What Is God’s Name

What Is God’s Name?

Shelby G. Floyd

January 25, 2010

God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and revealed himself to the great prophet. He promised Moses he world be with him when he went before Pharaoh to demand that he let the children of Israel go free from their slavery.

“I AM WHO I AM”

Moses replied to God that the Israelites would want to know God’s name. He asked what he should say. God’s answer was, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:13-14). “I AM” is God’s name and his name means “The Self Existent One.” God is also known by “God Almighty”—El-Shaddai; “Elohim”—Lord; and “Jehovah.” “God also said to Moses, "I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them.” (Exodus 6:2-3). The name “Lord” in the Hebrew is equal to I AM (Exodus 3:15).

Jesus Christ is “I AM”

It is noteworthy that the divine Son of God—Jesus Christ also claimed the name Lord and I AM: "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" (John 8:58). Jesus was simply affirming that he existed eternally—before he became flesh and blood and lived among mankind (John 1:14).

Jesus Christ was, is and always will be GOD—the third person of the divine godhead—the divine nature. In the prologue of the gospel of John, the apostle declares:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:1-4, NKJV).

The force of the verb “was” in the Greek conveys the idea that the Word always was in the beginning; and that the Word always was with God; and that the Word always was God; and that the Word always was in the beginning with God!

In contrast to the eternal Word, the entire material universe had a beginning. It was created by a mighty fiat through Jesus Christ—he spoke and the world came into being (John 1:3). The universe is also held together by the power of Christ: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:15-17).

Jesus Christ Is the Eternal Word

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end: "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). The beginning of the universe came about by Christ and it will end with the second coming of Christ (2 Peter 3:7-13). Our Lord is eternal, unchangeable, and immutable: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). In the last communication in the last book of the Bible, John writes that the four living creatures that surround the Lord God praise God forever: “Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come’" (Revelation 4:8).