Leaving Hell Behind | Chapter 6: The Name Of The Law Giver

As I had shared briefly in chapter 1, when I began reading the Old Testament more in depth, I started losing the concepts of God which developed in my youth. This being the perception that Jesus, in a way, saved us from the wrath of the Old Testament God. At that point in time, of course, I had never read the New Testament nor the Old. The sad part of this all was that as I read for the first time in the New Testament, I was essentially reading into it these perceptions. I am not sure about you, but have you had any kind of similar experience in your life? Have you also had similar perceptions between Father God and Lord Jesus?

In this chapter, I want to discuss the names of God and the character of our King. The God who is our lawgiver. My hope is you will find this a very honest, interesting, and challenging review. I think in many denominations it is something rarely spoken about. It certainly was something that really opened my eyes up to see the goodness of the Old Testament God. I saw why the Old Testament is so important for our lives. It really isn’t something we can do away with. We can’t disconnect the Old Testament from the New Testament. We desperately need them both.

Since I have written my first edition of Upgrading Earth, I can also say that in regard to the name of our God and His character, I have grown to better understand some details more clearly. I believe this is a good thing, as it means we are constantly growing. Therefore, what I share in this chapter is a progression from what I understood back then.

6.1 The Current Debate on the Name

If you have ever done some research on the Names of God. You will probably have come across what can be, in fact, a very heated debate as to the form and spelling of the name of God. I want to say I respect all people who love Jesus with all their hearts and have a zeal for Him and the Father. There is certainly a large range of beliefs here from those calling themselves “Sacred Namers” to the “Hebrew Roots” movements etc., and probably many I am not even aware of. All have done a great deal of wonderful work in exploring the depths of the name, be it of God in the Old Testament or of Jesus. I have learned a lot from their analysis. The challenge I see though with all of this, however, is “I think we miss the point.”

When any of us comes to a point in our lives where we can literally, with our mouths, condemn our brothers or sisters to hell for not saying God’s name correctly. Or to condemn them for saying anything other than the name in Hebrew, then we really have missed it completely. I am also speaking of myself here.

What we find is a plethora of claims on the name of God in the Old Testament. These range from JHVH, YHWH, Jehova, Jehovah, Yehovah, Yahweh, Yehweh, Ieue and Yahuah.¹ We can see there are quite some variances and given all that I have read, there are at times explicit statements out there of condemnation to the person who doesn’t say any of these accurately. I wonder how someone speaking native Japanese, Russian or Chinese feels about all of this?

The question we can ask is: who is correct?

Well, if you asked me, I would say simply: all are correct!

What? Impossible! Heresy you say! Well, sure if you want to be that way. However, the fact you are reading this study means, surely you are one to at least maintain an open mind and “test these things.” Let me explain shortly my answer. They are all correct, because it all depends on “when in the English language one selects and find the most accurate form and spelling.” Interestingly enough, I have found there is a lot of trying to “have your cake and eat it too” in this discussion. I have found that, in fact, within the same argument, one could use modern day lettering and historic outdated lettering. I want to give one example of this. This is Joshua 1:1 in the Coverdale Bible of 1535 (CB1535), the Bishops Bible of 1568 (BB1568) and the Geneva Bible of 1587 (GB1587).

CB1535: ¹ After the death of Moses the seruaunt of the LORDE, spake the LORDE vnto Iosua ye sonne of Nun Moses mynister:

BB1568: ¹ After the death of Moyses the seruaunt of the Lord, it came to passe also that the Lorde spake vnto Iosuah ye sonne of Nun, Moyses minister, saying:

GB1587: ¹ Nowe after the death of Moses the seruant of the Lorde, the Lord spake vnto Ioshua the sonne of Nun, Moses minister, saying,

In Old Testament Era in Hebrew, the name of God was יהוה. If we go with a simple modern-day spelling based on our current alphabet, we could have the following variances, YHWH, YHVH, JHWH or JHVH. This is because the first letter could be a Yod or a Jod and the third letter could be a Waw or a vav. This is not even an English thing; it is all dependent on the group of Jewish people as to if they use Yod or Jod or Waw or vav.

In these three Bible translations, we have a variance of only fifty-two years. That isn’t much, but what a difference in the English spelling. The “v (vnto)” is clearly having the sound of a “u” and a “u (seruant or seruaunt)” fulfills the sound of a “v.” Let’s not even start on the “Y” the “J” and the “I.” Down the road the “W” was created as representing a “double U,” but that “U” was actually spelled as our modern-day “V.” You can see where I am going with this, right?

The arguments each put forward for the name are valid. But it is all determined how far one wants to go back in the English language, as to how a specific letter should be spoken or spelled. Personally, I live in the twenty-first century and so I believe we are really fine with using twenty-first century spelling. Finally, I believe it is for each person to decide in their heart what is right for them and their relationship with Father God and Lord Jesus. If you feel convicted to speak it a certain way, then do it. It certainly isn’t right to condemn one another for what is between them and the Lord. As Jeff A. Brenner from Ancient Hebrew Research Center states and I paraphrase:

In the Hebrew culture the name was not just about the spelling and pronunciation. It was about the character of the person. The name represented the character, and it was the character of God we were to share in the world. Not necessarily the exact and correct spelling of the name and then force everybody to abide by that. It is about the character of our God and King.²

6.2 As He Was First Known in History

Looking at the names of the God of the Old Testament, He went by many. I won’t go through them all, but I think we should certainly concentrate on the main two. Through research, something that stood out to me was that in the Old Testament, God was not revealed as Yahweh until the time of Moses. I believe when we want to debate about the name, well; we find it is always changing depending on the revelation He is giving us in that specific era of time. It is a progressive revelation. We should really focus on His character, and not only the name itself, if you understand what I mean here. His name changes with time to reflect His character to us. We certainly learn in the book of Revelation that even in the coming age, Jesus will have a “new name” and so will we. Have you ever considered this before? First, in Revelation 2:17b, Jesus tells us about our own names,

BSB: ^17b I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it.

BGB: ^17b καὶ δώσω αὐτῷ ψῆφον λευκήν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ψῆφον ὄνομα καινὸν γεγραμμένον, ὃ οὐδεὶς οἶδεν εἰ μὴ ὁ λαμβάνων.
BGB-T: ^17b kai dōsō autō psēphon leukēn, kai epi tēn psēphon onoma kainon gegrammenon, ho oudeis oiden ei mē ho lambanōn.

And then in Revelation 3:17, we read of Jesus having a new name:

BSB: ^17b Upon him I will write the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God (the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from My God), and My new name.

NTAT: and I will inscribe upon him my God’s name and the name of my God’s city—the New Jerusalem descending out of heaven from my God—as well as my new name.

BGB: ^17b καὶ γράψω ἐπ’ αὐτὸν τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Θεοῦ μου καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τῆς πόλεως τοῦ Θεοῦ μου, τῆς καινῆς Ἰερουσαλήμ ἡ καταβαίνουσα ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ μου, καὶ τὸ ὄνομά μου τὸ καινόν.
BGB: ^17b kai grapsō ep’ auton to onoma tou Theou mou kai to onoma tēs poleōs tou Theou mou, tēs kainēs Ierousalēm hē katabainousa ek tou ouranou apo tou Theou mou, kai to onoma mou to kainon.

