THE SABBATH CALLED PASSOVER FEAST

The Passover Feast commemorates the death of Y’shua; also, the day when the New Covenant was formally instituted.

Its Old Covenant Significance

The Israelites (the descendants of the patriarch Jacob, whom God renamed Isra’el) celebrate the Passover Feast to commemorate two remarkable occasions: (1) The passing over of their ancestors from captivity to freedom due to God’s intervention; and (2) The passing of the Angel of Death over the homes of their ancestors.

The passing over of their ancestors from captivity to freedom due to God’s intervention. They were treated as slaves in Egypt for 430 years. God sent the prophet Moses to demand their freedom from Pharaoh Amenophis II. (Pharaoh was how the Egyptian king was called from 1550-1307 bc.)

Ten times God demanded their freedom. Instead of heeding God’s demand, the Pharaoh made life more difficult for the Israelites. Thus, the Judgment of God visited Egypt. The Israelites were forewarned and instructed how to escape it.

³ Tell the whole community of Isra’el that on the tenth day of [Nisan] each man is to take a lamb or a kid for his family, one for each household. ⁴ If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. ⁵ The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. ⁶ Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community must slaughter them at twilight… ⁸ That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with [“maror”] bitter herbs, and [“matzah”] bread made with no yeast. ⁹ Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire—[with its] head, legs and inner parts. ¹⁰ Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it [completely]. ¹¹ This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover. EXODUS 12

⁷ Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs… ¹² On that same night, I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. ¹³ The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague [deathblow] will touch you when I strike Egypt. EXODUS 12

The passing of the Angel of Death over the homes of their ancestors. At midnight of Nisan 14 the Angel of Death passed through Egypt and killed the firstborns there—both men and animals. All the firstborns were killed. Only the firstborns of the Israelites were spared from the Judgment of God. That very night the Pharaoh freed the Israelites.

²⁹ At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. ³⁰ Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead. ³¹ During the night, Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. ³² Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.” ³³ The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” EXODUS 12

The Israelites were commanded to commemorate their last supper in Egypt. 

¹ Observe the month of Nisan and celebrate the Passover of the Lord your God, because in the month of Nisan He brought you out of Egypt by night. ² Sacrifice as the Passover to the Lord your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for His name. ³ Do not eat it with bread made with yeast. DEUTERONOMY 16

⁴³ … No foreigner is to eat of it. ⁴⁴ Any slave you have bought may eat of it after you have circumcised him, ⁴⁵ but a [visitor] temporary resident or hired worker may not eat of it. ⁴⁶ It must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. ⁴⁷ The whole community of Isra’el must celebrate it. ⁴⁸ An alien living among you who wants to celebrate the Lord’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat of it. ⁴⁹ The same law applies to the native-born and to the alien living among you.” EXODUS 12 

²⁶ And when your children ask you “What does this ceremony mean to you?” ²⁷ then tell them, “It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites and spared our homes when He struck down the Egyptians.” EXODUS 12

¹⁴ This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance… EXODUS 12 

Its New Covenant Significance

The Death of Y’shua

The ancestors of the Israelites entered into a covenant with God. (Covenant is a contract or agreement with someone greater than us. After we enter into it, the contract becomes a law between him and us.) 

⁷ Moses took the Book of Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.” EXODUS 24

The covenant came with a penalty clause: The curse of Second Death upon everyone who did not obey everything written in the Book (Deuteronomy 27:26). Sinners must die (Ezekiel 18:4). And because all the Israelites had disobeyed (Ecclesiastes 7:20, John 7:19) then all must die.

Much as God wanted to set aside the penalty clause after seeing the disobedience of the Israelites, He could not. He had made the covenant a law even unto Himself (Isaiah 46:11). Neither He nor the Israelites could abrogate or revise the covenant, or delete or amend or disobey any one of its stipulations (Isaiah 45:23, 31:2).

