The I AM

Exodus 3:12–15 NLT

12 God answered, “I will be with you. And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.” 13 But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?” 14 God replied to Moses, “I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations.

Here we find Moses in an encounter with a burning bush. God is appearing to him in this bush that is fire, but is not consumed.

God asks Moses to go to the people of Israel and tell them that the God of their ancestors (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - Joseph) has sent him to them.

The expression of God as THE I AM, that I AM is not as widespread in the OT as we might think. We do see this term - I am… in how Jesus is revealed to us

First of all - Moses was a prince of Egypt whose culture was polytheistic - many gods - so it would be normal for the Hebrews to ask - what god do you speak of...

They themselves have been submerged in a polytheistic culture for 400 years.

The name LORD - when we see this - the Hebrew is Yahweh - the earlier generations knew God by several names, but also this one Yahweh -

Genesis 4:26 NLT

26 When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. At that time people first began to worship the Lord by name.

Genesis 9:26 NLT

26 Then Noah said, “May the Lord, the God of Shem, be blessed, and may Canaan be his servant!

Genesis 12:8 NLT

8 After that, Abram traveled south and set up camp in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built another altar and dedicated it to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord.

Genesis 26:25 NLT

25 Then Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the Lord. He set up his camp at that place, and his servants dug another well.

‘ayeh - is the Hebrew - the imperfect tense of the verb “to be” - I am

eh yeh to be (I am) y weh (Yeh)first part (wah)

Moses heard this equivalent - I cause to be because I cause to be

v. 14 I AM has sent me to you v. 15 Yahweh has sent me to you

yahweh is the THIRD PERSON form of the name - I am that I am

No person could use His name in the FIRST PERSON - so they would call Him Yahweh the third person version

The one who is because he is....

God just IS!

I am speaks to us of God being active and present

Self existent

Self sufficient

All suffiient (enough)

we refer to God as the Lord - our English version of Yahweh - The One WHO IS would almost be better - it is the name of God

God does not need to be called an attribute - HE IS Himself and has his being of himself and has no dependence on any other

It leads the way for the characteristics he reveals about himself such as

Yahweh Yireh

Nissi, Tsidkenu, Raah, Ropheh

and later in the NEw TEstament as JEsus refers to Himself as I AM … the door, the way, the life, the light of the world, the good shepherd

The Lord, not just God… is all of these things...

Let me ask you, how do you address Yahweh when you pray?? and worship?

Dear God v. Dear Lord, or Great I am , or Heavenly Father...

His name is I AM or Yahweh or Lord to us… do not just pray Dear God...