I Am Here

Jesus was bold, that's for sure.

He is having this conversation with the Jews that gets a little heated. They want to know who He is but don't like His answers. Jesus is using language that He shouldn't have been. Really. Jesus really touches a sore spot when He starts talking about Abraham. The Jews get really defensive. "Who do you think you are?" they want to know.

"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" John 8:58

Dangerous words. The stones were picked up and they were ready to throw them at Jesus, but He slipped away.

What was the big deal?

Jesus' claim. He used the unspeakable word. He used the Name that was reserved for God only. So sacred and special was this Name that the Jews didn't even spell it with all the letters, because it was so holy. No one used the Name. It is the Name that Moses heard in the desert.

Exodus 3 is the account of Moses and the burning bush. Out of this bush that was burning but somehow wasn't, a voice called to Moses. This voice told him to go back to Egypt and the lead the people out of slavery. But Moses, scared (I think I understand where he is coming from, by the way) asked, "Who do I say told me to go?" Really, honestly, Moses is asking, "Who are you?" And God answers:

"I Am Who I Am. Tell them, I Am sent me to you."

The Hebrew meaning for this? I am here, really present, to help. He is present.

The slaves of Egypt had been crying out to God and Moses was to go to them and say, "He is here to help. He is present."

Thousands of years later, waiting for a Messiah and calling out God, Jesus came and said, "I am here to help. I am present."

And a couple thousand years later, we, who call out to God in the midst of our everyday praises and struggles can hear that voice as well.

"He is here to help. He is present." Yhwh. Yahweh.

Nothing has changed. The same God who brought the slaves from death to life through the waters, is the same God whose outstretched arms took the nails for me and you, and is the same God who was promised to be with us through thick and thin. God is faithful to that promise.

You are not alone.

He is here to help. He is present.