¹⁵ Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. GALATIANS 3

But God was not the type to lose His loved ones without a good fight. He devised a plan where the penalty could be placed upon the one in the entire universe who could take their place—Himself. (Cf. Benny Hinn, The Greatest Miracle, pp. 4-5) God took the form of Son of Man, made a sin offering of Himself, and released the Israelites from the penalty by dying in their place. Lucifer, his demons and human agents were allowed to shame and torment Him. The torment began right after Seder, the Passover supper. It ended in His nailing to the cross. 

The Son of Man died at about three o’clock in the afternoon (Matthew 27:46, 50) of the Passover of 31 ad. The occasion was prophesied 1,400 years before it happened:

⁵ The Lord’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of [Nisan]. LEVITICUS 23

Again God intervened so that His people might “pass over” from bondage to freedom. It was the Second Passover in the history of Isra’el.

What’s the difference between the First and the Second?

The First brought freedom from physical bondage. Moses was sent to shepherd His flock. A male lamb or kid without any blemish or physical defect was the Passover sacrifice.

The Second brought freedom from spiritual bondage. God acted as the shepherd of His flock. He volunteered to become the Passover sacrifice. 

²⁹ Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! JOHN 1

²⁶ He is holy and blameless, unstained by sin, undefiled by sinners. HEBREWS 7 tlb

¹⁹ … It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed to you from your forefathers, ²⁰ but with the precious blood of the Messiah, a Lamb without blemish or defect. 1 PETER 1

Hold your breath because this is mind-boggling: The Second Passover covered all sins—past, present and future. It was accomplished not alone for the Israelites but for the benefit of all humankind. Y’shua assumed the liability of the generations before us, our generation, and the generations after us—so we might pass over from the realm of the dead and live. He did it like a father would for his children: with overwhelming LOVE.

¹⁸ The Messiah died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. 1 PETER 3

¹³ The Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” GALATIANS 3

⁴ For [God] chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love ⁵ He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Y’shua the Messiah, in accordance with His pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves! ⁷ In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. EPHESIANS 1

People think of Y’shua as someone punished and humbled by God, yet the sufferings He endured were not His; the sorrows He carried were not His (Isaiah 53:4 jb).

⁵ He was pierced through for our faults, crushed for our sins. On Him lies a punishment that brings us peace, and through His wounds [stripes] we are healed. ⁶ We had all gone astray like sheep, each taking his own way, and Yahweh burdened Him with the sins of us all. ⁷ Harshly dealt with, He bore it humbly, He never opened His mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter-house, like a sheep that is dumb before its shearers never opening its mouth. ⁸ By force and by law, He was taken [arrested and sentenced and led off to die, and no one cared about His fate]; would anyone plead His cause? Yes, He was torn away from the land of the living; for our faults [He was] struck down in death. ⁹ They gave Him a grave with the wicked, a tomb with the rich, though He had done no wrong [violence] and there had been no perjury [deceit] in His mouth. ¹⁰ Yahweh had been pleased to crush Him with suffering. If He offers His life in atonement, He shall see His heirs, He shall have a long life and through Him what Yahweh wishes will be done. ISAIAH 53 jb

The Institution of the New Covenant

The Old Covenant between God and the Israelites was defiled, torn to pieces by disobedience and spiritual adultery and lack of LOVE. A new covenant was instituted. It anointed the Church (ekklesia in Greek meaning “called out ones”) as a coworker of God. The task was to propagate and perpetuate LOVE. How to do it was stipulated in the Ten Commandments.  

First to join were the Twelve. They entered into it for and on behalf of the first disciples. Since then membership to the New Covenant has been open to those who have the heart for it. Membership means committing ourselves to be God’s coworkers the rest of our lives. The commitment entails 100% obedience of God’s instructions. In return, God commits to love and take care of us—in this life and hereafter. 

⁷ For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. ⁸ But God found fault with the people and said: The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Isra’el and with the house of Judah. ⁹ ...Because they did not remain faithful to My covenant. ¹⁰ This is the New Covenant I will make with the house of Isra’el… declares the Lord: I will put My laws in their minds [so they will know My instructions] and write them in their hearts [so they will obey them]. I will be their God, and they will be My people. ¹¹ No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” because they will know Me, from the least of them to the greatest… ¹³ By calling this covenant “new,” He has made the first one obsolete and aging [it] will soon disappear. HEBREWS 8

Why Participate IN THE NEW COVENANT?

