Messiah & Messiah's Name

The name of the Messiah consists of the following five letters: yod-hay-waw-shin-ayin. The difference of pronunciation between these names is whether the "waw" is vocalized.According to many linguists, the Hebrew letter "waw" is a weak or silent letter. For instance, according to one authority, "The sound of waw a long time ago wasn't 'vav' at all but 'w' and 'w' is weak.." (How the Hebrew Language Grew, Edward Horowitz, pg. 29). This author goes on to show how many English words with the equivalent letter 'w' is silent and follows the same pattern as the Hebrew "waw." Examples include, "answer, sword, law, two, write, etc."In addition, according to one online reference, "The Hebrew alphabet…vowels are normally not indicated. Where they are, it is because a weak consonant such as aleph , hey , vav , or yod has combined with a previous vowel and become silent, or by imitation of such cases in the spelling of other forms".

Based on the evidence that the "waw" is often a silent or weak letter, we maintain that the correct pronunciation for the Messiah is Yahshua.

We believe Yahshua was a created being according to Revelation 3:14, where He is called the "first of the creation of Yahweh."Proverbs 8 is an entire chapter that speaks of Yahshua. In verse 22 we read, "Yahweh possessed me in the beginning of His way." Possessed means made (from the Heb.Qanah, which Strong's says means "create," as in other passages where it is used, likeDeuteronomy 32:6. The Tanakh translates "possessed" in Proverbs 8:22 as "created.")

Then in Proverbs 8:23 we read, "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." "Set up" means brought into existence. The Tanakh reads, "In the distant past I was fashioned, at the beginning, at the origin of the earth." From vv. 31 and 35 we can see that this chapter is speaking of Yahshua, which can only apply to the one who was made flesh and who offers salvation.

Micah 5:2 tells us that Yahshua's beginnings are rooted in the ancient past. The Tanakh says, "whose origin [starting point or creation] is from of old, from ancient times."

Yahshua was the Spokesman, agent, and representative for Yahweh in the Old Testament. In the Hebrew the word is Dabar and means much the same as the Greek Logos of John 1, meaning the "Word" as the active agent (Yahshua). Yahshua was the Word who came down from heaven (John 3:13), being sent here by His Father, John 3:16.

As the Dabar, He acted for the Father in the Old Testament, as Paul reminds us in 1Corinthians 10:4. His word had the same force and effect as if it were the Father's. When an emissary of a king comes and says, "The king commands you," we know that the emissary is not the king, but that he speaks with the very authority and power of the king. An ambassador of the U.S. at a foreign embassy speaks for the president in the same way. That is the essence of Dabar.

Yahshua was the acting agent for the Father. Yahweh seems too holy for direct contact with sinful man, which is why we need a go-between in the person of Yahshua, even as did ancient Israel. It is only after the earth is cleansed of all sin that the Father will bring His throne to earth, Rev. 21:2-3. Yahweh says He hates sin.

Yahshua had the same glory that the Father had (John 17:5, Heb. 1:1-3*) while in heaven. As for Isaiah 42:8, Yahweh was speaking about not giving glory to a strange g-d (Companion Bible note, as well as Isa. 44:6). He did not withhold glory from His very own Son. If He did, then Yahshua lied in John 17:5.

Moses was only permitted to look on His backside of the heavenly Being, because to look on the intensity of His full glory would have no doubt killed the patriarch (Ex. 33:20). Again, this had to be Yahshua because no man has seen the Father's shape,John 5:37 (also John 1:18, 6:46, 1John 4:12 and 1Tim. 1:17) and Moses was permitted to His back (obviously not in full glory, which is the reason Moses was covered by the hand of Yahshua as He passed by, Ex. 33.22).

The term Elohim, when used in places like Exodus 24:9 does not necessarily signify the Father. Elohim is used in the Hebrew for either Yahweh, Yahshua (as in plural for both) and even for angels. This brings to mind Abraham's contact with the three men (angels) in Genesis 18:1. It says, "And Yahweh appeared unto him [Abraham] in the plains of Mamre…and when he saw them [three angels] he [Abraham] ran out to meet them from the tent door … and said, My Yahweh, if I have found favor in thy sight…"

This is a perfect example of messengers as representatives of Yahweh being considered equal in significance to Yahweh, even being called "Yahweh!" Obviously they were not Yahweh, but were His agents and as such were known as Yahweh. This has great implications for the many passages where Yahshua in the Old Testament is called Yahweh, although is not actually Yahweh the Father.

That is the common interpretation, but a closer look reveals otherwise. If the widely-held understanding is correct, what would be the point of Yahshua's going to hellfire to preach to those who are already lost? In Yahshua's parable of Luke 16:26, He has Abraham saying that in "hell" there is a "great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from here to you cannot." Being that they would be forever stuck in hell, to preach to them would only be adding insult to agony. The Bible tells us that the dead are just that: "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten" (Eccl. 9:5).

