The Jesus You Never Knew
First of all, the name that people used to call him when he walked this earth was not “Jesus”. It was Yeshua. That is his original name in Hebrew. His name only became “Jesus” later on as Christianity spread to the West and to the rest of the world. Now, why is this important? It’s because Hebrew names have meanings.
Yeshua is a shortened version of the name Yehoshu’a (Joshua) which means “YHWH is salvation” or “YHWH saves”. Although it’s more commonly pronounced as “Yahweh” or “Jehovah”, did you know that if you read YHWH letter by letter in Hebrew using their ancient alphabet, you will be saying “behold the hand, behold the nail”?
Yod = Arm and hand
Hey = Behold
Vav = Nail / Peg
Hey = Behold
This is the name that God revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:15 saying: “This is My name forever and this is My memorial to all generations.” Note the term “memorial”. In other words, God was telling Moses that YHWH is the name by which He will be known by everyone. He will be recognized/identified by the name YHWH — “behold the hand, behold the nail”. This meeting between God and Moses happened more than 1,000 years before Jesus was born.
It’s interesting that although the temple high priests used to pronounce God’s name YHWH audibly, it changed “toward the end of the period of the second temple — 70 A.D. — the high priest now only pronounced the word in a whisper.” (Reference here.) The year 70 A.D. is just a few decades after the death and resurrection of Jesus — the time when the first disciples tirelessly devoted their lives to sharing his teachings with others. After Jesus was crucified, with his hands nailed to the cross, the name YHWH was then reduced to an inaudible whisper from the lips of the temple high priest. Coincidence?
Jesus was given two names: Yeshua and Immanuel. Immanu’el means “God with us”. If we do a transliteration of Hebrews 1:3 we can see that he is referred to as the “radiance of His[God’s] glory and the exact expression of the substance of Him”. There are three words that we will look into — the original Greek words that were used for radiance, exact expression, and substance.
1. Radiance — apaugasma = A light flashing forth, radiation, gleam
2. Exact expression — charaktēr = A graver (i.e. engraving), the figure stamped (i.e. an exact copy or representation)
3. Substance — hypostaseōs = Essence
Taking the liberty to rephrase that reference to Jesus in modern terms without being held back by any strings of traditional religious interpretations, we can say that he is God’s glory projected into this world and is the embodiment of His essence. In other words, God, being enthroned in heaven, projected himself to the earth in humanly form embodied by the man we know as Jesus. He is God’s projection of Himself. That’s why he was able to say “I and the Father are one”. That’s why he was able to come back to life after he was crucified. That’s why he was able to say “Before Abraham was, I am.” That’s why he was able to say he’s coming back. He was God’s way of talking to people on the earth in person at that point in time.
Hear this out. We are in a technological era where people are able to create worlds (think metaverse and virtual reality) and project themselves and their consciousness into it in the form of avatars. Would it be ridiculous to say that the guy who created the universe, who is much more intelligent and powerful than us also came here through his avatar?
The Roman governor Pontious Pilate had an interesting conversation with Jesus just before he was crucified. It went like this:
Pilate: “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus: “Is that your own idea or did others talk to you about me?”
Pilate: “Am I a Jew? Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
Jesus: “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
Pilate: “You are a king, then!”
Jesus: “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
Pilate: “What is truth?”
Some time later after some flogging and being fitted with a crown of thorns and a robe, Pilate presented Jesus to the Jews and said he found no fault in him. But they insisted on crucifying him because “he has made himself the Son of God”. When Pilate heard that, he and Jesus had another convo:
Pilate: “Where do you come from?”
Jesus: …
Pilate: “Do you refuse to speak to me? Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”
Jesus: “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
Jesus was telling Pilate: “You’re right. I’m a king but not from this world. I’m from another realm. I have a purpose coming here and being born here. And all these things are happening because they’re being allowed to happen, not because I can’t stop them from happening.” Pilate must have gotten the memo because after that, he was afraid and tried to set Jesus free.
Jesus was hated by those in power but was loved by the people. He touched those that were considered by their society to be “filthy”. He related to the working class, chatted, and dined with them. He sat down and talked with a racially impure adulteress. He saved another adulteress who was about to be stoned to death and told her “Go, and sin no more.” Just like that. No judging. No questions. Nothing. He was fond of children and allowed them to come near him even when he was busy and tired. His best friends were fishermen. Yet, the priests and other scholarly people — he called them vipers and hypocrites. They tried to trap him with questions but every time they did, he showed them his wisdom. He made them realize that they were the real law-breakers. “Whitewashed tombs”, as he said. That is why they hated him. He made them look in the mirror and realize that they were the filthy ones and the people were waking up to the truth. If they would have let him go on, they would have lost their power.
This world is temporary. Our bodies are temporary. There’s another realm. That’s what Jesus has been saying. He will come to take us — our spirit, our consciousness — from here to there but only if we let him.
As John stated in the book of Revelation, there will be a battle. But who are the enemies? Who will Jesus be fighting against? He did say to Pilate that this is not his kingdom. So whose kingdom is this? And whose side are we on? Why did the temple high priest stop saying God’s name YHWH aloud after Jesus was crucified? Who was he really and was he saying the truth?
We are all so familiar with Da Vinci’s portrait of Jesus. But just how real is it? We see all these pictures and sculptures where Jesus is shown hanging on a cross. But the thing is, he was only hanging there for a few hours. Why such focus on his death but not on his resurrection and return?
This is not about religion. Jesus was never about religion. He was here to let us know the truth. People in power incorporated Jesus into their religion and used it to their advantage in controlling those below them. Yet, people are being awakened and God has not been completely silent. It’s just a matter of time.
