Request your free, three-month trial to Tabletalk magazine. You’ll receive the print issue monthly and gain immediate digital access to decades of archives. This trial is risk-free. No credit card required.
Try Tabletalk NowAlready receive Tabletalk magazine every month?
Verify your email address to gain unlimited access.
Exodus 3:1–15
And God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you’ ” (Ex. 3:14).
When attempting to learn about someone, it is sometimes helpful to consider the person’s name. This is not true so much today, when names have little to do with a person’s occupation, nationality, or traits, but it was very true among the ancient Israelites. Thus, when God Himself shared His name with His people, He was providing information about Himself.
It happened when Moses encountered a burning bush as he tended the sheep of his father-in-law, Jethro, priest of Midian. As Moses approached the bush, God spoke to him from the midst of the fire, commanding him to go to Egypt to lead the Israelites out of slavery. In his attempts to evade the task, Moses asked God what he should tell the people if they were to ask the name of the One who had sent him. God answered, ‘ “I am who I am.’ ” He then went on to instruct Moses to say, “ ‘The Lord God of your fathers . . . has sent me to you.’ ” The Hebrew word here translated “The Lord” is Yahweh, which probably comes from the first-person form of the verb “to be” in Hebrew—ehyeh, meaning “I am.” This, then, is the name by which God wished to be known among His people—“I am.”
What does this name tell us about God? Actually, it tells us a great deal. The very fact that He chose to answer Moses’ request for a name, however strange that name might seem, indicates that God is personal. The name itself, “I am,” points to the fact that God is unchanging and eternal, for His name is not “I was” or “I will be.” But above all else, the name “I am” points to what theologians call God’s aseity, or His self-existence. God has the power of existence within Himself. That means that He has always existed and always will. Furthermore, He exists independently of all things. While we, like God, are beings, we are dependent beings, dependent on God, who made us (“ ‘In Him we live and move and have our being,’ ” Acts 17:28a). If He were to vanish, nothing could exist, but if the universe were to disappear, He would go on. Simply put, He is not a creature but a self-sustaining reality. The very theophany by which He appeared to Moses and conveyed this name—the burning bush—illustrated this aspect of His nature, for the bush was not consumed. God goes on and on, from eternity to eternity, always existing without a shadow of change.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Have you ever considered how easily your life could be snuffed out? We depend moment by moment on God to keep our hearts beating, our lungs contracting, and our brains functioning. But not God—He simply is and cannot cease to be. Take comfort in His self-existence and praise Him today for this great attribute.
For Further Study
- Psalm 90:1–4
- Psalm 102:25–27
- Isaiah 40:28–31
- John 5:26
- Revelation 4:10