Simple Bible Answers - A web site to further understand the Word of God.

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It is the intention of this web site to give somewhat short meanings to the answers of the questions. This explanation is a long one, sorry. I took the time to explain this one in more length because I feel it very important for today's Christian to understand who Jesus is. Please bear with me and take the time to read it. I could have written a lot more, but I think what is here will give the reader a somewhat complete understanding of who God is, who Jesus is, and the Spirit.

What’s in a name?

 Q. Is Gods name Jehovah, Yahweh, or something else?
A. Neither are really His name, but are names for us to use, and yes there are others.

 Q. Is Jesus the name of the Son of God, or is it Yeshua like the Jews say?
A. Jesus and Yeshua are names for our benefit, to help us. They are both earthly names. Both are correct. It's the meaning of those names that matter more.

 Q. Can God or Jesus go by other names like, Mohammad, Buddha, Krishna, sum young moon, or Zeus.
A. Under no terms does God, or Jesus, go by those names. Those were people that were only human and can’t come close to being God. Once you know who God (and Jesus) are, and what Their attributes are, it will be plain to see.

    Today people name their children by names that have little or no real significance. When we take the time to put significance into the naming of a child, it has more to do with honoring a family member. We name our kids after ourselves, family, cultural icons, names we wished we were called, or just because we think they’re cool. The top girl name for 2005 was Emma, for the guys it was Aidan. But in the top 100 you will find names like Hailey, Zoe, Xavier, and Tristan. Names after movie/TV stars or characters. I’m not saying this is bad, just making the point we don’t use names the same way God uses a name.

    To God if you could “name it” you can “claim it”. God told Adam to go and name all the animals, man was to be stewards of the earth. The animals were to be his responsibility. God gave us the names/titles, Man and Woman, Adam and Eve, because He could claim us. A woman takes on the mans last name because she falls under his responsibility. We name our children because they fall under our responsibility. If the neighbor gives us a dog, it is a very few that won’t rename the dog to make it “ours”, no matter how confusing it is to the dog.

    The Hebrews understood this very well, and many took the time to select names that had meaning. The first born male was generally named after the Father. Many times the word “Bar” was used. Bar meant “Son of”. You will notice Jesus wasn’t named Joseph, and didn’t have Bar used with his name, as in Jesus Bar Joseph. Jesus was the first child that Joseph had in his care, but Jesus wasn’t his first son. Jesus was the Son of God. Neither Joseph nor Mary had the “right” to name Jesus. That is why an angel came to them, to inform them what His name would be (Mat 1:21, Luke 1:31). Since it was God that would assign a name for His human form. This didn’t go unnoticed with the people of Jesus’ time. They made mention that “they knew who their Father’s were”, implying that Jesus was illegitimate.

    Now Jesus is a Latin translation (“Jesu”) of  the Greek “Iesous”. If Mary called Jesus by His Hebrew name, she (Mary=Mariam) may have called Him “Yahoshua” (in direct English translation from Hebrew, it is Joshua) which is now the “Yeshua”. All those names mean “God saves or Salvation”. Christians use Jesus, Messianic Jews (Jews who believe that Jesus is the "Messiah", which means the same as the "Christ") use the name Yeshua. All those names were intended for our benefit, not that they were a proper name of God. But all of them must refer to the "Son of God" that “saves”. Calling the Son of God Jesus, or Yeshua, is correct from a human perspective. I, like most Christians, use “Jesus” because it helps when speaking to other English speaking people. I use the name when praying. God knows who I mean, His Son. The Jews use Yeshua because the name Jesus has an overtone, for them, of the persecution from wrong minded people, who did the persecution in, “the name of God”. Whether we use "Jesus the Christ" or "Yeshusa the Messiah" is of less importance as whether they mean the "Son of God", both are right. Jesus helps me focus on the "Son", and gives us a common name, so we can relate to each other when discussing the Son. But what we need to know is which Jesus do those names mean?

    Do you have to know all this to be saved? No, many are saved by putting their faith in the death and resurrection of the true Jesus, and never will know all this. God "calls us" and works around our misunderstandings. But there is a large number of Christians that are following a false Jesus. This new age, purpose driven Jesus is leading them astray.

    Jesus calls us not to be deceived by these false Christ’s. The followers of them will be the ones who stand before Jesus and claim they did miracles and healings in his name. He will tell them that He never knew them. Knowing the name and using that name to perform feats of wonders isn’t enough. We must accept the gift of salvation from the real Jesus, not a false one.

