The name of the LORD
Joel 2 says, “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
I’ve quoted from the NKJV, an English translation of the Bible.
But LORD does not appear in the Hebrew scriptures; YHWH appears. When the Bible was translated into English, LORD was inserted where YHWH appeared.
For centuries, we’ve thought YHWH stood for Yahweh. The vowels are missing and so the full name had to be figured out. The popular conclusion has been that the name of GOD is Yahweh.
But in recent years (in fact in 2001, just as the New York Twin Towers were attacked and terrorists were shouting “Allah Aqbar”), a Jewish Biblical scholar named Nehemiah Gordon*, was in the vaults of the Vatican doing his research and uncovered the missing vowels. The full name of GOD is Yehovah. Yehovah is His name. (Note: v = w in translation, just as y = j)
Writing the Name of GOD
Historically, Jewish people have not written GOD but G-D. Why?
Another misunderstanding is that Jews are not meant to write GOD but G-D because we’re not meant to spell out the Creator’s name. This however, is superstition, or in fact, rooted in fear. Truly, the historical facts are that avoiding writing the name of GOD was to avoid persecution. Jews learned not to declare or even to write the One True God’s identity, for fear of being identified as Jew. Now, today, we are free to declare His name, and indeed, there is huge power in it.
The Power of a Name:
It’s been proven by psychologists that we all love the sound of our own names. Why would Yehovah be any different? In actual fact, the demons flee at His name, and so there is great power in it as well. So, why wouldn’t it be that, in these Last Days, we would discover, along with so much else, the full and true name of the Creator of the Universe, the One True God, who’s correct name is Yehovah.
Are we Saved?
The text from Joel 2 is powerful. Am I saying if you don’t know His name as Yehovah or don’t speak or write it as such, you are not saved? No, that is not what I’m saying. BUT His name is known – I AM, as he spoke of Himself to Moses at the burning bush, is Yehovah. The One True GOD, Creator of the heavens and the earth, is Yehovah, or Jehovah (in English translation).
Just as many have not known that Jesus is an anglicised name and his Jewish name is Yeshua, now we can also know GOD’s Jewish name, which is Yehovah.
Getting specific:
Further, the name LORD or GOD is very general, and open to ambiguity. History tells us that many gods were called God. Yehovah is not to be confused with any other god.This is not Allah, nor Buddah. He is not Saint Paul or Mary or even Jesus. His name is not even Abba — although Abba or “Daddy” as it translates, is one of His roles. His actual name, to be compared with my actual name as Sarah Tun, is Yehovah. It is He whom Jesus/Yeshua points to, and it is He who is the Creator of the Universe. Now we know He has asked us to learn it, know it, and call upon Him by name.
Let us learn and speak His name, because He has now revealed it to us.
*An examination of Nehemiah Gordon’s books and video teachings will disclose many wonderful “Ah ha’s!” as you delve with him into texts that have until recently been locked in the Vatican and unexamined, awaiting revelation.
He is a Jew, unsaved, but who works with Messianic and Non-Jewish believers to open up texts to the world, so that more can be known about the Father.
I recommend you go to Nehemiah’s Wall:
to explore what he shares with us, so we can better know and understand the Creator, Father of Mankind, first and always, the G-D of the Hebrews.