The New Covenant seeks to re-inject the element of LOVE into our hearts. Without it, we will continue in being self-destructive, breeding unrighteous relationships, and bringing about a sick society.

¹⁷ The Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Y’shua the Messiah. JOHN 1

¹ Let love be your highest goal! 1 CORINTHIANS 14 nlt

¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. ISAIAH 43

Our participation in the New Covenant is component to gaining the restoration of our original blessed state.       

¹² Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. JOHN 1

²⁶ You are all sons of God through faith in Messiah Y’shua, ²⁷ for all of you who were baptized into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah. GALATIANS 3

⁹ If you confess with your mouth “Y’shua is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. ROMANS 10

We participate because we agree with the New Covenant’s objective of dismantling the barriers that separate men.  The New Covenant is all-inclusive, open to everyone—without prejudice to anyone’s gender, age, color, wealth, education, affiliation or belief.

¹⁵ His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two [the Jews and the non-Jews, rich and poor, young and old, white and non-white]; thus making peace, ¹⁶ and in this one Body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility. ¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. ¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Messiah Y’shua Himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹ In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. EPHESIANS 2

The objective is to build one citizenship out of the humankind, one Body where no one is discriminated or more dignified than the others; where each member is welcomed, respected and loved as a vital part of the whole; where everyone contributes LOVE-sacrifices to the collective cause. God is building a classless society that is not based on the absence of social status but where all are honored equally as “heirs” according to the promise made to Abraham.

¹² The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with the Messiah. ¹³ For we are all baptized by one Spirit into one Body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 1 CORINTHIANS 12

²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Messiah Y’shua. ²⁹ If you belong to the Messiah, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. GALATIANS 3

⁴ There is one Body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope, when you were called— ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. EPHESIANS 4

We participate because the Blood that sealed the New Covenant is too precious to waste.    

³⁵ One of the [Roman] soldiers pierced Y’shua’s side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. JOHN 19

¹³ You who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of the Messiah. EPHESIANS 2

²⁰ After the supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in My Blood, which is poured out for you.” LUKE 22

²⁷ Drink from it, all of you. This is My blood of the Covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. MATTHEW 26

Only animal blood sealed the Old Covenant.  

²² Under the old agreement almost everything was cleansed by sprinkling it with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. HEBREWS 9 tlb

¹⁹ When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the Law to all the people, he took blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. ²⁰ He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” HEBREWS 9

Gratitude dictates that we reciprocate God’s love for us.  

¹¹ The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the city. ¹² And so Y’shua also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy with His own blood. HEBREWS 13

⁷ The blood of Y’shua, His Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 JOHN 1

Most important of all, we participate because there will be no repeat of the Most Holy Sacrifice. Y’shua cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him (Romans 6:9). Lucifer, his demons and human agents cannot crucify, disgrace or humiliate Him again ever. The opportunity therefore to be reconciled with God while we are on earth should not be squandered; otherwise, there will be nothing to look forward to but God’s awful anger and the terrible punishment which will strike His enemies (Hebrews 10:27 tlb).   

THE MOST HOLY NAME OF GOD

 Many of us pray this: “Our Father in heaven, holy be Your name…” So in our lectures we often ask our audience: “Who is your God? What is His name?” Surprisingly the answers vary: Some say Yahweh, others say Jesus Christ, still others say Adonai or Elohim or El-Shaddai.

What is the name of God? Men have given Him different names but God Himself prescribed three:  I am, YHVH and Y’shua.

I AM.  The name was first revealed to the prophet Moses (Exodus 3:13-15).

⁸ I am… that is My name. ISAIAH 42

What is significant in the name? I am was prescribed to make us understand that God is not only the Great Provider or the Ultimate Healer, but the sum total of the divine attributes. It is an assurance that He can effectively become the kind of God that each one of us needs.

²⁷ To put it concisely, “He is all.” ECCLESIASTICUS 43

The Son of God appropriated the name as His.

