Existence--Exodus 3:14

I AM that I AM

"I AM that I AM" (Exodus 3:14).

This is what God said to Moses in reply to his inquiry into God's name or person. More so then than now, a person's name represented the person--his character, his being, who he was. Here, God declares first of all that he is, and secondly that, because he is, all else is: He is the one upon whose existence all else that exists depends. He is the rock-bottom foundation upon which existence itself exists. He is the ultimate reality upon which everything rests and beyond which there is no beyond. He is.

That this is the crucial issue upon which all else rests is confirmed even by those who refuse to accept the truth that God is the truth and essence of this ultimate reality. For they do not reject that this is the key matter, only that they are its essence, not God. They appropriate to themselves this ultimate title of being the great "I AM":

"You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, `No one sees me.' Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, `I am, and there is none besides me'" (Isaiah 47:10).

This is blasphemy and pride and arrogance beyond belief. It is the created thing calling itself the Creator.

"Does the ax raise itself above him who swings it, or the saw boast against him who uses it? As if a rod were to wield him who lifts it up, or a club brandish him who is not wood!" (Isaiah 10:15).

Preposterous! Yet such is the irrational claim of proud man, that he is his own creator. Could that be why Scripture says explicitly, "Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and not we ourselves" (Psalm 100:3)?

It should be so obvious to all that no thing or being can create itself, yet because man has been so blinded by his pride, even this simple, obvious, basic fact is lost upon him and so God states it explicitly and clearly in his Word.

Now, of course, in one respect, each individual human being does have a legitimate right to stand in awe of his or her own existence, for it is indeed a thing to wonder at. For eternal ages, I did not exist, and now . . . here I am! What an extraordinary thing! Therefore, it is right, to an extent, to stand in awe of our own existence and want to shout to the world, "Here I am!" Is that not the essence of a newborn baby's cry? It is crying out to the world, "Here I am! I exist! Pay attention to me!"

And well we should, for life is a true miracle and wonder. Where once nothing existed, now there is something, and not only some thing but someone. Existence and life are truly worthy of the awe and attention that we give to every new baby born.

But a baby is not God, the infinite I AM. Neither is a mature, grown-up human being the infinite God. Never can that which has been created ever become that which is eternally uncreated but eternally existent. Man is not God, man cannot become God. To claim otherwise is foolishness and nonsense and irrational and does injustice both to language and logic. The Creator was, is, and always will be greater than his creation. Man may rightfully stand in awe of the fact that he exists and say in humble awe, "I am.” But that is a far cry from claiming to be the I AM upon which all other I am's exist. That right belongs to God alone. He alone has the right to say of himself, "I AM that I AM."