There are seven times in the Bible where Jesus says the statement I am ... and all of them are found in the book of John. To understand the meaning behind these we need to look at two sources. First is the Book of John. Who is John writing this book for? John begins the book by saying a philosophical statement that .... In the beginning there was the word, and the word was God and the word was with God. A lot of commentators have explained that John uses this word (Logos) as a means to invite the reader to the question of the day. Back in the days (535-630 BC) beginning with Heraclitus (a Greek philosopher), the manner in which someone would start a philosophical statement in the public was ... I say, .... or in Greek LOGOS ... and John invites the reader in the book to this same place and say that the reason for life and the purpose for life comes from God and this God is the reason and this reason or ultimate truth has incarnated on earth and is man and is called Jesus. John then invites his readers to ponder this man and his life and the reason for life in this book. And in this book, Jesus explicitly uses the statement I AM ... 7 times and the another time Jesus ends a sentence with I AM (as translated to English). John is keen to observe this and wants his readers, who He assumes know Jewish history that Jesus is indeed saying something more than a mere statement like I am hungry. We also notice that when Jesus says these statement to the Jews, they intend to stone and kill him saying that Jesus has blasphemed. This is where we need to look at the Old Testament as to understand the Jewish mind.
God said to Moses, “ I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘ I AM has sent me to you.’”
Before John, the place where we find this statement "I AM.." most pronounced is in the book of Exodus. Moses wrote the book and we need to look at the events that lead to this statement before we dive in further. God, had called Terah , the father of Abraham out of Ur and Terah abandoned the following half way. Abraham also heard the call and decided to follow God, who promised Abraham in his old age that Abraham would have a son, through whom Abraham would have children as many as the stars. This was a promise God gave Abraham. Isaac had then Esau and Jacob, and Esau having thrown away his birth right, Jacob followed in the promise. Jacob had 12 sons of whom Joseph was sold by his brothers to slave traders who sold Joseph to the Egyptians and later by the grace and mercy of God, Joseph was promoted to second in command of Egypt and God worked in Joseph that he not only learned to be humble, but also learned to forgive and show mercy to his evil brothers. This lead Jacob and all the other 11 sons and their families to migrate to Egypt and live there for 400 years till new Pharaohs came who did to care or knew why Hebrews (the descendants of Jacob) lived in Egypt as a foreign people. This lead him to oppress the Hebrews and kill all male baby and Moses having born during this oppression, was through the providence of God raised as an adopted child of the Egyptian princess. Moses having learned his identity when tries to bring justice in the manner he knew as a royalty and kills an Egyptian and flees to Midan where he starts a new life and takes care of his father in laws sheep. This entire narrative is Genesis till Exodus 2. One day as Moses was taking care of the sheep, he sees a bush burning but not being consumed. He tries to investigate it and then has an encounter with God. There God tells Moses that He is the same God that Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Joseph and their decedents follow and that Moses should go back to Egypt and ask the Pharaoh to release his people. Moses then asks who should he say send him and God tells Moses "I AM WHO I AM"
This is the first point where we shall ponder:
Why does Moses ask what was the name of God?
Moses, like us lived as a nation within another nation. A people who belonged to another city in midst of another nation. People whose identity did not match the nation they were living in. We live in a pluralistic society. There are people of many faith and many believes and in the same manner, the Egyptians were polytheist and pantheist . This meant that how today we understand when someone says they pray to Krishna or Allah we understand that they are followers of another religion, or when they say they had a Saraswathi pooja or had celebrated Eid, we know that their culture is another one. Likewise, the Egyptians had this plethora of deity that resembled the nature that each deity was responsible for a specific natural event. Those from Indian culture can recognise this effect immediately. Although the words `God` means same, it means different for people living in the same building in a city. Like wise, the Israelites (Hebrews) had also been living withe people of another culture too long that they might have had difficulty to separate the cultures. To such a people a name would have been a nice thing. But God does not give himself a name. He says to tell them that He is I AM.
Side tracking here, the word I AM, was later considered too holy to be read aloud, so the vowels were removed so that the reader finds the word hard o read and them would substitute it as Adonai or HaShem (meaning the name) - later translated to YHWH and then ended up as Jehovah. This word is in most English translation written as LORD.
What does the name mean?
The words I AM WHO I AM is a particular meaning. It not only means I am who I am, but also I will be who I am, and I was who I am. This was the first attribute God wanted His people to know. Note : I did not intend to go down a heavy apologetic message and therefore the details of each are only found in the notes.
- He Exists
Look at the verse, to say I Am, it has the prerequisite that the person speaking must exist in the present to use the sentence
- He is eternal, (Is 43:10)
If God exists before time, He exists out of time - He is eternal (See WLC)
- There is no change in Him. He is the same God, yesterday, today and forever.