   Another thing is if we can see who the real Jesus is and not be so “name” focused, we can see Jesus in many more places in the Bible, then just the Gospels. Jesus fulfilled the law; He fulfills the writings of the prophets. He is named all throughout the Old Testament, just not with the name, Jesus. Once you have an understanding of this, the Bible will become richer. The Old Testament will take on more color, and the Old and New Testaments will relate to each other, for you, in a tighter fashion.

    It wasn’t unusual to hear the name Jesus (or the other translations of the name) at the time He walked the earth. Jesus was a fairly common name. A good reason God didn’t use the name Jesus in the Old Testament, would be that the devil would have had a lot of imposters, with that name, walking around just to distract the people then. In fact if you use the Hebrew Joshua instead of Jesus we would have people thinking that the Old Testament book of Joshua was about the Son. We see other examples were this confusion happens now. The book of James was written by the brother of Jesus, James. Yet many Christians think it was the Apostle James, the bother of John. The book of Jude was written by another brother of Jesus. Jude is short for Judas. Can you imagine the confusion if it was called the book of Judas? At least with the name of Jesus we can keep the Son straight, as to whom the Bible speaks of in the Gospels.

    Jesus referred to Himself most of the time by description, not by Jesus. When John the Baptist asks Jesus if He was the one they waited for, Jesus didn’t say “Of course, I’m Jesus, you should know this”. Instead He sent message of what He was doing. A false Jesus couldn’t do these things and this told John who he was.

    First we will take a look at some of the names of Jesus in the Old Testament, move on to names for him in the New Testament. After we will look at the many names for the Father and Holy Spirit in the Old Testament and names for Them in the New Testament. Then we will compare the names to see how many are the same in their meanings. This will help us understand that the three are one God. And help us understand who They are.

    What the name of God is, and the name of Jesus, His Son, what is the name of the one who created the earth, are questions that goes back as far as the beginning. Even in proverbs these questions are asked.
Proverb:30:4: Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in His fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is His name, and what is His Son's name, if thou canst tell?

      We first have mention of Jesus as the off spring of Eve in Gen. 3:15 “He will crush your head, and you will bruise His heel.” Here God is talking to the serpent after the deception in the Garden of Eden. This works on two levels. The surface level is snakes and humans. The second level is prophetic, with Jesus and the devil being represented. So we have Jesus referred to as a offspring of Eve and the devil as the slimy creep he is. God when He came to earth, as Jesus, took this to heart. Jesus would often refer to Himself as “Son of Man”. Jesus wanted to have interaction with his creation, even though his creation often didn’t, and doesn’t, want anything to do with Him.

    Before the Garden of Eden, Jesus is mentioned. John’s Gospel is a better place to go, and we get other descriptive terms for Jesus. These “names” are important ones. Let’s take a look at one.

    WORD; In Greek this is “Logos”, Hebrew is “dabar”. Even though we are dealing with a Greek word here we must remember the Bible must never contradict itself. So here we don’t look to the Greek use of the word that could be taken philosophically. Here the Word is preexistent and alive. John would have chosen logos because of it’s use in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, that was in use then. He was speaking mainly to Jews who knew it very well. To the Jews (this being based on the OT), “Word” was a distinct manifestation of God. In Aramaic the word is “Memra”. Memra is used in the Targums (Hebrew paraphrases) as a word for God. Even in the Greek were word is a “thought or concept” or expression of them, it works. For Jesus is the embodiment of divine wisdom, God’s thought all in one (1 Cor. 1:24; Eph. 3:11).

       (Jn:1:1-2) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”  To really get a handle on this verse (at least for me) it takes a while. I don’t think anyone can get a complete understanding of all this verse means, not at least till we make it to heaven. Here we see Jesus as the Word. Here we see the Word was with God at the beginning. Here we see that the Word was God. Yet the Word is a He (Jesus), and God, and with God. That makes two Gods. Since we know God is one, that means we are seeing 2/3th’s of the Trinity (the Spirit is there also, just not named, making all Three. To find mention of the Spirit we go back to Genesis 1:2 “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters”). We know that John is talking about Jesus because of the context of the text. A little later he tells us that the Word became flesh.  He makes it all the more clear right after this with another “name”.