"For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" (Psalm 6:5). Yahshua was put in the tomb because He was dead, not alive in the underworld. And if He never died, then we are all dead in our sins.

The passage does not say that Yahshua Himself preached to the spirits in prison, but "by which," meaning by the Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit, the same that Yahshua had, that was in Noah, and by the Holy Spirit Noah preached to the "spirits in prison" in the days that the ark was being prepared (verse 20). Noah is called a preacher of righteousness in 2Peter 2:5. "Spirits in prison" is a metaphor meaning people in bondage to sin and death (see Isa. 42:6-7; 61:1).

"His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish" (Psalm 146:4).

Hell is sheol in Hebrew and its Greek equivalent word is hades - both simply mean the grave. The pagan Greeks gave it the meaning of an unseen world of torture, not Yahweh's teachings.

If the dead never die then Yahshua never died and we have no sacrifice for our sins. If there was anything we learned from the Old Testament sacrifices it is that sin requires a sacrifice that dies, not one that lives on in another form. The wages or payment for sin is death, Romans 6:23. If Yahshua didn't pay that debt with literal death then you and I must pay for our sins with our own deaths and that would mean we have no hope of everlasting life.

The notion that the dead live on in a tortured state for eternity is right out of Greek paganism and from the writings of Plato as well as the thirteenth century Italian poet Dante Alighieri.

Yes, there are several historical records confirming that Yahshua the Messiah existed as a person in the first century. Additionally, some of these references verify that He was able to perform great wonders, i.e., miracles, as we also see from the biblical record.

Below are a few quotes from a chart within the Restoration Study Bible entitled, "The Messiah from Historical Writings:"

"Nero fastened the guilt…on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of…Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil...." Tacitus, Annals 15.44.

"They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ…and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food--but food of an ordinary and innocent kind," Pliny, Daily Lives of Christians in Ancient Rome.

"About this time there lived Jesus [Yahshua], a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he…wrought surprising feats…. He was the Christ. When Pilate…condemned him to be crucified, those who had…come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared…restored to life…. And the tribe of Christians…has…not disappeared," Josephus, Antiquities 18.63-64. (While most scholars attribute this quotation to Josephus, parts of it may have been added later.)

"On the eve of the Passover Yeshu [Yahshua] was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald…cried, 'He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy,'" The Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 43a.

"The Christians…worship a man to this day-the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account…. [It] was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws," Lucian, The Death of Peregrine.

"But [Yahshua] having persuaded a few among you, and those the worst of men, has now been celebrated about 300 years; having done nothing worthy of remembrance; unless anyone thinks it is a mighty matter to heal lame and blind people and exorcise demoniacs in the villages of Bethsaida and Bethany," Julian the Apostate (quoted in the polemic of Cyril of Alexandria against Julian).

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Christ comes from the Greek christos and means, "anointed." It's equivalent in meaning to the Hebrew mashiyach, from where we receive the English word Messiah. While "Christ" contains no pagan etymology in itself, we refrain from its use in an effort to make a distinction between a Greek and Hebrew faith. Since the Messiah was Jewish and taught a Jewish (Hebraic) faith, we prefer the Hebrew Messiah over the Greek Christ.

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The plan of Yahweh is the concept of all eternity; do you really think you can understand Yahweh's logos?

The first chapter of John clearly identifies Yahshua the Messiah as the Word or logos of Yahweh: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim. The same was in the beginning with Elohim. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."

"Word" in this passage comes the Greek logos. Strong's defines logos as, "…something said (including the thought); by implication a topic (subject of discourse), also reasoning (the mental faculty) or motive; by extension, a computation; specifically (with the article in John) the Divine Expression (i.e. Christ)."

The vast majority of lexicons provide similar definitions. We also find a connection to the Word or logos in John 1:14. It states there that the Word became flesh: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." This verse undoubtedly connects the Word with Yahshua the Messiah.

Some who reject the Messiah's preexistence will state that the "Word" in the first verse is referring to the "plan" of Yahweh, while verse 14 refers to the actuality of that plan through the person of Yahshua. The problem is, John does not make this distinction. The context confirms no difference between the Word in verse 1 and the Word in verse 14. Therefore, they must both refer to Yahshua.

Furthermore, the Bible verifies elsewhere that through Yahshua all creation came into existence. Paul in Colossians 1:15-17 states: "Who is the image of the invisible El, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist."

There are several important truths we learn from this passage. One, Yahshua was the first of Yahweh's creation. Two, He is the invisible image or resemblance of His Father. And three, He created all things, both visible and invisible.