Two YHWHs??

 Most Bible translations, as we see in the pages of the Old Testament, render God’s name YHWH as “LORD” in all caps. Sometimes, if the Hebrew text already uses adonai or “lord,” as in Adonai YHWH, then we may see it translated as “Lord GOD.”

Today, I’d like to pose the question, who was YHWH, the LORD, in the Old Testament? When we see “LORD” or “GOD” in our Bibles, is it referring to God the Father or Jesus Christ? Just who was the God of the Old Testament?

Many Scriptures demonstrate that both God the Father and Jesus Christ are YHWH. First, let’s look at a few for the Father.

God the Father Is YHWH

Keeping in mind that “LORD” is the same as “YHWH,” we read in Psa. 110:1, “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’”

Whose words are reported here? God the Father, as Heb. 1:13 reveals: “But to which of the angels has He [the Father] ever said: ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool’?” While on this earth, Jesus foretold that He would sit at His Father’s right hand: “Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God” (Luke 22:69).

Therefore, the words of the LORD, YHWH, in Psa. 110:1 can only be the words of God the Father. That doesn’t mean the Father spoke directly to David, of course, but these are still His words being reported.

Again, in Psa. 110:4, we find, “The LORD has sworn and will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’”

Heb. 7:21 reveals that the One proclaimed to be a priest here is Jesus Christ, for it says of Him: “For they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him: ‘The LORD has sworn and will not relent, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”’” Therefore, the LORD in Psa. 110:4 — who spoke to Jesus Christ and proclaimed Him a priest forever — is once again God the Father.

Psa. 2:2 likewise speaks of God the Father as the LORD, or YHWH: “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed.” The Book of Acts quotes this very passage, substituting the Greek “Christ” for the Hebrew “Messiah” or “Anointed One”: “The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the LORD and against His Christ” (Acts 4:26).

Again, in Mic. 5:4, we read this prophecy of Jesus Christ: “And He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God; and they shall abide, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth.”

How do we know that the Shepherd feeding His flock in “the name of the LORD His God” is Jesus Christ? Because one of the preceding verses, Mic. 5:2, foretold the same Shepherd’s birth: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”

Here’s one more verse showing God the Father to be YHWH. In Zech. 13:7, the Father is quoted as saying, “‘Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My Companion,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; then I will turn My hand against the little ones.’”

How do we know that these are the Father’s words? Because Jesus Christ quoted this very passage and revealed Himself to be the Shepherd being addressed by the LORD: “Then Jesus said to them, ‘All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: “‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered”’” (Mat. 26:31).

Thus the Old Testament contains at least five verses in which the LORD, YHWH, can only be God the Father: Psa. 110:1; Psa. 110:4; Psa. 2:2; Mic. 5:4; and Zech. 13:7. In each of these passages, God the Father, YHWH, speaks to or about Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ Is Also YHWH

But not every occurrence of YHWH, or the LORD, in the Old Testament refers to God the Father. Many, probably most, refer to Jesus Christ.

Here’s Isa. 8:13-14: “The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”

So the LORD of hosts is a sanctuary for some, “but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense” to others. 1 Pet. 2:7-8 tells us that this stone of stumbling is Yeshua/Jesus, which means He is also the LORD: “Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’ They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.”

And lest anyone doubt that Peter spoke of Jesus Christ, he elsewhere identified that same cornerstone by name: “Let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’” (Acts 4:10-11).

Thus Jesus Christ, the stone of stumbling and the stone which the builders rejected, is also the LORD of hosts. That is, YHWH.

Speaking of stone, we discover another revealing passage about Jesus’ identity in 1 Cor. 10:4, where the apostle Paul wrote of the ancient Israelites, “For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.”

And who does the Old Testament describe as the Rock? The LORD. YHWH. Here’s Psa. 18:2: “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.” Psa. 28:1: “To You I will cry, O LORD my Rock.” And Psa. 144:1: “Blessed be the LORD my Rock.”

Not only do these passages show that Yeshua/Jesus is also YHWH, but they also identify Him as the God of Israel. The YHWH who appeared to and spoke to Moses was none other than our Savior Jesus Christ! As He told the Jewish leaders, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58).

When YHWH appeared to Moses in the burning bush and introduced Himself as I AM (Ex. 3:14), that was Jesus Christ. Whenever Moses told the children of Israel “thus says the LORD,” he reported the words spoken to him by Jesus Christ, whose “name is called the Word of God” (Rev. 19:13).

So if both the Father and the Son are called by the name YHWH, then how can we know which is which? When we read the words of God, who’s speaking?

Who’s Who?

God the Father interacts with humanity only through Yeshua/Jesus, for we read, “No one has seen God at any time” (John 1:18; 1 John 4:12). Jesus said of the Father, “You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form” (John 5:37). Thus when we read the Father’s words, it doesn’t mean anyone heard Him speak, but only that His words were reported.

Jesus Christ is the Word of God, the Spokesman. It was by His word that every living thing sprang into being, for, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:1-3).

Further, Jesus is of one heart, one mind, and one spirit with His Father. He said, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). Whatever He says or does is according to the will of God the Father: ““For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38).

And so, all the words and actions of God, YHWH, in the Old Testament are the words and actions of both the Father and the Son acting together in unison. But whenever YHWH interacted with or spoke directly to human beings, it could only have been Jesus Christ.

Just as a human father and son bear the same family name, so do God the Father and Jesus Christ. Both are YHWH.

The words of both are reported in both Old and New Testaments. But God the Father has never spoken directly to any human being; a flesh and blood human being would melt in the presence of His glory. Only Jesus Christ has spoken to and interacted with human beings, and when He has done so, He has spoken and acted according to the will of God the Father.