My personal history with the name has been long coming. When I was young and a member of a Baptist Church in Upstate New York, faith to me was faith and I never understood why there were so many denominations for those that had faith. I attended church at least once (maybe more) with Catholics, I am/was friends with atheists, Jehovahs Witnesses, etc etc etc...always looking for the truth and very scholastic...thriving in areas such as mathematics and history with a strong cling to all things logical and matters of the heart. I come from an extremely large family with a lot of various beliefs; likewise extremely diverse. As such, I've always maintained the notion that we're all family and there is only 1 race; human. The purpose of any true saint is to overcome the natural in light of the spiritual...or in short...be a living sacrifice preferring not to act like an animal, but rather overcoming our own faults in light of the truth.
Having an uncle that was big into "conspiracy theories"; listening to and getting my father likewise involved with listening to people such as Alex Jones...I watched a number of videos that were circulating around back in the 90's that weren't your typical videos. You can find similar videos now on Netflix or other similar documentaries. They focused on things such as the Branch Davidian in Waco and what happened to them, and various other attacks by the government on those that maintained any form of faith.
I'm not here to argue the validity of the Branch Davidian (whom likewise weren't right in their aspirations), nor even that of what happened at Ruby Ridge (likewise a tragedy and illegal enforcement of the "law" by those that swore to uphold the law and constitution.) In my adult life, within the last few years, I did a little more digging into Ruby Ridge and low and behold...they used the name YahShua. If what I read/watched was true...then it's possible that they were racist against "black" people. Personally I'm a former member of a "black" church whose leader likewise watched Alex Jones, considered himself to be like Morpheus from the Matrix, and was equally racist openly proclaiming that "only a black man can understand the 10 commandments". Racism cuts both ways, and the 10 commandments holds everybody accountable to their actions; not their skin color and ethnicity. It was while I was a member of this church, prior to learning about those involved with Ruby Ridge utilizing the name YahShua, that I overcame the mainstream name of YahShua in favor of the true name.
Messianic Jews are likewise at odds with each other over the name; most don't provide validation of the name in any shape nor form beyond "it was given to me". Although I accepted the name when it was provided during my time with the church because, without having much to validate it other than it just felt right, I was provided scripture and since my parting ways with that church I've done my own fair share of research on various topics.
So, without further ado...validation of the name.
Part 1 - The "J" concept "J" didn't exist in any language until hundreds of years ago and initially was prominent at the end of Roman Numerals. If you're a "protestant" that upholds the value that the KJV of the bible is divinely inspired...the original 1611 KJV of the bible shows the name as Iesus...not Jesus. Likewise there is no "J" street in Washington, DC, and "j" sounds like "y" in many cases because it replaced "y" in those cases. A prime example of this would be HalleluJAH which is said to give him (YAHWEH) the highest praise.
If you go to Psalms 68:4, you'll see that the modern KJV and other variants state to extol him by his name JAH while the original 1611 KJV uses IAH. Think of this more in terms of what it sounds like and it will make more sense. If you try to pronounce IAH it sounds like YAH, and similarly if you say HalleluJAH...the JAH at the end sounds like YAH as well. The name (HaShem...which in hebrew translates to "the name") is "holy" which means unique...and as such it wasn't written prominently in the Bible but rather substituted the name with GOD, LORD, etc...(verifiable if you read the preface of the KJV of the bible where it states that they did clearly). The "Holy Name" movement strives to get the names right, and as such there's much division about the name with a lot of people using YeShua, YAHUAH, etc etc etc...the principle is finding the right name and what I provided in part 1 here validates that the name is still there, and provides a reference for my further statements.
Part 2 - Names have meaning If you know that the names have meaning, then you'll understand that most of the names in the Bible don't correlate to having any true meaning as they are presented, but do when you take simple concepts such as explained in Part 1. A prime example with my YAHWEH given name...Obadiah as it's written doesn't have a meaning as it's written, however wikipedia (which can be wrong) does put it into Hebrew with a proper translation...rewriting it as Obadyah or Obadyahu and proclaiming the meaning to be "servant or slave of YAHWEH". I haven't delved into Hebrew for a bit, but the "u" at the end of names is also not a proper use of Hebrew (some using the name YAHUAH etc...) in process because of this misuse of the language...but I'll cover that when I get back into learning modern Hebrew as well as all of the variations. For now, I'll stick with Obadyah and translate it as it was meant..."servant of YAH" rather than "slave of YAH" as a lot of those whom try to sway people from the Bible would like it to be translated to promote the idea that the Bible promotes slavery, rather than Israelites purchasing servants which was common in those days throughout the world with the exception of rules to follow with your servants that does not encompass how African Slaves were treated in America (but rather, knowing what I know, actually can validate that "black" people are the original Israelites per scripture given how they would be put into diaspora and treated as the African Slaves were treated for their disobedience to YAHWEH as written in the Torah...but we'll get to that later.
Knowing that the names have meaning gives rise to knowing that "Jesus" or "Iesus" doesn't have meaning, and with it's proper meaning in proper context aligns with scripture.
