Come to Understanding

Come to Understanding

They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding,

and they that murmured shall learn doctrine. — Isaiah 29:24

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense,

and caused them to understand the reading. — Nehemiah 8:8

August 14, 2005
Volume 4 Number 16

Ask in My Name

Many people find themselves in great confusion when it comes to prayer. Why is the name of Yahshua (Jesus)* so important in prayer? Yahshua told Philip:

13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. -John 14

Why will He do anything that we ask in His name? He said that He would do it for one reason: so that the Father might be glorified in Him. Therefore, the purpose of doing whatever is asked in the name of the Son is to glorify the Father. It is not to glorify those who ask or even those who receive an answer to the request.

Our prayer requests are answered to glorify the one true God. Yahweh (the LORD) says that He is the only God. He says that there has never been another God before Him and there will never be any other God after Him. He also says that there is no other savior except Him:

10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. -Isaiah 43

When Yahshua entered into Jerusalem a few days before His crucifixion, He was on His way to bring glory to the one true God, Yahweh. As the people were gathered to keep the feast of the Passover, those who had studied the Scriptures knew that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. They understood that they were witnessing the entry of the promised Savior. They called out "Hosanna," which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew words meaning "save now!" They also called Him the "King of Israel:"

12 On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. -John 12

His triumphant entry into Jerusalem was a clear fulfillment of the prophecy found in Psalms 118 (where God is named five times as Yah). He was about to offer Himself as the sacrifice which would open the gate of the way to God. He was the Savior, who was to become our salvation:

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD:

20 This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter.

21 I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. -Psalms 118

Yahshua became the chief cornerstone, who laid Himself as the foundation of the way to God. Even though He was rejected by others, He became the basis on which all hope is built:

22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.

23 This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. -Psalms 118

Peter also understood Yahshua to be the chief cornerstone:

6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. -1 Peter 2

As YAHshua entered Jerusalem (see John 12), the people knew that He had come in the name of YAHweh (the LORD). The prophecy was fulfilled:

26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD. -Psalms 118

He came to Jerusalem to offer the great sacrifice for the Passover, which is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. When He offered Himself as the sacrifice, He said "it is finished." The final sacrifice was made:

30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. -John 19

He made one sacrifice, one offering, for sins. Through it, He perfected those who are sanctified, or separated unto God, those who believe in that sacrifice:

12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.

14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. -Hebrews 10

Because He bound the "sacrifice with cords," there is no more sacrifice to be offered for our sins:

27 God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar. -Psalms 118

When we accept by faith that Yahshua made the great and final sacrifice, we have access to God. Yahshua is the only gate to God. Therefore, we must use the authority of His name in order to enter into the presence of God:

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. -John 14

Yahshua has all power. Therefore, He can do all things, including granting us anything that we ask:

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. -Matthew 28

When we pray by faith in the authority of the name of Yahshua, the name of God is glorified:

28 Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. -John 12

We thereby give Yahweh the glory due His name:

1 Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength.

2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. -Psalms 29

Therefore, when we believe we have direct access to God through the name of Yahshua, we pray in His name. Yahweh not only hears our requests, but He grants them. The Father is then glorified in the Son.

*This is the name of the Messiah. He was a Hebrew because He was a descendent of Abraham, an Israelite because He was a descendent of Jacob, and a Jew because He was a descendent of Judah. He was born into a family of Jews. His Hebrew name is evwhy (Yhwsha) or ewvwhy (Yhwshwa), and is pronounced in modern English as "Yahshua." It is derived from two Hebrew words. The first is hy (Yh), which is pronounced as "Yah," and is the short form of the name of Yahweh. (The God of Israel is called by the name "Yah" forty five times in the Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible.) The second word on which the Messiah’s name is based is evy (ysha), which means savior or salvation.

The name by which we call the Messiah in modern English largely depends upon the path it took as it was moved through various languages. His name in Hebrew begins with " y " (Yod), which is a "Y." Neither the Greeks nor the Romans (who used Latin) had a "Y" in their alphabets. Therefore, both replaced the "Y" in His name with an "I." His Hebrew name was written by the Greeks as Ihsouv,"Iesous," and then by the Romans in Latin as "Iesus."

Although the English language did have a "Y" in its alphabet, the practice of the Greeks and the Romans, which began His name with "I," was continued in English. As the printing press became the popular method for reproducing Bibles, the capital "I" was ornately printed with a "tail" on the bottom of it. For example, after King Henry VIII separated England from the Roman Catholic Church, he authorized (some say spitefully authorized) the printing of a large and ornate English Bible, known as the Great Bible. It was produced in 1540. (Until that time, non-Latin Bibles were banned in England by the Roman Catholic Church and by the King of England. William Tyndale had only recently been executed in 1536 for translating the Bible into English.) As shown below in these samples from Romans Chapters 2 and 3 of an original edition of the 1540 Great Bible, the "I" in "Is," "Iewe," and "Iesus" looks very much like a modern "J:"**

In other places, however, a "y" was used in words that now contain an "i:"

During the 1600’s, the ornate "I" came into use as a separate letter in the Bible. Thus, the "J" was introduced into the English language! It replaced the "I," which had replaced the "Y" in the Messiah’s name. Therefore, the "Je" replaced the "Ie," which had replaced the "Yah" in the name. Consequently, His name is written as "Jesus" in most modern English Bibles.

**Images of the original text are used by permission. Courtesy of WWW.GREATSITE.COM.

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