For many, a God without a name is safer. They believe in a vague higher power without being too concerned with what He has said to them or who exactly He is. But the living God of the Bible has a name. He has many names, of course, but there is one majestic name by which the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has especially chosen to reveal Himself – YHWH. Hebrew was originally written without vowels so we cannot be certain of its pronunciation. For many years it has been customary to pronounce the name as Jehovah, and this usage has become well established in the vocabulary of many. However, linguists have concluded that this pronunciation is highly unlikely to reflect the original form, with Yahweh regarded as the more probable pronunciation.1 However, you won’t commonly see Jehovah or Yahweh in English Bibles. Instead, this name is usually translated as “the LORD” (note the capital letters). But there is something lost if we fail to see “the LORD” as a personal name. The people of Israel lived among nations who worshiped other gods (as do we), with real names like Molech, Dagon and Nebo. The God of Israel has identified Himself with this name, Yahweh.
There are more than 6,800 occurrences of Yahweh in the Hebrew Old Testament. While it is found in Genesis, the key passage for understanding its significance is Exodus 3, where God appeared to Moses as the angel of the LORD (Yahweh) in the burning bush. When God commissioned Moses to go to Pharaoh, Moses was hesitant and asked, “Who am I?” But Moses learned what we all must also learn: the key issue is not “Who am I, that God would send me?” but “Who is God?” And when Moses asked for God’s name, “God replied to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you …. The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever’” (Exo 3:14-15).2 In the Bible, names not only serve to identify but they also reveal something about the person’s character. Yahweh is a proper noun built upon the verbal phrase “I AM,” and it unfolds precious truth concerning the character of our God.
Yahweh Is Self-Existent
Moses is sent to a man perceived as the most powerful being on the whole earth. But he is sent by the I AM, the One who actually possesses the power of being. This divine attribute is seen in the fire that burns but does not consume the bush. The fire, a divine manifestation, does not need the bush for fuel, because our God is self-sufficient, independent and self-existent. We are who we are because of our birth, our influences and our circumstances, but Yahweh’s existence is underived and independent of everything and everyone.3
Yahweh Is Eternal
“The LORD [Yahweh] is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth” (Isa 40:28). We might read the Lord Jesus’ words in John 8 – “before Abraham was, I AM” – and initially think He is using strange grammar. Shouldn’t He have said, “I was”? But the Lord is applying the name of Exodus 3 to Himself, emphasizing the eternality of His existence. To Moses, it is as if God is saying, “I have been long before you, and I will always be.” “I AM WHO I AM.”
Yahweh Is Constant
Humans are in a constant state of flux; new synapses form in our brains, and cells in our bodies die and are replaced every day. But Yahweh is the unchanging God (Mal 3:6). The fire did not consume the bush, yet neither was it weakened or diminished by its own activity. In the words of Alexander Maclaren, “God lives forevermore, a flame that does not burn out; therefore his resources are inexhaustible, his power unwearied … He operates unspent; he loves and loves forever. And through the ages, the fire burns on, unconsumed and undecayed.”
Yahweh Is Faithful
God reveals Himself as Yahweh when He enters into a covenant with Abraham, promising him innumerable offspring and the possession of the land (Gen 15). When He appears to Moses, He is recalling that covenant. He is the God of Abraham, and He has come down to rescue Abraham’s offspring and bring them to the land of promise. It is within this context that He emphasizes His name, Yahweh, to Moses. Exodus 6 further links this name to His covenant relationship with Israel. The LORD is the faithful, covenant-keeping God.
Yahweh Is Relational
Exodus 3 is a very personal scene. God is revealing Himself to the man that He will uniquely speak to and work through for the next forty years, so He unfolds the name through which He relates to His people. Psalm 19 exhibits this well. It’s the glory of Elohim that is declared in nature in the opening six verses. But as the subject shifts for the remainder of the psalm to God’s more intimate and special revelation to His servant, His personal name, Yahweh, is used. Our God is a personal, relational God, and He wants us to know Him.
The New Testament leaves us with no doubt that our God is relational. In the person of His Son, He became a Man that we might enjoy eternal fellowship with Him. It also leaves us with no doubt that that Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, is Yahweh / Jehovah. There is a plethora of evidence for this and Peter provides one lovely example. Isaiah says, “Do not fear what they fear; do not be terrified. You are to regard only the LORD [Yahweh] of Armies as holy” (Isa 8:12-13). 1 Peter 3:14-15 reads, “Do not fear them or be intimidated, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy.” While referencing Isaiah 8, the apostle clearly identifies Jesus Christ as the mighty Yahweh of armies.4
Beloved, we have a sufficient and eternally faithful God who has revealed Himself to us, not only with this glorious name but in “Jesus Christ [who] is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8).
1 Yahuah, Yahoh and Yahveh are also sometimes proposed. For a quick summary of how the pronunciation Jehovah developed and why The LORD is its common translation, search “Wes Huff – Is God’s name Jehovah or Yahweh?” on YouTube.
2 Bible quotations in this article are from the CSB.
3 This is the aseity of God, a term worth your further exploration.
4 This and other proofs are helpfully noted in Brian Reynolds, Jesus Is Jehovah (Beamsville, ON: Believer’s Bookshelf, 2013).
