Our God is I AM WHO I AM: He is the Self-Existing and Ever-Existing Eternal One

Our God wants us to know who He is, and He wants to be our God and we His people; the most wonderful name of Jehovah God is “I am who I am”, the self-existing and ever-existing eternal One.

We all derive our being from Him, we have breath because He simply is, and He sustains all things by the word of His power. Because He is, we all are; we are merely temporary beings, existing on earth for a limited time, but when we receive His life and are one with Him, we enter into an eternal relationship with Him.

The Bible is quite specific when it speaks of God; when God came in to create and restore in Gen. 1, His name was not Jehovah but Elohim; this name is in relation to creation, while Jehovah is the name of God in relation to man.

Elohim means the strong One, the mighty One; this name refers to God’s relationship with creation.

When God came to Moses, however, and He called him to go and deliver His people, God revealed that He is Jehovah, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

Jehovah God is a name of intimacy and love; God wants to be related to man, enter into a relationship with man, and be our God and make us His people. Jehovah God is not only the One who is powerful and almighty, but also the One who draws near to man.

Our God created us in His image and according to His likeness so that He and us would be related, enter into a relationship, and live together; for this, He is Jehovah, the One who draws near to man. He draws near to us day by day, and He takes us through many experiences so that we may draw near to Him and live one with Him.

Our God wants us to be His people and He would be our God forever; there’s a deep longing in God that He would be our God – even that He would be my God and your God.

Furthermore, God revealed that His name is simply “I AM THAT I AM”. God is the verb TO BE. He simply is. We are not, but He is.

In this article we want to explore what is the meaning of I AM, the name of Jehovah which He used with Moses and the people of Israel. This name is very meaningful to us believers in the New Testament because Jesus Himself said that He is the I AM, so the One who lives in us is Jehovah God, the I AM.

Our God is I AM WHO I AM: He is the Self-Existing and Ever-Existing Eternal One

Jehovah means “I am who I am”; this is the most wonderful title of God, mentioned in Exo. 3:14-15. God’s name is simply the verb to be. We are not qualified to say that we are – we are nothing, we are here today but not here tomorrow, but God was, is, and will be forever!

Only God has being; He is “I am who I am”, denoting that He is self-existing and ever-existing. God is self-existing: He doesn’t need anyone to depend on so that He may exist – His being depends on nothing apart from Himself.

God is ever-existing: He exists eternally, having no beginning nor ending, He simply exists!

This is the hardest thing for the natural human mind to grasp: an uncaused being, a self-existing being. Our mind is structured with the time and space element, with cause and effect; everything has to have a cause, and there’s an effect. But God simply is.

Atheists say there’s no God, but whether they admit now or later, God simply is. He doesn’t need to explain Himself or to prove who He is: He simply is. God has no obligation to explain to us who He is and how He is self-existing and ever-existing; He simply is, and all men will eventually acknowledge this fact, that God is!

The divine title I AM indicates that, as the self-existing One, God depends on nothing apart from Himself (Exo. 3:14). God is the I AM, the self-existing and ever-existing One.

In John 8:58 the Lord Jesus said, Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham came into being, I am. The Lord Jesus as God incarnated is the I AM; before Abraham existed, Jesus was there, and before the world began, Jesus was there.

When we read with our human understanding that God is the I AM, it doesn’t make sense to us, for this is a verb, a state of being; but this is what God is – He simply is, and the verb to be can be applied only to God’s being, for He is self-existent and ever-existent. Because God is self-existing and ever-existing, He could call things not being as being (Rom. 4:17).

When God created all things, He didn’t “make things” but simply called things into being. At one time there was no light, water, mountains, flowers, animals, etc, but God called these things into being simply by speaking.

When we speak, not much comes into being; we can give advice, encourage others, upset them, offend them, or insult them, but we cannot call things into being. Only God, Jehovah God, is the I AM, and only He as the self-existing and ever-existing One can call things not being as being.

And such a One is now in us: Jesus Christ, God becoming man and then becoming a life-giving Spirit, is in our spirit, to give us meaning, sense, and eternal life. Hallelujah, the One who is – the only One who is the I AM – is now in us, and He is everything that we need!

