“…for he who comes to God must believe that He is …” (Heb 11:6b, NKJ)
After Moses received his instruction from God to lead his people out of Egypt, he asked God: “ ‘Indeed when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they say to me, “What is His name?” what shall I say to them?’ And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.’” (Ex 3:13-14).
This strange Name by which God introduced Himself to humankind, I AM, has two characteristics. Firstly: by linking His identity to AM indicates completeness: TO BE, TO EXIST. Secondly, in human language terms it is an incomplete phrase, because “am” is a type of verb that wants to be completed by being linked to something else.
Firstly, if you draw near to Him, you must first and foremost believe that He is, i.e. that He exists). You must believe what is written in John 1:3: “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” Col 1:16-17 states it as follows: “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible…All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”
Secondly, this Old Testament identity of God later became much more concrete with Christ presenting Himself as completion: I am the bread of life (John 6:48); I am the light of the world (8:12); I am the door (10:9); I am the good shepherd (10:11); I am the resurrection and the life (11:25); I am the way, the truth and the life (14:6); I am the true vine (15:1); I am the Alpha and the Omega (Rev 1:8); I am the first and the last (Rev 1:17); and many, many more.
In John 8:24 Jesus says: “…for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins”. This understanding of I AM forms the foundation of your faith and of who you are.
- Sela: Try to find more examples of where the “I am” is completed in the New Testament. Pray about Rev 22:13 along with Is 46:9-10.
- Read: Gen 18: Ps 18; John 18
- Memorise: Ps 18:29-35. Make your own song of it and sing it to the Lord.
