Majesty Of God's NamesНамуна

Maybe you’re curious about the high number of God’s names represented in Scripture. Maybe you’re wondering, Why does God have so many names in the first place? Why can’t we know Him simply as God?

One reason God gave us so many names to refer to Him is so that we can gain a better perspective on who He is. In other words, the reason we need so many names is that one name by itself doesn’t fully describe God’s majesty and power. One name alone can’t fully communicate all of who He is. 

You can see this principle at work in the way our culture responds to superstar athletes. When an individual rises above the rest and becomes truly great, we typically respond by giving him a nickname. That’s how a defensive tackle in the NFL named Charles Edward Greene became Mean Joe Greene. He was too good for just one name. That’s how Wayne Gretzky became The Great One in the National Hockey League. And that’s why you rarely hear about a basketball player named Julius Erving; you hear about Dr. J instead. 

We use multiple names to highlight the unique attributes of people we consider great. It’s appropriate, then, that God uses multiple names to communicate His many attributes and the majesty of His greatness to us. 

In over four decades of ministry and six decades of life, I’ve become increasingly convinced that God desires for us to know Him for all He truly is. As we understand and experience the many aspects of His goodness and power, our hearts are opened to worshiping Him.

God wants us to come face-to-face with the many layers of His significance and identity. His names reveal various facets of His character. In fact, throughout the Bible, when God wanted to reveal a new part of His character to His people, He often did so by revealing a new name.

That’s what happened with Moses during his encounter with God at the burning bush: 

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?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
Exodus 3:13-14

Moses knew he couldn’t take command of the Israelites and lead them out of Egypt based on his own name and his own authority. That’s why he needed to know God’s name. Moses needed to connect himself to a specific attribute of God in order to display the power attached to God’s name. 

God responded to Moses by revealing one of my favorite names in Scripture: “I AM WHO I AM” (v. 14). God told Moses all he needed to know about Himself for Moses to respond in obedience, and He did it by revealing His name.