More About the Great I Am

I only lightly touched on this concept before, so I’m addressing it deeper here. I love this topic. Much has been written about the name “I Am”, by which God identified Himself when Moses saw the burning bush. Hebrew language scholars translate YHWH as “I Am that I Am”. A synonym for “Am” is “exist”.

To some extent, God was saying, “I exist”, which could be taken to mean, “In contrast to all the false gods worshipped by people on earth, I am the living, existing God”. I sometimes wonder if the second part, "that I exist ” is a way of saying, "for the chief purpose of existing." I also consider it might be a circular statement implying that God has always existed, will always exist, and is preeminent - surpassing all others in every aspect and quality of existence.

In most of the Old Testament the name “I Am” is translated "the LORD”. This is because YHWH was thought by Hebrew translators to be too holy a name to pronounce by human lips in its original form.

We can start to see who this “I Am” is from what happens after the burning bush event. God joined His people in the desert in a miraculous way. "The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light."

We can tell by the lengths to which God went to rescue His followers from slavery in Egypt, care for them throughout the desert years, protect them from the armies of other nations, and lead them into the promised land.

Of course, that burning bush encounter was just the beginning of His progressive revelation leading to showing Himself as the incredibly loving and saving “I Am” of the New Testament, and the eternal I Am in His coming Kingdom.

The name “I Am” and its meaning is reserved for only one being, the Supreme Being, the Almighty. In referring to Himself, Jesus said “Before Abraham was born, I Am”. In this and other passages, He asserted His identity as the One, who from the burning bush told Moses to go to Pharaoh, and “Tell him that I Am has sent you.” Say to him, “Set my people free.”

The Egyptian Pharaohs claimed to be God and they demanded to be worshipped. You might consider that one of the meanings of “I Am” when God directed Moses to tell Pharaoh "I Am sent me", could have been, the Lord's name is “I'm God and You're Not.”

Jesus took the name “I am” when He spoke things like, “I am the good Shepherd”, “I am the light of the world”, “I am the bread of life”, and “I am the way, the truth and the life.” John wrote about “I Am” in the third person, when he wrote “God is Love” and “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all”.

I used to think of YHWH as meaning “I Am - And That is the End of the Discussion!” I think one modern scholar was closer when he declared that in the English language the closest phrase to the original meaning of “I Am” is “I Am here for you.”