This writer is:
I AM a Mother.
I AM a wife.
I AM a Christian.
That is three of the things I AM. Yet I AM only ONE person who has many facts and facets inside that One Person, as do you.
God first revealed Himself to Moses when he was tending his father-in-law’s sheep on Mt. Horeb/Sinai. It has been disputed by some over the centuries whether there are two mountains: Horeb and Sinai or Only One Mountain called different names by different ancients.
Or one mountain was on the sunny side and the other half of the mountain was on the other side of the One mountain? This writer believes BOTH names are the SAME MOUNTAIN however they were situated:
“Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian (Gulf of Aqaba), and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, ‘I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.’
When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ And Moses said, ‘Here I AM.’ ‘Do not come any closer,” God said. ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’
Then he said, ‘I AM the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
The Lord said, ‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.’
But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’
And God said, ‘I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.’
Moses said to God, ‘Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name? Then what shall I tell them?’
God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.’
God also said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites, The Lord, the 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, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.’”Exodus 3: 1-15
God first identifies Himself as “אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה, pronounced Ehyeh asher ehyeh” meaning: “I AM THAT I AM.” For this writer one meaning is: GOD IS UNCONDITIONALLY TOTAL AND EVER EXISTENCE/EXISTENT.
Most orthodox Jews now are not even allowed to mention the holy Name of God given to Moses. They usually just write G-D. Biblical Christians pronounce God’s Name as “Yahweh” or write its abbreviated form “YHWH”. The four letters of the tetragrammaton, YHWH, are found 6,828 times in the Masoretic Hebrew Old Testament.
CLICK HERE for article on Tetragrammaton—YHWH
Seems God really wanted to have His Name mentioned, if one believes God inspired the Bible. It was men’s “oral traditions,” the Mishnah (c. 217 AD) and not the Bible, that decided that Name, that theonym, was ineffable.
There are many names for God in the Old Testament. Each of them describes the One God in a different facet of His ONENESS:
Yahweh (Lord, Jehovah); Jehovah Jireh (The Lord Will Provide); Jehovah Rapha (The Lord Who Heals You); Jehovah Tsidkenu (The Lord Our Righteousness); Jehovah Nissi (The Lord Is My Banner); Jehovah Raah (The Lord Is My Shepherd); Jehovah Shalom (The Lord Is Peace); Adonai (Lord, Master); El Shaddai (Lord God Almighty); El Olam (The Everlasting God)—to list a few of the ONE GOD’S ONENESS, of the MANY IN ONE.
In the New Testament Jesus the Christ is a Nazarene, is One Man with Multiple Names describing His BEING:
Emmanuel; Christ; Lord; Master; Logos (the Word); Son of God; Son of man; Son of David; Lamb of God; New Adam / Second Adam; King of the Jews; Rabboni and Rabbi; The Alpha and Omega; The Morning Star—to list a few.
It is most interesting and profound what JESUS SAYS ABOUT WHO HE IS. John, an Apostle of Jesus, who called Jesus “the LOGOS/the WORD” (John 1;1) chose seven times in his Gospel to tell us what Jesus said about Himself. John begins all of those verbatim words of Jesus with “I AM.” When Jesus said “I AM,” John knew Jesus was pinning Himself to Yahweh, the “I AM THAT I AM” Who revealed himself to Moses:
“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I AM!” At this, they (the Pharisees) picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.” John 8:58,59
The Pharisees with whom Jesus was talking knew, also, what Jesus was claiming and they were going to stone Him to death for blasphemy. In John’s Gospel, he recounts Jesus saying many times He was super-natural, was elemental/essential to life itself, was what only God IS:
“And Jesus said to them, ‘I AM (ἐγώ εἰμι in Greek; ego eimi in Latin) THE BREAD OF LIFE. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.’” John 6:35
“Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 8:12
“I AM THE DOOR. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” John 10:9
“I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” John 10:11
“Jesus said to her, ‘I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?’”John 11:25, 26
“I AM THE VINE, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
“Jesus said to him, ‘I AM THE WAY, THE TRIUTH AND THE LIFE. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” John 14:6
This writer had struggled with the Trinity concept—Father, Son, Holy Spirit—for a long time. One day I said, “Sandra, you yourself are many people in one person.” I had intellectual peace from then on.
Irony—any time in any language when any person says, “I AM going home now/I AM going to see a movie/I AM happy”…he/she IS FORCED TO SPEAK THE NAME OF THEIR CREATOR GOD—THE GREAT I AM, THE MANY IIN ONE.— Sandra Sweeny Silver