Exodus 3:13-14: 13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.'”
God told Moses to tell them that the I AM had sent Moses to be the people’s helper.
I AM can have three meanings. It means, “I am, I will be, and I was being.” The name speaks of a continuous existence in the past, a present reality, and an ongoing future existence. In other words, it means what the writer of Revelation describes in 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8
The Great I Am as the Bread of Life-Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35
By calling Himself the Bread of Life, He was reminding the Israelites of a previous time when they had to depend upon God to supply bread in order for them to survive. Manna was given to the Jewish people after God freed them from Egyptian slavery and was part of their daily lives during their wanderings on the wilderness while they were on their way to the Promised Land. This sweet, bread-like substance would come from Heaven, literally out of the blue, and would fall to the ground every day. They were to pick up enough every day to eat. God was teaching them that He was their daily Source. He was their supply. Jesus was definitely pointing them to this manna imagery as He said in verse 33 that the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
What God wants to help us understand by using the imagery of bread is that Jesus is necessary for eternal life. You don’t have to accept what God has provided for you in Jesus, but if you don’t, you suffer spiritual death and separation from God for eternity. In order to be saved we must “come to the table” and feed on Jesus.
Before Jesus declared Himself to be the Great I Am as the Bread of Life, He said in John 6:29: “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” Tie that verse directly to verse 35 as Jesus says that He who comes to Him won’t go hungry and He who believes in Him won’t be thirsty. So, we have to come to the table, and we simply have to believe in Jesus.
We are to believe in the Bread. We are to be feeding on Jesus daily, if you will. We must fully rely on Christ to cover our sin and to keep us safe in the arms of our Heavenly Father by following Him and trusting Him to provide what we need every day. If you only ate once a week, you wouldn’t be very strong. You wouldn’t be able to think clearly. You wouldn’t be able to perform tasks with certainty. Why would we think that just attending church once a week or connecting with God once a week would yield the results we hope to see in our lives? Don’t we get hungry every day? Multiple times a day? Jesus wants us to understand that He is the Great I Am who wants to sustain us moment by moment each and every day.
The Great I Am as the Light of the World-John 8:12 12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Remember, we are connecting these images with the wilderness images. Let me remind you that during those wilderness moments, the Israelites experienced God as a pillar of fire. That pillar of fire represented at least three things about the Great I Am:
- The Light of Presence.
Moses knew God was making good on His promise to go with Moses and the Israelites as they journeyed to the Promised Land. As the pillar of fire led them, they all knew God was with them. God’s presence will ensure WE will be ok even when circumstances of life aren’t ok. - The Light of Protection.
During the Exodus as the Israelites were fleeing Egypt and Pharaoh changed his mind about them leaving and send his army to recapture them, the fiery pillar that had been leading them went around behind them to get in between the nation of Israel and the approaching army. The Great I Am was pushing back the enemy on behalf of Israel!
God doesn’t protect us FROM every circumstance, but He will protect us in our circumstances if we will let Him be our light. - The Light of Guidance.
As we follow the light of the Great I Am He will guide us. He will help us navigate. He will show us how to pace ourselves and teach us when to stop and rest. We just need to be good followers. The Great I Am knows the way. Look at John 8:12 again: Whoever FOLLOWS me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
To encounter the Bread of Life we have to come to the table and believe. To encounter the Light of the World we must follow after Jesus. When we do we will be saved and satisfied. When we do we will have God’s presence, protection and guidance.
Come to Jesus. Believe on Him. Follow Him. That is what it means to experience Jesus, the Great I Am, the Bread of Life and the Light of the World.
Make it a great week with the Great I Am!
