The Meaning of Yahweh's Name

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Although God's Name was known to mankind since its creation, it came to be mixed in with the other names of supposed deities that man began to worship in Yahweh's place.

God made a covenant with Abraham, and Abraham built altars unto Yahweh and called upon the Name of Yahweh at them. His children swore by the Name of Yahweh. Yet even in this, his descendents eventually lost this Name as the primary appellation of the Creator. They did not understand its meaning, nor to place their trust in it.

As God determined to fulfill His promise to Jacob, He raised up Moses to deliver Israel into their promised land. To do this, Moses asked for God to identify Himself with a Name that he could take back to the children of Israel.

13Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you;’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?” Exodus 3:13

The Lord answered Moses succintly, giving him an insight into His very own nature.

14God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Exodus 3:14

In Hebrew, it was:

אהיה אשר אהיה - "I am what I am"

God's very nature and appellation was existence. He was what He was and could be nothing else. He was not god of the seas, or of the heavens, or of the earth, or of the hills or valleys; He was simply Being.

If the Israelis understood and trusted this when Moses brought the message, they would have faced no doubts as they met the resistance of Pharaoh and the Egyptians.

God then puts this Name into the third person as He gives Moses His eternal memorial:

15God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the 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. Exodus 3:15

יהוה - "He Is"

This is the third person form, using an older form of the verb "to be", as אהיה is in the first person, using a more recent form of "to be" in Moses' time.

As God declares Himself by Himself, He speaks His Name in the first person. As He gives it to creation to speak of Him, He gives it in the third person.

In addition, there is also evidence that both of these forms may be in the causative stem, which would give them an additional relevatory nature: God is the One Who causes existence, the source of being.

This full revelation of what God's Name represented was the beginning of a journey for God's people. As they continued to face adversity, they would continue to understand that Yahweh—because He was Existence itself—had power and authority over all things at all times.

In the Name of Yahweh we find that God simply Is. Our existence and all that we know and experience is due to His Being.

28‘For in him we live, and move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’ Acts 17:28

Discerning Yahweh

This is perhaps the foundation of our faith in God—knowing that He is.

Once we realize that nothing is possible without Him, including our own existence, we are able to take the next step to choosing to live in and for Him every moment—just as we were created to do!

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The Good Message

As you read this site, you will hopefully come to know Yahweh more fully.

But all of this continuing knowledge is useless unless and until you come into union with Him. I use the word union because it is truly a marriage. It is that deep connection we all seek, for which we most often look in other people. However, the truth is that our hearts will only be fulfilled when we enter that union in fullness with the One Who made us.

This is the grace of God, that He has not stayed distant for us only to worship as Creator. But He has come unto us, even become one of us—in His Son, Christ Jesus—in order to share an intimate union with us. He desires such closeness that it truly will envelope our entire life, transforming us into something new and wonderful.

You may have already entered this union with Him and only seek to know Him better through reading here. But if you have not, as you do read, let this Gospel sink into your heart as you read it now.

God loves you, and has cast your sins into the sea. He has sent His only Son as the Savior of the world—that includes you.

That Son, Jesus Christ, was born as a man through a virgin who had given her life to Yahweh; He lived without sin, reflected the glory of His Father, God, in all His words and deeds, and was persecuted even unto death because of it.

His death upon a cross was the powerful explosion that separated you from your life of death. It remains for you, now, to enter into that death with Him. As you die to the one you are now, a person separated from God from your many sins, you will be born anew, with a nature predisposed to live rightly. This gift is free to you, with nothing you can do to earn it. It is the mercy of God to offer it to you, as He loves you so much! All you must do is receive it by trusting Him to have delivered you. Simply place your life in His hands and embrace the freedom that came through that death on the cross.

The Gospel is that Jesus did not remain dead, but rose again on the third day after His crucifixion! Death could not hold Him, as He was without sin. And so death will not be able to hold you, as you identify with Him fully through your trust in Him. Let go of yourself and confess Him as Lord of your life. The power of His death and resurrection will work in you all that your Creator has destined for you. You will truly enter a new life and experience that intimate union you have been seeking all of your life.

So ponder these words as you read here of this great God—Yahweh—and all that He has revealed to His creation. Let His Spirit testify to your heart that these words are true, that God is Love, and that He sent His Son so that you might receive the life that is unbound by time and space. As you feel that witness in your heart, simply believe and receive what He is offering to you, even now, and begin your new life as a child of God.

Please write to me and let me know when you take this step, as I will be your brother in Christ—we will be one in Him!