Since God exists before Time, the addition of time does not affect Him in any manner - therefore God never changes
- He is therefore all valuable.
God is therefore more valuable than all the things that is bound in time - including our life
- He is eternally independent
Since God was there before all things that were made, or were caused to exist, God is independent of every thing and everyone that exisits. (See Kalams Causality)
- He is the absolute truth
Since the universe and everything in it was created by God, there is no reason for God to hide in a lie because in God is the absolute reality.
- He is absolutely free
Since God is beyond anything in the created world, nothing in the created order can overpower an uncreated being.
- God is absolutely sovereign (Rom 4:17)
Since every created being depends on God for their creation and sustenance, this means the God is absolutely Sovereign over the lives of all created beings.
How does God teach these to mere mortals?
The Hebrews had been living with people who had so many gods. The Egyptians had a life based on Nile. The Nile flooded and the flooding brought in fertile soil to the desert land, they had at the least 3 gods. Hapi was the Nile god, Khnum was the god of the source of Nile (in modern day Uganda) and Osiris was responsible for flooding. When we look at the 10 plagues we see the following pattern.
God Shows Off
Is showing off bad? No, not when you are absolute. Showing off is bad because there may be people better than us, but when God shows off, it is just truth being reflected. Here are 10 ways God Showed Himself to be greater, true and absolute - This caused the Israel to see God for who He is - even the Egyptians believed. Thus doing this, God brings him people back to monotheism
01 Blood
The waters were turned to blood – the fish in the river died and the Egyptians couldn’t drink the foul water.
This was an attack against Hapi, Khunum and Osiris
02 Frogs
Frogs swarmed forth, covering every inch of land and entering houses and bedrooms.
Heqet was a half frog god, was considered responsible for fertility
03 Lice
All over Egypt, bugs crawled forth from the dust to cover the land.
Geb was god of earth,
04 Wild animals / Flies
Hordes of wild animals or flies destroyed everything in their path.
Kehpri was a beetle like wild flying god
05 Pestilence
A fatal pestilence killed most of the domestic animals of the Egyptians.
Hotor was the cow god, Apis was the bull god, Khnum was the ram god - the entire cattle was destroyed
06 Boils
The Pharaoh, his servants, the Egyptians and even their animals developed painful boils all over their bodies.
Isis (moon God) was resonsible for healing, Sekhmet for medicine, Bes for family
07 Fiery hail
Hail struck down all the crops in the fields and shattered every tree.
Nut was the god of the skies
08 Locusts
The locusts covered the face of the land and swallowed up every crop and all the fruits of the trees.
Seth was the god of the desert, Osiris was also responsible for harvest
09 Darkness
A thick darkness over the land of Egypt, so total that the Egyptians had to feel their way around.
Ra was the sun god, Isis was the moon god
10 Death of the first-born
All firstborn Egyptian sons (and firstborn cattle) died. Israelites marked lamb's blood above their door and were passed over.
Bes and Mi was supposed to protect the family, Isis was the healer, even the Pharoah was not spared - and Pharaoh was considered also a semi god.
How then should we live?
The Hebrews were called for one purpose by God. See Exodus 19:6
you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’
This is the purpose God calls us today. To be a kingdom of priests to Him - where God is King. See 1 Peter 2:9
- We are called to exalt and honour such a Holy God.
- God is mighty
- See Isaiah 54:14
- We are called to vast our Idols away.
- God tells Israel in the 10 commandments, Romans 1:22-23, Ezekiel 20:7, Numbers 15:29, Ex 13:9, Deuteronomy 4:23, Psalm 106:39, Deuteronomy 11:18-21,28-32
- An idol is anything that we hold with extremely high regard and affection, even above God, so rather than serve Him and worship Him, we wind up serving the idol. It can be anything. A job. Money. Status. Family. Marriage. Church activities. Even children. All of these are good things, many of them blessings and very good. But when we put them above God, we turn them into idols.
- “What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.” - Tim Keller
- We are to see God as eternal
- He has seen the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10)
- We have to see God as sufficient
- God cares for us (see sermon)
- When Muslims say Ins-ha Allah, it means if God wills, and it seems like this is same what a Christian says. But the difference is the Allah or the concept does not show a God who will bear sin to save his children but a God who wants submission. In Christianity submission is a reflection of humans hands showing gratefulness, while in Islam Allah loves only those who submit to him. Christianity teaches that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. This is the reason for the sufficiency.
- We have to see God as Sovereign
- our alliance belongs to Him
Additional Reads:
John Piper: I AM WHO I AM, Is God for Us or for Himself?
Micheal Ramsden: Can you handle the absolute truth?
Tim Keller: Counterfeit Gods
Nabeel Qureshi: No God But One
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