There is more to a biblical name than something to call by. Especially, when God reveals His name, He is revealing something important about Himself. What does it mean that He is “I am that I am?” 1) He exists, 2) He is the absolute reality, 3) He is present, 4) He doesn’t change, 5) He is to be distinguished from other gods

Exodus 3:13-15 (The Names of God #1)

Sermon Manuscript:

I am that I am (11/1/15 God’s Name Series #1)

INTRO: What’s in a name? It’s something to distinguish the individual by. When we named our daughters, Sennah and Serrie, we wanted something that was both Korean sounding and English sounding. We didn’t want them to have two separate names like many Asian-Americans do. Every time I tell someone, “My name is Soong-Yol.” They’d say, “Come again?” “Soong-Yol” “Su-young?” “No, Soong-Yol” “Ok, Su-young, nice to meet you!” I only have my parents to blame…

But in the Bible, a name means more than simply something to call a person by. Often, a name indicated and sometimes even foretold what a person is to be like. For example, the name Abraham means “Father of a multitude.” And that is exactly what he has become. He is the father of three major religions of the world – Judaism, Islam and Christianity. An angel told Joseph to name his son, Jesus, which means, can you guess? “God saves.”

But what about God’s name? What does it signify? When God reveals His name, He’s revealing something important about Himself. And in the Bible, there are many places where God reveals His name to human beings. And if we get to know God’s names, then we are getting to know something important about God, and that is exactly what we will do for the next several weeks God-willing. And today we want to start out with perhaps the most important name that He has revealed to a human being. And that is the name “YHWH” It is pronounced probably “Yaweh,” and the English pronunciation for it is “Jehovah.” And what does it mean? The text tells us. It means….

“I AM THAT I AM” “I AM” YWHW – “I am being that I am being,” or “I am the Is-ing One,” that is, “the One Who Always Is.” Not conceptual being, being in the abstract, but active being, is the intent of this reply. It is a reply that suggests that it is inappropriate to refer to God as “was” or as “will be,” for the reality of this active existence can be suggested only by the present: “is” or “is-ing,” “Always Is,” or “Am.”

It means He is the self-existing One. He is not caused by anything, but causes everything else to be. He is the uncaused cause. Let’s go over the implications of this mean more in detail:

1. He exists.

He is there. God makes it known to Moses that He is there and is about to make Himself known to the Israelites whom He has chosen and also to the Egyptians by sending plague after plague. God is there. When I was younger and thought myself smarter than I really was, I used to trip Christians up by asking, “If God exists, then why can’t we see Him? Why doesn’t He appear before us and show Himself to us? Then, we’d never doubt that God exists!” But He has done that. God appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and also in the person of Jesus Christ. But how do we know those people existed and they are not made up stories by some religious people? Well, the same way we know that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln existed. How do we know that they are real people and not some made up stories? Has any of us seen them in person? Christianity, unlike other religions, puts premium on evidence and historicity. This sermon’s scope is too narrow to go into that any further today…

God is there and has always been there. Without him, nothing exists. He is the ground of being. If God didn’t exist, you and I wouldn’t exist and we wouldn’t know that we didn’t exist. There would be nothing without God. Can you picture noting? Is it a dark void or dark space? No! Without God, even empty space wouldn’t exist. Without God, even time wouldn’t exist. God is not bound by time and space. There was a time when people didn’t exist. There was a time when the universe didn’t exist. There was never a time when God didn’t exist. God is the one who began the time.

Ever had this episode? A child asks: “Mommy, where did I come from?” Mommy says, “from me!” The child then says, “Where did you come from?” “From my mommy, your grandma.” “Where did grandma come from?” From great grandma.” “Where did great grandma come from?” “From her mommy….” 10 minutes later…. “Where did great great great great (x 20) grandma come from?” “From Adam and Eve.” “Where did Adam and Eve come from?” “From God.” And one last question, “Where did God come from?” I still remember having this conversation as a youngster with my mom probably close to 40 years ago. I don’t remember what she said to that last question. She probably got annoyed and yelled at me for asking so many questions or like my wife does, “Ask daddy!”

But as thinking adults, we know that it cannot regress infinitely. We could say God came from God’s mommy, but that would go on forever and we know that that’s not possible. No. God did not come from anywhere. Think about the very question: WHERE did God come FROM? That presupposes that God is bound by space. But God precedes space. God was there before space and time were there. So, God did not come from somewhere. Somewhere came from God! And there was never a time when God didn’t exist. God said to time, “Start!” And He’s going to say to time one day, “Stop.” That’s called eternity. What will happen once time stops? We won’t age!

2. He is the absolute reality.

God is the absolute reality. Which has an implication that many Americans don’t like – that He determines what is right and wrong. We are not the ground of being and therefore, we don’t determine what is right and wrong. People say, “What’s right for you is right for you and what’s right for me is right for me. As long as you believe it to be reality, that’s all that matters!” In other words, everything is relative. It’s all what you believe. Interesting we don’t do that with the money in the bank… Why doesn’t anyone say, “My bank statement says I have $0 balance in it, but I’m going to believe I have a $1 million in it and I’m going to go withdraw it.” And when the bank clerk tells you that you have no money in it, you say, “That’s what you believe. I believe I have $1 million in it! Now, give it to me or else.” Well, they are going to call the police and put you in jail or mental asylum. And there you can believe that you are in an uninhabited island with servants in uniform bringing you food day and night… but it still doesn’t change the fact that you are in jail or mental asylum.

