If someone was to steal your identity, what would be their first step? It would be to take on your same name! This fraudulent counterfeit act would be done by someone proclaiming to be you, but would not be you!
Identity theft is defined as: The deliberate assumption of another person's identity, usually to gain access to that person's finances or to frame a person for a crime.
Do you know that our Messiah was well acquainted with ‘identity theft’ even before the foundation of the earth? One that commits identity theft is an adversary, a counterfeiter.
Isa 14:12 “How you have fallen from the heavens, O Hělěl,c son of the morning! You have been cut down to the ground, you who laid low the nations! Footnote: cThe Shining One.
Isa 14:13 “For you have said in your heart, ‘Let me go up to the heavens, let me raise my throne above the stars of Ěl, and let me sit in the mount of appointment on the sides of the north;
Isa 14:14 let me go up above the heights of the clouds, let me be like the Most High.’
Thus, to this day, the controversy over Jesus’ identity by His True Name and His Father’s Name persists. No other Name has been under more attack than His Name and His ultimate identity. It is Messiah’s Ruach HaKodesh, His Holy Spirit, that lets a believer know they worship the true Messiah whether they call Him Jesus (Greek) or Yahusha (Hebrew) or call His Father YHWH or Yahuah. If you know the Son, you know the Father. And if you know the Son, you will bear good fruit and keep His covenanted commands.
1Jn 2:22 Who is the liar, except the one denying that יהושע is the Messiah? This is the anti-messiah, the one denying the Father and the Son. 1Jn 2:23 No one denying the Son has the Father. The one confessing the Son has the Father as well.
1Jn 5:11 And this is the witness: that Elohim has given us everlasting life, and this life is in His Son. 1Jn 5:12 He who possesses the Son possesses life, he who does not possess the Son of Elohim does not possess life.
In Matthew 27, the identity of the true Jesus plays out in Pilate’s public inquiry before the crowd. There is an irony presented between the names Barabbas and Jesus. Some Bible translations even include Jesus as part of the name of Barabbas. Some of these biblical translations follow:
Matthew 27:16 (CEV) At that time a well-known terrorist named Jesus Barabbas was in jail.
Matthew 27:16 (GNB) At that time there was a well-known prisoner named Jesus Barabbas.
Mat 27:17 So when they were assembled, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you wish I release to you? Barabba, or יהושע who is called Messiah?”
Jesus Barabbas means the savior who is the son of the father. Barabbas was a criminal, a thief. John 18:40 Then they all shouted again, saying, “Not this One, but Barabba!” And Barabba was a robber.
Jesus the Messiah means the Savior who is the Anointed One, who is THE Son of the Father.
2Jn 1:3 Favour, compassion, peace be with you from Elohim the Father, and from the Master יהושע Messiah, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
Heb 7:26 For it was fitting that we should have such a High Priest – kind, innocent, undefiled, having been separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens,
The True Messiah is Divine and came in the LIKENESS of man’s sinful flesh. His flesh and bone were from heaven and not from the earth, as was with the first Adam.
Rom 8:3 For the Torah being powerless, in that it was weak through the flesh, Elohim, having sent His own Son in the likeness of flesh of sin, and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh,
We have seen that Barabbas means “son of the father” and he appears to have been given the name “Jesus.” As the Scriptures state, he was a criminal, a robber. Pilate’s public inquiry has present-day implications as many have come preaching “another Jesus.” There is an anti-messiah “Jesus” that is the “son of man-made, religiously blended, doctrine and dogma’ who is the son of his father, the devil. Their so-called “Jesus” is NOT the TRUE Son of the Father, but claims the same name.
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 KJV (3) But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (4) For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
There are two Jesus’s being ‘publicly’ presented by Pilate: Jesus Barabbas, the son of the father of earthly man and Jesus the one who is the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Son of the Father, the Creator of heaven and earth.
Matthew 27:17(CEV) So when the crowd came together, Pilate asked them, "Which prisoner do you want me to set free? Do you want Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?"
Matthew 27:17 (GNB) So when the crowd gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which one do you want me to set free for you? Jesus Barabbas or Jesus called the Messiah?"
The choosing between the various Jesus's has not ceased today. There are many who come preaching “another Jesus”; they have “another spirit”; and “another gospel” (2Cor 11:4). The adversary comes to steal, kill, and destroy life but Jesus, Yahusha, came so that we could have life and have it more abundantly. The adversary shouts ‘crucify Him’ for they want ‘their Jesus’, ‘their king’ to rule over them. Identity theft not only occurs with His Name in Greek or Hebrew, but also to His titles. In addition, there are also numerous little 'g' gods, proclaiming to be the Messiah.
