What is God's name?

In Exodus 3, God speaks to Moses from a bush that burns but is not consumed. Dr. Toby Holt unpacks this holy encounter and the name by which God reveals Himself.

Moses, now an eighty-year-old shepherd, turns aside and meets God on holy ground. God says He has seen Israel's suffering and will rescue them through Moses. When Moses asks who sent him, God answers, "I AM WHO I AM" — the self-existent, unchanging One. He chooses a weak, reluctant shepherd so the glory would clearly be God's.

Questions this study answers:

1. Why did the bush burn without being consumed? It pictured God's holy, fiery presence — and His promise that He would not consume His people but save them.

2. What does "holy ground" mean? That God's presence makes a place set apart. Moses had to remove his sandals before the holy God.

3. What does the name "I AM" reveal? That God is self-existent, eternal, and unchanging — dependent on nothing and no one. He simply is.

"And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.'… 'I AM has sent me to you.'" — Exodus 3:14 (NKJV)

Dr. Toby Holt is President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Find more verse-by-verse Bible teaching at newgeneva.org; support this ministry at newgeneva.org/give.