From: Bill Ross (wross@farmerstel.com)
Date: Fri Dec 24 1999 - 12:58:56 EST
<Steven>
What is clear here is that the words hO WN ("the one who is") are the key
words here. It is the phrase hO WN which is repeated and which stand for
the name of Yahweh, and not the words EGW EIMI. This is absolutely clear in
the LXX:
<Bill>
In English, when we want to know someone's appellation, we say "what is your
name" and receive an answer like "Fred." But in the Hebrew mindset, one's
name is indicative of your character asking one's "name" can result in a
laundry list of characteristics, as in Ex 33:19.
The significance of God's self-revelation to Moses in Exodus 3 is not that
He supplied his Hebrew name, so we would know what to embroider on His
T-Shirt, but rather it was *descriptive* of Him. In amazing brevity He
revealed that His the "One that Is, the One the Was, and the One Who Will
Be."
When Jesus said "I AM," although He was not using the Septuagint phrase, the
Name that is still unspoken by Jews except in prayer, He did wonderfully and
poetically declare that He "IS" in a timeless sense.
Do these verses declare the same God even though the appellation is longer?
Revelations 1:8 EGW EIMI TO ALFA KAI TO W LEGEI KURIOS O QEOS ***O WN KAI O
HN KAI O ERCOMENOS*** O PANTOKRATWR
Revelations 4:8 KAI TA TESSARA ZWA EN KAQ EN AUTWN ECWN ANA PTERUGAS EX
KUKLOQEN KAI ESWQEN GEMOUSIN OFQALMWN KAI ANAPAUSIN OUK ECOUSIN HMERAS KAI
NUKTOS LEGONTES AGIOS AGIOS AGIOS KURIOS O QEOS O PANTOKRATWR ****O HN KAI O
WN KAI O ERCOMENOS****
Revelations 4:9 KAI OTAN DWSOUSIN TA ZWA DOXAN KAI TIMHN KAI EUCARISTIAN TW
KAQHMENW EPI TW QRONW ****TW ZWNTI EIS TOUS AIWNAS TWN AIWNWN****
Revelations 4:10 PESOUNTAI OI EIKOSI TESSARES PRESBUTEROI ENWPION TOU
KAQHMENOU EPI TOU QRONOU KAI PROSKUNHSOUSIN ***TW ZWNTI EIS TOUS AIWNAS TWN
AIWNWN**** KAI BALOUSIN TOUS STEFANOUS AUTWN ENWPION TOU QRONOU LEGONTES
Revelations 4:11 AXIOS EI O KURIOS KAI O QEOS HMWN LABEIN THN DOXAN KAI THN
TIMHN KAI THN DUNAMIN OTI SU EKTISAS TA PANTA KAI DIA TO QELHMA SOU HSAN KAI
EKTISQHSAN
The point being, Jesus didn't merely denote that He "was" in Abraham's time
(by saying "I already was"), and hence (as the Jews were comprehending it)
"really, really, really old" but rather that He was timeless, eternal and
divine.
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