The Significant Name of God (31) - My God is YaHUaHHe is The God of gods and the Lord of lords!
André H. Roosma
3 May 2026
And YaHUaH1 said to Mosheh and to ’Aharon in the land of Mizraim2:
... I will pass through the land of Mizraim this very night and strike down
all the firstborn, both of man and beast, in the land of Mizraim and I will
execute judgment upon all the gods of Mizraim,
I, YaHUaH..
Exodus 12: 1, 12
14 Behold, the heaven of
YaHUaH, your God, yea, the heaven of the heavens, the earth and all
that is on it, 15 only to your forefathers has
YaHUaH bound Himself and only them has He loved, and you, their
offspring, He has chosen out of all the peoples, as is the case today. 16 Circumcise then the foreskin of your heart and be no
more stubborn. 17 For YaHUaH, your God,
is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome
God, Who shows no partiality nor accepts any bribe, ...
from Deuteronomy 10
Are there other 'gods' besides YaHUaH, the God of the Bible and in
Yeshu‘a our heavenly Father? The texts above
clearly indicate this. Even though we confess that there is only one God for
us. We confess that because our God, YaHUaH, is by far the highest, the
greatest. He is unique in His immeasurably great Love! He is truly God! He is
The Creator of heaven and earth. He rules over everything. Only He is
omnipresent. Only He oversees time.
All those other 'gods' are beings created by Him who rose up in rebellion
against Him and would want to be gods themselves and be worshipped as deities,
but in fact are not. Moreover: YaHUaH is loving, merciful, and good. That
certainly could not and cannot be said of all those other so-called 'gods'!
Yeshu‘a (Jesus) said that He came to give us Life
and abundance, while those 'others' are thieves and robbers who come to steal,
kill, and destroy (John 10:10). Quite a big difference!
In the times in which the Bible was written, people were aware that there
were multiple gods. Every country and every people had its own favorite gods.
In addition, people worshipped all kinds of other idols – even the people
who also served the God of the Bible, YaHUaH. The Bible compares Isra’el
serving of other gods to adultery (see, for example, the book of Hoshe‘a). It
arouses much jealousy and anger in their God, YaHUaH, Who saved them so
mightily, was near to them, and blessed them. When you have done so much for
someone, promised each other eternal fidelity, and entered into a close
relationship (like a kind of marriage), and that other person leaves you and
goes to someone else who is worthless – who would not be jealous,
disappointed, and angry? That is why, right from the beginning, God said to
His people, Isra’el:
1 Then God spoke all
these words: 2 I am YaHUaH, your God, Who
brought you out of the land of Mizraim, out of the house of bondage. 3 You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 You shall not make for Yourself a carved image, nor
any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth
beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth. 5
You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them, for I, YaHUaH, your God,
am a jealous God, Who brings to light the iniquity of the fathers for the
children, for the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, 6 and Who shows mercy to thousands of those who love Me
and keep My commandments. 7 You shall not use the
Name of YaHUaH, your God, empty [without meaning,
or in a negative sense], for YaHUaH will not hold guiltless
anyone who uses His Name empty.
from Exodus 20
4 Hear, Isra’el:
YaHUaH is our God, YaHUaH is One! 5
You shall love YaHUaH, your God, with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your strength.
from the Shma‘ of Isra’el, in Deuteronomy 6; cf.
Luke 10: 27
We are meant to live in close union with God the Father, YaHUaH.
Attached to Him, Who meant so much to Isra’el, and also means so much to us.
He has done everything possible in Yeshu‘a.
20 You shall have great
reverence for YaHUaH, your God; you shall serve Him, cling to Him [or: stick to Him, attach yourself to Him], and swear
by His Name. 21 He is your praise and He is your
God, Who has done among you these great and awesome things, which your eyes
have seen. 22 With seventy souls your forefathers
went to Mizraim, and now YaHUaH, your God, has made you numerous as the
stars in the sky.
from Deuteronomy 10
Yes, this still holds true in our time. We are called to an intimate
partnership with Yeshu‘a (Jesus), says the Bible
through Paul in his first letter to the church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:9;
cf. John 14:23 and Eph. 4).
