Wednesday Night Study on March 5th

This week we had a very clear starting point. The question was “What is God’s name?”  I believe that in learning the name that God gave Himself we find a great deal of information and explanation of who He is and also who we are. We found the answer to this question in Exodus 3:13-14. In this passage Moses asks God what he should call Him. God says, call me I AM. This is God’s name. As we look further into the name of God we find the name Yahweh, which is defined “The Great I AM”. In this name we find some very interesting information. “I am” is the present tense from of “to be”. In other words God’s name screams “I am the being that exist supremely, the one who exist eternal, the one who exist above all”. In the terms of a story He is what the story is about. We on the other hand have a name ourselves. We are not the being that exists above all. We are not what the story is about. Therefore we should be called the i am nots. I believe this is a principle that our society as a whole and most of the human race refuse to believe. If we are honest, we ourselves at times don’t even believe it.

After learning this truth we moved on to look at a very familiar scripture with this truth in mind. This scripture is John 14:6 – Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me”. This scripture is often used to explain that Jesus is the only way that we can get to heaven. I believe that to be true, but I also believe through this scripture Jesus is revealing the gospel. I believe Jesus is answering three separately asked questions.

The first statement Jesus makes is “I am the way”. He is suggesting to us that He is the only path that leads to the Father in Heaven. So often we try to make our own way by being better than someone else or by just being the best we can be.

The second statement Jesus makes is “I am the truth”. I also believe that this is a singular statement in which Jesus is saying I am the one absolute, the real thing. I am unchanging and unwavering and all that is unchanging comes from me. So often our generation tells us that what we feel to be right is right. They tell us that what is true for you is not always true for me, depending on my problem and circumstances. However this is not true according to Jesus being the one real truth. He goes on in verses 7-17 to tell us that because He is truth what He says is truth, and that as Christians He will give us a Spirit of Truth. Jesus is speaking against logic. It is not logical to trust in something that you cannot see to hold all that is right and also to hold your eternal destination. We must trust in Jesus to receive that which He has promised.

The third statement is “I am the life”. Theologians believe that Jesus is speaking to Peter’s question and statements. Peter says that he will do all he can, even die for Jesus. Jesus is correcting Peter’s statement. He further explains in verses 18-20 that we must live in Him to live the life we are supposed to live. This is awesome, the Great I AM pours strength and ability into us as we turn our lives over to Him. Then that pours out of us onto the people that are around us.

The problem with all these statements is that so often we miss God’s name. We begin to consider ourselves to be God. We try to make our own way, we try to say how we feel is what is true, and we try to live our life as best we know how. This however is exactly the opposite of what Jesus came and died to set into motion. We closed with a challenging question, Are you I AM or I am not?

 

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