I Stand Corrected

I've shared my testimony in having said the sinner's prayer as a child in Jesus' name, but to be honest, there was no evidence in my life, that Jesus was the name above all names.  As a young adult, Christianity seemed to be a maze of trying to live right, but being very careful about where I shared my true questions regarding matters of faith.  The name of Jesus did prevent me from attending synagogue in those days, so I church hopped.  The following sentence is not about others in the church, I'm saying this about myself.  It seemed to me, I had to actually be a hypocrite and pretend everything was fine, to be a good Christian.  Everything was not fine and pastors got terribly standoffish when it came to certain questions, like the "change" of Sabbath and sorting through the the laws.  Which ones still stood and which ones were nailed to the cross?  Trying to understand the trinity was another matter entirely.  At some point, I actually gave up my search for a time.  I knew a great deal of Scripture and continued to sporadically read my Bible, especially when I discovered I was on the Jehovah's Witness Saturday morning route.  

By the time I fell to my knees in the upper room of my home, in my mid-thirties, I knew for a fact, I'd heard the voice of YHWH twice before.  The first time, it was His call upon my life, as a young person.  The second was down in my kitchen just a few weeks prior to hearing His voice in the upper room of my home.  I recognized His voice that third time, and immediately bowed to His Voice.  When He asked if I was ready to lay down everything I thought I knew, I had no idea what that meant, but I said, "Yes!"  I was filled with His Spirit at that moment and I have no idea how long that "moment" lasted . . . but His Spirit has stayed with me since that moment, over 20 years ago. Fortunately, my Saturday mornings with the Jehovah's Witnesses had already let me know, the KJV had replaced the Hebrew letters spoken to Moses from the burning bush.  In just a couple of months from that upper room experience, I'd learned Messiah's real name and realized it's in the Hebrew Scriptures!   As it turns out, with the Spirit of Adonai in my life, I was even less welcome in the local gatherings.  Oh, I was a novelty and curiosity for a time, but once the brass tacks of living like the disciples had, came up, the rebuttals and rebuking began.

Since I had been introduced to Scripture as a child, I came to the Bible in the name of Jesus, so I tried very hard to "accommodate" those in the church by using both Jesus and Y'hshuwah as I spoke, but as I sought Abba, the Jesus name just fell away, and to be honest, it just didn't seem to hold the power the promoters claimed.  It wasn't long until YHWH brought someone into my life to set me straight.  This was a man a little older than myself.  He'd come out of the Roman Catholic Church and he was devout in his walk as well as articulate in the reasons he left.  He was kind and it was clear he chose his words carefully, which made the qualifying statement piercing.  When someone of faith qualifies their pending statement with, "I say this in love . . ." A correction is sure to follow.  The particular incident in which this was said to me still stands out all these years later.  Some very valuable information followed those qualifying words.

His words were clear and rather sharp.  He asked why I would use the terms, Y'hshuwah and Jesus, as if they are interchangeable when I've been shown the truth.  At first I wasn't sure how to answer that question or if I even dared answer it.  I didn't know if it was rhetorical or just where he was going, but he soon showed his direction.  He said, "I came out of the Catholic church, I know the history.  Jesus is relatively new to Christendom, as "Js" are new to English, but Christ is not Greek or Latin for Moshiach.  Constantine renamed the Roman idols.  Roman Catholic Christianity was a political religion established to expand his power, and years later, the Protestants really didn't protest much."  He then continued in telling me to use Y'hshuwah and Jesus interchangeably is confusion.  As a matter of fact, as the conversation continued, he actually used the "H" word to describe someone that claims to believe something while saying something else.

Truth be told, I was aware of the dissatisfied Christians leaving the church, so I just figured him to be another dissatisfied customer.  Besides, he'd called me a hypocrite!  I thanked him for his information.  That word he used, Christendom; was the same word the Jehovah's Witnesses used in referencing Christianity.  The term seemed to imply a separation from that labeled belief.  I was still hopeful that following Messiah was just a matter of bringing the Hebrew roots back into Christianity, but I was wrong.  As it turns out, the gentleman had his facts straight.  Constantine had indeed established a religion for his empire, mixing and mingling the Roman pagan customs with the Gospel, and Paul's letters, while making a clear separation and distancing from Judaism altogether.  The name Jesus came much later in history, so it was clear, Messiah's mother and the followers who actually knew him did not call him Jesus.

Upon realizing this late coming "J," I then turned my focus to the term "Christ."  The gentleman had also given a very straightforward disparaging report regarding that word, and once again he was proven correct.  The Hebrew word מָשִׁיחַ transliterated in English:  Moshiach, in Greek: Μεσσίας, Aramaic:  משיחא, and in Latin:  Messias, and of course the English word:  Messiah  You'll notice they all begin with the letter "M."  There is a direct translation in all these languages, even Arabic, which I didn't include, to the Hebrew term מָשִׁיחַ.  

Then of course there is Immanuel in Hebrew or Emmanual in the Greek.
 Therefore ADONAI himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.  Isaiah 7:14
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, G-d with us.  Matthew 1:23

The Parable We Call "The Prodigal Son"

Through the years of following Messiah, it's easy to see that I was very clearly, once a prodigal child.  I've also been, on occasion, the elder brother in some situations, and for sure, I've been a prodigal parent.  I've been so hopeful at times, I've served up the fatted calf, only to be mocked.  In all of my humanness, I've realized something I'd never before considered.  Since Messiah was able to be tempted, that means, He could have chosen to be either one of those brothers in that parable.

Luke 15:11 And he said, A certain man had two sons: 12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. 13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. 14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. 15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! COF MH-COM 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. 20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: 23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. 25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. 28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and entreated him. 29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: 30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

What if Messiah, who was already with the Father, and had been since the first of Creation, simply said He didn't want to us to share in His inheritance?  Scripture says by His atoning blood, we are joint-heirs with Messiah.  Not only is He sharing the inheritance, He bought it with His own blood.  He could have been the elder brother and simply said, "they chose the pigpen!"  He could have said, "I've not squandered the time they have.  I've been a loyal son, always."

On the other hand, once He got to earth, and was tempted . . . He could have yielded like the younger son in the parable.  We don't know that yielding would have cost Him, eternal punishment, only that He could not have bought ours.  That had to be a real possibility, otherwise the temptation in the wilderness was a mere superfluous formality . . .  He could have left heaven, gotten wild and crazy with the pleasures of this world, and not bought our redemption.

As I think of the price He paid, by the horrible death He suffered, I'm so grateful.  When I think of the years He lived perfectly, without yielding to the various things I still struggle in, I am so thankful for forgiveness.  When I read that I am joint-heirs with Him, I'm humbled beyond words.  He could have been either brother in that parable and still been the Son of The Almighty.  It is we, who would have lost and been lost forever.