The Name of God, Jehovah
Dear David:
Thanks for giving me the Watchtower magazines. I enjoyed the articles about the name of God: Jehovah. It is glorious to worship Jehovah as the One True God and adore Him in all His majesty.
There’s a song we sang at church that I was reminded of…
Unchangeable Lord
Chorus
Unchangeable, unchangeable Lord
Unchangeable, unchangeable Lord
He’s all He ever was
And all He ever did, He’s still doin’ today.
Unchangeable, unchangeable Lord
Jehvoah-ropheka,
The Lord that healeth me
Jehovah-Jireh,
Lord Provider of all needs.
Jehovah-Nissi,
Lord and Banner over me.
Jehovah-roi,
Lord and Shepherd of the sheep.
Chorus
Lord, my righteousness
Jehovah-tsidkenu.
Lord, my peacefulness
He’s Jehovah-shalom, too.
Jehovah-shammah,
My Lord is present constantly
And He’s just the same as He was yesterday
Chorus
Indeed, Jehovah is awesome, and His name is awesome.
In most Bibles Jehovah is rendered “LORD”. One of my Bibles states this: “In regard to the divine name YHWH [Jehovah], commonly referred to as the Tetragrammaton, the translators adopted the device used in most English versions of rendering that name as “LORD” in capital letters to distinguish it from Adonai, another Hebrew word rendered “Lord,” for which small letters are used.”
His name is holy, and must be revered as such. “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.” (Deut 5:11)
Jehovah is unique and His name is unique. His name separates Jehovah from all of creation. His name sums up all His attributes. Moses asked 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, ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.’” (Ex 3:13-15) What is the meaning of Jehovah? “I am”- this is God’s covenant name. He has other names, such as Elohim, but Jehovah is His covenant name, meaning, “I am”- He is the One who transcends time- He is eternal. Isaiah speaks of the nature of God and His name- what is it that distinguishes God from all others?
- He alone is the Creator, “I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself: (Isa 44:24, cf. 45:18)
- He alone is God and Lord, “Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one.” (Isa 44:8) “I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me.” (Isa 45:5,14,22) “The LORD our God is one LORD” (Deut 6:4)
- He alone is glorious- “I am the LORD, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another.” (Isa 44:8, cf. 44:6)
- He alone is eternal: “I am the First and I am the Last.” (Isa 44:6) “Thou art from everlasting.” (Ps 93:2) “’I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending’ saith the LORD, ‘Which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev 1:8)
- He alone is Savior, “Thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.” (Hosea 13:4)
- Every knee will bow to Him in worship, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I AM God, and there is none else. 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.” (Isa 45:22-23) We are warned about worshipping other gods besides Jehovah (Ex 20:4-6) “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” (Ex 34:14)
- He alone is omnipresent, “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? Saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? Saith the Lord.” (Jer 23:24)
- He alone is omniscient, “His understanding is infinite.” (Ps 147:5)
God’s name is a refuge: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” (Proverbs 18:10)
God’s name is awesome: “Let them praise the name of the LORD: for His name alone is excellent; His glory is above the earth and heaven.” (Psalm 148:13)
The Name Jesus
The Name Jesus means “Savior.”
I know of one thing more exalted than the name Jehovah: “Thou has magnified thy word above all thy name.” (Psalm 138:2) And who is the Word? Jesus, “In the beginning was the Word…” (John 1:1)
Who is Jesus? The Watchtower says Jesus is “a god” and also is Michael the Archangel. Can that be? We’ve read above that Jehovah alone is God. All other gods are false gods. If Jesus is “a god” but not Jehovah, he is a false god. In some places in scripture in the Old Testament, the word “Elohim” (not Jehovah) can be interpreted in various ways: God, gods (false gods) or judges (those who execute judgment as representatives of God). There are no other categories. If Jesus is a lesser god, he is to be rejected as a false god.
Earlier on, Jehovah’s Witnesses worshipped Jesus, but do so no longer. Throughout scripture Jesus was worshipped. As we see in the passages above, only Jehovah God was to be worshipped. Jesus was worshipped repeatedly, and never was anyone rebuked for violating the 2nd commandment for worshipping him (Jn 9:38, Phil 2:10-11, Mt 14:33, 28:9, Jn 20:26-28, Mt 2:10-12, 9:18, Dan 7:13). It is clear that Jesus was more than revered- He was worshipped (see the Diaglott). “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Only Jehovah should receive such adulation- Jesus is Jehovah, three in one.
