Why Did JESUS Say You Are Gods? Controversial Verse Explained | Special Episode
An amazingly simple explanation for why the Bible says “you are gods,” with a full explanation of Psalm 82 and why YASHUA quoted it.
Thanks for watching, and hope you enjoy.
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Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:58 The simple explanation
2:58 ELOHIM in the Scriptures
5:02 Full explanation of Psalm 82
10:31 “You are gods” in the New Testament
11:53 Why this matters today
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Transcript:
There was a day when Father told me to get up and write my name on a little chalkboard that I had hanging on the wall. So, I did. I wrote my name.
Then Father said, “Now write the name Elohim at the end of your name,” which, as you could imagine, is not something that I wanted to do. But I knew it was Him, so I did what He said.
And in that moment, our Father gave me understanding on a Bible verse that makes most people very uncomfortable. Psalm 82 verse 6 says, “You are gods.” And Yashua quotes this verse in the book of John. Those words are actually nowhere near as wild as they sound and they have everything to do with the heart of our Father.
So today, I’m going to tell you what he taught me that day at the chalkboard. When you read “You are gods,” in John and in Psalms, the words are actually you are Elohim. Elohim, as you probably know, is the one and only creator of heaven and earth and we certainly did not create heaven and earth.
So, what is Father saying here in the scriptures? The pattern is actually right there in the Bible for everyone to see and the pattern is that the children carry the name of their Father. Israel, for example, was a man who used to be named Jacob. He wrestled with God, he had 12 sons, and he died in Egypt. That was the man Israel. But Israel is also the name of the people who walked in the wilderness for 40 years. Israel is the Father, and the children of Israel are Israel.
The same goes for many nations in the Bible. Esau is the father of Esau. Mitzrayim, who we call Egypt, is the father of Egypt. And when you read prophecies about Egypt, it’s not talking about Egypt the man, it’s talking about his offspring. Elohim, our God, is a father and the children of Elohim are Elohim. So, when the scriptures say you are Elohim, it doesn’t mean you are God, the creator of heaven and earth. It means your Father is God, creator of heaven and earth.
You can think of Elohim as the last name that we do not deserve, but that He gives us anyway, when we become adopted into His household. And that is what He explained to me that day at the chalkboard. We’re going to take a look at how Elohim is used in the scriptures, and then we’re going to read Psalm 82 together, so you get the full understanding of what Father is saying.
When the scriptures mention Elohim, in most cases it’s a singular name referring to our Creator. If you’ve ever heard that Elohim is plural, we disagree. It’s obvious from the Hebrew that His name is singular. Some say it is “plural” in majesty, but if that were the case, then one question would be, why aren’t all of Father’s names plural? They’re not, because our God is one.
In the original Hebrew script, His name Elohim means chief shepherd of men, maker of the waters. Elohim is His creation name.
And just so it’s clear who we believe Elohim is, in Isaiah we read, “Thus says YHVH of Israel and his Redeemer, I am the first and I am the last. Besides me there is no Elohim.” And “I am El and there is no other. Every knee will bow before me. Every tongue will swear allegiance.”
When we hear those words, we clearly hear the voice of Yeshua Hamashiach, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Elohim is our Lord and Savior and Creator’s singular name.
There are other cases where Elohim is not a name, but it’s a plural word that’s used to describe the multitude of false gods that men have taken upon themselves. These so-called gods are not really gods. They are demons and idols, is what the scriptures teach. So, we have Elohim, our Creator’s name, and Elohim, the word for what men call gods, and also in the psalm that we are now about to take a look at, Elohim is a name that refers to the people who our Father is pleased to call his children.
This version of Psalm 82 that we’re going to read is a literal translation taken directly from the Hebrew. The psalmist Asaph wrote, “Elohim takes His stand in the congregation of El.” The first Elohim in that verse is a singular masculine name. Elohim takes his stand. It’s talking about God and it says He takes His stand in the congregation of El. Now when this psalm was written, the congregation of El consisted of the people of Israel who Father had adopted as His children.
“My son, my firstborn, is Israel,” were the words that Father had Moses speak to Pharaoh back in Egypt.
The next part of Psalm 82 says, “Among Elohim he renders judgment.” This Elohim is speaking of the household of God, the ones who have Elohim as their family name.
