By
Shelby G. Floyd
God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and revealed himself to the prophet. He promised Moses to be with him! God was with Moses when he went before Pharaoh and demanded that he let the children of Israel go free from their slavery.
“I Am Who I Am”
When Moses told Israel that God would deliver them from Egyptian bondage they would want to know God’s name. He asked God what he should say. “ And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you’ ” (Exodus 3:14 NKJV). This verse reveals God’s name is “God”—Heb., “Elohim.” Then God further identifies himself as “I AM”—Heb., “Ehyeh.” “I AM WHO I AM” is one of God’s names and means “The Self Existent One!”
“God Almighty” And “Lord”
“And God spoke to Moses and said to him: ‘I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name Lord I was not known to them’” (Exodus 6:2-3 NKJV). Then “God” (Heb. “Elohim”) spoke to Moses and said, “I am the Lord”—Heb.,Yahweh). But when God appeared to the patriarchs, they knew Him only as “God Almighty— (Heb. bael sadday)! But they did not know God by his name “Lord— (Heb. Yahweh).
We may therefore summarize God’s names we have identified so far:
1. GOD, Hebrew Elohim (Exodus 3:14; 6:2-3).
2. LORD, Hebrew Yahweh (Exodus 6:2-3).
2. I AM, Hebrew Ehyeh (Exodus 3:14).
3. GOD ALMIGHTY, Hebrew bael sadday or El Shaddi (Exodus 6:3).
Jesus Christ is God, I Am, and Lord
It is noteworthy that the divine Son of God—Jesus Christ, also claimed the name Lord and I AM: “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58). Jesus simply affirmed that he existed eternally—before he became flesh and blood and lived among mankind (John 1:14).
Christ Always Was, Is, and Will Be God!
And Jesus Christ was, is and always will be GOD—the second person of the divine godhead—the divine nature. In the prologue of the gospel of John, the apostle declares:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:1-4, NKJV).
The force of the verb “was” in the Greek conveys the idea that the Word always was in the beginning; and that the Word always was with God; and that the Word always was God; and that the Word always was in the beginning with God!
In contrast to the eternal Word, the entire material universe had a beginning. God created the universe by a mighty fiat through Jesus Christ—he spoke and the world came into being (John 1:3). The universe is also held together by the power of Christ: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:15-17).
Jesus Christ Is the Holy Lord God Almighty!
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end: “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). The beginning of the universe came about by Christ and it will end with the second coming of Christ (2 Peter 3:7-13). Our Lord is eternal, unchangeable, and immutable: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). In the last communication in the last book of the Bible, John writes that the four living creatures that surround the Lord God praise God forever: “Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come’” (Revelation 4:8).
Praise God Almighty and the Lord Jesus Christ—Worthy is the Lamb!
Copyright © 2023 Shelby Floyd, All Rights Reserved
Shelby G. Floyd, minister at the Heartland Church of Christ, 1603 West Main Street, Greenwood, Indiana 46142