Jesus claimed to be Jehovah: “Jesus said unto them, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.’ Then took they stones to cast at him.” (John 8:58-59)
Repeatedly Jesus claimed to be “I AM”: (Jn 5:18, 39-40, 6:35, 41, 48,51, 8:12, 24, 58-59, 9:38, 10:7, 11, 11:25, 12:44-45, 13:13, 14:7-11, 20:28, Acts 9:5, 26:15).
Repeatedly throughout the New Testament, hundreds of times, Jesus is called “Lord” and “God”. To say that these terms don’t represent absolute divinity would indicate that Jesus is a false god, for Jehovah alone is Lord and God.
God is one. In Deut 6:4 where it says, “LORD is one”, the Hebrew word for “one” is “echad”. It is the same word for one in Genesis 2:24, where the union of Adam and Eve is described as “ONE flesh”. It is used in Ezra 2:64 that the “whole congregation TOGETHER was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore.” In these cases and elsewhere (Gen 1:5, Ezek 37:17) the word echad indicates a complex unity. Now there is a 2nd Hebrew word that is always used for singular unity, “yachid” or “only” (Gen 22:2, Ps 25:16, Jer 6:26, Zech 12:10).
Similarly, the Hebrew language is clear as to the complex unity in the word for God, “Elohim”. If it were singular, it would be “El” and if it were dual, it would be “Elo”, but it is plural, three or more, “Elohim” to indicate complex unity. This is also reflected in Genesis chapter one, where it says, “Let US make man in OUR image.” (Gen 1:26)
God said He was the only Creator, yet we read about Jesus, “By Him all tings were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.” (cf. Heb 3:4, Jn 1:3) The NWT attempts to “fix” this verse by adding the word “other”- but you will see in the Diaglott that “other” isn’t there. There is absolutely no justification for adding “other” except to fit their doctrinal position about Jesus being a created being. However, we’ve seen that Jehovah had no help whatsoever in creating the universe or anything else (Isa 44:24).
We’ve seen that Jehovah is the only Savior (Hos 13:4, Isa 43:10-11), yet Jesus said, “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I AM he, ye shall die in your sins.” (Jn 8:24) (Note that the word “He” in the Bible is italicized- it wasn’t in the original Greek. The original Greek was simply “if ye believe not that I AM, ye shall die in your sins.” Jesus is Jehovah- failure to see Him as such is to die in your sins of unbelief. “Our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13)
Jesus alone is the True God and Eternal Life, “”And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20) “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Tim 1:16-17)
Jesus is better than the angels (Heb 1:1-8, 13), thus he can’t be an angel. You can’t be better than something if you are that something, since Michael was an angel.
Jehovah’s Witnesses should become Jesus’ witnesses, for this is what the New Testament tells us to be. Jesus said, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.” (Jn 15:26) “”But ye shall receive power, after tha the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Ac 1:8)
Indeed, one can’t even say Jesus is Jehovah without the help of the Holy Spirit, “”No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost.” (1 Cor 12:3).
He is God with us, Immanuel (Isa 7:14, 9:6) the Lord our Righteousness (Jer 23:6), God become man (Matt 1:22-23).
He carries in His identity, His characteristics, all of God’s qualities:
He is One 1 Tim 1:16-17
He is Creator Col 1:156, Jn 1:3
He raised Himself from the dead, just as the Father also did (1 Thes 1:9-10, Jn 2:19-21
He wrote scripture just as the Father did (Ex 20:22, Jn 5:24)
He can be blasphemed, just as the Father and the Spirit (Ex 20:7, Luk 12:8-9, Mt 12:31
He is eternal: Isa 9:6
He is omniscient Col 1:23, Jn 2:24-25
He is omnipresent Mt 18:20
He, like the Father, can sanctify us Heb 13:12, 1 Thess 5:23
In actuality, He contains all the qualities of Jehovah. One cannot find one quality of the Father that Jesus doesn’t also have.
Paul emphatically makes this point: “For in him [Jesus] dwelleth all the FULLNESS of the godhead bodily.” (Col 2:9)
Jesus challenged those who didn’t believe He was Jehovah, “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.” (Jn 5:39-42)
“I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I AM he, ye shall die in your sins.” (Jn 8:24)