WORSHIP THE ETERNAL I AM

“And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you”” – Exodus 3:14

Believers are called to WORSHIP THE ETERNAL “I AM”: “And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you” (Exo.3:14). God described Himself as “I AM” and also as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. THIS IS MY NAME FOREVER, and this is My memorial to all generations” (v.15). The New Testament reaffirms these (Acts 7:32). Before the mountains were formed, before the expanse of the universe took its first breath, before the stars twinkled in the midnight sky, One has existed in Unchanging Glory – the Eternal God.

Even though He is the Supreme Being, the Eternal God relates personally and covenants with individuals. God is the Living One. He has all Life in Himself. He has been our Dwelling Place in all generations (Psa.90:1-2). While the attribute of INFINITY teaches that God has no limits of space and power, that of ETERNITY teaches that God has no limits of duration or time. God is not subject to time, and does not move through time as a creature must. He is “the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End...who is and was and is to come, the Almighty” (Rev.1:8; 22:13).

The question “Who is God?” drives much of human history and Biblical narratives. After the fall in Genesis, humankind lost direct access to God, and even the people of Israel only knew certain aspects of their Creator, until God stated His own Name here, for the first time. The name became so sacred that in Judaism, it’s not to be spoken. God’s self-given name encompasses all that He is, and how we are to relate to Him. When God appeared and spoke through a burning bush, Moses asked God for His name, so he would have an answer for the people. In English, God’s answer is translated as “I AM WHO I AM”!

The significance and weight of this Name is evident in contrast to the Egyptian pantheon. The people of Israel were surrounded by temples dedicated to idols with faces, bodies, birth stories, and death stories. Most significantly, they had names and influence over certain aspects of life. Not so for the God of Israel! He influenced ALL of LIFE. Prior to this moment with Moses, the Israelites called their God Elohim or El – a title, not a personal name – or “El Shaddai”, often translated as God Almighty. Therefore, for God to give a name for His people to call Him, conveys His dominion over all things, His Power, and His Eternal Nature: I AM.

God is the All-encompassing, Self-sufficient, Self-sustaining One; Who Was, Who is, and Who will be! His name reminds us that God is in control and He is with His children. It’seasy in the struggles of everyday life to lose sight of God’s Majesty, Holiness, and Dominion. Meditating on the name He gave Himself, and all that it represents, can help put our time on earth into perspective. God is Eternal, Infinite, and Sovereign over our lives. He Is Who He Is! There is no “becoming” in God. He is the uncaused Cause, the timeless Creator of time itself, the Everlasting, the I AM. Yet, the pages of the sacred Scripture unfold a narrative where God, in His eternal essence, interacts with temporal, finite beings!

Above all, Christ Jesus our Lord is the Eternal I AM: “...before Abraham was, I AM” (Jh.8:58). He says: “I AM the Bread of Life” (Jh.6:35); “I am the Light of the World” (Jh.8:12); “I AM the Door” (Jh.10:9); “I AM the Good Shepherd” (Jh.10:11,14). “I AM the Resurrection and the Life” (Jh.11:25); “I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life” (Jh.14:6); and “I AM the Vine” (Jh.15:15).