MEDITATIONS FROM PETER’S EPISTLES

 

March 12 , 2008                               Reading:  2 Peter 1:11

 

"And Saviour YAHSHUA the Messiah” 2 Peter 1:1 (Sacred Name Bible)

 

To many of you reading this devotion the word YAHSHUA is foreign and its meaning unknown. The Hebrew Name for our LORD is YAHVAH and His Son’s is YAHVAH-SHUA or YAHSHUA. God’s Son, our Savior, carries the Name of His Father with SHUA added to it. Shua means ‘save’ or ‘Savior’. YAHVAH means ‘I shall be’ or ‘I AM THAT I AM’. So, when the angel gave Mary and Joseph’s son a name, it was YAHVAHSHUA—the Name of the LORD with the extension SHUA.

 

“Moreover she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His Name YAHVAHSHUA—for He will save His people from their sins” Matthew 1:21 SNB).

 

The name of the man who led the Israelites into the Promised Land was JOSHUA. Hebrew has no Y but it was necessary for the translators to use one of these letters for the word to be pronounceable. J is the letter Y—only English pronounces J with a hard sound (see the word Hallelujah). The name Joshua and Yahvahshua is the same.

Having said that, let us take a look at our reading in 2 Peter 1. Peter in a short manner tells us who this YAHSHUA is. He is our Savior (v1), our Messiah (Hebrew for Christ), and our Master (v2).

That for which the Hebrew people longed is fulfilled in the Person of YAHSHUA. The Old Testament sacrifices, tabernacle and temples, and prophecies all spoke of a coming Messiah. Unfortunately they were expecting the Messiah to be the Deliverer form the tyranny of the Roman Empire; a great General who would wage war against Rome and defeat it. As YAHSHUA told Pilate,

 

 “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here” John 18:36.

 

Yahshua is the great Deliverer but one who delivers His people from the tyranny and bondage of sin. By so doing He makes them citizens of His kingdom.

Yahshua is our Savior. He delivers us by dying. God’s Son is the only One who could achieve this phenomenal accomplishment.

 

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" Acts 4:12.

 

Now that we belong to Him through salvation, we acknowledge Him to be our Master. We willingly submit to Him and it is our greatest joy and honor to keep His commandments and serve Him in every capacity with which He has gifted us.

Messiah, Savior and Master. YAHSHUA, He who with YAHVAH His Father, and the Holy Spirit is the Existing, Ever Living, Eternal One who saves.

 

“For thus shall richly be further supplied unto you the entrance into the age-abiding Kingdom of our Master and Saviour YAHSHUA the Messiah” 2 Peter 1:11 (SNB).