Sacred Names:
God-Elohim In scripture we are first introduced
to the Creator as Elohim. In Hebrew pronominal suffixes are added to names to
distinguish to whom they refer. For example our Elohim is Eloheinu. Your Elohim
is Eloheikem. His God is Elohav. My Elohim is Elohai.
In Exodus
6:3 YHWH appears to Moses at the burning bush and declares for the first time;
"and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as Elohim El Shaddai, but
by My Name, YHWH, [Yud, Heh, Vav, Heh/יהוכ] I did not make Myself known to them. We
are also told given other words that describe YHWH's character: El Shaddai
means the almighty; El Elyon means the most high.
Jesus/Yashua/Yeshua
The terms
Jesus and Christ do not appear anywhere in the oldest manuscripts we have to
date discovered. They were written in Aramaic and/or Hebrew. He was not called
Jesus Christ until at least the year 100 A.D. when the Aramaic Renewed
Covenantal writings were translated into Greek and then into English (our New
Testaments). Until that time He was called and always referred to as Yashua or
Yeshua, the problem being the vowel pointings which did not exist in the oldest
writings. Several traditions arose about what sound was appropriate. Some
decided it should be the short "a" of the English and others decided
it should be the short "e" of the English vowel sounds. So, whether
you pronounce it Yeshua or Yahshua is problematic. And the Hebrew term that was
changed to Christ is Mashiyach (transliterated as Messiah).
Holy Spirit/Ruach HaKodesh
Finally,
the oldest manuscripts did not have the words we translate into English as Holy
Spirit in them. The Aramaic and Hebrew, though pointed differently, used the
words Ruach HaKodesh.
Why do I
think this is important? I humbly suggest two critically important things have
occurred since the "church" stopped using the sacred names as they
were given in ancient writings: 1. The church has distanced itself from its
roots. As a direct result of that, it has 2. also become impotent and listless.
I believe when we cry out to God, we are crying out to a title the Greeks gave
to their pagan deities. And, the same principle applies when we pray anything
in the name of Jesus. Yeshua said, "If you ask anything in My Name,
that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." If His
name is Yashua/Yeshua and we do things in the name of Jesus, can we, with
absolute assurance, believe His promises in His real name will be honored by
the Father?
The
Challenge
Begin forcing yourself to address YHWH using the names He gave us in scripture. I believe you will find He listens more attentively to your prayers and your understanding of scripture will open up as it never has before.
Begin forcing yourself to address YHWH using the names He gave us in scripture. I believe you will find He listens more attentively to your prayers and your understanding of scripture will open up as it never has before.
