Tuesday 24 November 2009

Names of the Bible

This is a continuation of the last post.

In Isaiah 9: 6 it declares, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty Elohim, The everlasting Father, and The Prince of Peace.
So here it says that the name of Jesus will be the above mentioned titles. “The name “Yahshua” does not mean any of these things. What Isaiah is prophesying here is the fact that the Messiah’s name would be the same name as the Father Himself. This is confirmed in the following verse:
John 17:11--"And now Holy Father, KEEP THEM BY THE POWER OF YOUR NAME, THE SAME NAME YOU GAVE ME, so that they may be one, even as we are one."
We now know from this scripture that the name given to Jesus was the same name as the Father, which was Yahweh. So, here we have the answer to our mystery question. Yeshua has TWO NAMES! He has his natural born name (Yeshua) and His divine name (Yahweh). Christianity does teach that Jesus has a human nature and a divine nature. But do we fully understand why? Is it possible that we have overlooked the significance of the name of God as it relates to His son? Could this be a direct link to the nature of God and how the Father relates to the Son?
Remember, Hebrew names have great meaning. So when Moses was calling on the name of God (Yahweh), he was calling on His character and His being. In the same way, when we call on “the name of Jesus” we are actually calling on the name of Yahweh THROUGH what Yahshua did for us at the cross. Remember, every time you utter the name “Yahshua”, you are literally saying “Yahweh is salvation”. That’s what the name means. Yashua (Joshua in English) had always meant, “Yahweh IS salvation.” But now it had become a reality through what Jesus did on the cross.
Mt 11:27 Everything has been delivered to me by my Father, and no man knows the Son except the Father, nor does any man know the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.
John 14:6 Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
It is to this name, the name of YAHWEH, that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. In PHIL 2:9-10 Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, That at the name of (given to) Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, of those on earth, and those under the earth. Why would Jesus need to be given a new name if "Jesus" was the all important name? Because the “man” Yahoshua submitted himself to the will of the Father inside of Him and that “man” was exalted and was given a name that was above all names. And what name is above all names? YAHWEH. His earthly, natural name was “Yahoshua” (Joshua), but he was given a new name. And that new name would be the same name of the Father and the same name that he carried inside of him while on earth. And that same name would be the name that would be placed inside of us to aid us in accomplishing the Will of Him who sends US.
Therefore next time we say in Jesus’ Name, let’s realise that we are putting our entire faith in the person and name of Yahoshua and what He has done on the cross. Jesus declares that whenever we ask God anything in Jesus’ name the Father will give to us. This means that in our prayer for healing, when we say in “Jesus’ Name”, healing comes over our sick bodies because it is by His stripes that we are healed (1Peter 2:24). If we pray for protection, in Jesus ‘name, we are kept safe because the blood of Jesus protects and delivers us from evil (Exodus 12:13).
So when we pray in Jesus’ name, it is not based on what we have done or have not done but based on Jesus (Yahoshua/Yaweh) and His finished work at the cross. Therefore when we ask in Jesus’ name, lets pause and think before we say Amen!.

I pray that this will be a blessing to you as I was blessed when doing the study/reading.

