Jesus Is The Name Of The Lord.
By Gordon Mallory
“Moses said unto God .. and they shall to me, “at is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses … Jehovah, the God of your fathers … hath sent me unto you; this is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto generations” (Exodus 3:13-14, ASV).
It is commonly assumed that one who knows a person knows his name. Scripturally, to know God is to know His Name, to call upon His Name, and to publish His Name.
Jehovah’s Name appears some 6,800 times in the Old Testament. Where the New Testament quotes from the Old Testament, scholars have frequently tried to insert the Name of Jehovah into the New Testament. We know of no place where the Name of Jehovah may properly be inserted into the New Testament. However, the frequent appearance of the phrase, ‘the Name,’ relating to Deity, can only mean that the Jehovah of the Hebrews did not become nameless when the Son of God was born in a manger. Further, as in the Old Testament, all of these references have one thing in common – they are in the singular number.
The name of Jehovah is never applied to false gods. Some have questioned the importance of the Name of Jesus on the grounds that men from biblical times until now have had the given name of Jesus (See Acts 13:6; Colossians 4:1 1).
The Name of Jesus is nevertheless tremendously significant The angel of the Lord instructed Joseph, the legal father of Jesus: “Thou shalt call his name JESUS.- for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). And the angel Gabriel spoke to Mary, the mother of Jesus, “Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS” (Luke 1: 3 1). We read further, “And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb- ”
The Name of Jesus is a contraction of two Hebrew words which, when translated, mean “Jehovah Savior,” or “Jehovah is Salvation.” This is what the prophet Isaiah had said, “Jehovah … is become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2, ASV). Thus it is only in the Name of Jesus that the Name of Jehovah may be found in the New Testament.
Unfortunately, the Name of Jesus is frequently only partially defined, being given simply as meaning, “Savior” – and the full significance of the announcement of His birth: “Thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21) is therefore hidden or lost to a large part of the Church world. Not only is Jesus “the image of the invisible God,” but wherever the Name of Jesus is spoken men are, in fact, proclaiming, “Jehovah is Savior, ” or in the words of Isaiah, “Jehovah has become my salvation. ”
We have earlier referred herein to God’s revelation of the meaning of his Name by the phrase, “I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14). When Jesus declared to the Jews, “Before Abraham was born, I AM’ (John 8:58, NAS),
they understood that in affirming Himself as the “I AM,” Jesus laid claim to being the Self-existent One, or the Eternal One, and therefore the Jehovah of the Hebrews. Since they judged him guilty of blasphemy, they took up stones to cast at him, but Jesus hid Himself.
Saul of Tarsus led the persecution against the Early Church, intent on destroying those whom he believed to be blasphemers and enemies of the Hebrews’ Lord Jehovah. As he traveled to Damascus on the road which the Bible records as the scene of Saul’s conversion, “Suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me?”
In answer to his question, “Who art thou, Lord?” Saul, in a brief moment of time, received the divine revelation that Jesus is the Name of the Lord, as he heard the voice saying, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest” (Acts 9:1-5). Still blinded by the heavenly light, three days later Saul was ministered to by Ananias, who “putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 9:17). Saul, otherwise known as Paul, thereafter became the great apostle of the Lordship of
Jesus.
Jehovah Is Become My Salvation
Recently during a conversation in which we affirmed Jehovah to be God’s Old Testament Name, we were bluntly asked the question, “Are you ‘Jesus Only?”‘ Since we were speaking from the Old Testament, the appropriate question might rather have been, “Are you Jehovah Only?”‘ We have emphasized that the foundation for New Testament truth is laid in the Old Testament. The appellation of “Jesus Only” was devised several years ago by church leaders whose denomination became divided regarding the message of God and His Name. The obvious response to the “Jesus Only” connotation is to request a definition of the term in biblical language and in the light of biblical truth.
The founder of the Church of the Foursquare Gospel, Aimee Semple McPherson, proclaimed Jesus our Saviour, Jesus our Healer, Jesus our Baptizer in the Spirit, and Jesus our Lord and King.
Church tradition demands that we subscribe to the use of trinitarian terminology in our quest for the Name of the One True God, whereas the answer to that quest has not been forthcoming from the traditional church.
God’s message to Old Testament believers was clearly a “Jehovah only” message. We offer a comparison of Old and New Testament Scriptures:
OUR GOD
“I am Jehovah, and there is none else; besides me there is no God’ (Isaiah 45:5, ASV).
” Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God’ (John 20:28).
OUR SAVIOUR
“Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me, I, even I, am Jehovah; and besides me there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:10-11, ASV).
“Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
OUR BAPTIZER
I am Jehovah your God, and there is none else … and it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh” (Joel 2:27-28, ASV).
“John answered .. one mightier than I cometh … he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire (Luke 3:16).
OUR HEALER
“Bless Jehovah, 0 my soul .. who healeth all thy diseases” (Psalm 103:2-3, ASV).
(Jesus) “cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick” (Matthew 8:16).
OUR LIGHT
“Jehovah is my light and my salvation” (Psalm 27:1, ASV).
“Then spake Jesus .. I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).
OUR ROCK
“no is God, save Jehovah? And who is a rock besides our God?” (Psalm 18:31, ASV).
“Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling stone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed’ (Romans 9:33). OUR KING
“And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall Jehovah be one, and his name one” (Zechariah 14:9, ASV).
“Our Lord Jesus Christ… who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords: who only hath immortality” (I Timothy 6:14-16).
