"I AM": The Seven Statements of Jesus

[Artwork in this post by French Impressionist Berthe Morisot, 1841 - 1895] 

The Name of God

As a young lawyer I practiced family law.  One day a man walked into my office looking for a divorce attorney.  He introduced himself and said his name was 'His Royal Majesty.'

I didn't believe him and asked for proof.  He produced a Court Order showing he had legally changed his name to H.R.M.

(So I have the distinction of being one of the few lawyers to divorce His Royal Majesty.)

Now, unless you have legally changed your name, you probably carry a name that was chosen for you (typically by your parents ― let's hope they had good taste).

I say "carry" a name because our names are like articles of clothing: they do not define us, but merely dress us.

Does your given name "fit?"  

My name means "to honor God."  But I have never thought of myself as a "Tim" or "Timothy."  Simple syllables don't begin to describe the essence of who we are.

Names are reflections of our identity, but they also have power to change our natures.  They serve as symbols.

Why am I talking about names?  Because I want to discuss the name of God.

Jesus said, "Whoso taketh upon him my name, and endureth to the end, the same shall be saved at the last day" (3 Ne. 27:6).

How do we "take upon" ourselves the name of God?  And do we even know what the Name of God is?

Divine names are not conferred but discovered.  These "new" names are sacred ― drawn from the wellspring of our essential selves.

These names aren't secret, but we're incapable of sharing them: for how does one possibly convey the breadth and depth of their whole soul in a word?  We can't.  (The closest we've come to capturing the name of God was when the Word was made flesh.)

A king can grant us a title (like Knight or Lady) but these merely describe our roles ― they do not describe who we really are.

Adam becomes Michael; Noah becomes Gabriel (and vice versa).  But such "names" are merely robes to be taken on and off.

​Sadly, too often we remain strangers even to ourselves, never knowing who we really are.  We cling to our given-names like amnesiacs.

But the good news is we can discover our hidden names through knowing our divine selves.

The Name of Christ

Christ has many names; He bears many crowns; His titles could fill enough books to cover the earth.

But Christ's real name?  That is one we have not heard.  No lips could do it justice.

When Christ returns, we are told He will have:

   a name written
   that no man knew
   but he himself.

(Rev. 19:12)

Meanwhile, as a placeholder, Christ's "name is called The Word of God" (Rev. 19:13).  Notice this is not His name, but His 'calling.'

When the name of God is written upon us ― which is to say, when we unlock the secret of our true nature ― then we, too, become the Word of God (and although many, this "Word" remains singular).

At some point in our progression our holy name becomes a portmanteau, blending with the name of God.  This exalted portmanteau is utterly unique throughout the universe, as divine strands of DNA that reconstitute us across space and time.

   I will write upon him
   my new name.

(Rev. 3:12)

This verse indicates our "new" name is not just our own, but God's.  In other words, the Ineffable Name becomes a type and shadow of the Godhood that dwells and abides in us.

"If men do not comprehend the character of God," said Joseph Smith, "they do not comprehend themselves" (TPJS, 343).

In case I am making a muck of my point, what I am trying to say is: This is life eternal!  "That they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent" (John 17:3).

For how else would we "know" God but through knowing ourselves?  Then, like Jesus, we will:

   have manifested thy name.

(John 17:6)

To "have manifested His name" is to know God ― having His name written upon us ― for only those who know Him know His name (which has, in fact, become their own).

Now don't worry, we're going to break this down into digestible bits.

Let's look at what it means to "manifest" the name of God by seeing how Jesus did it.

The Burning Bush Speaks!

Moses hiked Sinai and was shaking in his sandals when God spoke to Him (telling him to remove his footwear, for starters). 

But Moses had to discard a lot more than just his sandals on Sinai's mount.  He had to discard his old notions and ideas in order to be taught a greater reality.

God's new wine will burst the bottles of our beliefs; His higher truths will shatter the foundations of our past knowing.

Once Moses found his courage to speak, he bravely asked God an inspired question (showing himself to be a true prince of Egypt):

   What is [thy] name?

(Exodus 3:13)

This was not just asking, "How would you like to be called?"  No, Moses was asking something far greater.

