“Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—this time I will make them know My power and My might; and they shall know that My Name is Yahweh.” (Jeremiah 16: 21)

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Katie and I are traveling in Israel and gathering information for SnyderTalk.  While we are there, I am posting excerpts from His Name is Yahweh in SnyderTalk.

The message in the book is important.  Please take the time to read it.

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God Said It and That Makes It So

Recently, I heard a disturbing statistic.  According to a Gallup poll taken in May 2006, fewer than 30 percent of Americans believe the Bible is the Word of God.[i]  Since God gave us the Scriptures to direct our path toward Him, the fact that more than 70 percent of the people in this so-called “Christian nation” say they do not believe His Word is alarming.

God is not an abstract idea or a theological concept.  He is the Sovereign of the universe.  To avoid any confusion, I want you to understand at the outset that I accept the truth of the Bible without reservation or qualification.  I make no apologies for standing on God’s Word, and my goal in this book is to show you what the Bible actually says about the Name of God—Yahweh.

Yahweh is God

It took me almost a decade to do the research required to write this book.  I studied Hebrew and Greek, and I read ancient documents that few people have ever seen.  I also made hundreds of presentations about the importance of God’s Name to groups ranging in size from 3 or 4 people to more than 500 people.  All told, I have talked with thousands of people about this subject, and my personal experience has taught me an invaluable lesson.  We have a long way to go before the Christian community understands what God said in the Scriptures about the importance of His Name.

It’s tragic that most Christians don’t know God’s Name and that He commanded us to declare the Name “Yahweh” to the world.  It may surprise you to discover that “Yahweh” is the only Name God told us to proclaim to the world.  This is an irrefutable fact—a fact you will understand perfectly by the time you finish reading this book.  Even more, most Christians have no idea that Jesus is Yahweh and that we have salvation in the Name “Yahweh.”  Think about it and let it sink in.  Jesus is Yahweh—our only Savior.

Occasionally, when Christians hear this message for the first time, they become indignant because they haven’t heard a preacher say it from the pulpit.  I’m confused too.  It’s difficult for me to understand why so many preachers don’t have a grip on the importance of this message—especially since it comes straight from the Bible and it’s repeated so often in the Scriptures.  A few years ago, I told a friend that God’s Name is Yahweh and that Yahweh is the Name in which we have salvation.  These are irrefutable facts, yet my friend was visibly angry.  With a harsh tone in his voice, he said, “That can’t be true because if it were I would have heard it a long time ago.”

My friend was more than 50 years old at the time, and he had attended church regularly since he was a small boy.  During more than five decades of attending church, he never heard God’s Name mentioned from the pulpit—not even once.  Interestingly, my friend will tell you in a heartbeat that he is a Bible-believing Christian and that he attends a Bible-preaching church.  That’s all the more reason to be confused.

Given what God says in the Scriptures about His Name, how can so many Christians fail to grasp its significance?   Why do Bible scholars tolerate the longstanding tradition of replacing God’s Name in the Scriptures with titles that Yahweh never intended as substitutes for His holy Name?  Even more, why have preachers as a group not made a fuss about this editorial tradition?  These are important questions that I hope you will ponder as you read this book.

The Name “Yahweh” is Concealed in the Scriptures

It’s regrettable that the Name “Yahweh” doesn’t appear even once in the text of the three most popular Bible translations on the market today.  The King James Bible, the New American Standard Bible, and the New International Version leave God’s Name out completely, and they substitute the titles “LORD” and “GOD” where the Name “Yahweh” belongs in the Scriptures.

There are two significant problems with this editorial tradition.  First, “LORD” and “GOD” are titles—not names, and Yahweh commanded us to declare His Name to the world.  He never even hinted that we should declare His titles to the world.

Second, the titles “lord” and “god” can be applied appropriately to wood, rock, or metal, and Yahweh Himself refers to anything that has been fashioned into an idol for worship as either a “god” or a “lord.”  In other words, these titles don’t distinguish between Yahweh and inanimate objects or false deities.  Once more, Yahweh did not tell us to declare His titles to the world.   He did command us to tell the world who He is by Name.

In the Old Testament, the Name “Yahweh” should appear where you see the phrase “the LORD” where all the letters in the word “LORD” are capitalized.  It should also appear where you see the phrase “the Lord GOD” where all the letters in the word “GOD” are capitalized.  Many times Yahweh’s Name is translated as “LORD of hosts” where all the letters in the word “LORD” are capitalized.  In Hebrew, this phrase is Yahweh Sabaoth, and it means “Yahweh Master of legions.”  It refers to Yahweh as the Supreme Sovereign in the universe—the ruler of everyone and everything including the forces of nature.

According to Charles Ryrie, author of Ryrie Study Bible, Yahweh’s Name appears in Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament exactly 6,823 times.[ii]  That number probably seems large to you, and I hope it raises questions in your mind about why you haven’t heard a lot about God’s Name in church.  And we know this, too.  The New Testament is loaded with direct quotes and paraphrased passages from the Old Testament and many times those Old Testament verses contain the words “LORD” and “GOD” in capital letters.  The Name “Yahweh” belongs there, but it’s not always easy to identify where God’s Name should be in the New Testament because most Bible translations don’t pay enough attention to the case of the letters brought from the Old Testament to the New Testament.

