God's name is I AM.

Tuesday. 4/5/17

In the Gospel Jesus said, “when they lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM.”

What did he mean by referring to himself as “I Am?”

In Chapter Three of Exodus when God told Moses to set the people free, Moses asked God, “when the people ask the name of the one who sent me, asking, ‘What is his name?, God replied. “I AM sent me to you.”

The Hebrew name that our English language Bible translates as “I AM” was YAWHEY.”

Since the commandment forbids people using God’s name wrongly, when the Jews saw YHWH  in print, they always substituted it with the word “Adonai” which was a general name or a Lord.

There are two ways for us to understand the name “I AM.”

First, it could mean there is no ‘I WAS, or WILL BE., with God. There is  no past or future with him. He is always the unchanging “ I AM.”

Secondly, I AM could mean he is all things. They cannot be one with him on their material side. He is one with the unchanging core of things.

I love this sentence from Dante, “All things among themselves possess an order, and this order is the form that makes the universe like God.”