“My holy Name I will make known in the midst of My people Israel. I will not let My holy Name be profaned anymore, and the Gentiles will know that I am Yahweh, the Holy One in Israel.”

Ezekiel 39: 7

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“Seek and You will Find”

Zechariah 3

This is Yahweh speaking to the prophet Zechariah in about 520 BC during the Babylonian Captivity. The Branch is the Messiah. Yahweh is telling Zechariah about Him more than 500 years before He was born:

“Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you—indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch. For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua, on one stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave an inscription on it,” declares Yahweh Sabaoth, “and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day,” declares Yahweh Sabaoth, “every one of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and under his fig tree.” (Zechariah 3: 8-10)

Yahweh Sabaoth

Typically, the Name “Yahweh Sabaoth” is translated into English as “LORD of hosts” with all the letters in LORD capitalized. In the Bible, anytime you see LORD in call caps and GOD in all caps, you know that Yahweh’s Name belongs there.

For more details, see His Name is Yahweh: Revised Edition.

A literal translation of Yahweh Sabaoth (Sa-ba’-oth) is “Yahweh Master of legions”. It speaks of Yahweh as Sovereign over all creation and the Commander of the heavenly forces, both spiritual and physical.

For instance, Yahweh commanded locusts to descend on Egypt prior to the Exodus. His sovereignty extends to plants and animals, inanimate objects, and viruses and bacteria. In other words, Yahweh is Sovereign over everything everywhere. Nothing is beyond His reach.

Zechariah 12

This is Zechariah 12: 10-14:

“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo. The land will mourn, every family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself and their wives by themselves; all the families that remain, every family by itself and their wives by themselves.”

Zechariah 12 is about the End of Days. Jerusalem will be attacked by all the nations of the earth. At that time, Yahweh will intervene directly to rescue Judah and Jerusalem and destroy their enemies. Then, the people of Judah and Jerusalem will recognize Him as the Person they pierced.

Matthew 23

In Matthew 23: 37-39, the Messiah spoke about the day He will return:

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the Name of Yahweh!’”

Before the Messiah returns, Jewish people living in Judah and Jerusalem will realize that they have no hope for survival. In desperation, they will turn to Yahweh, and they will know whose help they are seeking. He is the Person their ancestors killed during His first coming.

They demanded His crucifixion. What they did was evil, but Yahweh used it for good. By the shedding of His blood, we received redemption and salvation/deliverance. He was our guilt offering.

Isaiah 53

This is how Isaiah explained it:

He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried. Yet, we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of Elohim, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. (Isaiah 53: 3-6)

Isaiah’s prophecy was written in the 700s BC, roughly 200 years before Zechariah’s prophecy.

The Mystery of Time

Now for a little mystery.

Answer this question: Two men died. One of them died in 1910 and the other one died in 2000. Both men went to heaven. Which one of them got to heaven first?

The answer: Both men got to heaven at the same time.

Albert Einstein explained it this way: “Time as we know it [past, present, and future], is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”

Although Isaiah’s prophecy and Zechariah’s prophecy are separated by about 200 years as we understand time, from Yahweh’s perspective they are the same time.

Isaiah talks about the Messiah’s first coming about 700 years before it happened. Zechariah talks about the Messiah’s second coming more than 2500 years before it will happen. From Yahweh’s perspective, they are the same time.

This is Yahweh speaking:

“I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’” (Isaiah 46: 10)

Seek and You will Find

No one can understand Yahweh unless Yahweh reveals Himself. Thankfully, Yahweh will reveal Himself to anyone who asks:

“Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7: 7-8)
“But from there you will seek Yahweh your Elohim, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 4: 29)
“I love those who love Me, and those who diligently seek Me will find Me.” (Proverbs 8: 17) In Proverbs 8, Yahweh is referred to as Wisdom.
“You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

The Message of the Cross

“The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of Elohim.” (1 Corinthians 1: 18)

Paid in Full

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, the Messiah said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to the Messiah’s lips. When he had received the drink, the Messiah said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19: 28-30)

“It is finished” is one of the worst translations in the New Testament. The Messiah actually said, “Paid in full.” See “What does the Greek word ‘tetelestai’ mean?”

The Messiah paid the debt for our sins in full.

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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)