The Importance of His Name (Part I)

Just sharing on the importance of the name. I am YHVH; and we'll go from there. Of course, most of us will be familiar with all of this stuff, but it's very foundational to what I talk about next week. So this is important because it carries on into something more. But we'll start with Exodus chapter 6, verses 1 to 8.

"YHVH said to Moses, "Now you will see what I'm going to do to Pharaoh. By way of a strong hand he will let them go and drive them out of his land. Elohim spoke further to Moses and said to him, 'I am YHVH. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as El Shaddai or El the Almighty One. Yet by My Name YHVH, I made Myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage where they journeyed. Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of B'nei Israel when the Egyptians are keeping in bondage. So, I have remembered my covenant.

Therefore say to B'nei Israel, the children of Israel, I am YHVH and I will bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians. I will deliver you with an outstretched arm and with great judgement. I will take you to myself as a people and I will be your God, your Elohim. You will know that I am YHVH, your Elohim, who brought you out from under the burden of the Egyptians. So, I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob and give it to you as an inheritance.”

‘I am YHVH.’ That means ‘I cannot fail, for I am YHVH.’ That's an emphatic declaration to Pharaoh and to the world. Whose God is the greatest and what is His name? ‘You will know that I am YHVH.’ He wants that to be known. In Numbers chapter 6, verse 22 - we know it well but we'll read it. “Again YHVH spoke to Moses saying, ‘Speak to Aaron and to his sons saying, thus you are to bless the children of Israel by saying to them, ‘YHVH bless you and keep you. YHVH make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. YHVH turn His face toward you and grant you shalom.’ In this way they are to place my name over the children of Israel and so I will bless them.”

‘Place My name over the children of Israel and so I will bless them.’ His name carries blessing and shalom. Who would have thought of that? If we don't know His name, we miss out on the blessings that are built into His name.

‘Place My name over them and upon them.’ Deuteronomy 28 says from verse 58 - I've got that somewhere there…  “If you do not take care to do all the words of this Torah, the things written in this scroll, to fear this glorious and awesome name, YHVH your Elohim, then YHVH will make your plagues and the plagues of your descendants extraordinary, terrible and prolonged plagues, severe and prolonged illnesses. He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt that you were afraid of and they will cling to you.

Also every illness and plague that is not written in the scroll of this Torah, YHVH will bring on you until you are destroyed.” Wow, that's telling it. ‘Take care to do all the words of this Torah and to fear this glorious and awesome name, YHVH your Elohim.’ How emphatic is that? ‘I want you to know My name. I am the great and awesome God with a great and awesome name, and in My name is all power to do anything I say and no one can stop it happening.’ That's the power of His name. 

Isaiah 42 verse 8… there's about three passages there. “I am YHVH, that is My name; My glory, My kavod I will not give to another, nor my praise to graven images.” 

“Will man make gods for himself? Yet they are not gods, so I will surely make them known. This time I make them know my hand and my might. They will know that my name is YHVH. Will man make gods for himself?”

Yet they are not gods. They worship their gods but they're not gods. They have no power, they have no authority other than what Satan will do. So, I will surely make them know. This time I make them know My hand and My might. They will know that My name is YHVH. Don't go worshipping other gods Israel or anybody else. Don't put anything else before Me because I will make sure you know I am God. My name is YHVH.

My name is powerful, full of authority and there is no God and no name greater than My name. And I will demonstrate my power and my greatness for the things that are done in my name. Next verse, passage… “Surely by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. However, I have let you stand for this reason; to show you My power and that My  name might be proclaimed throughout all the earth.”

He said to Israel, I could have wiped you out for all that you have been and done wrong. The way you have not followed and honoured that which you were raised up for. I could have wiped you out, could have taken you off the face of the earth. But I will let you remain Israel, for this purpose; to show you My power, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout all the earth. Keeping Torah and fearing His name are synonymous.

His name and His Torah bring blessing. His name and His Torah brings curse. Depends how we honour it, how we obey it, how we live it. But His name and His word, His Torah are one and the same. As we've seen in those verses, ‘Take care,’ it said in Deuteronomy, ‘to do all the words of this Torah, to fear this glorious and awesome name, YHVH your Elohim.’ There's many, many verses declaring the importance of Elohim's name right throughout scripture.

And that He wants the whole world to know His name and who He is. Our God is a jealous God, we know that. And He will not give His glory, His power, His praise to any other name, man or demon god. No one takes the glory or the honour. No one exalts themselves. No other religion, no other god, no other name must be exalted above My name. All the earth must know who I am and what is My name, and what I can do, and what you can do in My name.

