Every Christian has probably heard Jesus is our Redeemer.  Many are familiar with the allegory of Boaz in the story of Ruth as kinsman redeemer painting a beautiful illustration of Jesus and the Church.  But did you know Redeemer is one of the names God declares Himself to have in Isaiah 44:6?  And did you know that “Redeemer” like “Counselor” is can be a verb ? Here are some AMAZING details about God’s name as Redeemer that you’ve probably never known.

The word translated Redeemer comes from the Hebrew word “Ga’al” which means literally ‘to redeem,’ ‘to act as kinsman.’ Ga'al is a femine verb/noun in Hebrew.  Redeemer is the word in the Aramaic Gospel of John chapter 14 used to describe the masculine word translated in Greek as "Comforter."  Ga’al is made up of three letters which when combined create an extraordinary image of Christ.

           Gamel – camel, walking, movement, lifted up
           Alef – ox (sacrificial animal), yoke, tame, strength,
                      leader what is first
           Lamedh – staff, cattle goad, authority, to learn,
                       to study, to teach

God has a deeper revelation behind the Hebrew letter ‘lamed’ than just these basic interpretations.  Lamed is unique in the Hebrew alphabet being the tallest letter, towering over all the other letters from its central position in the alphabet.  It is said Lamed represents melekh hamelakhim (the King of Kings).  The concept of Lamed having this kingly representation is supported by the preceding letter standing for kisei hakavod, "the throne of Glory," and the following letter standing for malkhut, "kingdom."  Thus being in the middle, Lamed would represent One who sits on the Throne in the Kingdom of God's Glory.  Jewish scholars also acknowledge the three central letters of the alphabet spell the word "melekh," meaning "King."  While Lamed is pictured as a shepherd’s staff of old, used to incite or prick the cattle into action, the staff also represents authority.  Lamed represents a Shepherd King, out of the lineage of David.

Interesting, the gematria (numerical value) of Lamed represents the number 30, which is the same numerical value as the word “Judah.”  This again emphasises the Shepher King lineage of David who comes from the tribe of Judah.  Lamed is created by two other letters which combine to make the Lamed.  Vav and Kaf blend to create Lamed.  Together these smaller parts equal the number 26; the same numerical value as the word “YHVH” Yaweh, the name of God.

Thus, the word “Redeemer” (Ga’al) is a picture of “the sacrifice of Judah, who is Yaweh, lifted up" or "lifts up" for your redemption.  How AMAZING is that! The Hebrew word “Redeemer” itself as a noun reveals exactly what it means to be a kinsman redeemer.  God as man in Christ Jesus from the tribe of Judah will lift you up. 

As a verb, Redeemer represents God who is actively in the process of redeeming people.  Hallelujah!  Ga’al unveils a deeper meaning of Jesus’ words to the Pharisees in John 5:39, when He said, "the scriptures testify of Me."  Indeed they do!

Every verse, every word, and every letter glorifies Jesus! 

El Gibbor is the name of God from Isaiah 9:6.  The word "El" is a common name of God in the Old Testament, a shortened form of Elohiym and refers to Almighty God. The two letters that make up the word El in Hebrew are Alef and Lamed. These two amazing letters are created using other characters in the alphabet.

Alef is made up of three parts which combined have a numeric value of 26, the same numeric value as Yaweh, the name given by God to Moses. The primary value of Alef as it's own unique identifier is #1 indicating there is only 1 God, Master of the Universe. Alef begins the words Abba (Father) and Adonai (Lord).  Interestingly, Alef has 3 parts but equals 1... anyone else see the concept of the trinity contained here?

Lamed is made of two parts (Vav and Kaf), which combined have a numeric value of 26, again Yaweh's number. Lamed is symbolic of the King of Kings.  Jesus was both God and Man, two parts in one person, just like the letter Lamed.  Vav symbolizes a nail or tent stake and Kaf is the symbol for the palm of the hand. Thus, Lamed's 2 parts depict the image of a nail in the palm of the hand as the symbol for the King of Kings.

Gibbor is a unique word, being able to be used both as a noun and as an adjective. In Hebrew, Gibbor means "champion, strong, valiant man, or warrior." Combined the words El and Gibbor together and you get, "Warrior God," "God our Champion," or perhaps "Strong God."  With the additional understanding behind the letters creating the word "El," we know it is the King of Kings, who is our champion.  Jesus is the Warrior God defeating the enemies of sin and death on behalf of man.  He alone is strong to prevail.  Jesus is God our Champion; a Strong God delivering His children from the hand of the enemy. 