I don’t know about you, but I am really curious as to what Jesus’ new name will be, as well as mine? It is really exciting to think about it. What we learn here then is as we come to the close of the Revelation of Jesus, once again, His name will be changing. Therefore, names we know the Lord by are not static. Even when you think about the character emanating from the name, this isn’t a static onetime thing.

What we learn is that, in fact, Yahweh was known for the first 2,500 years of human history as El Shaddai. (אֵ֣ל שַׁדַּ֔י / ʾēl šadday / H410+H7706). Often this is translated as God Almighty, however many note it is more relevant as “all sufficient God.” Given Strongs even has a H7706 definition meaning “field, land,” along with a consideration that the root of this word shad (שַׁד / šad / H7699) means breast. I do believe “all sufficient one” fits well. In any case, we read here the first introduction of Himself to Abram in Genesis 17:1,

BSB: ¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.

LEB: ¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old Yahweh appeared to Abram. And he said to him, “I am El-Shaddai; walk before me and be blameless.

¹ וַיְהִ֣י אַבְרָ֔ם בֶּן־תִּשְׁעִ֥ים שָׁנָ֖ה וְתֵ֣שַׁע שָׁנִ֑ים וַיֵּרָ֨א יְהוָ֜ה אֶל־אַבְרָ֗ם וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֵלָיו֙ אֲנִי־אֵ֣ל שַׁדַּ֔י הִתְהַלֵּ֥ךְ לְפָנַ֖י וֶהְיֵ֥ה תָמִֽים׃
WLC-T: ¹ wayhi avram ben-tish’im shanah wethesha’ shanim wayyera yhwh el-avram wayyomer elaiw ani-el shaddai hithhallekh lephanai wehyeh thamim.

Later when we come to the moment in time of the Lord speaking with Moses, we learn He reveals Himself as Yahweh (ְְיְהוָֽה/ yhwh / H3068) and explains that in the past; He was only known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by another name. Unfortunately, most translations only use LORD and so we never see this unless one reads versions which use either YHWH, Yahweh, or Jehovah. We read in Exodus 6:2-3,

BSB: ² God also told Moses, “I am the LORD. ³ I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but I did not reveal Myself to them by My name, ‘the LORD.’

NOG: ²Elohim spoke to Moses, “I am Yahweh. ³I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shadday, but I didn’t make myself known to them by my name, Yahweh.

LEB: ² And God spoke to Moses, and he said to him, “I am Yahweh. ³ And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Shaddai, but by my name Yahweh I was not known to them.

² וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֵלָ֖יו אֲנִ֥י יְהוָֽה׃ ³ וָאֵרָ֗א אֶל־אַבְרָהָ֛ם אֶל־יִצְחָ֥ק וְאֶֽל־יַעֲקֹ֖ב בְּאֵ֣ל שַׁדָּ֑י וּשְׁמִ֣י יְהוָ֔ה לֹ֥א נוֹדַ֖עְתִּי לָהֶֽם׃
WLC-T: ² waydabber elohim el-mosheh wayyomer elaiw ani yhwh ³ wa’era el-avraham el-yitschaq we’el-ya’aqov be’el shaddai ushemi yhwh lo noda’ti lahem

The one question that I had about this was, “why do we see Yahweh recorded in the Bible from Genesis onwards?” There are, of course, many theories about this. The answer that seemed most practical to me was, as Moses was recording the history of creation and the beginnings of the Israelites according to God. He proceeded to “insert” Yahweh’s name into the narrative. Essentially, it was to make the connection for the Israelites that El Shaddai, the God of their ancestors and creator of all life, is Yahweh the God of the Israelites. That Yahweh was active in that time, though He wasn’t known then as Yahweh, but El Shaddai. I think we could all agree, making such a record was probably needed on behalf of the people in order to avoid at some point them worshiping El Shaddai and Yahweh as two completely different Gods.

I believe we really shouldn’t overlook these facts on the progressive revelation of His character through the names we know Him as. We have the hindsight to see what Moses entered into the records, therefore, we shouldn’t assume Abraham called Him by the name of Yahweh. Considering, Yahweh Himself is telling us, “I didn’t make myself known to them by my name, Yahweh.”

My sense in this overall discussion is this reveals to us we should focus on the character and person, rather than the pronunciation and spelling. We should focus on are we representing His character to the world, and to our own brothers and sisters in Christ. As maybe, in fact, Yahweh’s name has already progressed into a new revelation in the present day. What are your thoughts on this? Have you ever considered this before or had you also discovered this from your own Bible research?

6.3 Who is Yahweh / Jehovah?

Depending on your background, what I am about to share might seem strange. Given all of our traditions and church history. I believe many Christians rarely come into a discussion about this. At least, I never came across it in any church I have ever attended. When I came to understand this valuable nugget of wisdom, it came to be exceptionally rewarding in connecting with Jesus and the Father on a much deeper. It also changed my perspective on the Lord, and I finally saw “Jesus all throughout the Old Testament and that He really is, the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”

The statement is this: Yahweh is not Father God. Yahweh is the son of the Most-High God.

I was taught that the LORD (YHWH) God was the Father and Jesus is the son. But through time and much review of the Old Testament, it has become apparent, this isn’t accurate. Yahweh is the son revealing to us the Father. He was, of course, the Father of the Israelites. However, on a grander scale, the LORD is, in fact, Jesus. Is that a strange statement for you to hear? Have you ever heard of this before?

Jesus is the God of the Old Testament, known first as El Shaddai, then as Yahweh, now in our present age as Yeshua/Iēsous/Jesus. The son has been revealing progressive revelation about Father God all along. How do we know this? As we know through scripture, Jesus’ Hebrew name is Yeshu’ah (יְשׁוּעָה / yĕšûʿâ / H3444). Its shows up in its various forms seventy-seven times. We read from Moses, Isaiah, and David the following,

Exodus 15:2

BSB: ² The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation [yeshua). He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.

CLV: ² Yah is my Strength and my Melody, And He became mine for salvation [yeshua]. This is my El; I shall adorn Him, Elohim of my father, I shall exalt Him.

² עָזִּ֤י וְזִמְרָת֙ יָ֔הּ וַֽיְהִי־לִ֖י לִֽישׁוּעָ֑ה זֶ֤ה אֵלִי֙ וְאַנְוֵ֔הוּ אֱלֹהֵ֥י אָבִ֖י וַאֲרֹמְמֶֽנְהוּ׃
WLC-T: ² ozzi wezimrath yah wayehi-li lishu’ah zeh eliy we’anwehu elohei avi wa’aromemenehu

Psalm 118:14

BSB: ¹⁴ The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation [Yeshua].

CLV: ¹⁴ Yah is my Strength and my Melody, And He became mine for salvation [Yeshua].

⁴¹ עָזִּ֣י וְזִמְרָ֣ת יָ֑הּ וַֽיְהִי־לִ֝֗י לִֽישׁוּעָֽה׃
WLC-T: ¹⁴ ozzi wezimrath yah wayehi-li lishu’ah

Isaiah 12:2

BSB: ² Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. For the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He also has become my salvation [Yeshua].”

CLV: ² Behold, El is my Salvation; I shall trust in Him and not be afraid, For my Strength and my Melody is Yah, Yahweh, And He became mine for salvation [Yeshua].

