YHWH - The Self-Existent One
Names of God Study • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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13 Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
Hebrew Structure:
אֶהְיֶה אֶשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה (Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh) = "I AM WHO I AM"
YHWH (יְהוָה) is rooted in hayah and points to self-existence and causative being.
Grammatical Connection:
Ehyeh = 1st person imperfect of hayah
The Old Testament Hebrew-English Dictionary 2030. הָָיה
2030. הָָיה hāyāh
verb
to happen, to be, to become
Hayah = to be
Therefore Ehyeh = "I am (continuously imperfect form) / I will be"
YHWH = Likely a 3rd person imperfect form or causative: "He is / He causes to be"
Theological Implication:
God’s name is a verb, not a noun.
His identity is tied to existence itself, and He is both being and the source of all being.
Stop for Questions
Here’s the cool thing… The word hayah is not just the root of “to be” and YHWH… it is the very center of the command… “LET THERE BE”
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
Notice the words for “let there be” and “and there was”…
Explain how Hebrew words change tense/direction/show possession/etc
Hebrew Structure:
יְהִי אוֹר (yehi or) = "Let there be light"
וַיְהִי אוֹר (vayehi or) = "And there was light"
Linguistic Insight:
Yehi is the 3rd person masculine singular jussive of the verb הָיָה (hayah) – to be.
Hayah is also the root behind God's revealed name (YHWH).
Theological Implication:
God creates not by physical effort, but by speaking reality into being.
The Word of God is not merely informative—it is formative.
Stop for Questions
So when God tells Moses in Exodus 3, tell them “I AM THAT I AM” He is not just giving a name. He is appealing to the very word He used when He created the universe…
In other words, “Remember the one who used this word, and it was?”
Not only did he use the word, but he empowered and sustained the word. So it’s not the word that holds the power, but the one who speaks it and things happen.
If anyone else had spoken those words, it wouldn’t have done anything, but when the one whose very makeup is the word speaks the word, his transforming and sustaining power go forth and cause the word to do it’s job…
11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
So we now have a picture of God who uses the word of being, which is also the title by which He calls Himself, the being one, the one who exists, the one who is existence….
And He says when I send out that word, it does what I desire…
I just imagine God, the creative God who designed this whole thing, still speaking that word every time a baby is formed… “Let it be…” “Hayah” causing seeds to sprout and grow roots, “hayah” causing every creative process that sustains life to continue day after day, “Hayah”
Because He is the sustaining power behind the word that never stopped… He continuously is and his word continuously accomplishes what He desires…
Hayah.
Stop for Questions
Here’s another interesing thing about the tetragrammaton: it can be shortened to “Yah” or “Yahu”
Often, it is shortened when combined with or inserted into a descriptive phrase (remember how Hebrew constructs work)
The name Elijah is a perfect example of this
Elijah… Notice the last two consonants: “Yah” short for YHWH.. because Elijah’s name means YHWH is my God or My God is YHWH… “EL = God YH=YHWH)
Why is this important? Because if you recognize this, it opens up several instances in Scripture…
Name
Hebrew
Meaning
Elijah
אֵלִיָּהוּ (Eliyahu)
“My God is YHWH”
Isaiah
יְשַׁעְיָהוּ (Yeshayahu)
“YHWH is salvation”
Jeremiah
יִרְמְיָהוּ (Yirmeyahu)
“YHWH will exalt”
Zechariah
זְכַרְיָה (Zekaryah)
“YHWH remembers”
Obadiah
עֹבַדְיָה (Obadyah)
“Servant of YHWH”
Hezekiah
חִזְקִיָּהוּ (Chizqiyahu)
“YHWH strengthens”
Every name ending in “-iah” or “-yahu” is a tribute to YHWH, often tied to hope, memory, or strength.
5 “No longer shall your name be called Abram,
But your name shall be Abraham;
For I will make you the father of a multitude of nations.
15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
Here’s abraham’s name after God changed it. Notice what he inserted… Yah…
So at face value he changed his name from exalted father to father of nations, but how did he do that?
He put his own name in the midst of Abraham’s name…. Which is the same word, Hayah…
Hayah… Yah… Abram… Abra(yah)m…
He did the same for Sarah…
Here’s Sarai … before God’s name change…
Here she is after… Notice the difference… The same Yah was added to her name!
So to make them fertile… so their bodies could create, God put his own name in them, because all creation comes from Him…
He put his word in them; His name in them; and they conceived…
Because His word is is name and his word will not return to him without accomplishing that which He desires!
Stop for Questions
So let’s tie all this together in the ultimate revelation of this:
35 The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.
Then John says…
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
So when the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, it wasn’t a fleshly union… God didn’t put a seed in her… The seed was already there…
Remember what he told the woman in the beginning?
YOUR SEED….
That seed had been carried generation after generation and when the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, the difference was the WORD…
The WORD became flesh…
What word?
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM.”
Jesus takes on the same name God pronounced for Himself in Exodus 3… I AM!
So what was the word? It’s the same word God used to create the world…
The same word God used for His own name…
The same word He put in Abraham and Sarah to make them fertile again…
The same word that Isaiah says will accomplish all that He desires…
The same word John says was with God and WAS God…
The same word that all creation came into being through…
The same word that Colossians says…
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
In Greek they called Him LOGOS, the concept of which was said to be the creative force that held all creation together…
But in Hebrew that word is HAYAH… Let there be… and his name is YHWH… I am that I am…
So God didn’t just impregnate Mary, He put his word in her… The word who they called Jesus…
Stop for Questions
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