Exodus 3:14 And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you. The answer is twofold. It repeats the idea that He is the God of their father; but it connects that with the idea that He is Jehovah. I. THE ETERNAL NAME. "God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM. Say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." The word is that from which Jehovah comes. It expresses the idea of existence. In announcing Himself by this name the Divine Being excludes all notion of any commencement or termination of His existence, or that He is indebted for it to any other. It is self-existence, necessary existence; His non-existence is an impossibility and cannot be entertained. Jesus Christ "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." "The Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last." "He who was, and is, and is to come." Perhaps the most helpful conception we have of permanence is given by the spectacle of the lofty mountains which stand unmoved and unchanged for centuries and millenniums. We call them the everlasting hills. But He was before the mountains, and will continue His undying existence when they have disappeared in the final dissolution. II. THE ABIDING RELATIONSHIP. "The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." The two names are closely connected, because He could not be the one God of successive generations if He were not Jehovah — the Everlasting. 1. You will mark that He is not only Jehovah, God in Himself, as He cannot but be; He is the God of the persons here men. tioned. Think what a great thing it is that He should be the God of any one! Think what a blessedness and a glory it is to have His almightiness on your side; His love your resting-place; His throne your refuge in distress; His unchanging faithfulness your abiding confidence. 2. Next, observe that He was the God of each of the persons named. God knows how to be the God of all His people however they differ from each other in those subtle shades of character which, like the features of the face, distinguish one man from another. 3. Then observe, further, He was the God of their successive generations. This thought is valuable in connection with the idea that God still has a people. The spiritual seed of Abraham. Also that the children of godly parents should value the blessing of having their father's God. Fear to forfeit it. 4. Nor must we overlook the important use the Great Teacher made of the statement in our text. Argument for resurrection and immortality in Matthew 22:24-32. III. THE PERMANENT NAME. God's eternity contrasts with our brief life ; warrants our confidence in Him ; suggests the blessedness of those who are interested in Him. (John Rawlinson.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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