YHWH or Yehshuah
©2014 by George Yazigi
A striking dialogue between the Creator YHWH and Moses:
[Exodus 33:11] Clearly states that Moses has seen Elohim YHWH face-to-face and spoke with Him as someone speaking with his friend.
However in the same chapter [Exodus 33:20] YHWH told Moses that: “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.”
Are these verses contradicting each other? or there is a logical explanation?
At first instance one would think that there is a contradiction, because Moses in verse 11 has seen Elohim YHWH face-to-face, however in verse 20, when Moses asked to see YHWH’s Glory (Goodness), God told him you can’t see my face and live.
In line with the Abrahamic Faith, there is only one proper explanation: is that Elohim YHWH in verse 11 was God the Son Yehshuah (Jesus Christ), and the Elohim YHWH of verse 20 was God the Father. Because on different occasions Jesus said you only can reach to the Father through me [John 14:5-7], he who sees me has seen the Father [John 14:8-10]. And Paul said in [1 Timothy 2:5] that there is only one mediator between men and God, the Man Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament many people have seen and spoken with YHWH face-to-face, for example Moses in [Exodus 33: 11-20], YHWH also appeared to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all had dialogue with Him, yet they did not die from that encounter, so which dimension of the Godhead was appearing to these men? YHWH Himself said that He alone would save Israel as it is evident in: [Psalms 130:7], [Isaiah 43:11], [Isaiah 45:21], [Hosea 13:4], and [Luke 1:67-72]. However in [Acts 4:10-12], [Rom 10:9-13], and [Titus 2:11-14] it is only by Yehshuah’s (Jesus Christ) name that we should be saved, and in [Psalms 130: 7-8] YHWH Himself alone will perform the redemption of Israel.
Therefore we can conclude that:
YHWH is Yehshuah (Jesus Christ).
On top of that, when YHWH told Moses in [Exodus 33:18-23] I will show you my Glory (Goodness) and will proclaim the name of YHWH in front of you, and He asked Moses to hide into a rock and YHWH said that he will put His hand to cover Moses while the Glory of God is passing, because no man can see God and live, however Moses will see parts of God’s back. This passage suggests that at least we have 2 persons talking to Moses that are at the same time referred to as YHWH.
1- A Person who is referref to as YHWH and who will cover Moses with His hand and who will proclaim His Name as YHWH in front of Moses while the Glory of God is passing by.
2- Another Person who is referred to as YHWH and who is going to pass by in a glorified manner in front of Moses and Moses is going to see parts of His Back, because he can’t see His face lest he dies.
Both these 2 Persons were referred to as YHWH, yet they were referred to separately, however they were one.
This also goes in line with the Transfiguration of Christ [Luke 9:28-36] that occurred on the sacred mountain when Yehshuah (Jesus Christ) changed His appearance and showed His Glory as a dimension of the Godhead, which was mentioned also in [2 Peter 1: 16-18]. After about 1525 years Moses saw Yehushua another time! This also reverberates with [Exodus 34:29-32] when Moses’ face was radiating after seeing God the Son (Yehusuah) on mount Sinai.
This paves the way to a better understanding of the Godhead as being a plural oneness: The Father no one had seen Him, The Son Yehshuah (Jesus Christ) who alone is our salvation, and the Holy Spirit.
Besides, the meaning of Yehshuah is YHWH Saves. Thus we can simply understand that Yehshuah is YHWH who became flesh to save us. It is this powerful structure in the nature of the Godhead that makes the demons shudder as illustrated in [James 2:19], because only believing in God would not make the demons who have seen God shudder, it is rather the perfect equality, unity, power, plan, will, and authority that makes them shudder. No matter how they plot to dethrone God they will always fail due to the incomprehensible and powerful unity that is manifested in the Godhead as Paul explained to Timothy in [1 Tim 3:14-16].