Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh
Exodus 3:13-15
OUR TEXT
13 “And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them?14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.”
INTRODUCTION
There are times when we hesitate to do God’s will because of feelings of inadequacy. Moses felt so inadequate to lead the children of Israel that he offered several excuses to God, but found God to be his adequacy.
A right concept of God is essential to serving the Lord with, power, purpose, and proper perspective.
God not only reminded Moses of His covenant promise to Abraham, but used the name I AM (EHYEH) to teach him about His perfect and provider nature.
In answer to Moses’ question in verse 13 of our text, “What is His name?” God clearly states His name to be EHYEH, I AM.
The scribes and Pharisees of the New Testament were astounded when Jesus used this name in reference to Himself. In their way of thinking, it was to be used only of God. In fact, it was so revered that they dared not even speak it, substituting another name for God in its place.
But, since Jesus is fully God, He has every right to use this name.
And so He did!
John 8:24–
“I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I AM He, ye shall die in your sins.”
⦁ The “He” is not in the original Greek text. Jesus stated emphatically that if a person did not believe in His deity (EHYEH), he would die in his sins. A sobering thought.
John 8:28–
“When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I AM He…”
⦁ God became flesh, died for our sins, and desires to be our Savior. Is it any wonder that Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
John 8:58–
“Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”
⦁ In this statement Jesus is declaring His pre-existence from eternity past.
John 13:19–
“Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He.”
⦁ Jesus predicted the betrayal of Judas to give evidence that He shared God’s attribute of omniscience that He was all-knowing. The deity of Christ is one of the cardinal doctrines of our faith.
THE PROPOSITION
The full revelation of God is Jesus Christ. The ‘I AM’ of the Old Testament is the Jesus of the New Testament.
Let’s look at several aspects of God’s nature in order to enhance our sense of God’s power, purpose, and perspective.
⦁ EHYEH (I AM) TEACHES US ABOUT GOD’S SELF-EXISTENCE
⦁ We can praise God for His pre-existence before time. “In the beginning, God” (Genesis 1:1). God is the Great I AM! It means that from His Word, there is no past, no future, no was nor will be about Him, but only the now since HE IS. No one created God so He is not beholden to anyone else.
⦁ EHYEH is above all, before all, and greater than all. Thank God for His eternality that transcends all of time, people, and events. He is greater than all history, present circumstances or future opposing powers because He always has been the eternally existing God.
⦁ There is only one God. God is the only Creator. The Creator must be before His creation can be. Therefore, God was before He created. All that is not God is His creation. ‘All That Is’ is God and His creation. God was before He created. Therefore, there was a condition of ‘All That Is’ when there was only God.
Let’s teach, preach, and serve a God who has neither beginning nor end. Ask God to give you more of His eternal perspective, power, and peace today.
0. EHYEH (I AM) TEACHES US ABOUT GOD’S COMPLETENESS
⦁ Moses had to learn that whenever he was feeling inadequate, God is totally sufficient, complete, and adequate for all his needs. God completes whatever we are lacking in. May it be courage, wisdom, or ability, He is our great I AM.
⦁ EHYEH gives us the authority to do things that are far beyond the ability of human beings because He supernaturally enables us with the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul wrote:
“Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; who hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
2 Corinthians 3:5-6
⦁ Before He created, ‘All That Is’ was God. God is perfect. Disunity is imperfect. Therefore, in God there is no disunity. In God there is perfect unity.
“For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”
1 Corinthians 14:33
⦁ God in Himself is perfect in UNITY. Perfect unity is a condition in which there are no differences by which to be distinguished.
⦁ It is a condition of perfect oneness in all aspects of being.
⦁ In perfect unity there is no distinction of one from another. In perfect unity there is only ONE.
In perfect unity there is no other.
0. EHYEH (I AM) TEACHES US ABOUT GOD’S SUPPLY.
⦁ EHYEH is the purveyor of every good and perfect gift. He is the only One who always supplies without adding any sorrow. Moses doubted if he had the wherewithal to teach, lead, and govern the people of Israel, but EHYEH assured him of the availability of total resources.
⦁ As New Testament believers, we count on the promise,
“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:19
⦁ We also find our supply in the promise,
“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Romans 8:32
⦁ We can be assured that whatever spiritual, material, mental, emotional, financial, relational, academic, or physical need we might have, EHYEH is able to supply it. Hudson Taylor, the famous founder of the China Inland Mission, wrote, and I quote, “God’s will done in God’s way will not lack God’s support,” unquote.