What part of counterfeit is not understood? Satan counterfeits EVERYTHING but he brings death and not life! Can true believers all acknowledge that? Absolutely! For example, does the white horse rider in Revelation 6 represent Yahusha. Yes! Could the white horse rider also be counterfeited by anti-messiah spirits? Yes! Why? Because the adversary COUNTERFEITS everything! Only those being led to all truth by His Holy Spirit can discern the ORIGINAL from the COUNTERFEIT.
Please do not let the adversary gain ground by wearing down believers and creating division among the brethren by the sinister toying with Yahusha HaMashiach’s Name and His Father’s Name. Receive YHWH's peace in your present understanding of His True Name. Let His Ruach HaKodesh guide you to all truth, and not man. It is a journey, and believers are at different points on their sanctification journey. But make no mistake, His True Son is intentionally coming toward us to claim us as His own; while the anti-messiah spirits work feverishly to fool the masses by proclaiming to be 'the messiah.'
His True Name, YHWH, is written on our very DNA. His Spirit is within us! When true believers call out to Him, He hears us and will answer us. It was the “chief priests and elders” who wanted the multitude to choose “Jesus” Barabbas, the thief and son of earthly man, and not Jesus the Messiah, the Son of our heavenly Father. Man's flesh influenced by the adversary, uses very persuasive arguments even to this day. These men are blind guides leading many to death.
Mat 27:20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
Mat 27:21 The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.
Mat 27:22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.
Mat 27:23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.
Discern the seed of tormenting sinister doubts planted by the adversary! It is the adversary that sow’s confusion, chaos, and doubt. His desire is to cloak us in foreign garments and not in Yahusha’s garments of righteousness. It is YHWH that will punish those that have not received His garments of white and instead have chosen to remain clad in foreign garments. It is YHWH that has set apart His invited ones [Zep 1:7-8]. He will divide the sheep from the sheep, and the sheep from the goats.
Zep 1:7 Hush! in the presence of the Master יהוה. For the day of יהוה is near, for יהוה has prepared a slaughter, He has set apart His invited ones. Zep 1:8 “And it shall be, in the day of the slaughter of יהוה, that I shall punish the rulers and the sons of the sovereign, and all such as are clad in foreign garments.
Yahusha HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah, is the Good Shepherd, and we are His sheep. It is He that has placed His Name on our very DNA! We are marked by possessing everlasting life.
John 10:24 So the Yehuḏim surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in suspense? If You are the Messiah, say to us plainly.”
John 10:25 יהושע answered them, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s Name, they bear witness concerning Me.
John 10:26 “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.
John 10:27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.d Footnote: dSee also Rev_14:4-5.
John 10:28 “And I give them everlasting life, and they shall by no means ever perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.
John 10:29 “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.
Yahusha warned: Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Mat 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Mat 7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Rev 12:11 “And they overcame him because of the Blood of the Lamb, and because of the Word of their witness, and they did not love their lives to the death.
Rev 12:12 “Because of this rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has little time.”
In Him we are over-comers. Do not compromise His truth, but seek Him daily and let His Ruach HaKodesh (His Holy Spirit), lead and guide you to all truth. Be patient. YHWH is very much aware of the wiles of the devil. He is well aware of the chaos the adversary has attempted to weave through ‘identity theft.’
YHWH has made it very clear that He is the Elohim of the living and not the dead. He is the Elohim covenanted with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and NOT with Abraham, Ishmael, and Esau. To become the true Israel, the one new man born from above, a person must be washed by the blood of the Lamb and enter through the Door, Jesus the Messiah (Yahusha HaMashiach). Yahusha is our High Priest after the order of Melchizedek and has made us a kingdom of priests from every tongue, tribe, people, and nation.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the matters of the Spirit of Elohim, for they are foolishness to him, and he is unable to know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1Co 2:15 But he who is spiritual discerns indeed all matters, but he himself is discerned by no one.
1Co 2:16 For “Who has known the mind of יהוה? Who shall instruct Him?” Isa_40:13 But we have the mind of Messiah.
Zep 3:8 “Therefore wait for Me,” declares יהוה, “until the day I rise up for plunder. For My judgment is to gather nations, to assemble reigns, to pour out on them My rage, all My burning wrath. For by the fire of My jealousy all the earth shall be consumed.
Zep 3:9 “For then I shall turn unto the peoples a clean lip,b so that they all call on the Name of יהוה, to serve Him with one shoulder. Footnote: b Or language.
Shalom in Him brothers and sisters, Libby
[Some emphases are mine that have been added to Scripture]