Hello! My name is Danny, and I was an active Latter-day Saint for 60 years. Because today is Christmas Day 2024, I wanted to ask a meaningful question – Who is Yeshua, really?
To begin with, I want to clarify something that is important to me. The word “Jesus” was not His actual name. “Jesus” is the English or anglicized word for the Hebrew name “Yeshua” which was the name He was known by everyone in His day. So, I’m going to use His proper name “Yeshua” moving forward. You may or may not know that the letter “J” was not part of the alphabet until the 16th Century. And it wasn’t until the 17th Century that the word “Jesus” was created. To find “Jesus” in any written literature including the Book of Mormon before then, would be anachronistic.
We read about Yeshua’s impending birth in Luke 1:30-32 “And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus (Yeshua).”
So, there’s the true name of Yeshua. But does it matter what we believe when it comes to the true, identity of Yeshua? Is there a chance that someone who believed in Yeshua could have their faith misplaced when it comes to His identity? I find it interesting to explore how Yeshua is viewed across various religions of the world. How, different faiths both Christian and non-Christian interpret the historical figure of Yeshua Mashiach or Jesus Christ – and incorporate Him into their own spiritual narratives. Many similarities are found between the world’s religions, but the divinity of Yeshua is a clear point of separation.
He is the one religious leader who is most frequently mentioned by these religious groups. Every major religious movement considers Yeshua to be an important religious figure. Every movement tries to account for Yeshua’s existence and teaching. For example:
Jews accept Jesus as a respected rabbi and popular teacher although they would deny He is the Messiah. They believe Yeshua was Mary’s son but deny Mary was a virgin when she conceived Him. The Crucifixion of Yeshua is acknowledged by the Jews, but they deny Yeshua was resurrected.
Muslims believe Yeshua was born of a virgin, but deny Yeshua was the Son of God. He is written in their Koran. He is respected as an important prophet of Allah, a wise teacher, who performed miracles. Muslims acknowledge that Yeshua was sent specifically to the Children of Israel. While Muslims acknowledge the ascension of Yeshua - they either deny that Yeshua was crucified or that He died on the cross. They believe in His Second Coming but that He will return as a Muslim. And Yeshua will sit beside Allah during the Day of Judgment.
Bahá’í believe Yeshua came from God, was a wise teacher who had a divine and human nature, worked miracles, was crucified and resurrected as an atonement for humanity.
Hindus believe Yeshua was a holy man, a wise teacher, and one of many ‘gods.’
Buddhists believe Yeshua was an enlightened man and a wise teacher. Like Hinduism, Buddhism provides no singular unified view about Yeshua. He is seen not seen as divine, but as a Holy Man.
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe Yeshua is Michael the Archangel. They believe He is a ‘god.’ They believe Yeshua is God's "only begotten Son," God's first creation. Yeshua was executed as a sacrifice to atone for mankind's sins. They reject the idea that Yeshua died on a cross, and instead teach that he died on a single wooden stake or upright post.
Mormons believe Yeshua was a created being, the literal first born spirit child of heavenly parents, elder brother to Satan the Devil and the rest of mankind. He is the Son of God, the Savior, and the Redeemer of the world. They believe Yeshua primarily suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane for the sins of the world and died on the cross. He resurrected and is a member of the Godhead.
Biblical Christianity teaches Yeshua is eternal from everlasting to everlasting. He is the Creator of all things, including Satan. He is fully God and fully man. He is not a god – one of other numerous exalted beings. He is the single God of the universe. He is God in the flesh. He is Lord God Almighty and Everlasting Father. Yeshua is God incarnate, or God made flesh. He atoned for the sins of the world on the cross, was buried, and resurrected.
These religions are quite distinct from one another, yet they share a few common themes when it comes to Yeshua. The most common link is that Yeshua was a real person who existed. I believe it's fair to say that Yeshua was the most influential person in history, no matter what your beliefs are. This demonstrates Christ's universal appeal and the immense impact He has had on the religions and cultures of the world.
