Want to reign with the King? Then know and honour His Name
/The theme of our Passover period this year is: The King & I (Will you reign with Him?). For those who attended the Passover (Seder) meal on Wednesday evening and partook of ‘the Lord’s supper’ - you took a critical step towards this ‘reigning’.
Today begins the seven days of ‘unleavened bread’ that reminds us of just how important it is to remain free of ‘leaven’ or sin, if we truly want to ‘reign with Him’. When Yahuah brought the children of Israel out of Egypt the prerequisite to them being part of His Kingdom was that they had to remove leaven from their houses, at the risk of being cut-off if they ate any (Ex 12:19)!
Do you remember what the third of the 10 commandments says?
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. (Ex. 20:7)
“Lifting up” Yahuah our Elohim’s Name “lightly”, “unthinkingly” or ‘to no purpose’ - is part of that leaven, or sin. For this reason, we MUST both KNOW and HONOUR His Name. The root of Hebrew for ‘vain’ is “to rush over”, like a tempest.
So, let’s not rush over His Name this Passover. Instead, as we aspire to reign with Him, let us ponder His Name. Cherish it. Let His Name be sweet on our lips and speak it with reverence and love.
But, what is His Name? More importantly, what is His saving Name?
Many of us reading this grew up or came into church with the name of “Jesus” ringing in our ears. This is the Name we were told to be the saving Name, and the Name above all Names. The name of ‘Jesus’ is, without doubt, a fine name and the Name that has got us to this point, and for that, we must give thanks!
However, in these final days - as Yahuah uses us to bring in His end-times harvest, it’s time to finally get it right. Indeed, there is no greater misunderstanding existent in Christendom than that surrounding the NAME of God, and that of His only begotten Son.
Are you familiar with this scripture?
Acts 4:10-12 “Let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole… (12) Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is NO OTHER NAME under heaven given among men BY WHICH WE MUST BE SAVED.”
Acts 4 is pointing us toward the name we need, the ONLY name given for our salvation. But the question begs: Has this saving name been passed down correctly to us through the centuries?
It wouldn’t do to get it wrong so close to Messiah’s return, would it?
Also, and this is key - if we are to reign in power, together, with the God of Heaven - we MUST both KNOW and HONOUR His Name. Put another way: You cannot honour someone when you don’t know their Name.
Are you familiar with this scripture that refers to Samson’s parents' interaction with the angel that prophesied Samson’s birth?
Judg. 13:17 And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour?
Samson’s dad, Manoah, wanted to know the ‘angel of Yahuah’s’ name - in order to honour him. In the mind of the ancient Hebrews, if you didn’t know someone’s name - you couldn’t properly honour them.
So, what is the correct way to speak out the name of our Saviour? And if His Name IS the ONLY name by which we can be saved, and we need to know it in order to honour Him - wouldn’t it make sense that we make every effort to get it right?
Let’s start by looking at the name Jesus. ‘Jesus’ is an English 'transliteration' of the Greek word ‘Iesous’ (pronounced ‘ee-ay-sooce'). Transliteration is a language technique used to pronounce a word in the alphabet of another language.
'Iesous' itself is transliterated from this Hebrew word יְהוֹשׁוּעַ (Strong's number H3091). One option for writing this Hebrew word out in English is 'Yhowshuwaʿ (possibly pronounced 'yeh-ho-shoo´-ah', ‘ye-sh-u-a’ or ‘yah-ho-sha’ etc.). In your Bible you will find this Old Testament word usually written as 'Joshua'.
So what’s been lost in the transfer of יְהוֹשׁוּעַ from the original Hebrew, through Greek and into English?
In Greek there is no letter ‘Y’ or ‘sh’-sound. This means that in the move from Hebrew to Greek, the 'Yh' was changed to an 'I' (‘i’), and the 'sh' became ‘s’.
So, in the attempt to transliterate יְהוֹשׁוּעַ into Greek, two significant parts of pronunciation have been lost. Also, the letter 'J' is a 15th-century invention, created to distinguish between 'I' and 'J' sounds.
There is a lot of debate around the Saviour's Name and how to pronounce it correctly but the most likely options are: Yehushuah, Yahusha, Yeshuah and Yahshuah. Through research and prayer, we, along with many other believers in the Messiah, speak the Hebrew name of our Saviour as ‘Yahusha’, rather than Jesus.
Apart from the fact that we cannot properly honour our Saviour if we don’t use His correct name, there is another key reason to know and use it at this time: His Name is POWERFUL.
Phil. 2:10-11 That at the name of Jesus (Yahusha) every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; (11) And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ (Yahusha Messiah) is Lord (Adonai), to the glory of God the Father.
There are many scriptures that point to us being in the end times right now. One portion of of these, given by Yahusha Messiah includes this verse:
Matt. 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
The word in the Greek is “an-om-ee´-ah” and means “illegality” in the sense of violating Yahuah’s laws.
The more Yahuah’s law is broken, the more our love for Him grows cold.
Here are just a few statistics that point towards ways in which the violation of Yahuah’s laws is ‘multiplying’ in these last days:
In 1976 America, 91% of the population identified as Christian. In 2022 it was 64%. Pew Research Center projects that Christians will make up less than 50% of the American population by 2070.
3 in 10 teen American girls will get pregnant at least once before age 20. That’s nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies every year.
Also 1 in 5 of Gen Z adults in the USA (ie. those born between 1997 and 2012) now identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender.
Satan has unleashed a last ditch effort to harm as many of Yahuah’s children and destroy as many lives as possible before Yahusha’s return. We need the FULL POWER of His true Name to withstand and combat this multiplication of iniquity.
With those who are falling away at this time, who here is going to stand in the gap for them?
You and me!
Who is being called to go out into this world to help them?
You and me!
But, we can only do this if we reach the place of: The King & I.
We can only do this if we learn to reign with Him!
And we can only do that if we KNOW His Name and learn to HONOUR it.
This is the time, and this is the season to fully know and embrace the Name of Yahusha our Messiah, the only begotten Son of Yahuah our Elohim.
For, it was on this day just over two millennia ago that Yahusha shed His precious blood at Golgotha. In sailing terms, Passover is the high tide of the year, from which we can sail out in fresh strength, and power into Yahuah’s other feasts of the year.
Let us sail out of Passover this year on the crimson tide of Yahusha’s blood, knowing His Name and with a new-found commitment to honour His Name in all our doings in this coming year.