He is One God, but with so many names. Why?

This is a great question for all who are called to know Him in all His magnificent attributes. Many times to us who are the sons of God through adoption in Christ Jesus it does not seem very important to know our God in all His different names that He was manifested in the Old Covenant, but this is the very reason why I felt it necessary to bring this teaching to us by His grace tonight.

In my meditation of the word this morning from the book of Exodus all of a sudden a verse grabbed my attention in chapter 6 of this Old Covenant scripture, and it was as though a light was switched on my spirit and that brought me here to share this word with you tonight.

In the years of my service to the Lord I have encountered many great and awesome demonstration of God’s faithfulness to me, yet every time He comes in to reveal Himself in a brand new way. Knowing that His word is an everlasting comfort to those whom He has called from the world, I was astounded to its greatness once again today. Reading the 6^th chapter of the book of Exodus I noticed for the first time that in conversing with Moses the Lord speaks an incredible truth to His servant and that made me realize once again the importance of knowing our God in His different names experientially.

In Exodus chapter 5 after Moses faces the obstacles of Israel’s deliverance from the Egyptian bondage and on the contrary saw their burden being increased by Pharaoh, he returns to God for answers. Moses says to the Lord in Exodus 5:23 “For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name he has done evil to this people, neither have You delivered

Your people at all.” Then the Lord said in chapter 6 to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his hand.” And God spoke to Moses and said to him. “I am Yahweh, I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as El Shaddai or God Almighty, but by My name Yahweh or the Lord I was not known to them”. Exodus 6:3

This is where I began my meditation this morning and eventually through His grace I was able to see its significance. Here The Lord reveals Himself to Moses for the first time as Yahweh for the first time. The patriarchs therefore did not even know Him in this great name of His and Moses and Israel were going to know their God in a brand new way. Before He was known as El Shaddai, meaning “God Almighty.”

El Shaddai points to God’s role as the sustainer of all and possessing all power.

Another compound of El is El Elyon, “Most High God,” which stresses God’s strength, sovereignty,

and supremacy (Genesis 14:19; 31:13; Deuteronomy 10:17; Psalm 9:2; Daniel 7:18, 11:36). Also, El Olam meaning “Everlasting God” emphasizes God’s unchangeableness and eternality. But in Exodus 6:3 He says to Moses now He is going to be known to His people with a brand new name in demonstrating a very new aspect of His divine being. Yahweh (LORD Yahweh (or YHWH)which comes from a verb that means “to exist or to be.” This, plus its usage, shows that this name stresses God as the independent and self-existent God of revelation and redemption, (Genesis 4:3; Exodus 6:3; 3:12).  I believe this also meant for Israel to know that  He continues to be or to exist as the God  of  their fore fathers, and that He would deliver them from the hand of their enemies as He has promised the Patriarchs.

I trust by this new revelation of God about His divine existance He began to teach Israel a brand new lesson. This great lesson I trust was that they could no longer trust their own strength for any of their accomplishments in life. This also taught them that He would need to allow their circumstances to worsen at times, so that He would remain their only hope of redemption. This meant that the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart was not only to sanctify His name before him and all Egypt, but it was more  for His own people that Israel of God now would understand and glorify His name as their only redeemer and Lord.  He would make sure that Israel knew without a shadow of a doubt that Yahweh means redemption and would not dare to seek deliverance without Him. He must be sanctified not only before His enemies, but by His own people. Israel now must recognize and proclaim Him as their only source of all things It was in this revelation of God about Himself to Israel that they began to understand their God as their only source of existance. The God that is truly self- existent and that He alone can be their hope in life. To this end He labored in hardening the heart of the king of Egypt. That is why this name of God is God’s most sacred name and particularly depicts God’s faithfulness to His covenant promises to His people. It therefore is used only of the God of Israel. To blaspheme this name required death (Leviticus 24:16). Yahweh is used more than any other name for God in the Old Testament.  Therefore the compounds of Yahweh are designations or titles that reveal additional facts about God’s character or attributes for His own treasured possession.

By this one and great revelation of God about Himself He also spoke of the need of Israel for their future reliances upon Him for all things in all places of their journey.

My own great revelation this morning was that it was for Israel’s sake that God needed to be sanctified before all nations and not just for His glory in all the earth. It was Israel who needed to fully be acquainted with her heavenly Master. This is why He needed to also appear to them in this various names.

Yahweh Jireh (Yireh), meaning, “the Lord will provide” and stresses God’s provision for His

people (Genesis 22:14). Yahweh Nissi, meaning, “the Lord is my banner” and stresses that God is our means of

victory who fights for His people (Exodus 17:15). Yahweh Shalom, meaning, “the Lord is peace” and shows the Lord as the means of our

peace and rest (Judges 6:24). Adonai (Lord): Like Elohim, Adonai is a plural of majesty. This word points to God as the

almighty ruler in charge of all.

He also continues to be known as…Genesis Yahweh Sabbaoth, meaning, “the Lord of hosts” which depicts the Lord as a military

commander of the armies of heaven (1 Samuel 1:3; 17:45). Yahweh Maccaddeshcem, meaning, “the Lord your sanctifier” which shows the Lord as the

One who sets His people apart for His purposes (Exodus 31:13). Yahweh Roi, meaning, “the Lord my shepherd,” showing the Lord’s care for His people

(Psalm 23:1). Yahweh Tsidkenu, meaning, “the Lord our righteousness” and portrays the Lord as the

means of our righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6). Yahweh Shammah, meaning, “the Lord is there” and shows the Lord’s personal presence in

the millennial kingdom (Ezekiel 48:35).

These are few of the Characteristic of this God who was soon to take them with Him along for a pilgrimage in life this side of Heaven.  Some of these other names are, Yahweh Elohim Israel, meaning “the Lord, the God of Israel” and depicts the Lord as the true God of Israel in contrast to the false gods of the nations (Judges 5:3; Isaiah 17:6). Adonai (16:13). YAHWEH-RAPHA: “The Lord Who Heals” (Exodus 15:26) – “I am Jehovah who heals you” both in body and soul. In body, by preserving from and curing diseases, and in soul, by pardoning iniquities. EL-GIBHOR: “Mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6) – the name describing the Messiah, Christ Jesus, in this prophetic portion of Isaiah. As a powerful and mighty warrior, the Messiah, the Mighty God, will accomplish the destruction of God’s enemies and rule with a rod of iron (Revelation 19:15). And in all these names we learn one thing that in order to recognize this great and awesome God we too more or less like Israel of the Old Testament would need to experience Him in all His divine attributes.
Israel tabernacled around His tent of meeting  in the desert and experientially saw His divine attributes before entering in the promise land. Therefore I trust we too will experience to a great extent the divinity of His awesome existance through Christ Jesus before we can enter into His eternal presence, so that we would not need to be cast out of His heavenly tabernacle forever. We need to walk in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit in all humility, so that we could allow His majesty to unveil His eternal glory for us here in this life before we could be counted worthy of standing in His presence in his heavenly tabernacle of glory one day.  May we experience His majestic glory every time He is sanctified in our midst. May we give Him the honor of royalty and glory every time He draws near to bring Himself glory through our lives.