⁵⁸ “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am.” ⁵⁹ At this [the Jews] picked up stones to stone Him, but Y’shua hid Himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.  ²⁴ “I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am, you will indeed die in your sins.” JOHN 8

YHVH. The name was again first revealed to Moses (Exodus 6:2-3).

²³ … tell Aaron and his sons to use the following words in blessing the people of Isra’el: ²⁴  “May [YHVH] bless you and take care of you; ²⁵ May [YHVH] be kind and gracious to you; ²⁶ May [YHVH]  look on you with favor and give you peace.” ²⁷ And [YHVH] said, “If they pronounce My name as a blessing upon the people of Isra’el, I will bless them.” NUMBERS 6 tev

YHVH is pronounced yah-weh, the Hebrews making an o or u sound of the Hebrew letter v (vav). Yah in Hebrew Aramaic means “God” and veh means “forgive”. Literally Yahweh translates to “Forgiving God.” But to be biblically precise, it means:

⁶ …the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished. EXODUS 34

How come the Jehovah’s Witnesses pronounce YHVH as “Jehovah”? Lew White said that is a mistake. He gave this explanation why:

The Hebrews originally wrote the name in tetragrammaton [four letters] YHVH. Because the name was holy and not to be blasphemed by improper use, it became Jewish custom to never use it. Vowel points were placed beneath the name to cue the [Scripture] reader not to pronounce it, but to say instead Adonai (Hebrew meaning “the Lord”). Over time, it became an offense worthy of death by stoning to pronounce the name [YHVH] aloud, except for a cohen [Jewish priest].

We must eliminate blatant errors. The tetragrammaton YHVH is changed to JHVH. There is no J in Hebrew. You can easily find that the letter J didn’t exist on the planet until about 1520 ce. Vowels are stuffed into the spaces of the tetragrammaton such that some of the transliterations have been pronounced JeHoVaH, YaHoWah, YaHuWah, JaHVeh, YaHWeH, IAOUE, IAUE, YaHueh, YaHVeh and others. But as said earlier, vowel points placed beneath the name were to cue the reader NOT to pronounce it, but to say Adonai instead. (Fossilized Customs)

Y’SHUA. It is commonly spelled Yahshua. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary spells it Y^ehowshuwa or Y^ehowshua and says the names Jehoshua, Jehoshuah, Joshua and Jeshua were derived from it. But Y’shua is how God signs His notes to this scribe. The scribe infers that God prefers His name to be written that way, so he is adopting it here.

In the film Passion of Christ (2004) the name was pronounced alternately as “yosh-wah” and “ye-hos-wah.” Strong’s pronounces it “yeh-ho-shoo-ah.” But the angels pronounce it differently: “ye-shoo’-wah,” silent on the ho. The last two syllables are pronounced musically like a rising note.  

Y’shua is “Jesus Christ” to the world. Christ is usually mistaken as a surname but it is not. Christ is the Anglicized form of Christos Greek meaning “the Messiah.” Messiah is the Anglicized form of mshakh Hebrew Aramaic meaning “the Anointed One” (Acts 10:38, Luke 4:18-19).

We have stopped calling the Messiah “Jesus Christ.” Kindly take note why:

The appointed name is Y’shua.

Y’shua is a combination of two Hebrew Aramaic words: Yah (“God”) and shua (“saves”). Literally it translates to “Savior God” or “God and Savior” or “Lord and Savior” (as in 1 Timothy 2:3, 2 Peter 2:20 and Titus 2:10, 13). The name reveals Y’shua’s person (“God with us”) and His mission (“to save His people from their sins”). It is along this understanding that Matthew 1:21 says: “You are to give Him the name Y’shua because He will save His people from their sins.”

God Himself chose the name.

⁹ God gave Him the name. PHILIPPIANS 2

To supplant the God-appointed name with another is an act of defiance and irreverence.

Throughout the Scripture giving names was an affirmation of dominion. God renamed those whom He chose for certain tasks (eg. Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Isra’el, Saul to Paul). God has dominion over us and therefore He can rename any one of us anytime.

