“Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—this time I will make them know My power and My might; and they shall know that My Name is Yahweh.” (Jeremiah 16: 21)

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Katie and I are traveling in Israel and gathering information for SnyderTalk.  While we are there, I am posting excerpts from His Name is Yahweh in SnyderTalk.

The message in the book is important.  Please take the time to read it.

As I did with chapter 5 of His Name is Yahweh, I am posting chapter 6 in its entirety in this SnyderTalk.

Yahweh’s promises are infallible.  People need to understand them because they are crucial right now.

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Chapter 6

Yahweh’s Covenants and Promises

Yahweh tied His covenants and promises to His Name, and He will never do anything that contradicts His Word because it would defile His Name.  The New Covenant is Yahweh’s most important promise.  It points to the Messiah and the completion of Yahweh’s plan for His creation.  It also demonstrates His deep and abiding love for us.

Yahweh Promises to Deal with Adam’s Sin

Yahweh’s first promise is found in Genesis 3: 14-15:

“Because you (the serpent) have done this, cursed are you more than all the cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life; and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel.”[i]

This promise is a foretelling of the battle Yahweh will wage with Satan to deal with the consequences of our sin.  The battle between Yahweh and Satan over the redemption and salvation of His people is illustrated in every book in the Bible.

Although Yahweh promised to redeem and save His people, men and women are destined to suffer the physical consequences of sin.  Yahweh told Eve,

“I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall bring forth children; yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”[ii]

And to Adam God said,

“Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.  Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”[iii]

Sin upset the natural order Yahweh established in the beginning for men and women.  He had intended for men and women to be associates and equals.  But since Adam and Eve sinned, women have possessed a vain longing to rule their husbands, and men have struggled against a hostile environment to provide food for their families.  Additionally, since that time both men and women have experienced sickness and physical death—something Yahweh mercifully permitted so we would not have to live eternally in a fallen state.[iv]

By far, the most significant consequence of Adam’s and Eve’s sin was the immediate loss of intimacy with Yahweh.  To restore what was lost, God had to become our Redeemer and Savior.  Although Adam and Eve created a wide separation between God and the human race, man is incapable of bridging the gap.  Yahweh had to do that Himself.

Yahweh’s Covenant with Noah

Noah was the only righteous person in his generation, and Yahweh made a covenant with him and his family when He destroyed every living creature on the earth with the flood.  Genesis 6: 8 says, “Noah found favor in the eyes of Yahweh.”[v]  The Hebrew word translated as “favor” in this verse is “chen,” and it actually means “grace,” or the “unmerited favor of a superior person to an inferior one.”[vi]

This is the first verse in the Bible that mentions “grace.”  In the next chapter, you will see that understanding grace is crucial in helping us grasp what Yahweh did for us through the Messiah.  In a nutshell, grace means that our redemption and salvation are not dependent on anything we have done, will do, or even can do.  They are gifts from God that are based on His righteousness, not ours.

Yahweh told Noah to build an ark, which took more than 100 years to complete, and he obeyed God.  This may not sound like a big deal, but it was.  During Noah’s day, there was no rain.  A mist rose from the ground every day and watered the earth,[vii] so flooding was unheard of.

Building a huge boat on dry land made no sense to Noah’s neighbors.  For many decades, he endured their ridicule as he worked diligently to obey Yahweh’s command.  When the rain came, Noah, his family, and the animals Yahweh sent to him entered the ark, and God shut the door behind them.  Literally, He sealed them in the ark and saved them.  Their salvation was entirely dependent on Yahweh’s grace since there was no way Noah could have known what would happen more than 100 years after God told him to build the ark.

