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Yahweh Is Salvation

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The following is adapted from the Blue Letter Bible Institute class Christology. To take this class, or to view others, please visit us here.

The name Jesus comes the Hebrew name Yehoshua which simply means “Yahweh is salvation,” and it was given to Christ at His birth. Well, then what was the eternal Son’s name previous? In the Old Testament, Isaiah says that His name is Wonderful. But the Hebrew word Wonderful, means “difficult to understand” or “incomprehensible”. So what are we talking about when we discuss the preexistence of Jesus Christ? We are talking about someone who has not yet received His name—Yehoshua—and whose name is beyond our ability to understand.

Why is His name beyond our ability to understand? Now if you need to know the what is meant by the name Wonderful, you can check Psalm 139:1-6, where it speaks of God’s knowledge being so great that before there is a word on our tongue, He knows it altogether. Before we say anything, He knows exactly what we are going to say. He knows the end from the beginning. And the Bible says in Psalm 139:6, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it.” There is a clear and Biblical definition of the word “wonderful”. It is greater than your ability to understand it. When it says in Isaiah 28:29, “His counsel is wonderful,” and in Isaiah 9:6, “He is the wonderful counselor,” it means that He is “too difficult to understand.” He is the incomprehensible Christ!

I find it very difficult to talk about these things and not get really excited about praising the Lord. What about you? We are talking about the name that is above every name—a name that is so wonderful. His ways are past finding out. “Oh the depth of the wisdom and the knowledge of God”—the riches of that. It is incomprehensible. His greatness is too difficult to fathom. He calls all the stars by name. His sovereignty is so amazing that He rules over all—whatever is in the heaven and in the earth. He does whatever He pleases. He sustains all the physical laws of the universe that if I were to drop a book, it would drop to the table. And my Lord is sustaining these laws.

He is incomprehensible. What you learn about the preexistence of Jesus Christ will accelerate your appreciation for the incarnation of Christ. In fact, you will begin to wonder how in the world it could have occurred, which we will cover when we get there.

How is it possible that this great God who is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent, could localize His infinite presence into one human body? In fact, the heaven of heavens cannot even contain Him. It is all within Him; He fills it all with His presence. Now how can He localize Himself in a human body enough to say that all the fullness of God dwelt in His physical body (Colossians 2:9)?

In our discussions and teachings about Jesus Christ, we are sometimes too light. We are very superficial and do not think it through. The preexistence of Jesus Christ is an amazing subject about our Savior. This One whose name is wonderful (too difficult to understand), who is called Yahweh Himself, never got the name Yehoshua, but He still was Yehoshua because He has always been salvation from the beginning to the end. “Look unto Me,” this Messiah says in Isaiah, “all the ends of the earth and be saved. For there is no other God besides Me. There is no other Savior.” He has always been Yahweh-is-salvation.

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” 
(Acts 4:12)

Comments

  3. Agreed. These are profound implications. He IS our Wonderful Counselor. Another great study idea, How is He our Counselor?!

  6. Too light and superficial I agree with. If we understand time and eternity properly then this “too difficult to understand”
    actually demonstrated to us,by His lifestyle, what the will of His Father is. The Spirit, the spoken Word, the written Word became the expressed image (in Flesh)of the invisible God hence the incarnate Word. All four of these are the principle manifestations of the invisible God. They are one and the same however they differ in the mode by which God choose to reveal Himself to His creation. If I study any one of these manifestation through (meaning from Gen.-Rev.) I will find that they are revealing the same thing.Do what God tells you to do and don’t do what he says not to do. This is our salvation (which means to be rescued from our enemies)our flesh, the world system, satan and ultimately Death. Our faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ atones for our sin and redeems us back to God (Justification) yet Obedience to The Word of God maintains our newly created righteousness aquired at our new birth and Grace (which means in the Hebrew; a Covering)covers us as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. This is truly “too difficult to understand” and at the same time the most blessed gift given to mankind.

  8. Even before I finished reading the whole lesson, I had to gasp for breath! I got so choked up.

    The God of the Universe considered me, He found me, He called me, He cares for me day by day. My troubles are monumental to me but to Him, they are so small and He loves me so much, why should I worry? Where should I put my concerns? In His hand!

