I know I am supposed to continue where I left off last time and I sure will continue from there today. However, when I see your questions/comments on the comment section or via text or email, I can’t ignore them especially those questions/comments which I deem as critical for us Christians. Some of your questions, I think, are asked out of curiosity because you can tell me from the series that those questions would be addressed in one of the upcoming series. When your questions are like that, I just skip them but questions/comments like this one, for example, “I heard you in your last video calling Jesus “Yahweh.” Be very careful not to call Jesus Yahweh because Jesus is not Yahweh,” I can’t ignore it or skip it.

So, I want to address that comment before I continue from I left off last time.

Yes, I called Jesus “Yahweh, my God” in my last video. Why did I call Him like that? Well, this is the way I see it. If you ask my name, I will say, “Missy.” So, next time you see me, do you call me Sara? NO! You call me “Missy,” unless of course you forgot my name (which I am guilty of more often than I wanted to admit). In the same way, who do we need to ask the name of God? Simple! We go directly to Him. And where is God? He is among us today in His Spirit, He is in us in His Word. So, we go to the Bible to find the name God calls Himself with.

Let’s quickly read a passage from the Old Testament from the Book of Exodus chapter three. I am sure you all know the story how God met Moses in the wilderness. Here just a portion of that story. God called Moses to go to Pharaoh to free the children of Israel out of the slavery of Egypt.

“¹¹But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

¹² So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

¹³ Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”

¹⁴ And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”” Exodus 3:11-14 NKJV

Did you see it? The Name of the God of the Bible that fully describes Him is I AM. What other name can He give Himself other than that? Think about it! He is I AM!

Now let’s see some passages from the New Testament, from the Book of the Gospel according to John,

“⁵² Then the Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.’ ⁵³ Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?”

⁵⁴ Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. ⁵⁵ Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, ‘I do not know Him,’ I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”

⁵⁷ Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”

⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”

⁵⁹ Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.” John 8:52-59 NKJV

I am sure you saw it clearly didn’t you? Jesus said, He is the I AM. Or, He is Yahweh. His listeners, Jews, who read Exodus in and out, understood what He said to them and their response was right away they picked up stones. Why? To kill him right there! In their thinking, “A man like us, a man who knew of his mother and father claimed to be Yahweh, our God?” According to their law, this is kind of crime demands capital punishment. The individual should be stoned to death by those who heard him say that. So, Jesus’ hearers responded according to their law because they understood what Jesus said.

We can quote more passages from the Bible to show that Jesus is Yahweh but here is one last quote where Jesus made a claim saying He and God the Father are, actually one.

“²⁷ My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸ And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and My Father are one.”” John 10:27-30 NKJV

My Christian friends, knowing the identity of Christ correctly, accurately and biblically is the hedge our salvation stands on. It is very important to know who Christ is according to the Bible. Christology, the Study of the person, nature, and role of Christ, is not a biology course we take in college and be done with. It is part of our journey in this side of heaven. We cannot finish studying the God we worship. We have One God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Even if we won’t be able to fully understand who He is, at least we need to understand that we worship a Triune God. If we get it wrong here, we get it wrong all the way through. Please read more about this from where you can find sound, unadulterated teaching of the Bible such as Ligonier Ministries, or Desiring God or Grace to You.

With that, I will continue where I left of last week.

So, we are still looking at closely the curse that was pronounced on Adam. Last week, we started to look in to the curse how it manifests itself in a practical and day to day life. Let’s first read the curse again here:

“Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:

“Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
¹⁸ Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
¹⁹ In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”” Genesis 3:17-19 NKJV

So, the man, who lives with the principle of death, goes out of his house to provide for himself and his family so they will have food on the table. However the man’s work is not as enjoyable as it used to in Genesis 2. After the fall, the man tills the earth that works against him, giving him thorns and thistles because the earth is cursed because of him. At the end of his work day, the man has nothing to give. He is spent and he wants a break from it all. To rest, he comes home, but in home waits his wife and children who want to receive many things from him.

We stopped last time how his wife nags him to be a spiritual leader to her and her children. The thing is this man is knocked out. There is nothing in him that gives him any strength to be anything else except zooming out from this very life. Some people say, “He wants to jump into his empty box,” where he thinks nothing, doing nothing. Just zombie. This bothers his wife and disappoints his children who were looking forward to play with their dad. And his wife comes to him and says, “The whole day the kids were waiting for you to take them outside and play with them.”

Do you know what this man is saying to himself, quietly in his heart? “Who on earth convinced me to get married and have kids!” Or, he can even think worse! And his wife doesn’t stop there. She tells him how he can take some courses and find a professional job when he would be well compensated. Why? His wife is not happy with their life standard.  And, she tells him the wedding invitation they have this coming weekend and what she wants him to wear.

You know what he’s thinking? “I think this woman might have some kind of mental illness or something. Before I do something drastic, I need to get out of this house.”. . . cont’d ///