We continue to examine the names for God from Isaiah 9:6.  Today we look at "Avi 'Ad," translated as Everlasting Father.  As I've been uncovering over the past week, sometimes in bible translations designed for today's modern English, we lose a deeper aspect of God's word by missing the intent behind the Hebrew words. This often happens when one language is translated into another.  Even the King James Version of the Bible fails to accurately portray Avi 'Ad, because it only capitalizes the word "Father."  As a result, many people tend to read the word "Everlasting" as only an adjective describing the noun "father." However, Everlasting and Father should both be capitalized.  They are both nouns for the name of God.  The phrase Avi 'Ad is a double noun to reinforce the concept of His name.

'Ad is the Hebrew word meaning eternal, everlasting, continual, and infinity."  God is eternal, with no beginning and no end.  Time is part of His creation. As 'Everlasting,' God declares by His name He possess a unique characteristic.  He alone has the trait of being everlasting, without beginning or end. In Isaiah 9:6, we see a proclamation of God's characteristic of eternity linked with His other exclusive attribute, Father.

"Counselor" is a word used in Isaiah 9:6 that many Christians believe is the noun being described by the word "Wonderful."  However, as I discussed earlier, Wonderful was not an adjective,   It was a noun.  Today we explore the word Counselor, which is used as a verb in Isaiah 9:6, not a noun.   Nouns tend to passively describe a person, place or thing; while verbs are usually dynamic voices of action. 

In Hebrew, the word 'Counselor' is spelled "yo'ats."  Yo'ats consists of four letters: yod, vav, 'ayin, and tsadhe.  Each Hebrew letter has an image associated with it.  The first two letters in the word Counselor are also the first two letters in the name Yaweh.  Let's look at the word picture for the verb Counselor below:

             Yod - Hand, arm, to work
             Vav - Nail, hook, connecting together
             'Ayiin - Eye, fountain, to see, to understand,
                           to experience
             Tsadhe - Fish hook, to pull forward,
                             something inescapable, desire

As you might notice the first two letters are a hand with a nail.  This is the picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose hands were pierced on the cross.   The third letter gives us the concept of knowing or understanding (sees your need).  The fourth letter in Counselor gives the concept of a hook and pulling forward. Thus, the word picture for "Counselor" in Hebrew is of Jesus knowing what motivates or hooks us and draws us forward.

Remember counselor is used as a verb in Isaiah.  Thus, in describing God, He is always actively drawing you forward.  What a great Counselor we have!  Yahweh is not a passive psychotherapist to who waits for us to come to Him before He helps us with our troubles.  He is an active Savior who knows our needs and is continually seeking us out and drawing us to Himself!

Counselor as a verb combined with the noun "Wonderful," creates the imagery of a Awesome God who is constantly working for us to draw near to Him.  The portrait of a Wonderful Counselor (Noun, Verb) reminded me of the bible verse

              "how can two walk together unless they be in agreement," Amos 3:3. 

Christians walk together with Christ not by their own strength or power, but because Jesus draws them continually.   He truly is the Fisher of Men, drawing mankind by a hook unto Himself to save them from their sins.

"Wonderful" is the name of God. Sadly so many newer, considered "more relevant" translations of the Bible undervalue much of the depth of God's word, including today's name of God as "Wonderful." Many of bibles do not have "Wonderful" as a noun for the name of God in Isaiah 9:6.   Instead, they use the word Wonderful as an adjective supporting the noun "Counselor."  But this is not the intention of this verse written by God in the Hebrew language.  Yahweh used "Wonderful" as a noun to describe Himself.  Perhaps people don't appreciate the intricate difference between a noun and an adjective today, but there is one major difference we need to know.  Nouns are persons, places, or things; while adjectives simply describe a noun.  While God is wonderful as an adjective, it is as a noun Wonderful makes its biggest impression in our understanding of who Yahweh is.

"Wonderful" declares God is a Wonder.  He is an astonishing phenomenon beyond our human understanding. God is full of wonder!  The word picture created in the Hebrew language for pele' translated as "Wonderful" reveals the depth of the noun.  Pele' consists of 3 Hebrew letters: peh, lamedh, and 'alef.