    Stuff like this, discussions like this, just fill me up with wonder for the rest of the day! I love this.

    God, I am amazed at you. Thank you for loving me, thank you for knowing what I am going to say, think and wonder before I even say it, think it, wonder it.

    God, if the heavens of heavens cannot even contain you, then I know that all that I pray for you are able to consider. Thank you, and amen.

  9. The Father’s name is Yahweh [Self Existent].

    The Son’s name is Yahweh is Salvation [Self Existent is free, safe, open, wide]. See Strong’s Concordance, Hebrew #3091, 3068, 3467.

    In this, The Son’s name describes what His Father is like, which goes right along with why Jesus came: to reveal His Father, and make Him 100% available. Jesus is trying to draw attention and get us to his God and Father [who IS salvation], even though we tend to stay stuck on Jesus.

    Eternal Son though he may be, he is not The Father. But the LOVE that’s between them [John 17] should be rocking our World and each one of us individually and every one of our assemblies and churches. The fact that we do not know them enough to know the difference between Father and Son means that we don’t know the LOVE that keeps them together very well either.

    Mixing up the Father with the Son is a grand case of mistaken identity which many pulpits and those who inhabit them foster. Where else but in Religion is such Ignorance glorified, evidenced by the likes of “God is too wonderful to understand”? God Himself directly speaks against this, stating His preference with “Let him who glories glory in this: that he
    understands and knows Me”! [Jeremiah 9:23,24] We don’t love Him with 100% of what we are 100% of the time [i.e The Great Commandment]; so we do not understand or know Him very well, either. 5% love, 5% of the time is more like our usual practice. And we pat ourselves on the back for that.

    The Son was by and large a secret kept by The Father until the time He appointed to show him off, though clues abounded. So too is more of the Father, especially knowledge and use of His Name [Yahweh, i.e. Self Existent], which He has kept unused for quite some time, until a time of His choosing [John 12:28], though clues have abounded for this, too.

    Unconfirmable speculation as to what The Son was previously called is distraction from use of A Name that is fully revealed, though minimally used: YAHWEH is salvation, THE FATHER is the one with ‘the goods’. And JESUS CHRIST is the only one who knows Him. Thank God that he has thrown the door open on THAT exclusive relationship!

    Contemplation on THE ONLY SELF EXISTENT BEING puts everything else in proper perspective.

    • Numbers 23:19 God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
      John 4:24 God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.
      I Timothy 2:5 For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
      II John 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
      Acts 10:38-40 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly;

      God is with Jesus not Jesus
      Jesus has a physical body God is Spirit.
      I John 4: 1-3 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

  10. I must agree with your commentary, it’s correct according to biblical revelation. But readers need more assistance with this teaching than you offer here. I for one would like to have found advice on reconciling this “wonderful” truth with low life issues. Are you just going to leave me stunned! Like a deer caught in xeon headlights! Please provide practical advice on ‘Searching the unsearchable’.

    • well actually Sami we find it all over scripture. to start with we see it in Gods relation with the first Man, Adam. Adam was created righteous,as Jesus Christ was therefore he was just in God’s eyes. As a matter of fact after God created man on the sixh day he called it Very Good. Good in hebrew is the word (tov) which means-is as it is to be. we have a tendency to call that complete or finished, but it is more accurate to the oringinal language to express as I have. He lived in a pure righteous relationship with The Father,if you will. It wasn’t until he disobeyed the commandment that the relationship was severed. He was now disobedient and unrighteous. From that point forward it didnt matter how many commandments he kept he was still unrighteous. God choose to place the death penalty on another soul, the soul of a sinless innocent animal. He shed the blood of the innocent to pay the penalty of the guilty (sound familiar) atonement. Atonement pays the price of disobedience to the commandment. This is what Paul refers to as Justification. Justification and Righteousness although they are related one to the other are very different scriptual terms. Only God can justify and the only God given means I can find in scripture is by the Blood of the Lamb of God,which Paul teaches was already shed in the eternals before the foundation of the world as he phrases it. We are redeemed By the blood of Jesus Christ and the Blood of Jesus Christ ALONE. Righteousness on the other hand belongs to us. I am greatful for my new birth experience it delivered me form deep addiction and a federal sentence of 25 years to life. I have committed my ministry for over 20 years to this population and it has blessed my life thoroughly.
      The dilemma is I can not teach this population how to find dilerance by teaching abstract concepts that mean different things to different people. So I decided to use ALL scripture as Paul teaches in the manner in which it was designed. Doctrine Reproof Correction and INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS. My point is that once we become born again we are suppose to be new creatures not walking after the flesh or manifesting the behaviors that scripture teach are contrary to God’s word but after the Spirit which if I understand properly is the same. Afterall we all teach that God’s word is God. When i choose to keep God’ commandments as Jesus Commanded us to do i don’t do it for my Justification I do it because I have been justified and want to demonstrate here on earth to the people around me righteous live. It won’t take me to heaven but it will help me to be blessed and prospered by God, that is what it was designed to do from the beginning. If we truly believe we will be in obedience to scriptural lifestyle that has already been establishd by God as righteous and has already been lived out by Our Savior Jesus Christ. There are so many more pictures that point to the same thing. Thy Word have I hid in my heart(why)that i might not sin against thee. Our deepest growth as believers is through or study and mediation of God’s commandments so long as we do it from the understanding of the action of the command and the function of it.

