I Am That I Am

I am fascinated with the story of Moses climbing a mountain to see a burning bush that was not consumed. As he drew near, the voice of God came out of the bush and said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.¹ I can’t help but think that it was not the mountain that was holy. Perhaps the presence of the Lord our God makes a place, thing, or person holy.

The amazing part of this story came when Moses asked, when the children of Israel desire to know who sent me, what shall I say? God’s answer was simple and profound; I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.²

I Am is so much more than one name for God or even the name of God. It is a bold and powerful proclamation. It is God declaring His deity, His power, His authority, and all that He is. It is God showing Himself to us, His creations. I Am is two simple and short words that say everything about God and burn His glory into the hearts of all who believe!

Every Jew Knows

The story of Moses, God, and the burning bush was a staple for the Jewish people of Jesus’ day. No doubt, the people heard priests stand in the synagogues to read the Torah and retell the story of the I Am. Certainly, the twelve apostles of Jesus, Matthew, Peter, James, John, and the rest were familiar with and had a binding reverence for I Am.

Every Christian Knows

Christians and Mormons alike love certain stories from the Old Testament. There are the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, Noah and the flood, Moses and Pharaoh, and David and Goliath.

When I was a boy, our family and one other went to see Charlton Heston in Cecil B. De Mille’s Ten Commandments. Because there were so many kids in the two combined families, the younger children watched the movie from inside our family station wagon.

The older children were stretched out, face down, and side by side on the roof. A son from the other family and I were the oldest, so he was placed on the right and I on the left with the younger children laid out between us. The trouble was when we were laid out shoulder to shoulder, we were at least as wide, if not slightly wider, than the car roof. The movie is nearly four hours in length, and I spent most of the time trying not to fall off the car. What a night!

Oh, but what a film it was. I was fascinated by every scene, every curse, and the exciting chase that ended with the parted Red Sea. I suspect that this incredible film was seen by every child of my generation and for many generations to come. Yes, we all saw and heard the conversation between Moses and God at the burning bush. I Am That I Am is etched in the collective memories of us all.

The Neglected I Am

Did the I Am disappear from the Bible after Moses, or have we failed to see Him there?

Before we dig in, may I inject a bit of clarification? “I am” can be used as a common and unremarkable expression of personal identification. I am here, I am on my way, I am ticklish, and as Popye said, “I am who I am” are examples of these words in common usage. These, however, have no meaningful or lasting impact.

Likewise, variants such as “it is I” and “it is me” mean nothing outside of conversations we have today and forget tomorrow.

I Am Defined

God did not leave us to wonder about His nature. He revealed a simple truth for us all to see and understand. He is not a godhead comprised of three Gods. He is not one God among many Gods. He is the one and only everlasting and eternal God. He is the I Am.

Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

Isaiah 43:10, KJV

Questions for Mormon Bishops

• According to Isaiah, does I Am represent three individual Gods who are one in purpose?
• According to Isaiah, does I Am represent one God who is part of an infinite regression of Gods?
• According to Isaiah, does I Am represent the God you may someday become?

If You Do Not Know I Am

Please join me at biblehub.com, where we will use an online interlinear bible to see if we can unlock a treasure or two. Follow these simple steps:

You should now be viewing a page that looks like the image below. This page presents the actual Greek words as they appear in biblical manuscripts. Each word is presented in the original word order. Immediately above the Greek, you will find the English pronunciation. Immediately below the Greek, you will see the Greek-to-English translation.

I call your attention to ἐγώ (egō) εἰμι (eimi). As you can see, these two words translate to “I Am.” Notice that under εἰμι, [He] is also displayed. When a word is presented in square brackets, it indicates that the bracketed word does not exist in biblical manuscripts. The translators added it for readability in English. Personally, I wish they would not do this.

Reading “I am He” reduces the text to a common usage we see every day. It greatly reduces the strength and impact of Jesus’ words.

However, when we read the passage without the added [He], we read “I Am.” This is Jesus’ personal promise and declaration of His power and divinity. In this, we hear Jesus declaring all He is and will ever be. It is almost like hearing Him call again from the burning bush; I Am That I Am!

Before Abraham, I Am

To all the Jewish people, Jesus proclaimed His absolute divinity and authority. In their ears rang the familiar name, egō eimi.

Like today, some loved their legalistic religious system more than they loved Jesus. They loved the law of Moses more than Messiah, who came to deliver them from their many failures under the law. These are they who ultimately cried crucify him.³

Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”

John 8:58, KJV

Like blind Bartimeaous,⁴ others cast off their filthy garments of religion and acknowledge a total dependence on Jesus. These are the ones whose spiritual blindness has been healed. They have become new creatures, living in Jesus and He living in them.⁵ These faithful few have been justified by grace and live in peace with God!⁶

The I Am Comes

Join me on the Sea of Galilee, where a storm is raging with terrible fury. Far from shore, we see twelve men fighting for their lives. These men are mostly competent seamen, fishermen by trade, yet all their skills fail them as certain death approaches.

After struggling in their own strength and by their own works for what must have seemed an eternity, they look across the water and see a sight that terrifies each one. At that moment, when it seemed like all was lost, a familiar voice pierced the roar of waves and cut through the howling wind.

Return with me to the Interlinear bible to see what treasures we might unlock.

I can only imagine the sense of relief and rescue that must have washed over the twelve. They had nearly lost hope when they heard the words that had inspired them since boyhood; I Am That I Am.

In the Storm

In your most desperate hour, do you, like the disciples, try to work and think your way clear? Do you fight and struggle until exhausted against the storms that would destroy you? Do you toil in the absence of peace and with no relief in sight? If you do, I would suggest that you have not surrendered everything to I Am!

As you struggle to stay afloat in life’s storms and while waves of despair threaten to pull you down, Jesus is nearby. He is never far off. Lift your eyes above your troubles and look beyond your grief. I will not be a bit surprised if you hear, “Be of good cheer: egō eimi; be not afraid.” At that moment, peace, be still, will become the reality of your life.

My Storm, My Lasting Peace

This is exactly how it happened to me. I was in the darkest place I could imagine and had been there for way too long. In desperation, my wife and I fell to our knees before God and pled, “We don’t know who we are, and we don’t know who you are. But God, we need to know. If knowing you will cost our home, our land, our jobs, our friends, and even our family, we will gladly pay.” At that moment, our prayer took a strange and unexpected twist, “Even if your truth comes at the cost of our children, God, we hold nothing back. God, we surrender all to you.”

We rose after our prayer, opened new red-letter Bibles, and began to read. In that instant, I had peace, and it has never left me. This peace has only grown more secure over the years, and I know why.

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

John 1:12, KJV, emphasis added

1. Exodas 3:5, KJV
2. Exodas 3:14b, KJV
3. Luke 23:21
4. Mark 10:50
5. 2 Corinthians 5:17
6. Romans 5:1-2