©2011-2025, David E. Robinson: At the Gates of Yerushalayim Ministries

 

Lessons from the Wilderness, Volume 63

…What We Know… Part Three

The Search ^{[i] [ii] [iii]}

¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir, I see⁴⁶ that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain,⁴⁷ and you people⁴⁸ say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”⁴⁹

²¹ Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman,⁵⁰ a time⁵¹ is coming when you will worship⁵² the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

²² You people⁵³ worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews.⁵⁴

²³ But a time⁵⁵ is coming—and now is here⁵⁶—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks⁵⁷ such people to be⁵⁸ his worshipers.⁵⁹

²⁴ God is spirit,⁶⁰ and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”^[iv]

We continue in this part of our journey with the Search for Truth. Recapping, I asked this:

 “…How do we find truth? Well, first and foremost, we must define the word. What is truth? The answer to this is found in how we define the process to get at the “Truth”; that process involves how we look at the following: inspiration, inerrancy, infallibility, divine assumption, free will, and of course, the supernatural aspect of transmission, which is just another way of saying who, how and what means did God employ to give us His words…”

                 I touched very briefly on the subject of the supernatural in Part Two, and we will need to approach this subject again for Truth is found there. I will weave it in as we go.

                 I stated that the Father, YHVH Elohim, is the supernatural singularity. What that means id God is unique (and this requires further exposition[v] ([vi])). I would like to quote again from what I had written back in 2014 regarding this same matter, about Who and What God says He is:

 “…What does the God of the Bible say though?

 “Hayad Asher Hayad”

IAM That IAM

IAM WHO IAM

He is personal:

• ·         He can see
• ·         He can hear
• ·         He can speak

 

He is the God with a name.

 He is the God with a history:

• ·         With Abraham
• ·         With Isaac
• ·         With Jacob

I’m going to ask you a question now: Why do you love God?

What is it about Him that makes you love Him? Is it because He:

• ·         Is Good?
• ·         Is forgiving?
• ·         Is merciful?
• ·         Is…what? All these and more?

 
Truthfully there is and should be only one essence of God that should cause us to love Him…

 He is the singularity.

 We should love Him because He is God.

He is:

• ·         IAM That IAM
• ·         Wonderful
• ·         Counselor
• ·         Everlasting Father
• ·         Almighty God

 He is His name:

• ·         YHVH
• ·         Hayad
• ·         IAM
• ·         In His name He is everything

 

The burning bush reveals our God be-ing; let’s explore this…

 The whole sum of the world is in be-ing. Without this verb this concept of “to be” what is there? You and I once were “just a gleam in our daddies’ eye” if you know what I mean. We weren’t, then we were. We were becoming a child, be-ing knitted together in our mother’s womb. When we were born, we became a living person (according to the world’s definition); we then had a potential to become something else as we grew. All of our lives, we were governed by what was “to be”; an “A” student or not; college bound or not; worker or not; husband, wife, whatever…. The point is we are always in the process of “be-ing”. The same is with God.

 The first words recorded as being spoken by God are found in Genesis 1:3:

 Gen 1:3 “…and God saith, `Let light be;' and light is…”

Let light be.

 Be-ing.

 The answer of be-ing is found in Job 38-41; He is the uncreated One, the One who always has been, never be-ing, except where it applies to us in our lives. God interjects Himself into our lives, into this existence, this space and time we occupy; in this manner He is “be-ing” to us.

How is it that we can come to a place to love this God, this god of no beginning, of no be-ing, but always was? We ask ourselves the oldest question, one asked by all men of all time “Why is there something, rather than nothing?” and we find the answer in the first sentence of the Bible..

“…In the beginning God…”

 We don’t need to go any further than this. If we learn nothing else, it is this:

“…In the beginning God…”!

 Everything has a beginning, everything has a “to be” except One; the singularity called God. He was there before nothing was, He’ll be there if there will nothing more be. He is there in His name, IAM, and in revealing it to Moshe at the burning bush, He revealed something very significant indeed.

