“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 third chapter of Exodus tells us how Moses first encountered God. Exiled from Egypt where he grew up, Moses is now tending his father-in-law’s sheep in the desert country. While there, Scripture says he “came to Horeb, the mountain of God,” where he turned aside to see the Angel of the Lord who “appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush,” (Exod. 3:1-2).
God spoke to Moses from the bush that was actively burning but not consumed (v. 2). And though Moses hid his face, “for he was afraid to look at God,” (v. 6), he questioned God about his name when God told him he was to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage. Understandably, Moses was concerned what he would say when he found himself in front of Pharaoh and was asked, “who sent you to do this thing?” In response, God answered, “I AM THAT I AM. Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you,’” (Exod. 3:14).
This self-declaration of existence spoken by the Lord is rich with meaning. As the Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck states, “God is independent, all-sufficient in himself, and the only source of all existence and life. YHWH is the name that describes this essence and identity most clearly … His name is ‘being.’”
God IS. And the name he gives himself for Moses to use affirms the magnificent truth that his existence is not distinct from his essence. God declares the incomprehensible purity of his infinite and single Being in his name, “I AM THAT I AM” as if to say, “My attributes do not differ from my essence. My Being is absolutely necessary, every way perfect, altogether pure, single, and infinite.” We may rightly conclude with Jerome who said, “The very nature of God is Being itself, and therefore he ever was and cannot cease to be; he cannot borrow his Being from anything who gives Being and well-being to all things.”
But his name, “I AM,” in the original Hebrew does not merely denote existence. It also encompasses the idea of expressing oneself in active being. God actively communicated his Being through his Son – “the word became flesh and dwelt among us,” (John 1:14), and “he who has seen me has seen the Father,” (John 14:9).
God chose to make his presence, his essence, known to his people. Just as he told Moses “say to the people of Israel, ‘I AM’ has sent me to you,” he said himself through his Son, “I AM with you always.” God attends his own through his grace, his love, his power, and his tender care today… actively in this present moment… just as he watched over and provided for the children of Israel in the desert, and his prophets and apostles and all his chosen ones since.
Because HE IS, as referenced in the excellent commentary of the Apostle in Rev. 1:8, “the Almighty, which is, and which was, and which is to come,” and the Lord, which art, and was, and shalt be….” (Rev. 16:5), we can rest assured that he will, necessarily and absolutely, BE with us always, “even to the end of the world,” (Matt. 28:20).
Contemplations:
- Lord, your eternal nature shows your wise and powerful providence in the preservation of all things. I see your omnipotent hand of creation in the works around me. It is amazing to me that you have extracted all things out of nothing, and so how easily could they be again resolved into nothing if the faithful Creator were not the wise and potent supporter of his creation.
- Lord, you are eternal, without beginning or end. From you are all things, but you are from nothing. You are subject to no change or succession. You alone can say, I AM THAT I AM.
- Lord, I see that what is said of God in general is repeated of Christ in particular. Your Son is Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending (the First and the Last), which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. Not only do I see this for the Father, but the Son and the Spirit. Not only God in general, but Christ as the Son is eternally boundless and perfect through all periods of continued duration (past, present, and future). He is, and was, and shall be. He was the First (before whom nothing was) and the Last (after whom nothing shall be).
- You are eternal, therefore the torments of the wicked are eternal and the happiness of the saints in heaven is also eternal. You live forever, and as long as you live, you will punish the damned and make happy the saints in heaven. And as You are eternal, in time you will reckon with all your enemies.
Further References for Exodus 3:14:
John 8:58; Heb. 13:8; Rev. 4:8; Isa. 44:6.
