FOCUS ON THE SAVIOR’S NAME
Rev. Steve Marlowe
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Psalm 118:26
The prophet Isaiah: “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; ‘For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation’” (Isaiah 12:2 NKJV).
Therefore, the essential name for our salvation is YAH.
The prophet Joel: “And it shall come to pass thatwhoever calls on the name of the Lord {YAH} shall be saved…” (Joel 2:32).
The apostle Peter: “And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord {YAH} shall be saved” (Acts 2:21).
The apostle Paul: “For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).
“YAH: the essential name of the God of the Bible, from the original and soon to be restored Hebrew name: יָהּ
Part of Speech: Proper Name transliteration: YAH phonetically pronounced: (yaw). Definition: the name of the God of Israel” (Strong’s Dictionary of Bible Words # 3050).
YAH, as found in the original Hebrew Bible, is the personal name of God. This name was revealed to Moses when he delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt and the dominion of Pharoah (Exodus 3:15; Exodus 6:2-9). According to Exodus 6:3, even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not know God by the name YAH. Jewish historian Josephus wrote, "God declared to him [Moses] His holy name, which had never been discovered to man before, and concerning which it is not lawful for me to speak" (Antiquities of the Jews II.12.4). There was never a law of God not to speak His name, however, it is strictly according to the [oral] tradition of the Jews. The Jews refrained from speaking God’s name among the Gentiles, specifically at the time the Babylonians conquered Judea, for fear they would profane the name. In Hebrew, “the name” [HaShem] has four consonants: Y-H-W-H. The form Yahveh or Yahweh is a conjectural scholarly reconstruction, but no complete certainty attaches to veh or weh with the true essential name of God, YAH.
"Jehovah" derives from a Christian misunderstanding and mispronunciation of the name. In other words, the name of Jehovah is not God’s revealed name. In 1971, it disappeared from The New American Standard Bible, which had used it uniformly for nearly 7000 occurrences in the earlier American Standard Bible of 1901. The translators changed their stance after learning, to their embarrassment, that the Roman Catholic Church had made a serious mistake in the name Iehovah, or Jehovah. The Jewish Encyclopedia calls this hybrid form "a philological impossibility" (See "Names of God" article in the Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. VIII, 1906, p. 8, and Encyclopaedia Judaica).
The four-consonant letters for the Name of God, Y-H-W-H, also called the Tetragrammaton, were unknown to millions of Christians for centuries. Jerome's Latin Vulgate did not transliterate the Tetragrammaton. Even the (Catholic) Douay version in English, which appeared in 1610 and was used until 1964, did not transliterate Y-H-W-H, since the Douay version was based on the Vulgate. The Septuagint, used universally in early Christianity and by the Greek Orthodox Church today, likewise does not transcribe it because the Jewish translators refused to place it. The translation of the Hebrew Scriptures by Aquila, the disciple of Akiva in the second century, used the Paleo-Hebrew script for every instance of the Tetragrammaton (see "Aquila" in the Jewish Encyclopedia).
This essential name of God, YAH, is evident at the end of personal names among the Israelites such as Elijah (Eli-yah) and, among the Latter Prophets, in Isaiah (Yeshayah), Jeremiah (Yirmeyah), Obadiah (Ovadyah), Zephaniah (Tzefanyah), and Zechariah (Zekharyah). The names of Uzziah and Hezekiah are also well-known from the prophecies of Isaiah, and many more examples can be discovered in the genealogies of I Chronicles 1-9. As in the case of Halelu-Yah, the Divine Name is obscured by the usages of Hallelujah/Alleluiah spelling (j or i instead of y) and by its being combined with other Hebrew words. These expressions “Hallelujah” and “Alleluia” hide the true name of YAH and must be discarded. In truth, the name YAH is “the name which is above every name.”
