Excerpt from The Point -- I Am
God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I am has sent me to you.”
Exodus 3:14
Excerpt from the upcoming book, The Point: Journey to Life by Randy L. Allen, to be released Spring 2022
I Am
Throughout His ministry, Jesus explained who He is but many who heard His words were unable to hear His message. As we struggle to comprehend the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we must understand that struggling to understand God is nothing new. Problems with this go back to the beginning of Scripture.
Think about Moses (see Exodus 3). He encountered God through a bush that was on fire but not consumed, which is one of the most amazing miracles in the Bible, and God called Moses to free His people from the most powerful nation on the planet at the time. In response, Moses asked how he should go about communicating who God is to Pharaoh. Moses saw the burning bush. He stood on holy ground. He spoke with God. He heard God’s call and he wondered how he should describe God to Pharaoh, and because in that time and place a person’s name conveyed information about the person – it explained a person’s purpose and character, and in some respects knowledge of a person’s name provided a degree of power and influence over that person – Moses asked God, what’s your name?
God answered, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I am has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14).
That is the only place in Scripture where God’s first-person name is recorded. It is as if God, by providing an intentionally cryptic response, was explaining that mere mortals are incapable of knowing the Holy, the Divine, the Immortal One. God’s name is “I am.” It’s like the time Samson’s father, Manoah, asked an angel his name, and the angel replied, “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding” (Judges 13:18). We humans think we are so advanced, so intelligent, so smart, yet so much is beyond our ability to comprehend.
How do we comprehend God? His light is too bright, His glory is too magnificent, His presence is too grand for mere mortals to grasp. Jesus knew our difficulty and He taught a great deal about who He is. He had already taught that people are dead until they hear His word and believe, and at that point they cross from death to life (see John 5:24). With the notion of life and death in mind, He explains that He is the life, the source of life and the path to life. Through Him and in Him we gain life, new life, abundant life, eternal life, and He tries to communicate that truth to us in a variety of ways.
Hundreds of years after Moses, with a nod to God’s first-person name equating to a claim of divinity, Jesus describes Himself to us in a series of “I am” statements.
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35
Just as God provided manna in the wilderness each morning during the Exodus, thereby sustaining life, Jesus is the bread of new life, abundant life, eternal life, spiritual life.
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
In his beautifully poetic introduction to the gospel, John describes Jesus writing, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4-5). Life is light, and Jesus is both.
Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.” John 10:7
Jesus is the opening through which we access life, and He is the good shepherd who nurtures, guides and protects His sheep.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10:11
“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 10:25-26
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
Jesus is the resurrection. He converts death to life. He provides new life, abundant life, eternal life. He is also the way to life and the truth.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful…. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit….” John 15:1-2 & 5
God came to earth in the flesh. While describing who He is, He invites us to make use of everything He offers. He invites us to “come to” Him, “believe in” Him, “follow” Him, “remain in” Him and “bear fruit.” He lays down His life, provides spiritual sustenance and light, and serves as our path to the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus offers a simple invitation. While Jesus makes the invitation in several ways on different occasions, He does not insist, He does not twist our arm, He does not beg.
May you know Him, may you follow Him, may you allow Him to transform you fully, Amen.