Yahweh

Yahweh (usually rendered ') is the Supreme Being and Creator of the Universe, who is colloquially referred to by his title, God (Heb:Elohim, Gk:Theos).' As the divine being who presides over the universe, Yahweh has rightful dominion over every creature in existence who depends on him for their sustenance. Having established an intended life for mankind to live, God acts a judge over every person concerning the conduct of their life. The life in which God desires of every human being is one characterized by faithfulness and love to him, compassion towards fellow humans and distinction of character from that encouraged by demonic forces that exhibits the traits of God himself. While Yahweh is the judge, he offers grace and mercy to all those willing to accept it, in latter days through the work of his incarnate form, Jesus Christ.

He is the Almighty, self-existent creator of the universe. He is both the righteous Judge of all mankind and the merciful Savior of multitudes that love Him. As God, He is Spiritual in his being, self-sufficient , eternal , knowing and seeing all things , gracious, patient, full of goodness and truth , and holy.

Names
The most common name of God in the Bible is His covenant name Yahweh [Heb: Yahweh: He who is], though it is usually translated as . The first use of this name is in the account of the creation of man, where it is used with the title God [Heb: 'Elohim: Strong One, Deity]. The covenant name is used 6,519 times, while the title "God" is used, alone or in combination, 2,350 times (depending on translation). The honorific title of Adonai [Heb: : my Master] is used 432 times for God. A shortened form of the name "God" used in conjunction with human interaction is Eloh. This spelling takes the possessive translated "your", "my" or "our". The "plural" ending usually used disappears when Yahweh's covenant is affirmed. This is reflected in the confession of faith in the One true God: "Hear, O Israel, Yahweh your God is One". A shorter form still is El [Heb: : God, mighty one] which is often used in conjunction with particular attributes.

Attributes of God
By just these names, it can be seen that God is the Creator and sustainer of the universe. As such, it is up to God to run things the way He wants to do them. As 'Adonai and 'Elohim, His power can be seen as absolute.

Creator
God is the Creator of all things and has made everything for His glory. It follows that created things do not question their creator. It is therefor foolish for anyone to test God.

As Creator of everything, God is omnipotent (all powerful), omnipresent (everywhere), and omniscient (all-knowing). Because God created everything, He is wholly separate in His being above all things. That is to say, He is holy.

Jealous
God Himself says in the Bible that He is a jealous God. In the Second Commandments worship of anything else is forbidden. Even the older names of God, such as El Shaddai ("God Almighty"), reveal His special relationship with His people. As El Elyon ("God Most High"), his position as ruler over all things is clear. And finally, in revealing His name in covenant with Moses and the Israelites, "Yahweh" is "set in stone" for all time.

Judge
Since God is omniscient and omnipresent, He will judge everyone with righteous judgment .This judgement is determined on the basis of how people act. Since all of mankind is due the wrath of God , Though God will judge all those who have died according to what they have done, those who have their names recorded in the Book of Life will be saved on account of their faith.

The law that God has firmly established shows mankind the reality of sin, and a need for salvation from its grip. When the unsaved continue in their rejection of Jesus Christ, they will suffer God's wrath, facing God's righteous condemnation in Hell.

Merciful
Because all of mankind stands under the curse for rebellion, God must have mercy if anyone is to survive. God showed this mercy in love, sending His Son Jesus to take the punishment due to those who believe. In spite of a continuing rebellion, God showed mercy by calling many to repentance.

Trinity
The Bible reveals God as One God, but then shows His attributes to be "shared" by Jesus Christ. Looking even closer, the reader can see that another "person" is found with those same attributes. This is what has come to be called the "trinity" — a coined word meaning "three in one."

God as Father
Throughout the gospels, and then in the epistles, Jesus is referred to as "the Son of God". This is reflected the other direction when Jesus spoke often of his "Father".

God as Son
The term "Son of God" was first used of a theophany, or christophany, in the time of Daniel, but its full realization came about when it was assigned to Jesus.