² הִנֵּ֨ה אֵ֧ל יְשׁוּעָתִ֛י אֶבְטַ֖ח וְלֹ֣א אֶפְחָ֑ד כִּֽי־עָזִּ֤י וְזִמְרָת֙ יָ֣הּ יְהוָ֔ה וַֽיְהִי־לִ֖י לִֽישׁוּעָֽה׃
WLC-T: ² hinneh el yeshu’athi evtach welo ephchad ki-ozzi wezimrath yah yhwh wayehi-li lishu’ah

All of this connects us much deeper to the verse of scripture in Zechariah 12:10. In this chapter Yahweh is speaking to Zechariah and says to Him,

BSB: ¹⁰ Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the residents of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns an only child, and weep bitterly for Him as one grieves a firstborn son.

KJV: ¹⁰ … and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son …

YLT: ¹⁰ … And they have looked unto Me whom they pierced, And they have mourned over it, Like a mourning over the only one, …

CLV: ¹⁰ And they will look to Him Whom they stabbed, And they will wail over Him as the wailing for an only son, …

NASB95: ¹⁰ … so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, …

⁰¹ וְשָׁפַכְתִּי֩ עַל־בֵּ֨ית דָּוִ֜יד וְעַ֣ל׀ יוֹשֵׁ֣ב יְרוּשָׁלִַ֗ם ר֤וּחַ חֵן֙ וְתַ֣חֲנוּנִ֔ים וְהִבִּ֥יטוּ אֵלַ֖י אֵ֣ת אֲשֶׁר־דָּקָ֑רוּ וְסָפְד֣וּ עָלָ֗יו כְּמִסְפֵּד֙ עַל־הַיָּחִ֔יד וְהָמֵ֥ר עָלָ֖יו כְּהָמֵ֥ר עַֽל־הַבְּכֽוֹר׃
WLC-T: ¹⁰ weshaphakhtiy al-beith dawid we’al yoshev yerushalaim ruach chen wethachanunim wehibbitu elai eth asher-daqaru wesophdu alaiw kemisped al-hayyachid wehamer alaiw kehamer al-habbekhor

When we come to learn that in fact, the son as Yahweh has become our Yeshua, we find the questions about this scripture dissipate as then we really see, it isn’t the Father saying they will look upon me, it is really, the son saying it. They will look upon me, their King and they will mourn. Jesus is truly the incarnate Yahweh. I have found this brings a level of knowing Him as He radiates the character of the Father to a whole new level.

Finally, if we consider in most English Bibles, we have Yahweh being translated as LORD. We have as well the Greek LXX translating Yahweh as Kyrios (Κύριος / G2962) and this concept carried over into the New Testament writings. It means when we confess, Jesus is Lord. We are confessing Jesus is Yahweh, as we read in Philippians 2:11 and Romans 10:9,

BSB: ^2:11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. ^10:9 that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

NTAT: ^2:11 And every tongue gladly confess that Jesus the Anointed is Lord, for the glory of God the Father. ^10:9 Because, if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and have faith in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.

BGB: ^2:11 καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσηται ὅτι ΚΥΡΙΟΣ ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ Πατρός. ^10:9 ὅτι ἐὰν ὁμολογήσῃς (τὸ ῥῆμα) ἐν τῷ στόματί σου (ὅτι) “Κύριον Ἰησοῦν, καὶ πιστεύσῃς ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς αὐτὸν ἤγειρεν ἐκ νεκρῶν, σωθήσῃ·
BGB-T: ^2:11 kai pasa glōssa exomologēsētai hoti KYRIOS IĒSOUS CHRISTOS eis doxan Theou Patros. ^10:9 hoti ean homologēsēs (to rhēma) en tō stomati sou (hoti) “Kyrion Iēsoun, kai pisteusēs en tē kardia sou hoti ho Theos auton ēgeiren ek nekrōn, sōthēsē;

6.3.1 The Meaning of the Name

As I spent time in analysis and prayer and as I learned that in the ancient language of the Hebrews, each letter has a meaning, let alone each word. With prayerful consideration, what we find is two interesting things about Jesus’ name in the Old Testament. One is by His name; the other is by the name of His law.

The simplest translation is Hands Behold! Nail Behold! The name of the son contains understanding that, in fact, He would be on the cross with nailed hands. I have seen other ways of saying this such as Hands Revealed! Nail Revealed! I find it quite clear through the illumination of the hands together with the nail that His name always pointed to one day, being on the cross.³

Dr. Stephen E. Jones has an interesting writing on the deeper meaning of the word Torah. Which is the law given by Yahweh at Mount Sinai to the Israelites. What we find is,

He writes in his booklet The Purpose of Law and Grace, the following:

The Hebrew word for law is Torah. (תּוֹרָה / tôrâ / H8451) In Hebrew it is spelled tav-vav-resh-hey. Tav literally means “a mark or sign” (of the cross). It was originally written as a cross, although the modern Hebrew letter is different, because it is actually Aramaic and was adopted from Babylon during the 70-year captivity. The vav literally means “a nail or peg.” The resh literally means “a head, or leader.” The hey, when positioned at the end of a word, means “what comes from.” Hence, the Hebrew word, Torah, literally means “what comes from the Leader nailed to the Cross.” In other words, the Lawgiver was Jesus Christ, the Leader who was nailed to the Cross.⁴

Now isn’t that an interesting thought, that within the word of Torah, we actually see who the law giver is.

6.3.2 The Inspiration of Kyrios and Iēsous

I spent some time reviewing all of the words of Jesus that were outside of quoted Old Testament scriptures. What I found was, in fact, Jesus never reveals an actual name of the Father. Never! The Father is only called “Abba or Father or Father God, or God.” I find this remarkable. For me personally, I believe for all who are hung up on the name of God in the Old Testament, it is extremely interesting to find, Jesus never actually speaks out a personal name of the Father.

In the quotes of the Old Testament, we read recorded “The Lord” as they are from the Greek LXX. Do we know for certain, however, what He vocally spoke out? Did He say YHWH? Or HaShem? Or Adonai? Or the Kyrios? We just can’t know this, and in fact, to state otherwise it really is just speculation. The one thing we can know for certain is—the writers referenced the Greek LXX of their day. In these scriptures, it was recorded Kyrios.

Could there possibly be a more profound reason for this?

There is a small booklet from A.E. Knoch called Jehovah: Ieue the Incommunicable Name. I think this man was on to something relevant regarding the name of God and the New Testament. He writes in his book:

The question has often been asked, why the Name [here he is talking about Jehovah / Yahweh] itself never appears in the Greek scriptures. (pg 10) …

It is evident, therefore, that the use of the Incommunicable Name was quite out of the question in the days when the Greek Scriptures were written. Yet we cannot think that even this human failing was contrary to the divine intention. There must be a deeper reason why the common use of the Name, as found in the Hebrew Scriptures was not continued in Greek. This is, we believe, indicated right at the beginning, where we are told that our Lord was Named JESUS, because He should save His people from their sins. (pg. 11) …

It insists that Jesus is the Jehovah in Whom salvation is. So that, as a matter of fact, the name of Jehovah occurs every time that we find the person’s name of our Lord. (pg. 11) …

Once we see that “Jesus” is a glorified form of Jehovah, adapted to the new revelation, we will no longer wonder why the Incommunicable Name has almost disappeared from God’s later revelation. It occurs about a thousand times in the personal name of our Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus. (pg 12)⁵

When I read this short booklet, I found myself completely overwhelmed with joy. What a profound statement. It is such an amazing statement, isn’t it? I have often read statements that look at the removal of the name YHWH, Yahweh, or Jehovah from the texts as being a corruption of some sort. However, what if it was of a divine inspiration by Jesus Himself, through the Holy Spirit, to move us out of the old revelation of Him being Yahweh, and into the new revelation of Him being Christ Jesus. He is no longer “Hands Behold, Nail Behold,” He is now “Our Salvation.” It is similar to how He moved away from being known as El Shaddai with His people to being known as Yahweh Elohim.