After the flood, Yahweh made this promise:

“I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.”[viii]

Then God established a covenant between Himself and everything He created:

“‘Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth.  I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.’  God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations.  I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.’”[ix]

Abraham’s Call and Yahweh’s Promise to Bless all the Families of the Earth

Yahweh told Abraham to leave his home and his country and go to a place He would show him,[x] and Abraham obeyed God.  Then God said,

“I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.  And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”[xi]

Abraham’s belief in Yahweh and his willingness to obey Him set the stage for our redemption and salvation.  God’s promise to bless all the families of the earth through Abraham refers to the Messiah and His redemptive work.

Repeatedly in history, we see that the willingness of individual men and women to ignore the odds against them and do what Yahweh told them to do has resulted in tremendous blessings for all of us.  The next time you catch yourself thinking that nothing you do really matters, remember Noah and Abraham.  They may have had similar thoughts, but they did not let their fear and insecurity prevent them from obeying God.  They were ordinary people Yahweh used to do extraordinary things.  Their lives made an enormous difference and yours can too.

The Promised Land

When Abraham entered the Promised Land he was traveling with his nephew, Lot.  They were men of great wealth, and they had very large herds of animals.  Since the land could not support the herds of both men, Abraham suggested that they separate, and he told Lot to take the land he wanted.  Lot looked at the valley below the hills on which Jerusalem rests, and he saw that it was well watered and very fertile.  Thus, he took the valley for his possession, and Abraham willingly accepted the hilly region that includes Mount Moriah—the hill beside which Jerusalem was built.

After Abraham and Lot parted company, Yahweh made this promise to Abraham:

“Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever.  I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered.  Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.”[xii]

In Genesis 15: 18-21, Yahweh gave Abraham a more precise description of the Promised Land’s boundaries:

“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt (the Nile River) as far as the great river Euphrates; the land of the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”[xiii]

Later, Yahweh told Abraham that he would become the father of many nations, and He confirmed that the Promised Land would belong to his descendants forever:

“For My part, this is My covenant with you: you will become the father of many nations.  And you are no longer to be called Abram; your name is to be Abraham, for I am making you father of many nations, and your issue will be kings.  And I shall maintain my covenant between Myself and you, and your descendants after you, generation after generation, as a covenant in perpetuity, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.  And to you and to your descendants after you, I shall give the country where you are now immigrants, the entire land of Canaan, to own in perpetuity.  And I will be their God.”[xiv]

Then Yahweh explained that even though Abraham would become the father of many nations, His covenant would pass through Isaac’s descendants:

“As regards your wife…Sarah….I shall bless her and moreover give you a son by her.  I shall bless her and she will become nations: kings of peoples will issue from her….Yes, your wife Sarah will bear you a son whom you must name Isaac.  And I shall maintain My covenant with him, a covenant in perpetuity, to be his God and the God of his descendants after him.  For Ishmael too I grant you your request.  I hereby bless him and will make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous.  He will be the father of twelve princes, and I shall make him into a great nation.  But my covenant I shall maintain with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear you….”[xv]

A “covenant in perpetuity” is binding for all eternity.  That means the Promised Land belongs to Abraham’s descendants through Isaac forever.  In Genesis 26: 2-5, Yahweh confirmed His promise to Isaac:

“Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you.  Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham.  I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My Laws.”[xvi]

In Genesis 28: 13-15, Yahweh said that the Promised Land belongs to Abraham’s descendants through Jacob:

“I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give to you and your descendants.  Your descendants shall also be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.  Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised.”[xvii]

Yahweh repeated this promise in Genesis 35: 10-12:

“You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name….I am God Almighty (El Shaddai); be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come forth from you.  The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you.”[xviii]

Later, Yahweh told Moses that He would rescue the Jewish people from bondage in Egypt and bring them to the Promised Land, and He tied the promise to His Name:

“I am Yahweh, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage.  I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.  Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.  I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a permanent possession; I am Yahweh.”[xix]

As the Children of Israel were preparing to leave Mount Sinai and go to the Promised Land, Yahweh told them He would send His Angel before them.  This Angel is the Angel of Yahweh who appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and He established Israel as a nation:

