Living Worthy… One Lord
The I AM

Last week in our discussion about Jesus as the Lamb of God, we talked about the children of Israel, as slaves in Egypt. We discovered that God sent a man named Moses to the Egyptian Pharaoh to demand that Pharaoh let the God's people. We saw how that after the death of the first born, Pharaoh did in fact release the Israelites and God took his people across the desert to the Promised Land.

This morning I would like to take one step back and tell a story. I want to go to the time right before Moses goes to Pharaoh and relate to you what happened when God appeared to Moses and requested that Moses be his messenger. The story occurs in the Old Testament book of Exodus.

Exodus 3:1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

Let me stop there and explain why Moses was a shepherd. If you are familiar with the story you know that Moses was born a Hebrew and by God's doing ended up being raised in Pharaoh's house, as one of Pharaoh's family. But he had become angry with the slave drivers who were abusing his people and in anger killed an Egyptian taskmaster, forcing him to leave Egypt as a fugitive.
40 years had passed, since that episode and Moses is a shepherd and is about 80 years old when God appears. Keep reading.

Exodus 3:2-8   There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.  3 So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight-- why the bush does not burn up."  4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am."  5 "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."  6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.  7 The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.  8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey--

The first question that comes to Moses, when he realizes what God is telling him to do, is why me? "Why have you chosen me? Who am I to go do this?" God says, "That is irrelevant, who you are doesn't make any difference, because I will be with you. You just go and bring them back to this mountain to worship me!" Then it dawns on Moses it might be important to ask, "Who are you?" And the answer to that question is one of the most exciting answers ever given in the Scriptures.

Exodus 3:13-15  Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"  14 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.'"  15 God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, '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, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

Moses did what God told him to do and he brought the children of Israel back to that very mountain and from that mountain he received the Ten Commandments and formed a nation based upon a covenant with God, but that's a different story. The significant point that I want you to note here is God says his name, his personal name, is "I AM."
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Let's stop a minute between stories, because I have a couple of other stories to tell this morning, and let me do a little teaching. Here is some interesting information about the name "I AM".
• First, let's put Moses' question and God's answer in context. The Hebrew’s have been in Egypt for over 400 years. That is a long time. They had been immersed in Egyptian religions, with all their gods. We are talking a plethora of gods. In fact the Pharaoh, Moses was to appear before, claimed divine origin! It would be important for Moses to know the name of the God he represented so as not to be confused among so many others.
• Another point is the connection of the God of your fathers with this God who is the I AM. The point is made that the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob is their God. There is a continuity of a promise; the promise to be a special people in a special place. The I AM remembers his promises made to Abraham many years ago!
• We must also note the name I AM means power. Moses by asking his name is really asking about his power. "Are you really powerful enough to defeat the mighty and many gods of the Egyptians?" Within a name is power! Moses wants to know are you powerful enough to do what you said you are going to do. "After all it has been a long time since you did anything? Your people have been the slaves for a very long time." I AM CAN!  There is power in the name.
• So, God's answer is more than simply saying what his name is. "Oh, by the way my name is I AM." God is saying that he is almighty. "I am that I am!" or "I am being that I am being," or "I am the Is-ing One," "The One Who Always Is," It is inappropriate to refer to God as "was" or "will be" for the reality of God is this active existence. "I Am Always I Am!"
• In Hebrew, God's name is written HWHY which translates into English as YHWH; known as the tetragramathon. If you throw in a few vowels you get Yahweh. And jack with it some more and you get Jehovah. When you say Jehovah you are really saying Yahweh, I AM which is; the personal name of God.

From then on the God of the Jewish people is known as Yahweh. That is his most precious and personal name. Other beings are called "god." Other beings are known as adoniah or el or elohim or lord, father are all used by other so called gods. Only the name Yahweh is unique. It became so special to the Jews that the scribes later became afraid to say it lest they use it in vain. Remember the commandment? “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain?” The name itself was too holy to say out loud. It was a name of power!  It was the power to crush all the Egyptian gods. The power to deliver a nation! Be careful when you use Yahweh!
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Enough teaching, back to another story. Now allow a thousand to fifteen hundred years go pass. But the name of God hasn't changed; because the I Am doesn't change. His people have been living in the Promised Land for a long time. And they are still worshipping him and avoiding use of his personal name Yahweh. On to the scene comes a man who is making bold claims and doing spectacular miracles. The religious leaders have several problems with this man, not the least of which is his popularity. They are jealous. In the gospel of John chapter 8 there is a confrontation. Between this man named Jesus and a group of religious leaders called the Pharisees.

