Jesus Christ is Jehovah

When God created the earth, he spoke to his son Jesus Christ and said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: (Genesis 1:26). This verse indicates that Jesus was a member of the Godhead prior to his being born into mortality. Let us focus upon this pre-mortal existence of the Savior.

Moses Spoke With God

After Moses fled from Egypt to escape being killed by the Pharaoh, he went to the land of Midian and lived with Jethro. Moses did not understand he had been called and preserved for a great purpose, and the Lord had to prepare and teach him about his calling. This preparation began when Moses beheld God in vision, in the midst of a bush that appeared to be burning but was not consumed.

And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. (Exodus 3:4-6)

God taught Moses that he would go before Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. As Moses was being taught by God, he was concerned that he did not know the name of God.

And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? (Exodus 3:13)

In response, the Lord told him his name.

And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. (Exodus 3:14)

The phrase I AM is significant, because it refers to Jehovah, the covenant name of God. God was telling Moses to say to the children of Israel that Jehovah had sent him, and that Jehovah was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Jehovah is the Savior

The Lord revealed to Isaiah the mission of Jehovah.

I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.

Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.

I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King. (Isaiah 43:11,14-15)

The Hebrew word translated LORD in those verses is Yeh&ocircv&acirch, or in English Jehovah. We see from those verses that Jehovah declared himself to be the only Savior, the Redeemer, and the Holy One of Israel. We know from our understanding of the New Testament that those titles belong to Jesus Christ. We thus realize that Jehovah is Jesus Christ! Since Jesus had not yet been born of Mary, he as Jehovah was a spirit personage. There are additional verses from the Old Testament that teach that Jehovah would perform the mission of Jesus Christ. In these verses, the word translated LORD comes from the Hebrew word Yeh&ocircv&acirch.

Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth. (Psalms 96:13)

Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 41:14)

But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. (Isaiah 45:17)

And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. (Jonah 1:9)

While talking with the Jews, as recorded in chapter 8 of John, Jesus referred to his role as Jehovah. Jesus told the Jews if they followed his commandments, they would never see death. The Jews did not understand the spiritual meaning of that statement and reminded Jesus that their father Abraham and the Old Testament prophets were dead, and they asked Jesus if he was greater than them. Jesus then said Abraham saw his day (as the Messiah) and rejoiced. The Jews answered by saying he was less than 50 years old, and they asked, actually questioned, how he could have seen Abraham. Jesus then said he had existed before Abraham.

Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. (John 8:58)

The Greek word for am is eimi and means I exist. Jesus was telling the Jews he existed as Jehovah before Abraham was born. This phrase I am is the same phrase God used when talking to Moses from the burning bush, and as we saw at the beginning of this chapter, it refers to Jehovah. The Jews understood what Jesus was saying, because they tried to stone him, indicating they were incensed at his claim of being Jehovah.

The Savior, in revelation to an ancient prophet known as the brother of Jared, revealed that Jehovah was Jesus Christ. Jared and his people were led by the Lord from the tower of Babel to a promised land. During that trip they had to cross the ocean, and they were commanded to build eight barges that were covered such that the inside of the barges would be dark. The brother of Jared, who was a prophet, melted rock and made sixteen stones that were clear or transparent. He prayed to the Lord and asked him to "touch" the stones so they would glow and give light to the people inside the barges. The Lord granted his request and touched the rocks. The brother of Jared was surprised that the finger of the Lord looked like flesh and bone. He then asked the Lord to show his full body to him. Again, the Lord complied with his request and showed himself to him, saying that he (the brother of Jared) had been redeemed from the fall. Then the Lord said that he (Jehovah) was Jesus Christ.

Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters. (Ether 3:10)

Abraham Knew Jehovah

In the book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price, the Lord used the name Jehovah in talking with Abraham.

And his voice was unto me: Abraham, Abraham, behold, my name is Jehovah, and I have heard thee, and have come down to deliver thee, and to take thee away from thy father's house, and from all thy kinsfolk, into a strange land which thou knowest not of; (Abraham 1:16)

My name is Jehovah, and I know the end from the beginning; therefore my hand shall be over thee. (Abraham 2:8)

People who oppose the Church say this shows the Church is false, because Abraham did not know the Lord by the name Jehovah. They refer to Exodus 6:2-3 as "proof" that Abraham did not know that name.

And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD:

And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. (Exodus 6:2-3)

The Bible, however, implies that Abraham did know God by the name Jehovah, because Abraham used that name in giving a symbolical name to Mt. Moriah after he and his son Isaac offered a sacrifice to the Lord using a ram that was caught in a thicket.

And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. (Genesis 22:14)

In the Hebrew, Jehovah-jireh comes from Yeh&ocircv&acirch or Jehovah. This latter word is the same word that is used for Jehovah in Exodus 6:3, Psalms 83:18, Isaiah 12:2, and Isaiah 26:4 (the four places where the word Jehovah is used in the King James version of the Old Testament). When the Lord said that he was not known by his name Jehovah, he was probably referring to the people in general, since his prophet knew him by that name. Another possibility is that Exodus 6:2-3 was incorrectly copied by the scribes who reproduced the Biblical manuscripts.

Other Prophets Knew Jehovah

The Book of Mormon prophets knew Jesus Christ by his name Jehovah. Moroni, in concluding his fathers abridgment, said he would meet those who read the book at the judgment bar of Jehovah.

And now I bid unto all, farewell. I soon go to rest in the paradise of God, until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead. Amen. (Moroni 10:34)

Joseph Smith knew the Savior by his name Jehovah. In the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland temple, Joseph said the following:

O Jehovah, have mercy upon this people, and as all men sin forgive the transgressions of thy people, and let them be blotted out forever.

And whatsoever city thy servants shall enter, and the people of that city receive not the testimony of thy servants, and thy servants warn them to save themselves from this untoward generation, let it be upon that city according to that which thou has spoken by the mouths of thy prophets.

But deliver thou, O Jehovah, we beseech thee, thy servants from their hands, and cleanse them from their blood. (D & C 109:34, 41-42)

In two additional places in that prayer, Joseph referred to Jehovah. The Kirtland temple was truly a temple built to Jesus Christ, the great Jehovah.

Jehovah is the Creator

One of the great roles of Jesus Christ is that of creator. He, as Jehovah, created the earth and all things therein, but he did it under the direction of his Father. We might think of the Father as the Chairman of the Board of Heaven and the Son as the Chief Executive Officer. The scriptures testify clearly that Jesus Christ is the creator.

All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3)

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16)

The Apostle Paul referred to this dual relationship in the creation, the Father as the master planner and the Son as the deity actually performing the work.

And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 3:9)

This dual relationship in the creation was revealed to Moses.

And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Moses, saying: Behold, I reveal unto you concerning this heaven, and this earth; write the words which I speak. I am the Beginning and the End, the Almighty God; by mine Only Begotten I created these things; yea, in the beginning I created the heaven, and the earth upon which thou standest. (Moses 2:1)

Jesus Confirmed He is Jehovah

After his resurrection and ascension to Heaven, as described in the New Testament, Jesus appeared to the Nephites and taught them. Jesus taught them that the Law of Moses (which was given to prepare the people to accept Christ) had been fulfilled, and that it was he who gave the Law to Moses.

Behold, I say unto you that the law is fulfilled that was given unto Moses.

Behold, I am he that gave the law, and I am he who covenanted with my people Israel; therefore, the law in me is fulfilled for I have come to fulfil the law; therefore it hath an end. (3 Nephi 15:4-5)