In the four points that follow, they might not fully make sense at the moment. However, I will clarify it further in later chapters. For now, I wanted to present a basis for a potential understanding about the Father through His son over the ages.

The Patriarchal Age: The son known as El Shaddai.
The Church (ecclesia) (in the Wilderness (Israelites) Age: The son known as Yahweh Elohim.
The Church (ecclesia) (Wilderness + Nations) Age: The son known as Christ Jesus or one’s own language. As we do have nations with many languages all designed this way by Father God and Lord Jesus.
The Kingdom Age (people coming from the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd ages above): The son known by a New Name.

Now I would like to make a specific statement about the name of ιησους in Greek. Often it is said that this has connections to the Greek God Zeus, and it is “an uninspired name.” The statement is we should ONLY say Yeshua because that is His Hebrew name.

First, I find this a disturbing statement. It is as if someone is saying that the inspired word of God lead by the Holy Spirit was not inspired when the Holy Spirit inspired ιησους to represent Yeshua’s Hebrew name. I wonder, might this be a blaspheming the Holy Spirit? It is an interesting thought, don’t you think?

Second, for all who have learned anything about Greek, one will have learned that every Greek letter is also has a numeric value. Similarly with Hebrew. The website Living Greek NT from Australia has the entire Bible online with its numeric values per word and per verse. The author John has here and there little tidbits of information which are fascinating to read. One of these tidbits is the following,

Every letter of the Greek alphabet has a numeric value. ιησους holds a value of 888. The first chapter of the Bible (Genesis 1) has 434 words in the original Hebrew text. The last chapter of the Bible (Revelation 22) has 454 words in the original Greek text. This added up is 434 + 454 = 888.

Jesus said: “I am the First and the Last” (Rev 1:17, 22:13). 888 words are in the first and last chapters of the Bible. Numeric value of His name 888. And the Bible says that JESUS is the Word (John 1:1).⁶

Do you think that is all coincidence? Certainly not! In fact, Dr. Ivan Panin (AD 1855–1942) was a Russian physicist that emigrated to Canada and used mathematics and science to prove the divine nature of scripture. He spent 51 years of his life producing research which reveals the exceptional works of God through Bible numerics.

Finally, if we consider Jesus to be a personal God. It is clear He has created the nations and their languages. He calls us to “disciple nations,” and nations are made up of a multitude of languages. We should honor this and certainly never force or condemn one another because of these differences. It may be my opinion, but I find with the study of the numerics of the Bible, it fully debunks any statement that demands we only say Yeshua and claims Iēsous (ιησους) is uninspired.

In my book Upgrading Earth, I have written more in depth about this in Appendix 1, which summarizes twelve key points which clearly reveal Jesus is Yahweh. In case you are interested in learning about this further, I invite you to take a read.⁷

What are your thoughts on all of this? Is this all something new that you have never heard before? Have you ever considered this yourself?

6.3.3 A Name Known Forever, or for the Age

Having shared now all that you have just read. I thought it relevant to touch on one specific last thought about the son of God and His name. In this case, as to if the Lord would be known forever by this name. Is there something maybe deeper we should consider in the text which could have us think otherwise? Let’s go back now to the original introduction, as found in Exodus 3:14-15:

BSB: ¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” ¹⁵ God also told Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the 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 how I am to be remembered in every generation.

Yes, very interesting indeed. As we read in the BSB, it seems this is true. He confirms “from now and forever, we should know Him as “I AM WHO I AM.” I have heard it said as well, this also applies to the name Yahweh. So, should we really accept this as a plain statement as we read it across all Bible translations? If He was first only known as El Shaddai, couldn’t it also be the same with His name Yahweh? Here is now a consideration for you which links us back to chapter 4, on olam and aiōnios. Let’s look at the WLC and LXX:

⁴¹ וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה וַיֹּ֗אמֶר כֹּ֤ה תֹאמַר֙ לִבְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה שְׁלָחַ֥נִי אֲלֵיכֶֽם׃ ⁵¹ וַיֹּאמֶר֩ ע֨וֹד אֱלֹהִ֜ים אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה כֹּֽה־תֹאמַר֮ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵל֒ יְהוָ֞ה אֱלֹהֵ֣י אֲבֹתֵיכֶ֗ם אֱלֹהֵ֨י אַבְרָהָ֜ם אֱלֹהֵ֥י יִצְחָ֛ק וֵאלֹהֵ֥י יַעֲקֹ֖ב שְׁלָחַ֣נִי אֲלֵיכֶ֑ם זֶה־שְּׁמִ֣י לְעֹלָ֔ם וְזֶ֥ה זִכְרִ֖י
WLC-T: ¹⁴ wayyomer elohim el-mosheh eheyeh asher eheyeh wayyomer koh thomar livnei yisra’el eheyeh shelachani aleikhem ¹⁵ wayyomer od elohim el-mosheh koh-thomar el-benei yisra’el yhwh elohei avotheikhem elohei avraham elohei yitschaq welohei ya’aqov shelachani aleikhem zeh-shshemi le’olam wezeh zikhri

LXX: ¹⁴ καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεὸς πρὸς Μωυσῆν Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν· καὶ εἶπεν Οὕτως ἐρεῖς τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ Ὁ ὢν ἀπέσταλκέν με πρὸς ὑμᾶς. ¹⁵ καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεὸς πάλιν πρὸς Μωυσῆν Οὕτως ἐρεῖς τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ Κύριος ὁ θεὸς τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν, θεὸς Αβρααμ καὶ θεὸς Ισαακ καὶ θεὸς Ιακωβ, ἀπέσταλκέν με πρὸς ὑμᾶς· τοῦτό μού ἐστιν ὄνομα αἰώνιον καὶ μνημόσυνον γενεῶν γενεαῖς.
LXX-T: ¹⁴ kai eipen ho theos pros Mōusēn Egō eimi ho ōn; kai eipen Houtōs ereis tois huiois Israēl HO ōn apestalken me pros hymas. ¹⁵ kai eipen ho theos palin pros Mōusēn Houtōs ereis tois huiois Israēl Kyrios ho theos tōn paterōn hymōn, theos Abraam kai theos Isaak kai theos Iakōb, apestalken me pros hymas; touto mou estin onoma aiōnion kai mnēmosynon geneōn geneais.