Light; Greek is phos, "to shine". We’ll pick up with the next verses.  (Jn 1:3-5) “In him was life; and the life was the light of men”. “And the light shined in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not”. Here we know that the light is Jesus because we are told that John the Baptist was sent to bear witness to Him (the light). Light works on a couple levels here. Hebrews believed that without light there could be no life. Also light is “truth”. Paul uses the Greek word photismos in 2 Cor. 4:4-6 “light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them”. Of course the Gospel is the good news of God in word and the word is Jesus. The Gospel is also the truth and the Truth is Jesus also. John also in the verses tell us Jesus is the “True Light” but the “world knew him not”.

    What I want to note is that the devil was a angel of light at one time. What he does is mimic Jesus and tries to shine a false light. As dark as this world has become this false light can be alluring. Many today consider themselves “spiritual”, a sign that they know there’s something more out there. There has been a huge influx in the “purpose driven” church also. Both are evidence that this “false light” is leading many off the narrow road, on to the highway to hell.

    Well back to Old Testament, some names for Jesus were.

Branch of righteousness- Jer. 33:15

Corner Stone- Isa. 28:16

Counselor- Isa. 9:6

Deliverer- 2 Sam 22:2

Messiah- Dan.9:26

Prince- Isa 9:6, Dan. 8:11

Wonderful- Isa 9:6

Servant- Isa. 42:1, 53:11

Son- whole bunch of them verses

Most of the names in the Old testament that the Jews apply to God also apply to Jesus, Jesus is God. So here is a number of names that both have.

Blessed, Brightness, Creator, Everlasting, Holy, Jealous, King, Foundation, Redeemer, Righteous, Rock, Savior, Stone, Sword, Tower, and these are just a fraction of the names.

     In the Old Testament we have Jesus, in person, showing up also. Here we need to understand the difference between “The” Angel of God, and “a or an” angel of God. “a” angel of God, is the kind of angel we normally think of (unless you think angels are little babies with wings or beautiful women. We’ll discuss who/what angels are elsewhere if you do).  Angel in Greek is “angelos”, in Hebrew it is “mal’ak”, both mean messenger. “The” Angel of God is, for the most part, Jesus. God, as Jesus, is “The” ultimate messenger of Himself, with the ultimate message, the Gospel (good news) of Salvation. When Jesus came to earth like this, it is called a “Theophany”.

   There were five forms of Theophanies of God. All five are found in the Old Testament. With the coming of Jesus, and the complete Bible, the need for Theopanies just isn’t needed anymore. Jesus became “incarnate” for the rest of time. God in the form of the Son has joined His Holy Deity with humanity for eternity. But before the birth of Jesus, God did appear on occasion, in some manifestations, and one was “The” Angel of the Lord or “The” Angel of God.

    "The Angel of God" is the first, the other Theophanies are   2: “Visions”, such as with Ezekiel or Isaiah (Isa. 6; Ezek. 1).   3: A manifestation that isn’t human but can be seen such as with the “burning bush” (Exod. 16:10)     4: In human form (Exod. 24:10) and     5: His name (Isa. 30:27).

    I’m taking the time to mention this here, because you may at times run into someone that is claiming to experience some of these. Since we are looking at the names of God to learn about Him, it may help us know what He’s not doing at this time. Jesus did come in visions and Angelic form, in human form (other then as the incarnate Jesus) and as non-human manifestations. God is not doing so now. With the incarnate Jesus, God doesn’t need to appear as “The” Angel, or burning bushes and such. With the complete Bible He doesn’t need to give added information, in fact to add to the Bible with special knowledge is forbidden. With the Holy Spirit living in the “Church” He is already present.

      As I have said there are those that are claiming to be getting special knowledge from God. Belief in special (added, new, unknown, etc.) knowledge is called “Gnosticism”. Most cult and new age beliefs are Gnostic.  Many Gnostic bibles have been getting new attention these days. Books/movies like the DaVinci code are based from Gnostic bibles and writings. This isn’t new, Paul wrote about it before the Church was even a few years old. Revelations was the last book written and nothing was written after. All the Books of the Bible had to have known authorship. (Who wrote the Bible?). All the books of the Bible were around before Revelations, with Revelations being the last. But people will try, for many reasons, to add to the Bible. They did then, and do now. All churches would copy the writings and keep one, passing the signed one on many times. All churches knew which writings were true because most had the same letters. When a new writing would all of a sudden come to light they would reject it. You will hear a lot of garbage these days about whether the Bible has all the books, or certain ones were added for certain reasons, just ignore it. It would take to long to go though it here but the 66 books of the Bible are the true ones, and the same ones that have always been accepted.

