I AM

God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" God also said to Moses, "Say this to the people 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 thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. -- Exodus 3:14-15

Before Moses was MOSES, he was a lowly shepherd of no reputation. Sure, he was once a somebody. He grew up in the royal court of Pharaoh, raised and educated in Egypt, he was a man of great privilege. But that all changed when he killed an Egyptian for striking a fellow Hebrew. When Pharaoh learned of this, Moses fled to Midian where he lived in exile for forty years as a shepherd. Then, one day while tending to his father-in-law's flock, an eighty-year-old Moses saw a strange sight; a burning bush that was not consumed by the fire.

It is a familiar story; God called to Moses from the burning bush and gave him a charge to lead the Jewish people from their bondage in Egypt. A task for which Moses felt completely overwhelmed and inadequate. But God reassured Moses that He would be with him, and He instructed Moses to, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" In other words, God gave Moses the awesome privilege to speak as His envoy, and carry His very own name like a signet ring.

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Who Created I AM?

When contemplating the nature of existence, inevitably someone will ask the question, "If God created everything, who created God?" That is not an unreasonable question when asked by a child or the uninitiated; but I was surprised when Richard Dawkins, a noted evolutionary biologist and outspoken atheist, asked that same question. I was surprised because Dawkins has authored many books including The God Delusion and The Blind Watchmaker. He has also debated notable Christian thinkers and has been at the forefront of what is called New Atheism. This is a very strident form of atheism in that they seek to marginalize Christians with public scorn and ridicule. Gone is the thin veneer of civility and respectful dialogue. That being the case, one would expect that Dawkins had done his homework on the Christian faith, if for no other reason than to understand what he is ridiculing and rejecting. But the fact that he posed such a question betrays his ignorance of the Christian faith on a very basic level.

Our opening passage addresses the question, "Who created God?" The answer: no one. God was not created, nor did He create Himself, and there was never a time when He came into being, because He has no beginning and no end. God simply IS. He has always been and will always be. God is I AM, the self-existent eternal One. And yes, that does boggle the mind.

Though it boggles the mind, we generally recognize that something must be eternal, otherwise we are faced with an infinite regression. Because if the universe had a beginning, the next logical question is, "What came before the universe?" Then, "What was before that?" And so we are faced with an infinite regression until we reach that which is eternal.

Everlasting and Unchanging

It was once believed that the universe was eternal and had no beginning. One theory held that we lived in an oscillating universe that expanded and contracted in an infinite loop. But today, most cosmologists believe that the universe had a definite beginning. So we're back to square one asking the question, "What came before the universe?" The Bible answers that question in no uncertain terms: The eternal God Whose name is I AM.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. -- Psalms 90:2

Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he. -- Isaiah 41:4

Not only has God always existed, He is and has always been perfect in all of His attributes as well. Therefore He is unchanging. To change would mean to become less than what He already is.

"For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. -- Malachi 3:6

 From these brief passages of Scripture we quickly learn that God is identified as:

• I AM 
• Eternal 
• The First and the Last 
• Unchanging 

God is the fixed, unmovable, unchanging, absolute, eternal reality. By comparison, everything else is mere smoke and shadow.

God’s absolute being means that God is constant. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He cannot be improved. He is not becoming anything. He is who he is. There is no development in God. No progress. Absolute perfection cannot be improved. -- John Piper

Before Abraham was I AM

That brings us to our text this week in John 8. Jesus is having another heated confrontation with the religious leaders, and He makes another shocking claim:

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. -- John 8:56-59 NKJV

Jesus claimed to be I AM, the very God Who spoke to Moses from the burning bush. And notice, the Jews clearly understood what He meant, because they attempted to stone Him for blasphemy. Despite this very clear passage, and others like it, there are still those who persistently claim that the Bible does not teach the divinity of Christ. But in reality, there are many explicit passages, as well as implicit allusions to the deity of Christ. For example:

Jesus is eternal:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.” -- Micah 5:2

Jesus is the first and the last:

"Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." -- Revelation 22:12-13

Jesus does not change:

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. -- Hebrews 13:8

From these brief passages we learn that Jesus is identified as:

• I AM 
• Eternal 
• The First and the Last 
• Unchanging 

In other words, Jesus has the name of God and the attributes of God. What are we to conclude from that? We are to conclude what the Bible explicitly states, that Jesus is God in the flesh, and that He dwelt among us (John 1:1, 14). The deity of Christ is not a flimsy doctrine that rests on one inscrutable passage of Scripture. It is writ large throughout the Bible.

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We began our story with Moses, who acted as God's representative, and we conclude with Jesus, Who was God incarnate. Roughly 1400 years after the time of Moses, I AM Himself came, not through a representative, but in the flesh. The God Who, in times past, spoke through His prophets and a burning bush, had finally come in the person of Christ to speak face to face (Heb 1:1-3).

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. -- John 1:14