CONCERNING CHRIST BEING JEHOVAH, THE TRIUNE GOD

If we would consider the Person of Christ we would see as an initial matter that He is the very Jehovah, the Triune God. This fact is revealed in Exodus chapter three. In Exodus 3 we are told that when god came to call Moses, He appeared to him in a burning bush as the angel of Jehovah (v. 2). The angel of Jehovah denotes the one sent by Jehovah; an angel is a “Sent One”. However, in Exodus 3 the angel of Jehovah was actually Jehovah God Himself. According to Exodus 3:3-4, when Moses turned to see the burning bush, it was Jehovah God who called to him out of the midst of the bush. Then God told Moses, "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (v. 6). The fact that God is the God of three generations indicates that He is triune in nature. In verse 13 Moses went on to ask God what His name is. God answered that His name is Jehovah (w. 14-15). The divine title Jehovah in the ancient Hebrew language literally means "to be," or "to exist." God's name is simply To Be. This means that everything will cease to be, but God will ever continue to be. God is the great To Be, and everything else is not.

Most English translations of Exodus 3:14 render this title "I AM THAT I AM." In this verse God told Moses that His name is "I AM THAT I AM." This name implies that He is the One who exists, the One who is, the One who remains, and the One who is everything we need.

In John 8 the Lord Jesus used the name I Am in reference to Himself. In verse 24 He told the Pharisees, "Unless you believe that I am, you shall die in your .sins." The Pharisees knew that the name I Am referred to Jehovah. This was the reason that they condemned the Lord Jesus, saying that He blasphemed God by considering Himself the same as Jehovah (John 10:33). Yes, Jesus is Jehovah. The name Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Joshua (Num. 13:16), which means "Jehovah the Savior," or "the salvation of Jehovah." Jesus is the One who is. Nothing is but Jesus. We must not think that we are something, for we are nothing. We are all nothing, but Jesus is. Jesus is everything. He is life (John 14:6), He is light (John 8:12), He is love 11 John 4:16), and He is grace (John 1:17). He is the real food (John 6:51), He is the real water (John 7:37-39), and He is even the door (John 10:9). Jesus is all-inclusive. He is the great I Am.

The divine title "To Be" implies that He is the self-existing and ever-existing One. The word self-existing refers to something which exists of or by itself without beginning. God is self-existing, having no beginning. The word ever-existing refers to something which exists forever, without ending. Jesus, who is Jehovah the Savior, is the very To Be. He exists by Himself without beginning, and He exists forever without ending.

Furthermore, this self-existing and ever-existing One is the Triune God. In Exodus 3:6 God told Moses that He is the God of Abraham the father, the God of Isaac the son, and the God of Jacob the grandson. The fact that He is the God of three generations, not of one, two, or four generations, implies that He is the Triune God. He is the unique God, yet He is triune. He is the Father in His relationship to Abraham the father; He is the Son in His relationship to Isaac the son; and He is the Spirit in His relationship to Jacob the grandson. Here we can see the Triune God applied to three generations; yet He is still one God.

This great “To Be”, this self-existing and ever-existing Jehovah, the Triune God, was the very One sent by God to call Moses. As the sent One He was the angel of Jehovah. He is both the Sender and the sent One. This same One was sent again in the New Testament to call us. In the Gospel of John, Jesus told us many times that the Father sent Him. He was the One sent by God. The sent one is simply the angel. In the New Testament the angel of Jehovah is Jesus, and Jesus is God Himself. He is the very Jehovah, the Triune God. He is the complete God. Colossians 2:9 says that the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily. Jesus is the very embodiment of God. He is nothing less than the complete God.

Paul says in Romans 9:5 that "Christ... is over all, God blessed forever." Our God is Jesus. Jesus, our Redeemer and our Savior, is our God. We should not think that Jesus and God are separate. No, our Jesus is our God. In his Epistles to Timothy and Titus, Paul uses the titles "our Savior God" (1 Tim. 2:3; Titus 1:3; 2:10; 3:4), "our Savior Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 1:10), and "Jesus Christ our Savior" (Titus 3:6). Furthermore, in Titus 2:13 he refers to "the great God and our Savior, Christ Jesus." Paul's use of these divine titles is definite and strong proof that Jesus is our Savior and our God.

A number of people who claim to be Christians do not believe and confess that Jesus is God. Many of these so-called Christians say that Jesus was a great man, and that because of this people worship Him as God. Surely we must reject this as heresy. Jesus is God! He is the self-existing and ever-existing God. He is the eternal God, and He is the complete God—the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. He is nothing less than the very God, the God who is one yet three—triune. Hallelujah! We all must declare that our God is Jesus.