That also means that we renounce all possible ties with other gods, and
completely abstain from any form of association with or service to them, just
as Isra’el had to. And that means that we must begin to see and
recognize the idols in our lives as such. This certainly concerns everything
that keeps us away from or in any way hinders our devotion to God the Father
and to Yeshu‘a. That can be anything: our work,
hobbies, addictions to alcohol, cookies, drugs, cigarettes, or pornography;
yes, even inherently healthy things like exercising or eating, or being active
in a church, can become an idol and a means for an idol to pull us away from
God. And behind all those things, the fact is that all those old idols are
still there – living and active. Among the Pharisees, we saw in how
Yeshu‘a dealt with them, that religious legalism
had become an idol to them, preventing them from being merciful and
recognizing Jesus as God’s Son and as the promised Messiah.
These idols, these dark powers, prefer to remain unnoticed ('under the
radar'), so that they can do their destructive work in our lives silently and
in the background, thereby hindering the coming of God’s Kingdom in and through
us as much as possible. For, yes, there is no 'neutral ground'; we are in the
midst of a spiritual battle. God is working extremely hard to establish His
Kingdom, and the opposing powers are busy hindering that as much as possible,
precisely because they know they have little time left (Rev. 12:12; Ps. 2:2).
Yes, we are talking here about the same dark powers and evil spirits that Paul
writes about in his letter to the church in Ephesus:
10 Finally, be strong in
the Lord and in the strength of His power. 11 Put
on the armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the temptations
of the sower of division, 12 for we do not wrestle
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against
the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual forces of evil in
the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the armor
of God, to be able to withstand in the evil day and, having done all, to stand
firm. 14 Stand therefore, your loins girded with
truth, clothed with the breastplate of righteousness, 15 your feet shod with the readiness of the gospel of peace, 16 take in addition to all this the shield of faith, with
which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one,
17 and take the helmet of salvation and the sword
of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. 18 And pray with continuous prayer
and supplication on every occasion in the Spirit, being watchful to that end
with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints, ...
from Ephesians 6; cf. Eph.2:1-3; Col.3:5-9; 2 Cor.4:3-4.
I said just now: there is no neutral ground. We serve either the God of the
Bible, Who revealed Himself in the Old Testament as YaHUaH, or all
kinds of idols.3 I see that in this day and age as well, in which
you see the same thing as what Paul described in his letter to the Christians
in Rome:
16 For I am not ashamed
of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who
believes, first to the Jew, and then to the Greek. 17 For the righteousness of God is revealed in it from faith to faith,
just as it is written: “The righteous shall live by faith.” 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and injustice of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what can be known of God is evident in them,
for God has revealed it to them. 20 For what cannot
be seen of Him, His eternal power and divinity, has been perceived with the
understanding since the creation of the world through His works, so that they
have no excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they
did not glorify Him as God or give thanks to Him, but their thoughts became
futile, and it became dark in their foolish hearts. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and they exchanged the majesty of the immortal God for the likeness of an
immortal man, of birds, of four-footed animals, and of creeping creatures.
24 Therefore God gave them over to their passions,
to uncleanness, so that their bodies are dishonored. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and
served the creature rather than the Creator, who is to be praised forever.
Amen. 26 Therefore God gave them over to shameful
lusts, for their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 Likewise, the men abandoned natural relations with
women and burned with lust for one another, men committing shameful acts with
men, and thereby receiving in themselves the well-deserved punishment for
their deviation. 28 And because they considered it
reprehensible to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a reprehensible mind
to do what is not fitting: 29 filled with all kinds
of unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and evil, full of envy, murder, strife,
cunning, and malice, 30 gossips, slanderers, haters
of God, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventive in evil, disobedient to their
parents, 31 foolish, unstable, without heart or
mercy. 32 For although they knew the righteous
requirement of God, namely, that those who do such things deserve death, they
not only do them themselves, but also give their approval to those who do them.
...
from Romans 1; cf. Eph. 4:17-20
Glorifying and thanking the God of the Bible above all else is therefore
essential! That is our task as human beings, and as soon as we get to know Him,
we see that He is more than worthy to be truly honored and praised by us as
God and as Creator and Savior. If we fail to do so, or do so imperfectly — for
example, because we are somewhat divided inwardly — then it has major
consequences. That is why surely we want to remove every stronghold that sets
itself against Him in our thinking (2 Cor. 10:4-5) and radically reject every
influence of the adversary?! Our God and heavenly Father YaHUaH is so
much more than worthy for His greatness, His omnipotence, and especially for
His immense Love and mercy! Then we arrive at what I described earlier as the
huah or hawah Life: living in wonder, surrender, and joyful
worship towards YaHUaH Who gives us that Life! (see ‘HaWaH or HUaH - Life – To
live like God YaHUaH intended it’).
