Names of God – Jehovah

Names of God – Jehovah

When you hear the name Jehovah, what do you think of? I know, the guys in the white shirts and tie going door to door in your neighborhood. Well, Jehovah is actually another of the Hebrew names used in the Old Testament…a different name for the same God.

Jehovah simply means I Am. In the Bible, Jehovah is usually translated as Lord and appears 6519 times, but its root word is the Hebrew word Hayah which means “I am”. When Moses was talking to God at the burning bush and he asked God in Exodus 3:13, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?” God’s answer was to tell them “Hayah Hayah”, or “Jehovah, Jehovah”, “I am who I am”.

Okay…I am what? As we’ll see in upcoming posts, He is our provider, He is our banner, He is our shield, He is our everything. Jehovah, our Lord, is the I Am. He is everything, He is our Creator, our Father, He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is GOD! David Crowder has a song called I Am, and it says:

There’s no space that His love can’t reach
There’s no place where we can’t find peace
There’s no end to Amazing Grace
Take me in with your arms spread wide
Take me in like an orphan child
Never let go, never leave my side
I am
Holding onto you
I am
Holding onto you
In the middle of the storm
I am holding on
I am!

The Hebrew people of the Old Testament believed this name to be so holy that it was not allowed to be spoken. In fact, the only one who was permitted to speak the name Jehovah was the high priest, and only on the Great Day of Atonement when he entered the holy of holies. Even when they were reading the scripture, any time they would come to the name Jehovah, they would pronounce it “Adonai”, and this is something the Jewish people still do to this day. During the “Burning Bush” incident, in the very next verse Exodus 3:14, “God replied to Moses, “I am who I am. Say this to the people of Israel: I am has sent me to you.” Jehovah has sent you! Through this one name, He is proclaiming that He is the unchanging, eternal, self-existent God, the “I am that I am”.

John 14:6 “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” Did you see what Jesus, Himself said? I AM The Way. There are so many people out there, who claim the name of Christ, and go around saying, “there are many different roads that lead to God.” What are these people doing with this verse and so many others? Christ didn’t say, I am a way, He didn’t even say, I am one of the ways. He said, “I am THE Way, THE Truth, THE life.” And, if that wasn’t clear enough, He said, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” It doesn’t get any clearer than that. There are not many paths to the same place. God made eternal life very simple. He made one way, so it won’t be confusing, He made one truth, so we know what to believe, and He made one life, so we know where we are going.

If you haven’t found the One Way, take care of it before you close this blog. Christ died so we don’t have to experience death. All you need to do is, first realize that you, like all of us, are a sinner and in need of salvation, Romans 3:23 “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Next, you must realize that there is a price for sin that must be paid, Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Did you catch that last part? God doesn’t leave us destitute, He always provides a way. The free gift of God Is eternal life, through who? Through The Way, Jesus Christ. So, What’s the way out? Romans 5:8, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” Christ died for us, while we were still sinners. The price for sin is death, but Christ paid that price for us on the cross so that we don’t have to. It’s as if we were on trial for murder, and just as the judge was about to sentence us to death, Christ stepped in and said, “I’ll take his place.” That’s amazing grace! So how do you accept this gift? I’m glad you asked. Romans 10:9-10 “⁹ If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.” It’s just that simple. So many people ask, “How can a loving God send people to hell?” The answer is…He doesn’t. He made the way out so simple that even a child can do it. In fact, He said we must come to Him as a child in Matthew 18:3, “Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.” How do you know it will work? He says in Romans 10:13, For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” He says it, and remember, He is THE Truth!