Yahweh's Name at the End of the Age
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Since the early 1930s the sacred Name of the Heavenly Father, Yahweh, has
been proclaimed in earnest. The earliest Sacred Name pioneers realized that
most readers of the Bible were ignorant of Yahweh’s great Name. The omission of
His Name and substitutes for it can be traced to early Bible translators who
followed superstitious Jewish traditions against using the sacred Name Yahweh.
Few translators were conversant in Hebrew, and
detested anything Hebrew or Jewish, just as many do today. They could neither
read nor speak Hebrew fluently and resorted to the Greek translation of the Old
Testament known as the Septuagint, bypassing the original Hebrew texts.
From the Greek Septuagint was made the Latin version
of the Old Testament. From the Latin came our English Bibles.
Septuagint Had Yahweh’s Name
The
original Greek Septuagint of the Old Testament had Yahweh’s Name (known as the
Tetragrammaton—meaning four letters) inscribed in gold letters in Hebrew: hwhy. Later
copyists, being ignorant of Hebrew, substituted the Greek words Kyrios and
Theos with the excuse that if the Tetragrammaton were sacred in the Hebrew,
Kyrios and Theos were sacred in the Greek.
The translators of the 1611 English Bible, the highly
revered King James "authorized" version, followed the custom of
earlier Bible translators in supplanting the sacred Name Yahweh with the
substitute English titles "Lord" and "God."
Names Are Not Translated
These
titles are in no way a transliteration of Yahweh’s Name, for His Name is the
essence of the Hebrew word of existence. His Name actually means He exists
because He chooses to exist. He exists and brings all things into existence.
"Yahweh" is defined as One who will be
whatever His people need of Him. He will be their Helper, Deliverer, Provider,
Healer, Guide, Strengthener, and Savior—whatever they need.
Substitute names and titles cannot serve as
translations, for the human mind cannot put into one word all that is meant by the Name Yahweh. These common substitutes conceal the
holy Name of our Creator Yahweh and make Him to appear as nothing more than
just another deity, much like the pagan deities of heathendom.
Hebrew names are generally transliterated (brought over
into a different language through same or similar sounds), a conventional
practice in going from one language to another. Names stay the same, but may
have an ethnic accent. One can listen to a foreign news broadcast and easily
pick up familiar proper nouns such as
Bible readers are acquainted with such familiar Hebrew
names as Adam, Reuben, Dan, Asher, Ruth, Noah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Daniel,
and Amos. These Hebrew names give us no problem, and no one advocates finding English
substitutes. But when it comes to the Mighty One of the universe, carnal man
rebels against the plain Scriptural teaching that Yahweh is the Memorial Name
He has revealed to His people by which He expects to
be remembered, Exodus 3:15.
Why is it that the most important name of all—the
personal Name of the Creator of the universe, Yahweh—seldom appears in our
English Scriptures? The memorial Name Yahweh has been erased from many Bibles.
So has the Savior’s Name, Yahshua.
The revered King James Bible uses other titles and
substitutes for Yahweh’s most holy Name. "God" is not a name. It’s a
title. "Lord" is not a name, but an inferior title. "Lord"
is from Old English hlaford, which is
from hlafweard, meaning "keeper
of the loaf." A lord is the farmer who doles out the bread to his
servants. Thus, to call Yahweh by the inferior title "Lord"
("keeper of the loaf") is demeaning to our majestic Sovereign of the
universe.
"Jehovah" is a linguistic hybrid. There
never was nor is there now a "J" in either the Hebrew or Greek
alphabet.
In the last few decades several Bible publishers have
restored the sacred Name Yahweh, which appears almost 7,000 times as originally
given in the Bible. Larger Bible publishers continue using erroneous
substitutes, except for a few of the more enlightened, such as the Anchor Bible
and Jerusalem Bible.
Yahweh’s name continues to gain acceptance among
sincere Bible believers. Proof of His name is easily found in popular
dictionaries and encyclopedias.
Adversary’s Name Remains Unchanged
While
Yahweh’s Name has been removed or disguised in most Bibles in favor of a
substitute title, the Hebrew name for the devil, Satan, appears time and time
again. Strange, isn’t it, that the Adversary’s name Satan appears unchanged in
our English Bibles, 16 times in the Old Testament and 35 times in the New
Testament, according to Young’s
Concordance? Yet Yahweh’s Name is hidden by replacement titles.
We understand the importance of Yahweh’s Name and are
dedicated to doing all in our power to make His Name known. We are committed to
carrying out our Savior’s promise, "I
will declare your name to My brethren. In the midst of
the assembly I will praise you," Psalm
The Savior attested that He had manifested Yahweh’s
Name to the brethren, and added, "They
have kept your word," John 17:6.