Why do we do that? Why do we try to change the reality? “Let us bend reality to fit our inner desires – For example whether you are a boy or a girl doesn’t matter, we can change the reality to fit our desires. You can be whatever gender you want to be!” It’s the original sin. We want to be in charge of this world when it is God who is in charge. We want to bend reality and make it work for us when it is God who is the ultimate reality. God determines what is and what is not. Our belief doesn’t. We don’t bend reality to fit our beliefs. No, we change our beliefs to fit what IS. And God IS. He exists. And He is the ultimate reality. Not us or what we believe.

3. His presence

Another implication of I AM THAT I AM is His presence. One commentator says, “the name “Yahweh,” defined in terms of active being or Presence, is the name by which God is to be known henceforth forever. It is to be his זֵכֶר “remembrance,” literally, that which is to make his Presence a reality to the generations to come.”

This was important to Moses and the Israelites because they as a people group had been in Egypt, a foreign country, for 400 years, and they were slaves to their Egyptian masters. It would’ve been really easy for them to think that God forgot about them and was not with them anymore in spite of His past promises. So, He appears before Moses and confirms to Him and thus to His people that He definitely hasn’t forgotten them and His presence will be with them!

APP: This is an important lesson for us all. Just because we do not feel God’s presence, doesn’t mean He is not there for us. Life circumstances will seem at times that God is entirely missing. Think of Moses. Where was God in Moses’ life? He’s 80 years old at this point when God shows up in his life for the first time, or so he thought. Was God absent from his life? No. We know that Moses was saved by an Egyptian princess when his mother floated him down the river. We know he grew up in Pharaoh’s palace afterwards. And we know also that he killed an Egyptian and had to flee the palace. Then, he lived in the desert for 40 years until he was called by God via burning bush at age 80. In all this, God was orchestrating Moses’ life. God had Moses grow up in a palace because He was going to send him to Pharaoh. Then, God had him live in the desert for 40 years because He was going to have him lead the Israelites through the desert for 40 years. God was preparing him to use him the whole time. Even though Moses had never heard God’s voice nor felt His presence until that time, God was really with him the whole time! Just because we don’t feel God’s presence does not mean that He isn’t there.

God made a promise to those who are His children by faith: “I will never leave you nor forsake you!” He is with you whether you feel His presence or not! Talk to Him in prayer. Listen to Him through His word. He is there!

4. He doesn’t change.

He is timeless which means He won’t change. Have you realized the relationship between time and change? How do we know time has passed? When you see changes. Imagine if you went to visit your old neighborhood and saw that nothing has changed. But more amazingly, the kids who lived in that neighborhood 20 years ago look exactly the same age as 20 years ago! You’d think time has stopped! God is beyond time, therefore, He does not change. And also, God is perfect. Therefore, He does not need to change.

That means He is the same God described by Jesus in the prodigal son story. Weren’t our hearts so thrilled to hear what kind of God our Father is – welcoming, kissing, hugging, acting like a fool over an idiot of a son returning home a total loser? God is unchanging. That means God will still react that way over us coming back to Him today. When you expect to hear scolding and harsh stare, you feel His warm embrace and His cheek on yours instead….

5. He is to be distinguished from other gods.

He is not one among many gods. He is not even the best among many gods. He is the only true God. There is no other! Isaiah 45:5-6 I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God;I equip you, though you do not know me, 6that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.

Some would say, “All gods are basically the same. They are called by different names by different religions – Jehovah, Allah, Jesus, Krishna – but they are all referring to the same god…” That would be like my girls when they are old enough to marry, asking somebody else to walk them down the aisle! When asked why so, they answer, “Well, we thought any dad could walk us down the aisle. A dad is a dad, isn’t it?” No! I’m the only one who is THEIR dad and so it should be me! (Unless I’m dead, of course). It MATTERS which dad walks them down the aisle! It has to be THIS dad and no other!

“But I thought you said there is no other god besides the Christian God. So, why is God worried that we will worship other gods? How can we worship something that doesn’t exist?” To be sure, there is no other god who is sovereign like the God of the Bible. However, we could set up something or someone to take the place of the real God in our lives. Anything or anyone that we set up as our ultimate becomes our god. But the folly is that they are not real gods. We give them ultimate value to act as our god, but because they are not real God, they disappoint always! Whether success, money, children, marriage, retirement. They promise some of the things as the real God – security, comfort, peace, love, excitement – but since they are not real gods, they cannot continue to satisfy us. Only the true God can!

 

CONCLUSION: There is a person in the NT who dared to use the same name “I AM” for himself. This name that the Jews reverenced so much that they would never say it but substitute it by saying, “Lord,” instead, a man used that very name to call Himself. It was Jesus. When the Pharisees were picking fights with him, he tells them , “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”[d] 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”(John 8:56-58)

            That “I am” is the same “I am” in Exodus! The self-existent One. The absolute reality. The ever present God who never changes, who is the only God of very God, was Jesus. And He died for you and me!

Don’t sell yourself short by trying to boost up your self-esteem by looking younger or earning more. You are worth more than the whole universe put together! You are worth the life of the very God of very god.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.