God has given man the role and prerogative to name each of the animals and the plants (Genesis 1:28, 2:19), but because man has no dominion over God, he is never given the prerogative to rename God. Man ought to address God as He wants to be addressed. Matthew 1:21 and Luke 1:31 commands us to address Him Y’shua; it is imperative for us to obey. To address Him by any other name is to rename Him.  

Tradition gives to Jewish parents the role and prerogative to name their children. Yet not even Joseph and Mary were permitted to give their Son a name of their own choosing.

The name Jesus differs greatly from the God-appointed name.

Lew White is an expert etymologist. Etymology is the study of word origins. According to him, in the process of translating the Scripture manuscripts from Aramaic to Greek, Lucifer and his human agents bastardized the appointed name. Yah (which is pronounced ye) was changed to Ie (still pronounced ye but meaning Hail!). Shua was made sous (to sound Zeus, the name of the highest god in Greek mythology). With the advent of the letter “J” into the alphabet in the 15^th century, “Ie” was made to sound “Je”. Thus, the appointed name was transformed from Y’shua to Iesous, and finally into Jesus. (Fossilized Customs)

So now, little do Christians know that when they pray to Jesus, they are actually proclaiming Hail Zeus!

Christians praying to the wrong God? Lucifer loves it!

            6 The beast opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander His name... Revelation 13

Y’shua is the Gospel.

God left His comfort zone… took the form of Son of Man… corrected the false teachings… died on the cross… redeemed us from the pledge… resurrected… and ascended back to His kingdom in heaven… The name God saves! pictures the entire process completely. 

²³ This is God’s command: to believe in the name of His Son, Messiah Y’shua. 1 JOHN 3

IF WE HAVE TO BE VERY STRICT ABOUT IT, BIBLICALLY SPEAKING, calling on Jesus violates tHREE royal decrees, FOUR if 1 John 3:23 IS includeD.

The first two decrees are Matthew 1:21 and Luke 1:31: “You are to give Him the name Y’shua.” The third decree is: 

¹³ Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of gods. Do not let them [eg. the name of Zeus] be heard on your lips. EXODUS 23

Let us refrain from the lazy practice of addressing God in vague terms such as Lord or King or Almighty One or Supremo. For false worshipers also go for the same generic terms when praying or referring to their gods. Let us reciprocate God’s personal attention to us, even to our individual names (John 10:3 and 1 Corinthians 8:3), by knowing His appointed name.

“But in the Bible, the name of the Lord is Jesus!”—that’s a common objection to the appointed name. We say nobody speaks English in the time of Y’shua. The Jews spoke and wrote to one another in their native language, Hebrew Aramaic. Nobody called Him Jesus then. He was born an Aramaic Jew and addressed by an Aramaic name. Nowhere can you find Jesus written in the old manuscripts of the New Testament.

“But Jesus is the English translation of Y’shua!”—that’s another common objection. We say it is not. The English translation is “God saves” or “Savior God” or “God and Savior” or “Lord and Savior.” We beg you to translate the name right. Stop patronizing Lucifer.

Someone said, “We may continue in calling God I am or YHVH. Those names are biblical. It will not be wrong to call God by those names.” We say those names are Old Testament. God has taken a new name for Himself in the New Testament.  

Remember the Old Testament prophecies? 

³¹ The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isra’el and with the house of Judah. JEREMIAH 31

²³ Before Me every knee will bow; by Me every tongue will swear. ISAIAH 45

⁹ The Lord will be King over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and His name the only name. ZECHARIAH 14

Well, the New Covenant has come. The Old Testament names YHVH and I am have been relegated (made second) to the new name. By God’s decree Y’shua is now the name above every name.

⁹ God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Y’shua every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Y’shua the Messiah is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. PHILIPPIANS 2

Do not be confused on what name to address the Father and what name to address the Son. In our study of “Who Is God?”it has been established that the Son is the Father; also, the Son is the Holy Spirit. All three are essentially one and the same God. Having said that, let us examine the Great Commission:

¹⁹ Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. MATTHEW 28  

Take note: The Messiah did not say names (plural) but name (singular). The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit have assumed one name for themselves. Can you guess what it is? Acts 2:38 is the answer.