      • We were never righteous by ourselves and never will be.
        We were made Righteous in Jesus’ blood and that perfect righteousness stays as our righteousness before GOD.

        Galatians 2:16-21

        Romans 3:24-30

        2 Corinthians 5:21

          • well Sami i just responded to you but pushed the wrong button and lost the text.
            Now I have to check on my mom so I will make it shorter.
            I think we use the Word Righteously differently.
            There is a Pure Righteousness. This is Created only by God. Adam and Jesus the only two created being ever were created righteous because they were created or came forth from The God of Righteousness. This is what our relationship with God via the Blood atonement we recieve by faith affords us. We do put on the Righteousness of Christ. However the apostles teach us that The grace of God hath appeared to all men teaching them to live Godly soberly and righteously in this present world.
            This is why we must study and meditate on the law as David did to show us the ways of life. Ps.119:172 for all thy commandments are righteousness. This way as Born again believers we don’t bring our lives back under the dominion of sin but we become servants of righteousness. Afterall Paul teaches us that if we walk(behave)not after the flesh then the righteousness of the law is established in us(Ro.8). Behavior after the new birth matters it doesn’t save but it blesses here on earth. gotta go

  12. He is the Almighty with out Him we are nothing. Portrait of Jesus in Matthew, Prophesied King, Mark, Obedient servant, Luke, Perfect man, John, Son of God. 4 key verses Matthew Ch 21 v 5 Mark Ch 10 vs 45 Luke Ch 19 vs 10 John Ch 20 vs 31 GOD KNOW WHAT HE’S DOING AND I’M GLAD THAT HE IS MY FATHER GOD BLESS YOU ALL MY BROTHER AND SISTER

  13. Think about how often we use the Lord’s name in vain, then. If I say “That dinner was wonderful.” I’m using the Lord’s name. His name is Wonderful(Isa. 9:6). How about when someone agrees with you “This cold weather is really taking a toll on me.” Someone speaks up “Amen!”. Well, the Bible tells me God’s name is Amen (Rev. 3:14). How about Holy and Reverend? Those names are both reserved for God (Psa. 111:9) and yet we use them so loosely.

    I fully believe that when we start viewing God with honor and respect then we don’t want to tread upon His name. What’s in a name? Well, with God, everything! His names are above all names. Every single one of them. Let us honor God for ALL that He is. Let us be careful in choosing our words that we will honor God both in word and in deed (Col. 3:17).

    God Bless!

  14. Thanks Kirk, my challenge was directed to BLB’s Christology Prof… Thank you for your comment which I find to be right on point. My trouble is with, the truth in your last paragraph, the result of which makes everything else, I find in this life at least at best FUTILE. Yet I must suffer it, work in it, vote for it, praise and worship in spite of it and relate to others trapped in it and blinded by it! I’m basically tired of it… ‘Futility’. How does one maintain a mindset of wonderment & awe as describe here, on boot-camp earth? To me it seems the more divine truth one receives, the more futile all else is revealed to be. It’s a bitter pill for the layman

    • Thanks, Mr. Moodie. The relationship that Father and Son have thrown open to us is the consolation prize offered, not only in the World to come, but this one. True? They’ve been loving each other for quite some time, before The Son ever became a human being, ever since Father begat Son! [Think about it.] But now that he is human, man oh man, he is that much more able (or rather, we can be that much more receptive) to the Love that’s been between them before they even thought up creating The World and human beings.