 We have touched on this before: remember that in the Hebrew language names are significant. A child was named a certain way to reveal circumstances that would hopefully define their character, and so set in place their point in time, their destiny if you will. Take the names of the 12 Apostles, for example:  including Judas Iscariot and Matthias who was chosen after Judas’s death, when taken as a whole, a picture emerges that tells a story of the one they were made to serve:

 “A strong man, warlike, given as a reward; a son that suspends the waters, that supplants a thousand. He is a chief, a leader zealous in His praise of the Lord, one who hears and obeys, a rock that undermines the murderer and brings on the twin gifts of God – Grace and Mercy…”

 Names tell us a story. Can there be any doubt that the name of God is any different?

 Nowhere in Scripture is this more profound when God says to us:

 “IAM THAT IAM” or “IAM WHO IAM”

 In Exodus 3:15, God also introduces Himself to Moshe as expressed in the Tetragammatron, the “Yod Hey Vav Hey” [reading from left to right]:

 The name of God is the embodiment of “to be”.

             What is it that distinguishes us from one another? What common characteristic do we all share? While the two questions seem to ask for opposite answers, only one answer fits them both. What is common to us all and at the same time distinguishes from one another is “change”. Everything throughout the universe is in a state of flux, a state of change. We change the way we look, the clothes we wear, the colors of our hair; we change where we live, how we live, where we work. Things change. The seasons come and go, the rain, the sun, the snow. This state of change is what drives us, motivates us. It is also the factor that has driven the secular world in all of its “theories” concerning the creation of the universe.

To them, there was a point of singularity that had existed for all time, a point that obeyed all the laws of physics that they observe today, yet somehow “changed”. For a time innumerable, this point was stable; within it was contained all matter and energy, for their “laws” say that energy and matter can neither be created nor destroyed. Their point of singularity remained at a state of rest for unknown ages, fulfilling the law of inertia, which states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force, and an object in motion does the same unless acted upon by an outside force. Their singularity though somehow for some reason defied the very “laws” they hold sacred and suddenly, for no apparent reason, exploded and the universe was born. They “know” this happened, they just don’t know what caused it, and truthfully? They do not want to know. For then they would have to find “the outside source”. All they can agree on is something “changed”

But this name, this name called the “Unutterable Name” by the Jewish sages, is the true singularity…”[vii]

**********************************************************************

 Why take great pains to point this out? All of creation has a beginning, except the One who created it all. The choir (that includes you dear reader) sings “Of course we all know that. Why remind us of what we already know?”

                 Recalling my premise: What if what you think you know, isn’t so?[viii] How much do you really know about the One True God, the Supernatural Singularity? Have you truly studied what the Jews call the Tanakh, that first two-thirds of the Bible in your hand that we in the West call “the Old Testament”? I mean, have you studied it, and not just read it, though many I would wager, have not read it in it’s entirety. Bible reading is NOT Bible study.

                 For us to understand how the supernatural transmission of the Words of the Great Singularity came to be, we have to know who He is. He has revealed Himself in His Scriptures, the Hebrew Scriptures. It is within these, we find Him, His nature, His ways, His instructions for life. Within the Hebrew Scriptures, the only “Bible” our Savior, Yeshua Ha’Machiach (Jesus the Messiah) knew. The only “Bible” the Apostles and their disciples knew.  It is where we must begin our journey into the heart of what this series is attempting to put out, the “What we know” that the Jewish followers of God and Yeshua came to know. That is why I am taking great care and pains to make it known to you, to help you re-frame your mindset, to be open unto the things of God. If one is unwilling to hear and see Truth, then they are what Rabbi Shaul (Paul) says:

 Romans 7:7-25; 8:1-8

⁷ What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, ^oI would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if ^pthe law had not said, “You shall not covet.” ⁸ But sin, ^qseizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. ^rFor apart from the law, sin lies dead. ⁹ I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.

