The Name - “I Am YHVH”
Part one of a four part series. This will be very foundational to what I talk about next, and is important because it carries on into something more.
Exodus 6:1-8
God said to Moses, “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.
Numbers 6:22-27.
In verse 27, He says “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 28:58-61
“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? He’s saying “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.
“I am YHVH, that is My name; My glory, My kavod I will not give to another, nor my praise to graven images.” Isaiah 42:8
“Will man make gods for himself? Yet they are not gods, 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.” Jeremiah 16:20-21
Man worships 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.
“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.” Exodus 9:15-16
He said to Israel, I could have wiped you out for all that you have been, all you have done wrong, the way you have not followed and honoured that which you were raised up for. I could have taken you off the face of the earth. But I will let you remain 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. It depends how we honour it, how we obey it and how we live it. But His name and His word, His Torah, are one and the same. As we've seen in Deuteronomy, “Take care 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. We know our God is a jealous God, and He will not give His glory, His power, or 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 is to 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.
There are verses right throughout scripture where He puts a lot of importance on His name, its power, its purpose and the authority that resides in it. And He wants us to come to the place where we understand the authority that resides in His name. If a 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! 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 2:16-19
Paul is saying the same thing. Paul is quoting Numbers 16, about the rebellion of Korah and his friends. Teachers of the false, like these two men that Paul names here, and Paul states what useless, godless teaching and chatter people bring. And he highlights the damage and danger of it, and that it 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 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 strong emphasis on being righteous, because that is unrighteousness. If 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. 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.
“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?” Proverbs 30:4
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. Don't add to it or change it or God will make sure you are rebuked as a liar. Our salvation and our entrance into the kingdom of God is dependent on that we do not add, do not change His word and that we know His name, 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. It may be very controversial - but we're only as controversial as the Scriptures themselves are.
"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.” Deuteronomy 29:28.
“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, and what righteousness and justice and truth is, in the Torah. “I have revealed something about Myself, My expectations, and who I am in My word.” They're revealed for you and your children to do them 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.
It's exactly the same as what we do with His name and how we use it - or don’t use it and hide it. “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. 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. Much of these secrets I've made known to you so that you can honour Me as your Creator, Life Giver, Redeemer and Saviour.”
Baptism - “Immerse them into the Name”
Matthew 28:16-20.
“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. And remember! I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
I make a strong emphasis on the fact that the translators put the word ‘in’ instead of the word ‘into’ in verse 19. And it changes the emphasis completely. According to Yeshua, everyone must be immersed ‘into’ that name. As I wrote before, 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 and that in His name is all power and all authority, and that all of creation belongs to His name. There is something important about that name that He wants us to take hold of, understand, and enter into. So according to Yeshua, what are we to be immersed into? The name of the Father, the Son and the Ruach HaKodesh. (Or the Holy Spirit - we call it Ruach HaKodesh. It's a Hebrew word 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.)
Yeshua here is giving us the name of the Father, the Son and the Ruach, which is YHVH.
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’ 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 agree yes, that is singular, the reference here is to 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 your 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, the fullness of the meaning of that name, and what difference that name would mean to me if I was immersed into it? This is what he's trying to get us to take a hold of. 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 children of God. To obey the Father's word, to accept the Son's gift, and 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. What you and I were taught when we became a believer in Jesus is that which shapes what we believe, how we think, how we serve and follow God and how we interpret the word. It’s 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.
Now, it doesn't say ‘be immersed into water.’ Yeshua says ‘be immersed into the name.’ 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. But no, ‘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? We'll explain where Moses comes into this.
Corinthians 10:1-2. “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’ (pronounced ‘ice’), and they translated it correctly this time. 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. Continuing the same passage:
1 Corinthians 10:3-5
“And all ate the same spiritual food, and 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. It doesn't mean you're going to enter the Promised Land. There's 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 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 and 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 only 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 has 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.
They are all one and the same message, and of equal importance. Moses and Israel, Yeshua and the Apostles all carry the same message, 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, or John the Immerser - he came proclaiming repentance, that 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 are 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 18:24
Apollos was a powerful man and powerful preacher with a very charismatic personality, and was 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 when 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 with Chapter 19.