Since He is ever-existing and self-existing, we will enjoy together with Him an eternal, unending, delightful married life for eternity!

Lord, open our eyes to see that You are the I AM; You are self-existing and ever-existing, without need for anyone to help You exist. Enlighten us, Lord, so that we may realize that You are I AM WHO I AM. You simply are, and we are not. You exist, and we are here for a short while. Lord, thank You for coming to us as the I AM. We believe into You as the I AM, and we are saved from our sins. Hallelujah, the great I AM is now in us, in our spirit, to be everything that we need! Our God is the great I AM, the self-existing and ever-existing One!

Jehovah is the Only One who Is – Everything Else will Cease to Be, but He IS!

Throughout the history there have been many great men who lived, did many things, and then eventually died; their history still inspires many, but they cannot claim that they are, because now they are not.

Jehovah is the only One who is, and we who come forward to Him must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarded of those who diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6).

We are here today, but 100 years ago we didn’t exist, and 100 years from now we are not here; we are not, but God is. Before time began, God was; in time, God is, and for eternity, God simply is.

This unique One who has being is the great “TO BE”; this verb can be applied only to God and not to us. At one point everything will cease to be, but God will ever continue to be; He is the Great To Be, the great I AM.

When we see that God is, we will realize that we are not; in ourselves, we do not have being. Only God is; only He has being, and apart from Him, nothing else has being. The Pharisees came to the Lord Jesus and asked Him to tell them who He is, and He replied, I am. He is the unique One, the “to be”.

Solomon realized that apart from God everything is vanity of vanities. Having many things, being smart, achieving high goals, and being respected and loved by many – all these are passing away, for they are vanity of vanities.

Apart from God, the only One who is, nothing is, and everything else is vanity. But when we have God, when we lift the Lord Jesus up, we will know that He is (John 8:28), and we will live because of Him.

Our existence on earth is because of Him, and the meaning of our human life is simply to have God in us, for He is and we are not.

When God in Christ as the Spirit of reality comes into us, we are filled with reality. When God in Christ as the Spirit of reality lives in us, we live a genuine human life according to God’s eternal purpose. Too much time we have lived a meaningless life, a life with no purpose, a life in the vanity of our mind.

We need to open to the Lord, pray over His word, and be brought to the realization that God is and we are not; He needs to live in us and we have to remain on the cross, so that Christ may live in us (Gal. 2:20).

We need to believe that He is, and as we draw near to this One, He will reward us with Himself.

When we have God in us and we allow Him to spread in all the inward parts of our being so that He may also be lived out of us, we live a life in God’s eternal purpose, and the I AM becomes real to us and through us. But when we still live our natural human life, we seek vanity, we live a meaningless life, and we have no purpose; we just don’t exist.

Hallelujah, the meaning of our human life is to know and live one with God, the only One who is! Lord Jesus, we believe that You are the I AM, and we seek You diligently. We admit that we are not, but You are. You are everything we need, and we are nothing. Without You, Lord, life is vanity, but when we have You being everything to us and living in us, we are filled with meaning and purpose. Amen, Lord, apart from You we are nothing and we can do nothing. Only You are, and You bring us into reality and meaning.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, chs. 23-24, 56 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Ezekiel (2), msg. 3 (week 15 in the HWMR), “Know That I Am Jehovah”.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Jesus is Jehovah, the Great I Am, / Jesus Christ the Savior: perfect, sinless man; / Jesus as the “I Am” is all we need, / On this living person we feed. / Jesus is Jehovah, full reality, / The eternal “To Be” who sets us free, / We by faith confessing, Lord, we believe, / Father God, be worshipped and well-pleased. (Song on Jesus being the I AM)
  # Gracious Lord, Thy name “I AM” is, / Precious name, how rich and full ‘tis, / All-inclusive, faithful too ‘tis- / All we need, Thou art! (Hymns #78)
  # You called not being as being / In me conceiving. / Your life transfusing, / I’m now reacting. / O God of glory, / You’re now my story. / Dear One, I can’t refuse! / By You, I’ve been transfused. (Song on receiving the God of glory)