As we see here, in the Hebrew and Greek, we have clearly recorded le’olam (לְעֹלָ֔ם) and aiōnion (αἰώνιον). Given all we have learned about the word battle taking place over these words in chapter 4, how should we accept the translation? If we now review the scripture in the CLV, YLT, and EBR, we can certainly ask ourselves, maybe the Lord was not saying it would be eternally His name. Maybe it was also only to be for an age. Now let’s look at the literal translations,

CLV: ¹⁴ Then Elohim spoke to Moses: I shall come to be just as I am coming to be. And He said: Thus shall you say to the sons of Israel, I-Shall-Come-to-Be, He has sent me to you. ¹⁵ And Elohim said further to Moses: Thus shall you say to the sons of Israel, Yahweh, the Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac and the Elohim of Jacob, He has sent me to you. This is My Name for the eon, And this the Remembrance of Me for generation after generation.

YLT: ¹⁴ And God saith unto Moses, ‘I AM THAT WHICH I AM;’ He saith also, ‘Thus dost thou say to the sons of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.’¹⁵ And God saith again unto Moses, ‘Thus dost thou say unto the sons of Israel, Jehovah, God of your fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you; this [is] My name–to the age, and this My memorial, to generation–generation.

EBR: ¹⁴ And God said unto Moses, I Will Become whatsoever I please, And he said—Thus, shalt thou say to the sons of Israel, I Will Become hath sent me unto you. ¹⁵ And God said yet further unto Moses—Thus shalt thou say unto the sons of Israel, Yahweh God of your fathers. God of Abraham God of Isaac and God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you. This, is my name to times age-abiding, And, this, my memorial to generation after generation.

As I came to learn that aiōnios and olam are part of these scriptures. I have found that this really helped to understand that maybe we were only getting one level of revelation of His name. After all, olam occurs 438 times in the Old Testament and in so many cases, it is used of things which clearly never lasted forever. One such being the Levitical priesthood. Could it be Jesus as Yahweh knew His name should never be fixed. Naturally we will remember it through every generation, but maybe it was never meant to be the eternal name.

6.4 Who is Father God?

When I wrote the first edition of Upgrading Earth, I made a statement which I have to say, I thoroughly researched and prayed about before daring to write. That was:

I will make my own very bold statement based on all my analysis. This is that, in fact, “In the old blueprint plan known as the Old Testament, Abba Father is not found singularly referenced directly at all.” Not at all.

I would revise that statement today and in any future editions. The big question now is, if Yahweh is the son of God in Spirit, and Jesus is the son of God incarnate as flesh and blood, now vivified as the new creation man in flesh and bones. Who is the father? Does He have a name?

We learned in the last section that in fact, Jesus never spoke out a personal name of the Father. We read recorded by the apostle John Jesus saying, “I have revealed Your name to those You have given Me out of the world. (John 17:6a)” I was praying about this and asking Jesus and the Father about this. “Father, Jesus only calls you ‘Father, Abba or God’ He seems never to call you by an individual personal name? I’m confused?”

Therefore, in this first edition of the study, I can only say after deep analysis and prayer, I find no evidence of a personal name of the Father being spoken. Unless … lets change the meaning a bit to this statement of Jesus “I have revealed Your character to those You have given Me out of the world. (John 17:6a)” Now this could be much more plausible, don’t you think? Here, all the names used in the Old and New Testaments reveal the character of Father God. Yet, there is no individual personal name spoken. It is now in Jesus the character of the Father is revealed.

6.4.1 The Father is El Elyon

I realized in my curiosity and desire to seek some understanding of this all. I found in our state of mortality today, God is far more complex and magnificent than we could ever imagine. It leaves me speechless. I find my current understanding being a shadow of what we can really know. Currently, what I see is formally when we speak about our amazing Father God, He is holding the title in Hebrew as le’el elyon (לְאֵ֥ל עֶלְיֽוֹן). In Greek it is tou theou tou hypsistou (τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου) which means in its most literal sense, “The God The Highest.”

What we find is elyon (עֶלְיֹון / ʿelyôn / H5945) shows up fifty-three times in Hebrew. In the Greek LXX hypsistos (ὕψιστος / g5310) shows up seventy-two times and in the New Testament thirteen times. As stand-alone words, these just mean high, highest, or upper. It is only when we look at each individual case that we can discover what is being referenced. In the fullness of thirty cases, somehow highest (most high) is referencing Diety and of these, seven occurrences are to Yahweh Highest and two are Elohim Highest.

I share this because it really surprised me. In all fifty-three cases, only six references occur across the entire Old Testament where we have le’el elyon or tou theou tou hypsistou. This is the fullness of the Fathers title. “The God The Highest!” The pronouns before elyon and hypistos are very important to consider in highlighting titles or names as Hebrew and Greek scholars note.

So why do I think this is all relevant?

Well, I found it interesting, because these all occur only around the story of Abraham and Melchizedek. We learn Melchizedek was a priest to The Most-High God (The God The Highest). The apostle Paul calls this in Hebrews 5:6 “the order of Melchizedek.” We read about him in Genesis 14:18:

BSB: ¹⁸ Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine—since he was priest of God Most High—

NOG: ¹⁸Then King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of El Elyon.

⁸¹ וּמַלְכִּי־צֶ֙דֶק֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ שָׁלֵ֔ם הוֹצִ֖יא לֶ֣חֶם וָיָ֑יִן וְה֥וּא כֹהֵ֖ן לְאֵ֥ל עֶלְיֽוֹן׃
WLC-T: ¹⁸ umalki-tsedeq melekh shalem hotsi lechem wayayin wehu khohen le’el elyon.

LXX: ¹⁸ καὶ Μελχισεδεκ βασιλεὺς Σαλημ ἐξήνεγκεν ἄρτους καὶ οἶνον· ἦν δὲ ἱερεὺς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου.
LXX-T: ¹⁸ kai Melchisedek basileus Salēm exēnenken artous kai oinon; ēn de hiereus tou theou tou hypsistou.

Paul continues in Hebrews 5:10, saying now Jesus was “designated by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek.” The way I have now come to understand this is, in fact, there were two priesthoods. First was the highest priesthood this is the order of Melchizedek which served the Father directly. What this looks like on a cosmic scale, who knows? The second priesthood that came 430 years later was the Aaronic priesthood, and it was focused on serving Yahweh directly. It was focused on the Lord bringing the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth through Jacob-Israel along with all of the kingdom laws. I will speak a bit about this further in section 6.6. The ceremonial laws of the Aaronic priesthood laid the foundation for Yahweh Himself to enter His creation in bodily form and bring about the next progressive revelation of the Father as Yeshua/Iēsous, in order to bring full atonement for the sin-debts of humanity.

Therefore, from the day of Jesus’s legal death, which was the day He was baptized, the Aaronic priesthood has been terminated. It will never return again. The Aaronic priesthood was connected to the law being mediated through Moses. It was part of the old covenant and was carnal and fleshly. Now we have the new covenant according to the Melchizedek priesthood connected to the law being mediated by Christ Jesus. The Melchizedek priesthood is the only official priesthood recognized by Father God today. By the power of Jesus and the cross, we get to become king-priest-saints to Jesus our God, and the Father, who is The Most-High God! We get to govern with Jesus through using the laws of the kingdom, a law that perfectly represents the character of Father God and our Lord.

