Then Moses said to God, “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 said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” Exodus 3:13-14a (ESV).
“I AM WHO I AM”—a statement full of power and authority, yet full of mystery.
God’s answer to Moses sounds more like a riddle than it does a name; however, it is a profound declaration of the essence of the Father. In Hebrew, this phrase translates to Ehyeh. Meaning, “I will be what I will be”. God is telling Moses that, unlike humans, the identity of God is not a mould that He must fit. There is no name or human term that can fully encompass the magnitude of God. We see again and again in scripture that the word of God is final. “so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11(ASV).
In Genesis 1, when God spoke Creation into existence, light did not come to be because God asked for it or suggested it to be so. There was light because reality bends at the words of our God. When God says something, it is done. From the moment it is spoken, it is accomplished. When God declares, “I AM WHO I AM,” He simply tells us that the authority of His word transcends a single name, title, or label. He is reminding His people that space and gravity are at His service, matter does as He pleases, and time only ticks if He allows it to do so.
Jesus uses this same term, Ehyeh, seven times in the gospel of John.
I am the bread of life.
I am the light of the world.
I am the door of the sheep.
I am the Good Shepherd.
I am the Way, Truth and the Life.
I am the Resurrection and the Life.
I am the True Vine.
Jesus’ words are not feel-good terms or vague comparisons to make us feel more confident in Him. They are each entirely true, powerful declarations that Jesus Christ is who He claims to be. I would suggest that our confidence in Jesus is not only found in everything He says to be true. Instead, our faith is rooted in Jesus because He is TRUTH. Jesus has never said something that did not or will not come to pass. The words found in the Bible are genuine because a self-sufficient, self-existent, blameless God wrote them. The more I think about this fact, the more I want to surrender everything to God, and the more I realize I need to let go of things I was never in control of. The more I realized that God’s response to Moses is the only appropriate response to the question: “What is His Name?”. The magnitude, the majesty, the glory, the power, the grandeur of God wrapped up in a single phrase.
“I AM WHO I AM”.