He makes lots of verses and passages right throughout scripture, that He puts a lot of premium on His name and its power and its purpose and the authority that resides in it. And He wants us to come to that place where we understand the authority that resides in His name. If religious man or believer takes YHVH's name in vain, the third commandment, YHVH will not hold guiltless anyone who uses His name in vain. It's got nothing to do with swearing because you hit your thumb with a hammer.

This is about the Almighty and how His people use His name. To do or say anything in His name that does not represent the truth of Torah and His word is to bring judgment on oneself and his ministry. And it is to dishonour and defame His name before the world. If we teach what His word does not teach, if we declare what He does not declare, if we make God out to be something that He is not, then we have dishonoured His name.

We have taken and used His name in vain. And He says, I will not hold you guiltless if you use My name wrong. 2 Timothy 2, verse 16 says, “But avoid godless chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their words will spread like cancer. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have missed the mark concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place. They are overturning the faith of some. Nevertheless, the firm foundation of Elohim stands, having this seal; YHVH knows those who are His, and let everyone who names the name of YHVH keep away from unrighteousness.”

Paul is saying the same thing. Paul is quoting from Exodus, sorry, from Numbers 16, of Korah and the rebellion of Korah and his friends. Teachers of the false, like these two men that Paul names here, and says what useless godless chatter and teaching people bring. And he is highlighting there the damage and the danger of it and leads people astray. People are following these men and their faith is being overturned. And so, these men, these teachers, these ones who falsely dishonour God and His word, he says that they will be judged just like Korah and his friends were judged.

The earth opened up and swallowed them and their families when they opposed Moses. ‘Let everyone who names the name of YHVH keep away from unrighteousness.’ If we use His name, if we teach in His name what is not of Him, we're in trouble. He makes a pretty strong emphasis on being righteous because that is unrighteousness. If we teach people the wrong way in YHVH's name, in God's name, we stand at the pulpit and say ‘in His name I share this word’ and it's false, that is leading people into a walk of unrighteousness. 

And here He says you're in trouble. You will be like Korah and his friends who opposed Moses and his teachings and his ways and what God had told him to do. In Proverbs 30, and we know this passage very well as well, verse 4: “Who has gone up into heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in the palm of his hand? Who has wrapped the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name and what is the name of His son - if you know?”

Every word of Elohim is purified. He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words or else He will rebuke you and prove you a liar. ‘Who is the creator of the universe?’ the writer is asking. Who is the creator of this planet, this earth on which we dwell and everything it represents and all it provides and all its resources? Where did it come from? What is His name? What is His son's name - if you know?

Don't add to it. Don't change His word or you will be rebuked as a liar. God will make sure. Your salvation, our salvation and our entrance into the kingdom of God is dependent on it. That we do not add, we do not change and that we know His name and His son's name and how they interconnect and relate. We may have been forgiven and redeemed, but it doesn't mean you'll be accepted into the kingdom at the certain coming of Yeshua, which is our salvation.

Now there's another message, isn't there? And we'll see that in some other passages. We may have been forgiven and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, but it doesn't mean you will be accepted into the kingdom when Yeshua returns, which is salvation. [“Controversial.”] Hmm? Very. Well, we're only as controversial as the scriptures themselves are. Deuteronomy 29:28 says, “The secret things belong to YHVH our Elohim, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever in order to do all the words of this Torah.”

‘The secret things belong to YHVH.’ He knows everything about everything but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever. Why? In order to do the words of this Torah. We don't know everything about God or we would be God, but the things that He has revealed belong to us, and He has revealed who He is, what His name is, what is righteousness and justice and truth in the Torah. He said ‘I have revealed something about Myself, My expectations, and who I am in My word.’

They're revealed for you to do it and it's for you and your children forever. He says, what I have revealed is for you to know, to follow and to obey if we want His blessing. If we resist what scripture reveals then we compromise what YHVH has for us, and that includes our salvation and our part in His kingdom. If Torah says do this and we don't, if Torah says do that and we won't, we compromise what God has revealed to us from all His eternal knowledge.

And it also includes what we do with His name and how we use it or not use it or hide it. It's exactly the same. I have revealed to you My name. Don't hide it. Use it correctly and properly. It's for you and your children forever because in that name is power and authority and blessing and fullness. That all things are in Him. All blessings are in Him. All of creation is His. He controls climates and nations and worlds. In His name kings are deposed and enthroned. He says it's all revealed in My word. Don't add to it. Don't change it. Teach it, live it and obey it. The secret is much of it I've made known to you so that you can honour Me as your creator, life giver, redeemer, saviour, etc. 