Now the question may still arise in your mind: why is this study included
in the series of articles about the glorious Name of the God of the Bible,
YaHUaH? Well, if I am in a large group and someone calls out 'that
gentleman', I might feel addressed, but hundreds of other men might just as
well. Only when someone calls out my name, André Roosma, does everyone know
that only I am meant, and I will respond. In the spiritual world, it is no
different. In the Bible, we see that many idols are called 'Lord' – in Hebrew:
ba‘al (sometimes with the article: ha-ba‘al – the Lord,
sometimes in the plural: ba‘alim – (the) Lords).4 Three
examples: Ba‘al Tsephón – lord of the North
(in Ex.14:2,9 we see a place named after him), Ba‘al Pe‘or – lord of the Gap (Num. 25:3), Ba‘al Berit – lord of the Covenant (Judges 8:33).
In fact, every idol wants to be called 'Lord' and every idol feels addressed
when we sing praise to 'the Lord'. Is that what we want? Is it not time, then,
that we be clear and say Who we mean?
It becomes very profound when we simply translate the Hebrew word
ba‘al in the text from 1 Kings 18:21, where ’Eli-Jahu5
confronts the idolatry of ’Ahab, ’Jezebel (the -bel in her name comes from
ba‘al) and the entire people:
21 Then ’Eli-Yahu
approached the whole people and said: How long will you limp on both sides?
If YaHUaH is God, follow Him; but if it is 'the lord,' follow him.
But the people answered him nothing.
Fortunately, the story does not end there:
22 Furthermore, ’Eli-Yahu
said to the people: I am the only prophet of YaHUaH left, and the
prophets of ba‘al (the lord) are four hundred and fifty men. 23 Now let them give us two bulls; let them choose one bull for
themselves, cut it into pieces, and lay it on the wood, but do not light fire
with it; then I will prepare the other bull, lay it on the wood, and also will
not light fire with it. 24 Call upon the name of
your god, and I will call upon the name of YaHUaH. The God who answers
with fire, He will be God. And the whole people answered: That is good. 25 Then ’Eli-Yahu said to the prophets of ba‘al: Choose
one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are so many. Then call
upon the name of your god, but do not bring fire with it. 26 Then they took the bull that he gave them, prepared it, called upon
the name ba‘al from morning until noon, and said: ba‘al, answer us! But there
was no sound, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they
had made. 27 When it was noon, ’Eli-Yahu began to
mock them and said: Call out louder, for he is indeed a god. He is surely
deep in thought, or he has withdrawn himself, or he is traveling, perhaps he
is sleeping and needs to wake up. 28 Then they
called out louder and made incisions in themselves with swords and spears,
as was their custom, until they dripped with blood. 29 And it happened, as soon as the afternoon was past, until the time
of the evening sacrifice, that they went into a frenzy, but there was no
sound, and no one answered or paid attention to it. 30 Then ’Eli-Yahu said to the whole people: Draw near to me. And the
whole people drew near to him. Then he restored the altar of YaHUaH,
which had been overthrown. 31 ’Eli-Yahu took
twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob,
to whom the Word of YaHUaH had come: Israel shall be your name.
32 He built an altar with the stones in the Name of
YaHUaH, and made a trench around the altar as wide as two measures of
seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into
pieces, and laid them on the wood. 34 Then he said:
Fill four jars with water and pour them out over the burnt offering and over
the wood. Then he said: Do it again. And they did it for a second time.
Then he said: Do it again. And they did it for a third time, 35 so that the water ran around the altar, even the trench he filled
with water. 36 And it happened at the time that the
evening sacrifice is offered, that the prophet ’Eli-Yahu stepped forward and
said: YaHUaH, God of ’Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known
that You are God in Israel, and that I am Your servant, and that I do all
these things by Your command. 37 Answer me,
YaHUaH, answer me, so that this people shall know that You,
YaHUaH, are God, and that You turn their hearts back. 38 Then fire shot down from YaHUaH and consumed
the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the earth, and licked up the
water in the trench. 39 When all the people saw
this, they fell on their faces and said: “YaHUaH, He is God!
