God’s Name
Most say the Father's name is "Lord" and some say He has many names and they list a variety of descriptive titles connecting them to His name, but adding a title to a name doesn't extend His personal name. The Old Testament Hebrew text, reveals but one personal name used by the Israelites in the Hebrew language to refer to God Almighty, the Creator of all existence. There is a term for this set of Hebrew letters, called the “Tetragrammaton” which consists of four Hebrew consonants, without vowels and the most widely accepted English translation, is "Jehovah", and the second most common pronunciation is "Yahweh". Since words are used for communicating thought, the one used in the King James Version, "Jehovah" works best for me to communicate God’s personal name.
This name appears 4 times in the King James Version of the Bible, the number
probably varies slightly with other versions of the Bible, but in an Interlinear
Bible that contains the Old Testament, using the Hebrew (Masoretic) text, "Jehovah"
is used 6746 times, and this includes the use of “Jehovah” eight times in the Ten
Commandments, which was written by God’s own finger, "And when He finished speaking
with him on Mt. Sinai, He gave to Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets
of stone, written by the finger of God." (Exodus 31:18). Why is his name thousands
of times in the Interlinear Bible and not in the common Bibles? I can’t answer that,
I can only speculate as to the reason. It has been explained to me that the Jewish
Nation declared God's name too Holy to pronounce or write, so they used substitutes
like “Lord”, "LORD" or "God" these three titles are listed in the Strong's Concordance
as #113: adon, #136: adoni, but the Strong's number of the name "Jehovah" is #3068:
Yehovah; self-
The general Christian public who reads the common Bibles probably have some knowledge of God’s personal name, "Jehovah", but since it only appears a few times in the common Bibles and they don’t hear His name from the pulpit, God's name became obscure or even forgotten. When questioned on this matter, most say it’s not important or they believe it is “Lord”, but when you read verses like Isaiah 42:8 “I am Jehovah, that is My name and My glory I will not give to another.” and Psalms 145:21 “My mouth will speak the praises of Jehovah and all flesh shall praise His Holy name forever and ever” and Psalm 148:13 “Let them praise the name of Jehovah for His name alone is exalted.” I Chronicles 16:29 reads “Give to Jehovah the glory of His name; bring an offering and come before Him; worship Jehovah in the beauty of holiness.” There are literally a hundred more verses like these, praising God's name "Jehovah". Substituting His name with “Lord” or any other alternative must be offensive to God's Son, who inspired the various writers, and to Jehovah Himself, who calls us to not change any of His words, "All the things that I command you, take heed to do them, and you shall not add to it, nor take away from it." (Deuteronomy 12:32). Using "Lord" or "God" to replace "Jehovah" causes one to guess who the verse is speaking about, especially since Jesus was also called "Lord" after He was sent by Jehovah to earth. If you are interested in reading the Old testamente as it was intended, then it is important to read the words that were written without substitution or changes, and this is possible with an Interlinear Bible, containing the Old Testament Hebrew text in addition to an English translation. The American Standard Version also contains God's name as it was originally written, but this Bible version in only available as a download on the Internet, since it is now out of print.
His name is Holy and we should use His name, "Jehovah", with total respect, Christ put His Father's name in the Bible for us to use, honor, remember and praise, by promoting God's personal name. If we avoid using His holy name, we are supporting doubt as to whom we are praising. Almighty's God name is revered in the New Testament, but not actually used, consider Revelations 14:1 “And I saw and behold the Lamb standing on Mt. Zion! And with Him were 144,000 with the name of His Father having been written on their foreheads.” This was referring to the Lamb’s (Jesus) Father (Jehovah) whose name was written on their foreheads. Christ’s first advent had several purposes, one was to declare and reveal His Father to us, "Truly, truly, I say to you, The one who hears My word, and believes the One who has sent Me, has everlasting life..." (John 5:24). It is so much clearer when proper names are used, which is how the Bible was originally written, why would we want to read it any other way? When reading the Old Testament, most Christians are confused or understand incorrectly, as to whom "Lord" is referring to. “For it shall be, all who shall call on the name of Jehovah ("Lord" in common Bibles), shall be saved…” (Joel 2:32). Christ is the One who established salvation for our benefit, but it was the Father, Jehovah who sent His Son to make salvation a possibility because of God's love for us, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son..." (John 3:16).
