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God's Name
Was it Revealed in Scripture?
How wonderful that our God has loved
us enough to reveal His personal name to us, and let us know that we
can call Him by name! How satisfying to serve the personal God of
Christianity and the Bible, rather than the impersonal "Cosmic
Force" of the Eastern Hinduistic religions.
GOD REVEALS HIS NAME
The revealing of His name was done personally by God Almighty
Himself, as HE spoke to the prophet Moses. Moses was preparing to go
in before Pharaoh to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Exodus 3:13
and 14 records,
"Then Moses said to God, "Behold I am going to the sons of
Israel, and I shall say to them, "The God of your fathers has sent
me to you" Now they may say to me, "What is His Name? What shall I
say to them?" And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM" and He
said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, "I AM has sent
me to you."
Notice that in direct response to the question, "What is your
name?" God said to Moses, "Thus you shall say "I AM" has sent me
unto you." God first gave Moses a name he could "say" or "speak",
and then He proceeded to give him another name. Read on to verse 15
of Exodus chapter three.
"And God furthermore said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons
of Israel, "YHWH, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob has sent me unto you."
God ends this giving of the two names, by concluding,
"THIS is MY NAME forever, and this is My memorial-name to all
generations."
No person apparently did say the second revealed name of God,
for it is the four consonants YHWH. It has no vowels [A, E, I, O, U]
which are necessary for speech. The Israelites got around this by
writing "YHWH", but when reading scriptures aloud, they said "ADONAI"
or "LORD", and many Bibles today put in "LORD" in all capitals to
signify the translation of "YHWH". There is no evidence that any
attempt to pronounce "YHWH" was ever made by the Israelites, the
early church, or by Jesus Christ.
WHAT ABOUT "JEHOVAH"?
Some people in recent years have used the name "JEHOVAH" in place of
"YHWH". According to the Watchtower Society of Jehovah's Witnesses,
this name was first recorded in 1270 A.D. more than a thousand years
after the death of Christ, by a Catholic Monk, Raymundus Martini.
[See Aid to Bible Understanding, pages 884, 885].
Scholars recognize that this "patched-up" name of God invented a
mere 700 years ago, with the vowels from "ADONAI" inserted between
the consonants "YHWH" and then further altered with the letters, "J"
and "V" is incorrect.
The following encyclopedias consider the name "JEHOVAH" to be FALSE
Merits Student Encyclopedia; Encyclopedia Americana; The Jewish
Encyclopedia; Encyclopedia International; The Interpreters
Dictionary of the Bible; The New Catholic Encyclopedia; The
Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, and many more.
In addition to revealing His name as the "I AM" and "YHWH", God also
tells us that His name is "JEALOUS" [Exodus 34:14], and "HOLY"
[Isaiah 57:15].
SALVATION IN GOD'S NAME
The Psalmist cried out, "Save me O GOD, by thy NAME! [Psalm
54:1], and also, "Help us, O GOD of our Salvation, for the Glory of
thy NAME, and deliver us and forgive our sins for Thy NAME's sake."
[Psalm 79:9].
YHWH stated in Isaiah 43:11, "There is no Savior besides ME".
In Zechariah 12:10, YHWH prophesied that "they will look upon Me
whom they have pierced." In Zechariah 11:12,13, YHWH revealed
that HE HIMSELF would be sold for 30 pieces of silver. YHWH further
promised that one day He would be King over all the earth and that
His name would be the only one. [Zechariah 14:9]
How would this come about? The Virgin Mary was told that, "Behold
the Virgin shall be with Child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall
call his name "Emmanuel", which translated means "GOD WITH US".
[Matthew 1:23].
Jesus, whose name means "YHWH'S SALVATION" had come! Jesus revealed
to the Jews that HE was the "I AM'", taking the memorial NAME of God
to all generations, and applying it to HIMSELF! (John 8:58). This
truth is very evident in all translations with the exception of the
New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures published by the
Watchtower Society of Jehovah's Witnesses.
In the New World Translation of the Jehovah's Witnesses, it was
necessary for the Translation Committee of the Watchtower Society to
drastically alter this text in John 8:58, since their polytheistic
theology (belief in more than one true god) does not allow for Jesus
to be Jehovah. They mistranslated "Ego Emi" into "I have been"
instead of the correct, "I AM".
In 1950 they claimed it was in the "perfect indefinite tense". There
is no such tense. In 1961, they changed it to "the perfect tense
indicative", which is impossible for the verb "to be". They tried
again in 1969 with a footnote reading "perfect tense". All are
incorrect.
Witnesses can check out their Kingdom Interlinear Translation and
find the words, "I am" under "Ego Emi" on the Greek/English side of
the page. Reputable scholars agree that Jesus was here quoting
Exodus 3:14, claiming to be the "I AM" or "YHWH" of the Hebrew
scriptures. The J.W.'s likewise altered the text in Exodus in an
attempt to prevent this revealing connection.
After stating in no uncertain terms that He was the "I AM", Jesus
also said "Unless you believe that "I AM" you shall die in your
sins." [John 8:24]. Salvation had come in the Name of God! Listen to
Jesus' words in John 17:11,12,
"And I am no more in the world; and yet they themselves are in
the world, and I come to Thee, Holy Father, keep them in THY NAME,
the NAME WHICH THOU HAST GIVEN ME, that they may be one, even as We
are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in THE NAME WHICH
THOU HAST GIVEN ME".
No wonder Acts 20:28 says that
"God purchased the Church WITH HIS OWN BLOOD!"
Will you turn to the NAME OF GOD and be saved? Acts 4:12 says of
JESUS [YHWH'S Salvation],
"And there is salvation in no one else; for there is NO OTHER
NAME under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be
saved."
The Gospel message of salvation is
clear
Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
No one comes to the Father except through Him.
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