A name is both a very personal and a very powerful thing. If you don’t think so, call someone a Judas, a Benedict Arnold or a Jezebel and see what happens. In the Bible, names were not only descriptive of the character of a person, but they were sometimes prophetic. Abram’s name, for instance, was changed to Abraham because he became the father of many nations (cf. Gen. 17:5). The second Person of the Godhead became a man and took the name Jesus, because He would save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:21). Names mean things and meanings are important. If a man’s name is important, what about God’s name?

When God spoke to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they did not know God by His name “Jehovah.” God told Moses, “And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them” (Exodus 6:3). Jehovah means “self existing one.” Earlier, Moses had asked God at the burning bush, when the Lord called him to lead His people, what will I say when they ask “What is His name? What shall I say unto them?” (Ex. 3:13). “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you” (Exodus 3:14).

I Am that I Am expresses the idea that God exists because He exists. His existence is not dependent upon an outside influence, as is ours. God has always been and will always be. From everlasting to everlasting He is God (Micah 5:2; Psalm 90:2). “And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God” (Genesis 21:33). “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding” (Isaiah 40:28). The high and lofty One inhabits eternity (Is. 57:15). He is eternal (Deut. 33:27; Rom. 1:20; I Tim. 1:17).

Both the name Jehovah and the expression “I Am” have relevance to Jesus. When John quoted Isaiah 6, regarding the Holy God (Isaiah 6:3), he applied that quote to Jesus. He wrote, “These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him” (John 12:41). John was writing of Jesus in this context. But the passage in Isaiah spoke of the LORD, or Jehovah. So in this text Jesus is equated with Jehovah of the Old Testament.

Again, when the guards came to the garden to take Jesus, He identified Himself. He said “I am” (John 18:5). “As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground” (John 18:6). His self-identification with I Am, was so powerful, it drove all those present, including the intimidating Temple Guard, back to the ground. In this account Jesus identifies Himself with the Great I Am of the Old Testament. It is a powerful name.

And it is a holy name. It is set apart from all names. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Jehovah of Hosts (Isaiah 6:3). His name is not to be profaned (Lev. 18:21; 19:12; 20:3; 21:6) or taken in vain (Ex. 20:7; Deut. 5:11). The priests were not to profane the worship of God because they were to minister in the name of the Lord (Lev. 21:23; 22:2; Deut. 18:5; 21:5). Holy and Reverend is His name (Psalm 111:9). As Christians, we are called by the name of the Lord and are not to bring shame to that name (Acts 17:11; I Pet. 4:12-16).

A name stands for the person behind it. One can either have a good name (Prov 22:1) or a bad name (Deut. 22:14). The Lord proclaimed His own name before Moses (Ex. 33:19). In proclaiming His name, he proclaimed His goodness and holiness.

And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. 8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped (Exodus 34:5-8).

The name of God is not to be taken lightly. God will not hold him guiltless that takes His name of vain (Ex. 20:7).

Eric L. Padgett