Yes, Jesus (the Son of God) was there with His Father throughout the Old Testament, including creation, but the credit for creation remains with His Father, according to Old Testament scriptures, "...O Jehovah, the God of Israel, who sits above the cherubs, You are God Himself, You alone, to all the kingdoms of the earth; You have made the heavens and the earth." (II Kings 19:15), and in the New Testaments, Christ gave all credit to His Father, "Then Jesus said to them...from Myself I do nothing; but as My Father taught Me, these things I speak." (John 8:28). Christ, having personal knowledge of God, His Father, had sufficient faith in His Father to withstand all of Satan's temptations, in qualifying Himself as the "Lamb of God", the perfect righteous sacrifice to establish Jehovah's salvation, to provide for us an escape from the wages of our transgressions, that Adam initiated for all mankind, and foe Christ to become our Advocate and High Priest, "...We have such a High Priest, who sat down on the right of the throne of the Majesty in Heaven." (Hebrews 8:1), “ …I ascend to my Father and your Father, and My God and your God.” (John 20:17). Christ tells us here how important His Father is to Him and how important Jehovah should be to us. If we don’t use the name of our Heavenly Father, "Jehovah", how much respect are we showing God Almighty; how much glory are we giving to our Father God? It would seem we have little fear of God if we ignore His holy name and in doing so, are we not transgressing Jehovah's third Commandment, which contains His name "Jehovah"? Jehovah is to be feared first, bringing us to seek His truth and then after we gain a knowledge and understanding of our God and His character, then loving Him is our only natural reaction. To get the total picture, we need to read all of God's word, and read them as they were meant to be read.
Below is a list of a few other verses:
Exodus 3:15 "And God said to Moses again, You shall say this to the sons
of Israel, Jehovah the God of you fathers, the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name
forever and this is my title from generation to generation."
Exodus 6:3 "And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God
Almighty, and by My name Jehovah, I never made Myself known
to them."
Deut. 28:58 "If you will take heed to do all the words of this law which
is written in this book, to fear the glorious and fearful name, Jehovah
your God."
Lev. 22:32 "And you shall not profane My holy name, and I shall be
counted holy among the sons of Israel; I am Jehovah, who is
sanctifying you."
II Samuel 7:26 "And Your name shall be great forever, saying Jehovah
of host is God over Israel, and the house of Your servant David is
established before You."
I Kings 8:33 "When Your people Israel are stricken before the enemy,
when they sin against You, if they turn again to You and confess
Your name, and pray..."
I Kings 8:43 "You shall hear in Heaven, your dwelling place, and shall
do according to all that the stranger calls to You for, so that all the
people of the earth may know Your name, to fear You as do Your
people Israel, and to know that Your name has been called on the
house which I have built."
I Chronicles 17:24 "Let it even be established, and Your name be
great forever, saying Jehovah of host, the God of Israel and the
house of Your servant David..."
Psalm 5:11"But let all who put their trust in You rejoice; let them
always shout for joy, because You defend them. And let those who
love Your name be joyful in You."
Psalm 8:1 "O Jehovah, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all
the earth; You have set Your glory above the heavens!"
Psalm 9:10 "And those who know Your name will put their trust in You;
for You Jehovah have not forsaken those who seek You."
Psalm 44:5 "Through You we will push our enemies; through Your
name we will trample those who rise up against us."
Psalm 83:18 "And let them know, Your name is Jehovah, that You
alone are the Most High over all the earth."
Isaiah 54:5 "For your Maker is your husband; Jehovah of host is His
name; and your Redeemer is the holy One of Israel; He is called the
God of all the earth."
Micah 4:5 "For all the peoples walk, each one in the name of his god;
but we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God forever and ever."
Matthew 6:9 "therefore you should pray this way: Our Father who is
in Heaven, let be sanctified Your name."
John 17:6 "I revealed Your name to the men whom You gave to Me
out of the world. They were Yours, and You gave them to Me; and
they have kept Your word."
There are many more.