    If someone tells you they have been talking with Jesus, God, or angels, run! God has the Bible as His authoritative Word and everything is in it, no need to say anything else. God may lay on your heart to say something, but it better be something He has written already or be based on His Word, anything else is false. If someone tells you they have a message from God or they have special insight, just close your ears. If someone tells you only they can understand the Bible, just walk away. If you are cleaning out your garage and you see a bright light and hear a loud voice “Hank, go and convert the birds!” it’s time to get some Gatorade and fresh air.

     If you pray for understanding the Holy Spirit will help and give you insight, but no more then He would anyone else. Do some people have an easier time then others, yes, but that is sometimes a gift of the Spirit. Does that mean you couldn’t have found the same insight with study and prayer, no. When Knowledge does come from the Spirit it isn’t “new”, it’s the same Knowledge that has always been in the Bible but it just “clicks”. I have prayed at times for understanding of writings in the Bible. Something just wouldn’t make sense for me and after studying still left me unsure. With prayer all of a sudden it all would “fit”. It would be so simple that I just couldn’t believe I didn’t see it before. I didn’t get new knowledge, just the Words written in the Bible all worked together. Believe me I’m no one special, if God opened His Word to me, he’ll open it that way for anyone.

     You need to read His Word for the Spirit to make it plain. He isn’t going to give you insight into something that He has already written about, if you won’t take the time to read it. God has written it all down, He isn’t going to spend His time by rewriting it all for you. If you have the time to read what a simpleton like me has written, you have the time to read what the Creator of the universe has put down.

    The Bible is unlike any other book, it is alive. If you have read it once, reread it. Each time you will get more out of it. The more you grow the more you will understand, the Spirit will only give you the understanding you can handle at that time. I don’t think anyone could handle all the information the Bible has, your brain would melt. Some of it like the prophecies can’t be fully understood till they happen, but very little of them can’t be understood at some level. Like the Jews have a veil over their eyes to who Jesus is. Some of the prophecies have a veil over them also. When God is ready, we will understand, the veil will be lifted. Even with the veil, well over 90 percent of the prophecies can be understood at some level or another, with more and more coming to light every day.

     Read the Bible, go ahead, it’s the dusty book at the right end of your book self (if it is, don’t freak, that was just a guess). A good teacher is very helpful, and some are gifted, but no teacher, no matter how gifted can replace Gods Word. Of course, for any of it to make sense you has to be saved, if you haven’t received Salvation, you don’t have the Spirit, without the Spirit, you leave yourself open for all kinds of Gnostic beliefs. Gnostic beliefs and Gnostic writings give you a “Gnostic” Jesus, and a Gnostic Jesus means a Gnostic salvation. A Gnostic salvation will give you a common hell in the long run.

    So lets get back to the names for God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, so you will be better able to tell the Gnostic from the True and only God. Just know that the Theopanies have stopped, the next manifestation of Jesus that the whole world will be able to see, will be his return. At that time He’ll be kicking butt and taking names.

Let’s look at the names from the New Testaments.

     Jesus himself tried in some way to point out the importance of these tittles. In Matt 19:16-17 a man called Him "Good". Jesus was quick to ask him "Why callest thou me good?" Then He followed with "there is none good but one, that is, God". He wanted to see if the man understood who he was talking to. Did the man understand he was talking to God.

    Jesus Himself asked Peter in Matt. 16:13-17 who the people were saying He was, then who Peter thought He was. The people gave names but Peter gave His title and description, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God". Jesus told Peter he was blessed for this information came from God the Father. Many at that time were walking around with the name of Jesus, but only one was, and could be, the Son of God. If you know who Jesus is, you are truly blessed. Many Christians today have no idea, sad to say many church leaders don't either.

