Is 43 “9Let all the nations be gathered together,
and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us
former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be
justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.” It should be noted straightaway
that the name of Jehovah, Yahweh or Yehoshua has been the subject of research,
books, theses of several scholars, researchers, thinkers, writers, essayists,
magicians, numerologists, astrologers, horoscope specialists, etc.
The reason
is that these wise men of the world have realized that the name contains
supernatural powers. What about Christians?
God freely reveals
it to us in his Son Jesus of Nazareth, if we believe in Him. In the Old
Testament, Yahweh is the name of God. First used in Genesis 2:4 (Jehovah
Elohim), it appears 6823 times in the Old Testament. The name Yahweh comes
from the Hebrew word havah (be) close to chavah
(live), say the self-existent or "I
AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3: 14), as was revealed to Moses. The name of God,
too sacred to be uttered, is abbreviated or written "YHWH”
without the vowels a and e for YaHWeH or e, o and a
for YeHoWaH. "YHWH” Tetragrammaton used in the Hebrew version
of the New Testament to translate the Greek word kurios (Lord), is also the abbreviation of the
Hebrew Yeshua HaNazarei WMelech HaYehudim meaning "Jesus of
Nazareth, King of the Jews" (code translated into Latin and Greek, and
put on the cross). But the word Jesus
we use is the Latin Iesvs, itself borrowed from the Greek word Ἰησοῦς / Iesous deriving from Yehoshua
(hébreu : יהושע), through its abbreviated form Yeshoua
(hébreu :
ישע).
Yehoshua means "God
(YHWH) saves. We will come back thereto with more detail in our future
publications.
In this
introductory passage, we see that Jehovah, the God of Israel is defying the
nations and their gods. In the Old Testament, there was Israel and Jehovah his
God on one side, and all the nations with their pagan gods on the other side.
Among the nations, we could find soothsayers, mind-readers, mediums, fortune
tellers, astrologers, sorcerers and magicians, but not a God who saves, who predicts
well in advance events without fumbling. Only the Eternal (also commonly used,
especially in French, instead of Jehovah / Yahweh) Almighty God, the Holy One
of Israel did, and he told Israel:
Is 43
”10Ye
are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen:
that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there
was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. 11I, even I, am
the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. 12I have declared, and
have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the
LORD, that I am God.” The Lord God Almighty has called
upon his people for witnesses. We are not Jehovah's witnesses, among the gentiles
there are no Jehovah's witnesses, but only the sons of Israel, the Jews are
Jehovah's witnesses. The choice of Jehovah's witnesses was made by Jehovah
himself in the old covenant, as stated:
Is 44 “1Yet
now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: 2Thus
saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help
thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen. 8Fear
ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have
declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is
no God; I know not any.” One
does not improvise himself as Jehovah's witness, one does not nominate himself
Jehovah's witness, but it requires that Jehovah himself chooses one. But
Jehovah chose Israel, and him alone as his witness. And what does Israel have
to testify for Jehovah? - What we read in the passages:
(1)
That before Jehovah, no god was formed, and after him there will be none,
(2)
That Jehovah alone is God, and beside him there is no savior,
(3)
That he alone declared, predicted and saved, it is not a foreign god who comes
to Israel. Emphasizing this point in salvation by Jehovah alone, he announced in
Is 35 that he will come in person to save, and in Hs 1:7 that will save them by
Jehovah their God,
(4) That only Jehovah is the rock of ages.