So, we come now to ‘baptise or immerse them into the name.’ Verse 28. Now, of course, you've heard me talk about this many times, many more times than some people want to hear it. But we'll hear it again because it's going to take us somewhere. Verse 16: “Now the eleven disciples went to the Galilee, to the mountain Yeshua had designated. When they saw Him, they worshipped, but some wavered. Yeshua came up to them and spoke to them saying, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them into the name of the Father, the Son and the Ruach HaKodesh, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you, (or teaching them to observe all I commanded you). And remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

And you know, of course, that I make a strong emphasis on the fact that the translators put the word ‘in’ instead of the word ‘into’ in that passage. And it changes the emphasis completely. According to Yeshua, everyone must be immersed into that name. YHVH wants His name to be known in all the earth. He wants us to understand that His name is a great and an awesome name.

That in His name is all power, all authority, all of creation belongs to that name. There is something important about that name that He wants us to understand, take a hold of and enter into. So according to Yeshua, all must be immersed into that name. What are we to be immersed into? The name of the Father, the Son and the Ruach HaKodesh. That's what we are to be immersed into, into their name. Yeshua here is giving us the name of the Father, the Son and the Ruach, which is YHVH.

That's the name which we are to be immersed into that name. All three have the same name. The Father is YHVH, the Son is YHVH, the Ruach is YHVH, the name is singular. You're not being immersed into the ‘names’, plural, of the Father and the Son and the Ruach, but into the name, singular. And Christian theologians will tell you that's exactly right. That's what it means, and I've read them. And they will say, yes, that is singular, the construction is, that the reference here is to the one name.

They all have the one name. And then they theologise themselves into a totally different doctrine, because if they take it as it's written, it destroys their theology. In these three manifestations of YHVH are found the fullness of our redemption, our righteousness, our salvation, authority, gifting, wisdom, promises, inheritance, all in that name. Everything that we need is in that name. Everything that YHVH promises us is in that name. YHVH the Father, YHVH the Son, YHVH Ruach, in that name, everything that we need in life is in that name.

And He says, I want you to be immersed into that name, because that name has everything you need for life, for salvation, for redemption, for healing, for provision, for needs met, for protection, for overcoming. In My name you will find everything you need. I want you to be immersed in My name, to follow that name, to honour that awesome great name. Can we take a hold of the greatness of that name, what that name contains, what is in that name, what that name represents, who it represents, what is the fullness of the meaning of that name, and what difference would that name mean to me if I was immersed into it? This is what he's trying to get us to take a hold of.

And so, to honour, to obey and to be led by YHVH as expressed and experienced in these three is to be called children of the kingdom. So, if we will walk in the truth and the power of that name, in all of its essence, then we are the sons of God. To obey the Father's word, to accept the Son's gift, to be led by the Ruach is to be sons and daughters of Elohim. And we can look at all scriptures that say all of those things.

What we are taught and immersed into is very important, because it shapes our whole theology and our belief system. So, what I was taught, what you were taught when you became a believer in Jesus is that which shapes what we believe, how we think, how we serve and follow God, how we interpret the word is all based upon what we have been taught and told. The water of immersion and His name represents everything that is found in Moses and the cloud and the sea.

So, it doesn't say be immersed into water. Yeshua says be immersed into the name. Now, that's strange, isn't it? Yet, we always see it as water. Be immersed, be baptised. That little word in changes the whole mental concept of our minds. Be baptised in the name of, and we immediately think, wow, that just means getting plunged under the water and coming out of the water. So, be baptised into the name. It doesn't even mention water, that's just assumed.

Of course, we know it is water, but water and the name go hand in hand together. When we are immersed into the water, we are immersed into His name. What is He saying? What does that all mean? So, 1 Corinthians 10, and we'll just explain where Moses comes into that. Verse 1 of chapter 10. “For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. They all were immersed into Moses.” Did I say into Moses? Into Moses. That's the Greek word ‘eis’, e-i-s, pronounced ‘ice’, and they translated it correctly. Why didn't they put ‘in’? No, ‘into’ Moses, because that's the Greek word. They all were immersed into Moses. They weren't immersed in the water. They weren't immersed in the cloud. They were immersed into Moses. Of course, we know they were under the cloud. We know they walked through the sea, but they were being immersed into Moses.

Now, what a strange way to construct a sentence and to say something. How the natural mind cannot grasp these things, and unless the Spirit of God opens our eyes and understandings, we will never see these things. We will change words to help us understand what we think it should mean. 

“And all ate the same spiritual food, all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Messiah. Nevertheless, Elohim was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the desert.”

This goes back to what I said before. You can believe in Yeshua. You can be baptised in water. Doesn't mean you're going to enter the Promised Land. There's something more, something more. All of Israel were under the cloud and passed through the sea, and they all ate the same spiritual food and drank from the rock that followed them. The rock was Messiah.

