Why Are There Different Names of God in the Bible? What Are the Meanings of God’s Names?

When it comes to God’s name, we all know that the Old Testament records that only Jehovah is God’s name and thus it shall be forever. The New Testament, however, records that one can only be saved by the name Jesus. So why does God’s name change? What does Jehovah’s name mean? What is the meaning of Jesus’ name? What mysteries are hidden behind God’s names? Let’s fellowship and explore them now together.

Why Does God’s Name Change?

Why does God’s name change? God’s words say, “Why is it that Jehovah and Jesus are one, yet They are called by different names in different ages? Is it not because the ages of Their work are different? Could a single name represent God in His entirety? This being so, God must be called by a different name in a different age, and He must use the name to change the age and to represent the age. For no one name can fully represent God Himself, and each name is able only to represent the temporal aspect of God’s disposition in a given age; all it needs to do is to represent His work. Therefore, God can choose whatever name befits His disposition to represent the entire age.”

We can see from God’s words that God is ever new and never old and that the name He chooses in every age is meaningful. Each name only represents one age, one stage of work and one part of the disposition God expresses. God’s name changes along with changes in His work and God uses His name to change and replace the ages. That is to say, every time God performs a new stage of work and begins a new age, He changes His name, for any one name cannot fully represent God. Therefore, with each new stage of work, God takes on a name that possesses epochal significance in order to represent the work He performs and the disposition He expresses in that age.

What Jehovah’s Name Means

Now we know that God’s name changes along with changes in His work and represents the work and the disposition He expresses during that age. So why was God called Jehovah in the Age of Law? What does Jehovah’s name mean? God’s words say, “‘Jehovah’ is the name that I took during My work in Israel, and it means the God of the Israelites (God’s chosen people) who can take pity on man, curse man, and guide the life of man; the God who possesses great power and is full of wisdom. … Only Jehovah is the God of the chosen people of Israel, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of Moses, and the God of all the people of Israel. And so, in the current age, all the Israelites, apart from the Jewish people, worship Jehovah. They make sacrifices to Him on the altar and serve Him in the temple wearing priests’ robes. What they hope for is the reappearance of Jehovah. … The name Jehovah is a particular name for the people of Israel who lived under the law. In each age and each stage of work, My name is not baseless, but holds representative significance: Each name represents one age. ‘Jehovah’ represents the Age of Law and is the honorific by which the people of Israel called the God whom they worshiped.”

These words clearly tell us what Jehovah’s name means. In the Age of Law, God’s name was Jehovah, and that name represented what God expressed to mankind in that age: a disposition of majesty, wrath, curse, and mercy. Then, God began the work of the Age of Law with the name of Jehovah. He issued His law and commandments through Moses to officially lead newborn mankind in their life on earth, and He required people to adhere to the law. Those who held to the law would gain God’s blessings and grace, but those who violated the law would be consumed by the fire God rained down upon them from heaven, or would be stoned to death by the common people. That is why the Israelites who lived under the law experienced Jehovah God’s majesty, wrath and mercy, and exalted the name of Jehovah. They lived under the guidance of Jehovah God for a few thousand years.

From this we can see that the name Jehovah was used to represent the work God did in the Age of Law as well as His disposition of majesty, wrath, curse and mercy, and it was the name God inherently had in the Age of Law as He did His work. When the Age of Law ended and a new age began, God’s name changed.

The Meaning of Jesus’ Name

We now understand the meaning of the name Jehovah God adopted in the Age of Law; then why was God called Jesus in the Age of Grace? What is the meaning of Jesus’ name? God’s words say, “‘Jesus’ is Emmanuel, which means the sin offering that is full of love, full of compassion, and which redeems man. He did the work of the Age of Grace, and He represents the Age of Grace, and can only represent one part of the work of the management plan. … Only Jesus is the Redeemer of mankind, and He is the sin offering that redeemed mankind from sin. Which is to say, the name of Jesus came from the Age of Grace and came into existence because of the work of redemption in the Age of Grace. The name of Jesus came into existence to allow the people of the Age of Grace to be reborn and saved, and is a particular name for the redemption of the whole of mankind. Thus, the name Jesus represents the work of redemption, and denotes the Age of Grace. … ‘Jesus’ represents the Age of Grace, and is the name of the God of all those who were redeemed during the Age of Grace.”

It was because people late in the Age of Law became more and more corrupt and were unable to keep the law and so they all faced the risk of being put to death for violating the law. Thus, God took the name Jesus and under this name He carried out the work of redemption. He opened up the Age of Grace and brought the Age of Law to an end, expressing God’s disposition of love and mercy. He also bestowed His bountiful grace upon man, and in the end was crucified for man’s sake, thus rescuing us from Satan’s grasp. From then on, we have begun to pray to the name of Jesus and to revere His name as holy, to enjoy His forgiveness of our sins, and His rich grace. This shows us that God’s name Jesus represents the work He did in the Age of Grace as well as His disposition of mercy and love.

The Bible Prophesies the Lord Will Return With a New Name

We can know from God’s taking the names Jehovah and Jesus that the name He adopts in each age has representative significance. Each name represents God’s work in that age and the disposition He expresses in that age. In the Age of Grace, when the Lord came, if He was not called Jesus, but was called Jehovah, then God’s work would have stopped in the Age of Law, and corrupt mankind never could have gained God’s redemption. In the end, man would have been condemned and punished for violating the law. Now, in the last days, although we have been forgiven through our belief in the Lord Jesus, our sinful nature remains very deep-rooted, so we still often sin and resist God. Many who truly believe in the Lord want to escape the bondage of sin and be purified, and some even subdue their bodies and forsake the flesh throughout their life, but in the end they fail to cast off the bonds of sin and still live a life of sinning and confessing, unable to escape. As such, to save us from sin once and for all, God will come again in the last days and express the truth, carrying out the work of judgment to purify and save mankind. Just as the Lord Jesus prophesied, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:12–13). “He that rejects Me, and receives not My words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). And 1 Peter 4:17 says, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.”

