Yahweh - The Great I AM

Exodus 3:14-15 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’”

When God revealed His name to Moses, He used what is called the tetragrammaton - or the four letters. Because Hebrew had no vowels, that name was Y-H-W-H...in our English alphabet, it’s spelled Yahweh. It carries the meaning “I am what I am, I am Who I am, I will be who I will be, and I will always be.” In other words, God is Who He is - and nothing will change that. He never needs to explain Himself or try to prove Himself. He is....period. We saw that in Genesis 1:1, right? “In the beginning, God...”

A More Personal Name

The “El” names were generally formal and descriptive names that were used to define a specific characteristic of God - i.e. His power, His care, or His knowledge. But the name Yahweh is far more intimate and personal.  Rather than broadly speaking of what God is like, Yahweh (and all the titles that are attached to it) tend to describe who God is to us.

This was the name that God used to personally reveal Himself to His people. The first mention of the name was in Genesis chapter 2, as we read the story of the creation of Mankind. Before this He was simply known as “God”. But once He began the work of forming the man from the dirt, He became known as “Yahweh God”.  God became much more personal as He carefully formed man out of the ground.

When Abram first heard God’s promise in Genesis 12, he built an altar and called on the name of Yahweh. Obviously, Abram knew that there was something in the name that would bring that promise to himself and his family.

When God showed Moses His glory in Exodus 34:5, He connected His mercy and justice to His name. “Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Yahweh. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘Yahweh, Yahweh God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.’”

All The Nature Of God In A Word

When we speak of God’s name, we’re referring to much more than the title by which He’s called. When we speak His name, we’re referring to His entire nature and character. When we speak His name, we’re putting everything He was in eternity past, everything He is to us today, and everything He will be in eternity future into a single word! That word that He chose first was Yahweh...”I Am What I Am.”

Because His name carries His eternal nature, it becomes powerful when it’s spoken. This isn’t because the word itself is powerful, it’s because the One it’s naming is all-powerful. That’s why the Bible says in Joel 2:32 “And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of Yahweh shall be saved.” It isn’t the name by itself that saves, it’s the God whose name it is.

In Psalm 124:8, David connected God’s creative power to the help He provides in His name - “Our help is in the name of Yahweh, Who made heaven and earth.”

Proverbs 18:10 declares, “The name of Yahweh is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe.”

Taking His Name

With all of His character attached to it, is it any wonder that God told His people not to take that name in a worthless way? Exodus 20:7 says, “You shall not take the name of Yahweh in vain.” In other words, this name is attached to God’s nature, His mercy, His justice, and His creative power - so make sure you have a purpose before you speak it!

The  scribes of the Old Testament took this command to heart. Before every writing of the name Yahweh, they would bathe and get a new pen. After the name was written, they would bathe again. They knew the value of the name they were placing in that book! Our first english translators did something similar. Whenever they saw the name of Yahweh in the Old Testament, they translated it as LORD - all capital letters. Whenever you see this, it is the name of Yahweh.

When Solomon built the temple, he built it for the name of Yahweh. This was the place that people around the world would come to call on God’s name, so it had to be extravagant. (2 Chronicles 2:4). According to Jeremiah 7, 32, and 34; the name of Yahweh was what set that place apart from any other place on earth. It was the house of Yahweh!

That name was so important to the Hebrews, that they often used it in their own names. Many Jewish names had the shortened name for God (YAH or JAH) inside them:
Elijah - “My God is Yahweh”
Isaiah - “Yahweh has saved”
Jonathan - “Yahweh has given”
Jeremiah - “Yahweh has appointed”
Jehoshaphat - “Yahweh has judged”
Joshua - “Yahweh is salvation”

The name Joshua was translated into the Greek word “Yeshua” in the New Testament. We see this Greek name in Matthew 1:21 “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Jesus’ name means “Yahweh is salvation”. How appropriate that this was the name that Yahweh Himself chose to be called when He walked this earth as a man! It not only carries the entire nature of God in the name of Yahweh, but now it also shows what He did for us. It was in the very nature of Yahweh to save us from our sin!

Jesus is the personal revelation of the eternal Yahweh! When He “took the name” it was definitely not in vain! He used it to do everything He had promised to us.