In some ways, what God says when He reveals Himself in Exodus (particularly at the burning bush) is the key to understanding who God really is. Through cross-referencing, we can see that Jesus is divine.
For example, at the incident of the burning bush (Exodus 3 and 4), we have the great revelation of the unalterable, immutable, unchangeable name of God—the I AM WHO I AM. That word/name in Hebrew, Yahweh (Jehovah), was not used by the Jews. They were so fearful that they might take His name in vain and violate the commandment of God.
Would that Americans today, both Jews and Gentiles, were one-hundredth as concerned about taking the name of God in vain. His name is bandied about in vain and in blasphemy all of the time now, not only in motion pictures but on television as well. In that, indeed, is a great tragedy.
And so, not wanting to take the name of Jehovah, or Yahweh, in vain, they used the name for Lord, which was Adonai. They constantly used that word instead of Yahweh or Jehovah.
The Septuagint translation of the Bible was the first translation ever made of the Bible. It was completed by about 150 BC and was the Old Testament translated from Hebrew into the Greek language. The word Septuagint comes from the word for seventy, because it was supposedly translated by seventy scholars in Alexandria, Egypt. That is probably partially mythological but perhaps has some truth to it.
It is valuable in a number of ways because it sets the Old Testament in stone so that no one can say anything was added to the Hebrew Old Testament after the time of Christ, because it had already been translated and circulated in the Septuagint. It was, for the most part, the Septuagint that was being used and quoted by the Lord and the apostles in the New Testament. And in the Septuagint, when they come to the word Yahweh / Jehovah, they regularly translated it by the word for Lord, which in Greek is Kurios. Again, it is Adonai in Hebrew, and Lord in English.
Now the name for Jehovah is never used of any creature. He is the uncreated One, and this word is never applied to any human being. But the word kurios is sometimes applied to men. For example, it can mean “master” or “lord.” But there are hundreds of times when it is used, of course, for God Himself and also refers to Jehovah or the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in the New Testament this word is used to constantly refer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. Now there are some very interesting texts, and you have read all of them, I’m sure, in the New Testament and perhaps also in the Old. And you have probably walked over them like diamonds in your backyard and never seen just how significant that they are. They are called the Jehovah/Jesus texts, and I think that you ought to be familiar with them. They are texts that apply the Old Testament name of Jehovah to the Lord Jesus Christ; I think you will want to note these.
The first one is found in Matthew 3:1–3: “In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.” ’ ”
Now we all know that John the Baptist was the forerunner of Christ, the one who came to prepare the way for the coming Messiah. You would probably not notice anything particularly significant about that, or perhaps not notice this as a text that proves the deity of Christ. But you would need to go back to the passage from which it is taken, Isaiah 40:3: “The voice of him who cries out, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’ ” Now we find that the forerunner John the Baptist comes, and he is the voice of one who is preparing the way for Jesus. Isaiah says this is the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make His path straight.” And so here it is indubitable that the Lord who is being talked about is the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is without question that in the Old Testament it is a reference to Jehovah. So here we have a Jehovah/Jesus text.
The second one is found in John 19:37, the Passion of Jesus Christ. Jesus has already been crucified; His body hung dead upon the cross. We read in verse 36, “For these things happened so that Scripture should be fulfilled, ‘Not one of His bones shall be broken. ’ ” That’s when they pierced His side rather than breaking His legs, as they did with the other two thieves; Scripture had foretold that not a bone of Him would be broken.
In verse 37 we read: “And again another Scripture says, ‘They shall look on Him whom they have pierced.’ ” This is a reference to the piercing of Christ with the spear of the Roman soldier, mentioned in verse 34: “However, one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.” This is unquestionable evidence of the fact that Christ was dead and had not merely swooned, because the blood had settled and stopped circulating long enough to separate into its constituent parts of the thick red blood corpuscles looking like blood and the watery serum they took for water.
This, of course, was written hundreds of years before they even knew anything about the circulation of the blood. This prophecy is from Zechariah 12:10: “And I will pour out on the house of David and over those dwelling in Jerusalem a spirit of favor and supplication so that they look to Me, whom they have pierced through. And they will mourn over him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over him as a firstborn.” Now when it says, “so that they look to Me,” who is it that is speaking? If you go back to the beginning of the chapter, you will see that it is the Lord who speaks. These are the words of the Lord. Jesus is Yahweh.
A third example is found in Romans 14:10–11: “So why do you judge your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ ” And where will this be? It will be at the judgment seat of Christ. And we read elsewhere in the New Testament that all judgment has been given into the hands of the Son. It is before Christ, who is the judge of all of the world, that every knee will bow and every tongue confess.
In short, Jesus is Yahweh. Jesus is divine. It was the triune God who revealed Himself to Moses. He is God, and there is no other.
