Throughout history many leaders have desired to be king over all the earth: Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Cyrus the Persian, Darius the Mede, the Caesars of Rome, Alexander the Great, Constantine, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin. But no one has ever been king over all the earth. God’s unchanging Word says that one is coming who is to be that king.
“And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be—The Lord is one, and His name one” (Zechariah 14:9)
The Hebrew language says that Yahweh shall be king over all the earth. Who is Yahweh? There are three primary names used for God in the Old Testament: Elohim, Adonai, and Yahweh (Jehovah). Yahweh is used as God’s personal name. The first use of the name Yahweh is when God was speaking to Moses out of the bush that burned but was not consumed. God was sending Moses back to Egypt to be used to help free the Jews. Moses asked God to identify Himself. Let’s plug into the conversation:
Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I Am who I Am.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I Am has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14)
Yahweh is a translation of the Hebrew being verb “I Am.” It literally means “I exist.” It implies, “I am now what I have always been and will forever continue to be.” This name teaches us that God has always existed and will always exist. There never was a time that He was not.
The psalmist said that God is from everlasting to everlasting (Psalm 90:2). How far back is “from everlasting”? It goes back forever. How far forward does everlasting go? It goes forward to never ending! God had no beginning and will have no end. He has eternal self-existence. No one or no thing created Him. God is an uncaused being, and He is completely independent in His existence. He has life in and of Himself. Although the name Yahweh was written, it was never pronounced. The Jews considered that name too sacred.
Jewish scribes carefully copied the Old Testament Scriptures. When they came across the name Elohim, they prayerfully considered the name and then changed pens before they wrote it. The same was true with the name Adonai. But the name Yahweh was so awesome, so incomprehensible, and so mysterious to them that they would bathe and put on a clean set of clothes. Then they would approach the transcript and prayerfully and carefully write the name. The name is printed LORD in our English translations of the Bible. When we come across the name LORD (all caps), we know the text is speaking of Yahweh.
Let’s attempt to discover the identity of the one who is to be king over all the earth.