It makes sense to me that somewhere along the way in their studies of the Scriptures most preachers would have picked up on all the commands in the Bible associated with God’s Name and would have pointed them out to their congregations, but it hasn’t happened on a large scale, at least until now.  The fact that so few preachers tell their congregations about Yahweh by Name is troubling.

The systematic removal of God’s Name from the Scriptures and from daily use by His people has had serious repercussions.  God tied His promises, His covenant, His Law, and salvation to His Name.  Moreover, He commanded us to know His Name, to seek His Name, to bless His Name, and to share His Name with everyone.  In fact, these are unambiguous commands that come straight from the Bible, but it is evident that most Christians simply read past them without giving it a second thought.  It’s as if they think it doesn’t matter, even though Yahweh said it matters—a lot.

There is only one person I can think of who has a fanatical interest in hiding Yahweh’s Name (and the promises associated with it) from the human population.  He is none other than Satan himself.  The Holy Spirit may have allowed him to do it, but He certainly did not condone it.  You need to keep this fact in mind as you read this book.  The Holy Spirit may permit Satan to lead us into gross errors, but that does not mean He approves of all our actions.  Despite our disobedience where Yahweh’s Name is concerned, He has blessed us as a testament to His own generosity, kindness, patience, and love, but now it is time for us to obey Yahweh.

Try this experiment.  When you read the Bible and see the phrase “the LORD,” insert the Name “Yahweh;” when you see the phrase “LORD of hosts,” insert the Name “Yahweh Master of legions;” and when you see the phrase “the Lord GOD,” insert the Name “Lord Yahweh.”  These are accurate translations from Hebrew to English.  If you make these changes, you will see what God actually says in the Scriptures about His Name, and it will awaken you to insights that will amaze you, and maybe even shock you.  It will also help you to appreciate what God meant when He said,

“In every place where I cause My Name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.”[iii]

Jesus is Yahweh

This book presents what Yahweh said about Himself in the Bible, and it shows clearly that Yahweh identified Himself as the Messiah from the beginning.  The Person[iv] Christians call Jesus is Yahweh.  For example, in Philippians 2: 9-11, the apostle Paul was referring to the Name Yahweh when he said,

“God…bestowed on Him (Jesus) the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”[v]

“Yahweh” is the Name God bestowed on Jesus; it is the Name that is above every name; and it is the Name to which every knee will bow when He returns.  Regrettably, most of the time, Paul didn’t reference the Old Testament when he quoted Scripture.  In this instance, we know for a fact that Paul said God bestowed the Name “Yahweh” on Jesus because he is paraphrasing Isaiah 45: 21-24 in Philippians 2: 9-11.

This is what Yahweh told Isaiah:

“And there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except Me.  Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.  I have sworn by Myself, the Word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance, they will say of Me, ‘Only in Yahweh are righteousness and strength.’ Men will come to Him and all who were angry with Him shall be put to shame.”[vi]

Jesus said the same thing a little differently in John chapter 17.  Take a look at John 17: 6, 11-12, and 26 and you can see for yourself:

• John 17: 6—“I have manifested Your Name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world….”
• John 17: 11-12—“…Holy Father, keep them in Your Name, the Name which you have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your Name which you have given Me.”
• John 17: 26—“I have made Your Name known to them, and will make it known….”

In John 8: 58, Jesus said plainly that He is Yahweh:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I Am.”[vii]

That’s about as clear as it gets.  “I Am” is the definition of the Name Yahweh.  Later, I’ll explain why He used the definition of the Name instead of the Name itself in John 8: 58.

When Jesus was with us in Person 2000 years ago, the three most common names for boys in Israel were Yohanan (translated as Jonathan or John), Yaakov (translated as Jacob or James), and Yeshua (Joshua in modern English but transliterated as “Jesus”).  In other words, His Name was never Jesus.  In fact, the Greek Name for Jesus is “Iesous,” and it has been transliterated into many languages.  “Jesus” is just the English transliteration of His Name.

This is my point.  The Messiah is called by many Names, but Yahweh is the only Name God commanded us to declare to the world.  Even more, Yahweh is the only Name that distinguishes between God and anyone or anything else in existence.

His Name is Yahweh explains why God’s Name is so important.  It’s available in eBook format and in paperback.  It’s also available for free in PDF format.

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His Name is Yahweh, the website, is a companion of the book His Name is Yahweh.

To see videos that explain the importance of God’s Name, click here.

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“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17: 22-24)

See “His Name is Yahweh”.

[i] http://poll.gallup.com/content/default.aspx?ci=22885.

[ii] Ryrie, Charles.  Ryrie Study Bible Expanded Edition, Moody, 1995, p. 6.

[iii] Exodus 20: 24.

[iv] In this book, I capitalize the first letter in the word “Person” if I am referring to God.  As the personification and the manifestation of Yahweh, Jesus is the essence, substance, and occurrence of Yahweh’s divine nature.  Thanks to Andrew Roth for recommending this clarification.  Clearly, Jesus is no ordinary person.

[v] Philippians 2: 9-11.  The parentheses are mine.

[vi] Isaiah 45: 21-24.

[vii] John 8: 58.