Part 3 - Joshua the son of Nun
For those that are new to Messianic Judaism, you might have a copy of the Messianic Jewish Bible where the names have been changed to be more aligned with the Holy Names, however they still utilize names such as Yeshua, Yehoshua etc...rather than the proper names. There's a direct correlation between Joshua the son of Nun and Jesus...the names to be specific. If you notice in the "New Testament" that various names used in the New Testament don't align with how they are used in the "Old Testament"...such as Elijah written as Elias, then you will understand that proper names etc...are a focal point in Messianic Judaism and hence why there are various "denominations" no different than Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox Jews, Muslims, etc...all of which are considered part of the Abrahamic "faith", but don't follow those 10 commandments. Joshua the son of Nun was an assistant to Moses (Moshe) in the Torah, and through his fearlessness and obedience to YAHWEH, was able to lead Israel to the PROMISED LAND. In the book of "Numbers" you'll note that when the 12 spies were sent into the "PROMISED LAND"...only 2 came back with a positive report (Caleb and Joshua) that they could overcome the Sons of Anak, while the rest cowered in fear and reported that they would not be able to defeat the much larger in stature/number sons of Anak. Due to their fear, YAHWEH left Israel in the desert for 40 years to kill off the FAITHLESS Israelites. Faith isn't mere belief as most would proclaim, but fearlessness.
After the 40 years in the desert, Joshua was able to lead Israel into the promised land. The same applies to "Jesus" whom is the redeemer of Israel; leading Israel to the promised land in Revelations 21. For those that may be discouraged by the notion that "Jesus" didn't come but for the lost sheep of the house of Israel as some may proclaim, he likewise the canaanite woman that asked for it due to her faith. Although "Jesus" came to redeem Israel, all can be saved through him. Romans 2 clarifies that a Jew isn't one by heredity, but by obedience to the Torah, and that a Jew that is obedient to the Torah is basically a gentile, and a gentile that upholds the truth of the law in their heart (not just by knowing what it is, but following it perfectly) becomes a Jew....so basically anybody can be a Jew if they give up their free will in order to do YAHWEH's will.
Joshua is rewritten as YehoShua in some bibles, and my Interlinear Bible uses Liber Jehosuah for the title of the beginning of the new book from the Torah...so understanding linguistics and the changes of languages throughout the years would definitely help with understanding why there are so many arguments about the name even today, and hence even more denominations...most people don't do proper research and have their own motives in mind. Going back to my previous statement that I'm not only not perfect, but false prophets preach against the 10 commandments (which I do not), or don't uphold the 10 commandments when they preach that they do (I don't uphold them perfectly, but I strive to, and I'm not asking for your tithes) with their followers not being considered any better...I strive to follow YahShua and hence focus on the truth...regardless of how "disrespectful" it may seem to those that aren't obedient to the Torah. Resepct is reserved in scripture to those whom do the will of YAHWEH, and as such respect isn't given to those that aren't obedient, however unconditional love is granted to everybody. Love isn't a feeling, it's 5 of those 10 commandments.
That said, the biblical Joshua son of Nun is actually YahShua the son of Nun, and likewise "Jesus" is YahShua...here to redeem Israel and take them to the promised land with Israel being anybody that is obedient to the Torah with no basis in heredity.
Per Act 4:12...there's no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. The reason for this will be explained next.
Part 5 - Boasting of yourself versus boasting of YAHWEH
Going back to Part 3 where anybody can be a Jew; it's not based on heredity but obedience...Romans 2 also speaks clearly of those that boast of themselves such as the Jews proclaiming themselves to be while being disobedient to YAHWEH. The "teacher of babes" are those that can legitimately proclaim themselves to be a Jew, but don't need to, as they are obedient to YAHWEH having a pure heart through obedience to the Torah (the law) in their heart. YahShua didn't boast of himself, he boasted of YAHWEH...as his own name suggests.
If you think that I intentionally made 7 parts to this, then you would be partially right...it wasn't the primary intent, but around Part 5 I knew I didn't want to end with Part 6....however it's likewise fitting to keep each separate. Given everything written in Parts 1-6, knowing that the names weren't written properly, that the name is Holy (unique - not written, and also unique to Hebrew given it being the only name that has YAH in the front of the word rather than at the end), that he came in the name of his Father, YAH, with HalleluYAH giving YAHWEH the highest praise, and it's not about boasting of yourself, but of YAHWEH and his laws over your own free will...you have YahShua, the redeemer of Israel like "Hosea" redeemed "Gomer" (not mentioned previously but relevant given Gomer constantly committed adultery against Hosea, and Hosea likewise named their children unflattering names that basically proclaimed that they weren't of YAHWEH) whose name literally means YAH is salvation. It's about being obedient to YAHWEH from front to back, so for those that think you can be saved with either the "Old Testament" or "New Testament" alone...YahShua was the high priest preaching from the Torah (book of the law) and was crucified on Passover for his disobedience and disrespect toward the Jews of the time that didn't follow the Torah...similar to how modern Christians and modern Jews to this day don't follow the Torah. I'll cover that in other sections of this portion of the webpage.