“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.”’” (Exodus 3:14, NKJV)
What is God’s name? That’s the question Moses asked of God in his encounter at the burning bush, where God commissioned him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.
There was no shortage of names God could have given. The Bible is full of names, titles, descriptions, and displays by which God reveals Himself to us. But God chose, I AM.
There is likely no name that communicates the character of God and the Creator-creature distinction than I AM. God is eternal, without beginning and without end. He alone has being within Himself. While our being is derived, His is inherent.
The bush encounter illustrated this attribute of God. The bush was on fire but was not fuel for the fire. The fire existed of itself. Just so, the living God is self-existent.
Years later, the Lord Jesus would take to Himself the same name, communicated along the timeline of Abraham. “Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM’” (John 8:58).
- What does the name I AM convey to us about God’s relationship to us?
- How does God being I AM encourage us for His work?
