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Introduction
One of the most astonishing features of our realm is the multiplicity of the deities it has known throughout human history. Basically every culture, every people group, and nation in the world has its own god or gods. But among all the deities that the world has ever known, there is One who is like no other, One who alone is true, the only God, the God of the Christian Faith, who is Lord of heaven and earth, the Living God, the Great I AM. He Himself declares His uniqueness and transcendency, saying, “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me” (Isaiah 46:9). There is none like the One True God, there is no other God besides Him. Other deities the world has ever known are “images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” (Romans 1:23), idols made of silver and gold, “the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them” (Psalms 135:15-18).
He who alone is God distinguishes Himself from false gods by His person and works. For instance, when the LORD parted the Red Sea and the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea, and then with His mighty hand the LORD cast into the sea the Egyptians who were pursuing them, Moses and the people of Israel asked this rhetorical question as they praised the LORD for their deliverance and His drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea,“Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” (Exodus 15:11). The LORD had previously introduced Himself to Moses, when He appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, by His personal name Yahweh, which means “I AM”; a name that defines the essential nature of God – “God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth”, as the Westminster Shorter Catechism (Q&A) points it. Moreover, God’s personal name sets Him apart from all other beings – “God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”... “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). “God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (Exodus 3:15). Thus God reveals Himself as the One who is.
“I AM”: The uniqueness of God’s essence
“I AM”: The Self-existent Maker and Self-sufficient Sustainer
“I AM”: The Unchangeable and Trustworthy God
"I AM": The God who has revealed Himself to all