The brethren of Yahweh’s Assembly In Yahshua realize that the EliYah message to make Yahweh’s Name known is the last
message to be proclaimed to a lost and spiritually dying race. (Write for our
free ministudy, This is the EliYah Message.)
Thanks to the faithful efforts of dedicated Bible
students, knowledge of Yahweh’s Name continues to grow. It can be found in many
dictionaries, encyclopedias, and commentaries, which admit that Yahweh is the
personal Name of the Creator of this universe. Yahweh’s Name is common
knowledge in Bible colleges, and is routinely used by many seminary professors
and Bible teachers.
"His Name Is Yahweh—So What?"
Most
theologians freely admit that His Name is Yahweh, but ignore the hundreds of
Bible admonitions concerning His Name’s importance. They would themselves be
indignant if someone referred to them simply as "hey you,"
"guy" or "woman," especially with those who know them by
name. Yet, they display the attitude that His Name is of no significance.
Many sincere Bible believers who contend that they are fully obedient in all things commanded in the Bible,
often have difficulty when it comes to invoking His Name. They adamantly refuse
to go on toward perfection and utter His Name Yahweh.
Interestingly, it is those who keep His Sabbaths,
honor His Feast Days, and claim to be true commandment keepers who seem to
rebel most against accepting
The Name Is The Person
Frequently
is heard, "I don’t worship a name. I worship a Person." This apparently absolves one of having to invoke His
Name Yahweh and so gives one the right to call that "Person" whatever comes to mind or whatever suits one’s
mood at the time.
But Yahweh NEVER allowed us to call Him whatever we
wish! We are commanded to call upon the only Name He Himself has revealed to
us. That Name is Yahweh! His Name embodies all He is and what He can be to
those with whom He is in covenant relationship.
In willfully calling Yahweh by a substitute, people
are denying His Name and giving glory to another.
Did not the Apostle Paul say in 1Corinthians 8:5,
"There are gods many and lords many"? Note in 2Corinthians 4:4 that
Satan is called "the god of this
world." It is sheer rebellion to refuse to call upon Yahweh’s Name,
which He clearly said is His memorial unto
We hear many talk about
having a personal relationship with Him. How can one know Him (or anybody)
personally and not know or call on his personal name?
Arguments That Fall Flat
There
are other arguments and excuses such as, "You are trying to say that
unless I pronounce a certain Hebrew name as you do, I have no salvation."
Rest assured that He Who created all things also created man’s tongue to
pronounce His Name Yahweh. No one seems to have a problem with other Biblical
Hebrew names like Daniel, Ruth, and Saul, so why resist the most vital Name of
all? Acts
Another argument says there were no vowels in the
Hebrew alphabet, so we cannot know how to pronounce His Name. Think a minute!
There are no vowels in the entire Hebrew Old Testament from Genesis 1:1 to
Malachi 3:5. Yet translators had no trouble translating the text.
Some will contend that the pronunciation has been
lost. The Encyclopedia Judaica says
His Name was never lost (Vol. 7, p. 680). The pronunciation is as we have
spelled it—Yahweh. Rebellious man seeks all sorts of excuses to justify his
stiff-necked attitude instead of submitting to the Creator in humility and
entering the close relationship through His revealed, personal Name.
Believers Given His Name
Paul
reveals that the whole spiritual family of the Most High will be called by His
Name Yahweh. He says in Ephesians 3:14-15, "...I
bow my knees unto the Father of the Master Yahshua Messiah of whom the whole
family in heaven and earth is named."
How can people be called by the Name
"Yahweh" in the Kingdom, yet refuse to bow to Yahweh’s clear command
now? Will His people miraculously acquire a love for Yahweh’s Name in the
Kingdom while hating it now? Notice that obedient humans, not angels,
are called by Yahweh’s Name.
Speaking of the end of the age, the Bible reveals that
all mankind will acknowledge that His Name is Yahweh. There is coming a time
when Yahshua will be sent back to this earth to put down all rebellion and sin
and will then rule with a rod of iron, Revelation 2:26-27.
Malachi wrote of those at the end of the age who hate
and reject His Name now. He quotes Yahweh saying, "...O priests, that despise My Name. And
you say, ‘Wherein have we despised Your Name?’" (1:6). In the end Yahweh will receive the worship He demands.
Praise Him By His Name Yahweh!
We
no longer present incense and sacrificial animals in worship but offer our
obedience through spiritual sacrifices: "You
also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to
offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to Yahweh by Yahshua Messiah," 1Peter 2:5.
Hebrews 13:15-16 shows "a sacrifice of praise" is "the fruit of lips that confess His Name." Confessing
Yahweh’s Name is indeed a spiritual sacrifice!
