Is only the Father named “Yahve”?

It is interesting, how those who are supposedly the only ones that preach this name, not only pronounce it incorrectly, they also DO NOT KNOW to whom it pertains!

Topics

• The “Yahves” of the Old Testament

• The “Yahves” of the New Testament

Continuing the series of studies on the name: “Yahve”, we shall concern ourselves with one more issue, which we hope will make the self-proclaimed “Jehovah’s Witnesses” stop and think.

These followers are convinced that they stand apart from the others who confess Jesus Christ, inasmuch as “only they confess the name of Jehovah God”, and consequently, only they are in a position to enlighten the world on this significant name.  In other studies, we examined the importance of this name for our salvation, and also its significance, which the followers of Watchtower are oblivious to. It now remains for us to examine yet another issue, which they are equally oblivious to. And that which they are oblivious to, is that the name Yahve is not only the name of the Father, but also of the Son and of the Holy Spirit! 

In our study of:  "In Whose name are we saved?" (under construction) we gave as an example the verse of Romans 10/X 9-15, where Jesus Christ is named: “Yahve”. Here, we shall see a few more of the innumerable related verses. The tracts of the Holy Bible that we will mention herebelow, will prove to these people that they preach a name, whose significance they are not only unaware of, they are also unaware of many things about the One who selected it for Himself.

 

The “Yahves” of the Old Testament

Isaiah 48 12 - 16: “ Listen to Me, O Jacob, And Israel, whom I have called:  I am He, I am the First,I am also the Last. Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, And My right hand has stretched out the heavens; When I call to them, They stand up together. All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear! Who among them has declared these things? The Lord Yahve loves him (Israel); He shall do His pleasure on Babylon,And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans. I, even I, have spoken;Yes, I have called him, and I shall make prosperous his path. “ Come near to Me, hear this:I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; From the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord Yahve and His Spirit Have sent Me.”

Let’s examine this tract in more detail.  Who is speaking?  It is “Yahve” naturally; because He is, the “First and the Last”, it is He, who “laid the foundations of the earth” and who “called Israel out of Egypt”.  And while “Yahve” Himself is speaking, He suddenly refers to another “Yahve”! He says that “Yahve loved him”,…that He shall do His pleasure”… But if only the Father is named “Yahve”, and the Father is the speaker, then how can He be referring to another “Yahve”?  And He continues to speak, again as “Yahve”, in the first person, saying: “I, even I” have spoken… Yes, I have called him, and I shall make prosperous his path”… I was there..”  Then he suddenly changes again, and makes reference to the third person, and informs us that: “And now the Lord Yahve and His Spirit Have sent Me” In other words, The Lord “Yahve” sends forth “Yahve”, who speaks to us!

Let’s examine another similar tract:

Zacharias 2/II 5-11:  For I,’ says the Lord Yahve, ‘will be as a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’ “Up, up! Flee from the land of the north,” says the Lord Yahve; “for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven,” says the Lord Yahve.  “Up, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.” For thus says the Lord Yahve of hosts: “He sent Me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. For surely I will shake My hand against them, and they shall become spoil for their servants. Then you will know that the Lord Yahve of hosts has sent Me. “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” says the Lord Yahve. “Many nations shall be joined to the Lord Yahve in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the Lord Yahve of hosts has sent Me to you.

The first Yahve, Who says “I will be as a wall of fire around her”, is the Holy Spirit.   This refers to a second Yahve, Who says of Himself that “He was sent to shake His hand against the nations, and dwell in Zion and join the nations with His people”.  And of course this second Yahve is Jesus Christ, Who was sent by His Father to dwell in Zion and call the nations to His Church.  Finally, this second Yahve speaks of a third Yahve, who “has sent Him” and “whoever touches His people, touches the apple of His eye”.  Thus, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are all Yahve.

It should not be seen as something strange by the reader, that the three of them have the same name.  Nowadays, in every family, the entire family bears a common surname.  “Yahve” therefore is not the name of a person, as the Watchtower organization prefers to teach. “Yahve” is the name of God’s essence, as we showed in our study: ΄΄The significance of the name “Yahve”΄΄.  We proved there, that ΄΄Yahve΄΄ signifies: ΄΄the One Who Is”, i.e., that which states the essence of God, and not the particularity of His person.  And just as the members of a family have the same essence and the same name, so it is with the persons of the Godhood (the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit), who, as we just read in the Holy Bible, all have the same name: “Yahve”΄. This is the common name (let’s say, something like a surname) for the three persons, who are by nature beyond space and time, (under construct) and consequently are of the same essence.

Besides, the New Testament fully agrees with this, when in Matthew 28/XXVIII 19 we read: Go forth, and teach to all nations, baptizing them in the NAME of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit΄΄. It doesn’t say: ΄΄in the NAMES΄΄, as if there are more than one;  its says “in the name”, meaning the one, common to all three persons name. The excerpts that we quoted above, also characterize the distinction between the Persons of Godhood. 

