Wednesday Wonderisms #10
On God's Name & Immutability
Let’s be honest: people can be flakes.
They let us down, change their opinion, stab us in the back. Even when their intentions are good, they can straight-up fail: regardless of how hard they try, humans often fall short in relational expectations. Same goes for me. I can be so inconsistent when left to my own flawed rhythms. It made me think the other day:
The consistency of God really should draw out deep and ardent worship from the wells of humanity.
Even God’s names reflect this truth. Stick around, because this is cool.
When God reveals Himself to Moses in Exodus chapter 3, Moses asks Him what to say when the people ask the name of the god who sent him. “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM’ (ehyeh asher ehyeh in Hebrew) and He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, “I AM (ehyeh) has sent me to you” ’ ” (Exodus 3:14).
Grammatically that’s a bit… awkward.
But in typically genius form, God has a solution for Moses: saying the divine Name in the third person, Yahweh. From a great video on this moment:
But it will sound kind of strange for Moses to say to the Israelites, “‘I will be’ has sent me to you.” Only God can say “I will be.” So in the next sentence, God tells Moses the version he should say aloud. “Yahweh the God of our ancestors, he has sent me to you.”
Now that word Yahweh is the ancient Hebrew form of the verb “he will be.” And this is the personal name of the God of Israel. It appears over 6,500 times in the Old Testament.1
God’s self-existence is implied here as well as other places throughout Scripture (Colossians 1:16-17; John 5:26; Psalm 90:2; Revelation 4:11; Isaiah 46:9). This is often called the “aseity” of God: God is Self-sustaining. He needs no source for His existence. He IS existence. He will be. He is right now. And He never changes.
But there’s actually more.
According to one scholar regarding the Hebrew being-verb ehyeh, “to the Hebrew ‘to be’ does not just mean to exist . . ., but to be active, to express oneself in active being.”2
This is a God Who is present, experiential; not some ethereal floating concept in the sky. Dr. Michael LeFebvre puts it this way:
In the name Yahweh, God made himself known as a present being—present with and for his people. And wherever God’s presence is invoked, that announcement is pregnant with the certainty of his attention, his care, his power, and his grace. Perhaps a helpful paraphrase of God’s words at the burning bush would be, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘I Am Present has sent me to you.’ ”3
In unwrapping His identity and character to Moses, God finds it imperative to let His people know that He is there. He sees. He feels. He knows. And He always will.
The Book of Daniel has a theme that runs through several of its movements; a singular motif about the sovereignty of Yahweh and the eternality of His coming reign:
“the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed…it will itself endure forever.” (Daniel 2:44)
“His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom And His dominion is from generation to generation.” (Daniel 4:3)
“His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation.” (Daniel 4:34)
“For He is the living God and enduring forever, And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed, And His dominion will be forever.” (Daniel 6:26)
“His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:14)
“His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.” (Daniel 7:27)
Not only is the Kingdom coming, but it cannot be stopped. It cannot be contained. It cannot be altered. Through the ages, God Himself declares His immutable, unchanging nature4 and promises us His Presence through the Spirit of Jesus.5
Faithful. Reliable. Powerful. Dependable. Who wouldn’t love a Friend like that?
We tend to see what we’re looking for, but ignore what is there. In the character of God, we have assurance to find the truth we’re seeking and be able to put our full confidence and trust that He’ll always be present — it’s His nature. It’s even in His Name. Ralph Waldo Emerson chimed:
Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.6
How infinitely more true is this of our Father?
When we step out and test to see if He is as He says, we’ll find a sturdy foothold on the journey of life. He is there. He sees. He feels. He knows. And He always will.
The LORD is consistent and faithful to us because He cannot be unfaithful to us.
Have you thought of the incredible implications of God’s unchanging nature before? How can you trust Him in even greater ways? In what ways do you recognize Him with you, in the middle of loss or victory, joys and pains? My prayer is that the wonder of God’s self-existent, consistent goodness would elicit more passionate worship out of your life today than ever before.
I leave you with three things to help you meditate and reflect on God’s consistent, faithful Presence and everlasting Kingdom today:
A few quotes from the Early Church Fathers;
A worship song on the greatness and faithfulness of God;
A passage on Christ’s eternal reign from the book of Revelation.
EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
IRANAEUS: “. . . to be without beginning and without end, to be truly and always the same, and to remain without change, belongs to God alone, who is Lord of all.” (Against Heresies, 2, 34, 2; in JUR-1, 89)
ORIGEN: “For, continuing unchangeable in His essence, He condescends to human affairs by the economy of His providence. We show, accordingly, that the holy Scriptures represent God as unchangeable, both by such words as ‘You are the same, ‘and ‘I change not’; . . .” (Contra Celsus, 1, 21 and 4, 14; ANF, vol. 4)
ARISTEDES OF ATHENS: “. . . God, who is incorruptible and unchangeable and invisible, but who sees all things and changes them and alters them as He wills.” (Apology, 4; in JUR-1, 49)
HIPPOLYTUS OF ROME: “…finally earthly things (shall) end, and heavenly things begin; that the indissoluble and everlasting kingdom of the saints may be brought to view, and the heavenly King manifested to all, no longer in figure, like one seen in vision, or revealed in a pillar of cloud upon the top of a mountain, but amid the powers and armies of angels, as God incarnate and man, Son of God and Son of man--coming from heaven as the world's Judge.” (Fragments on Daniel, Chap. VII.17.)
SONG
SCRIPTURE
5… Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood— 6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
— Revelation 1:5-8
[Wednesday Wonderisms is a short devotional reflection I’ll be sharing each midweek morning. Whether it’s sparked by a Scripture, a conversation with a friend, personal musings while raising my three kids or thoughts on the state of the Church, the goal is to encourage you to become an even more ardent worshiper of King Jesus. Hit the link below to share it with a friend.]
YHWH / LORD. (n.d.). [Video]. BibleProject. https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/yhwh-lord/
Sigmund Mowinckel, “The Name of the God of Moses,” HUCA 32 (1961), 127.
LeFebvre, M. (2023, March 8). “I am who I am”? The meaning of God’s name in Exodus | Biblical mind. The Center for Hebraic Thought. Retrieved October 8, 2024, from https://hebraicthought.org/meaning-of-gods-name-i-am-exodus/
See Malachi 3:6.
See Matthew 28:20.
Emerson, R. W. (1983). Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essays and Lectures (LOA #15): Nature; Addresses, and Lectures / Essays: First and Second Series / Representative Men / English Traits / The Conduct of Life. Library of America. p. 365.
A well done reminder—thanks.