From the Pastor's Desk . . . .
“I AM WHO I AM”
When the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, God charged Moses to confront Pharaoh and demand that he let God’s people go. But Moses wasn't interested. He was alone in the wilderness tending sheep when God spoke to him, and he was looking for any excuse to refuse God’s command. “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” God’s response was, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you...This is My name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (Exodus 3:13-15).
God revealed Himself to Moses in a way He had never done before with any other person. He told Moses His personal name. The name was so holy to God’s people that they wouldn’t even say it out loud. So when a man came along taking this name upon Himself, they were justly offended. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58).
If Jesus had wanted to claim only that He existed before Abraham, it would have been simpler to say, “Before Abraham was, I was.” But He was claiming far more than that. And clearly the people who heard Him understood what He was saying, since they took up stones to kill Him for what they heard as a blasphemous claim to deity.
Jesus, the “I AM,” took these two words upon Himself as His deepest identity—the ultimate expression of who He is. He took upon Himself the most divine name of God, saying, “That is My name: I AM.”
God has always wanted His people to know Him—not in a generic or shallow way, but personally, as He truly is. So He has revealed Himself, not only through His name, but also through His glorious presence, through the Law, and through His mighty deeds on behalf of His people. But these revelations all led up to a definitive revelation in the person of Jesus. “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son” (Hebrews 1:1-2). The Son
shares not only His nature but also His name.
By Pastor Edwards
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