Acts 19:1-7
Here in Ephesus are a group of disciples, followers of Yeshua who knew nothing about the Ruach HaKodesh, knew nothing about the Holy Spirit, and had 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. They believed that Yeshua is the Messiah, and Apollos baptised them into John's baptism. They’d never heard of the Holy Spirit, the Ruach, or heard any teaching or 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, and the life. And Paul noticed that they knew 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 said, 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. In 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 that John's immersion was an immersion of repentance, telling the people that they should believe into the one coming after him. That is, ‘into’ Yeshua, not ‘in’ Yeshua. And when they heard this, they were immersed not ‘in’, but ‘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 and Ruach each bring something into our life that the other doesn't. Each and 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 or 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 Acts 19, Paul uses the Greek word ‘eis’ 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 when Moses takes Israel through the sea. And they translate it correctly 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 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 and 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. You can read Psalm 145 - all the attributes of His name are stated in there. And we are to be immersed into the fullness of the meaning of the character, the nature, and the attributes of that name. That name and what it represents must become part of us.
He said, I want you to be immersed into what My name represents and who I am. It's not just about what I believe, but what I become. And that was 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. 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 double portion. And we know that 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 bit that He will 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 His 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 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 I need everything the Father is, everything the Son is, and everything the Ruach HaKodesh is for different aspects, parts, places and times in my life.
And so Yeshua says, get people immersed into that name. Not in the name of a little formula you say as a prayer as you dump people under the water. The authority of the Son, the gifts, 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 Acts 19 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 they're totally different Greek words, ‘in’ and ‘into’. In Greek, ‘in’ is ‘enn’, ‘into’ is ‘eis’. Two totally different words. The writer and Paul the speaker know what they're saying, and they know why they're saying it. Some translations don't translate that word ‘eis’ as ‘into’ even once.
If you read King James or most of the other translations, every one of those words ‘eis’ will be ‘in’ and not ‘into’. The Tree of Live Version (TLV) gives it at least twice out of the five. They will translate that word ‘eis’ as ‘in’ or ‘on’ or ‘with’ or ‘unto’ or ‘upon’. They will use all those words instead of ‘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 the Greek word ‘eis’, it has about half a dozen or ten definitions. But the first, primary one is ‘into’. Then it will give you the other options. Only when you get down to around number four 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. And yes - 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 of 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 ‘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, beliefs and traditions are challenged by that one little word. They change it to suit, and that's pragmatic Christianity. It is theologically right or wrong. Yeshua said 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.
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, the 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? They've done away with Israel. They've done away with Torah, the Law. The Sabbath is gone, Passover and Tabernacles are 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 tell them to 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 your 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. 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 (glory) 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 that happened to Moses represents what happens at Yeshua’s baptism. The dove comes down upon Him. 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.
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. So we 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 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 their 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 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 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 our whole lives. And unfortunately 99% of all these traditions come out of Roman Catholicism. The Trinity, 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 still are, doing. 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.
John 8:23-28
“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, and I tell the world what I heard from Him.” 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 who I am.””
That word ‘who’ isn't in the original, it doesn't exist. The translators have added it. In verse 24 it says “If you don't believe that I am, you will die in your sins.” And it should be the same thing in 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 rose 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 what the Father has taught me.”
Continuing on, John 8:29-30:
““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.
Exodus 3:13-14
“But Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to Bnei-Yisrael and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His Name?’ What should I say to them?” God answered Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” Then He said, “You are to say to Bnei-Yisrael, ‘I AM’ has sent me to you.””
What did I Am do? Sent him. What did Yeshua say? “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 and Yeshua, one and the same in symbolism. “The prophet like unto me”, Yeshua. Moses represents Yeshua, Yeshua represents Moses. “The Father, the Great I Am sent me.” Yeshua says, “the Father sent Me.” But I am also I Am. Yeshua is the I Am. He and the Father are One.
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 when we come to the writings of the apostles and the teachings of Yeshua, He's saying exactly the same things. And we try to brush it under the carpet and say it's not important. It is 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. The only things I declare is that which is from Him. 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 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 the 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 John 8:28, 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. He is saying I Am. That makes Him God. That is why the Jews wanted to stone Him to death and 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 is YHVH. YHVH Yeshua, YHVH 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 would 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.
PART ONE OF FOUR