      I do complain about the normal things: work, etc. In part, you have reminded me that Jesus Christ becoming human is his way of saying “I feel your pain” all over again. “In the World, you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer: I have overcome the World” has come to me from time to time as Jesus kind of bragging that he’s above it all now while I’m still down here with the rest of my stooge brothers. [Forgive my frankness]. But the thing is, he insisted on directing me to the Wonder of his Father years ago. It is this, contemplation on the one thing that makes God GOD [his self existence] that has made this futile life so spicey! Think of it: everything that exists does so because it was made by the only self existent, as a LOVE-GIFT to His Son. Even now, He is forming a Bride for that Only Son! It’s why human beings and this whole Age was thought up: to replace beings that decided to leave God [Satan and his hoard] with beings who decided to BE WITH God forever [i.e. many many human beings, we two among them.]

      And this self existent was wise and savvy and smart right from the start to have called Himself that very thing: SELF EXISTENT, which is what YAHWEH means. [ref. Strong #3068 and other scholars]

      Contemplation on His Name keeps Him close to me or me close to Him. Calling on His Name works! It’s the Meat; everything else is salt and pepper.

      Don’t you think that there being Someone whom no one made was rather significant to Jesus, Someone whom Paul refers to as “The God and Father of Jesus Christ”?

      Well… my lunch break’s over.
      Thanks for writing, Mervyn. I do appreciate it.

  15. Does no one find it odd to call the messiah by a name (Jesus Christ) neither his mother, nor his disciples, nor the early church ever would have called him? I am thankful that blue letter bible is proclaiming his name, Yahoshua, because the enemy has over the last 2000 years made many attempts to hide it…however, when we know that his name is Yahoshua, and NOT Jesus, than why do people insist on continuing on in calling him that and perpetuating a plan of the enemy to deceive the world about who the messiah was and is!?

    As this Blog brought out, Yahoshua means “Yahweh Saves”- What about the meanings of Jesus Christ? Jesus comes from the greek Iesous, which could have possibly meant “it is pig” (Which is one of the deepest insults to a Jew, which Yahoshua was)- Christos (Christ) is what the greeks called their demi-gods, Zeus was a “christ” – So the enemy has cleverly gotten the whole world calling the beloved son of the Most High Elohim: “a pagan pig god”… There is so much in Church history that relates to Satan’s many attempts to conceal the name and identity of the messiah and the name and identity of his father- He does not want the children of Yahweh worshiping Him in truth, Satan is the deceiver of the world- Lets not be ignorant of his devices and lets proclaim the true name of the messiah!

    There is so much importance put in names all through out the bible(just type in “name” to a blue letter bible search and you’ll see what I mean)- Yahweh named his son with purpose, and it is not up to us to un-do something he established, especially something as crucial and yes,wonderful, as the name of the messiah, his only Son. Let’s all join in giving praise and Glory to the king above all kings, Yahoshua the Messiah, who was, and is, and is to come!

    “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is NO OTHER NAME under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
    ~Acts 4:12

    • You r on key with your comments and the text says so much about the importance of the use of the Names. I yern for the day when we will all be on the same page and no more persecution for His (correct) Names sake.

      • Actually, the Father gave the Messiah his name. Gabriell was just the messenger. My question to you though is why would Yahweh send an angel into a Jewish home and tell Mary and later Joseph to give their Jewish child a Greek name?

  16. After this manner therefore pray ye Our FATHER which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever Amen

    And this is the confidence that we have in HIM that if we ASK anything according to HIS will HE heareth us

    If I regard iniquity in my heart the LORD will not hear me

    Loving The LORD

  17. Jesus’s actual Name is Yahshua which means “Yahweh is salvation” The name “Yehoshua” means “He is salvation” which is influenced by the Jewish tradition that refrains from saying “Yah” as in “Yahweh” in the shortened form. This can foster study and can be proven how the Jews changed one of the vowel points to make a “Yeh” instead of a “Yah” because their superstition says not to say “Yah” or “Yahweh” thus we have “Yehoshua” ie “he is salvation” instead of “Yahshua” ie “Yahweh is salvation” Yahshua being the inspired the other being influenced by man’s opinion. Praise Yah!

