The great ‘I Am’

The story begins when Jacob’s family of 70 people is forced to leave Canaan due to famine in the land. They traveled to Egypt where Jacob’s son, Joseph, was second-in-command only to Pharoah. The people of Jacob are treated kindly at first, but after 430 years, the Hebrews have grown to over a million people, who were treated rather harshly by later Pharaohs. The later Pharaohs doubled their workloads and had required them to work on building projects with no pity on difficulty of taskings and deadlines. 

You probably studied in Sunday School about Moses being born at a time when the Pharoah had decreed that all Hebrew male children be killed. You know the rest of the story: Moses was placed by his mother in a water-proof basket near the banks of the Nile River.  Soon thereafter, Pharoah’s daughter found and adopted Moses. After growing up and being educated in Pharoah’s palace, Moses became incensed when he saw an Egyptian severely mistreating a Hebrew slave. In retaliation, Moses killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. 

To escape punishment, Moses traveled to the land of Midian located in Northwestern Arabia. There he married Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian. While watching Jethro’s sheep near Mount Sinai, Moses noticed a bush in the distance that was burning without being consumed. So, Moses went to check out the phenomenon. 

As Moses approached the bush, God spoke: “Do not come any closer.” Then God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” God added, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Then, the Lord continued, “I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt and want you to lead them out.” In response, Moses asked, “Who am I that I should go to Pharoah and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” God assured Moses, “I will be with you.” Moses then asked, “They will ask me, what is his name?” God responded, “Tell them I am has sent me to you.” After the 10 plagues, Moses led the Hebrews from Egyptian captivity. It was called the Exodus. You can read this in chapters 1-15 of Exodus. 

In the book of John, Jesus referred to Himself as the ‘Great I AM’ a total of seven times. He said: “I AM the Bread of Life” (John 6: 35), “I AM the Light of the World” (John 8:12), “I AM the Door” (John 10:9), “I AM the Good Shepherd” (John 10: 11-14), “I AM the Resurrection and the Life” (John 11: 25), “I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No man goes to the Father except by Me” (John 14:6), and “I AM the Vine” (John 15: 1-5). In John 8: 24, Jesus declared, “For unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins,” and later the crowd attempted to stone Jesus. In John 8: 38, Jesus uttered these impressive words, “Before Abraham was born, I AM.” 

The prologue of John’s gospel says something similar about the identity of Jesus. The first verse in John, chapter 1 reads: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Then in verse 14, John states “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Word is the English translation of the Greek word “Logos.” It means the manifestation of the mind and will of God. The ‘Logos’ or ‘Word’ spoke the universe into existence and controls the precise movement of plants, suns, stars, and galaxies.