Thou Shalt Call His Name I Am

Thou Shalt Call His Name, “I AM”

Exodus 3:10-15

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Isaiah 9:6

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called [I AM] Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Matthew 1:21

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name [I AM] JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Did I read those verses wrong? Not really. Of all His wonderful names, and “wonderful” is one of them…I AM is the most foundational. It’s the deepest ‘root name.’ The umbrella name under which all the others rest.

Jesus said “I am” many times, stating His claim as the Son of God, declaring Himself to be the Messiah. And Jesus could add something else today, though He never is quoted directly as saying it, and He shouldn’t have to--Jesus could say, “I AM Christmas. You can kick me out of the nativity and take my name out of the holiday all you want, but you will not be able to undo the fact that Christmas is also what I AM!”

[Read text from Exodus 3] This is the account of where God called Moses to be the deliverer of Israel out of Egypt. You will remember that Moses is on the back side of the desert and no one is present but him and God. God has told him to go unto Pharaoh and tell him to let the people of God go. Moses is hesitant. Then the conversation changes to the children of Israel, and Moses asks God what name he shall use in convincing the Israelites to go with him. God then makes the statement that has been repeated thousands maybe even millions of times since. Exo 3:14 "And 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."

You may say, that’s Jehovah, God the Father. Yes it is. And that is Christ as well! You see ‘Jesus’ is a form of the Hebrew ‘Jehovah’ [Yahweh] mixed with the word for Saviour/Salvation.

In the N.T. we see where Jesus used this same name several times. “I am the bread of life”; I am the door”; I am the way, the truth, and the life”, “I am the True Vine; I Am the Good Shepherd”; just to mention a few.

John 8:58

Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

Have you ever stopped to think why God did not continue in the phrase in Ex. 3:14? Why did He just say, “I AM THAT I AM”? Why did he not go ahead and state what HE IS? You see, there is no beginning and no ending to God. There are no boundaries. There is no height nor depth limitations. God is without boundary. Had he stated what HE WAS that would have limited Himself to that particular claim. “I AM THAT I AM”. What is He? He is whatever you need.

If you need a Comforter, He is a comforter.

If you need a Provider, He is a provider.

If you need a Saviour, He is a Saviour.

If you need an Anchor, He is the anchor.

If you need an understanding Listener, He is just that.

There is no limit to what He is. “I AM THAT I AM.”

We can’t explain God. We can’t describe Him except what He has given us in the Bible. We can’t increase Him or decrease Him. We can’t expound on Him.

I AM THAT I AM. This explains:

1. That he is self-existent: he has his being of himself.

2. That he is eternal and unchangeable, and always the same, yesterday, today, and for ever.

3. That he is incomprehensible; we cannot by searching find him out: this name checks all bold and curious inquiries concerning God.

4. That he is faithful and true to all his promises, unchangeable in his word as well as in his nature.

God says, “I AM, and there is none else besides me. All else have their being from Me, and are wholly dependent upon Me.”

Turn to John 8. Though Jesus often qualifies the statement “I AM”, explaining what and who He is, He doesn’t always.

v. 12 I am the light of the world, He says. He follows I AM with ‘the light of the world.’

v. 16-18 He says I am one with the Father.

v. 23 He says I am from above.

But look at v. 24: ‘if ye believe not that I am he, yes shall die in your sins.’ PLEASE NOTICE that the word ‘he’ is in italics, meaning it is not there in the original language, but was added by the translators for clarification. The KJV translators were above all honest, so they placed in italics words not in the original texts, but implied there. And usually such added words are a real help in bridging the language gaps sometimes present, but in this case it should not have been added. For Jesus did not literally say ‘I am he’, but just ‘I am.’ He drops all adjectives, pronouns, and objects…there is a subject but no predicate, and Jesus boldly declares Himself to be the I AM!