More importantly, and in addition to being knowable and known, this short name of God, YAH, is pronounceable with absolute certainty. Although John McKenzie, in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, claims that the pronunciation of the four-letter Hebrew name of God has been recovered in recent times, this is only a scholarly consensus since the time of William Gesenius in the nineteenth century. There is unanimous agreement among Jews, on the other hand, that the single vowel of the short form of the Tetragrammaton is kamatz, is the Hebrew name for the vowel ‘a’ (Raymond E. Brown, Joseph Fitzmyer, Roland Murphy, eds. The Jerome Biblical Commentary, New Jersey: Prentis Hall, 1966, p. 1286). Kamatz is the Hebrew vowel of ‘a’, as in yacht, the only vowel between the Hebrew yod and hey, making the only correct form of YAH acceptable and to the exclusion of all other forms (Yeh, Jah, or Ieh).
More scholars are coming to recognize the name YAHAWAH as the name of God represented by the Tetragrammaton (see “Jehovah”, Oxford English Dictionary). The Roman Catholics have only recently been forbidden by the Vatican to use the name "Yahweh" in prayers and liturgical hymns. Its use by Catholic scholars engaged in dialogues with Jews would be disallowed. This directive means that The New Jerusalem Bible (1985), which uses the form "Yahweh" for its nearly 7,000 occurrences in the Tanakh, may not be used in Catholic liturgy. A new version, entitled: “The Bible in Its Traditions”, will soon replace it and Jewish scholars have been invited to contribute. The use of "Yahweh" will be discontinued. Earlier, the official Nova Vulgata Bibliorum Sacrorum published in 1979 used the form "Iahveh" for the Tetragrammaton, but later editions replaced "Iahveh" with Dominus (Latin for "Lord"), as Jerome had done. The wide use of Yah in the Hebrew Scriptures argues at least for its recognition, and certainly in those instances where it stands alone. It is time to return to God’s truth and honor His revealed name!
In Christian worship, especially among Protestants, "Hallelujah!" is often spoken, sung, and shouted with enthusiasm (even ecstatically) by people unacquainted with Hebrew. It is not widely recognized that Halelu is a plural imperative ("Praise ye" in older English) and not jah, but as it appears conjoined to Hallelu-Yah. HALLELUYAH, PRAISE YAH in spirit and truth! There is no J sound in Hebrew, there is the Y sound in Hebrew, which corresponds nicely with the English letter Y.
YAH, “the name which is above every name.”
YAH, is the name acknowledged as the name of salvation by the prophet Isaiah.
According to the New Testament, in Acts 4:8-12, the apostle Peter gives this testimony, “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed doneto a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus (?) Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Is it testified here that “there is no other name”?
A name is given among men, a revealed name!
Would such a name, a revealed name, by God be allowed to be subjected to the linguistic changes of mankind? And if so, does mankind have the right to change the very name of God?
Did the apostle Peter testify to the name of “Jesus”?
“Truth is consistent, and where one finds an inconsistency, it is there one finds an error.”
Quote by Steve Marlowe
Let us read these verses again as found in Acts 4:8-12, only this time according to the King James Version of 1611 AD, specifically verse 10, “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the Name of Iesus (?) Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.” Iesus? What happened to the name Jesus? The name Jesus has only existed in its present form since the late 17th century.
~Now we have two names, Iesus (ee-sus), and Jesus (gee-sus), with two different spellings and two different pronunciations.
This name “Jesus” is derived from Iēsous(Ἰησοῦς from the Greek language; Iesus from Latin), therefore, transliterated from the Aramaic name Yeshua to the Greek form of the name Iesous (see: A Greek–English Lexicon, p. 824.)
~ It is apparent, that we have four different names: Jesus, Iesus, Iesous, and Yeshua. The Lord only revealed one name to call upon for our very salvation causing the elimination of all others as counterfeit names.
God, via an angel, revealed the name of the Savior (Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:31), so which name did the angel tell them, rather he commands them, Joseph and Mary, to call the Son of God? Was it Jesus, Iesus, Iesous, or Yeshua, or none of these? The question still goes begging, does the tongue of mankind have the right to change the revealed name of God?
Do believers have the right to choose a name for God our Savior, the very Son of God the Father?
Moses knew no man could name God, therefore, Moses knew to ask for God’s name.
“Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
And God said to Moses, “HaYAH Ashar HaYAH” [“I AM WHO I AM.” HaYAH means “the I AM”] And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM {YAH} has sent me to you.’ ” Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations’” (Exodus 3:13-15).
HaYAH means “the I AM”, therefore, God never said, “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh.”
God has many names, right?
No! God has many titles or “descriptive names” like El Shaddai [God Almighty], Emmanuel [God with us], and EL Elyon [the Most High], EL Olam [the God Almighty], but only one personal name [YAH].
“And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I amthe Lord {YHWH}. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name Lord (YHWH, and between the Y and H is the vowel a, causing YAH) I was not known to them” (Exodus 6:2-3).
“Then those who feared the Lord YAH spoke to one another,
And the Lord YAH listened and heard them;
So a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the Lord YAH
And who meditate on His name.
“They shall be Mine,” says the Lord YAH of hosts,
“On the day that I make them My jewels.
And I will spare them
As a man spares his own son who serves him.”
Then you shall again discern
Between the righteous and the wicked,
Between one who serves God
And one who does not serve Him” (Malachi 3:16-18).
Christ told the people that He is YAH, the “I AM!”
He said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58).
Remember the prophet Isaiah, who said, “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; ‘For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation’ ” (Isaiah 12:2 NKJV). Therefore, let us “Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Extol Him who rides on the clouds, By His name Yah, and rejoice before Him” (Psalm 68:4 NKJV).
Behold, The essential name of salvation is YAH. “The name which is above every name” is “YAH!” SHUA means, “my help,” as in my “salvaton.” YAHSHUA means “I AM Salvation.”
The apostle Paul, who was called Saul, heard the name of the Savior in Hebrew on the road to Damascus. He testified this very thing, “While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It ishard for you to kick against the goads.’ So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am YAHSHUA, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me’” (Acts 26:12-18).
Did the apostle Paul hear “the name which is above every name”? The very name YAHSHUA? He wrote that he did, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him ‘the name which is above every name,’ that at the name of YAHSHUA, every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that YAHSHUA the Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). Every tongue is to know this one revealed name YAHSHUA and this name has “the name (YAH) which is the name above every name.” And now we know, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). YAHSHUA is the only name by which we must be saved: YAH=IAM/SHUA=My help, as in “salvation.” YAHSHUA means “I AM Salvation.”
We may ask, “What happens if I reject the name YAHSHUA for the name Jesus?” According to the Gospel, “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). To not believe is an act of rejecting the revealed name of salvation, however, if through no fault of one’s own having never heard the true name of salvation, and certainly not rejecting the revealed name of salvation by continuing to use the false names Jesus, Hey-zeus, Isa, and Jehovah, our Lord, and Savior YAHSHUA has made it clear, “Then YAHSHUA said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do’...” (Luke 23:34). But to those workers in the Kingdom of God and to those who willfully deny the revelation of God are they not to be a worker of lawlessness? According to Matthew 7:21-23, be warned: YAHSHUA said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” The prophet Malachi has this warning to all priests [pastors, ministers, evangelists, and teachers], for he told them, “And now, O priests, this commandment is for you. If you will not hear, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to My name,” Says the Lord of hosts, “I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart” (Malachi 2:1-2).
How did the things of our Lord and Savior become so obscured to the point where Christians do not know the name of salvation, the very revealed name of YAHSHUA, “the name which is above every name”? It is difficult to find the way, to find His name, the very name needed to call upon to be saved. YAHSHUA warned us about this, and His counsel was to, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
The Narrow Way
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:7-14).
YAHSHUA looking at the city of Jerusalem, said, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Matthew 24:2). Since the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 c.e., and the Romans' destruction of all things Hebrew, writings, scrolls, and literature, throughout the lands of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, the 1st-century church and its Hebrew Gospel writings were destroyed. The sect called the Essenes hid their Hebrew writings in caves to preserve them. The Christians realized that they had to write everything in Greek to preserve all the writings. Our Savior’s revealed name from Heaven was virtually lost in translation.