So, the cloud, the sea, the rock, and the water they drank from the rock and the manna they got from heaven was all about Yeshua the Messiah. And they, Paul is saying here, that what they experienced is exactly the same thing that we experience. There is no difference. Therefore, everything found in Moses represents everything found in and taught by Yeshua. Moses is the prophet like unto Yeshua. Moses and Yeshua are one and the same symbolically. Moses is Yeshua, Yeshua is Moses, or Moses represents Yeshua, Yeshua represents Moses.

So, the experience of the children of Israel going through the sea, being under the cloud, is exactly the same as our experience of being immersed into his name. They were immersed into the name of Moses, or into Moses, and we are immersed into Yeshua, YHVH. And so, it's what we are immersed into that becomes very important. Moses represents Torah. Moses represents the rock, Yeshua. And everything that they ate was the manna from heaven. It's the word that comes from heaven.

The cloud they were under is Ruach HaKodesh. The sea they went through is the waters of baptism. The water that sprang out of the rock is the life-giving drink that comes from Yeshua, our Redeemer, our Saviour. All the imagery is exactly the same as being immersed into the name of the Father, the Son and the Ruach HaKodesh. All the imagery is there and all the types and shadows are there. We know, of course, that only new wine, new wineskins get the new wine.

So, if we want the new wine, we have to be new wineskins. We need to be immersed into the new, and it begins with baptism. We need a new immersion, an immersion into the new way of doing and serving. A new obedience to a new belief system of Torah and grace. Not ‘Torah done away with grace.’ We must be immersed into the truth of Torah and grace. We must enter into a new obedience to a new belief system, into the ancient paths of righteousness demonstrated by Abraham and Moses and the Apostles.

All are one and the same message and importance. Moses and Israel, Yeshua and the Apostles all carry the same message, all say the same thing and are all pointing us to the same life. The same way of finding forgiveness, salvation and victory over the flesh. John came proclaiming repentance, the good news of the kingdom and baptising. John the Baptist, John the baptiser, John the immerser. He came proclaiming repentance, the kingdom of God is at hand and he immersed them in water.

Is that true? Yeshua came proclaiming repentance, the good news of the kingdom and baptising. Did He not? The Apostles went forth proclaiming repentance, the Good News of the kingdom and baptising. Didn't they? Yes. All doing and preaching and saying exactly the same things as each other. So what is the outcome of this important truth and teaching in the life of the Messianic communities as to baptism in the book of Acts? How did this teaching unfold in the life of the Apostles and the communities established by Paul? Acts chapter 18, verse 24:

“Now a Jewish man named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, well versed in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of YHVH (or Adonai). With a fervent spirit he was speaking and teaching accurately the facts about Yeshua while only being acquainted with the immersion of John. This man began speaking out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of Elohim more accurately. When Apollos wanted to cross over to Archaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. Upon arrival he greatly helped those who by grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jewish people in public, demonstrating through the scriptures that the Messiah was Yeshua.”

 Powerful man, powerful preacher, very charismatic personality and bold and brave in his message. But this is an interesting insight into the current teaching and belief of the early Messianic believers in Yeshua. Apollos was a great teacher about the facts of Yeshua, but he only knew the baptism of John. Something is missing in his theological understanding of baptism and its progression into a new covenant experience. There is something he is not aware of. So Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God more accurately. That's interesting, isn't it? What was this more accurate way of water baptism that needed to be understood and entered into? Let's continue, chapter 19:

“While Apollos was at Corinth, (so Apollos left Ephesus and went on into, as we read, into other areas and he is at Corinth). Now Paul travelled through the upper region and he came to Ephesus. (This is just where Apollos has left. Paul comes into Ephesus again), and he found some disciples and he said to them, ‘Did you receive the Ruach HaKodesh when you believed?’ They replied to him, ‘No. We've never even heard that there is a Ruach HaKodesh.’ Paul says, ‘Into what were you immersed?’ They said, ‘into John's immersion’. Paul said, ‘John immersed with an immersion of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the one coming after him ( I'm reading it as it is translated) - that is, in Yeshua. And when they heard this, they were immersed in the name of the Lord Yeshua. And when people, when Paul laid hands upon them, the Ruach HaKodesh came upon them and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. And in all there were about 12 men.”

Here in Ephesus are a group of disciples, followers of Yeshua who knew nothing about the Ruach HaKodesh, knew nothing about the Holy Spirit, never heard this teaching. They didn't have a clue what Paul was talking about. Why? Because they were converts of Apollos and baptised by him. We believe that Yeshua is the Messiah, and he baptised them into John's baptism. Never heard of the Holy Spirit, never heard of Ruach, never heard any teaching or any instructions that related to that whatsoever.