And God's response was deliciously perfect!  God replied to Moses's question simply:

   אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה‎

(Exodus 3:14)

In case you don't read Hebrew (neither do I), this means, transliterated, "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh."  Or, being interpreted, "I am that I AM."
 
In other words, God was saying He was beyond naming.  There was no mortal nomenclature to capture His essence, other than simply, He IS.

   He IS above all things,
   and in all things,
   and IS through all things,
   and IS round about all things

(How can you be "above" all things if you are, in fact, "in" them?)

   and all things
   are by him
   and of him,
   even God,
   forever and ever.

(D&C 88:41)

According to scholars, Biblical Hebrew does not distinguish between grammatical tenses.

This is important because the statement "I am that I AM" may equally be translated as all of the following:
 
   (1)  I am who I WAS
   (2) I am who I SHALL BE
   (3)  I was who I AM
   (4)  I was who I WAS
   (5)  I was who I SHALL BE
   (6)  I shall be who I AM
   (7)  I shall be who I WAS
   (8)  I shall be who I SHALL BE
 
Take some time and ponder the implications of אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה!  God's name IS past and present and future: it IS, literally, "endlessness" and "eternal" (D&C 19:10).  He not only walks One Eternal Round, He IS One Eternal Round.

I think it is interesting that this nuance was picked up by Joseph Smith in D&C 68:6, where God says:

   I AM
   the son of the living God,
   that I WAS,
   that I AM,
   and that I AM TO COME.

The reason I am sharing all this is because the Name of God describes who we are, too.  God is trying to teach us something not just about who He is, but about who We are.

Jesus came to reveal God to man by revealing God in man.

Now to the heart of the matter: Specifically, Jesus made seven explicit "I AM" statements during His mortal ministry.

It was blasphemous for Jesus to declare "I AM" because He was saying He WAS/IS/SHALL BE God; the Pharisees wanted to stone Him for claiming such a thing.

But don't miss the mark: Jesus was declaring these things as the Son of God, and therefore, on behalf of all of us who become sons and daughters of God.

In other words, Jesus's seven "I AM" statements describe not just Him, but also our own nature.  ​All of us who have received the name of God, know that I AM.

The Tetragrammaton

The Tetragrammaton is the name of God in Hebrew, written as YHWH (the word Tetragrammaton is Greek and means 'four letters').  YHWH is vocalized as Jehovah.

As you know, there aren't numbers in Hebrew.  Instead, letters serve as numbers.

In Hebrew, the name "ADAM" and "YHWH" both share a numerical value of 45.  This is significant because it implies 45 = 45 (Adam = God and God = Adam).

Please don't misunderstand: this has nothing to do with Brigham Young's Adam-God Doctrine.  I am pointing out, simply, that "Adam" ― which means "man" in Hebrew, and is the name given to "the first man" on each world (Moses 1:34) ― represents all of us.

Now, to go a little further into the weeds, the name of God is masculine.  But Moses at times refers to God as a female using feminine pronouns (such as in Numbers 11:15 when Moses uses the word "At," which is the second person feminine singular form of "you") (the masculine form would have been "Atah").  (And if anyone knew the proper form of address for God, it would be Moses!)

Jesus appears to capture this nuance when He compared himself to a mother hen.

For God to be "in" all things, that would certainly include womankind (who are also "in" Him).

Therefore, gender semantics with God become somewhat absurd at the transcendent level where all of creation becomes of "one flesh."

A New Take on "Keys"

We pray in the name of Jesus Christ.  The Savior instructed His disciples that "if ye call upon the Father . . . in my name, the Father will hear you" (3 Ne. 27:9).

The name Jesus Christ is Greek and has been truncated from "Jesus the Christ" (which in Hebrew is Joshua the Messiah).

  -  The meaning of Jesus / Joshua = "Yeho" (a prefix that refers to the name of God (YHWH), and "Shua" meaning salvation).  So "Joshua" means God is Salvation.
 
  -  The meaning of Christ / Messiah = "Anointed One" 

One way to interpret the name of Jesus Christ, then, is "God's Salvation Comes Through His Anointed One."

That's referring to Christ, right?  Well, yes, but not just Him.  It also refers to us, too, who have been "anointed."