6.4.2 The Two Yahweh’s Consideration

There is a book written by a Rabbinical scholar named Alan Segal. It is called The Two Powers in Heaven. He reveals Israelite culture actually had this belief that God was of “Two Powers.” He shows that with the advent of Christianity, this idea came to be banned and called heresy by the Judean’s circa AD 100. Reasons for this, as Dr. Heiser states, is such a belief would clearly have given too much credence to Christians.⁸ I have found the idea interesting given the culture of the time was often to pass down names to the sons. A father and son would often have the same name. We have this even in our modern-day taking place. Therefore, it could be plausible that Yahweh was the name of the son but as well the name of the Father.

It seems, in fact, that this is the position Dr. Heiser holds. He really emphasizes this in his book The Unseen Realm – Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible.⁹ It is an excellent book and has been extremely valuable to me. It is clear, given his deep knowledge of the Old Testament, he holds to this “Two Powers” perspective. This being the Father and Son through the Old Testament were both known as Yahweh. We have the unseen Yahweh being the Father in Heaven, and then the seen Yahweh revealing Himself and interacting with humanity. This seen Yahweh became incarnate and died on the cross, now known to us as Christ Jesus. Once again, this is deeply plausible, especially when we read the very important statements Jesus makes about the Father. They are found in John 1:18, 6:46, Matthew 11:27 and Luke 10:22 which echo His words in John 5:37,

BSB: ³⁷ And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified about Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form,

NTAT: ³⁷ And, the Father having sent me, that one has testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice or seen his form,

BGB: ³⁷ καὶ ὁ πέμψας με Πατὴρ, ἐκεῖνος μεμαρτύρηκεν περὶ ἐμοῦ. οὔτε φωνὴν αὐτοῦ πώποτε ἀκηκόατε οὔτε εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἑωράκατε,
BGB-T: ³⁷ kai ho pempsas me Patēr, ekeinos memartyrēken peri emou. oute phōnēn autou pōpote akēkoate oute eidos autou heōrakate,

This statement from Jesus is a very difficult when we realize Yahweh in the Old Testament certainly was “seen and heard.” Therefore, Jesus’ statement certainly is better understood when seen through the “two Yahweh’s perspective.” As then it is true, nobody has seen the form of the Father or heard His voice. What strikes me deep here with Jesus’ words are, if in fact Yahweh alone is the Father, then Jesus is telling us a lie. As the historic writings in the Old Testament can’t be denied, there was a very present, and very vocal Yahweh speaking and interacting with His people.

Having shared all of this, the challenge I see with the “two powers” line of reasoning is, first, the name of Yahweh was not even revealed for the first 2,500 years to humanity. I really think we can’t overlook this. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob didn’t know the Lord by the name of Yahweh. Second is the deeper meaning behind the Torah, the name Yahweh and Yeshua/Iēsous, along with understanding in the coming kingdom age, Jesus will have a new name. This includes the fact, not one New Testament writer makes a whisper of the name Yahweh in their writings. If it were so important for us to continue to use it, we would surely find a hint of it somewhere in Greek? Finally, we are told with certainty, it is only in the “name of Yeshua/Iēsous/Jesus/or one’s native language of His name” we are to be saved.

All throughout the Bible we see the importance of names. We see how El Shaddai-Yahweh-Yeshua/Iēsous changes the name of someone to reflect their calling or change in character. Similar to Abram receiving a new name of Abraham, Sarai receiving a new name of Sarah, Jacob receiving a new name Israel. Simon receiving a new name Peter. Saul receiving a new name Paul etc, etc. Why wouldn’t Father God do this same thing with His own son’s name?

If we consider the progress of revelation of the Father, through His son. We have El Shaddai as the first revelation, we have Yahweh as the second, in our time we have the third as Iēsous, and in the coming age, a fourth revelation in a name we have yet to learn. We can only imagine in the ages to come what other kinds of revelation we will receive. It seems implausible then that the Father would have one fixed personal name. To me, it seems clear, all of the names represent visions to humanity of “His character” as revealed through His son throughout the ages.

Given the realm of the spirit has no time. Maybe it is remarkably simple. Abba Father, in one’s own native language, is a timeless name and could be true of any generation, past, present, or future. And the son is revealing in our space and time the many facets of our Abba through the names He takes on?

I find it brings about an even deeper intimacy with Abba, because if I look at my own life and my natural father. I never ever call him by his personal name. In fact, as his son, I never even call him Father, he is Dad for me and that is the greatest name of all.

All of this that I write here and share has changed the way I pray and speak. I changed my relationship to Abba Father and Jesus. Sometimes I will use Lord when speaking with Jesus as that is who He is to me at that point in time, my Lord. Sometimes He is my King, other times He is Jesus (my Savior). However, of the Father, He is only my Abba Father.

Finally, there is one last point to make on revealing that Yahweh is the son of the Most High who is one with the Father and revealing the Father over the ages. I will touch on this in section 6.7. Which I hope you will find also very interesting.

So … what is your opinion? What are your thoughts on this? Do you think the perspective I share has any relevance? Whether you are a great scholar, theologian, or part of Christian Middle Earth, if you consider these things what kind of impact does it have on your heart?

6.5 The Law of Moses or the Law of Christ

In this chapter, we have been reviewing all that has been revealed about the name of our lawgiver. I believe now is a relevant time to bring into the study a brief overview of the law itself. This is an area in which I can say I grew up being told one thing, then another, then another, and it just ended up in complete confusion. This is because “the bigger picture” of the fullness of the Kingdom of God and His plan for humanity and the cosmos was absent. Or rather, I could say, simply removed from the topic.

We have so many conflicting views today in Christianity, so I can’t speak for what you have learned. I can only share from my experience. As I was raised in Christianity, I was only ever taught “get saved, and one day you will go to Heaven.” What happens after this? Well, we will figure it out then when Jesus returns. Sermons and preaching focused on just getting to Heaven and, well, the greater understanding of the developments of the Kingdom of God over the ages was glossed over. Therefore, from my upbringing towards reaching 40 years old, it was, “what point is there of having knowledge of any sort of law” beyond knowing God gave something to Moses a long time ago to this Israelite Kingdom.

What I now understand is, the Israelite Kingdom was only the first phase of building a nation of king-priest-saints to govern with King Jesus in the ages to come. This is part of the divine council world view.

Mostly, Christians are taught depending on one’s denomination that the “law was discarded and put away.” That it was nailed to the cross. We will look at what exactly was nailed to the cross in the next chapter. What we need to be certain with is, it wasn’t done away with. We can’t overlook the fact Jesus affirmed the law (Matthew 5:17-19) and Paul confirms we established it. Making it clear “the law justifies nobody.” I have often found that there is a gross misapplication in understanding what we believe “fulfilling the law” means. For something to be fulfilled, doesn’t mean it is done away with. It means that the requirements as demanded by the law have been fulfilled.

A simple example of this is in our own nations. If I commit a crime in Austria. Say I steal a car. Well, let’s say the law says have to spend five years in prison as it is grand theft Larson. So, the judge convicts me, I spend five years “under the law.” When the five years are up, I come out of jail, and I am now “no longer under the law” and I have “fulfilled the law.” It doesn’t mean now that I have suddenly done away with the laws of Austria. Certainly not! Austria still has laws I still need to abide by. If I commit another crime, I then come back “under the law.”

Our key to understanding needs to be in looking at the bigger picture. We miss this if we just think “oh, get saved, go to Heaven.” The fullness of the Kingdom of God and the coming Kingdom of Heaven on Earth requires just and righteous governance for the entire universe. Have Father God and the Lord Jesus done away with Their laws? Certainly not!