So, they were new to this Messianic way, the way of following Yeshua as their Messiah, who is the Teacher of the way, the truth, the life. And Paul picked up and noticed that you know nothing about the Ruach HaKodesh? How come? What were you immersed into? That gave him the clue. Something was missing in their life. And he says, I guarantee it is your baptism. You cannot be immersed and baptised without knowing about the Ruach HaKodesh.

They said John's immersion. John's was an immersion of repentance, a call to believe in Yeshua. John's message was the Messiah, Yeshua, the Lamb of God is coming. The saviour of the world, the one who will give His life for you. Repent. And he baptised them. So, when they heard this, they were immersed into, not in, the name of YHVH, Yeshua. If I read these verses again, verse 3, he said, “Into what were you immersed?” That's right, into.

They said ‘into’, not ‘in’. They said into John's immersion. Paul said John immersed was an immersion of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in. No, that they should believe into the one coming after him. That is, into Yeshua, not in, into, Yeshua. And when they heard this, they were immersed into, not in, into the name of YHVH, Yeshua. Proper water baptism has a message and an enlightenment of understanding about the name of YHVH and the three Godhead figures who represent that name and what each one brings into our life.

Father, Son, Ruach, each brings something into our life that the other doesn't. Each, every one of them plays a part in your redemption, your salvation, your future, and your place and part in the kingdom. Every single one of them. And these disciples knew nothing about Ruach HaKodesh and the part that the Spirit of God plays in their life. They knew nothing about the power of the Spirit of God. They knew nothing about the work of regeneration that the Spirit brings.

They knew nothing about the truth that the Ruach HaKodesh writes Torah into their hearts and minds. They understood nothing about those things. Father, Son, and Ruach all play a vital part in our lives. And if we want what he has for us, we must understand what part they play in our salvation and our transformation from people of the world to people of the kingdom. They all play a part and it's built into His name. And so, as John the baptiser said, “I will immerse you into water, but the one who comes after me will baptise you in the Ruach HaKodesh.”

You will enter into that name, and then the Son will fill you with the power of the Ruach HaKodesh. Now, this seems like a strange way of phrasing something: into the name. Instead of in the name, or with the name, or upon the name. In this passage that we just read here, Acts 19, Paul uses the Greek word ‘eis’, e-i-s, five times. The same word that Yeshua used in Matthew 28 to say to baptise them into the name.

And it's the same word, eis, that is used of Moses taking Israel through the sea. Same word. And they translate it right there. Baptism is about entering into something that is greater than you and that is outside of you. We are entering into something through baptism that is greater, greater, far greater than what you and I are. It's an experience and a believing that you and the name are becoming one with each other. Now, that's important.

The name YHVH and I become one. I'm not being immersed in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as a formula. I'm being immersed into a name that I become one with. I'm entering into, I'm becoming part of. That name is becoming part of me and I'm becoming part of that name. It's an important distinction. So, the Father, the Son and the Ruach HaKodesh all have a power, a provision, a transforming, renewing work of grace or righteousness that is built into the name.

The power of His name, the righteousness of His name, the goodness of His name, the kindness of His name, the love of His name, the patience of His name. As Yakira read in Psalm 145 when we were having the music, all of those attributes of who YHVH is is stated in that psalm. And we are to be immersed into the fullness of the meaning of the character, of the nature, of the attributes of that name. That name and what it represents must become part of us.

And He said, I want you to be immersed into what My name represents and who I am. It's not, it's just not about what I believe, but what I become. And that's a big problem for me because I was taught about what I believe. I believe in Jesus. No, it's not about ‘I believe in Jesus’, it's about what I become in YHVH. So, it's not just about believing I'm forgiven. I have died to self and I've come alive in Yeshua.

Not at all. This is about a covenant relationship that gives me the full rights to the Father's name as an inheritor of everything that that name represents. We know that in Scripture names are very, very important. And we know that in Scripture, firstborn sons get the double portion. And we know that if I inherit, or if I and the Father are one and His name is my name and my name is in His name as Scripture teaches, then I inherit everything that that name represents.

My name is John Pike, and my sons inherit everything that is in my name… which ain't much. But Yeshua, YHVH, He is God of all. He is owner of the universe. He owns the wealth in every mine, the cattle on every hill. Everything I need He can provide. I do not doubt one iota that He will not give me what I need when I need it. No doubts whatsoever. Because I am in His name and His name is my name and I have inherited everything that that name represents.

And Yeshua said, you get people, you tell them the truth about the kingdom and immerse them into that name. Because everything the Father is and has, everything the Son is and has and done and everything the Ruach empowers you to be and to become is in that name. And He wants us to be immersed into the fullness of the meaning of YHVH. Because everything the Father is, everything the Son is, everything the Ruach HaKodesh is, I need for different aspects and parts and places and times in my life.