“Behold, I am going to send an Angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.  Be on your guard before Him and obey His Voice; do not be rebellious toward Him, for He will not pardon your transgression, since My Name is in Him.  But if you will truly obey His Voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.  For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will completely destroy them.  You shall not worship their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their deeds; but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their sacred pillars in pieces.  But you shall serve Yahweh your God, and He will bless your bread and your water; and I will remove sickness from your midst.”[xx]

In Exodus 23: 27-31, Yahweh explained how His Angel would drive out the early inhabitants of the Promised Land, and He gave another description of its boundaries:

“I will send My terror ahead of you, and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.  I will send hornets ahead of you that they may drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you.  I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that the land may not become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.  I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land.  I will fix your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines (i.e., the Mediterranean Sea), and from the wilderness to the River Euphrates; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.”[xxi]

The Covenant of Yahweh

If I were to make a list of the most important chapters in the Bible, Genesis chapter 15 would be at the top of my list because it presents Yahweh’s covenant with His people.  This covenant has never changed, and it points to the New Covenant to which I refer later.  Furthermore, Genesis chapter 22 provides crucial insights into the New Covenant, and I will discuss them shortly as well.

Genesis chapter 15 begins with this statement: “The Word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision….”[xxii]  As you will see later, this verse does not mean Abraham only heard the spoken Words of Yahweh.  In fact, the “Word of Yahweh” referred to here is the Messiah, and Genesis chapter 15 tells us that the Messiah ratified the covenant on which we all depend for our redemption and salvation.

Yahweh told Abraham, “Do not fear…I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great.”[xxiii]  Abraham responded by saying, in essence, “I have no children.  How can this be?”[xxiv]

Then Yahweh took Abraham outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars if you are able to count them…So shall your descendants be.”[xxv]  God was telling Abraham that despite the fact he was childless at that moment, he would have many descendants.  Eventually, Abraham learned that he would have a son, the child of the covenant through whom the Messiah would come, and in Genesis chapter 22 he learned that the Messiah would become the sin offering for all mankind.

Genesis 15: 6 tells us that Abraham believed Yahweh and that God declared him righteous.[xxvi]  Clearly, Abraham’s righteousness was based on his faith in Yahweh, and his obedience flowed from his faith.  I need to mention this fact here because the covenant Yahweh made with His people is not dependent on our effort in any way.  Faith in Yahweh and His sacrifice on our behalf are essential, and our willingness to obey Him simply proves that we have the kind of faith He expects and demands.  Literally, nothing else will satisfy God.  As unusual as this may sound, that is exactly what Yahweh said.

Ratification of the Covenant

Most Christians do not have a good understanding of the covenant Yahweh ratified with Abraham and his descendants.  Thus, most of us do not fully appreciate what God did for us or what He expects from us in return.  In Genesis 15: 9-10, God told Abraham,

“Bring me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a young pigeon.  Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds.”[xxvii]

In Abraham’s day, people ratified covenants in the following way.  First, they would slaughter animals and cut them in two.  Next, they would place the parts of the slaughtered animals in two lines on the ground, and the people entering into the covenant would walk between the lines of animal parts together.

Ratification of a covenant signifies that the people walking between the animal parts are committing themselves to fulfill the covenant’s terms—every one of them no matter what happens.  For instance, if you and your friend enter into a covenant such as the one Yahweh entered into with Abraham, both of you are agreeing to live up to the covenant’s terms even if the other one fails to keep his word.  Ratifying a covenant this way also indicates that you are inviting Yahweh to slaughter you the way the animals were slaughtered if you break your promise.[xxviii]

Today, we do not enter into covenants so most of us are unfamiliar with the concept.  Instead, we enter into contracts, and covenants and contracts are very different.  For instance, if you and your friend enter into a contractual relationship and you fail to discharge your commitments, then the contract’s provisions are no longer binding on your friend.  As I said, in a covenant the terms of the agreement never cease to apply.[xxix]  This distinction is key.

