In the early centuries after all the New Testament apostles had died, christianity was invented by stripping away the Father’s traditions and replacing them with pagan counterfeits. Along with the Father’s traditions, the early christians (who were mostly Greco-Romans) attempted to strip away the Jewish heritage of Messiah and His disciples.
Now, why would they do such a thing? It was because of their intense hatred for the Jews. Just look to Constantine’s decrees regarding the Jews to see how bitter their hatred was toward them.
It was the Jews who had safeguarded the texts of the Old Testament throughout the centuries, so there was no way the early christians would be able to alter those. But, the Jews had no interest in the writings of the New Testament, as they rejected the idea that Messiah had come. So, the early christians had full access to alter whatever they wanted in those texts.
So, it is necessary to look to those scriptures that could not have been altered by the early christians, to see if we are told in those texts what Messiah’s actual name is. And, we find just the passage in Zechariah 3.
The scene in Zechariah 3 encompasses two things: the millennial reign of Messiah from Jerusalem, and Messiah receiving His glorified body right after His earthly resurrection. Present at the scene are the Father (Yah), the Holy Spirit, the High Priest (Yahoshua), and Satan.
In the first verse, we see, “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of Yah, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.” Since the letter J wasn’t even invented until the 14th century, we know that Zechariah (by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) would have never written “Joshua.” Looking to the original Hebrew, we see the person standing before the Father was יְהוֹשֻׁ֙עַ֙ , and that Hebrew name is pronounced “Yahoshua.”
How do we know that this person is Messiah, since there was an actual high priest at the temple whose name was Yahoshua? Well, chapters 2 and 3 are talking about Jerusalem, and it is clear that this person, who is the “High Priest,” is promised to rule Jerusalem. There has never been a high priest of the Jews who has been promised to RULE Jerusalem itself.
But, there are other proof-texts within the chapter. In the next verse, it says, “And Yah said to Satan, “Yah rebuke you, Satan! Yah who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” Now, why would the Father call Yahoshua “a brand plucked from the fire”?
Well, we need go no further than to the Passover. The Passover lamb was to be cooked with fire, not boiled or eaten raw (Exodus 12:9), and that is because Messiah went to hell to atone for the sin of His bride. Hell is where sin is punished right now, and as He had just risen from the dead, Messiah had just been to hell, obtaining the keys of hell and of death (Rev. 1:18).
There is no other high priest who could ever be called “a brand plucked from the fire.”
In verses 3-5, we see Messiah receiving His glorified body. Now, it’s common for folks to claim that it couldn’t be Messiah, because the Father points out His filthy garment. The filth is sin, and some miss entirely what Messiah did by fulfilling the Passover. Paul tells us in 2 Cor. 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to BE sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of Elohim in Him.”
Messiah took His bride’s sinful garment upon Himself, and He gave her His garment of righteousness. He stood there in His human body, which had just been resurrected, and then, Yah instructed the angels to remove the corruptible, and replace it with the incorruptible (Isaiah 61:10, 1 Cor. 15:53).
In verses 6-7, Yah is foretelling of Messiah’s rule of Jerusalem, and He mentions some other people who were there, who will also be in Messiah’s earthly reign in Jerusalem. Now, who were those people? You see, when Messiah was on earth, He said that no humans had ever ascended to heaven (John 3:13). So, something had happened whereby there were people there in heaven who would be with the High Priest in Jerusalem.
We see who they were in Matthew 27:52-53. They were the OT saints—the friends of the Bridegroom. They were the Firstfruits wave offering performed by the new Great High Priest before the Father, as Messiah rose again on the Feast of Firstfruits. And, they have been promised to rule and reign with Messiah on the earth for 1000 years (Isaiah 32:1, Revelation 20:4).
Before Messiah’s resurrection, there were no people in heaven. So, this scene is right after Messiah rose again, which is when the OT saints were taken to heaven with Him, just as the bride, who are the barley, will be taken to heaven (Rev. 4:1) before the tribulation, and the friends of the bride (tribulation saints), who are the wheat (Rev. 11:12) will be taken near the end of the tribulation.
Clearly, the Holy Spirit tells us in Zechariah 3 that Messiah’s name is יְהוֹשֻׁ֙עַ֙ (Yahoshua), and denial of that fact is denial of the Holy Spirit’s truth. He did not inspire two different given names for Messiah. Messiah is Yahoshua, and there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).