Therefore, what has taken place is the following, as I have now come to understand it. Jesus as Yahweh came down on Mount Sinai in a pillar of fire and gave to the Israelites the laws, which made up the entire foundation of the Kingdom of God. Yahweh gave these laws to Moses, as he was at the time the mediator of them with Aaron to the Israelites. Hence, they are called the law of Moses. The age of the Israelites was as well a first level manifestation of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. They were to be a kingdom already at that time of king-priest-saints. In Exodus 19:5-6, The Lord speaks to Moses the following “Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine. And unto Me you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites.”

Dr. Stephen E. Jones writes it this way, which I found extremely helpful:

The book of Hebrews spends much time differentiating between the two covenants and the manner in which the law applied to each. There were many changes that occurred in the forms of the law, but none of these changes put away the law itself. Both covenants involved the law.

The difference is that the Old Covenant wrote the law externally on stone tablets, copper plates, and paper. The New Covenant writes the law in our hearts. The Old Covenant imposes the law upon our unwilling flesh—the old man. The New Covenant creates a new man whose nature already aligns with the law of God and the mind of Christ.

The form of the law changed insofar as it deals with our justification, even as we have been given a new order of priesthood—the Melchizedek Order. The Old Covenant is based on man’s vow to God; the New Covenant is based on God’s vow or promise to man.¹⁰

In October 2018, I had an encounter with the finger of God writing the law on my heart. I will share more about this in chapter 10. It is truly the Bible being lived out in its fullness.

With Jesus physically in the world, the law of Moses “returned to the hands of the law giver.” Transferring the laws mediated by Moses back into the hands of Jesus. Thereby, becoming “the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).” Jesus has now taken over the mediation of the law directly. The Old Covenant was the law of Moses and the Aaronic Priesthood. The New Covenant is now the law of Christ and the Melchizedek Priesthood. With this work, Jesus then brought us into the next age and manifestation of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Now, I know at this moment in time it doesn’t seem quite complete. It is true, it isn’t complete. As we read in Hebrews 2:8, “When God subjected all things to him, He left nothing outside of his control. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him.”

During this current age of the Ecclesia of Christ, we are to view these laws through New Covenant eyes. We are to interpret and work with them through “the Spirit behind the law and the Mind of Christ.” Hence, we learn through the sermon on the mount that Jesus now is expounding on the law and how it is to be seen through the Spirit and no longer the letter. Though of course, the law needs to be written as otherwise, how would one study it and seek the Holy Spirit on understanding it. The law of Christ, formerly known as the law of Moses, forms the foundation of Kingdom Law. It is far greater than just some Hebrews who no longer have a kingdom. This is and has always been, global. Or as Dr. Heiser so aptly states, part of the original Edenic vision.

Therefore, this is why I can declare that it really is the law of Christ that decrees the salvation, reconciliation, and restoration of all things!

When someone teaches the law was only for the Israelite kingdom and has now been done away with, I am certain they are overlooking the greater understanding of the various kingdom ages. The Israelite nation was only the first age of Christ’s Ecclesia, we are now in the second age, and we stand on the cusp of the third age of His Ecclesia.

I find it incredibly amazing, yet also so sad that the body of Christ has been told for so long that the law is done away with. When I saw all of this in this way, my life really changed. As well, my grasp of the character and plans of Father God and Lord Jesus kicked off a new level of understanding. We can say the law is spiritual and yet so much more than this. The apostle Paul confirms this when we look at the bigger picture of all of his writing. He states in Romans 7:14a:

BSB: ^14a We know that the law is spiritual;

BGB: ^14a Οἴδαμεν γὰρ ὅτι ὁ νόμος πνευματικός ἐστιν·
BGB-T: ^14a Oidamen gar hoti ho nomos pneumatikos estin;

We also know that the law is good and has a purpose. Of course, the law in the hands of our perfect King is also even more powerful than in the hands of Moses. The apostle goes on to say in 1 Timothy 1:8-9:

BSB: ⁸ Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. ^9a We realize that law is not enacted for the righteous, but for the lawless and rebellious for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for killers of father or mother, for murderers,

NTAT: ⁸ Now we know that the Law is good, if one use it lawfully, ⁹ And we know this: that Law is laid down not for an upright person, but for the lawless and disorderly for the impious and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for parricides and matricides, for killers of men,

BGB: ⁸ Οἴδαμεν δὲ ὅτι καλὸς ὁ νόμος, ἐάν τις αὐτῷ νομίμως χρῆται, ⁹ εἰδὼς τοῦτο, ὅτι δικαίῳ νόμος οὐ κεῖται, ἀνόμοις δὲ καὶ ἀνυποτάκτοις, ἀσεβέσι καὶ ἁμαρτωλοῖς, ἀνοσίοις καὶ βεβήλοις, πατρολῴαις καὶ μητρολῴαις, ἀνδροφόνοις,
BGB-T: ⁸ Oidamen de hoti kalos ho nomos, ean tis autō nomimōs chrētai, ⁹ eidōs touto, hoti dikaiō nomos ou keitai, anomois de kai anypotaktois, asebesi kai hamartōlois, anosiois kai bebēlois, patrolōais kai mētrolōais, androphonois,

For us to govern the kingdom of Heaven on Earth with Christ, we need to have a basic understanding of the law of Christ. We have to learn how to judge according to the mind of Christ. We find all of this in the books that Moses authored for the first stage of the plan.

I found an interesting statement coming from Dr. Edward D. Andrews in one of his blogs on this topic. He is the lead translator of the Updated American Standard Version Bible translation. The little nugget I took from it was as follows,

… even though we are not bound by that law, it should be studied meticulously, because the principles behind those laws are God’s moral code. Therefore, these are precious to our knowing the mind and heart of God, i.e., how he feels, thinks, and believes about things, and they will serve us well in making our life decisions. Every verse of the Bible has meaning for us today, in some way; there is a lesson to be learned.¹¹

Further, in the book After Capitalism: Rethinking Economic Relationships, Paul Mills and Michael Schluter speak this way about the Old Testament laws:

The role of Law in part is to provide teaching on how to establish an institutional framework conductive to sustaining right relationships and ‘love.’ … In the biblical account right relationships are characterized by justice, mercy, faithfulness, forgiveness, truth, generosity, compassion, respect, hope, patience, and love. … To achieve right relationships, the biblical emphasis is on putting things right between the offender and the victim, and the offender and society, rather than on inflicting retribution for its own sake.¹²

I find these statements powerful in bringing forth the idea of just and righteous government. I want to ask you then to keep this in mind as we progress through this study. Kingdoms and nations need to be governed by laws, and those laws are civil and social. The law of Moses is now the most amazing law of Christ. It forms the foundation for the Kingdom of Heaven and Kingdom of God. It encompasses The fullness of their character and heart for Their creation.

