“From the rising of the sun even to its setting, My Name will be great among the Gentiles,” says Yahweh Sabaoth.
(Malachi 1: 11)
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Yahweh is Bigger than the Universe
You’ve heard about “the fabric of space”. This is what it looks like:
This is not a drawing. It’s a picture of space. In this picture, you can see the way objects in space are connected.
Every part of space is connected to every other part of space the same way that one section of a bolt of cloth is connected to every other section of that bolt of cloth.
That means we are part of the universe. We don’t exist within the universe as independent objects.
Taking it one step further, we exist within Yahweh. We are not independent of Him. Paul explained it this way:
For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from Elohim’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from Elohim’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of Elohim that is revealed in Messiah Yeshua our Master. (Romans 8: 38-39)
Paul had a difficult time explaining Yahweh. Words can’t convey who He is, but Paul knew that we are connected to Him and that nothing can separate us from Him.
We are free to choose to recognize Yahweh or not to recognize Him, but our choice has no bearing on Yahweh. He is whether we recognize Him or not.
Stated simply, Yahweh’s existence is not dependent on our recognizing Him.
The Name Yahweh derives from the Hebrew verb hayah. It means “I am”, “I was”, and “I will be”. Yahweh explained it this way: “I exist.”
About Paul
I quoted Paul above. Some of you may think that I have a problem with Paul because of things I have said about him.
I don’t have a problem with Paul. I have a problem with the way people have used Paul’s letters.
Paul did a great job of explaining many things and helped many people, including me, to come to a better understanding of Yahweh, but Paul did not write Scripture. His letters were written to explain Scripture, especially the fact that the Messiah is the manifestation of Yahweh who was promised in the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings (i.e., the Tanach or the Old Testament).
Too few people study Yahweh’s word preferring instead to focus on Paul’s letters. That’s a serious mistake. Yahweh gave us His word for a reason. Don’t set it aside. Paul’s insights, as valuable as they are although not perfect, are not a substitute for Yahweh’s word.
The New Testament
The New Testament has 3 parts:
- Gospels
- Letters
- Revelation
Gospels
The 4 Gospels are about Yahweh’s human manifestation, the Messiah. They explain who Yahweh is, what He has done, and what He will do. The Gospels are the heart and soul of the New Testament. In the Gospels, we see what Yahweh has to say about Himself and what He has to say to us on a more personal level.
Letters
The Letters shed light on important points in Scripture, but they are not exhaustive. If the Letters covered all of Scripture, the Bible (the Old Testament and the New Testament) would be too big and too heavy to pick up much less carry.
Revelation
Revelation is Scripture. It’s a combination of explanation and prophecy. It’s unique in the New Testament.
Words Matter
The words “testament” and “new” are problematic. Those words don’t convey accurately what the Old Testament and New Testament are.
Testament
The word “Testament” is not accurate. It is more correct to say “Covenant.”
Yahweh made a covenant with Abraham and passed it on to all of us through Isaac and Jacob/Israel. They and we broke the Covenant.
Yahweh gave us His Covenant through Abraham because Abraham had faith in Him. Yahweh expects us to manifest the same faith that Abraham had. I call it “the faith of Abraham”. It’s a faith with legs. By that, I mean it’s a faith that is willing obey Yahweh despite our profound lack of understanding. For details, read The Trilogy.
Yahweh’s Covenant is critically important. For details, read His Name is Yahweh: Revised Edition.
New
The word “New” is inaccurate, too. It’s more correct to say, “Renewed Covenant”. Yahweh promised to renew the Covenant that we broke:
“Behold, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will make a new covenant [will renew My covenant] with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares Yahweh. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Yahweh, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares Yahweh, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31: 31-34)
The New Testament talks about Yahweh renewing His Covenant with us through the Messiah. Stated succinctly, the Messiah’s shed blood ratified the Renewed Covenant and by faith in Him we are saved. It’s faith with legs or the faith of Abraham.
Yahweh is Bigger than the Universe
The video below hints at how large the universe is and how difficult it is to understand:
The universe is huge. For instance, galaxy MACS0647-JD is the second farthest object in space that we have seen. It’s 13.26 billion light-years from Earth. It would be impossible to show that distance in miles in this editorial, because there is not enough space to write a number that large.
We are connected to galaxy MACS0647-JD even though it is very far away. Yahweh is bigger than the universe, and we are connected to Him as well.
It’s impossible to know how big Yahweh is. The universe is not infinite, but Yahweh is.
“Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and the heart of man has not conceived the things that Elohim has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2: 9)
Yahweh’s Name suggests that He is beyond measure. “I exist” is the way He explained Himself. In other words, He defies description.
The fact that Yahweh loves us and cares about us amazes me. It amazed Paul, too, as he made clear in Romans 8: 38-39.
Below is a picture of galaxy MACS0647-JD. The tiny square in which the galaxy shows up in this picture is blown up in the larger square. MACS0647-JD is the red dot at the center of the larger square:
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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)