      The above list is only some of the names for Jesus, and of the names listed, many can be found in more versus then noted. Pick up the Bible and see just how many more listings there are. Read and see how many more names you can add to that list.                                                            

       Next we will look at the Father and Holy Spirit. Moses asked God what His name was. God answered “I am”. Notice he didn’t say Tom, Dick, or Harry. He said “I am”, He is all that He is and there is no reason for us to know Him by a name. Again it’s the descriptive terms that He wants us to see. They tell us whom that “Am” is. It’s almost as if God could have said “I am________”, with terms following. So we will look at those terms to fill in the blank. The English translations of the Bible don’t do any of this justice. It is either Lord, LORD, or God to cover them all. We lose much of Gods majesties when we leave the terms out.

    In the English Old Testament “LORD” is YHWH. “Lord” is Adonai and “God” is El or Elohim.

Take a look at Exodus 3:14-15.

 “And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses. Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this my name for ever, and this my memorial unto all generations”.

   The “I AM” is the single Hebrew word “hayah” which means to “exist”, “be”, “become”, or “come to pass”. Does this mean that God’s name is “hayah” or “I AM”, no. It means all that ever was, is, and will be, has sent him. That’s all they needed to know. “I AM” is His name but not in words, but in meaning. God in this verse is Elohim, or Gods, as Elohim is the plural of El (God), or the whole Trinity. LORD here is the word YHWH.

    YHWH is known as the Tetragrammation (Greek meaning “four letters”). Hebrew didn’t use vowels, only consonants. The reader knew what vowels to use because they used the words so often. In fact today Hebrew still doesn’t use vowels; they place small marks to symbolize what vowel sounds to add. Back then they didn’t even have them. Since God’s “name” was so Holy they wouldn’t pronounce YHWH. Two odd things happened over the years. One was they started to use Adonai as the word they would say instead of YHWH, they didn’t want to break Exod. 20:7 or Lev.24:16. They felt that YHWH was God’s name more so then any other. To remind them to use Adonai instead of YHWH they started to interpose the vowels for Adonia into YHWH. In Judaism they still use Adonia many times. Now in the third century before Christ (B.C.), 70 rabies got together and worked on the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Bible (the common Bible at the time Jesus did His teaching). They added vowels to make it pronounceable, “YaHWeH”, or simply Yave. This is still found in Catholic Bibles. This is known as the covenant name. Next came the Masoretes who from the 6^th to the 10^th century worked to reproduce the original text of the Hebrew Bible. Here they took the Hebrew vowel signs for the Hebrew words of Adonai and Elohim, and put them together with YHWH to come up with YeHoWaH”, or as we know it as Jehovah. Jehovah is the covenant name that Protestant Bibles use. The Hebrew word for YHWH many believe comes from the Hebrew verb “to be”.

    Now knowing all that isn’t it a little silly for so many people to be fighting over how we pronounce Gods name. Can you imagine the bloodshed that people would have done in God’s name, if God did give us a proper name like Frank, Sam, buddha, or mohammah, oh yea I forgot about the nuts killing over that last one.

    Once again the name “I AM” is so much more then just a name. The people at the time of Jesus knew this and when He said “before Abraham was, I Am” (Jn 8:12), they knew just what He was claiming. Other “I Am’s” of Jesus.

    Words meant something (more so then today) to the Jews. None of these “I AM’s” were lost on them. Notice again He isn’t saying, I am Jesus and you better remember this name for your own good. He knew others would come and use that name to lead His flock a stray. But his sheep know the voice of their Shepherd. A thousand shepherds could come with the name Jesus, but His flocks will only response to His voice. Knowing by way of the Bible, who Jesus claims to be, is the way of knowing His voice.

     God in Hebrew and in Arabic is “EL”. How the Jews used the term “EL” tell us who’s God they are talking about. In Hebrew it may say, the “EL  of the Canaanites is baal-zebub” (which means lord of the flies, pagan gods are dumb). We know that it wasn’t the God of the Bible because the Hebrews and the Canaanites didn’t have the same god. At that time there was (and is) two kinds of Gods, false ones and The Real One. If it said something like, in the beginning ELohim created the heavens and the earth. We know they were speaking of our God, because only the True God would ever be considered the Creator by the Hebrews. God when He inspired the Bible by way of the Holy Spirit went to great pains to keep Himself separate. Then the Hebrews added terms after El to expound on the aspect of God, the Spirit, was emphasizing.

    Here are just some of them. These first “EL” names were mostly used before the covenant.

Next we have the covenant names for God.

    Next are some of the other names.

