Moses is in the wilderness before the burning bush, which is a type of the cross of Jesus.
13 Moses said to God, “I am going to the children of Israel and will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ When they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and He said, “You will say this to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
15 God, moreover, said to Moses, “Thus you will say to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’” (Exodus 3:13-15)
God is speaking here, stating that He is I AM.
Jesus is the Word. He spoke in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. “In the beginning was the Word…” (John 1:1) He said, “I am Who I am.”
God is the Existing One, the One Who is, has been and always will be. There is no other.
He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
As the Son spoke and said “I AM” in Exodus, He also said “I AM” in the New Testament.
Jesus took the “I AM” of the Old Testament, God’s personal name, and expounded upon it—giving it deeper meaning. He did so to demonstrate God’s love. In the Old Testament God said to Moses, “I am the Lord, 3 and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by My name, The Lord, I was not known to them.“ (Exodus 6:2-3)
Jesus came to make God fully known. He said:
“I am the resurrection and the life,” (John 11:25) and many other “I AM” statements.
Jesus wants to be known.
John 10 records Jesus speaking to Jews who had taken up stones again to stone Him at the temple. “Do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 If I am not doing the works of My Father, do not believe Me. 38 But if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” 39 Again they tried to seize Him, but He escaped from their hands.” (John 10:36-39)
Jesus spoke, “I AM.” When Jesus spoke, He could not be touched. He simply walked away.
“I am” in the Old Testament Hebrew is known in English as “Yahweh.”
The name Jesus actually means, “Yahweh is salvation.” In other words, the name Jesus means, “I am salvation.”
Jesus and the Father are One. They are God. God is the power and source of all things necessary for life. Yahweh or “I am” as God’s name explains His presence and closeness to His people—His love and mercy, especially that in sending His Son.
Jesus was approached in a garden by Judas Iscariot, Roman soldiers and temple officers—a force of men with weapons for the purpose of arresting Him.
“Jesus therefore, knowing everything that would happen to Him, went forward and said to them, ‘Whom do you seek?’
They answered Him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’
Jesus said to them, ‘I am He.’ And Judas, who betrayed Him, was standing with them.” (John 18:4-5)
Those men numbered about 500 persons.
When Jesus said, “I AM,” the power of God emanated from Him, causing men to fall to the ground.
The “He” of “I AM He” is not written in the Scripture, except in the English. The Greek of the New Testament is simply, “I AM.”
The horde of men come to arrest Jesus could not take Him. He laid down His life and went with them.
Jesus was in control, even of His own death. Jesus died, rose again and hundreds witnessed Him. This is a living, provable faith to which hundreds and thousands have testified. It is not a blind faith, but is true.
Jesus, who is alive, is yet in control. He has said that He will return. When He comes, He will have a sword in His mouth. Revelation 19:15 states, “Out of His mouth proceeds a sharp sword, with which He may strike the nations. ‘He shall rule them with an iron scepter.’ He treads the winepress of the fury and wrath of God the Almighty.”
The Sword is the sword of the Spirit—the Word of God. These two go together—the Word and the Holy Spirit. Jesus works with the Holy Spirit. When He returns, He will strike down the nations by speaking, just as He did when the 500 came to arrest Him.
For those who love the Lord, His mercies endure forever. But He is also a just God. There will come a day when God the Father will have had enough of the disobedience of men. Then He will turn to His Son and instruct Him to return.
As there were signs of the cross to come in the Old Testament, as there was the sign of the cross in the New Testament, so will Jesus –I AM--return with the sign of the cross—there will be blood upon His robe—there will be holes in His hands, feet and side—and there will be fire in His eyes.
God is the same, yesterday, today and forever.
(C) Kelly Jadon, 2023
