When did God identify Himself by His name?
The true living God self-disclosed and identified Himself to Moses and the entire humankind in Exodus 3. He revealed who He is, His identity, His nature and deity. This is when God was calling Moses to send him to pharaoh that He may deliver His (God) people out of the hand of the Egyptians.
Ex 3:10: Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
One of the fears Moses had was when the people of Israel ask the name of the God who has send him, what he will say to them.
Ex 3:13: And Moses said to God, Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you; and they shall say to me, what is his name? What shall I say unto them?
Realize that Moses knew who this God was but his problem was identifying Him by His name when asked, since He (God) had not identified and revealed His name before to mankind. The fore-fathers knew not His name. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, all knew who He was, God, but not His name.
God knew that the people of Israel will not ask Moses who He is but He knew what Moses was asking for. Read the story further and you will find that they did not ask Moses the name of the God.
Why then did Moses ask God His name when He knew who He was? Because Moses knew the importance of a name and why know the name God.
God self-discloses and revels His identity
God identified Himself, reveled Himself, His nature, His deity and who He is to mankind through Moses. Two names He gave us;
Ex 3:14: And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.
- I AM THAT I AM
- I AM
NB. Different bible versions translation of ‘I AM THAT I AM’ is different but they all talk of one thing: ‘I AM’.
He went further and identified Himself with our fore-fathers.
Ex 3:15: And God said moreover to Moses, Thus shall you 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 for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations.
Realize that God himself said, ‘this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations’. Yesterday, today, tomorrow and all eternity, that remains to be His name: a name which does not change, and all generations must know Him by that name.
Which name to call God by?
God gave two names, ‘I AM THAT I AM’ and ‘I AM’. Which name then should we call Him by?
In the first name, God is denoting what He is by Himself while the second name is His name which He gave us to be using. He told Moses, ‘Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you’.
‘I AM’ is the personal specific name of the true living God which we must be using not God.
The difference in identifying the true God in the word ‘God’ comes in the writing of the word but not in the pronunciation. In writing, the true living God is denoted with a ‘capital G’ thus ‘God’ while the other gods are written with a ‘small g’ thus ‘god’. That’s why the bible uses God with a capital G. But in the pronunciation, they all sound the same, with no difference, reason why I am telling all Christians to call the true living God by His name ‘I AM’.
There are so many names which people have given God but those all are not His names but titles. Many people talk or pray to Him by using titles not His name. Titles may not be referring specifically to Him but His name refers specifically to Him.
NB: in this site, I will be denoting the name of the true living God as ‘God’ with a ‘capital G’.
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