¹⁰ The very commandment ^sthat promised life proved to be death to me. ¹¹ For sin, ^tseizing an opportunity through the commandment, ^udeceived me and through it killed me.

¹² So ^vthe law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

¹³ Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.

¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, ^wsold under sin.

¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For ^xI do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with ^ythe law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now ^zit is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells ^ain me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

^19 bFor I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, ^cit is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For ^dI delight in the law of God, ^ein my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members ^fanother law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from ^gthis body of death?

²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.¹

² For the law of ^hthe Spirit of life ⁱhas set you² free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ³ For ^jGod has done what the law, ^kweakened by the flesh, ^lcould not do. ^mBy sending his own Son ⁿin the likeness of sinful flesh and ^ofor sin,³ he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that ^pthe righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, ^qwho walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

 ⁵ For ^rthose who live according to the flesh set their minds on ^sthe things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on ^tthe things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to set ^uthe mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is ^vhostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; ^windeed, it cannot.

⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ^[ix]

 

And again:

2 Corinthians 2:6-16

 ⁶ Yet among ^ethe mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not ^fa wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, ^gwho are doomed to pass away. ⁷ But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, ^hwhich God decreed before the ages for our glory. ⁸ None of ⁱthe rulers of this age understood this, for ^jif they had, they would not have crucified ^kthe Lord of glory.

 ⁹ But, as it is written,

^l“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,

nor the heart of man imagined,

what God has ^mprepared ⁿfor those who love him”—

 ¹⁰ these things ^oGod has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even ^pthe depths of God. ¹¹ For who knows a person’s thoughts ^qexcept the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² Now ^rwe have received not ^sthe spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. ¹³ And we impart this ^tin words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, ^uinterpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.⁴

 ¹⁴ The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are ^vfolly to him, and ^whe is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵ The ^xspiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ^16 y“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?”

 But ^zwe have the mind of Christ. ^[x]

 

                 Now, I am not trying to say if one cannot or won’t prevail themselves to the study of the Tanakh (Old Testament) that they are not believers, that they are carnal or of the natural mind. What I am saying is that one is depriving themselves of the richness, the fullness, the complete understanding of the nature of God, and therefore, may find themselves pulled and swayed by those who maybe are of themselves, not fully understanding of the nature of the living God and His full complete plan of salvation for the world. If the blind lead the blind, they both can fall into the ditch. 

                 This is the Search. The pursuit of Truth, the search for the richness of God, for that is which tells us of Him, and thus we will know the fullness of Christ and the mystery of His sacrificial death and Resurection unto the right-hand of God. If one is a believer, the fruit will be there. The evidence of a changed life, the struggle to correct the course of one’s life – all these are signs that the Spirit of God is working upon the heart and mind. We don’t have to be perfect: God knows we truly are not capable of perfection, only Yeshua was. I myself know how imperfect I am, but I yield myself to Him, that in my personal struggles, He is great and stronger than I. 

                What the Father wants to see is that we simply believe and that we turn not away from Him and unto another. That if life hits us hard, we get back up and keep following Him. One has to know Him to follow Him, and that requires true study. Not denominational, not religiosity, not churchianity, but true seeking, to know Who it is we follow. We have to know Whom it is that we stand before; satan can appear as angel of light, so we can only discern Truth through knowing Truth. 

 That is what my hope for all my beloved is, that on this journey, we find What we know.

 We will have a hard time finding truth, if we do not know the definition of Truth, and how and where to find it. The purpose of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, the Holy Spirit, it to guide us, and lead us into all Truth. May He always be my guide, so that I can be a humble servant toward you.

  

Till next time when our journey begins in earnest.

