among the prophets; for the People of the Scripture—yourselves included—maintain that God disclosed Himself to Abraham, manifested Himself to him, and appeared before him.

As for the words, “and I will dwell in your midst,” the Exalted did not intend thereby that His very Essence—(1) which neither heaven nor earth can contain—should take up residence in the Temple in Jerusalem. How could His Essence occupy a place where He would be overpowered and subdued in the company of the worst of creation? (2) How could that be when He also says, “They shall know that I am God, the Mighty One, who dwells in your midst”?

Do you suppose they recognized His power by seizing Him, binding His hands with ropes, fastening Him to the wooden cross, driving nails through His hands and feet, and setting a crown of thorns upon His head while He pleaded for help and none was given? (3) The Messiah never entered the Temple except in a state of subjugation, overpowered and forced to keep himself concealed in most circumstances.

Even if the authenticity of these statements were established beyond dispute and their translation were as accurate as you claim, their meaning would be only that knowledge of God, faith in Him, His remembrance, His religion, and His law settled in that (4) spot. Indeed, once Christ’s religion became manifest there after his being raised up, the Temple in Jerusalem came to possess a degree of faith and knowledge of God that had not existed there before.

In sum, the earlier prophecies and the divine scriptures do not contain a single word that requires the Son of Man to be a complete deity—“true God from true God,” uncreated and unsustained. (5) Rather, they distinguished him only with what he was singled out for