I AM THAT I AM (2)

We treated in our last article the “what” and the “why” question and in this article we are going to look extensively at the “who” question and how it impacts our knowledge of God again.

So on to the last question, the question of WHO. Just as the “what” question finds relevance in the identity, the “who” question goes beyond that and it helps us put a label on being. In Exodus 3:14 Moses asked the what question, that is, in the midst of all other gods, all other supernatural being how can I label you; what can we use to identify you, since you claim to be God, and since you claim to have seen the people of Israel what can we use to identify you, what name befits you.

God did not answer the ‘what’ question, he answered the unasked “who” question not what are you. He was saying, ‘you have not seen my kind before and any other than me will never appear unto you’. Angels exist and seeing an angel during the day prompts the question of who is that, and the answer would be, an angel but if angels are a common sight, we then ask what the angel’s name is. We have congregated the whole animal kingdom under the ‘who’ of animals and have cared enough to name each animal, so when we ask what animal (who) is that, we nest the ‘what’ question in the ‘who’ question.

This was the error of Moses, “tell me your name, I live with a priest and I have seen many gods come and go, I have at least known how gods operate, so tell me your name then we will move on from there”. Then God told Moses I AM WHO I AM; first of all, you can’t find a comparison with me and I exist all by myself. I existed before I called the people out of Israel and even after that I will continually exist, I am not formed out of the imaginations of the people of the earth, your need did not create a God, your cry did not create me, I AM.

We can now see the reason why God was angry whenever the people of Israel attempts to make an image out of the living God, because they would have thought they created God, they would have thought they formed God from their need and every God that is formed from your need will end up becoming needy, and in turn will end up in our image and in our likeness.

So the first word was I AM THAT I AM, do not think I will not be if you cease to exist, and do not at any time elevate yourself into the position of being in my class. This kind of god suffice in the short run, a god who caters to your image, so if you are greedy for money the god is your ATM box, if you are desiring to be married the god is your matchmaker, if you feel like academic success is what will give your life meaning then the god is the one that caters to your reading schedule, and in any case you forget anything in the exam hall he is the one that is supposed to remind you.

So if you are poor, you go unmarried, you fail in an examination this god becomes unfaithful, unjust, un-powerful, and unfit to be for you. You are consumed in the ‘me, myself and I’ religion that seems to find its ends in you and in everything you do.

One thing I would have you know is that GOD IS and that should be sufficient to make you tremble and quake on your feet, in any case you do not exist, HE IS and in any case you still exist, He still is. This is the God that we serve and he is not reducible to result-producing-machine that is out there to prove himself to mortal men whose breath is in his nostrils. Your root has an end in whether you wake up tomorrow morning, whether you have enough oxygen per time to survive every second. God is, and that should ring true and hard in our brain anytime we come to God, He who comes to God must believe that ‘God is’.

He is not indebted to you, He is that one that will continually exist, we should come to God with reverence and with trembling with the knowledge of the fact that the God that I am going to IS and nothing can erase that fact, I am or I am not a Christian, I pray or I do not pray, I observe piety or I do not observe piety, I live or I die, I am or I am not; He still IS.

DOXOLOGY
Let us now define the word “God is”, Paul was saying in Hebrews that they who come to God must believe that he is (remain, consists in and of himself). God when introducing himself to the Israelites took care to mention that his name is I AM THAT I AM. There are several beings; 1 Corinthian 15:38 talks about the beings that be: flesh being, the celestial beings, and terrestrial beings then animals, all these are beings in their own right. But are they really beings. Looking into the etymology of the word I AM that was used in the Exodus 3:14 we find out that the same word was used in creation. It is a verb that appeared 3502 times in the bible and so sufficient evidence is available to certify its definition.

It first of all appeared in Genesis 1:2 that the earth was without form and theologians argue for this that it can also be worded as the earth began to be without form just as the application of the word in the succeeding verse when God said let there be light and that the beginning of light connoted that before anything was created light was, I will advise the reader to read books written by theologians and people who love God in this verse 2. But we can see that the word I AM, bears its root in being, and most importantly in cause and effect, so there is a cause for every being that is on earth.

So let us go back to the focus of our article, I AM THAT I AM, which we see that is rightly translated. So God is saying here that I AM THAT I AM, I exist alright but He is saying I exist all by myself, there is no cause for my being.

So that is your answer if you are looking for who made God; He is saying I AM, and that should sink into us, I exist and without the visible universe I will still be. The Nicene Creed spoke of him as the causeless cause, He is without beginning, time as we know it has no effect on him. He simply is. To the one who is who was and is to come, without our interference, with or without our knowledge.

MARANATHA
EDITORIAL UNIT
TACFON UI.