Acts 2:38 says, “Be baptized in the name of Y’shua.”

Y’shua is the Most Holy Name!

That the Messiah and YHVH are essentially one and the same God, and that they have assumed a common name, can be deduced from a prayer of the Messiah: 

⁹ I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given Me, for they are Yours. ¹⁰ All I have is Yours, and all You have is Mine. ¹¹ Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your name—the name You gave Me… JOHN 17

We will not dissuade you if you insist in addressing your prayer to I AM or YHVH, or to Ruach HaKodesh which is the name of the Holy Spirit. Be reminded though to include the most holy name in the address. For Scripture says: 

¹⁷ Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Y’shua, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. COLOSSIANS 3

²³…that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent Him. JOHN 5

Getting baptized in the most holy name, praying to it and exalting it are signs that you have arrived. You have gained the maturity to see through the Messianic camouflage. The Spirit has put in you the conviction that Y’shua is God. The divine truth whispered into your heart has thundered.

³ No one can say, “Y’shua is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. 1 CORINTHIANS 12 

¹⁴ It is a narrow gate and a difficult path that leads to life, and only a few find it. MATTHEW 7


Next Post:  THE THREE LIFE-CHANGING BLESSINGS THE MOST HOLY NAME BRINGS

WHO IS GOD?

Who is the God we must love? Is He the devil? Is He an earthly animal, person or thing? Is He the lifeless idol in many altars and churches, chiseled by man out of stone or wood or metal? The answer to the questions is, of course, No.

                  ¹³ …our great God and Savior [is] Y’shua the Messiah. TITUS 2

Y’shua ("Jesus Christ" to the world) we must love with all our hearts and with all our souls and with all our minds and with all our strength. There is no other God.

⁶ [Y’shua] who, being in very nature God… PHILIPPIANS 2

¹⁵ …is the image [visible likeness] of the invisible God, the first-born over all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether throne or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. ¹⁷ [He exists] before all things [were created], and in [union with] Him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And He is the Head of the Body, the Church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross. COLOSSIANS 1

In Y’shua was found two characteristics exclusive to God:

Omniscient (All-Knowing)

³⁰ His disciples said to Him, “You are all-knowing. You do not even have to hear our questions to answer them.” JOHN 16 

Omnipotent (All-Powerful, Almighty).—He restored the health of lepers at a time when leprosy was yet incurable. He healed all kinds of diseases and infirmities. And while no one in history has given sight to a man born without eyes, He did (John 9:32).

¹⁶ When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to Him, and He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. ¹⁷ This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases. MATTHEW 8

³¹ The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. MATTHEW 15

Y’shua was life-giving. He brought the dead back to life (eg. Lazarus in John 11:44, the daughter of Jairus in Mark 5:41, and the son of a widow in Nain in Luke 7:15).

Y’shua fed no less than 5,000 with five loaves of bread and 4,000 with seven. 

³⁷ They all ate and were satisfied. Afterwards the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ³⁸ The number of those who ate was four thousand, besides women and children. MATTHEW 15

The prophet Moses had to part the waters of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:5-31) and the prophet Elijah, the Jordan River (2 Kings 2:9), to get to their destinations. Y’shua simply walked over the waters to get to His (Matthew 14:25).

Y’shua demonstrated power of command over the five components of creation: the four elements of water, earth, wind and fire (as in Mark 4:39); the plants (as in Matthew 21:18-19); the animals; the humankind; and the celestial beings—both the angels (as in Matthew 4:11) and the demons (as in Luke 4:36).

¹⁰ The Messiah is the Head over every power and authority. COLOSSIANS 2

Y’shua was the source of all authority and power. It was by His authority that appointed some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be teachers (Ephesians 4:11). 