The argument begins in verse 12. And it goes on and on with Jesus making statements of truth and the Pharisees making accusations and claiming that Jesus is demon possessed and a liar and it goes on until Jesus says the unforgivable. Let's pick up the argument in verse 51.

John 8:51-59   I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."  52 At this the Jews exclaimed, "Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death.  53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?"  54 Jesus replied, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.  55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word.  56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."  57 "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!"  58 "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"  59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

"Before Abraham was born, lam." I believe this to be the most powerful claim that Jesus ever made!
• Jesus is claiming to be God. Jesus with the authority of all his character looks the Pharisees in the eyes and says, ‘I Am Yahweh.” Not only does he use the sacred name of God, He claims to be God.
• Not only is Jesus saying he is Yahweh, he is claiming to be eternal. Before Abraham was born Jesus existed. Jesus did not say before Abraham was born I was. Or I was born before Abraham. Before Abraham existed Jesus was already eternal.
• But I think there is one more element in Jesus statement. Did you hear what led to the last part of this argument? Did you hear what Jesus said in verse 51? “I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." Jesus is claiming to keep his promises. Just as God did not forget his people in slavery but came and redeemed them from Egypt.  Jesus came to this world to keep a promise. A promise to give us eternal life!

Because Jesus is God; because Jesus is eternal; because Jesus keeps his promises; we can have hope! We can have eternal life because Jesus is Yahweh. Jesus is the I AM! There is power in the name I AM and Jesus is that power.
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Let me tell you one more story. It is found towards the end of John's Gospel. Judas has betrayed Jesus and has led a group of Jewish soldiers to arrest Jesus.

John 18:2-8  Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples.  3 So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.  4 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, "Who is it you want?"  5 "Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "I am he," Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.)  6 When Jesus said, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground.  7 Again he asked them, "Who is it you want?" And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth."  8 "I told you that I am he,"

The Greek is simply I AM. And when he said I AM the soldiers fell to the ground.  In the name of Yahweh there is power; power to make soldiers fall to their knees.  Jesus forces a choice. You cannot simply say that he was a good guy. You cannot say he was just a good teacher; a great man. Jesus said he was the I AM. Your choice is to do as the Pharisees did in John 8 and attempt to stone him for blasphemy or you can do what the guards in the Garden did, fall at the feet of the one who claimed to be the I AM! There is no middle ground. The choice is yours. Which will it be stones or knees?

If you choose knees, here is what it means:
• Remember the name Jesus, “Yahweh is our deliverance.” We are Haysus who offers deliverance to the world around us. I am Haysus.
• Jesus is the word; the logos.  What does that mean to us? We become the word of God.  We speak words of salvation and deliverance. I am the word of God.
• Jesus is the Lamb of God.  How do we live?  Who are we?  We live as slain lambs of God. We live sacrificial lives pouring who we are on the altar.   I am the Slain Lamb of God.
• Jesus is the I AM.  Who are you?  What is your name?  I am? I am who God wants me to be. Isn’t that what you really want out of life?  Don’t you want to be who God designed you to be?  God has a purpose for your life.  God has a will for your life. God has a plan for your life.  God looks at you and sees who you are, but he also sees who you could be.  Wouldn’t you want those two to be the same? I am who God wants me to be.  I am doing God’s will.  You can be the I AM you were intended to be.

Do you feel a commercial coming on?  It’s like on TV when the star stops and looks at the commercial, you know there is a commercial.  Here is another commercial for the Table of Transformation.  Update details.  Childcare on Wednesday nights.  You can make up a class if you miss either during the other session or a private sitting.  The purpose of the Table is to give you the tools of transformation.  So, you can learn God’s will. 

Are there any questions?

 

The Table is all about Romans 12:2

Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Jesus is the I AM.  He is Yahweh.  He is Jehovah.  He is all that he is.  You can be the I Am too.  You can connect in such a way to Yahweh that you are transformed, so that you can say I AM, I AM who God wants me to be.