And so He says, get people immersed into that name. Not in the name of a little formula that you say as a prayer as you dump people under the water. The authority of the Son, the gifts and anointings, presence and power of the Ruach is for us. And we are to enter into that by faith. And in that name we trust and we receive everything it represents. That's what He wants us to build our lives and our prayer life into and about.

Paul uses the word eis, or into, five times in that passage. But the translator here in this translation translates it only twice as ‘into’. And the other three times it translates the exact same word as ‘in’ Yet it's a totally different Greek word, ‘in’ and ‘into’. Greek ‘in’ is e-n-n, ‘into’ is e-i-s. Two totally different words. The writer and Paul the speaker, they know what they're saying and they know why they're saying it. Other translators don't even translate that word ‘eis’ as ‘into’ even once.

You read King James, you read most of the other translations and every one of those words ‘eis’ will be ‘in’ and not ‘into’. This translation gives at least twice out of the five. They will say, they will translate that word eis and in the context of what we're talking they will say ‘in’ or ‘on’ or ‘with’ or ‘unto’ or ‘upon’. They will use all those words instead of ‘into’. ‘Upon’ or ‘unto’ or ‘with’ or ‘in’. But they won't use ‘into’.

 Why is that? When there's two totally different Greek words in the process. They're using anything but the primary meaning of eis, which is into. If you look up Strongs and you look up the word into or the Greek word eis, e-i-s, it will have about half a dozen or ten definitions. But the first one and the primary one is ‘into’. Then it will give you the other options. You get down to number four and they say ‘in’.

You can translate that word as ‘in’ depending on the context. And here they use the fourth word ‘in’ instead of the primary word ‘into’. Why do they do that? You know why they do it. I've had people say to me that I don't know Hebrew or Greek, so I don't know what I'm talking about. I'd be the first to say I don't know those languages, because I don't. But I do know the Bible and I do know the Scriptures fairly well.

And it's not hard to find the primary meaning to words in another language. That's what dictionaries are all about. So why would you use the word ‘in’ which is the Greek word ‘enn’ for the Greek word ‘eis’ which is the primary word for ‘into’? Because it suits your theology. That's why. If you translate every word correctly and change nothing, then Christians are going to run into trouble with their beliefs. Their doctrines, their traditions and their practices are in trouble if we translate those words of Yeshua, one little word from ‘in’ to ‘into’.

That's going to change their whole theology in a whole lot of areas. One little word. Why won't they give the Greek word eis its primary meaning ‘into’ in that verse? The same as they did for Paul when he said about Moses. They used the primary meaning of that word into Moses, they were immersed. Why wouldn't they say exactly the same thing about Yeshua's words ‘into the name?’ Why change it? Because it ruins their theology, and their practices and their beliefs and their traditions are challenged by that one little word.

[“John, can you give some examples?] I will right now. So they change it to suit and that's pragmatic Christianity. And it doesn't matter whether I give any examples or not. It is theologically right or wrong. Yeshua said and we read in the Scriptures don't add anything, don't change anything, don't subtract anything, don't alter my word by one letter, by one word. Every word in Scripture is extremely important. Don't change them. He's clear on that, whether we see instances or illustrations or not.

He said if you do, you will be judged on it, and I will prove you to be a liar in the way you use my word. We read all those Scriptures to begin with. Our theologians, our Bible translators, our writers of our commentaries are all experts in Hebrew and Greek. Just like the rabbis of Yeshua's day, experts in the languages. And look at how they changed things to suit their own bias and traditions and doctrines. The experts in Hebrew and Greek of Yeshua's day changed Torah to suit their traditions and their traditions were given more authority than Moses' word.

Our New Testament experts, what have they done to answer [Victor's] question? They've done away with Israel. They've done away with Torah, the law. The Sabbath is gone, Passover and tabernacles is out and Easter and Christmas are in. That's their theology, that's their tradition, that's their doctrines. The rapture and the Trinity are in. And heaven with all its mansions and hell with all its torture and agonising screams of hopelessness forever and ever are in. And the truth of the first and second resurrections and the tribulation and God's true kingdom here on earth is out.

All of these things are changed by the use of a word that's wrong. When you insert the right words all the traditions get challenged. Christianity has a baptismal formula with a change to the wording to suit their doctrines along with a whole lot of other things as well. Baptismal immersion is just a formula. I push them under the water and say, ‘in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit’. It's a formula. It's just something they say, but it's not what Yeshua said to say.

He said, immerse them into My name. He didn't say, say a prayer. He didn't mention the word prayer. You don't have to say a prayer. He said, immerse them into My name. Give them understanding of what the name of YHVH means and is about. Who the Father is, who the Son is, who the Ruach HaKodesh is and the part they play in their redemption, salvation and ongoing power to live the life and to walk the walk.

