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Who does God say he is?

Exodus 3:14 

“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” 

The title of this isn’t a rhetorical question. For us, we call God different things. We speak different languages, have had different circumstances, and may refer to God differently. Maybe to you God is Healer, and maybe to another person God is Provider, but what does God call himself?. We see countless times in the bible where God self-identifies. Whether it is “Almighty” (Revelation 1:8) or “Alpha and Omega” (Revelation 22:13), God is multifaceted in his title. Today, I want to highlight one of those names. From the verse we see God refers to himself as “I am who I am”. This is the first time in the bible where God refers to himself by a specific name. Prior to this moment, the Israelites called God “Elohim” or “El Shaddai” which is more of a title rather than a personal name and loosely translates to “God Almighty”. They called him this as a recognition for sovereignty and an identification of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, the bloodline for which God blessed. “I am who I am” translates to “I am who I will be”. In context, God is bringing hope to the Israelites who have been enslaved for 400 plus years. God is essentially saying that the same God he was for Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, he will be the same God that will bring them out of Egypt. We can have our own hope in this as well because God will bring us out of our own Egypt: whatever that may look like. With this name God is saying he has no beginning or ending, he is constant. He has stayed the same through the history of time and will forever stay the same. With everything worldly eventually ending, God remains consistent throughout: he transcends earthly conventions of timing. God is also inviting us to intimacy with this name. He wants more than us to simply acknowledge his sovereignty.  The vagueness to this title allows us to personalise it to our own situations. That being said: the same God that got you through that grief, God is saying “I am who I will be”. The same God that got you out of that sickness, God is saying “I am who I will be”. The same God that got you out of that debt, God is saying “I am who I will be”. God will be who he will be.  

 

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