Monday 23 November 2009

Names of the Bible

continuation of Names of the Bible

Many times we say a prayer and finish it off by saying in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen. So do we know what the name of Jesus is and how or why we use it? Let’s explore and find out why we use "in Jesus' name".
The whole book of Exodus discusses about the Israelites being lead by Moses out of Egypt. In Exodus 3:13 Moses asked God what he will say to the Israelites if they asked him who sent him.
Ex. 3:13- 15 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
The phrase “EHYEH (I am) ASHER (who/that) EHYEH (I am) DOES NOT ONLY mean “I AM that I AM”. The Hebrew word here is “Hayah”, which can also mean “To be”. “Hayah” is also not in the present tense, but the future, imperfect tense. The imperfect tense means that something is undone and incomplete, to be revealed in the future. And because Hebrew names described the character of that which was named, the real meaning can also be “I WILL BE THAT I WILL BE” as He had not revealed His complete character as of yet. The Messiah would bring completeness and fullness to His great name.
Moreover God said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’ Anytime you see “LORD” in all caps like this, you are seeing the name of God. The Hebrew for “LORD” is “YHVH” (Yud, Heh, Vav, Heh) or “Yahweh”. God says that “Yahweh” is His name forever. There is no “The” in front of “LORD” in the original language. The verse should say, “Yahweh Elohim of your fathers, Elohim of Abraham, Elohim of Isaac, and Elohim of Jacob, has sent me to you.”
The word “Elohim” means “plural majestic magistrate, judge”. Kings were also called Elohim along with anyone in great authority. The meaning of the name “Yahweh” is amazing when you break down what each individual letter means.
YUD-HAND or DEEDS
HEH-REVEALS
VAV-NAIL or SECURITY
HEH-REVEALS or OPENS
So, the very name of God means, “The Hand that reveals the nail that opens. So what do we mean when we say “In the name of Jesus”.
First of all, let’s find out what Jesus’ real name was in that time period as it obviously was not “Jesus”. The Letter “J” was not to be invented for another 1600 years! If you saw the movie “Passion of the Christ” by Mel Gibson, then you might recall everyone calling him “Yeshua”. This is the short form of “Yahoshua”, which, (Are you ready for this?), was the Hebrew name for Joshua. So, if “Jesus’” real name in English should be “Joshua”, then why do we call him “Jesus”? Where did we get the word “Jesus”from? It is a horrible attempt to translate “Yeshua” into the Greek “Ieosous”, and then they mixed in a little Latin to end up with “Jesus”. The name “Yahshua” (Joshua) is the combination of two Hebrew words, “Yah”, which is the short form of “Yahweh” (like Jim is the short form of James) and “Shua”, which means “salvation”. So the name Joshua means “Yahweh is salvation”.
Mat. 1:20-21 says, "Behold an angel of YHWH appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Spirit of YHVH. And she will bear a Son; AND YOU WILL CALL HIM "YAHSHUA" (YAH IS SALVATION) FOR HE SHALL SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS."
The very name our Messiah was given gives glory to the Father. And what does “Yahoshua” (Joshua) mean in Hebrew word pictures?
JOSHUA: (all caps are actual meanings of each letter.)
YUD- a WORK of the HAND
HEH- to REVEAL
VAV-the NAIL/SECURITY
SHIN-that DESTROYS
VAV-the SECURITY
AYIN-of the EYE or EXPERIENCE
This just makes me so excited and blows my little brain. Just as the first Joshua was chosen to reveal the security of Yahweh to the Israelites that would destroy the Israelites security in themselves, so the second Joshua (Jesus) was the hand that revealed the nail that would bring true security to the people of Yahweh and destroy the security that man had in his own experience. There was a prophetic reason why Moses was not allowed to take the people into the Promised Land. Joshua was to be the proto-type and foreshadow of the True Joshua to come.
Now that we know the actual name that the disciples called the Messiah (Yeshua), and the real name of God (Yahweh) and their Hebrew meanings, let’s unravel some very interesting verses in the New Testament that are commonly just glossed over without thought. In the process we will see how the name of God relates to the Son.
Philippians 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; Something that is often overlooked in this passage is that it is a direct quote from Isaiah. Paul is quoting Isaiah 45:23: “I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto ME every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.” Yahweh is the one talking and He says that everyone will be bowing to HIS name (Which we now know is Yahweh). Yet, Paul says that everyone will be bowing before the “name of Jesus”. Will we be bowing to two names? Is Isaiah quoting YHVH correctly, or is Paul correct? Well, they both are.

Let’s go further and discover what Jesus says in the New Testament
Jesus says in John 5:43 "I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me…” Yeshua came in the name (by the authority of and in the character of) the Father. Just as a messenger that is sent from a king has no authority unless he has the king’s signet ring, in the same way, Yeshua says his authority comes directly from the Father and is intimately connected to The NAME.

Yahweh Bless till then...