OUR LORD
“I have made the Lord Jehovah my refuge” (Psalm 73:28, ASV).
“Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am” (John 13:13).
OUR SHEPHERD
“Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1, ASV).
“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep … there shall be one fold, and one shepherd’ (John 10:14-16).
OUR ALPHA AND OMEGA
” Thus saith Jehovah… I am the first, and I am the last: and besides me there is no God’ (Isaiah 44:6, ASV).
“Behold, I come quickly: and my reward is with me … I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (Revelation 22:12-13)
HIS NAME EXALTED
“Let them praise the name of Jehovah: for his name alone is exalted: His glory is above the earth and the heavens” (Psalm 148:13, ASV).
” God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name” (Philippians 2:9, NIV).
That Jesus is our Jehovah, as Ms Name implies, is evident from a candid comparison of Old and New Testament Scriptures. If the Old Testament proclaims a “Jehovah only” message, it is equally evident that the New Testament publishes a “Jesus only” gospel.
However, we do not accept the implications conveyed by some who use the nickname of “Jesus Only” because we do not “dot the ‘i’s’ and cross the Ts”‘ formulated and approved. Nor do we subscribe to the use of the title or nickname of “three Gods” which has been applied by both Christians and non-Christians to the proponents of the trinity doctrine.
A large segment of the human race worships one God, but they do not know His Name. This is true of the Muslims, otherwise known as the Mohammedans, who comprise one-fifth of the earth’s population. The Muslims pride themselves on being the only true worshippers of the one true God, whom they regard as the great Creator omniscient, omnipotent, pre-existent, and eternal.
The custom of those Jews who touch the Mezuzzah as they leave or return home and declare Jehovah to be One has its counterpart in the Muslim practice of prostrating themselves before “Allah” five times daily and confessing their allegiance to the one and only God.
Islam embraces a totalitarian society in which the religious, political and social life are inseparable, in contrast to our American system of separation of Church and State. The Muslims are intensely evangelistic and are spreading rapidly over the earth. They are avowed enemies of the Christian faith. The Muslim lands are admittedly the most neglected of any mission field because it is difficult to win Christian converts.
The great paradox of the historic Nicean Creed is that while the supporters of the Creed have on occasion expressed skepticism and criticism of the message of the Name of the One True God on the grounds of its being “Jesus Only heresy,” that in the seventh century Mohammed, the founder of the Islam faith, denounced the “three Gods” religion of his day as taught in the monasteries which dotted Arabia, and that the Muslims have continued steadfastly to proclaim their strict monotheism as being superior to the “three Gods heresy” of the trinitarian Christian Church.
It goes without saying that the use of trinitarian language constitutes a serious hindrance to evangelism of the Muslims, whereas that obstacle is non-existent in the message of the Name of the One True God. We find an already established “beachhead” upon which to build whereby we may proclaim Jesus to the followers of “Allah,” for it is written, “Hear, 0 Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.”
We may digress a bit here when we say that we tend to be both amazed and intrigued over the efforts of Gentile Christian scholars who would attempt to instruct the Hebrew worshippers regarding the significance and meaning of the word “one” wherever it appears in the Hebrew language in relation to Jehovah. It cannot be disputed that the Jews have no doubt or question as to the literal import and consequence of “one” in Scripture when speaking of the One True God.
Answering All The Questions
On July 10, 1925, the widely-publicized “Monkey Trial” was held in a judicial court in Tennessee. A brilliant atheistic attorney, Clarence Darrow, was the leading defense lawyer for John Scopes, a high school biology teacher in Dayton. Scopes was indicted by the State of Tennessee for violating a state law forbidding the teaching of “any theory which denies the story of the divine creation of man as taught in the Bible,” and the teaching instead that “man is descended from a lower form of animals.”
The state prosecution was assisted by William Jennings Bryan, a Christian gentleman and a three time defeated candidate for President of the United States. It was generally believed that Mr. Bryan fared poorly in attempting to answer the many questions posed by Mr. Darrow concerning divine creation. Five days later Mr. Bryan died suddenly, a grim aftermath to a trial that roused nationwide ridicule.
Perhaps Mr. Bryan permitted the brilliant Mr. Darrow to maneuver him into a position of self-defense, whereas he might better have mounted a strong counter offensive by cross-examining the opposition to reveal the fact that the ridiculous and unscientific theory of evolution answers no questions and proves nothing at all!
‘Jesus Christ, Creator’ is the title of an enlightening book by Kelly L. Seagraves, director of the Creation-Science Research Center in San Diego, and member of that Society, which has membership of over 700 scientists, all wit advanced degrees. We would particularly note that Mr. Seagraves accepts literally the biblical record of creation in six days, and supports his position with scientific evidence.
Scientists who reject Jesus Christ as Creator have little choice but to embrace the evolution theory. Similarly, those who reject the message of the Name of the One True God have no known alternative but to embrace the split decision of the trinity – which answers no questions and provides no solutions.
Our faith in God and His Words rests not upon the limited knowledge of man, but upon the omniscience of Him who declared, “I am Jehovah,and there is none else; besides me there is no God.. I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens; and all their host have I commanded” (Isaiah 45:5, 12, ASV).
Paul gives us the New Testament version when he says, speaking of Jesus Christ, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Colossians 1:16-17).
The Above Material Was Published In, “The Name Of The One True God” By Reach Publication In 1996. Pp 117 – 129. To Order Call (986) 686-2600, Or Write To: Reach Publications Sacramento, Ca. This Material Has Been Copyrighted And May Be Used For Study And Research Purposes Only.
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