees man being composed of two distinct substances: a physical intellect and spiritual soul.  Philo also saw God in two similar lights: a superior creator; and an administrative mediator he called Logos. He, therefore, separated God the Creator from the things He created—specifically man and the earth.  He taught that only through science and reason could truth be found.

Since he separated God from His creations, Philo reasoned that scripture was not to be taken literally, but allegorically and figuratively. His philosophy, therefore, promoted debates that divided streams of religious thought, rather than unifying them around God’s Word breathed by His Spirit. Such thought gave way to various strange doctrines and forms of mysticism, causing people to doubt God’s truths, and keep them from knowing His heart.  Unfortunately, church reformers over the ages, while seeking truth, maintained various strains of these Hellenistic philosophies.

How does a Hebraic Worldview differ from a Hellenistic Worldview?

A Hebraic worldview looks to God as a Creator who created man to have an intimate, unified relationship with Him, and unifying relationships with others.  Such a relationship with God would help man define life centered in God’s purposes and design, and discover a deeper and more meaningful walk of life as he relates to his world from God’s eternal perspective.  At the core to the Hebraic perspective lies the scripture, Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!   You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Centering life around God, the Hebraic perspective gives one a more holistic orientation to God, His Word, and the way He intended to relate to man.  Embracing such a viewpoint also opens one up to the kind of relationships God designed for man to have with one another. Hence, the reason Jesus affirmed the essence of the Law: 

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'   On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.  (Matthew 22:37-40)

How do Hebraic and Hellenistic perspectives differ?  See the contrast.

Seeing Heaven Open

When the word of God is opened and revealed by the Spirit of God, one can’t help but see truth from a clear perspective.  God calls this open vision.  The words of Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, echo in the hearts of those who will hear through open ears, and see through open eyes, "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open.”  (John 1:51)