It Starts Small

I decided to start a new series called the I AM series. Throughout the New Testament we find Jesus declaring many “I AM” statements. What is I AM? Why is it important?

¹⁴ God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.” Exodus 3:14

When God spoke this to Moses, he was asking, God, who do I say has sent me? God’s response: I AM who I AM. It is impossible to understand this with english. We have a million words but can not grasp what this means.

During the time of Moses, Egypt was a mighty nation. COnsider for a moment how many gods they worshipped. I believe it is 26. They had temples for all of them and they had many gods. The God of Israel was telling Moses I AM THEE GOD of all gods. I AM it! There is no other God by me.

Until this moment with Moses, the Israelites called their God, Elohim. It means supreme or mighty god. It was a title, not a personal name. They also called God El Shaddai, which meant Almighty God. These described God, but Moses was looking for a name. In Egypt he had learned the gods of egypt had names. Ra was the god of the sun. Isis was the goddess who had dominion over women, children and medicine. So when Moses asks, who are you that I may use your name, God, transcribed in english, says I AM who I AM. When Moses says I AM sent me, it is translated Yahweh.

In Hebrew this looked like: Ehyeh asher Ehyeh. The exact translation would be I will be what I will be. The Jewish scribes were very careful to never write out the entire name of God. His name was sacred to them and it was wrong to write it out completely. Instead they used all capital letters: YHWH. They intentionally left the vowels out. In the Hebrew text, LORD was all capitalized to represent I AM. This is why throughout the Old Testament, in most translations, LORD, is in all capitals. This refers to God himself, I AM.

Why is this important?

I AM speaks to the character of God. He is omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience in and for all time. God is constant, and is in the past, the present, and the future. This baffles us because we live in a timeline of life, but God transcends all earthy patterns. Because He is God, there are many things about Him that will never be understandable, even when we reach glory. And that’s okay because He is God!

Outside of the Old Testament, we find that Jesus uses very powerful references to being the I AM. The name, Jesus is a transliteration of the Greek name, Jesoun, which comes from the Hebrew Joshua. Joshua means “Yahweh saves.”

Lets explore Jesus as the I AM:

the bread of life” (John 6:35)

the Light of the world” (John 8:12)

the door of the sheep” (John 10:7)

the good Shepherd” (John 10:11)

the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25)

the way, the truth, and life (John 14:6)

the true vine (John 15:1-3)