A DANGEROUSLY POWERFUL NAME

A DANGEROUSLY POWERFUL NAME
As believers, we ought to be developing that same kind of faith in the Name of Jesus. But before we can do that, we must understand what that Name really means. We must begin to see that it truly is the Name above all names.
Jesus’ Name is so powerful and exalted, there’s only one other name that even comes close to it. It’s the first great name ever made known to man—the holy, unspeakable Name of the Father God Himself. That is the awesome Name God revealed to Moses when He spoke to him from the burning bush and told him to deliver the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt. When Moses asked what he should say when the Israelites asked the name of the God who had sent him, God answered: “I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name forever…” (Exodus 3:14-15).
 
To our modern ears, the phrase I AM THAT I AM doesn’t mean much. We just think, I am what? But to a Hebrew it says, I am impossibly deep. I am everything. I am unsearchable. I have no beginning and no end. I am all in all. In Hebrew, I AM THAT I AM communicates something so strong that it makes your hair stand straight up. Moses would have been awestruck by that Name alone.
 
But God didn’t stop there. He went on to introduce Himself to Moses as “the LORD God of your fathers….” Notice the word LORD there is printed in all capital letters. That’s because it represents the Name of God referred to by Hebrew scholars as the Tetragrammaton.
 
A four-character Hebrew name used 6,000 times throughout the Old Testament, the Tetragrammaton is the Father’s own, personal Name. That Name embodies all that God is. It carries all His power and glory. It’s so awesome and holy that anyone who uses it in vain will die.
 
That’s why, in the Old Testament, the High Priest spoke that Name only once a year when he entered the Holy of Holies after ceremonial cleansing and blood sacrifices had been made. The Jews eventually decided God’s personal Name was so dangerous they shouldn’t say it at all. Instead, they substituted the name Adoni. Some people won’t even say that. They simply say “HaShem,” which means “The Name.”