The proper name of God, YHWH

I have recently been blessed by studying “The Names of God” by Ken Hemphill.  The name that has stuck in my mind is the proper name of God, YHWH.  I would like to discuss the meaning of this name, why God revealed Himself this way, and how this applies to our lives today.

First, I would like to start with a little background about this name.  “YHWH” was considered such a Holy Name of God that Hebrews wouldn’t even pronounce it! They would substitute Adonai, or Lord, when they came across one of the 6,823 uses of YHWH in the Bible.  This is actually how the word “Jehovah” was developed.  Germanic Jewish scholars of the tenth century, called Masoretes, decided to combine the vowels from the name of God, "Adonai," with the four consonant name of God "YHWH."  However, because of the way Germans pronounce letters, they spelled the word with a "J" instead of a "Y" and a "V" instead of a "W!"  So, this left us with the name of God, "Jehovah," which was originally pronounced more like "Yeh-ho-why."

This name of God was first revealed when God appeared to Moses from the midst of a burning bush (Exodus 3).  Moses asked God, “What should I tell the Israelites is the name of God?”  And God said to Moses, “YHWH.”  This is a difficult thing to translate because we don’t have anything in English that accurately corresponds to its intended meaning.

Most translations say, “I AM WHO I AM.”  However, this doesn’t adequately encompass everything implied in the Hebrew.  The name comes from the imperfect stem of the Hebrew verb “to be.”  The imperfect tense here signals an action that started in the past, continues in the present, but has yet to be completed!  I personally like the translation “I AM Who I have always been” better, but feel that “I will be Who I have always been” is the most accurate.  What is most important is the meaning.  God is unchanging!  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

So, why did God reveal Himself through this name to Moses?  Let me summarize the conversation between Moses and God in Exodus 3:

God says: "I am the God of your fathers, and I have come to deliver Israel from the Egyptians.  I will send you to Pharaoh that you will bring my people out of Egypt."

Moses says: "Who am I to do this?"

God says: "I will be with you."

Moses says: "What do I call you?"

God says: "I AM Who I will be.  Tell them the God of their fathers has sent you to deliver them."

It seems as though God was trying to convince Moses that, “The God that helped your fathers is still alive and wants to help you today!”

Isn’t this the way most Christians are today?  We have no problem believing that the stories in the Bible are true.  But how many of us truly believe that God “is Who He has always been,” and that He can work through us today?  We believe that God parted the Red Sea.  We believe that He fed multitudes with five loaves of bread and two fish.  But do we really believe God can work in our lives today?

Do you believe God can use you to teach a Sunday school class?  Do you believe God can use you to reach that unsaved friend?  Do you believe God can use you to impact your city, nation, and world?  Do you believe He is "just" the God of history?  Or do you truly believe that He is the same yesterday and today, and that He can use you today?  How is this evident in your life?

The God Who created heaven and earth, the God Who delivered Israel, the God Who came down to earth to die for our sins on the cross is still the same God today!  And He wants to use you to impact the world around you!  This is also the same God that gave US ALL the Great Commission.  Let’s live our lives as though we actually believe this is true!  When God calls us to a task, we can be certain that He has created us for this very purpose and that He will empower us and enable us to accomplish it.

God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called!