Then ye shall know that I AM

An exciting recent study has determined the actual day Jesus Christ was crucified.  This amazing study involves astronomy and ancient writings, which determined only one Passover during Pontius Pilate’s reign had a lunar eclipse, or a blood moon, visible from Jerusalem.  The date of this event was April 3, 33 A.D., and this event is what the Bible records as happening the day Jesus was crucified.  This study also unfolds the identity of the Star of Bethlehem and how retrograde motion caused the planet Jupiter, “The King Planet,” to go back and forth over the town of Bethlehem until it stopped on December 25, 2 BC, as seen from those viewing it from Jerusalem, just 5 miles north.  It is a remarkable study. 

Even the Catholic Church now recognizes that “Good Friday” was April 3, 33 AD, with Jesus Christ dying on the cross at 3 PM, which also began a total eclipse of the sun.  This article contains a reference for the “Starry Night” astronomy website where you can type in the appropriate time and day — and watch it happen. 

Like the author of this work stated, “God, what have you done,” because for all of these things to happen with the planets and heavenly bodies to do the things they did, it means that these things were in place and motion for a particular time — since creation.  In fact, they were prophesied in the Bible hundreds of years before they happened.  It is absolutely remarkable. 

Studying the Bible and ancient artifacts, I have developed a particular interest is the “Titulus Crucis,” or the title panel of the True Cross.  When I first read about this, I thought it was a fake, but as I have studied it, thought about, and received some revelation concerning it, I am 100% convinced now that it’s real. 

In the King James Version (KJV) of the Holy Bible, at least two years before Jesus was crucified, He was already telling people, “When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he” (John 8:28).  Note that in a KJV Bible when you see an italicized word, it means the translators added this word to try to enhance readability.  Whenever you see this, read the verse with and without the italicized word, and if the meaning changes, leave it out.  In this case, Jesus actually said, “When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am.” 

Jesus was referring to Exodus 3:14 where God reveals His Name, at that time as, “I AM that I AM.”  In fact, in John chapter 8 Jesus tells the Pharisees that He is “I AM” three times (John 8:24, 28, 58).  The Pharisees certainly understood what Jesus meant, for John 8:59 says, “Then took they up stones to cast at Him.”

So, Jesus told them that when they had lifted Him up, that they would “know” that He is, “I AM.” 

An Old Testament name of God we need to understand is “YHWH.”  This is called the Tetragammaton, which Webster’s Dictionary defines as “the four Hebrew letters usually transliterated as YHWH or JHVH that form the proper name of God.”  Jewish students were instructed not to try to pronounce it, but instead to say, “my LORD.” 

Following this teaching, translators of the KJV Bible translated the Tetragrammaton as the title “LORD” all capitalized, 6828 times in the Old Testament. 

It wasn’t until the 6th-10th century when Jewish scholars were assembling the Masoretic Text, the Hebrew Bible, that jots and tittles from “Adoni” and “Elohim” were taken to make the sounds to form the name, “Yahweh,” so this is not the way it was in the original text.

Let’s go to the day of the cross, April 3, 33 AD.  The Bible teaches us in John 19:19 that Pontius Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross.  The KJV says the title was, “JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS,” written in all capital letters, just like they treated the title “LORD.”  It also says the title was written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. 

Some argue we don’t know what was on the title because the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke say something slightly different.  We must remember that of the four, only John was present at the crucifixion.  Also, since Constantine (325 AD), acrostics of this title have been used, such as “INRI,” with Jerome specifically using “INRI” in the fourth century while translating the Scriptures into Latin while writing the Vulgate.

“INRI” is an acrostic for the title “JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS” written in Latin, which is “Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum.”  Taking the first letter of each word, you have the acrostic, “INRI.”  In Greek the title is, “Iesous o Nazoralos o Baslleus ton Ioudalon,” with the acrostic being, “INBI,” which is at the top of Greek Orthodox crucifixes. 

Before we speak to the third language in which the title was written, let’s examine the “Titulus Crucis.”  Following John’s Gospel, the order of the text is Hebrew, Greek and Latin.  When this plaque was found hidden in a dry cistern in 326 A.D. by Helena, Constantine’s mother, she had the plaque cut into three pieces.  The piece with the name “Jesus” was sent to Constantinople, the home of the Eastern Church, the part stating “Nazareth” was sent to Rome and the part with “King of the Jews” was kept in Jerusalem.  This showed when they all came together, they were one body and one faith.  The piece in Jerusalem was lost when the Muslims destroyed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 1009 A.D.  The piece in Constantinople was lost when the Western Church attacked the Eastern Church in the Fourth Crusade, April 12, 1204 A.D.  Now the only piece left is in Rome. 

This piece of the title shows the Hebrew is written from right to left, as Hebrew is supposed to be written, but the Greek and Latin are also written from right to left, so they’re backwards. 

After obtaining a museum quality replica, I thought perhaps the original had been covered in ink and pressed against another board and then carved to make a replica, but this cannot be the case, for then the Hebrew would be backwards. 

As I thought upon this, I realized what occurred.  Pilate most likely commissioned a Hebrew scribe to make the plaque.  When the scribe wrote the title, “JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS,” — for the first time in history, — he saw something so holy that he refused to write it in the pagan languages of Greek and Latin, so he wrote it backwards in those languages.

What did the scribe see?  “JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS” written in Hebrew is “Yeshua Ha’Nazarei W’Melech Ha’Yehudim.”   Making an acrostic of this, you have, “YHWH,” which is the Old Testament Name of God. 

This strongly suggests that YHWH is not missing vowels, but it is an acrostic.

So, just like Jesus said, “When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am.”