Furthermore, the covenant Yahweh ratified with Abraham was not a typical covenant.  Take a look at Genesis 15: 12 and Genesis 15: 17-18 and see what I mean:

“Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him[xxx]….It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces.  On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram…”[xxxi]

The “smoking oven” and the “flaming torch” mentioned in these verses were Yahweh’s Shekinah.  God caused Abraham to fall asleep when He made the covenant, and Yahweh the Father and Yahweh the Son walked between the lines of animal parts.  Thus, the covenant we refer to as the covenant Yahweh made with Abraham is actually a covenant between the Father and the Son, and Abraham and his descendants are the beneficiaries of Yahweh’s work on our behalf.

Since Abraham was asleep when Yahweh ratified the covenant, Yahweh assumed sole responsibility for fulfilling the covenant’s terms.  Stated another way, Yahweh’s covenant with us is not dependent on our doing anything for Him.  Please do not miss the significance of this point.  The Children of Israel misunderstood it.  They lacked faith in Yahweh, and as a result they had to spend 40 years in the wilderness instead of going directly to the Promised Land.[xxxii]

Steve McVey, President of Grace Walk Ministries, has written several books dealing with the importance of grace in the lives of Yahweh’s people.[xxxiii]  In his book Grace Land, McVey explains the covenant’s ratification this way:

“When the time came for the covenant to be ratified, God caused Abraham to fall asleep….There was no way that Abraham could live up to the promises he would have been making….It was as if God were saying, ‘Abraham, I know you have good intentions, but there is nothing you could ever do for Me.  You would only break any promises you make.  So for that reason, I want you to lie down and rest while I ratify the covenant.  I’ll do the work.  You simply trust Me as the recipient of all I do.’”[xxxiv]

Yahweh’s covenant is “a unilateral pact (between God and Abraham and his descendants), a divine initiative, a solemn promise sealed with an imprecatory oath.”[xxxv]  In essence, God called down curses on Himself if He fails to deliver on every one of His promises.  He knew that Abraham could not live up to the terms of the covenant no matter how hard he tried, and neither can we.

The Law requires the death of anyone violating even one of the covenant’s provisions.  Thus, every one of us deserves to die because all of us have violated the covenant.  However, by ratifying it single-handedly Yahweh agreed to take upon Himself the penalty for our sins and to die[xxxvi] in our place.  This fact is alluded to in Genesis chapter 22.  When they nailed the Messiah to a tree, He paid the price for our sins, redeemed us, fulfilled the Old Covenant, and sealed the New Covenant with His own blood.  Now that is true love.

Yahweh Tests Abraham’s Faith and Promises the Messiah

Abraham knew that Yahweh’s covenant and all His promises would pass to his descendants through Isaac, but one day God put him to the test.  He said,

“Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”[xxxvii]

From Abraham’s reaction to Yahweh’s command, it is clear that he believed God would return Isaac to him alive even if he sacrificed him on an altar.  Genesis 22: 5 tells us that when Abraham, Isaac, and the men who accompanied them on the trip reached their destination, Mount Moriah, Abraham said that he and Isaac would climb the mountain, worship, and return together.[xxxviii]  Obviously, they could not return together unless Isaac was still alive, and to fulfill Yahweh’s covenant and His promises, Isaac had to live and have children of his own.

Genesis 22: 5 is the first verse in the Bible that mentions worship.  The Hebrew word translated in this verse as “worship” is “shachah” (shaw-khaw’), and it means to prostrate one’s self before God or to fall down before Him in humility.  In this situation, Abraham’s “act of worship” was to willingly surrender to God the one he loved most—his son Isaac.  Additionally, by telling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, Yahweh was actually showing him what He would do later to atone for our sins.