Make sure they understand and know what they're coming into, and immerse them into that name. He didn't say you have to say a prayer or a formula or something over them. He said, immerse them into My name, and that's what we should do. We immerse you into the name of YHVH Yeshua, our Redeemer, Saviour. So, at baptism we are entering into a relationship with the Holy Spirit who will teach us all things pertaining to Torah if we will let him.

We're immersed into the Father. We're immersed into the Son. We're immersed into the Ruach HaKodesh, YHVH Father, YHVH Yeshua, YHVH Ruach. We're immersed into the truth of what that name represents. Children of Israel were always under the cloud day and night. That's Ruach. He led them. He was their guide. They followed that cloud wherever it took them. Ruach was there. They heard the voice. Moses went up the mountain. What did he enter into? The cloud. Ruach is the presence, the kavod of YHVH.

Moses went into the presence, the very spirit, the very glory, the very manifestation of His presence and walked into it, and the voice spoke to him out of it, which is Yeshua. The Father came down in the form of a cloud, Ruach HaKodesh. The voice spoke, Yeshua Redeemer. All of these things represent what happened to Moses, represents what happens at his baptism. The dove comes down upon Yeshua. The Ruach HaKodesh is the very essence of the spirit of the Almighty YHVH.

How does YHVH reveal himself? He reveals himself as Yeshua the Messiah. He reveals himself as the indwelling fullness of Ruach HaKodesh. The spirit within us is YHVH dwelling here. YHVH the Almighty manifests himself as Ruach HaKodesh. We call it Ruach HaKodesh. We call it Holy Spirit. But it's a Hebrew word of course that means breath. It means wind. It means the very essence of the Almighty. It means the very power and presence of YHVH Creator, Father.

Father Creator has presenced Himself in our hearts and our minds, imprinting and implanting Torah into our lives and enabling us to walk in it. Those who are led by the spirit, by the breath, by the presence, by the kavod of the Almighty that indwells us. He says, I want you to enter into the name of Ruach. I want you to enter into the presence of the One who will speak with you, lead you, guide you, teach you, train you. That's My presence in your life. That's the cloud that Israel was under that led and guided them. 

Nothing changes. The symbolism is all the same. And you're saying at baptism you enter into that. So, you don't need to know Hebrew and Greek to understand the word. You need to know Ruach HaKodesh. That's what we need to know. He will tell you what's in here. He will open our understanding to what is in here. The breath of God, the spirit of God, the voice of God, Yeshua, Yeshua teaches us.

Ruach teaches us, leads us and guides us. We enter into that. So, Paul baptised these Ephesian believers again with a new understanding. We need an immersion into the new. People may feel that to be baptised again means my first baptism was without meaning. The truth is, it should never have happened if the scriptures were followed correctly. But it was part of the old and important at the time. It opened the door to a faith that you never had before, even though it was a faith with many false beliefs attached to it, unfortunately.

But it was the beginning of something, of entering into a life of understanding that Yeshua is my Saviour and Redeemer. But along with that came a whole lot of wrong doctrines and traditions and teachings. And so, but we need to be immersed into the new, as Paul did with these Ephesian believers. It is part and parcel of this old wineskin becoming a new wineskin and then being filled with the new wine which is found in the name of YHVH.

That all makes sense, doesn't it? How strong is the resistance to what is new and strange and different? How difficult it is for people to get their mind around what we see in scripture because we are so ingrained with what we were taught the whole of our life. And unfortunately, all these traditions, 99% of them probably come out of Roman Catholicism. The Trinity and all of these things, Sunday instead of Sabbath and a whole lot of other things.

And what did Protestantism do? Just bowed down to the Pope and said, ‘I will follow you.’ Never admitted exactly what they did and are still doing. And so, what we were immersed into when we first gave our lives to Jesus is part and parcel of the old wineskin. And he wants us to enter into and become a new wineskin and then be filled with the new wine found in YHVH. I'll finish with these scriptures. John 8, verse 23:

“Yeshua said, ‘You are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins. If you don't believe that I am, you will die in your sins.’ So they asked him, ‘Who are You?’ Yeshua replied, ‘What have I been telling you from the beginning? I have much to say and judge about you. But the one who sent Me is true.’”

‘The one who sent me is true.’ And I tell the world what I heard from Him, from the one who sent Me. They didn't understand that He was talking to them about the Father. So Yeshua said, ‘when you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know I am.’ That word ‘who’ isn't in the original, it doesn't exist. The translators have added that word ‘who.’ When we go back to verse 24 I read, “If you don't believe that I am, (I Am), you will die in your sins.”

