The Graciousness of Yahuah

(Please note: this study utilizes what I currently understand to be the best pronunciations of the Sacred Names, specifically, “Yahuah” for the name of our Heavenly Father, and “Yahuahshua” for the name of His Son and our Messiah. The alternate spellings of “Yahuwah” and “Yahuwahshua” are used by some students for the same pronunciations.)

Every diligent Scripture student agrees that Yahuah is gracious. After all, He personally went out of His way to tell us that He is (Exodus 33:19), and no one would want to argue with Him (I John 5:10). There is less than unanimous agreement on what His graciousness looks like, however. Opinions on this matter are all over the map, leaving one wishing for some infallible, inspired way to know what His graciousness really involves.

Well, actually, there is such a way.

Other than the Messiah Yahuahshua Himself (“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” Matthew 23:33; “whited sepulchres full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness” Matthew 23:27;“children of your father the devil” John 8:44), John the Baptist probably set the benchmark for clarity and freedom from ambiguity in spiritual communication. He preached with such power and unction of the Spirit that if you walk today through the Judean wilderness along the Jordan River where he lived and ministered, it seems like you can still (almost) hear the echoes of his stern rebukes and call for repentance and righteous living! The disciple Luke preserves for us the drama of that momentous hour in Israel’s history: “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of Elohim/God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Yahuah, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of Yahuah. Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That Elohim is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages. And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Messiah, or not; John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable” (Luke 3:1-17: also see Romans 12:19 “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith Yahuah”; Deuteronomy 32:39 “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no Elohim/God with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand”; Matthew 10:28 “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”; James 4:12 “There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy”; and Revelation 20:9 “{the wicked nations} went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from Elohim out of heaven, and devoured them”).

But aside from the history of John the Baptist’s Heaven-ordained ministry and always-relevant call for repentance and reformation, is there something else we should learn from this chapter in the plan of salvation? Indeed there is, as we shall see.

We live in a spiritually retarded society where names merely identify. In Israel, however, names not only identify, but they also describe and reveal prophetic destiny! The man we call “John” is really Yahuchanan (commonly shortened to Yochanan, pronounced Yo-ha-nan), and how he came by this name is a very fascinating and important story which is also recorded for us in the gospel of Luke: “There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before Elohim, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of Yahuah blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest’s office before Elohim in the order of his course, according to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of Yahuah. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. And there appeared unto him an angel of Yahuah standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name Yahuchanan (or “John” in our English MIS-translations!), and thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of Yahuah, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to Yahuah their Elohim. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Eliyahu/Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just (cf Malachi 4:5,6); to make ready a people prepared for Yahuah. And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of Yahuah; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee these glad tidings. And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless. And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house. And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, Thus hath Yahuah dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men………..Now Elisabeth’s full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son. And her neighbours and her cousins heard how Yahuah had showed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called Yahuchanan. And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is Yahuchanan. And they marvelled all. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, and praised Elohim. And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea. And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of Yahuah was with him. And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be Yahuah the Elohim of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; the oath which he swore to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of Yahuah to prepare his ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our Elohim; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel” (Luke 1:5-25, 57-80).

So now we see that so-called “John” the Baptist’s actual divinely-inspired name, Yahuchanan, is so critically important that Gabriel, a heavenly messenger of such elevated status that he personally stands in the presence of Almighty Yahuah the King of the universe, was sent to give that name to Yahuchanan’s father, Zacharias! Certainly, then, we must conclude that embedded in Yahuchanan’s name is a critically significant spiritual revelation.

To get at this revelation, however, we need to make a short visit to the politically incorrect school of Scripture interpretation…..which is the reason why few “scholars” and ear-tickling preachers (whose messages are as smooth as their de-bearded faces! Leviticus 19:27) ever get close to the essential truth in this experience. To make a long story short, when we see that divinely-inspired names in Israel describe and reveal prophetic destiny as well as identify, and when we see that Yahuchanan’s life work and ministry was to call for repentance and reformation in Israel to prepare the way for the Messiah’s arrival…..AND WHEN WE LEARN THAT YAHUCHANAN’S NAME MEANS “YAHUAH HAS BEEN/IS GRACIOUS”…..we arrive at a very simple and obvious conclusion: Yahuchanan’s uncompromising and fearless call for repentance and reformation, was in fact the graciousness of Yahuah, Who sent this call so that those who heard could set their houses in order and be included with the wheat that the Messiah will gather into His garner, and not with the chaff that He will burn with unquenchable fire (Luke 3:17)! Truly the graciousness of Yahuah, by divinely-inspired definition!

Have YOU heard a call for repentance and reformation recently, possibly even a call for repentance and reformation that touched a rather sensitive nerve? If so, instead of ignoring it, griping, complaining, shrieking, howling, demanding someone’s head on a charger, or shooting the messenger with accusations of harshness, lack of love, fanaticism, extremism, misogyny, imbalance, lack of sympathy and/or compassion, or even murder (cf “Ye have killed the people of the Lord” Numbers 16:41)…..try offering a sincere prayer of thanks for the graciousness of Yahuah, Who is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (II Peter 3:9). How YOU respond to Yahuah’s graciousness will determine YOUR eternal destiny!

Ron Buhler – Two-House Messianic Israelite, scribe of the Kingdom of Heaven, Bible student, pilgrim, and stranger