YaHUaH, He is God!” 40 Then ’Eli-Yahu said
to them: “Seize the prophets of ba‘al; let none of them escape.” They seized
them, and ’Eli-Yahu led them to the brook Kison and had them slaughtered
there.
What a glorious and majestic manifestation of YaHUaH! Just imagine
standing there, all that day. Very impressive!
People have sometimes said to me: “But surely you can’t just call God by
His Holy Name?” Well, that is exactly what ’Eli-Yahu did do here, and
YaHUaH answered his prayer, and how!
Hallelu YaHUaH !
Only to YaHUaH be all honor!
Notes
| 1 |
The glorious Name of God I represent here as accurately
as possible from the oldest Hebrew original, instead of replacing this grand
personal Name of The Most High by a common word, such as ‘Lord’. For more
background information see:
André H. Roosma, ‘The
wonderful and lovely Name of the God Who was there, Who is there, and Who
will be there’  , extensive Accede! / Hallelu-YaH! study, July 2009.
See also the other articles on the
significant Name of God, on the articles page here. |
| 2 |
Mitsraïm is the name the Hebrew original text gives to
this land, which we know better as Egypt. In Arabic, it is still called Mitzr
(in the Egyptian dialect of Arabic: Matsr). The name Egypt comes from Greek
and has an idolatrous origin. Therefore, I prefer to simply use the Biblical
name Mitsraïm.
In general, in my Bible translation, I prefer to use an accurate
transliteration of the names from the original text. For the rules I apply in
doing so, see the introductory article on names: ‘Names in the Bible (1) Introduction and
transliteraton’, 30 Aug. 2025. |
| 3 |
What we do encounter, however, is that a part of a
person has completely turned to God and wants to serve Him, while another part
does not (yet) want to. This is due to division in our personality that has
sometimes arisen from emotional traumas. We must then strive to achieve
complete wholeness and unified devotion to God. This can be done by asking
the Holy Spirit to show us the root causes of this inner division, and
consciously receiving God’s healing in it. Yeshu‘a
(Jesus) has come to break these kinds of 'works of the adversary' (1 John 3:8),
to heal all brokenness, and to free us from every bondage (Isa. 61:1;
Eze. 36:25-26). |
| 4 |
The Hebrew word ba‘al is, just like our word
'lord', in fact a title, not a name. Hence, in Hos. 2:17, God can say
concerning a moment in the future of Isra’el: Yes, I will
remove the names of the ba'als from her mouth; their name shall no
longer be mentioned. |
| 5 |
The name of this prophet is significant, which is why
I am writing it transliterated from the Hebrew as accurately as possible:
’Eli-Yahu. ’El = God, ’Eli = my God, YaHU = shortened form of God’s glorious
Name YaHUaH. In the entire event described here, God ensured through
him that everyone in the whole nation would once again say: my God is
YaHUaH. His name was a summary of the greatest event in his entire
ministry as a prophet. |
There are many songs that beautifully sing of the
greatness of God YaHUaH, but it is such a pity that they do not say
Whom they are singing about. It is only a feeling, a thought that it is about
the Good God. I am thinking here of many older songs, but also, for example,
of the modern song Yours by Elevation Worship.
Beautiful in terms of words and music, but apart from a single Hallelu-YaH,
in fact not very clear... And it is so easy to indeed mention The Glorious
Name YaHUaH in such a song, just as in the Bible passages above!
In Yirme-Yahu (Jeremiah) 23,
God YaHUaH is very angry with a large group of false prophets who lead
a dissolute lifestyle and claim to prophesy in His Name, while that is
clearly not the case (they prophesy by 'the lord' - ba‘al - verse 13).
One of YaHUaH’s accusations against them is (verses 26-27) that they
“are keen to make My people forget My Name by their dreams, which they tell
one another, just as their ancestors forgot My Name by 'lord' (ba‘al)?”
I ask here: When you read this, is His Name YaHUaH unimportant to God?
And: Has history repeated itself? Have we forgotten God's Name YaHUaH
because translators have replaced Him with 'LORD'? How do you think
YaHUaH feels about this, against the background of this Bible
passage?
Your reactions (questions, notes, suggestions) are welcome via e-mail !
Here you find all previous parts in this series The
significant Name of God.
|
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