    • The point here is not the pronunciation of the Name – Yahshua, Y’shua, Yeshua, Yahushua, Yahoshua, Yehoshua. I am glad and thankful that BLB is sharing what the Name means and using the Hebrew name, not the Greco-Roman one, which is quite meaningless, even pagan and insulting (see Chelsea’s explanation above) to our Savior, His Jewishness and the work He and the Father have accomplished through His own flesh. It is obvious in the NT that we are saved in His Name (just look through the book of Acts to see what Peter, Stephen, Philip and Paul said when they were speaking and/or on trial), and calling Him “Yah is Salvation” is the most excellent point here.

  18. I agree with calling Him the name that He said of Himself, and that Thomas and Stephen freely called Him, and the name for which He hung on the cross:

    Jesus: John 8:58, John 4:25-26, Revelation 1:17
    Thomas & Stephen: John 20:28, Acts 7:59
    John: John 8:51, John 1:1, and in that case…Isaiah 9:6
    Matthew 27:37

    Out of love and respect, I called my father, Daddy. I never called him by his formal name. The same holds true for my heavenly God, Lord, Counselor, Messiah, King, Prince, Father, my Beginning and my End.

    ……….and yes, He and what He has done, is all too wonderful to comprehend. Thank you for another opportunity to worship HIM!!!

    • Mankind is starting to see the effects of chosing their own way of worship. If His Word says that His Holy Name is important then we do well to see it that way too. An indepth study on the true Names and their meanings shows that “Jehovah and Jesus” are less than 500 years old and both names were made up by men. Our Heavenly Father told the angel Gabriel to tell Mary that she should Name Him Yahshua. This is the Name His followers called Him by and it is a great topic for study as is inhances our personal relationship with Him when we know and use His actual Name. And a translation that reflects the original would be a great investment.

  19. The mistake many people make is that Jesus’ Hebrew name is the same as Joshua. God told Joseph, the husband of Mary, Mat 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
    Mat 1:24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
    Mat 1:25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

    In Hebrew, the word for salvation is Yeshua. If you don’t know how the vowel points are pronounced, see the translation and listen to the pronunciation:
    http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H3444&t=KJV

    His name simply means “salvation,” not God is salvation. His name was NOT Joshua. Is is Yeshua. Simply salvation period.

    Immanuel (spelling in Isaiah 7:14). Or people will SAY he is “God with us.” Which he certainly was, but his NAME is Yeshua, salvation. Period.

    אלוהים הוא הישועה שלי These are the words for “God is my salvation.”

  20. History and scripture shows us that before the Babylonian captivity the Names Yahweh and Yahshua were in use and proper to say. Jews upon returning to their homeland from captivity made adjustments in their form of worship to ensure this would not happen again. Deut 28:58,63.64 Yahweh says if Israel didnt repect the Name of Yahweh they would be ousted from the promised land. So Jews since then have made safeguards to not say the Name Yahweh or the shortened form Yah. Even when reading the Torah or Bible Jews will not read or say the Name Yahweh when the text says YHWH. And they replace His Name with adonai or elohim or ha shem the latter meaning the name. In the intro to the stone edition it instructs the readers to say one of these replacement names when coming across the Name of Yahweh. The masoretes who lived @6th century added to this by replacing the qamets vowel which is an “a’ sound with a shewa that is an “e’ sound. This prevented the reader from saying the Name or from misusing it even further so they thought. If you have ever been to a Jewish Torah reading you have heard this practice in action and if you say Yahweh in their meeting you will be corrected. The scriptures command us to call on His Name and not change His Word. Changing Yah to Yeh results in translation mistakes like Yehovah and Yeshua. Pls check out this link below. I know there is conflicting info out there but truth not tradition will have the final say in his correct Name.

    http://www.yrm.org/yahshua-yeshua-pronounce.htm