“Ancient of days” (Dan. 7:9, 13, 22) God and His Kingdom is for forever. Always was, and always will be; The intent is to portray God as very old. Old meaning wise, all knowing, forever, permanent, unchanging, before anything, and will be there after everything. Don’t confuse this with the image of some old sickly man (like father time at new years) with a long beard and staff. While we are on the subject, Jesus is portrayed, I believe, far to “weak” from what I know. Jesus was a carpenter. Carpenters didn’t have power tools then. They couldn’t go to the local Home Depot and pick up precut lumber, boxes of nails, etc. The carpenters’ job was very labor intensive and physical. When Jesus spoke of peace, love, and forgiveness, He spoke out of strength. He would have been a man that could have “kicked butt” if He wished. Instead He let them lead him, as a lamb, to the sacrifice.

“Fortress” (Ps. 18:2, Nah. 1:7). God is a defense; If God is with us, who can be against us? No one.

“Refiner” (Mal. 3:2-3) God purifies; It has been said that God can’t completely use us until He completely breaks us. I think there is some truth in that. Gold, silver, diamonds, all go thru an intense refining process. The Christian life isn’t for the weak, but God will never let one go thru more then they can handle. To shine like a diamond, God, at times, needs to knock a few chips off our shoulders.

“Refuge” (Ps. 9:9, Jer. 17:17) God is a safe place from enemies; No matter who has let you down or who hasn’t been there to help, God is always there. God should be the first place we look to for refuge, sadly, He is the choice of last resort for most.

“Rock” (Deut. 32:18, Ps. 19:14, Isa. 26:4) God as the “Rock of Israel”. Strong and forever; A Rock to rely on, to build our foundation of faith on. A Rock to anchor our lives on. The Rock of our salvation, as with Jesus, is an honest image. In a world that is ever changing, in stormy times like these, there’s comfort in knowing something will never change.

“Shield” (Gen. 15:1, Ps. 84:11) God is protection; A Shield as in protection from the slings and arrows of life. A Shield from evil. A Shield like was used by armies but also like a father that a child hides behind. When the school yard bully comes after you, Jesus is the Father the child can hide behind, and peak his head out, from around His legs.

“Shepherd” (Ezek. 34) God is the Shepherd King, the good Shepherd; The Shepherd protects His flock, leads His flock, cares for His flock and knows His flock. His flock also knows Him and knows if they are lost, the Good Shepherd will not give up the search, until found and returned to the fold. Jesus said He was the Good Shepherd, one of His “I Am’s”.

“Sun” (Ps. 84:11) God as the source of light and life; What more can be said. Without the Sun, life ends. Without the Sun, life ends for animals, plants, humans, and the whole of earth. Without the Son, life creases. Another of Jesus’ “I Am’s”, was He is the Light.

    What you will see is that the names for God the Father, and Jesus, are the same, interchangeable, or at least have the same meanings. To divide the names into just the Fathers and just the Son’s becomes impossible, the names can mean both. Look at what the Bible has to say about both. LORD (YHWH) and Jesus are both said to have created the universe, both are the Savior of Israel, both are the Rock, both are the provider, both are the Good Shepherd, both are King, and here is a big one, YHWH and Jesus both are the FIRST AND THE LAST (Is. 44:6, Rev. 1:17). You can’t have two first, or two last. The Jehovah witnesses will try to claim that it is the Father who is claiming to be the first and last in Rev. 1:17.  But the next line in Revelation is, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore” (Rev. 1:18). Now I wish the J/W’s could tell me when the Father died and came back to life. Both are the first and last, both are the Redeemer, etc., because both are God. When we read the Bible "LORD", many times, can’t be separated between the Father, or Son. Many believe any time you see "LORD", it is Jesus in the Old Testament, and I would say they are right.

     Jesus is God as the Son. No one can look at God and live in our human form. So to us God had to humble Himself, in the form of a human. Jesus the "Word" became flesh. For the dealings with our spirit, God is in the form of the Holy Spirit. God has done everything for his creation, yet we do so little for Him.

     What names does all three of the Trinity have in common? Really all of them, each of the Trinity deals different with us, and the names are more to our benefit, so we can know which one of the three, we are dealing with. The three are the same God, in three different but equal, and simultaneous manifestations and personalities. Each separate but equal in Their Godhood (What is the Trinity?).