It is clear from Genesis 22: 5 that worship involves action on our part coupled with faith in God.  In other words, simply believing in the existence of God is not enough.  We must be willing to do what Yahweh requires.  If we fail to act when we know what God expects, then we are showing Him that we do not have the kind of faith He demands.  Abraham had a choice to make, and he made the right decision.  Each one of us has a choice to make as well.  Please make the right choice.

As they climbed Mount Moriah, Isaac told Abraham that they did not have an animal for the sacrifice, and Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering….”[xxxix]  In the ancient eastern text of the Bible, Genesis 22: 8 reads this way: “God will provide Himself the lamb for a burnt offering,”[xl] and a literal translation of the Hebrew is consistent with this translation.  Therefore, prophetically Abraham was telling Isaac that Yahweh would provide Himself as the sacrifice at an unspecified future date.  Yahweh provided the sacrifice that day as well, and Abraham called the place Yahweh Yireh, or Yahweh will (future tense) provide[xli] a sacrifice “on this mountain.”[xlii]  Abraham was prophesying that at some future date unknown to him Yahweh would provide a sacrifice on Mount Moriah and save His people.  When they nailed the Messiah to the tree, this prophecy was fulfilled.

A literal interpretation of the Name “Yahweh Yireh” is “Yahweh will (future tense) see to it.”[xliii]  This is the same message God gave Moses and the Children of Israel when He instituted Passover and led them out of Egypt.  Yahweh had to make the atoning sacrifice personally.  No other sacrifice would do.

When Abraham raised the knife to kill Isaac, Yahweh stopped him and said,

“By Myself I have sworn, declares Yahweh, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.  In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My Voice.”[xliv]

Yahweh referred to Isaac as Abraham’s “only son.”  We know Ishmael was Abraham’s son as well and that Ishmael was born before Isaac, but Isaac was Abraham’s only son by Sarah and the only son of the covenant.  Yahweh was telling Abraham that He would sacrifice His only Son on Mount Moriah to atone for our sins.  Additionally, Yahweh told Abraham that through his seed all the nations of the earth “shall be blessed.”  The Hebrew word translated in this verse as “seed” (singular) is “zra,”[xlv] and it means posterity, offspring, or descendant.  Thus, Yahweh was telling Abraham that One, not many, of his descendants would be a special blessing to the whole world.  That Person is the Messiah, and as you will see shortly, He is Yahweh.

Yahweh Promises to Bless Us When He Causes Us to Remember His Name

When Yahweh gave the Ten Commandments, He tied them closely to His Name, and He promised to bless us when He causes us to remember His Name.  In Exodus 20: 24, He said,

“In every place where I cause My Name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.”[xlvi]

This is an unconditional promise, and it is not a new revelation.  But we have lost sight of the importance Yahweh places on His Name.  Yahweh never intended for us to “forget” His Name.  People did that on their own initiative, even though they were influenced by Satan.

Yahweh Promises a Prophet Like Moses

While the Children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, Yahweh promised that He would raise up a prophet like Moses to shepherd His people:

“I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you (Moses), and I will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.  It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which He shall speak in My Name, I Myself will require it of him.”[xlvii]

The Prophet to whom Yahweh referred in these verses is the Messiah, and He made it clear that the Messiah is a very special Person.  He speaks Yahweh’s words, and everyone must pay attention to Him and obey Him.  Failure in this regard will provoke Yahweh’s wrath.

Yahweh Promises the Messiah through David’s Line

Yahweh said that David was a man after His own heart.[xlviii]  Even though he was a sinner, David understood that Yahweh is his Redeemer and Savior, and Yahweh blessed David for having faith in Him.  The greatest blessing Yahweh bestowed on David was the promise that the Messiah would come through his line.  In 2 Samuel 7: 12-13, Yahweh said,

“When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your Descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish His kingdom.  He shall build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever.”[xlix]

Yahweh was not referring to David’s son Solomon in these verses because Solomon died.  There is little or no dispute about the fact that these verses pertain to the Messiah, and Yahweh repeats this promise in 1 Chronicles 17: 14:

