There are those who propose that they are the witnesses for Jehovah God and only they are in the process of restoring His name to its’ rightful place. I find it interesting that the name Jehovah is mentioned some 1,500 times in the Old Testament but zero times in the New Testament. It has never, ever, been found in any New Testament manuscript even in the original language going back as far as the manuscripts dated 125.C.E. The name ‘Jehovah’ should be all over the New Testament. Does that mean that they only witnesses for the Old Testament? If Christ came to make His Father’s name known, why is His Father’s name so absent? Jesus Christ came to represent His Father and to die in His name. Did He fail in that mission? Your thoughts? Certainty for eternity.
What is interesting is that when the Jews began to refrain from uttering the divine name, but kept it in their written text, the English translators not only followed the Jewish tradition, but removed the divine name almost altogether, substituting the title "Adonai" (Lord) instead of the tetragrammaton. They distinguished the places where the substitution had taken place with an upper case rendering of "the LORD" to indicate where God's name was originally used. References to "the Lord Jesus" were not capitalized.
In the Greek translation the word Kyrios (LORD) was used as a substitute for the divine name, though in the most ancient manuscript fragments, the tetragrammaton appears in Hebrew characters in the Greek text.
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1001061205
When Jesus or the apostles quoted from OT scripture, they would have known that the divine name was in the Jewish text.
For example, Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah aloud in the synagogue. (Luke 4:17-21)
This is what he read....from the Tanach. (Isaiah 61:1-2)
"The spirit of the Lord God was upon me, since the Lord anointed me to bring tidings to the humble, He sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to declare freedom for the captives, and for the prisoners to free from captivity.
אר֛וּחַ אֲדֹנָ֥י יֱהֹוִ֖ה עָלָ֑י יַ֡עַן מָשַׁח֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֹתִ֜י לְבַשֵּׂ֣ר עֲנָוִ֗ים שְׁלָחַ֙נִי֙ לַֽחֲבֹ֣שׁ לְנִשְׁבְּרֵי־לֵ֔ב לִקְרֹ֚א לִשְׁבוּיִם֙ דְּר֔וֹר וְלַֽאֲסוּרִ֖ים פְּקַח־קֽוֹחַ:
2To declare a year of acceptance for the Lord and a day of vengeance for our God, to console all mourners.
בלִקְרֹ֚א שְׁנַת־רָצוֹן֙ לַֽיהֹוָ֔ה וְי֥וֹם נָקָ֖ם לֵֽאלֹהֵ֑ינוּ לְנַחֵ֖ם כָּל־אֲבֵלִֽים:
When Jesus read from the scroll, do we imagine that he failed to use God's name when he said he had come to make God's name known to his people?
When the devil tempted him on three occasions, Jesus replied with
"It is written" and then proceeded to quote the scriptures. (Luke 4:1-13)
Deuteronomy 8:3 was the first one....
...
."in order to make you know that man does not live by bread alone but man lives by every expression from Jehovah’s mouth."
The second he replied with Deuteronomy 10:20...
"Jehovah your God you should fear, him you should serve, to him you should cling, and by his name you should swear."
The third time it was Deuteronomy 6:16...."
You must not put Jehovah your God to the test the way you put him to the test at Masʹsah."
In each quotation, the divine name was present. That name should have been included in NT scripture whenever there was a quotation from the Hebrew scriptures containing the tetragrammaton.
It occurs me that perhaps God did not stop the Jews from losing their connection to his name because, as his people, Jehovah's name was upon them. When they went astray, it brought reproach on the name of their God.
IMO, he probably allowed his name to be removed to show his displeasure with what was happening in Judaism. It was justified as it turned out, because the Jews did to Jesus what they had always done to the prophets God sent to them. (Matthew 23:37-39)
Jesus came to reacquaint Israel with their God, but sadly the majority of them did not want him back. They preferred this nameless God to the one Jesus was reintroducing to them. It was no different when they turned to Baal worship in the past. The name "Baal" means "Lord".
The Gentiles however, would accept Jesus as Messiah....and look what Peter said....
In Acts 15:14
...."Symʹe·on (Peter) has related thoroughly how God for the first time turned his attention to the nations to take out of them a people for his name."
The name rejected by the Jewish nation would now be taken up with pride by non-Jewish Christians. God's illustrious name was, and always will be associated with his people. It is my belief that only when his people are actively doing his will that God allows them to bear his name......in this "time of the end", it is especially so.