    Now we’ll take a look at the “silent partner” of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is the most misunderstood of the Three. Either Christians don’t think about the Spirit at all, or they take Him beyond the extreme, right into the abyss. In Hebrew the word Spirit is “ruach”. In Greek the word is “pneuma”. Pneuma is translated as wind, breath, or Spirit depending on the context of the versus. Again it is so important not to take God’s Word out of contexts. When God said not to change His word a Jot or Tittle, He was taking about what the meaning is, not pronunciation.

    The Holy Spirit is not speaking in weird languages, or holy laughter. The Holy Spirit isn’t just some cosmic force. The Spirit is a person in the same sense as the Father and Son. The Spirit isn’t Jesus Himself. When Jesus appeared to the disciples He told them to touch Him. They thought He was a spirit, He reminded them that spirits don’t have skin and bones (Lk. 24:37-39). I call Him the “silent partner” because the Spirit in many ways is more involved in our lives then any of us give Him credit. In the Old Testament it was the Spirit that “hovered over the waters” (Gen. 1:3), and partook in the forming of the earth. Silent partner in the sense that He is like the wind, one can’t see the wind but we know its effects, as Jesus told Nicodemus (Jn. 3). The Spirit had made Job (Job 33:4). The Spirit is everywhere and one can’t go anywhere that the Spirit isn’t (Ps. 104:30). At times in the Old Testament the Spirit would come to men much like He comes to the believer now (Judges 3:10, 6:34, 11:29, 13:25, 14:6, 14:19). But back then the Spirit would come and go depending on the need and person. Saul had the Spirit come upon him but then He left him (1 Sam. 16:13) because of Saul himself. David also had the Spirit come upon him. We Christians once saved have the Spirit with us all the time. Unlike the past, the Spirit stays, the Spirit keeps our Salvation for us. Thank God for that, for if it was up to us we wouldn’t fare better then Saul.

    When Jesus did His ministry on earth He did so as a human. One of His favorite names for Himself was Son of man. He was all human, and all God. He brought the Gospel, but also was the Gospel, living and walking among His creations. He was the benchmark for man to try to reach. If He had come with all His Godly powers, then we could say, that we can’t hope, to come close to a “Christ like” life. So when He left His rightful place on the right hand of the Father, He also left the powers He could use for Himself there, to be rejoined with Him upon His completion of the plan of Salvation. The powers He bought to earth were for man's (His creation) benefit. He, like us, prayed to the Father for what He needed. It was the Spirit that helped to heal and cast out demons (Matt. 12:28). We must pray to the Father also, but in the name of Jesus so that the Father will see us sinless, by way of the blood the Son has shed on our behalf. It was the Spirit that worked the conception of Mary (Matt. 1:18,20). It was the Spirit that came to Jesus at the baptism (Matt. 3:16). The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness (Matt 4:1).

    But Jesus having come from the Father, and part of the Trinity, knew the truth and was Truth, and there by had pure faith. With the faith of a muster seed we can move mountains, Jesus with the faith He had, could have called for the destruction of the earth, but was lead like a lamb to the sacrifice. Peter walked on water because of his child-like faith in Jesus, he only started to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus. We humans may think that it isn’t fair because we haven’t known the Father the same way. How can we have faith like that, faith like Jesus? Well Jesus has taken care of that also, pray for it. Faith is a gift also, and comes by the Word of God.

    Does that mean we can be god-like with enough faith, NO! Becoming Christ-like is the work of the Spirit in the believers’ lives. Being Christ-like is in the sense of His nature, and how we live our lives. Christ-like as He was here on earth as “Son of man”. Not Christ-like as God. We become a son of God, not “The Son of God”. Jesus is God; we can never be God, or a god. There are a number of faiths that either imply we can be god-like, or gods, or are gods that have forgotten we were gods. There is only one God and we aren’t “all that”, but Jesus is. Put your faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus, faith in that payment for your sins and you too can become “a” child of God. You can even call Him Father, would you believe, “daddy”?

    Another name for God was…

ABBA;

    Abba is a Aramaic word for father, in the familiar. One can translate the word as “daddy”. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word “ab” (“daddy” in Hebrew) is sometimes used to refer to God; (Exod. 4:22, Deut. 32:6, Isa. 45:9-11, Mal. 2:10). But this was more in God’s relationship as “daddy” to Israel, not so much man.

