Jesus is LORD - Mark 1:3, the Divine Name and the Divinity of Jesus

There is a clue given to readers in all of the good translations of the Bible that often goes unnoticed.  Read the Old Testament carefully and you will notice that sometimes you read "LORD" and other times you read "Lord."  These are two different words, and noticing that difference has expanded my awe and reverence for Jesus.

For example, look at Psalm 8:1 - "O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"
When you hear someone read the passage, it seems there is a repetition.  When you read it, your eyes can alert you to an important difference.

LORD (notice: all caps) is the translator's means of letting us know that the Hebrew word here is YHWH - let's pronounce it "Yahweh."  It is a different word than Lord (notice, only the one cap).  No need to worry about the Hebrew vocalization on this one.

LORD - or YHWH - is the revealed personal name of the God of the Bible.  It was revealed to Moses when he was apprehended by the voice in the burning bush In Exodus 3. "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."  (Exodus 3:6)  After some conversation, Moses dejectedly asks, "Suppose I go to the Israelites, .  .  . and they ask me,'What is his name?'"(Exodus 3: 13)  God's reply:, "Say to the Israelites, YHWH, the God of your father.  .  .  . has sent me." (Exodus 3:15)


So God who made covenant with Abraham now extends his name in relationship.  There is reason to ask if Abraham "knew the name," or simply encountered "God Almighty" and entered covenant with him.  I am inclined to think that the name was know to the faithful before Moses, and that in this moment YHWH is breaking through a long, distant and faded memory and making Himself known to Moses directly once again.

Either way, YHWH is the name of the God of whom the Bible speaks.  God is no longer just a "position" of divine sovereignty, but a "person" in that position who enters into relationships.

President of the United States is a position.  Barak Obama is a person.  What we are seeing here is the person in the position.  And that tells us many things about the person, including that He makes Himself known to people.

That is more than our Muslim neighbors can accept.  Their Allah may speak through a holy prophet, but he will not speak directly to people or interact with the world he rules.  He always uses an intermediary.

Not so YHWH.  This is one of MANY reasons I have concluded that Allah and YHWH are not the same person.  Their character is dramatically different.

So back to the matter at hand.  The Bible clearly - if you will read and notice LORD - distinguishes between God in the position of universal sovereign and the LORD who enters into relationship.  There is a nuance there that should not be lost.  It should shed light as well on what the Bible means when it declares that "the LORD is God." (Deuteronomy 4:32 among many)  The person is connected to the position in this case.  This would be similar to saying; "Barak is President."

Notice that the prophets say, "This is what the LORD says.  .  ." (Isaiah 42:5 and many, many more).  Do you see Psalm 8:1 differently now?

This gracious revelation by YHWH of His name to the Jews was something of national treasure.  They cherished it and treated it with a holy reverence and awe that would inconceivable to us.  They did not speak it out loud - using a known code word for the name instead.  Once it had been written, the instrument used to write it was destroyed.

All of this makes it all the more overwhelming to realize that Jewish men, who had every cultural habit and reason to treat the name YHWH with obsessive deference, said that Jesus of Nazareth was YHWH in the flesh.  In the very opening of Mark's gospel he presents John as the voice crying in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the LORD" referring to Isaiah 40:3  The one for whom John is preparing the way is none other than Jesus.  Jesus is YHWH.

I was amazed when I would read an Old Testament reference in the New Testament.  Very often, an OT reference to YHWH was being used to speak about Jesus.  It is the pervasive practice of all the NT writers.  Look back to the OT passages for yourself when you read one in the NT and see if it is not so.  This is a strong argument for the divinity of Jesus that is often missed by the unknowing reader.  Jesus is LORD!

Who spoke to Moses from the burning bush?  YHWH before He had been born as Jesus.  Who spoke a word to the prophets for the nation Israel?  YHWH before He had been born as Jesus.  Who was pursuing Adam and Eve for a conversation in the garden during the cool of the day?  YHWH before He had been born as Jesus.  Who do we see in Mary's arms?  Teaching by the Sea of Galilee?  Hanging from the cross?  YHWH after He had been born as Jesus.

Jewish men who would have thrown away the pen after merely spelling YHWH, now stood up and at the cost of their lives declared that this Jesus was YHWH Himself.

Jesus is LORD and Lord!  Do you hear this in a new way?