Notice what it does not say. It does not say
confessing His "person." Or confessing His works. Or confessing Him as "L-rd" It says confessing His Name Yahweh!
His Name Among The Gentiles
Do
you confess His Name? Does not Malachi say that our sacrifice of praise is by
those who confess His Name? This is in opposition to those who despise
His Name, Malachi 1:6. His command is that we confess and call upon His Name
Yahweh.
Read Malachi 1:11, "For
from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, My Name shall
be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto
My Name, and a pure offering; for My Name shall be great among the heathen,
says Yahweh of Hosts."
Remember that incense is a type of prayer, Revelation
8:3-4. We are to invoke His Name in our prayers. It is to be a pure offering,
not adulterated with idolatrous names of man’s devising.
Astoundingly, in this short verse of Malachi 1:11, He
mentions His personal Name Yahweh three times! He does not say His
"person" shall be great among the heathen. He does not say His power,
character or wisdom shall be great among the gentiles, but emphasizes His Name.
While the other attributes assuredly will be great, it is important that
Yahweh’s Name be supreme.
Furthermore, Yahweh castigates the priests (who are to
teach knowledge, Lev. 10:11) and warns that if they will not give glory unto
His Name, "Behold, I will corrupt
(rebuke) your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, the dung of your solemn
feasts; and you shall be carried off with it," Malachi 2:3.
Those blessed with such knowledge (Deut. 17:9-11),
including the knowledge of His Name, must give glory to Yahweh’s Name. He
threatens that dung will be spread upon their faces (making them unworthy).
They will be carried out with the offal and refuse when they should be
receiving the blessings!
The Apostle Peter says believers are a "royal
priesthood," 1Peter 2:9. John says we are a "kingdom of
priests," Revelation
Deception At The
End
Prophecy
says we can expect many imposters who will pretend to be deliverers of mankind.
The Savior warned that many false messiahs would come. He also said that one
coming in his own name would readily be accepted.
The world in general will not recognize Yahshua when
He comes in the Name of Yahweh. The undefiled, perfect Deliverer will to them
be just another of the many deceivers to come on the scene.
Bible passages reveal clearly at the end of the age
the necessity of trusting in His Name. Joel 2:31-32 reads, "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood
before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. And it shall come to pass,
that whoever shall call on the Name of Yahweh shall be delivered; for in mount
Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those that escape as Yahweh has said, and
among the remnant those whom Yahweh does call."
Deliverance Through The Name
Notice
that deliverance is promised to those who call upon Yahweh’s Name. Not those
who call upon His person, His character, His being or His power. Invoking His
Name will bring His promised DELIVERANCE!
Psalm 91 deals with death, destruction and persecution
that will befall many at the end of the age. Yahweh promises protection to His
people. He is our refuge and fortress, verse 2. We will see the reward of the
wicked, verse 8.
Of those truly faithful who love Him and know His
Name, Yahweh says, "Because he has
set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him: I
will set him on high, because he has known My Name," Psalm 91:14.
When called upon, Yahweh will answer and also be with
those in trouble to deliver them and show His salvation. He will do this for
those who know and call upon His Name.
Clearly, all these injunctions prove that He expects
us to invoke His Name, Yahweh.
Psalm 83 deals with the end of the age, naming ten
nations from the
Yahweh takes vengeance upon that wicked generation and
will make them as stubble, as a burning fire. Then the Psalmist adds, "Fill their faces with shame; that they
may seek Thy Name, O Yahweh," Psalm 83:16.
When Yahweh sees that the sins of the people are full,
He will destroy those who destroy the earth. Those left alive will feel ashamed
and seek Yahweh in Whom is deliverance.
Mankind must seek Yahweh by Name when He moves with
His mighty power and miracles to save His people from the snare of the enemy.
Many will follow satanic deceivers who pledge relief from life’s burdens as
troubles intensify.
By then the world will have been entirely fooled by
the Man of Sin who promises peace and deliverance.
It is only through Yahweh’s intervention that things
are set straight. Then Yahweh will be given the credit and honor and His great
Name will be made known, as we read, "That
men may know that You, Whose Name alone is Yahweh, are Most High over all the
earth," Psalm 83:18.
Through His great power and miracles Yahweh will
deliver His people just as He did ancient
Those Who Fear Yahweh
Scripture
solemnly declares that nations will have been calling on the names of other
deities when they should have been calling upon Yahweh.
His Name will gain increasing importance as we head
into the very end of the age and the establishment of His Kingdom. Wickedness
will abound and rebellion against Yahweh, His laws, and Name will be rampant.
But there will also be a humble, dedicated remnant that will both adhere to and
revere the importance of His Name.