     But it is the New Testament, with the coming of Jesus, that Abba (daddy) is used, to show us how close we are to God with Jesus. Jesus uses Abba when asking the Father to take the cup from Him (Mk. 14:36). But if you think that it’s only Jesus that can think of God as daddy, Paul clarifies it more in Romans 8:15. Here he is telling us that with the Spirit we become co-heirs to the Father, by way of adoption (Jesus was “begotten”, we are adopted, again Jesus is “The” Son of God, and God. We can only be "a" child of God). Paul writes “…but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, ABBA, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:” (Rom. 8:15-16). Also it is much the same that he writes in Galatians 4:6.

    In the “Lords prayer” (which should be called the Apostles prayer, for Jesus was teaching them how to pray) Jesus uses Father. In the Greek this is “pater”. How He uses it is much the same as what “Abba” is intended to mean. “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed (Holy) be thy name…” (Luke 11:2), again in a familiar sense. Let me make a note here, the familiar use of Father, or even Daddy, doesn’t mean all familiar terms are fine. God becomes our Father by way of the Spirit, not our big buddy, man upstairs, etc. Be careful about being “flippant” in how you address God. God is Holy and deserves our respect. Remember “not to use the LORDS name in vain” (one of those Ten Commandments, remember those?), God is our Father and as a Father, daddy is fine. If your son came into the house after school and said “hey big buddy how goes it”, would you care for it. Make sure you’re not trying to bring God down to your level; man can never be on the same level as God. The creation can never be on level with the Creator. This is what the devil tried. Like the devil, this many times, comes out of pride, the first and worst sin there is. At best it is a lack of respect. If you have used terms like this, and you do have the proper respect for God, God knows it and isn’t upset, but you know better now. Remember we must consider how non-, or immature, believers see us. They may not pick up the respect for God that you have.

    Remember Abba, and the use of it, is as a small child would call his father, not as in something like "hey daddy how goes it". A small child when he uses "daddy" still has respect, awe, wonder, and honor in the use of it. He can use daddy because it is a special relationship he has with father. That is what the Christian should take from "daddy". The Christian has a personal relationship with God that none other have. Remember God is Holy and deserves, and demands, our respect.

    These names that we have looked at don’t describe any other gods. Mohammad, buddha, mother earth, the queen of heaven (Mary), or any other. One can’t pick and choose which terms apply, a god must be all those to be God (or Jesus). No other god does. No other religion has a god that can meet these requirements. All other gods were men who died, elements of nature, figments of man's imagination, wood, stone, metal, etc.. There is only one God (Father, Son, and Spirit). The God of the Christians and Jews. Or as the muslims call us "the people of the Book". That's true, that book is only the Bible, and the source we need to use to understand who God is.

     What’s in a name?  A lot. If the God/Jesus/Spirit you have known doesn’t fulfill the above names, you may not have known the real Jesus. Take the time to read What is Salvation? And follow the link at the bottom. It can change your life.

     Lastly we will take a look at unknown names.

    Is there a name for us that we don’t know? Why yes and he will tell us after His plan for salvation is over. Remember at the beginning I said if you can name it, you can claim it. Well after you’re saved you have a name that only God, Jesus, and the Spirit knows. We will be given the name after “we overcometh”. “… and will give him a white stone (a white stone here means approval), and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saying he that receiveth it” (Rev. 2:17). Jesus will name us, and that’s just further proof we are the Lords. Jesus tells the Father, “I have lost none, no not one”. You can’t lose your salvation because it’s not up to you to keep it. The Spirit and Jesus keep it safe.

    Is there a proper name for God? Not that we know of now, but in Revelations 22:4 we are told “And they shall see his face, and His name shall be in their foreheads”. For that name we will have to wait. Will it be Jesus, Yahoshua, Jesu, or will we find we have been pronouncing it wrong all along. Will it be a name that we haven’t known yet? Take the gift of Salvation, and you can in time, find the answer yourself.

      I hope you now have a idea of who God in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are. Now you are better ready to defend them. To explain them to strangers better, or to help a Christian who thought they were saved, to find the true Jesus and receive that permanent gift. If you happen to be one of them that never knew who Jesus is, take a look at What is Salvation? And follow the link at the bottom.

Let’s review

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Last modified: 12/15/07

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Proverb:30:4: Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in His fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is His name, and what is His Son's name, if thou canst tell?

Proverb:30:5: Every Word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

Proverb:30:6: Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

Re:22:18: For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Re:22:19: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Re:22:20: He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Re:22:21: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

 

 

 

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