6.6 Who Is Judge of the World?

I want to touch on one final point which, for me, stood out in revealing the Lord in the Old Testament is Jesus. I have found it fascinating that as I grow in reading the Old Testament and knowing the scriptures and the stories. There are recordings here and there which tend to stand out and perk up my ears and it creates questions. They stand out as uniquely odd only when better understanding of the Old Testament. One of these is recorded in John 5:22. Jesus says:

BSB: ²² Furthermore, the Father judges no one, but has assigned all judgment to the Son,

NASB95: ²² For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,

NTAT: ²² For the Father does not judge anyone, but has given the judgment of all to the Son,

BGB: ²² οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ Πατὴρ κρίνει οὐδένα, ἀλλὰ τὴν κρίσιν πᾶσαν δέδωκεν τῷ Υἱῷ,
BGB-T: ²² oude gar ho Patēr krinei oudena, alla tēn krisin pasan dedōken tō Huiō,

Echoes of this come through John 5:27, “And He has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.” As well in John 9:39, “Then Jesus declared, ‘For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind.’” And also, in Acts 10:42, “And He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the One appointed by God to judge the living and the dead.”

At first, it might not strike someone that this is an odd statement. If you haven’t considered all that is written through the Old Testament about how “Yahweh is the judge of the cosmos.” Some of these, as we can see here, are as follows:

1 Chronicles 16:33:

BSB: ³³ Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the LORD, for He is coming to judge the earth.

CLV: ³³ Then the trees of the wildwood shall be jubilant Because of the presence of Yahweh. For He comes to judge the earth.

³³ אָ֥ז יְרַנְּנ֖וּ עֲצֵ֣י הַיָּ֑עַר מִלִּפְנֵ֣י יְהוָ֔ה כִּי־בָ֖א לִשְׁפּ֥וֹט אֶת־הָאָֽרֶץ׃
WLC-T: ³³ az yerannenu atsei hayya’ar milliphnei yhwh ki-va lishpot eth-ha’arets

LXX: ³³ τότε εὐφρανθήσεται τὰ ξύλα τοῦ δρυμοῦ ἀπὸ προσώπου κυρίου, ὅτι ἦλθεν κρῖναι τὴν γῆν.
LXX-T: ³³ tote euphranthēsetai ta xyla tou drymou apo prosōpou kyriou, hoti ēlthen krinai tēn gēn.

Psalms 96:13

BSB: ¹³ before the LORD, for He is coming—He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness.

CLV: ¹³ Before Yahweh, for He comes; For He comes to judge the earth; He shall judge the habitance in righteousness, And the peoples in His truth.

³¹ לִפְנֵ֤י יְהוָ֨ה׀ כִּ֬י בָ֗א כִּ֥י בָא֮ לִשְׁפֹּ֪ט הָ֫אָ֥רֶץ יִשְׁפֹּֽט־תֵּבֵ֥ל בְּצֶ֑דֶק וְ֝עַמִּ֗ים בֶּאֱמוּנָתֽוֹ׃
WLC-T: ¹³ liphnei yhwh ki va ki va’ lishpot ha’arets yishpot-tevel betsedeq we’ammim be’emunatho

LXX: ¹³ πρὸ προσώπου κυρίου, ὅτι ἔρχεται, ὅτι ἔρχεται κρῖναι τὴν γῆν· κρινεῖ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ λαοὺς ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ αὐτοῦ.
LXX-T: ¹³ pro prosōpou kyriou, hoti erchetai, hoti erchetai krinai tēn gēn; krinei tēn oikoumenēn en dikaiosynē kai laous en tē alētheia autou.

Some of my other favorites are Psalms 97:7 “But, Yahweh, unto times age-abiding, will sit, Ready for judgment, is his throne; (EBR)” Then we have Isaiah 3:13-14a, “Yahweh takes his stand to conduct a legal case and takes his stand to judge the peoples. Yahweh enters into judgment with the elders of his people and its princes. (LEB)” There is, of course, a plethora of other scriptures that point to Yahweh being judge of the cosmos. So how should we understand the words of Jesus when He says the Father judges no one, it is all for the son?

Overall, I know maybe I am trying to make this simpler than it is. However, I personally find it relevant. I find the interrelationship between Father and Son really far more complex and grand than I could ever even imagine. Considering all of this, when Jesus says of the Father, “You have never heard His voice nor seen His form” and as well, “the Father judges no one, but has assigned all judgment to the Son.” Such sayings can only be truthful coming from Jesus, when seen either through the perspective I have shared in this chapter. That being “Le’El Elyon is the Father and El Shaddai-Yahweh-Yeshua/Iēsous is the son” or through “the two powers perspective.” I believe, if Yahweh alone is the Father, then I really see some deep disconnects with the things Jesus reveals.

Possibly, we could be like Moses and now backfill the Old Testament stories with wherever we see Yahweh written, we fill in Jesus. Can you imagine what that would do to us seeing and going deeper into understanding the character of our King and how He reveals the Father to us. I find it a fascinating thought.

What are your thoughts now on this all?

6.7 Conclusions

For me, it was a life-changing event to have my understanding of the Godhead get somewhat adjusted in its understanding. The Godhead always existed in the Son, revealing the Father to humanity over the ages. Jesus, as we know Him today, was always working with the Father. El Shaddai-Yahweh-Iēsous is the Father’s double witness according to the Kingdom Laws when it comes to creation. This opened up really seeing Jesus across the entire Old Testament. It tore down the notion that somehow the NT God saved me from the OT God’s wrath. For me it has been established now, “He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.”

It was Lord Jesus who came down in a pillar of fire on Mount Sinai as Yahweh and gave the law to the Israelites. Learning that Yahweh is Jesus, the great I AM, takes a bit of getting used to. I can honestly say it is still sinking in. In fact, it is the hardest to wrap my head around when I read the book of Hebrews in the New Testament. When I read this, it seems clear the apostle Paul, when He speaks about God, speaks as though the God of the Old Testament is the Father. Yet even then, as they are one in essence, this is true. Therefore, in the Old Testament, through Yahweh, we see the heart of the Father. It was the Most-High Father God who was also revealed to the Israelites through His Son. The Father was certainly always part of the divine council. Yet, all judgment has always been given to His son.

It seems the more I learn, the more I realize my carnal mind just can’t comprehend truly how big Father God and Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit are. That I can have a personal relationship with them and really know them is amazing. Oh, how I love growing to know them better.

What I now find with this deeper understanding is I no longer see the gospels as the only way to know Jesus. I see the entire Bible as the way to know Him. With this, what follows is we begin to learn how He governs and can consider this in our training, for the day we will govern with Him.

My invite to you is to humbly take this to the Father and Jesus in prayer. Ask them to speak to you further about what this means for you. I know there is a certain level of personal revelation we all need in order to consider what I wrote in this chapter. If in case, one has never considered such things. I only invite you to test it. In the overall plan of the restoration of all things, I have found everything in this chapter extremely relevant. If we consider these things and shift our understanding a bit of the Godhead, I believe it helps us to better understand the one managing the law and its judgments, and the aim of the restoration of all things through it.

Chapter 6: The Name of the Law Giver

Chapter Sections

6.1 The Current Debate on the Name

6.2 As He Was First Known in History

6.3 Who is Yahweh / Jehovah?

6.3.1 The Meaning of the Name

6.3.2 The Inspiration of Kyrios and Iēsous

6.3.3 A Name Known Forever, or for the Age

6.4 Who is Father God?

6.4.1 The Father is El Elyon

6.4.2 The Two Yahweh’s Consideration

6.5 The Law of Moses or the Law of Christ

6.6 Who Is Judge of the World?

6.7 Conclusions