What is the meaning of I AM WHO I AM in Exodus 3:14?

And when the Lord called Moses to send him to Pharaoh to lead His people forth, he answered, What am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt ? Forty years before in self-confidence he had undertaken the work and had run before he was sent, and now he had learned humility and his weakness. God answered his confessed distrust with the all-sufficient assurance, "I will be with thee." When He sends forth He goes along to accomplish His own purposes. What encouragement for all who wait on the Lord and conscious of their own weakness, go forth in service. In response to another question, God reveals His name. "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM, and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel , I AM hath sent me unto you." God had made Himself known to Abraham as Jehovah (Genesis 15:7). But here He gives the explanation of His name Jehovah. The patriarchs knew the name Jehovah, but the blessed significance of that name was not known to them. He reveals Himself as the Self-Existing One, THE I AM THAT I AM. He is the One, which is, which was, which is to come (Rev. 1:4). And this wonderful Name of the Unchanging, Living One, the Eternal, the Name unsearchable in its depths is the Name of our Lord who has redeemed us. When about to act in the deliverance of His enslaved people to lead them out and to bring them in, He makes Himself known as the I AM. "Before Abraham was I AM" (John 8:58). Our ever-blessed Lord is the I AM, who spoke to Moses. And what is Jehovah, the I am for His people? Well has it been said, "Jehovah, in taking this title, calling Himself 'I AM,' was furnishing His people with a blank check, to be filled up to any amount. He calls Himself I AM, and faith has but to write over against that ineffably precious name whatever we want."

"And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you." (Ver. 14) The title which God here gives Himself is one of wondrous significancy. In tracing through Scripture the various names which God takes, we find them intimately connected with the varied need of those with whom He was in relation. "Jehovah-jireh," (the Lord will provide.) "Jehovah-nissi," (the Lord my banner.) "Jehovah-shalom," (the Lord send peace.) "Jehovah-tsidkenu," (the Lord our righteousness.) All these His gracious titles are unfolded to meet the necessities of His people; and when He calls Himself "I AM," it comprehends them all. Jehovah, in taking this title, was furnishing His people with a blank cheque, to be filled up to any amount. He calls Himself "I AM," and faith has but to write over against that ineffably precious name whatever me want. God is the only significant figure, and human need may add the ciphers. If we want life, Christ says, "I AM the life." If we want righteousness, He is "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." If we want peace, "He is our peace" If we want wisdom, sanctification, and redemption," He "is made" all these "to us." In a word, we may travel through the wide range of human necessity, in order to have a just conception of the amazing depth and fullness of this profound and adorable name, "I AM."

Moses was filled with trepidation, as God's servants usually are when called to do His work. He asks that, when he tells the Israelites that the God of their fathers has sent him, what will he say when they ask as to God's name. However, the weakness of Moses' faith does give occasion for God to reveal one great aspect of His name which should encourage every believer. He tells Moses, “I am I who am” (v. 14 — Numerical Bible). Therefore Moses was to declare, “I Am has sent me to you.” In this name is implied the fact that God is the self-existent, eternally existent One. With Him there is no question of past and future, as there is with us. He is the omnipresent One, infinite and eternal. this name is equally applied to the Lord Jesus, who uses the expression many times in the Gospel of John, and seals the matter with the declaration, “Most assuredly I say to you, Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58). Wonderful name to fill a believer's heart with adoration!

God had already revealed Himself to Moses as the God of his fathers — and this might have been enough, but nothing can ever satisfy doubts and fears. And what an incidental glimpse is thus given of the condition of Israel, so as to render the supposition possible that they might not know the name of the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob! God bears in grace with his feeble, hesitant servant, and replies, "I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." (v. 14.) This is the expression of the essential being of God — His name as the self-existent One; and thereby affirms His eternal being. It was this name the Lord Jesus claimed when He said to the unbelieving Jews, "Before Abraham was, I AM." (John 8:58.) But this is not all. Having revealed Himself as to His essential existence, He adds, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is My name for ever, and this is My memorial unto all generations." (v. 15.) This is pure grace on the part of God. "I AM, is His own essential name; but as regards His government of, and relationship with, the earth, His name — that by which He is to be remembered to all generations — is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. This gave Israel, now visited and taken up of God under His name, a very peculiar place." It points indeed to their election by the sovereign grace of God, and to their being beloved for their fathers' sake; and at the same time reveals the fact that Israel shall be for ever the centre of God's ways, and the key to His purposes upon the earth. Hence, as long as Israel is under judgment, scattered throughout the world, the period Of earthly blessing is still postponed.

