God did not leave us to guess who He is. When I read the passages about His Name, I see Him telling us who He is and then proving it through what He does.
What God Reveals Through His Name
In the Old Testament, God reveals His personal covenant Name, commonly represented by the four consonants YHWH. Many English Bibles, including the NKJV, print that Name as LORD in small caps. I also use Jehovah, the long-received English rendering used here at Unforsaken when discussing the covenant Name.
I want to understand what God’s Name reveals about Him, rather than get lost in an argument over pronunciation. He is self-existent and eternal, yet He draws near to His people by covenant. His faithfulness and mercy belong to the same God who is holy and righteous. He gave His Name so we could know Him and call on Him in trust and worship. Treating it as a religious charm or a sound that can control Him would miss that purpose, as would using it carelessly. We are meant to bear His Name in truth.
Exodus 3 and Exodus 6 connect the LORD’s Name with His self-existence and His remembrance of the covenant as He acts to save Israel. Exodus 34 shows His mercy and grace alongside His judgment of the guilty. We also learn to revere and hallow His Name in Exodus 20, Isaiah 42, Malachi 1, Psalm 103, and Matthew 6. Joel 2, Acts 2, Romans 10, John 8, Philippians 2, and Revelation 19 then connect salvation in the Name of the LORD with the divine identity of Jesus. These passages help me understand the Name through the character and covenant faithfulness God reveals in His saving work. A discussion of one word alone would leave that explanation incomplete.
When God called Moses from the burning bush, Moses asked what he should say if Israel asked for the Name of the God who sent him. God answered by revealing Himself as “I AM WHO I AM.” Then He joined that declaration to “the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'” Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD 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 this is My memorial to all generations.'”
“I AM WHO I AM” tells us that God does not derive His existence from anything else. No one created Him, and He is neither dependent nor developing. He exists by Himself and was before all things. But notice who is revealing this to Moses. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, coming to deliver Israel according to His promise. His self-existence does not make Him an abstract force without a relationship to His people.
I don’t want to miss how closely God’s greatness and His care for Israel belong together here. The LORD is above creation, yet He stoops to redeem His people and hears their groaning. This eternal, holy God remembers His covenant and acts on what He has promised. His actions show that His words are true. Knowing His Name rightly means believing the God who bears it.
Knowing the Name Through Covenant and Character
Genesis uses the LORD’s Name long before Moses, so how should we understand Exodus 6? The passage is not saying that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had never heard it. Israel was about to know the Name more deeply by experiencing God’s covenant faithfulness. He would judge Egypt and redeem His people from their captivity. Having brought them out and taken them as His own, He would lead them into the promised land.
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.”
Israel would learn what the LORD’s covenant Name meant as He kept His promises. He would overthrow Egypt’s idols and redeem His people by blood at Passover, then bring them through the sea. He would give them His law and dwell among them in the tabernacle. Knowing Him through those works goes much further than knowing how to pronounce His Name. The Name belongs to the God who acts, and it tells us about His character.
After Israel sinned with the golden calf, Moses pleaded for God’s presence and asked to see His glory. God answered by proclaiming His Name. What follows tells us who He is, and that helps me see why knowing His Name involves so much more than pronunciation.
Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty…”
The LORD revealed His mercy and justice together. He is gracious and patient, abounding in goodness and truth. He forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin, yet He does not clear the guilty. I cannot describe Him faithfully by keeping the part I prefer and setting the rest aside. Scripture presents Him as tender in mercy and perfect in holiness, and I need to receive all that He says about Himself.
Saying God’s Name correctly would mean little if I then described Him falsely. Reverence includes telling the truth about His character. We hallow His Name through faithful teaching and worship, and that same reverence should govern our everyday speech and conduct.
Jehovah, YHWH, LORD, and YAH
The Hebrew text preserves the consonants of God’s covenant Name, often written in English as YHWH. I use the received Hebrew Masoretic tradition as the proper Old Testament base for language work here at Unforsaken. English Bibles commonly print the Name as LORD in small caps. Jehovah is also a long-received English rendering, familiar through centuries of theology and study as well as hymns and preaching. That established use is why I use Jehovah.
Calling Him Jehovah does not mean I claim that this English form perfectly reproduces the ancient Hebrew pronunciation. Yahweh is a scholarly reconstruction used by many people, but I do not regard that reconstruction as superior to the received Hebrew textual tradition or the established English use of Jehovah. We should be honest about what we know and avoid claiming more than Scripture gives us. Honoring the God who revealed His Name shows reverence in a way that winning a pronunciation argument cannot.
Scripture also uses the shorter form YAH. Psalm 68:4 says, “Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Extol Him who rides on the clouds, By His name YAH, And rejoice before Him.” Many believers know that form through the word Hallelujah, which means “Praise YAH.” Whether we see LORD in an English Bible, YHWH in a study note, Jehovah in English teaching, or YAH in praise, these forms point to the same covenant Lord revealed in Scripture.
Some Old Testament passages join the LORD’s Name to a declaration of what He did or what He is like. We sometimes call these the compound Names of Jehovah. Each reveals something true about the one LORD in its particular setting. They do not name separate gods or give us secret codes and formulas that force Him to produce an outcome.
I understand these declarations better when I look at what happened around them. The setting explains what God did and why His people used that name, so it also helps us speak truthfully about Him.
In Genesis 22:14, Jehovah-Jireh means “The LORD Will Provide,” a name given after God provided the ram in Isaac’s place. Exodus 15:26 describes Jehovah-Rapha, “The LORD Who Heals,” as God taught Israel to listen and walk in His ways. After God gave victory over Amalek, Exodus 17:15 calls Him Jehovah-Nissi, “The LORD Is My Banner.” In Judges 6:24, fearful Gideon called an altar Jehovah-Shalom, “The LORD Is Peace,” after the LORD dealt graciously with him.