To the apostle Peter He gave the power to walk over the waters (Matthew 14:29). To His disciples—then and today—He has given:   

 

§  The power to exercise His powers

¹² I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. JOHN 14

¹³ I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. PHILIPPIANS 4

§  The power to overcome Lucifer and his demons, and to bind them

¹⁹ I have given you authority to overcome all the power of the enemy. LUKE 10

¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. MATTHEW 16

§  The power to undo wicked works

⁸ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. MATTHEWS 10

¹⁷ And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸ they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on the sick, and they will get well. MARK 16

§  The power to forgive sin (except blasphemy of the Spirit and deliberate sin)

²³ If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. JOHN 20

§  The power to make prayers come true

¹⁹ Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three come together in My name, there I am with them. MATTHEW 18

By His omniscience and omnipotence, no doubt Y’shua was “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).

THE FULLNESS OF GOD LIVES IN BODILY FORM IN Y’SHUA (Colossians 2:9).

The invisible God took the form of Son of Man to become a visible God to the humankind. He became the personification of two natures: human (pregnancy by Mary) and divine (what was conceived was of the Holy Spirit).

³⁰ The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will be with child and give birth to a son…” ³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” ³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overthrow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” LUKE 1

²⁰ An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit… ²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ The virgin will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel—which means ‘God with us.’” MATTHEW 1

Because Y'shua had dual nature, when we study each of His pronouncements, it must be determined who spoke: Was it the God in Him or the man in Him? We must do it to avoid confusion and arriving at the wrong conclusion that He was only human, not God. The hint is, when the Gospel refers to the speaker as Son of Man, the reference is usually to His humanity; and when it refers to the speaker as Son of God, the reference is usually to His God-being. 

When Y’shua prayed (and He prayed a lot while on earth), it was the man in Him who prayed. It was not a case of God praying to Himself.

When He cried out in a loud voice, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46), it was the man in Him who cried out.

When He said “The Father is greater than I” (John 14:28), it was the man in Him who spoke. The words should not be interpreted as if a lesser or inferior God was talking of a greater God. For there is no such being as a greater God or a lesser God. There is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4, John 5:44, 1 Corinthians 8:4, 5).

In Matthew 12:32 He said, “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. But anyone who speaks a word against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” That should be read as “Anyone who speaks a word against My humanity will be forgiven. But anyone who speaks a word against My divinity will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”

In Mark 13:32 He said of the end time, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” In this pronouncement Son was a reference to His humanity.   

Open your Bible to Luke 5:17-26, to the healing of the paralytic. God knew the man’s sins were causing the paralysis. The man had to be cleansed of his sins in order to be healed. So God said to him, “Your sins are forgiven.” The Pharisees and Torah-teachers did not see God. They saw Y’shua speaking and thought He was blaspheming for, as they correctly asserted, “Only God can forgive sins!” (Luke 5:21). But no blasphemy was made. The paralytic got healed; a self-evident proof was given that his sins were forgiven. Because the sins were forgiven and only God could forgive sin, an indisputable proof was given to believers and unbelievers alike that the God in Y’shua had spoken.    

¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in Me? The words I say to you are not just My own. Rather, it is the Father, living in Me, who is doing His work. ¹¹ Believe Me when I say “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me;” or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. JOHN 14

be careful of taking Y’shua’s words literally. He was fond of speaking in parables.

                ²⁵ I have been speaking figuratively. JOHN 16

When He spoke of “My Father in heaven” (Matthew 12:50), it was the Son of Man who spoke. The Son of God cannot possibly have a Father. Hebrews 7:3 is explicit: The Son of God was without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life.

That being the case, it should be clear in our minds that God did not sire a Son. As we've said, there is only one God. The Father and the Son are one.

Why the veiled communication? Because the message of restoration has been exclusively reserved to those who have the heart for it (Matthew 13:11).

              ³ [The Gospel] is veiled to those who are perishing [those who persist in walking the realm of death]. 2 CORINTHIANS 4

The fact is, not even all of those who have the heart for it can understand God’s communications. Understanding comes only to persons whom God gifted with insight. As in the case of Simon Peter:

              ¹⁵ “But what about you?” [The Lord] asked. “Who do you say I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ Y’shua replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by My Father in heaven.” MATTHEW 16

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