Notice: "Then
they that feared Yahweh spoke one with another and Yahweh listened and heard,
and a book of remembrance was written before Him, for them that feared Yahweh
and that THOUGHT UPON HIS NAME. And they shall be mine, says Yahweh of hosts,
even my own possession, in the day that I make [do this]; and I will spare them
as a man spares his own son that serves him," Malachi
Yahweh will work miracles and vengeance at the end of
the age. He will save His people, and give special attention to those who know
Him and call upon His Name. This we are told in Revelation 11:18: "And the nations were angry, and Your wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they
should be judged, and that You should give reward unto Your servants the
prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Your name, small and
great; and should destroy them which destroy the earth."
Those who do not know Yahweh and do not call upon His
Name will be completely taken in by the end-time delusions of Satan’s master
plan. They will suffer His wrath, as we read in Psalm 79:6: "Pour out Your wrath upon the heathen
that have not known You, and upon the kingdoms that
HAVE NOT CALLED UPON YOUR NAME."
A plea is made for both help and forgiveness and
Yahweh’s tender mercies to preserve His people for the glory of His Name: "Help us, O Elohim of our salvation,
for the glory of Your Name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for Your
Name’s sake," Psalm 79:9.
This is corroborated in Proverbs 18:10 "The Name of Yahweh is a strong tower;
the righteous runs into it and is safe." The Name Yahweh embodies all the omnipotence, wisdom, salvation,
lovingkindness, omniscience, and mercies that He bestows upon those who love
Him and in obedience call upon His Name.
“My People Shall Know My Name”
An
Israelite is one who overcomes and keeps all His commandments by the help of
Yahweh’s Spirit indwelling him.
"Therefore,
My people shall know My Name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am
He that does speak: behold, it is I," Isaiah 52:6,
"If my
people, which are called by My Name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and
seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven,
and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land" (2 Chron. 7:14).
Those who reject Him, His Name, and His ways will
perish. His deeds will ever be engrained in the minds of all people, and they
will know that His Name is Yahweh Who has always been in control and now will
establish a righteous Kingdom.
End-Time Assembly Honors Name
Revelation,
the last book of the Bible, winds up with key insights into the importance of
Yahweh’s and Yahshua’s names.
Revelation 2:3 commends the Ephesian Assembly, saying
that for the sake of the Savior’s name they "have
borne, and have patience, and for My Name’s sake have laboured, and have not
fainted."
The Assembly at Pergamos is commended for holding fast
to His Name: "I know your works, and
where you dwell, even where Satan’s seat is: and you hold fast My Name and have not denied My faith..." Revelation
2:13.
The faithful ones in Philadelphia are highly commended
and given the advantage because of their faith and their having not denied His
Name: "I know your works: behold, I
have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it: for you have a little
strength, and have kept My word, and have not denied My Name," Revelation 3:8.
Notice that the chosen ones who overcome will be given
special privileges. "Him that
overcomes will I make a pillar in the Temple of my Elohim, and he shall go no
more out: and I will write upon him the Name of my Elohim, and the Name
of the city of my Elohim, [which is] new Jerusalem, which comes down out of
heaven from my Elohim: and [I will write upon him] My New Name," Revelation 3:12.
"And the
nations were angry, and Your wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they
should be judged, and that you should give reward unto Your servants the
prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Your Name, small and great; and
should destroy them which destroy the earth," Revelation 11:18.
"And he
opened his mouth in blasphemy against Elohim, to blaspheme His Name, and his
Tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven," Revelation 13:6.
"And I
looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty
[and] four thousand, having his Name and His Father’s Name written in their
foreheads," Revelation 14:1.
"Who
shall not fear you, O Yahweh, and glorify Your Name? for You only are holy: for all nations shall come and worship before You; for Your
judgments are made manifest," Revelation 15:4.
"And men
were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the Name of Yahweh, which has
power over these plagues: and they repented not to give Him glory," Revelation 16:9.
"His
eyes [were] as a flame of fire, and on His head [were] many crowns; and He had
a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself," Revelation
"And He
[was] clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His
Name is called The Word of Yahweh," Revelation
"And
they shall see His face; and His Name shall be in their foreheads," Revelation 22:4.
As we honor Yahweh’s Name, He will do the same with
ours. "He that overcomes, the same
shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his Name out of the
book of life, but I will confess his Name before My Father, and before His
angels, Revelation 3:5.
Yahweh’s Name is written in our foreheads through
baptism in the Name Yahshua, the Name that means, "Yahweh
is salvation." These are the ones who live obediently and who will be
redeemed as firstfruits of salvation into His very family, Revelation 14:4.
We pray that you will be among those who love, honor,
and call upon the ONLY Name that gives salvation.
© 2007 Yahweh’s Assembly in Yahshua
View us online at: www.YAIY.org
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