Jeremiah 23:6 promises the righteous Branch and calls Him Jehovah-Tsidkenu, “The LORD Our Righteousness.” Ezekiel 48:35 closes the vision of restored presence with Jehovah-Shammah, “The LORD Is There.” I need those settings to understand what these declarations tell us, rather than turn them into slogans. The LORD who provides and heals also gives victory and peace. He is our righteousness, and His presence is the hope of His people.
Calling on the LORD and Confessing Jesus
The prophets promised salvation to those who call on the Name of the LORD. Joel 2:32 says, “And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved.” Peter quoted that promise in Acts 2 while preaching about Jesus’ death and resurrection. He also proclaimed His exaltation and lordship. Paul quoted the same promise in Romans 10 to explain what it means to confess Jesus as Lord.
That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved… For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
This is not a move away from Jehovah toward another god. It is the revelation that the salvation promised in the Name of the LORD is received through Jesus Christ. We come to the Father through the Son by the Spirit. Jesus physically bore the punishment for our sins in His innocent body through real torture, the shedding of His blood, and death. He was buried and rose bodily. Whoever believes in Him is saved.
The New Testament continues to reveal the divine Name by showing us the fullness of God’s identity in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In John 17, Jesus says to the Father, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world.” He makes the Father perfectly known. In John 8:58 we hear Jesus say, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” His hearers’ reaction shows that they understood the weight of that claim.
Philippians 2 says that every knee will bow at the Name of Jesus and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Paul draws this language from Isaiah 45, where the LORD declares that every knee will bow to Him. I notice that the honor given to Jesus brings glory to His Father. The Son shares the divine honor due to the LORD without erasing the Father or being the same Person as the Father.
Confessing Jesus as Lord honors the eternal Son who is fully God and fully man. Through Him we know the Father and receive salvation, so this confession does not lower the divine Name. The worship and divine titles Jesus receives agree with the LORD passages He fulfills, and His lordship brings glory to His Father.
Jesus commands baptism “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” in Matthew 28:19. One Name belongs to three Persons, each revealed in Scripture as God. The Father and the Son are distinct from each other, and the Holy Spirit is distinct from both. They are the one God in three co-equal, co-eternal Persons.
When I study the divine Name, I need to keep that whole revelation in view. Dividing God into three gods would deny His oneness, while treating the Persons as one Person wearing different masks would erase their distinction. We must not make the Son a creature or reduce the Holy Spirit to an impersonal force either. The one LORD has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Bearing His Name With Reverence and Hope
God says, “I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another” in Isaiah 42:8. Malachi 1:11 looks forward to the nations honoring Him: “From the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles.” His Name belongs to Him, and believers honor it as we bless and trust Him. We pray according to His Name and live under His authority.
Psalm 103 begins, “Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!” Proverbs 18:10 describes the Name of the LORD as a strong tower where the righteous run for safety. The refuge is in the God who has made Himself known. I am called to trust Him, not to treat the syllables of His Name as though they had magical power.
The third commandment warns, “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain” (Exodus 20:7). That includes profanity, but it reaches beyond the words we usually recognize as cursing. We take His Name in vain when we carry or speak it irreverently, invoke it falsely, or attach it to something empty or hypocritical.
We misuse His Name when we swear falsely or claim that God said something He did not say. Using His authority to manipulate another person also treats His Name as empty. We can dishonor Him by worshiping with our mouths while our hearts are far away, and our conduct can profane His reputation before the nations. Ezekiel 36:20 says Israel did exactly that through their conduct and exile. Jesus teaches us to pray, “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name” (Matthew 6:9). To hallow His Name is to treat God as holy in every part of life.
Revelation shows us Jesus returning with names and titles that reveal His glory. His Name is called The Word of God, and His robe and thigh bear the words KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. Alongside those revealed titles, He has a Name that no one knows except Himself.
His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.
The Name known only to Jesus does not contradict what God has told us about Himself. It reminds me that knowing Him truly does not mean knowing everything about Him. He has made Himself known, but He is greater than all we can express in words. Even in eternity, we will never reach the end of His glory.
Revelation also promises that Christ will write His new Name on the overcomer. Revelation 22:4 says His servants will see His face and His Name will be on their foreheads. What draws me to that promise is the complete belonging it describes. God’s people will bear His Name without shame or hypocrisy, and with nothing to fear.
Until then, what God has revealed about His character should govern how we speak of Him. We must not attach His authority to lies or manipulation. Treating His Name flippantly or invoking it in careless vows also dishonors Him. We call on Him in true faith. Salvation does not depend on a special pronunciation or on our family background, and we cannot obtain it by keeping the law. Whoever confesses Jesus as Lord and believes that God raised Him from the dead will be saved.
Bearing His Name also calls for holy conduct. Everyone who names the Name of Christ must depart from iniquity, because people learn something about God from those who claim to belong to Him. Our worship has a future hope as well: His servants will see His face and belong to Him forever, loving and praising Him.
For further study, see The Name of God Jehovah, I AM WHO I AM, The Names of Jehovah, and The Trinity. The studies on The Word Logos and The Word of the LORD in the Old Testament also explain how the Son reveals the Father and why these passages must be handled carefully.
My Final Thoughts
God gave us His covenant Name so we could know Him. The self-existent LORD keeps His promises and saves His people, showing us His faithfulness and mercy without setting aside His holiness. His Name reveals who He is and the glory that belongs to Him, so I want to understand Him rather than turn His Name into a charm or an argument about pronunciation. That calls me to hallow His Name and come to Him through Jesus Christ. I want to live as someone who belongs to Him while I wait for the day His servants will see His face and bear His Name on their foreheads.