               Peh - mouth, to open
           Lamedh - cattle goad, rod, staff, to learn, to study
           'Alef - ox, yoke, tame

Wonderful's word picture in Hebrew declares, "God is what stops the mouth because of His greatness."  It is literally a picture of man in silent awe before the LORD.  What a fabulous connection of God's name as "Wonderful" to Ecclesiastes 5:2.  Be in awe before your God.  He is a Wonder above the earth.

Yahshua  is Jesus' name in the original Hebrew. Yahshua is also sometimes spelled Yeshua.  It literally means, "Yahweh Saves" or "Yahweh is Salvation."  Yahweh doesn't just save. He IS salvation.  Within the very name of Jesus' original Hebrew Yahshua is the name of Yahweh.  It is on Yahweh whom men must call to be saved.  It is no wonder that Yahshua is the name above all names and at His name every knee will bow (Philippians 2:9-10).  His name is synonymous with His Father's name.  In John 17:6, Jesus proclaimed He had manifested the Father's name unto men. In Yahshua, we behold the Father's name Yahweh is Salvation and wonder at the miracle of Yahweh in human flesh saving the world.

Yahshua is often translated into English as Joshua in the Old Testament.  How then did we get the name of Jesus instead of Joshua in the New Testament of the Bible you may wonder? Well, the answer is both simple and complex. In simple terms, the word Joshua is used for Jesus' name in a few places of the New Testament, but the name Jesus is more frequently used.  If you examine the Strong's Greek numbers for either Joshua or Jesus, both names have the exact same Greek word identified.

The Greek translation of the Hebrew word had four major problems of consonant and vowel sounds that couldn't smoothly transition between the languages.  Yod is the first letter in the name Yahshua, and has the sound of "y" as in "yell."  Sadly, in translating Yahshua to the Greek, the name lost most of of its sound and meaning. Therefore, Yahshua was known as "ee-ay-soos" to the Greek speaking world for nearly 400 years. 

Later when Latin became the dominant language in Christendom, Yahshua's mistranslated name in Greek was further mistranslated in Latin as "Iesou," or "Iesus."  Masculine names in Greek often end with a consonant Sigma, an "S" sound.  In the case of "Iesus," the Greeks added the "S" sound at the end of the name of Yahshua which was carried into the Latin translation.  The Greek language also added the "S" sound to the names of Nicodemus, Judas, Lazarus, and many others.  As centuries passed, the English language developed the letter "J"  around the 12th Century.  The letter "J" became more popular over the letter "I" as a constant, eventually replacing "I" with "J" in the Latin name "IESUS."  Thus, Jesus became the  English translation printed for the first time in the Bible in 1526. 

There is no "J" sound (as in the word "jam") in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek or Latin.  William Tyndale was the first person to use the letter "J" instead of "I" in the first printed Bible of 1526. The original Bible readers would have pronounced the Lord's name as "Jee-zuz." In fact, every name beginning with the "J" sound in the Bible has come from the faulty transliterations of Hebrew to Greek to Latin and finally English.  Judah, Jerusalem, John, Jew, and Judas never originally had a "J" sound.  Instead these names had a "Y" sound, as in "Yahweh."  When Yahshua walked the earth, the world never heard of the name "Jesus" or sound of "J". 

The name, Yahshua, is used repeatedly in both the Old Testament and New Testament scriptures.  It is used to denote several different people, including Christ.  In fact, the name Yahshua or Yeshua was a very common name during the first century, where one out of ten boys were named Yahshua.   It is no wonder the nation of Israel had such a common name during the time of Christ.  They were crying out for God's salvation, and He came to His own.

Today, every Christian needs to know and understand the meaning behind the name of Jesus.  For the English name "Jesus" has no meaning apart from Yahweh's name.  We must know on whom we have believed for salvation.  It is Yahweh who saves.  In Yahshua, He has come to save His people.

YHVH is the name of God for today.  First, you should know that "God" is not God's name, but rather serves as a concept title of who He is or what He is. Many teachers can relate to this concept. Students often call you "teacher," and yes, you are a teacher, but "teacher" is not your name.  So it is with God, whose personal name is Yahweh.
 
