INTRODUCTION:
What’s in a name?
In the Bible, a person’s name often signifies his character or ability or mission — especially when the name is given by God.
Adam names his wife Eve, because she is mother of all the living (Genesis 3:20). God changed Abram’s name to Abraham to show that He had made him the father of many nations (Genesis 17:5).
God changed Sarai’s name to Sarah (Genesis 17:15,16)
“...and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.”
He changed Jacob’s name to Israel (Genesis 32:28).
“And He said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel:
for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.”
And when the Son of God came into the world, His name was not left to chance: “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
This is the reason, Moses was asking the name of God, for knowing the names of God will help him trust God with his daily affairs and eternal destinies.
This would have made perfect sense, seeing that the Egyptians themselves had over 1500 gods!
They would surely want to know if it was "Oh, another one of them?!"
In keeping with the important attributes of a name, when God said,
“Tell them 'I Am That I Am' sent you", He was making sure Moses knew and would tell his people that a Being with no beginning, no end, no parentage, and no ethnicity sent him.
He was "Existence" itself.
He transcended time, space, matter and all other "gods".
He was, truly, the God Who Existed.
In christiananswers.net, they listed 956 names of God and Titles which they said were in the Scriptures from the Old Testament to the New Testament.
From: gotquestions.org
(The phrase translated “I am who I am” in Hebrew is
“ehyeh asher ehyeh”. The word ehyeh is the first person common singular of the verb to be. It would be used in any number of normal situations: “I am watching the sheep,” “I am walking on the road,” or “I am his father.” However, when used as a stand-alone description, I AM is the ultimate statement of self-sufficiency, self-existence, and immediate presence. God’s existence is not contingent upon anyone else. His plans are not contingent upon any circumstances. He promises that He will be what He will be; that is, He will be the eternally constant God. He stands, ever-present and unchangeable, completely sufficient in Himself to do what He wills to do and to accomplish what He wills to accomplish.
When God identified Himself as I AM WHO I AM, He stated that, no matter when or where, He is there. It is similar to the New Testament expression in Revelation 1:8, “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’” This is true of Him for all time, but it would have been especially appropriate for a message in Moses’ day to a people in slavery and who could see no way out. I AM was promising to free them, and they could count on Him!
Moses and Aaron delivered the message to Pharaoh: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’” Pharaoh replied, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go” (Exodus 5:1–2).
Pharaoh stood in opposition to the LORD. Pharaoh was not willing to concede that there was a power higher than himself. He was not willing to yield his plans to the One who was all-powerful and all-sufficient.
In essence, Pharaoh was saying “I am who I am, and therefore I will not yield to another.” This seems to be the besetting sin of humanity.
God is “The Great I AM,” but we continually want to be our own “I am”
We make plans and determine that we will fulfill them no matter what. Even evidence to the contrary does not readily convince us of our weakness and contingency.
One of Frank Sinatra’s signature songs was “I Did It My Way.”
The final lines of the song, written by Paul Anka, express a common refrain of mankind:
“For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way.”
God is the only One who can accurately describe Himself as “I AM.” Jesus claimed the title I AM for Himself in John 8:58.
For the rest of us, “I am” is a false claim to self-sufficiency.
We are not eternally constant or ever-present.
Our only hope is to abandon claims of our own sovereignty and sufficiency and cast ourselves upon the mercy of (the only) I AM.
And so, that encounter in the desert would be the blueprint of Moses’ mission of his existence when he asked what was God’s name.
It would be our question also to fill that blank that we might have the mission of our existence.
Our Exodus. Our Exit. To who we are today, to an exciting journey we would have as we all answer God’s call to liberate our own why questions.
“... Who am I?”(v11)
To God’s “(ehyeh asher ehyeh) I AM THAT I AM”
Just like Moses, it is not the “who am I?”
But the I AM THAT I AM!
Because I believe that we would only know the Great I Am, as we turn aside to see, God would surely call us unto Him out of the midst of what’s ordinary to become extraordinary and would say; “Moses,Moses. “
And we’ll all say.... “Here am I.”
Then we can know Him to answer the I AM THAT I AM,
not with “who am I?” but with “here I am”
v8’s “I AM come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
IT IS NOT TO FILL ALL THOSE BLANKS OF WHO GOD IS TO BE IN OUR JOURNEY TO THE PROMISED LAND, BUT TO ANSWER OUR WHO AM I WITH OUR HERE I AM...
IT IS IN OUR HERE I AM THAT WE MIGHT KNOW THE I AM THAT I AM.
LET US KNOW NOW THE I AM THAT I AM
1- HERE I AM v4
It is here God is willing to let His being known in ways Moses doesn’t know yet. It takes our Here Am I, to begin a wonderful journey with the Great I Am...
6Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
It is very important at this moment for Moses to just say; Here I am.
It matters most to God if we will only say; Here I am.
God knew that the moment we say here I am, it would be the beginning of God filling all the blanks in our life.
It is enough for God that we say, Here I am.
Not us... but Him!
Look at fearful Gideon, even the reluctant Jonah, the religious Paul...
The Lord wanted only our here I am, Lord
Like Moses, like those great men of God, He has called us and has a plan for us. We can look back and see God’s hand in our lives before we knew God. We can see God’s hand in our lives today.
Then comes God outlining to Moses the reason for his calling.
He was specifically chosen to a mission of liberation
He was commissioned.
Our I Am would start our reason for our Call
Then Our I am would start all our Who I am...
2- WHO AM I? v11
“And Moses, said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
Moses had gained a more accurate perspective of who he really was, when he lived as a common shepherd in the land of Midian. He was now 80 years old at this time... is it possible that he was beginning to be the meekest man that ever lived on this planet? ( Numbers 12:3 )
He was the man with the longest period in the presence of God when he was in Mt.Sinai. It was my understanding here that as you stay longer in the Presence of God, the more that you would be meeker...
The more you would forget who you are.
You would be lost in your past, present and future and keep track of time and matter and space.
Why?
When we are in the presence of God, we realise how useless we are.
How sinful we are, just like Peter in Luke 5:8 When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.” (NLT)
We always forget that when God had chosen us, He had everything under His power...
And humility would be the only virtue left!
And then we lost of our perspective of who we really are!
Just like Paul... 8For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. ( 2 Corinthians 12 )
3- I AM THAT I AM
This is God’s answer to Moses’ “who am I?”
11¶And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? 12And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.
13And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
14And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said,
Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel,
I AM hath sent me unto you.
God did not answer Moses’ question of “who am I?”
Instead He answered Him with His “I Am that I Am”
What does God mean by that?
God wanted to tell Moses and all people of God that as we surrender to
His call and forget ourselves?
Our questions would not be answered until we say:
Here I am....
Then Who I am
And then?
He would start to fill those blanks in our life.
Gideon would become a man of valour
David became the transparent man that he is... when confronted by prophet Nathan
Paul became the Apostle to the gentiles
The cowering Peter became the bold preacher that he is
Every men and women of the Bible.
God had a regular track record of filling those blanks!
Are you ready for the I Am that I am?
He is still the “ehyeh asher ehyeh”.
He is the antedate of our faith....
John 8:56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 58Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”
Let us now surrender our I am with God’s I am that I am.
If we do that?
He would start to fill those blanks in our life!
Let us rejoice to see that day happening in our life....
Now.
0134pm14august2018tuesday@powerHousepreached31stSunday2018
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