Peter said that in his day, the time had come for judgment to start at the house of God, and here we see it prophesied in the Old Testament. Among Elohim he renders judgment. Among Elohim, that is Israel, the children of Elohim, He, meaning Yashua, renders judgment.
Some people think that the Elohim in this verse is not Israel, but that instead it’s a divine council of demigods, but there is no such thing as demigods in the scriptures, and there’s no such thing as demigods in reality. We also know that this verse is not talking about angels because of what it says in the next few verses. Verses 2 through 4 say, “How long will you judge unjustly and lift up the faces of the wicked? Selah.”
“Judge for the weak and the fatherless, for the oppressed and needy bring about justice.”
“Rescue the weak and needy from the hand of the wicked and deliver them.”
When Father talks about being good to the fatherless and the needy, those are not instructions for angels. Those are the instructions that Father gave to Israel. Verse 5 says, “They do not know and they do not understand. In darkness they walk about.”
This verse is in agreement with the prophet Isaiah, who said that the people of Israel were living in darkness and in the land of the shadow of death, but that they would one day see a great light when Yashua came.
The next part of Psalm 82 says, “All the foundations of the land are shaken.” Some translations put the word “earth” instead of land, which leads some people to believe that the verse is talking about some type of cosmic disturbance.
But the word for earth in Hebrew is the same as the word for land. And what I believe Father is saying here is that the foundations of the land of Israel have been shaken because all the rules and instructions that Father had set forth as foundations for how things should work in His land had been broken by his people, Israel.
This points back to the verse from before about how Israel was not rendering justice for the fatherless and the needy.
This next verse of Psalm 82 is the controversial part. It says, “I said you are Elohim and sons of the Most High, all of you are.” Now when Israel became sons and daughters of the Most High, it was simply because God said so. Father made a declaration. He said to Israel, “You are Elohim,” and it was so. Israel became his children at the time of the exodus.
Next in the Psalm it says, “Surely as a man you will die and as one of the princes you will fall.” If you understand who God is, then you know that He has the heart of a father. He wants his kids to always be with Him and because He lives forever, He wants them to live forever.
But He is also a judge and He is just and He will not immortalize evil. He’s saying here that those in Israel who do evil will die like ordinary men instead of living forever like the sons of God that He made them to be.
The last part of the Psalm says this, “Rise up Elohim and judge the earth.” This final mention of Elohim is back to the singular masculine form. This verse is a call for Yashua Elohim to whom all judgment has been given to judge the land.
“For you have an inheritance among all the nations.” The you in this last part of the verse is Yashua Elohim. This is a prophecy that Elohim’s household will one day be from all nations as they are today in Yashua Hamashiach. “Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance,” is the prophecy from Psalm 2 that was fulfilled.
When our Lord Yashua came, John records that the Jews wanted to stone him because He said He was the Son of God. Even though God was their father, the concept of being sons seems to have become a foreign idea to them at that time. We see this earlier in the book of John as well where Yashua admonishes Nicodemus for not being able to understand the whole concept of being born of the Spirit even though Nicodemus was a teacher.
When Yashua quoted Psalm 82 and He said, “Is it not written in your law? I said you are Elohim,” it should have been a reminder to the people that Elohim was their father and that He has children so that they shouldn’t have been so violently opposed to the Son of God. Yashua makes it clear for us that the Elohim in that verse of Psalm 82 is indeed the people of Israel by his very next words recorded by John. He says, “He called them Elohim to whom the word of Elohim came.”
The word of Elohim, without question, came to the people of Israel at Sinai and also as the Word of God that was standing right there in front of them that very day. All of this matters for us because since the days of Yashua, the name Elohim is no longer given to Israel as a birthright as it was in the days of Moses. Yashua is now the door to our Father’s house.
For those of us who go through Him as the door, we are all Elohim. We are not God, but Elohim becomes our family name. If you are His, you have your family here on earth, you are grafted into Israel, you become children of Abraham in Yashua, and your greatest adoption is into the house of Elohim as His son or His daughter.
And for that, we praise His glorious name.
[Music]
♪ He is our Father and we are His home
And Elohim’s pleased to call us His own
His name is our name
His name is our name ♪
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Links:
Answers to the Trinity Question
ELOHIM – His creation Name explained
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