The Great I AM

I shall never forget my mother’s favorite hymn. I recall many times when I was a child hearing her sing, “He’s the Lord of Glory, He is the Great I AM.” It seemed that every time she hung her clothes out to dry, she would sing this grand old hymn with such assurance and conviction.

I must admit, though, I didn’t quite understand what “I AM” really meant, and why these two words were synonymous with God and Christ. Even hearing stories in my Sunday school class about “I AM”—especially the story where God told Moses to tell the Israelites He was “I AM WHO I AM” or the story in the Gospels where Jesus told the Pharisees that “before Moses was, ‘I AM’”—didn’t completely help.

It was not until later in my Christian walk, when I searched the Scriptures in more depth, that I came to understand the meaning of “I AM.” For sure enough, true to its divine form, God’s Word always interprets itself, “here a little, there a little” (Isaiah 28:10). Today if I were to ask myself the question, “Who is the Great I AM?”, scriptures would tell me who He is.

“I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst ... If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:35, 51).

“I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12).

“I am the door. If anyone enters in by Me, he will be saved ... I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly’ (John 10:9-10).

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit” (John 15:1-2).

“I am the Alpha and the Omega ... who is and who was and who is to come” (Revelation 1:8).

I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death” (Revelation 1:18).

“Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

There are dozens of other scriptures to tell us more about the Great I AM. But I think we get the point. My mother knew it all along. It’s no wonder she sang it with such conviction. I now know, too, and join in the apostle Peter’s reply when Christ asked him, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15-16). He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. That says it all.