I don’t remember who I was listening to recently, but they used the passage of Moses asking the Lord to show him his glory. As I began reading and meditating on it, it began to sink in that these verses are the Almighty himself declaring His own character. When I started digging into this passage and the characteristics that it identifies I soon found myself down a rabbit hole scouring the scriptures for any other references to where the God identified who He was and then on to any references to who He is and what He is like, I will acknowledge here and now that I utilized and AI bot to assist in the research. I am still am and probably will never fully digest the unbelievable AWESOMENESS of our multifaceted powerful yet tender and compassionate Father in Heaven. I hope you will join as we embark on this journey to “Know Him.”
What Does He Say about Himself
‘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?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘ I AM has sent me to you.’ ” ‘ Exodus 3:13-14
During his interaction with Moses at the burning bush God told Moses exactly who he was when He said ““I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘ I AM has sent me to you.’” So what does it mean to say that He is “I am?” In the most literal translation. הָיָה – hayah mean: “to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen.” However, when God proclaims that He is “I AM”, He is self-designating himself as an eternal, self-existent being. He is declaring that He is not a created being and that He exists outside of time and space as we understand them. That simple, yet mind blowing mystery is enough to stop and just sit in awe. The pure magnitude of grasping even just the tiniest of understanding of this is overwhelming. But, let’s try to move on and dig a little deeper.
Let’s continue where I first started. I was listening to a sermon recently about how God passed by Moses on Mt. Sinai and as He passed by He declared who He was. He revealed His character to Moses and now to us in through His Word –
‘And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord , the Lord , the compassionate and gracious . God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” ‘ Exodus 34:6-7
When we consider the deeper meaning by looking at the original language we get a whole other level of understanding of who he is.
- The Lord
- יְהוָֹה – Yhvh
- This is the proper name for God. This name is so revered by the Hebrew people and now the Jews of today that they will not even attempt to try to pronounce it.
- Also referred to as the “Covenant Name” of God.
- The Lord God
- אֵל – el
- If “Yhvh” is the proper name for God, then “el” is the expression of Him as “The Almighty” and “The One True God.”
- This name emphasizes His inherent power, strength, and transcendence.
- It is also compounded to reveal even more specific character traits.
Having simply and quickly clarified that He is the one and only True God with all power, strength and above all, He immediately turns His attention to what we would call His “softer side.”
- Compassionate
- רַחוּם – rachum
- For all the times that He is accused of causing pain and misery, I find it amazing that the first thing that He says about Himself is that He is compassionate and EAGER to relieve those very things.
- Rachum describes the stirring of tender mercy within God’s own being and the warmth of parental compassion.
- Every occurrence throughout the Hebrew scriptures are describing this trait of God Himself. Demonstrating his love, tender mercy and grace from start to finish.
- Gracious
- חַנּוּן / channun
- If His compassion did not adequately demonstrate his deep desire for concrete intimate relationship with His people, His Graciousness should.
- Chanun expresses His generous, compassionate favor and mercy toward the needy and undeserving. It always functions within concrete relationships, first between the Lord and His people, and then among His people toward one another.
- Slow to Anger
- אָרֵךְ / arek / אַף / aph
- He is patient and longsuffering withholding His wrath and punishment.
- Divine patience is not weakness but restrained power, holding of His judgment so mercy may triumph when His people choose repentance.
- Abounding
- רַב / rab
- Imagine the highest quality and greatest quantity of absolutely anything. Now take that and multiply it by itself to the millionth degree. That is not even a grain of sand when we consider how God abounds.
- Our brains are incapable of comprehending His “abounding.”
- What does He say He abounds in? “Love and Faithfulness”
- Love
- חֵסֵד / checed
- Of all of God’s characteristics identified throughout the Hebrew Scriptures checed is the one character trait that seems to stand above all others. When you consider the true depth of its meaning it is easy to see why.
- Lovingkindness, mercy, steadfast love, loyalty, faithfulness, goodness, favour.
- Faithfulness
- אֶמֶת/ emeth
- Some versions translate this word as “Truth.” Which when we consider it makes complete sense when you consider that Jesus likewise declared, “I am the Truth.”
- Yet again there is so much more to this word.
- It is used for the very character of God, the content of His revelation.
- Truth, faithfulness, reliability, firmness, stability, certainty, trustworthiness, and integrity.
- Forgives
- נָשָׂא / nasa or nasah
- Where o’ where would we be if it were not for this one.
- Interesting “forgive” is just one of the many words that this word can mean. It is also used for literally lifting and or bearing an object.
- If we consider that idea, then His forgiveness is Him picking up our sin and bearing them on our behalf. (Is that not EXACTLY what Jesus did on the cross?)
While this passage is amazingly powerful it is not the end of The Almighty declaring His character, Below are a few other characteristics and the corresponding verse where He declares them.
- Righteous
- “Declare and present your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this long ago? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. Isaiah 45:21
- צַדִיק – tsaddiq
- When we consider that we know that “God is good” it is obvious that His actions will align with the moral, judicial, and covenantal standards of what is right. It speaks of right right conduct toward people, joining inner integrity with outward justice.
- Savior
- יָשַׁע – yasha
- Yes, Jesus, Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ), a shortened form of Yehoshua (יְהוֹשֻׁעַ) literally means “Yahweh is salvation” or “The Lord saves.” However the Almighty was in the “Savior” business long before Jesus came as a man.
- “Yasha” which means to save, deliver, rescue, or bring to safety appears about two hundred times across the Hebrew Scriptures, testifying to the Lord’s repeated action of rescuing, delivering, or bringing salvation to His people.
- Holy
- ‘For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. Leviticus 11:44
- קָדוֹשׁ – qadosh:
- Holy is the very essence of God. He above all other things is separate and different.
- His holiness radiates moral perfection and utter set-apartness, demanding reverence from all creation.
- Lord who Sanctifies
- So you shall keep My statutes and practice them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you. Leviticus 20:8
- קָדַשׁ – qadash
- As the one and only that is truly holy, it makes complete sense that it is He that can and does sanctify, set apart and makes us holy, both unto His service as well as in character. It is our responsibility to walk in that sanctification and holiness.
As I sit here having just completed this section and reviewed it and reviewed it and considered each of these traits and the unbelievably magnificent way that they all work together, to be honest, I am pretty much WRECKED! The thing is, that as I said in the beginning, this is not even a single grain of sand in us coming to truly knowing ABOUT Him, much less the knowing that I deeply desire, the experiential, relational, intimate knowing. The knowing that changes how I see and interact with my world because I begin to see and experience it from His perspective. I cannot promise that the above or what follows will get us there. What I do believe is that the more that we know ABOUT Him, the more we will hunger and thirst to KNOW Him. If this is your heart’s cry, then stay with me as we go deeper into the “More” of who our God is!