The Personal Name of God

It was the advent of idolatry that caused an impersonal name for God to arise, which is “God.” I.e., if their are multiple “gods” then “god” is what we will call one of them by way of a job description. It’s like Joe the Baker being called “the Baker.” “Joe” is who he is, but “baker” is what he does. It is to the children of Israel that the true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob gave his personal, revelatory name. He was on a “first name basis” with them, as it were.

Exod 3:13-15
13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
15 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 for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
(KJV)

First it had been “I am the God of Abraham.” And by so saying, the Lord said that He continued to be the God of Abraham, even beyond Abraham’s grave, for He had not said “I was the God of Abraham.” (Matt 22:31-32).
Then it had been “I am the God of Abraham and of Isaac.” And then it had been “I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.”
Now it was “I am the ‘I am’ God.” He is the God of those who have Abraham’s faith in Himself who is eternal.

This personal Name is so sacred that Jewish people to this day try not to pronounce it out loud if they can avoid it. In Hebrew, the word is written in four consonants (the original vowels have been lost in time.) Transliterated into English, this Hebrew name reads “YHWH.” It essentially means He-Who-Is. The “Is” is understood to mean the past, the present, and the future. Or He-Who-Was-And-Is-and-Ever-Shall-Be.” He is the “eternally self-existent one.” If “God” is his “job description” (so to speak), then eternal existence is who he is. He is in fact “is-ness” itself, “the upholding of all things by the word of his power.” (Heb. 1:3)

In the German language, the letter “Y” and “J” are interchangeable, as are “V” and “W”. The name “Jung” is actually pronounced “Yung, ” and the name “Wagner” is actually pronounced “Vagner.” So consequently, when German publications of Hebrew studies began to be read by Englishmen in the 19th century, the “Y” and “W” of YHWH sometimes became “J” and “V.” When vowels were added to the consonants, the attempted pronunciation was either “Jehovah” or “Yahweh.” The translators of the King James Bible apparently were more in tune with the spirit of the Jewish people. Whenever they encountered YHWH in their translating, they translated it as LORD. This is why, in many Bibles, the word “Lord” is sometimes all in capitals, and sometimes not.

But the significance of all this is in another name.

Matt 1:21
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
(KJV)

“Jesus” is the Greek form of the Hebrew name “Joshua.” The name Joshua means “Jehovah-savior” or “the self-existent-one is savior”