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The Full Gospel and God’s Character

/ Yosef (ytl) / Leave a comment

This is the first part of a series. The events from that original Passover to Pentecost at Mt. Sinai paint an amazing picture of God, who He is, what He is doing, and what man’s part is. This picture, however, doesn’t always line up with what is normally taught in our churches.

Let’s start with Exodus 6:2-3.

“God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them.” (NASB 1995)

There are a couple things to note. But before we get started there is another issue. Some of this won’t make sense if we stick to the English translation.

In the verses above, it seems that He is saying that “LORD” is His name. It isn’t. It is simply a title. The word lord is used throughout the Bible, and in ancient times, as an honorific to people, or even as a title to a deity. The word ‘lord’ is used today in much the same was as it was in ancient times, except that we call it His name as well, which it isn’t.

Here is a short article on the topic of God’s name: LORD – God’s Name.

Why is it important to understand God’s name at this point? Go back to that verse above. God is saying that He hasn’t fully revealed Himself yet; but He is going to. That revelation, underpinning the meaning of His name, starts there in Exodus and continues to the giving of the 10 at Sinai, and to the promised land. (It doesn’t actually finish until Yeshua (Jesus) comes, but that comes later.) He will be revealing His full character!

His name, יהוה, means basically, ‘the one who was, who is, and is to come’. Never changing; eternal. He further comments about Himself: He keeps His covenants and promises; He is full of grace and mercy.

Then comes a couple verses that explain all of what He is doing and will do. Paul and the apostles spend much time trying to explain it. Yeshua lived it out to show us its full meaning – the spiritual meaning if you will. Israel lived it out to show us the plain, physical meaning. The gospel! The full gospel! Not a watered down partial gospel! Here it is – Exodus 6:6-7; and I’ve replaced “the LORD” with Yehovah (or Yahweh if you prefer, or a couple other possible pronunciations – we aren’t sure):

Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. (NASB 1995).

Do you hear the gospel in that?

‘Bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians’: Did not Yeshua preach, ‘repent, the kingdom of God is at hand!’ He wants to bring us out of the kingdom of this world into His kingdom. Yeshua made this possible for us.

‘deliver you from their bondage’: Paul spends much time talking about the fact that those who have accepted and follow Yeshua are no longer under the law of sin and death – no longer under the bondage of slavery (to sin)!

‘redeem you’: Passover. The lamb and it’s blood on the door frame. All penalty for our sin, wrongdoing, and uncleanness has been paid in full through Yeshua!

‘I will take you for My people, and I will be your God;’: Ah, this one is the pinnacle! We are His! He is our God. This has many implications; If He is our ruler and God, we should follow His ways! If we are His people, we should act like it, including rejoicing that we are His! (As a side note, this phrase occurs a couple times in the Tanakh (“old testament”), and even in the book of Revelation. Check it out!

So, in God’s revelation of Himself, He starts with telling us the full gospel! Good news indeed! We don’t belong to this world – we have a higher calling! We don’t live and operate under the rules and penalties of the world – the law of sin and death; rather, we’ve been purchased as we were and brought in to His family! He is our God and we are His people!

Then He starts revealing more of what this means and has Israel live it out. As we go through it, it will be fun to notice the many Christian theologies that are addressed and often shown to be missing the mark. I hope you join in the journey! Both in reading it, and even better, living it by accepting Yeshua as the promised messiah! Doing all that He just stated…

Shalom,

Yosef

10 Commandments Series – 3: “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.”

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The third statement (commandment) is this:

“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”  Exodus 20:7 (ESV)

Okay, this begs the question, “What is His name?”  If you answered, “Lord”, “LORD”, “God”, “Adonai”, “Jesus”, “I am”, or a variety of other possibilities, then you aren’t correct.  God gives us His name in Exodus 3:16.  Unfortunately, English translations hide His name with the word “LORD”, and Christian English translations further confuse His name with “I AM”.

The word “LORD” is used to hide the Hebrew word that has the four letters, yud, hey, vav, and hey.  This is known as the ‘Tetragrammaton’ and is used over 6800 times in the Tanakh (“Old Testament”).  It is His name and basically means, “I was, I am, I will be”; an ‘impossible’ combination of past, present and future.   (On a funny note, the fact that Christianity chose to obscure His name by using “LORD” is showing that even though Christianity is, at its core, anti-Jewish, it copies some things Jewish).

Why is His name so hidden?  One reason is a literal understanding of this verse.  Over the decades and centuries, the Jews were using His name less and less so as to avoid accidentally using His name ‘in vain’.  As time went, His name was used less and less.

However, in the past, His name was used in greetings (see the book of Ruth) and in taking vows  (Deuteronomy 6:13), such as when saying, “as the LORD lives… .”

But what does it mean to take His name in vain?

One understanding is “don’t make His name common.”  In other words, don’t make His name a common word in your speech.  If you consider the word “God” or the name “Jesus Christ” to also be addressed by this command, then our culture’s prolific use of the two terms would be a perfect example of making a name common.

Another understanding in Jewish thought is that the command has to do with vows made unto Him.  It is an injunction to don’t make foolish, spur-of-the-moment vows to God, and be sure to fulfill the vows you do make.

“If you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay in fulfilling it, for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.  But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin.”  Deuteronomy 23:21-22 (see also 23).

When we take a vow “unto the LORD”, God takes it seriously.

Even Yeshua (Jesus) refers to this.

“Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. … Let what you say be simply ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ anything more than this comes from evil.”  Matthew 5:34-37 (ESV)

So, before you ‘swear’ to do something (or not do something), think about this.  God takes such oaths very seriously.  Yeshua (Jesus) pointed out that it applies even when we don’t explicitly use His name!

Let your speech be always edifying of others, and stick with ‘yes’ and ‘no’.

Shalom,

  • Yosef

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