YHVH is a tetagrammaton (a 4 letter spelling in Hebrew) that has no vowels. For centuries the Jews considered it blasphemy to say the name of Yahweh outloud, fearing they were violating the 2nd commandment.  The exact pronunciation of this word has been forgotten, but most scholars believe it would be pronounced Yahweh (YAH - WAY).

'Jehovah' commonly used in Christianity first appeared in William Tyndale's translation of the Bible in 1530 in the place of the Hebrew word Yahweh. Throughout the KJV Bible translation (and many other bibles), the name of Yahweh is translated as "LORD" in all capital letters.  This translation of LORD honored the Jewish tradition of not speaking the name of Yahweh casually for fear of blasphemy. So the next time you are reading LORD in your bible pause and know LORD substituting for the personal name of Yahweh.  Yahweh has an intimate and precious relationship with His children.  His name was first revealed to Moses, and He is a covenant keeping God.

The letters in Hebrew also have a numerical value.  The YHVH's letters add up to the numerical value of 26.  This numerical value is the equivalent of the individual characters creating the letters Alef and Lamed, which combined equal El.  El is the shortened form of Elohiem and means the word "God."  El is Yahweh's job description; thus it is not surprising the numerical value is equal between Yahweh and El, for Yahweh is the only God.

YHVH is from the Hebrew verb meaning "to be."  Thus, when God spoke to Moses and gave His name, Yahweh, He was stating He was eternal.   Basically, Yahweh's name means, "I am the self-existing One."  Yahweh has always existed.   He was, is, and always will be.   Yahweh is the great I AM.

And Moses said unto God, "Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?"
And God said unto Moses, "I Am That I Am"
and he said, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel,
I Am hath sent me unto you."
Exodus 3:13-14

This is why in John 8:58, Jesus boldly stated He was Yahweh, existing before Abraham when the Jews mockingly challenged him saying he wasn't even 40 and had he seen Abraham?
                              Jesus replied, "before Abraham was I am (YAHWEH)."

While many Christians might not understand the depth of the meaning in this verse, certainly the Jews understood Jesus correctly, because they picked up stones to kill Him for blasphemy, declaring Himself to be Yahweh.

Today there are many people on the planet who don't have a personal relationship with Yahweh and don't know His personal identity as revealed to His friends.  Sadly, they can only refer to Him as God.  As a result of a basic concept of God in the most general of terms, many people wrongly believe they believe in or know God and as such they are fine with God.  But, the bible declares in James 2:19,  the general belief in God is elementary school level thought, even demons believe God is, and they tremble!   Unfortunately, the general acknowledgement of God's existence does not save you.  The demons know God exists and have even seen Him, but the do not salvation.  Just knowing God exists does not equal a saving or personal relationship with God.  Praying to God in a general manner cannot save you because salvation requires you to call on the name of Yahweh to be saved (Joel 2:32 repeated in Romans 10:13 and Acts 2:21).

Another wrong thinking held by many people today regarding the general word for "God" is that God's personal name can be any translation of the word "God" in any language, including "Allah."  This is a lie devised by Satan to prevent people from truly knowing Yahweh and turning to Him away from false concepts of god.  Allah is not the same Being as Yahweh.  Many Muslims tell people Allah is just a general concept for God in the Arabic language.  They say Allah is the same God we Christians serve, but this is not true.  Allah literally means, "The God" implying the word "Allah" represents the One True God.  If Allah was identical to Yahweh, then Allah as the same word in a different language would be acceptable.  However, a closer examination of Allah's characteristics revealed in the Quran clearly show Allah is NOT Yahweh.  Allah is opposite of Yahweh's Biblical attributes. Yahweh is full of grace, loving kindness, and rich in mercy.  Yahweh out of His great love for mankind was willing to deliver us from our sins.  Yahweh took on the sins of the world, so sinners would never have to be punished or die.  Yahweh does not take pleasure in the destruction of sinners; Allah does.  Yahweh forgave His enemies, even those who killed Him on the cross.  Yahweh is Love (1 John 4:8).

                 Make no mistake, there is only One True God,
                                  and His name is Yahweh!

If you say, "you and God are okay," but you don't have an intimate  relationship with Yahweh through His son, Jesus, then you don't really even know who God is.  Don't be like the demons with a general knowledge of God's existence and power but lacking any real connection to His loving kindness.  Call upon Yahweh now.

                                           TODAY is the day of SALVATION!

If you'd like more information on some of the Hebrew names of Yahweh,
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