“But I will settle Him in My house and in My kingdom forever, and His throne shall be established forever.”[l]

After David learned about this promise, he visited the Tabernacle and sat down in front of the Holy of Holies to pray.  David’s prayer is found in 2 Samuel 7: 18-29.  Several verses in his prayer have a direct bearing on the message of this book:

“Is there another people on earth like your people, like Israel, whom a god proceeded to redeem, to make them his people and to make a name for himself by performing great and terrible things on their behalf, by driving out nations and their gods before his people?”[li]

The answer to this question is NO.  There is no god on earth who has redeemed his people and performed mighty acts on their behalf.  But Yahweh did, and His promise to David makes it clear that in the future He will perform an even greater act for His people.  David understood all of this, and he said,

“Now, Yahweh God, may the promise which You have made for Your servant and for his family stand firm forever as You have said, so that Your Name will be exalted for ever and people will say, ‘Israel’s God is Yahweh Sabaoth.’”[lii]

David knew that Yahweh would bring forth One of his descendants and exalt Him and His Name.  One day, people everywhere will know that His Name is Yahweh, that He alone is God, and that He is our One and only Redeemer and Savior.  The Person about whom David is speaking is the Messiah.

Yahweh Promises a New Covenant

As I said at the beginning of this chapter, the institution of a New Covenant is Yahweh’s most important promise.  The use of the word “new” suggests two things.  First, it indicates that there is an Old Covenant.  Second, it implies that the old one has been fulfilled or completed.  By definition, the Old Covenant must have been completed, or the New Covenant could not take effect.

Yahweh explained the New Covenant to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31: 31-33:

“‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares Yahweh, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,’ declares Yahweh.  ‘But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares Yahweh, ‘I will put my Law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’”[liii]

This is the same covenant Yahweh referred to when He spoke these words about the Messiah through the prophet Isaiah:

“‘Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen One in whom My soul delights, I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.  He will not cry out or raise His Voice, nor make His Voice heard in the street.  A bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.  He will not be disheartened or crushed until He has established justice on the earth; and the coastlands will wait expectantly for His Law.’

Thus says Yahweh God, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it, ‘I am Yahweh, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, and I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell in darkness from the prison.  I am Yahweh, that is My Name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images.  Behold, the former things have come to pass, now I declare new things; before they spring forth I proclaim them to You.’”[liv]

Moreover, as I said before, this is the covenant Yahweh talked about in Ezekiel chapters 34 and 36.[lv]  In Ezekiel, He called it a “covenant of peace.”  In effect, the New Covenant is a “covenant of peace” between Yahweh and His people because the price for our sins was paid by the Messiah when He was hung on a tree.  The sin that prevented us from having intimacy with Yahweh was covered by His blood, and the conditions for peace were satisfied once and for all.

The covenant Yahweh made with His people is explained in Genesis chapter 15, and the laws associated with it are spelled out in the Torah.  In the next chapter, you will see that faith in Yahweh is the common thread tying the Old and New Covenants together.

His Name is Yahweh: It explains why God’s Name is so important.  It’s available in eBook format and in paperback.  It’s also available for free in PDF format.

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His Name is Yahweh, the website, is a companion of the book His Name is Yahweh.

To see videos that explain the importance of God’s Name, click here.

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“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17: 22-24)

See “His Name is Yahweh”.

[i] Genesis 3: 14-15.

[ii] Genesis 3: 16.

[iii] Genesis 3: 17-19.

[iv] The New Jerusalem Bible, Doubleday, New York, 1985, p. 21.

[v] Genesis 6: 8.

[vi] Ryrie, Charles.  Ryrie Study Bible Expanded Edition, Moody Press, Chicago, 1995, p. 13.

[vii] Genesis 2: 6.

[viii] Genesis 8: 21.

[ix] Genesis 9: 9-13.

[x] Genesis 12: 1.