Monday 16 November 2009

Names of the Bible

In order to understand the Bible in its context we need to understand a little bit or more if given the chance to study Hebrew and perhaps learn how the Jewish people lived at that time. It will help us to quote the Bible correctly and believe the truths. Many times I hear people misquote John 8:32 saying the truth will set you free, no, the truth will not set you free, unless you have the knowledge of the truth then it will set you free. The Bible is God breathe and inspired by the Holy Spirit and so it can enable us to live our lives with joy and abundance.
The Hebrew language is an ancient language that first started in pictograph form (meaning that originally the words were pictures that eventually evolved into letters.) But as time went on, the letters still retained many of their original meanings. Whereas the letters of the English alphabet have no meaning until combined with other letters to make a word, the Hebrew letters have meanings individually as well as when they are combined to form a word. So not only do you have the obvious meaning of the word, but you also have the hidden meaning as you combine the individual meanings of each letter. There are no vowels in the Hebrew alphabet (aeiou). For example in the Hebrew alphabet, the first letter is Aleph meaning an Ox and the last letter is Tav meaning cross (+)/mark/sign/covenant. When you pause and think, you can see that the ox represent the lamb who was Jesus and the cross/convent represents Jesus’ death on the cross. It is finished cried Jesus. Every human being's sins have been paid for, past present and future. There is hope for all who are alive.
God Himself emphasises the importance of names.
In Hebrew thought, a name is not merely a random combination of sounds created for random designation. The name conveys the nature and essence of the thing named. It represents the history and reputation of the being named. Many times, Hebrew mothers would name their children based on what they looked like, or their initial personality. The ancient Hebrews believed that your name was representative of your character. The emphasis that God and the Hebrews put on names was so weighted, that at certain times, He finds it necessary to change the names of certain people to properly reflect their new nature or prophetic role.
Let me illustrate just a few. The name “Adam” is spelled with the letters “Aleph, Dalet, and Mem”, in the Hebrew language (no vowels in Hebrew). The letter Aleph means “breathe, first, leader or divine”. Dalet means “to enter, door”. And Mem means “water, chaos”. So what is the meaning of Adam’s name? It could mean “The first divine leader that entered through the door of many waters”.
In the book of Psalms 18:16 He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. Interestingly enough, the last two letters of Adam’s name (Dalet and Mem) combined make up the Hebrew word for “blood” (Dam).”. And Aleph by itself means “first or divine”. So, his name also means, “The first one with Divine Blood”, which he obviously did have, as he was created directly from the Father. This is partly why Jesus is referred to as the second Adam as He also had “divine blood” and carried a similar role.
Furthermore, in Genesis 17:1 – 27 God made a covenant with Abram and his wife Sarai and then told them of their new names. Originally the name Abram was given to him by his father Terah and later changed to by God. Abram means exalted father and Abraham means father of many.
In Genesis chapters 1 and 2 we have the naming of all creation. We find that Adam named Eve, his children and all the animals, while God named the darkness, light, sky and land. This is very interesting. It looks as if Adam had authority over his wife, children and the animals, while God had authority over sky land light and darkness. When someone owns something or if they give birth to a child they name that thing or person because they have authority and responsibility over that thing or person. Abram was named by his father, the one who had authority over him. But when Abram left his father’s house and headed on his own, God, who respected Terah’s authority previously, now takes his authority and changes his name indicating a change in authority.
The name “Abram” means, “The first leader of house, the most important head of house over many.” When God changed his name, He added a “heh” before the “mem” and so changed the meaning of his name to “The first leader of house, the most important head of house THAT WOULD REVEAL OR OPEN for many.” The tremendous significance is found in the covenant and promise that God gave to Abraham that through him, the Seed of the Messiah would come forth that would open the door for the Gentiles to come near to the Father. In Galatians 3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ. God changed his name from being the “Father of many”, to the “Father that would reveal or open for many”. His name could not stay the same, because his mission had changed. Now that we understand Abraham we can then move on to find out about Sarai.
Firstly, in Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you (Satan) and the woman, And between your seed (Satan’s kingdom) and her Seed (Christ’s kingdom); He (Christ) shall bruise your (Satan’s) head, and you (Satan) shall bruise His (Christ) heel."
In this verse we see that the seed of the woman will finally tear down or crush the head of the serpent. With this in mind, let us look at how this might relate to the meaning of the name “Sarai” and why God changed her name at the same time he changed her husband’s. “Sarai” means “To destroy head of house (authority) through hands or deeds”. Up until this point there was no promise given that would destroy the “head of house” (satan) and his curse on mankind. All we had was, these prophesy, in Genesis 3, but there was no action taken on it until the Covenant with Abraham. But interestingly enough, right after God gives them the promise of the Messiah through their seed, He changed both of their names to reflect the promise and their new roles in that promise. Remember, at this time, her womb is closed and cannot bear children in her old age. Watch this! He removes the last letter (Yud), which means “hand or deeds” and adds the letter “Heh”, which means, “To reveal or open”. And what did God do? He opened her womb, so as the promise of the Messiah could come through her! So her new name (Sarah) would now mean, “The one who would destroy the head of the household (Satan) through the opening of the womb”! And of course, we know that Christ came from the line of Isaac, Sarah’s son. I’ll pause here and will write some more...
Till then, God bless