This is the testimony that Israel makes for Jehovah, and this testimony
is eternally valid. This testimony was recorded in the Old Testament. But,
ironically enough, Jehovah who alone is Saviour, who had promised to come in
person to save Judah by Jehovah their God, and not by bow, nor by sword, nor by
battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen, his witnesses did not recognize him
when he came. He came complying with the signs and prophecies announced in
advance: The boy child was born of a virgin; it is a sign that was given to
Jehovah's witnesses (Is 7:14) to recognize Emmanuel, i.e. God Jehovah among them. And this son was
born Savior, Messiah / Christ and Lord in fulfillment of the announcement to Jehovah's
witnesses in Is
9 “6For
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be
upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The
mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
And Jehovah gave the son born his name JEHOVAH
SAVIOUR. The same Jehovah who used to manifest himself as Jehovah-Elohim,
Jehovah-Nissi, Jehovah-Elroi, Jehovah-Jireh, Jehovah-Rapha, etc., has now
revealed himself as Jehovah-Savior, as he had announced to his witnesses. Upon
his arrival, another impressive prophecy got fulfilled: Is 35 “4Say to them that are of a fearful
heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God
with a recompence; he will come and save you. 5Then the eyes of the
blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6Then
shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing”
JEHOVAH-SAVIOUR, Hebrew compound
YEHO-SHUA, who came as HAMASHIAH (Messiah or Christ), hence the Hebrew name
YEHOSHUA HAMASHIAH, is therefore the Savior's name that Jehovah sent to Judah. Reason
why he told them in Jn 5
“43I am come in my Father’s name, and ye
receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” He also said in his priestly prayer (Jn 17:11):
« Holy
Father, protect them by the power or your
name – the name you gave me (NIV),
Père saint, veille sur eux à cause de ton
nom que tu m’as donné (French, Traduction du monde nouveau = Holy
Father, protect them for the sake of your
name that you gave me),
Baba mtakatifu,
kwa jina lako ulilonipa
uwalinde hawa (Swahili, Biblia
Takatifu : Holy Father, in your
name that you gave me, protect them) ».
Unfortunately
his own witnesses and main recipients of this salvation, the Jews, did not
recognize him. And it was in the plan of salvation, so that we too, gentiles, could
be partakers of the same salvation. In fact, according to Romans 9,10 and
11, if Israel had
recognized and received YEHOSHUA HAMASHIA in accordance with the promises made
to them about him, the plan of salvation would have been completed, and the
Gentiles would have been excluded. But God himself has blinded and hardened
them, to turn to the Gentiles and bring them to the same salvation. Therefore Paul
says about them: Ro 10 “2For
I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge. 3For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and
going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. 4For Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth.”
And when this grace of YEHOSHUA HAMASHIA
has admitted into the ark the last one of the Gentiles, then he will turn back
to Israel, he will open their eyes and reveal himself to them, then they will recognize
him as the same Jehovah that had called upon them as witnesses, taking them out
of Egypt. They will weep and be contrite to realize that he is the one they pierced
and crucified at Calvary (Za 12)
“10And I will pour upon the house of
David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of
supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they
shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness
for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” They will recognize him as Messiah King,
and call him: Jehovah our righteousness: (Jr 23) “5Behold,
the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch,
and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in
the earth. 6In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell
safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
Never mind,
YEHOSHUA HAMASHIA was born in Bethlehem in Judea and grew up in Galilee, at Nazareth.
And the on launching his ministry, he chose witnesses from among his people,
Israel. All had the witness of the Old Testament and, therefore, the right
understanding of whom HAMASHIA (Messiah or Christ) was, who was to come. And
when he revealed himself to them as such by all the signs that had been
announced, when he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures,
and when he sent them power from on high, the Holy Spirit, they made their
testimony that he was indeed the Savior, i.e. Jehovah in person. And according
to their testimony, the "It is I
who am YHWH, and besides me there is no saviour” became visible and palpable reality in Yeshua HaNazarei WMelech HaYehudim. Peter
using the key of the kingdom, opened with these words (Act 4) “11This
is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head
of the corner. 12Neither is there salvation in any other: for there
is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
This is the greatest testimony ever given under the sun. YHWH had long
spoken of himself as a savior, but at Calvary
YHWH (Yeshua HaNazarei WMelech HaYehudim) finally completed the sacrificial act of
salvation. Thus was fulfilled the saying "It's not a foreign god among
you." All those who believe in God by the word of the apostles keep the same
testimony. For the rest of questions about this, I will, by the grace of God, answer
in next-coming publications on this topic. May it please readers to consider
this part the introduction to the topic. However, salvation and blessing are
not in understanding, but in believing that the Lord Jesus Christ (in Hebrew: YHWH
Jehoshua Hamashiah, in Greek: kurios
Iēsoûs christos, and Latin:
Dominvs Iesvs Christvs) is the same Jehovah of the Old Testament,
and that without him, there is no salvation. This is the testimony from the new
covenant inauguration, and for eternity.
If this has blessed you, share and pour out the same blessings!
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