And the same thing here, verse 28: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know I Am.” We know what happened when they lifted him up. Everything went dark and black. Earthquakes came. Dead arose from out of their tombs. Three days later Yeshua arises. What did the soldiers say? Surely this was the Son of God. You will know that I am. I do nothing by myself but speak just what who taught me? What the Father has taught me.

“The One who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me alone because I always do what is pleasing to him. And as He was speaking these things, many people put their trust in him.” So Yeshua declares himself to be the I am. And there's several other passages where he is called the I Am and says I am the I Am. And so I close with Exodus 3, which is where that comes from. And we know it all well.

Exodus 3: “But Moses said to Elohim, ‘Suppose I go to the children of Israel and say to them, the Elohim of your fathers (has what? Sent me. What did they do? What did God do? That God has sent me to you.) What if they asked me what is His name? What shall I say to them?’ Elohim answered Moses, “I Am who I Am”. Then He said, ‘You are to say to the children of Israel, I Am has sent me.”

What did I Am do? Sent him, sent him. What did Yeshua say? The Father sent Me. The one who sent Me. They didn't know that He was talking about the Father. He said in that passage in John. And here Moses is saying, I Am sent me. Moses, Yeshua, one and the same in symbolism and Moses. The prophet like unto me, Yeshua. I represent Him, He represents me. The Father, the Great I Am sent me. Yeshua says, the Father sent Me.

But I Am also, I Am. What do you know? He is, I Am. He and the Father are one. So, God also said to Moses, “You are to say to the children of Israel, YHVH, the Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac, the Elohim of Jacob has sent me to you. This is My name.” For how long? Forever. And the name by which I should be remembered from generation to generation. He's making a pretty strong emphasis about the importance of His name right here in the beginning.

This is My name forever. And the name by which I want to be remembered and known from generation to generation. It doesn't get much plainer. And we come across to the writings of the apostles and the teachings of Yeshua and He's saying exactly the same things. And we try to brush it under the carpet and say it's not important. It's important. It's very important. But what I highlight here is that Yeshua said, I only speak, I only teach, I only tell what the Father has said.

That which is from Him is the only things I declare and do. I do nothing other than what Father says and does. What the Father does, I do. What the Father says, I say. I do nothing of Myself. When Yeshua says, immerse them into the name of YHVH the Father, the Son and the Ruach, that's what you do. You don't change it. When Paul says, I must immerse you into the name, so must we. When it was not good enough for Apollos to baptise people, the people of his day wrongly, it's not good enough for us to do it today either.

We can't change anything. What the Word reveals, the Word reveals. What the apostles did, we do. What Yeshua said, we say. What Yeshua became, we become. We walk as He walks. When Yeshua says He is the sovereign God of the Sabbath, when he says that Sabbath was made for man, nothing changes that. What right does man have to change that? Yeshua said, I am sovereign God of the Sabbath and Sabbath was made for man. What right do we have to change it? We lie about what the Scriptures say.

We lie and say that Yeshua is our new Sabbath. He changed the Sabbath and there is no such Scripture, no such teaching, no such words from Yeshua or the apostles. And he says, if you lie, if you use my name in vain, I will not hold you guiltless and I will prove you to be a liar. That's pretty serious. We do and say only what the Father does and says in the Torah and the prophets. Everything YHVH says and said and has revealed is in the Torah and the prophets.

Just as Yeshua and the apostles did, we do. In that verse 28 of John 8, why did the translators add the word ‘who’ to that verse? Yeshua was calling himself the Great I Am. He wasn't referring to himself as the second person of the Trinity. No, he wasn't saying I'm the second person of the Trinity. He is saying I Am. That makes Him God. That is why the Jews wanted to stone Him to death, crucify Him on the cross because He blasphemed, called Himself God.

No, Yeshua wasn't saying I'm the second person of the Trinity. He was YHVH. He was YHVH. YHVH Yeshua, YHVH the Father, YHVH Ruach. It is the Great I Am revealing Himself as the Father. The Great I Am revealing Himself as Yeshua the Redeemer. The Great I Am revealing Himself to us as Ruach HaKodesh indwelling us. That's the truth of scripture. It wouldn't be easy if we could just nut it out in our own brain and say ‘yeah, that's what it means, it suits me.’

No, as Paul said, if we do not allow the Ruach HaKodesh to interpret things for us, we will always get it wrong, always. Yeshua was YHVH who came into the earth as the Redeemer, lifted up on the stake to bring salvation to all mankind. The Great I Am gave His life as Yeshua to be our Redeemer and Saviour. If you don't believe that I Am, you will die in your sins. That's what He said in John 8.

If you do not believe that I Am, you will die in your sins. So, that's the introduction of where I want to go next week. But if we don't understand that, then next week doesn't make as much sense.