Thursday 12 November 2009

Gift

Proverbs 18:16
A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.

Another word for gift in this context is talent. God has deposited in each person a talent that the world will make room for. When you realise this talent you will learn to use it to its fullest potential to fulfil your vision or passion in life.
Education does not make room for you but your gift does according to God’s word. Our families and society made us think that education is the key to success but when you pause a little and think, you will find that is not. If that was the case then every degree holder would be financially secure and happy.
Education, together with your gift will guarantee you success. I know of people who have Ph.Ds. and are not successful in their jobs. Some, who are directors of companies that run down the company instead of improving it. However, there are other people I know who don’t hold Masters Degree but do very well.
The world will not move for you just because you are smart. However, when you exercise your gift the world will not only make room, but will also pay for it. My encouragement to every Papua New Guinean out there, identify your gift and develop it. Perfect it or improve your skills and make yourself a commodity. We don’t have to look elsewhere for skilled workers because we are the ones that can better our country. We are the ones that can truly make a difference in our own country(PNG).

Thursday 5 November 2009

Jeremiah 29:11


“I know the plans I have for you; “declares the Lord,”plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”
This is so reassuring that we should not give up where we are right now. If we are a cleaner or a plumber or electrician, we should still hold on to the greatest desire we have deep down in us. Those great passions that remain when we are awake, is called vision. When we have a vision it does give us inner strength to get up in the morning when we don’t feel like it. I lived in UK for 12 years and I have seen that builders had more money than other professions around whom some where my neighbours. Ten years ago builders were just seen as builders but now some of them are millionaires. Plumbers in UK are recognised profession too. Just because someone is a doctor or a lawyer, that does not mean they are more superior than you. Many of these professionals struggle much more then someone from the rural or village. This is because their life style changes as they move up the ladder.


Papua New Guinea is a very rich country and so there is so much potential. I think we (PNG) may be the only country that has over 90% customary owned land. You may have a dream of doing something but you got side-tracked or something went wrong and you abandoned it and decided to live a normal life. Let me remind you again that you will never be satisfied because you were created to be unique. You were designed by God not to blend in, but to stand out.
For example if you are a cleaner and remain faithful in this job, God can give you a bigger plan to think of inventing a vacuum cleaner that is effective or starting up a company that can employ people.
If we can look beyond our present condition and have hope for the future, we have true riches, even if we have lots of money in the bank account. It does not matter what we currently have or don’t have, as long as we can see what we could have. This dream is key, to life because where there is a dream there is hope, and where there’s hope, there’s faith – and faith is the substance of fulfilment of what you are hoping for. (Hebrews 11:1)
In the book of Psalm 139:14 declares,” I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous at your works...” You are not just another person. Don’t ever allow anyone to cause you to think of yourself as ordinary. If anyone makes you feel less than you are, just look in the mirror and say, “I am smart and intelligent. I am one of a kind and irreplaceable, original” When I was in Oxford I worked in an old people’s home to pay for my school fees to attend a good college and the old people would call me dirty Niger but it did not deter me from completing my education. People talk but when you know who you are in God, you will go ahead of everyone. Another example Dr Myles Munroe, when he was a little boy in Primary School in Bahamas; his white teacher called him monkey. Today he is a great man helping lots of people around the world.
Gold is costly because it is difficult to find. Similarly, God wanted you to be eternally valuable, so He made you permanently rare. He created you one of a kind. You are the only person that can fulfil the vision/dream you have.