The fact that there, we can discern the three “Yahve”s, is a reply to those who (unfortunately) follow the heresy of Savellius, i.e., that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit supposedly represent ONE person and are not in fact three persons.  In these verses however, it is perfectly clear that there is a distinction between the Father Yahve, the Son Yahve and the Holy Spirit Yahve. 

In a similar manner to the above verses, in  Obadiah 1, we read: ΄΄Thus says Yahve the Lord about Edom: we have heard a message by Yahve...΄΄  And here also,  “They (Yahve) heard΄, (plural, because there were two) ΄΄news by (a third) Yahve΄΄.

Genesis 18/XVIII 1. 19/XIX 24: ΄΄And there appeared before him Yahve by the oak-trees in Mambre………..  and Yahve rained fire and brimstone by Yahve from heaven over Sodom and Gomorrah”.  According to the narration, Yahve (the Son) had gone to Abraham, by the oak-trees of Mambre, accompanied by two angels. Then, after this visit, Lot is warned by the two angels about the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, while Yahve ( the Son ) departs.. (16, to 19 1). Finally, when Lot moved out of the condemned cities, Yahve (the Holy Spirit) rained fire from Yahve (the Father) from heaven” .

The “Yahve”s of the New Testament

Even though we could write volumes with similar verses from the Old Testament, we must take a look at several of the innumerable excerpts of the New Testament, which indicate that the Son is also called “Yahve”. (In another study, we already examined Romans 10/X 9 - 14).(under construct). Of course, the New Testament makes no mention (under construct) of the name ”Yahve” anywhere.  However, it does use the Greek equivalent of: “He Who Is’, or  “the One Who Is” .

We shall therefore examine excerpts where Jesus Christ is named “the One Who Is”, as well as other verses that appear in the Old Testament and apply to Jesus Christ certain prophecies that pertain to Yahve.

Romans 9/IX 4 - 5: ΄΄… those who were Israelites …… of whose (same) flesh was the Christ , “the One Who Is”  -above all-  the God who is blessed throughout the ages ΄΄

It is crucial that we believe that Jesus Christ is “the One Who Is”; that He is Yahve.  John 8/VIII 21 - 29: ΄΄...for if you do not believe that  “I Am”  (Hebrew “Yahve”), you shall perish in your sinfulness…..  Therefore Christ said unto them:  When you lift up (crucify) the Son of  Man, then shall you know that I AM (Hebrew “Yahve”). So, they asked Him: Who are You?…”

Because recognizing Jesus Christ as Yahve, i.e., as being of the same essence as the Father, is fundamental for one’s salvation.  The above Greek expression of “Yahve” was a phrase that Jesus Christ used, when referring to Himself, thus implying that He is of the same essence as His Father.  This is not a case of an “inferential phrase”, because in inferential phrases, the unspoken word is inferred clearly.  But here, none of the unspoken words are inferred clearly, which is why the audience asked Him “Who are You?”, because it was impossible for them to comprehend that the man they saw before them was the incarnate Yahve of the Old Testament.

The phrase ΄΄then shall you know that I AM΄΄,  is the same one used in the Old Testament by Ezekiel: ΄΄and you shall know that I Yahve (Greek= I AM)΄΄. (Ezekiel 35/XXXV΄ 9, 15. 36/XXXVI΄ 38. 37/XXXVII 14, 28. 38/XXXVIII 23. 39/XXXIX 6, 28 etc).

Thus, in the following excerpts, Jesus Christ as “Yahve” also uses the word “I AM”, in an absolute sense, as in the Old Testament.

John  8/VIII 58: “Even before Abraham was, I AM.”    He doesn’t say “I WAS”, but “I AM”, evidence of His timeless, eternal status as Yahve.

John 13/XIII 12 - 19: ΄΄... I say it to you from now, before it happens, so that when it happens, you shall believe that I AM.”

The apostles naturally comprehended this very well, after Jesus Christ had sent them the Holy Spirit on the day of the Pentecost, hence, when they wrote the books of the Holy Bible, they applied to Jesus Christ the various tracts that referred to Yahve.

One such tract is : John 12/XII 36 - 42. In there, John makes reference to Isaiah 6/VI 1 - 10. While Isaiah had looked upon the glory of ΄΄Yahve of the hosts΄΄, John explains that in actual fact, Isaiah ΄΄had looked upon His (Jesus Christ’s) glory and had spoken of Him.  However, there were many among the noblemen that believed in Him, but did not confess Him because of the Pharisees, lest they be turned out of the synagogue.”

If the so-called “Jehovah’s Witnesses” had shunned their organization’s mutated translation, and paid closer attention to what they read in the Bible, without memorizing texts and repeating them without a thought, they would see that many of the tracts that they themselves use for Yahve, the Holy Bible applies them to Jesus Christ.

We look forward to indulging in more studies on the matter of Jesus Christ’s divinity, by analyzing various other parameters of “our God and Saviour Jesus Christ”.