May the Great IAM truly bless you this day my beloved

Amein

 

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[i]NOTICE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS: Unless otherwise cited, all material found on this blogsite (original text, opinions, conclusions, and other material not related to cited sources remains the collected intellectual property of the author of this site, David E. Robinson, Elder, teacher, and minister, and are owned and controlled by myself and are protected by copyright and trademark laws and various other intellectual property rights and unfair competition laws of the United States, foreign jurisdictions, and international conventions. Any errors found within, rest solely upon me; please do not blame the Father for my mistakes. I am teachable and correctable, not infallible. 😊

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 [iii] Author’s note:  Throughout these studies, I will be using the NET Bible® and the NET Notes®: within the notes you will see symbols like this: ( א B Ψ 892* 2427 sys). These are abbreviations used by the NET Bible® for identifying the principal manuscript evidence that they (authors and translators of the NET Bible®) used in translating the Old and New Testament. Please go to https://bible.org/netbible/  and see their section labeled “NET Bible Principals of Translation” for a more complete explanation on these symbols and other items pertinent to the way the NET Bible uses them. This is not to say that the NET® Bible will be our only source of God’s word but will be used as seen fit.  Also, in these studies, I have used the notes that come along with the passages I cite from the sources that I cite: these need a bit of a disclaimer though. As in all things, not everything that is footnoted is something that may I necessarily agree with [nor specifically disagree with]; the only instances will be where I may find it not compatible with what I believe pertains to any matters of the Torah or the commandments of God. I give you the notes as they are written by the authors of the material I cite from, so that you can see the information contained within them. It truly is not my place to edit or ignore them; if they state anything that is in opposition to what I teach, then so be it. I will address these issues if requested. That is not to say I should not challenge something I believe, in my humble opinion, might contradict the truth of God’s word; that I will do in the main body of my epistles for that is where my gentle dissent belongs.  Most (but not all) of the differences will come when a QUOTED source displays a decidedly Western/Greek mindset, as opposed to one of the Hebraic perspectives. I must be intellectually honest – I am biased toward the God of Avraham, Issachar, and Yakob, and his son, Yeshua, the Messiah. I pray we all can find common ground as we study the Scriptures. Also, some may be put off by the length or depth of the notes; not everyone has access to the references I do, so therefore, I try to include the notes that come with the material I use, so each can see for themselves the information the originator has pointedly gleaned. I hope you avail yourselves to these inclusions – they help us to understand how the material in scripture is laid out and the thought process of the original writers of Scripture.

 NET® Bible Notes: {the numbered notations are unique to the NET® Bible and will be separated by this notation.}

⁴⁶ tn Grk “behold” or “perceive,” but these are not as common in contemporary English usage.

⁴⁷ sn This mountain refers to Mount Gerizim, where the Samaritan shrine was located.

⁴⁸ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text but is supplied to indicate that the Greek verb translated “say” is second person plural and thus refers to more than Jesus alone.

⁴⁹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁵⁰ sn Woman was a polite form of address (see BDAG 208–9 s.v. γυνή 1), similar to “Madam” or “Ma’am” used in English in different regions.

⁵¹ tn Grk “an hour.”

⁵² tn The verb is plural.

⁵³ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to indicate that the Greek verb translated “worship” is second person plural and thus refers to more than the woman alone.

⁵⁴ tn Or “from the Judeans.” See the note on “Jew” in v. 9.

⁵⁵ tn Grk “an hour.”

⁵⁶ tn “Here” is not in the Greek text but is supplied to conform to contemporary English idiom.

⁵⁷ sn See also John 4:27.

⁵⁸ tn Or “as.” The object-complement construction implies either “as” or “to be.”

⁵⁹ tn This is a double accusative construction of object and complement with τοιούτους (toioutous) as the object and the participle προσκυνοῦντας (proskunountas) as the complement.

sn The Father wants such people as his worshipers. Note how the woman has been concerned about where people ought to worship, while Jesus is concerned about who people ought to worship.

