Advent: Names of God Part 1
LORD means formal name of God Yahweh
We have different names for different people
Names help you understand your relationship
How does God first reveal himself?
Exodus 3:14-15: God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”[a] And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord,[b] 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 thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
Prior to this moment with Moses, the Israelites called their god Elohim or El – is a title, not a personal name – or “El Shaddai”, often translated as God Almighty. When God gives a name for His people to call Him it conveys His dominion over all things, the source of His power, and His eternal nature: I AM. He is the self-sufficient, self-sustaining God who was, who is, and who will be.
This eternal nature is conveyed better in the Hebrew than in the English. The first time God says I AM (“I AM WHO I AM”), the Hebrew says, “Ehyeh asher Ehyeh”, which translates as “I will be what I will be.” When God then tells Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent you” (Exodus 3:14), it is “Yahweh.” Yahweh is the third person version of Ehyeh, which is first person. Yahweh could also be translated as He will be. John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
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