RIDDLE ME THIS...

Riddle me this: What letter do you add to the name of God to get access into Heaven? 

Isaiah 12 (NIV) -- Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation". 

Isaiah 12 teaches about the joy of salvation, trusting in God's strength, and seeking His presence. The prophet Isaiah spoke these words to the people of Judah and Jerusalem over 2,700 years ago. 

Judaism is built on faith in the Rock of Salvation. King David said in Psalm 18:2 -- The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

The word "Jew" comes from the Hebrew name Yehuda יְהוּדָה pronounced Judah in English. Judah was one of the son's of the patriarch Jacob. Judah led one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. He is known as "the Lion."

The name "Yehuda" means "Praise God." One of the requirements for being a Jew, according to the great Jewish sage and author Maimonides, is to "Praise God." 

The personal name of God in the Hebrew Bible, is represented by the four Hebrew letters יהוה (YHWH -- Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey), otherwise known as the Tetragrammaton.

The name יהוה was considered so sacred that its pronunciation was avoided by substituting "Adonai" (Lord) or "Elohim" (God) in speech and writing.

The exact pronunciation of YHWH is uncertain. Scholars generally pronounce it as "Yah-weh" or something similar. The name is closely connected to the phrase "I am who I am" that God used when speaking to Moses at the burning bush.  

Exodus 3:14 -- God answered Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' Then He said, 'You are to say to Bnei-Yisrael, "I AM" has sent me to you.'

You'll notice that YHVH יהוה and Yehuda יְהוּדָה are spelled very similarly. In fact there is only one letter difference. There is the Hebrew letter 

(ד) "dalet" just after the letter "Vav." 

Dalet is the 4th letter of the Hebrew aleph-beyt.

The word Dalet דלת means "gate" or "door." Vav is the 6th letter and it looks like a nail. It means "and" or "continue."  So the "gate" is added after the "nail."

When we add a "Dalet" after the letter "Vav"¡ in the name of God, YHVH יהוה becomes the word Yehuda יְהוּדָה -- the word we get "Jew" from. 

The concept of a "Gate," in the context of this message, might remind you of the "Gate to Heaven" which the patriarch Jacob saw in his dream in Genesis 28:10-22. 

Jacob dreamed of a "gate to heaven." He dreamed of a ladder set up on the ground and its top reached to heaven. He saw angels ascending and descending upon it, and God standing over him. In that Place, Jacob set the stone, that he had placed at his head, as a monument. Jacob annointed the Rock and he renamed that Place to Bet -El (House of God) and the Rock marked the gate, a door, to heaven. 

So the answer to the riddle, "What letter do you add to the name of God to get access into Heaven?" Is a Dalet -- a Gate! 

In the New Testament, John 10:1-3 Yeshua (Jesus) says "Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." 

Yeshua repeats in John 10:7, Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. He says again in John 10:9, Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. They will come in and go out, and find pasture."

Six times Yeshua is quite clear that He is the Gate, the Dalet (דלת) to Heaven. 

Romans 1:16 -- For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.