[xi] Genesis 12: 2-3.

[xii] Genesis 13: 14-17.

[xiii] Genesis 15: 18-21.

[xiv] Genesis 17: 4-8 from The New Jerusalem Bible.

[xv] Genesis 17: 15-16 and 19-21 from The New Jerusalem Bible.

[xvi] Genesis 26: 2-5.

[xvii] Genesis 28: 13-15.

[xviii] Genesis 35: 10-12.

[xix] Exodus 6: 6-8.

[xx] Exodus 23: 20-25.

[xxi] Exodus 23: 27-31.

[xxii] Genesis 15: 1.

[xxiii] Genesis 15: 1.

[xxiv] Genesis 15: 2-3.

[xxv] Genesis 15: 5.

[xxvi] Genesis 15: 6.

[xxvii] Genesis 15: 9-10.

[xxviii] Read Jeremiah 34: 8-22 to understand how important it is for us to live up to the terms of a covenant.  Yahweh expects us to live up to our word, and He also expects us to obey His Word.  Failure on our part to honor our word or to obey Yahweh’s Word is inviting disaster.  Covenants are binding agreements no matter what happens.

[xxix] McVey, Steve.  Grace Land, Harvest House, Eugene, Oregon, 2001, p. 81.

[xxx] Genesis 15: 12.

[xxxi] Genesis 15: 17-18.

[xxxii] Psalm 78: 22, Psalm 78: 32, and Psalm 78: 59-62.

[xxxiii] The three books on grace written by Steve McVey are Grace Walk, Grace Rules, and Grace Land, and Harvest House published all of them.

[xxxiv] McVey, Steve.  Grace Land, Harvest House, Eugene, Oregon, 2001, p. 82.

[xxxv] The New Jerusalem Bible, Doubleday, New York, 1985, p. 35.  The parentheses are mine.

[xxxvi] Yahweh cannot die, because then the universe would stop running.  The human form of Yahweh did die when He was hung on a tree, but His divine nature INSIDE Jesus did not and cannot die (see Isaiah 11:1-12, Isaiah chapter 53, Isaiah 63:1-14, and Psalm 51:1-11).  In a nutshell, Jesus, who is Yahweh the Son, laid down his life voluntarily in submission to Yahweh the Father (see John chapter 10) to atone for our sins.  Thanks to Andrew Roth for suggesting this clarification.

[xxxvii] Genesis 22: 2.

[xxxviii] Genesis 22: 5.

[xxxix] Genesis 22: 8.

[xl] Genesis 22: 8 from Holy Bible From the Ancient Eastern Text, George M. Lamsa’s translation from the Aramaic of the Peshitta that was first published in 1933.

[xli] Genesis 22: 14.

[xlii] Genesis 22: 14 from Holy Bible: From the Ancient Eastern Text, George M. Lamsa’s translation from the Aramaic of the Peshitta.

[xliii] Ryrie, Charles.  Ryrie Study Bible Expanded Edition, Moody Press, Chicago, 1995, p. 37.

[xliv] Genesis 22: 16-18.

[xlv] Scherman, Rabbi Nosson, The Stone Edition Tanach, The ArtScroll Series®, Mesorah Publications, Brooklyn, New York, 1996, p. 1781, and Kohlenberger, John III, The Interlinear NIV Hebrew-English Old Testament, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1987, p. 445.

[xlvi] Exodus 20: 24.

[xlvii] Deuteronomy 18: 18-19.

[xlviii] 1 Samuel 13: 14.

[xlix] 2 Samuel 7: 12-13.

[l] 1 Chronicles 17: 14.

[li] 2 Samuel 7: 23 from The New Jerusalem Bible.

[lii] 2 Samuel 7: 25-26 from The New Jerusalem Bible.

[liii] Jeremiah 31: 31-33.

[liv] Isaiah 42: 1-9.

[lv] Ezekiel 34: 1-31 and 36: 22-37.