This led to a fresh disclosure on God's part. He made Himself known as the great "I AM" — the One self-existent, ever-existent, unchanging; and therefore ever true to what He is in Himself. Israel were to prove themselves to be an unstable yet stiff-necked people, so had it not been "I AM" with whom they had to do, they would soon have disappeared in judgment. God bore long with them and will ultimately achieve all His purpose concerning them, because He is ever true to Himself. We do well to remind ourselves that though we now know God in a far more intimate way, as He has been revealed in Christ, yet we do not lose the value of these earlier revelations. The One whom we know as Father is still the "I AM" to us, as much as He was to Moses and the children of Israel.

This fact is expressly stated in verse 15. Looking backward, the "I AM" is "Jehovah God of your fathers." Looking forward, He declares it to be His name for ever and His memorial to all generations. Evidently then this great name carried the revelation of God to a climax, as far as the Old Testament is concerned. Verse 3 of chapter 6 may be consulted at this point. He had been known to the patriarchs as God Almighty, He had been mentioned as the Most High, but "Jehovah" carries within itself a fulness of meaning not found in these. The actual name, Jehovah, was known to the patriarchs, yet they did not understand its full import, which was now to come to light through Moses. Having come to light, it stands good for ever.

That with which God begins here, and to which He returns, is that He is God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob. He has taken a name in relationship to men, which is to be His continual memorial. Back of that He has another name, which, simply rendered is, The Unsearchable. "I AM THAT I AM" does not so much reveal as declare the veil that hangs before Him, when man would "search out the Almighty to perfection." Inscrutable, He "dwells in the light unapproachable, whom no man hath seen, nor can see." He declares Himself the Ever-present: the One who is; the great fact for man always to realize, which gives reality and meaning to every thing else.

— The dread and sacred Name Jehovah signifies underived existence, the Self-Existing One. To Israel the Name was explained as “I AM THAT I AM” (Ex. 3:14); to Gentiles as “Him which is, and which was, and which is to come” (Rev. 1:4; 4:8). It is a Name of ineffable grandeur, and one which Israel was made fully acquainted with from the commencement of her history (Ex. 6:3). It is God’s memorial Name, even to generations yet unborn. “Which is” implies independent, unchangeable existence. “Which was” intimates Jehovah’s relation to the past. “Which is to come” shows His connection with the future. God’s relation to the universe in its vastness and greatness, as also in its minuteness, is a grand and invigorating truth.

Moses is as distrustful now, as he was confident in Egypt; he asks "Who am I" to go unto Pharaoh and bring out Israel? But Jehovah vouchsafes His presence and gives the token of serving God "on this mountain." Then, to Moses asking a specific name of His presence, He says, "I AM WHAT I AM," His essential and abiding being; and bids Moses say to Israel, "I AM hath sent me to you." All else was but creature. He was the only and ever existing One. But he was also to say, The Jehovah God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, had sent him to them. "This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations." A wondrous declaration to be infallibly verified, when the Lord Jesus vindicates His every word.

The first "I am" does not seem part of the name, any more than it would be if it were said, "I am Jehovah;" and this would be, if we judge by the connection, its real equivalent. It is exactly the Septuagint "I am He who Is," and the rendering "I am I who am," while strictly literal, brings all into harmony.}

1 According to Morrish's New and Concise Bible Dictionary, this Name is derived from havah, 'to exist,' and may be expanded into 'Who is, Who was, and is to come.' God thus reveals Himself in time as the ever-existing One: that is, in Himself eternally, He is always the same. This is also emphasised in the Name 'the Same.'