"I Am, Who I Am" Exodus 3:14

While in prayer some years ago, I had an experience with Him, who is timeless and of whom the stories are told and written in scripture. I can genuinely tell you that when I think about Him and who He is to me, I say to Him, you are, "I Am, Who I Am!"

Mankind mostly misunderstands the story of "I Am, Who I Am" (Yahweh), and thus false concepts, descriptions, and understanding of Him are repeated many times, so incorrectly. His is a love story far more significant than any other ever written. A love story full of creativity, life, love, and intimacy. It is a timeless story about someone who has always been and will always be. Of someone unlimited in His capacity to love because He is love itself. There are not enough words that can tell the story of someone such as He. But there is a life within our spirit that can know and understand much about this beautiful, life-giving wonder we know as "I Am, Who I Am."

I believe without knowing; the Bible publishers may have done an injustice to their readers; thus, many have a misguided perception of God, "I Am, Who I Am." It is not the Bible publisher's interpretation of scripture that is the issue, but rather two brief descriptions that have caused readers to misperceive. The insertion of the title "The Old Testament," and the other is "The New Testament. We are not correct if we believe there are two stories, an old way and a new way. There is only one story about one God, who has always been and will always be. There are a couple of reasons the publishers divide the scripture into two parts. First, the fulfillment of the birth of Jesus, His life, and death while on earth as a man was the fulfillment of prophecy in the Old Testament. And two, because the original language used in the New Testament books was Greek. While it is understandable that the Bible writers would interpret scripture as part one and part two of the story of God and His creation, the fact is, it is only one.

We have heard many describe the Old Testament God as vengeful and cruel and the New Testament Jesus as one who loves and died for us. However, scripture tells us a different story. Scripture teaches us there is one God with one plan. That plan has been moving forward since the creation and fall of mankind, the redemption and restoration of all men and women to their creator, "I Am, Who I Am." We read about the promise of His redemption in scripture. And likewise, we read about His judgment on those who reject him. In the first and last books of the Bible. Jesus confirmed this when He said,

Revelation 1:17, "Don't be afraid! I Am the first and the last. I Am the living One, I died, but look----I Am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave."

Let's now look at this one God and His plan in scripture. As is written, when Moses was standing in the presence of God (Elohim), he was to tell the children of Israel, who were bound in slavery to Egypt, His name,

Exodus 3:14, "And God (Elohiym) said to Moses, I AM, WHO I AM" (Yahweh); and He said, "This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: I AM has sent me to you."

The description He uses (Yahweh) describes Himself as having always been in existence and that He will always be. The Alpha and Omega.

Revelation 1:8, "I am the Alpha and the Omega----the beginning and the end." Says the Lord God, "I am the one who is, who always was, and the one who is still to come----the Almighty One."

God wants to be known as "I Am, Who I Am" (Yahweh)!

When we read the name "Lord" in the Old Testament, the Hebrew name for God ("I Am, Who I Am), "Yahweh," and the Hebrew name for Lord (Yahweh) are used over six thousand times in scripture.

Due to the limitations of our minds, we cannot truly comprehend nor understand the realm of timelessness and immortality. The thought of someone such as "I Am, Who I Am" is beyond our comprehension. We see everything through the created life, with limits and mortality. Everything we know about the earth, sky, space, the universe, and man is limited in its current form and can be measured. But "I Am, Who I Am" (Yahweh) cannot be measured in any form. "I Am, Who I Am" (Yahweh) is unlimited; he is infinite power, energy, space, and time. He is formless, with no beginning and no end.

We know He created the heavens and earth, but we do not know what or who He had made before the time He decided to create "The heavens and the earth." Because "I Am, Who I Am" is timeless and without limits, so maybe all His past and future creations. There is no limit to the possibilities of different kinds of life made by Him. He could have separate realms of immeasurable types of beings and species and universes. We know what Scripture tells us, but we do not know those things He has chosen not to reveal to us. We are limited in our understanding and knowledge regarding "I Am, Who I Am"; thus, we have limited knowledge regarding who He is and what He has created.

Colossians 1, "such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world."

No matter the limitations of knowledge about His past, current, and future creation He has chosen to give us, what is the most important to us is that He has given us the fullness of Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ. He does not withhold or limit His love for us. "I Am, Who I Am" (Yahweh) decided to create us! Purposefully! So, whether past and future creations exist, we know and are assured he made us for His good pleasure, and He loves us without limits!

"I Am, Who I Am" (Yahweh) expresses himself through all His creation. He is more beautiful than we can imagine. As time has passed since that day, He gave me the vision I have learned about myself regarding who I am to Him and His love for me. And not only me but all that He has created and will create in the future. When we turn our lives to Him, we discover all that beauty within Him.

Before I became a born-again Christian, I could not imagine going on any trips without drugs and all that lifestyle entailed. I was 18 years old when I surrendered to the love of God, my creator. I had been doing drugs daily since the age of 14. I was lost and blind to everything good and beautiful. Shortly after becoming a born-again Christian, I met the young lady who would become my wife, to whom I have been married for 42 years at the time of writing this book. Our first outing together was a trip to Coloma, California. Coloma is about 70 miles from where we lived and where John Marshall discovered gold in California around 1849. I mention this because it is relative to what I have written regarding the expression of His beauty to us when we turn our lives over to Him. But this day in Coloma was filled with beauty.

A walking trail starts at the parking area and proceeds up a hill that ends at a statue of John Marshall pointing to where he discovered the gold in the river below. It is a winding trail that takes about 20 minutes to ascend. We were walking up the path when something happened to me that had never occurred to me before; I became acutely aware of His creation! It was amazing! It was so beautiful! I stopped walking and stared at a small flower for quite a while. I examined it from every angle, inside and out. Tears filled my eyes which I tried to hide from the young lady. I was overwhelmed by God's presence and beauty. I saw "I Am, Who I Am" (Yahweh) in that flower! I thought, how wonderful was this God who created us! "Look at this flower!" As I stood there, intently examining that flower, I realized how wonderful and beautiful God was, the creator of all things. For the rest of the day, I saw His wonder and beauty in everything. He captured me. He gave me a new life and showed me His.

The discovery of God takes only a moment of acknowledging Him and surrendering our hearts. That launches us to a lifetime of getting to know Him, a journey on which we travel and never arrive. He is frontier, yet to be discovered. The One always reveals new life and wonders around every turn and over every mountain and through every valley! We find mighty rivers of living waters, still brooks, high mountains, and prairies containing treasures beyond our wildest imagination when traveling through this frontier! No, not treasures of gold and jewels, rather something far more valuable. Him! Millenniums from now, we will be excited and amazed by what He plans and does. We will wait with faith and hope to fulfill what He does when we hear of them. He will forever be expressing His love, wonder, and beauty through new creations and life. Thus, faith, hope, and love will remain forever.

I Corinthians 13:13, "But now faith, hope, and love remain; but the greatest of these is love.

"I Am, Who I Am" (Yahweh) is Spirit and life. He is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and Omega.