⁶⁰ tn Here πνεῦμα (pneuma) is understood as a qualitative predicate nominative while the articular θεός (theos) is the subject.

^[iv] Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible, Second Edition. (Denmark: Thomas Nelson, 2019), Jn 4:19–24.

{End Net® Notes}

[v] The Oxford Dictionary defines this as “a comprehensive description and explanation of an idea or theory”. Copyright © 2025 Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

[vi] Webster also defines it as: “…1 : a setting forth of the meaning or purpose (as of a writing); 2a: discourse or an example of it designed to convey information or explain what is difficult to understand…” “Exposition.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exposition. Accessed 28 Jul. 2025.

 

[vii] From https://davidseedofabraham.blogspot.com/2014/12/iam-that-iam-great-hayad.html with edits by author.

[viii] To re-iterate: not my premise at all, but Dr. Michael S. Heiser’s: I just hope to expound upon this profound statement he made.

 

^o See ch. 3:20

^p ch. 13:9; Ex. 20:17; Deut. 5:21

^q ver. 11; [Gal. 5:13]

^r 1 Cor. 15:56

^s See ch. 10:5

^t ver. 8

^u [Gen. 3:13; Heb. 3:13]

^v Ps. 19:8, 9; 119:137; 2 Pet. 2:21; [ver. 16]

^w 1 Kgs. 21:20, 25; 2 Kgs. 17:17; Isa. 50:1; 52:3

^x ver. 18, 19; [Gal. 5:17]

^y 1 Tim. 1:8; [ver. 12]

^z ver. 20

^a Gen. 6:5; 8:21; Job 14:4; 15:14; Ps. 51:5

^b ver. 15

^c ver. 17

^d Ps. 1:2; 112:1; 119:35

^e 2 Cor. 4:16; Eph. 3:16; [1 Pet. 3:4]

^f Gal. 5:17; [James 4:1]

^g [ch. 6:6; 8:23]

¹ Some manuscripts add who walk not according to the flesh (but according to the Spirit)

^h 1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:6

ⁱ ver. 12; See ch. 6:14, 18; 7:4

² Some manuscripts me

^j Heb. 10:1, 2, 10, 14; See Acts 13:39

^k Gal. 4:9; Heb. 7:18

^l Heb. 10:6, 8

^m 2 Cor. 5:21

ⁿ Phil. 2:7; See John 1:14

^o Lev. 16:5; Heb. 10:6, 8; 13:11

³ Or and as a sin offering

^p ch. 1:32; 2:26

^q Gal. 5:16, 25

^r [Gal. 6:8]

^s Gal. 5:19–21

^t Gal. 5:22, 23, 25

^u ver. 13; [Col. 2:18]; See ch. 6:21

^v James 4:4

^w 1 Cor. 2:14

^[ix] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ro 7:7–8:8.

 

^e Phil. 3:15; [ch. 3:1]

^f [James 3:15]

^g ch. 1:28

^h Rom. 16:25, 26; Eph. 3:5, 9; Col. 1:26; 2 Tim. 1:9

ⁱ Acts 13:27; See Luke 24:20

^j See Acts 3:17

^k James 2:1; [Ps. 24:7–10; Acts 7:2]

^l [Isa. 64:4]

^m See Matt. 25:34

ⁿ James 1:12

^o Matt. 16:17; Gal. 1:12, 16; Eph. 3:3, 5; See John 14:26

^p [Rev. 2:24]

^q Prov. 20:27

^r Rom. 8:15

^s [1 John 4:4]

^t ver. 1, 4; See ch. 1:17

^u 2 Cor. 10:12

⁴ Or interpreting spiritual truths in spiritual language, or comparing spiritual things with spiritual

^v ch. 1:18

^w Rom. 8:7

^x ch. 3:1; 14:37; Gal. 6:1; [Prov. 28:5]

^y Cited from Isa. 40:13; See Rom. 11:34

^z [John 15:15]

^[x] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Co 2:6–16.