Dr. Harold & Myrna
Carpenter

I AM WHO I AM

by Dr. Harold R. Carpenter

1 Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. 3 So Moses said, "I must turn aside now, and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up." 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush, and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." 5 Then He said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." 6 He said also, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7 And the Lord said, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt,and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. 8 "So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 9 "And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 "Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt." 11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?" 12 And He said, "Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain." 13 Then Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" 14 And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" 15 And God, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. 'This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations. (Exodus 3:1-15, NASB).

Please look at the back of your Church Bulletin for today. There you will find one of the two primary names for God in the Old Testament. The four Hebrew characters you find there are called the tetragramaton. It is commonly pronounced Yahweh although we are not sure how it should really be pronounced. The ancient Hebrew texts had no vowels; only consonants. Sometime between the Old and New Testament scribes began to add vowel pointing to the text to facilitate its reading by those who were not completely familiar with the Hebrew language.

Yahweh is the personal name for God in contrast to elohim which is the more generic term. Yahweh is used more than 6000 times in the Old Testament. It is really a verb transformed into a noun. Hayah is the infinitive verb form meaning "to be." Yahweh is the present active indicative form of the verb and means "I Am." God's choice of this name indicates that He is eternal and is without beginning or end. It is this eternal quality of God which is expressed in His self-revelation in the Book of 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" (Revelation 1:8, NASB)

Just a few days ago scientists utilizing the Hubble telescope announced that they had just discovered faint distant galaxies never before seen by man. They announced that this extended the [known] limits of the universe by more than 30 million light years to a total of 108 million light years. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. Would you like to calculate how far 108 million light years would be! Yet God spoke it all into existence. Let your mind run wild. Our sun is approximately 193,000,000 miles from the earth which means that it takes about 17.5 minutes for its light to reach us. How far is 108 million light years? Yet God is beyond time and distance and energy. He is truly the great I AM!

No wonder God simply chose the name "I AM" to reveal Himself to Moses and to all mankind!

This morning we are considering the I AM, who was, who is, and who is to come!

A. Moses and the burning bush--Exodus 3:1-15

1. Birth and a basket in the bulrushes
2. A prince in a palace
3. A murderer on the run
4. A stranger in the desert
5. A conversation with a bush

a. I am here

b. Who am I?

B. God and a divine revelation

1. Moses' argument and Israel's question--"Who sent you?"
2. I Am Who I Am
3. Tell them "I Am has sent me."

C. Pharaoh's question

1. 2 But Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go" (Exodus 5:2, NASB).
2. God's response--"I will both tell you and show you!"
3. The ten plagues on Egypt
4. Pharaoh's request:

30 And Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. 31 Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, "Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the Lord, as you have said. 32 "Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also." 33 And the Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, "We shall all be dead" (Exodus 12:30-33, NASB).

A. Jesus the Eternal Word

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being (John 1:1-3, NASB).

B. Jesus the Innarnate Word

14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John bore witness of Him, and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'" 16 For of His fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him (John 1:14-18, NASB).

C. Jesus the Great I AM

56 "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." 57 The Jews Therefore said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am" (John 8:56-58, NASB).

D. Jesus the Immutable Word

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever (Hebrews 13:8, NASB).

A. God the Father as the Eternal I Am:

4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne; (Revelation 1:4, NASB)

(Note that this is the Father as Jesus is added in verse 5.)

8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:8, NASB).

8 And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come" (Revelation 4:8, NASB).

B. Jesus the only begotten Son as the Eternal I Am:

10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, 11 saying, "Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." 12 And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; 13 and in the middle of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His breast with a golden girdle. 14 And His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire; 15 and His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been caused to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. 16 And in His right hand He held seven stars; and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. 17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades (Revelation 1:10-18, NASB).

20 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21 'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne (Revelation 3:22-12, NASB).

22 And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple. 23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 And the nations shall walk by its light, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it (Revelation 21:22-24, NASB).

5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:5-11, NASB).

Chorus: "For He is Lord!"

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