Obviously, we realize that all these individual Yeshua’s mentioned in the various world religions cannot all be the same person because He is identified differently. That is why it’s important to put our faith in the correct Yeshua, the true Yeshua. If our faith is in the wrong Yeshua - then it is misplaced faith. Wouldn’t you agree? It wouldn’t matter how sincerely you believed in a false or mistaken Yeshua, if He cannot save you. Yeshua Himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6). He is the “truth,” - the true Yeshua of our faith. He is the only One who can save us and bring us to the Father.
While the world’s religions loosely account for Yeshua, there is only one faith system established on the authentic, certified eyewitness accounts of Yeshua’s life, teaching, ministry, death and resurrection. That would be biblical Christianity.
Yeshua said, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” His answer is clear and exclusive—no one will come to Father God any other way. Because Yeshua had already told His disciples that He and the Father are one, His answer declares that Yeshua is both the destination and the pathway.
Yeshua doesn’t say He merely speaks the truth; He claims to be the embodiment of Truth. He doesn’t say He can give life; He tells us He is the source of life itself. And He doesn’t say He is the one pathway to God among many; He asserts He is the only Way.
On the same evening Yeshua made that claim, He added in John 14:7 “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him and have seen him.” Then in verses 8-9 “Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?” Yeshua was simply stating the truth. There is only one God, and He became a man in the person of Yeshua. As Yeshua walked the earth, He showed us His divine qualities and who He truly was. All of that was captured in the writings of His disciples and preserved in the Bible. He gave us the opportunity to truly know Him in a personal way. The better, clearer understanding we have about another person, the stronger our relationship will be with that person. The same thing applies to knowing and understanding who Yeshua is.
We all know how it feels when someone calls us by the wrong name or says something about us that isn’t true? It doesn’t feel very good, does it? Well, after two years of ministry, Yeshua wanted to know people’s opinion of Him. Matthew 16:13-17 “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.” Obviously, there was mistaken, identity all around Him.
Then He asked His closest friends - His disciples the same question. “He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” Peter was correct and all other speculations about Him were mistaken. Yeshua blessed Peter for knowing who Christ truly was. Today, when misinformed religious people say Yeshua was only a man – maybe a wise man, maybe a prophet, or an elder spirit brother - we should be prepared to defend Yeshua’s true, identity, which can be done by reading the Bible.
Since Mormonism teaches a different Yeshua than what we find in the Bible – how do you reconcile that? As a Latter-day Saint, you would have, to believe that mortal men in the 19th and 20th Century calling themselves modern apostles and prophets know better than those apostles and disciples who lived with and was taught directly by Yeshua, Himself.
In the Bible, the apostle Paul warns about accepting a different Yeshua, or spirit, or gospel than the one the Saints originally received by him. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:4 “For if he that cometh preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted.” Paul’s warning is a reminder to stay true to who Christ is, and not be led astray by false teachings.
Paul believed that false apostles were deceiving the Saints, and these deceivers disguised themselves as servants of righteousness. 2 Corinthians 11:13 “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” The Corinthian Saints had failed to compare the biblical gospel of Christ with what false teachers were claiming about Yeshua. Likewise, Latter-day Saints also fail to compare Mormonism’s teachings about Yeshua with the true gospel written in the Bible.
Paul’s warning to the followers of Yeshua equates to the warning he wrote in another one of his epistles. Galatians 1:6-8 “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”
Who really is the Jesus in Mormonism? Is He the same Yeshua described in the Bible? How can it be when He is taught differently than what the Apostolic Record teaches? Mormonism teaches that Yeshua is a spirit elder brother of ours and a brother of the Devil. It teaches that Yeshua performed His atonement in the Garden of Gethsemane. Both those errant teachings are not the biblical gospel of Christ. It lessens the significance of Yeshua and diminishes our view and respect for Him. That is why it is important to have a correct understanding of who the true Yeshua is. Does it align with what the Bible teaches, or is it a distorted even a perverted view invented by men calling themselves apostles and prophets and ministers of righteousness? If so, then THAT would be a “victory for Satan.”
The angel declared, Matthew 1:23 “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” Yeshua was God living as a mortal being among His people. Yeshua was the Word of God who in the beginning created everything that exists, even Satan. John 1:1-3,14 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
This is a very serious matter and something to consider! Thank you for watching.