0. EHYEH (I AM) TEACHES US ABOUT GOD’S PROMISES
⦁ When God told Moses, “EHYEH hath sent me unto you,” He provided a sort of blank check. In other words, whatever need you might have and whatever the circumstance, EHYEH will provide.
⦁ Let’s find strength for our weakness, find solutions to our problems, find deliverance from our difficulties, find peace in our stress, find relief from our pains, find victory from our defeat and find ability from our inabilities.
⦁ God gives us this Great I AM to live in our souls, in the Person of the Holy Spirit so He can fill us with whatever need, at any time and in any situation, if we will trust Him, ask Him, and look to His Word for the solutions to our problems.
0. EHYEH (I AM) TEACHES US ABOUT GOD’S HOLINESS
⦁ The Great I AM is perfect, pure, and completely worthy of our worship. The Apostle Peter wrote, “Be ye holy as I AM holy” (1 Peter 1:15).
⦁ It is not enough to just look to the Lord to meet our needs, but we need to recognize that we please Him the most when we are holy, above reproach, and blameless in all aspects of life.
⦁ We learn more about the HOLINESS of God when we recognize that He is forever holy and not one person, problem or event has caused Him to lose an iota of His Holiness.
⦁ His holiness is the center of His Being as everything emanates from His holy standards of righteousness, truth, and purity.
Let’s purge ourselves from an unclean conscience so that we may serve Him with purity, holiness, and truth.
0. EHYEH (I AM) TEACHES US ABOUT GOD’S COMFORT
⦁ Just as God comforted Moses in his time of desperation, so He comforts us in all our afflictions so that we can comfort anyone who is undergoing distress with the same comfort we receive from God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4–
“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”
⦁ Let’s trust the Lord to comfort us when we are in distress. He has sent the Comforter in the Person of the Holy Spirit to be with us always.
⦁ Hannah Smith wrote, and I quote,
“I AM implies that we may ask for what is not complete. This apparently unfinished name is the most comforting name the heart of man could devise, because it allows us to add to it without any limitations. Whatever we feel the need of and even exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think.”
Let’s allow the Lord to comfort, buoy our spirits and relieve our minds from stress as we call upon Him to comfort us, deliver us, and relieve us from all our burdens.
Isaiah 26:3-4–
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.”
0. EHYEH (I AM) TEACHES US ABOUT GOD’S CHARACTER
⦁ Let’s teach God’s character to the people around us.
⦁ Once a person understands the characteristics of God then he will become more like the Master.
John 17:3–
“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”
Application:
⦁ Let’s ask God for help in reflecting His character in our attitudes and actions.
⦁ By teaching character development we will enhance maturity, depth, and breadth in the lives of the people we seek to influence for the long haul.
⦁ The greatest tool we have to influence people is our example. Our Lord Jesus said,
“The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.”
Luke 6:40
We learn more about God by reading and studying His Word, but praising Him for His attributes and the Biblical descriptions about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
0. EHYEH (I AM) TEACHES US ABOUT GOD’S PROTECTION
⦁ When people know that we are sent from God, then, if they reject or discount our teaching, they have to deal with God.
⦁ When we make it clear that we are merely representing EHYEH it becomes clear people are not rejecting us or our teaching but God and His Word.
⦁ Moses needed to know that even if people would laugh, ridicule or criticize him, God would be his Deliverer.
As long as we trust and obey the Lord, we can be assured of God’s approval, regardless of people’s response.
Illustration:
One day, the late Adrian Rogers, the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, then pastor of Bellevue Baptist in Memphis, Tennessee, felt discouraged that people were not responding to his invitations. He felt distraught that he asked God to give him a verse for encouragement. He opened the Bible and pointed at a verse and it read,
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.” John 13:20
After that, Adrian Rogers no longer worried about the results from his invitations knowing that people were not rejecting him or his teaching, but God and His Word’s invitation. That took all of the pressure off of him to see success.
CONCLUSION
EHYEH ASHER EHYEH, I AM THAT I AM–the self-existent and eternal God is a declaration of the unity and spirituality of the Divine Nature, the exact opposite of all the forms of idolatry, human, animal, and celestial that prevailed everywhere else.
It is, however, not merely a philosophical phrase. The emphasis must be on the active manifestation of the Divine existence.
To the Israelites in bondage, the meaning would be, ‘Although He has not yet displayed His power towards you, He will do so.’
The answer, which Moses receives in these words, is thus equivalent to, ‘I shall save in the way I shall save.’ It is to assure the Israelites of the fact of deliverance, but does not disclose the manner.
It must suffice to the Israelites (and to us) that:
“EHYEH, I WILL BE (WITH YOU) HATH SENT ME UNTO YOU.”
AMEN!
