I Am Who I Am
Exodus 3:13–15
God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” Exodus 3:14
“I am who I am!” This name is linked with the ancient name for God, Jehovah. But it is more than a name. It is a descriptive name, pointing to all that God is in himself. In particular, it shows him to be the One who is entirely self-existent, self-sufficient, and eternal.
These are abstract concepts, of course, but they are very important, for it is these attributes more than any others that set God apart from his creation and reveal him as being what he is in himself. God alone possesses these characteristics. He exists in and of himself; we do not. He is entirely self-sufficient; we are not. He is eternal; in our case there was always a time before which we did not exist. This means that his existence does not depend on anybody.
God’s self-existence is a hard concept for us to grapple with, of course, for it means that God as he is in himself is unknowable. Everything that we see, smell, hear, taste, or touch has origins. We can hardly think in anything but these categories. This is the basis of our science, for we argue correctly that anything we observe must have a cause adequate to explain it, and we seek for such causes. But God is beyond understanding; indeed, he is the One who is beyond us in every way. This means that he cannot be known and evaluated like other things can.
The second quality of God communicated to us in the name “I am who I am” is self-sufficiency, which means that God has no needs and therefore depends on no one. God does not need worshipers nor helpers nor defenders.
The third quality involved in the name of God is everlastingness, perpetuity, or eternity. This is a hard quality to put in one word, but it is simply that God is, has always been, and will always be, and that he is ever the same in this, his eternal being.
When we notice that God is the only truly self-sufficient one, we may begin to understand why the Bible has so much to say about the need for faith in God alone and why unbelief in God is such sin. If we refuse to trust God, what we are actually saying is that either we or some other person or thing is more trustworthy. This is a slander against the character of God. And it is folly; for nothing else is all-sufficient. On the other hand, if we begin by trusting God (by believing on him), then we have a solid foundation for all life. God is sufficient, and his word to his creatures can be trusted.
Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865
Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.