Dr. Walter R. Martin, the Ancient Aramaic Text, and the Jesus Who Saves: I AM HIS BECOMING

You might not think it to read what I write now, but my Apologetics professor at Melodyland School of Theology was Dr. Walter Martin of Bible Answer Man fame. One thing Dr. Martin stressed was that if you  believe on Jesus Christ for salvation, you had better make sure you have the right Jesus, because there are an bunch of them out there, and only one of them works.

Dr. Martin in his book Kingdom of the Cults ripped a lot of false Jesuses -- the Jesuses of Moronism, the Jehovah's Witnesses, Religious Science, &etc. The dualistic Jesus of common "Orthodox," Western and Evangelical Christianity could be included in the list if Dr. Martin wasn't one himself. But what he taught was and is true: if you are going to believe on Jesus Christ for salvation, you had better make sure you have the right one.

Which brings me to the proclamation by the Lord God in Exodus 3: 14 that his name/nature is "Ahiyeh Ashur Hiyeh." What on earth do those words mean? Alexander gives us in his footnotes:

3:14 Lit. Aramaic: (1) "Ahiyeh": "the One Who Comes in His Coming," the absolute sense of "the One Who Comes." (2) "Ashur": "the Beginning Spark that kindles the Fire" or "the Light." (3) "Hiyeh": "His Coming." (4) "Ahiyeh" and "hiyeh" are related forms of the same word. They mean more than "the Coming." They signify also the "Eternal Presence," "the Ever-Present," and the "Never Ceasing Intent of the Comer to Come." (5) In the same way, "Ashur" signifies "the Uncreated Creator who Creates Everything from Nothing." (6) Also, "Ashur" signifies: "Above-the-Flames" (Victor Alexander translation; v-a.com/bible).

That might not strike you as particularly clarifying, but I have been considering these words for some time and think I have worked something out. Ashur was the ancient name for the Creator god, the god in charge of creating. Yes, there are other names for God in Hebrew, but 'Ashur' was specific in their minds to creating. The question which had been in Moses' mind was God's excellence, his abundance, or if you would, the provision (creation) of God's salvation. This is what Moses was addressing, and now it was addressing him.

The thing is, the Lord God IS Ashur. And Ashur, the Lord God, is agent for the ineffable Most High God. It (Ashur) is the Ineffable's imagining. The imagining of the Ineffable is the manifestation of the Ineffable; they are one, not two. This imagining, Ashur -- the Lord God -- is the "One Who Comes in His Coming." So "Ahiyeh Ashur" means "I, Ashur -- the creating imagining who is the manifestation of the Ineffable -- become."

Hiyeh means His becoming. "He" is the Ineffable, the Most High God who becomes manifest in his imagining. Note: if the Ineffable believes something is profoundly real, it is profoundly real. The Ineffable believes he is. Ashur IS that. And so the Lord God says to Moses, "I (His imagining) AM HIS BECOMING (or BEING) -- AHIYEH ASHUR HIYEH."

I think that puts it all together neatly. And that is our salvation: Ashur is Christ, Christ is us, we are Ashur -- the Ineffable's becoming. So recognize this: you are the action of the ineffable Most High God's becoming manifest. You can take that to the bank when praying in faith -- believe that what He wants for you is. Its creation is your middle name. Do not forget to say, "Thanks."