Since the Lord will express more truths and perform the work of judgment when He returns in the last days, will His name change? Will He still be called Jesus? Actually, the Book of Revelation long ago prophesied that the Lord will return with a new name, for example, “Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God: and I will write on him My new name” (Revelation 3:12). “I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, said the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunder, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God Almighty reigns” (Revelation 19:6). Besides these verses, God’s new name is also mentioned in such scriptures as Revelation 15:3, 16:7 and 16:14, and 21:22. The reference to a “new name” means a new name that has never been used before. Which is to say, when God returns in the last days, He will not be called Jehovah or Jesus. Instead, He will take the name the Almighty to start a new age and end the work of the Age of Grace, so that people will honor the name the Almighty as great. By accepting God’s new name in the last days we will be welcoming the Lord Jesus’ return.

The Lord Has Returned With a New Name

Throughout the entire world, today only The Church of Almighty God is testifying that the Lord Jesus has returned and that He is called Almighty God. Almighty God has concluded the Age of Grace and begun the Age of Kingdom, and He expresses His righteous disposition that is majestic and wrathful. He expresses the truth according to man’s needs and does the work of judgment beginning with God’s house to save man completely from Satan’s domain and free him from the shackles of sin, purifying him, until he is led into the kingdom of God.

Then why is the Lord called Almighty God when He returns? The answer to this question has been clearly stated in Almighty God’s words. Almighty God says, “I was once known as Jehovah. I was also called the Messiah, and people once called Me Jesus the Savior with love and esteem. Today, however, I am no longer the Jehovah or Jesus that people knew in times past; I am the God who has returned in the last days, the God who shall bring the age to an end. I am the God Himself that rises up from the end of the earth, replete with My entire disposition, and full of authority, honor, and glory. People have never engaged with Me, never known Me, and have always been ignorant of My disposition. From the creation of the world until today, not one person has seen Me. This is the God who appears to man in the last days but is hidden among man. He resides among man, true and real, like the burning sun and the blazing flame, filled with power and brimming with authority. There is not a single person or thing that shall not be judged by My words, and not a single person or thing that shall not be purified through the burning of fire. Eventually, all nations shall be blessed because of My words, and also smashed to pieces because of My words. In this way, all people during the last days shall see that I am the Savior returned, and that I am the Almighty God that conquers all of mankind. And all shall see that I was once the sin offering for man, but that in the last days I also become the flames of the sun that incinerate all things, as well as the Sun of righteousness that reveals all things. This is My work in the last days. I took this name and am possessed of this disposition so that all people may see that I am a righteous God, the burning sun, the blazing flame, and so that all may worship Me, the one true God, and so that they may see My true face: I am not only the God of the Israelites, and I am not just the Redeemer; I am the God of all creatures throughout the heavens and the earth and the seas.”

In the last days, God expresses the truth and performs the work of judgment under the name Almighty God, exposing mankind’s satanic nature and disposition of opposing God; this is to completely purify and save man, and to enable us to break away from Satan’s corruption and affliction so that we may enter into God’s kingdom. God has come to perform the work of judging and purifying mankind, dividing us according to our kind, and rewarding good and punishing evil, in order to rescue corrupt mankind from sin once and for all and bring His six-thousand-year management plan to save mankind to an end. So, God has appeared to mankind in the last days with a disposition that is righteous, majestic, wrathful and unoffendable to show to the world His inherent disposition and what He has and is. It is with this disposition that He judges and chastises all of mankind’s corruption and unrighteousness, to fully save us from sin.

God takes the name Almighty God to allow all people to see not only His wisdom and ability in creating the heavens and earth and all things, but even more His power in His control and rule over all things. He can not only bestow grace and blessings upon humans, but He can also judge, chastise, and purify them. He can not only open up a new age and guide man, but He can also conclude the age, punish evildoers, and ultimately bestow upon God-lovers a wonderful destination. God is not only the God of the Israelites, but also the God of the whole of mankind and, even more so, He is the God of all creatures throughout heaven and earth. All of God’s words and work fully reveal God’s wisdom, almightiness, wondrousness and unfathomableness, which shows us that God is the one and only God Himself. That is why it is appropriate to call God as Almighty God.

When God has started to speak His words and perform His work with the name of Almighty God, it means the end of the Age of Grace and the beginning of the Age of Kingdom, and that God has begun to use the new name to lead all of mankind. Those who simply hold to the names God used during His past work but refuse to accept God’s new name will lose God’s salvation and fall into darkness, weeping and gnashing their teeth. Those who accept God’s new name, who experience God’s work of judgment in the last days, and whose dispositions are purified and changed, will be led by God into the next age to receive His eternal blessing.

All this shows that each name God has taken in each age has great significance. Jehovah, Jesus, and Almighty God are different names God takes in different ages. God’s name changes as His work changes, and represents His work and disposition during that age. But no matter how God’s work or God’s name changes, God is still one God. After the completion of God’s management work, all the names God has adopted on earth will come to an end, and God will not have particular names—He will just be the Creator. As God’s words say, “The day will arrive when God is not called Jehovah, Jesus, or Messiah—He will simply be the Creator. At that time, all the names that He has taken on earth shall come to an end, for His work on earth will have come to an end, after which His names shall be no more.”

Editor’s Note: Through the fellowship above, do you now understand the meaning of different names of God in the Bible? If this article has been helpful to you, please share it with others. If you have any further questions, you’re welcome to message us below. We’re available anytime to answer your questions.