YHWH:
There are moments in Scripture where God does not explain Himself He reveals Himself.
Exodus 3 is one of those moments.
When Moses asked God for His name, he was not asking for vocabulary. He was asking for access. In the ancient world, a name meant identity, authority, and nearness. Moses wanted to know who was sending him not merely what to say.
God’s response was not a proper name.
It was a revelation of being.
“I AM THAT I AM.”
Exodus 3:14
This was not doctrine.
This was encounter.
God Does Not Have a Name He Has Being
In reality, God does not have a name in the way created things have names. Names are necessary for beings that are limited, definable, and distinct from other beings. God is none of these.
God is not one being among many.
He is Being itself.
All the names we use YHWH, Elohim, Adonai, El Shaddai, Father, Lord are not God’s essence. They are descriptions of His attributes, accommodations given to finite minds so that we may relate to the Infinite.
No name contains Him.
No title defines Him.
No word exhausts Him.
YHWH is not God’s label.
It is God revealing existence itself.
God was not saying, “Call Me this.”
He was saying, “I cannot be named because I am the source of all that is named.”
The Tetragrammaton: Revelation Without Reduction
The Tetragrammaton YHWH was never meant to be spoken casually, not because God is distant, but because the name refuses to be reduced.
It points beyond language.
Beyond grammar.
Beyond sound.
It communicates:
- Self-existence
- Uncaused life
- Eternal presence
- Reality without origin
God was not saying, “I exist.”
He was saying, “Existence exists because I am.”
And yet this is the holy tension this God who cannot be named chooses to be known.
The Burning Bush Was Not the Point
The fire was not the miracle.
The bush was not the revelation.
The moment God reveals His being, He reveals His heart:
“I have surely seen the affliction of My people… I have heard their cry… I know their sorrows.”
Exodus 3:7
The God who transcends naming ties His revelation to human suffering.
This is not abstraction.
This is intimacy.
God reveals Himself not as an idea to be studied, but as a presence engaged with people.
God’s Life Is Expressed Through His Image
From the beginning, humanity was created not merely to worship God, but to express Him.
“Let Us make man in Our image.”
Genesis 1:26
The image of God is not appearance it is participation. Humanity was designed to carry God’s life into the earth.
This is why Scripture treats the treatment of people as sacred.
You cannot dishonor God’s image and claim intimacy with God.
You cannot grow spiritually while violating what God inhabits.
To reduce people is to misrepresent God.
To love people is to reveal Him.
The Word Became Flesh
The ultimate revelation of the God who cannot be named was not fire it was flesh.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
John 1:14
Jesus Christ does not limit God He reveals Him.
What could not be contained in a name was expressed in a life.
Jesus shows us:
- What God looks like in compassion
- How God moves among people
- How divine life treats human weakness
The infinite became intimate not by reduction, but by revelation.
To Know the Love of Christ Which Passes Knowledge
Paul understood this mystery when he prayed:
“That you may know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.”
Ephesians 3:19
This love cannot be mastered intellectually because it is relational life, not conceptual truth. It is God sharing Himself not merely teaching about Himself.
To know this love is to experience:
- God with us
- God in us
- God expressed through us
Revelation Changes How We See People
If God is being itself, and humanity bears His image, then people are never obstacles—they are sacred ground.
This changes everything:
- How we speak
- How we lead
- How we correct
- How we disagree
- How we love
Spiritual maturity is not measured by how much language we use about God, but by how faithfully we honor His life in others.
Jesus made this unmistakably clear:
“Whatever you did to the least of these, you did to Me.”
Not symbolically.
Not metaphorically.
Personally.
Holy Ground Is Wherever God’s Life Is Honored
Moses was told to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground.
The ground was not holy because of location.
It was holy because God revealed Himself there.
Today, holy ground is wherever God’s life is recognized in humanity.
When we see God in people:
- We walk more carefully
- We speak more gently
- We love more deeply
Not out of fear, but out of revelation.
Conclusion: The God Beyond Names, Revealed in Love
God is not confined to names.
Names serve us not Him.
The One who is existence itself chose to dwell with humanity, reveal Himself through humanity, and redeem humanity through love.
To encounter YHWH is to encounter life.
To encounter life is to honor people.
To honor people is to know the love of Christ that passes knowledge.
This is not theology alone.
This is transformation.
And when this revelation comes, tears are not weakness.
They are evidence that the heart has touched eternity.