God as Spirit
Before his crucifixion, Jesus promised to send one like himself — another Comforter — to carry on the work he had begun. On the day of his ascension he revealed that this Comforter — the Holy Spirit — would come upon them, which He did after 10 days. The Holy Spirit is the gift of God to those who receive Him, and a Comforter who equips them, giving them the tools with which to serve Him.

The Creation
God spoke together all of creation within a period of six days. God announced items such as light, water, celestial objects, and even life throughout this period of six days. God had created humanity in his image, thus giving them intelligence, consciousness, and superiority over the rest of God's creations.

Fall of Man
God's nemesis Satan encouraged God's human creations Adam and Eve to disobey God by eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Aware of their disobedience to God, Adam and Eve hid from God in the bushes and the trees, yet God was aware of their location. God confronted them, punishing them and banishing them from the Garden.

Also Adam and Eve were denied physical interaction with God. In result of the punishment God required humans to do physical labor for survival, and requested that they give sacrifice of their best to him. Cain and Abel, Adam's first sons both gave sacrifice to God. God favored Abel's sacrifice since he gave his best flock, whereas Cain only gave his leftover fruits.

God noticed the grievance of Cain for not being shown likeness to his sacrifice; God alerted him that he was about to disobey God. Cain, seemingly ignoring God, took his brother out into the field and killed him, thus being the first murderer. God (even though knowing that Abel had been killed) asked Cain were his brother was at, Cain claiming he didn't know. On this response God banished Cain, putting a mark on him so that no one would kill him.

The Great Flood
Adam and Eve had more children, while Cain did so as well. Due to this, the population expanded exponentially. After about 1500 years, the different lines had begun to mix and God was forgotten. The original lifespans had been averaging over 900 years, so God determined to shorten those lives significantly to 120 years. This would take awhile, but it had become obvious that more was needed.

All of mankind had disobeyed God and evil filled their hearts. This grieved God, so he planned to flood the earth, wiping out every living creature. But the plan had an exception: Noah and his family. God commanded Noah to build an Ark in order to save him and his family and the animals of the Earth. God gave Noah specific architectural dimensions of the Ark, and commanded him to bring two of every kind of animal on the ark, and food for his family and the animals. After Noah had boarded the ark, God sent water from the sky and the floor of the oceans. After some time waters began to recede, leaving the passengers in the mountains of Ararat.

Noah then built an altar and sacrificed animals that had been designated on the ark as clean (God assigned these animals for sacrificial purposes). As the smoke rose into the clearing skies, God promised Noah that he would never destroy the earth through use of flood.

Dispersion of people across the Earth
Though Noah and his family had been told to spread out over all the earth, the growing family stayed together, settling in a region between two great rivers. Not wishing to trust God, they began to trust themselves, possibly using skills remembered from the days before the flood. At any rate, they began to build cities, with a capital city in the midst of them with a temple built to reach into the heavens.

The effect of this activity prompted God to force a separation of the different family groups by confusing their speech patterns. As new languages became gibberish to others, no work on the great tower could proceed. As a result, mankind finally spread out into the world.

Etymology
Though the name Yahweh (translated "the ," Jah, and Jehovah) first appears in Genesis 2, it was introduced to Moses in response to the question, "Who should I say sent me?" God's answer was "I AM who I AM." A form of the verb "to be" became the basis of the word used to self-identify the author of the 10 commandments: "I am the (Yahweh), your God."

In the Hebrew Bible, the name of God is written as YHWH. Since Biblical Hebrew was written with consonants only, there is significant debate on the exact pronunciation of the name. Other names for God are 'Adonai  (Master) and 'Elohim (God in singular or plural form, depending on context).

In the Greek New Testament, the word Kurios (Master, or Lord) is used to translate YHWH in quoting Old Testament (Hebrew) passages. The general word Theos is used much as Elohim is used in the Hebrew, being translated as simply "God."