Today's Reading: Exodus 3
"I Am!"
Exodus
3:14 is a powerful declaration of God's nature and character, and it reminds us
of His eternal and unchanging presence in our lives. God's self-existence and
eternality are essential to understanding who He is and how we should relate to
Him.
The Hebrew
phrase used for "I AM WHO I AM" is "ehyeh asher ehyeh,"
which can also be translated as "I will be what I will be" or "I
am what I am."
This name
of God reveals His eternal, self-existent nature. God is the one who always
was, always is, and always will be. He is not bound by time or space but exists
beyond it. He is the source of all existence and the sustainer of all life.
In the
context of the Exodus story, God reveals His name to Moses as a way of assuring
him that He will be with him as he goes to Pharaoh to demand the release of the
Israelites from slavery. God is not only the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
but He is also the God of Moses and the God of the Israelites. By revealing His
name, God establishes a personal relationship with Moses and His people, a
relationship based on trust and faithfulness.
In John
8:58, Jesus declares that He is this one and the same “I AM” when He is engaged
in a heated debate with the Pharisees, who are questioning His authority. When
Jesus declares, "Before Abraham was, I am," He is invoking the divine
name revealed in Exodus 3:14 and claiming to be God. The language and concepts
of Exodus 3:14 were woven into the theology of the early Christian church. They
reveal how Jesus Christ was understood to be the embodiment of the God who
revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush.
“I AM” is
the ultimate statement of self-sufficiency, self-existence, and immediate presence.
God’s existence is not contingent upon anyone else. His plans are not
contingent upon any circumstances. He promises that He will be what He will be;
that is, He will be the eternally constant God.
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