   But ye have an unction
   from the Holy One,
   and ye know
   all things.

(1 John 2:20)

Pause.  I want to talk about the meaning of "unction."

On October 19, 2024 I was pondering the question, "What are the 'words of eternal life' referred to in Moses 6:59?"

I had gone to the gym (yes, despite appearances I do try) and after my workout I was sitting in the sauna meditating by myself.

It was there, desiring to "enjoy the words of eternal life in this world" (Moses 6:59), that I asked the Lord to help me understand what this verse was talking about.

The thought came to me that to "enjoy" the words of eternal life, we must embody them.

The only way to really "know" what eternal life is, is to live it.  We must "become" the words of life ourselves.

In other words, we are meant to be that I AM (for are we not joint-heirs with Christ?).

As Clark Burt wrote, "By believing His words we will turn to Him because His words are Him" (emphasis in original; "But We Have the Book! That Same Spirit," December 1, 2024, at fingerofgod.blogspot.com).

The best way to describe what happened next, amidst the hot steam and sticky benches of the sauna, was my "eyes were opened and [my] understandings were enlightened, so as to see and understand the things of God" (D&C 76:12).

I understood that Jesus's "I AM" teachings were an invitation to join Him; they were keys of the kingdom, even those of Melchizedek ― that is to say, God's High Priests are to become the Keys of I AM.

These keys are not abstract notions but actual, embodied, fleshly Persons who unlock "the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key[s] of the knowledge of God" (D&C 84:19) for others (like Christ).

Christ gave us the keys of the Kingdom by being the Key.  And so may we be.

I heard the Spirit say, "To possess the words of eternal life is to bear the keys of I AM, even the unction of the Spirit." 

"Unction"

If you're wondering (as I was) what "unction" meant (I had no clue, sitting in the gym, where the Spirit pulled that from, other than it sounded faintly 'Catholic'), it means, "the anointing of someone as a symbol of investiture."

In the Old Testament we read about the unction of Elisha (as prophet) when God told Elijah:

   Elisha the son of Shaphat
   shalt thou anoint 
   to be prophet
   in thy room.

(1 Kings 19:16)

And the unction of Aaron (as priest) before the congregation:

   And Moses poured
   of the anointing oil
   upon Aaron’s head,
   and anointed him,
   to sanctify him.

(Lev. 8:12)

And the unction of David (as king) over the people of Israel:

   Then Samuel
   took the horn of oil,
   and anointed David
   in the midst of his brethren:
   and the Spirit of the Lord
   came upon David
   from that day forward.

(1 Sam. 16:13)

My point is that all of these unctions (of prophet, priest, and king) came together in Jesus.  And thus in us.

I left the sauna and dressed, returning to my car and, sitting in the parking lot, I pulled out my phone and searched for the word "unction" in the scriptures.

While I found many instances of "anoint," the word "unction" appears only once (in the First Epistle of John, Chapter 2).

   But whoso keepeth his word
   in him verily
   is the love of God
   perfected:

What is the connection between the "word" and the "love of God?"  
​
   hereby know we
   that we are in him.

Where are we?  We are in His body?  Really?

   But ye have an unction

i.e., an anointing; a messiahship; a christening.  What does this mean?

   from the Holy One

Who is this?

   and ye know all things.

We know "all things?"  How?

   Let that

Let what?
  
   therefore abide in you

What are we to let "abide" in us?  

   which ye have [had]
   from the beginning . . . 
   [and] ye shall continue
   in the Son and in the Father.

We're "in" the Son and Father?  And have been from the "beginning?"

   And this is the promise
   that he hath promised us:
  
God does not break His promises, does He?  Can we count on Him to keep His Word?  What has He "promised us?"

   even eternal life.

Now watch carefully this next verse, which brings it all together:

   The anointing
   which ye have received

When did we receive this anointing?  Before this world?

   of him

We did not anoint ourselves.

   abideth in you

Even now, today, our souls are filled with the unction of the Spirit so that:

   ye need not that any man
   should teach you

Wait, what?  Who shall teach us, then?

   but as the same anointing 
   teacheth you of all things,
   and is truth.

(1 John 2:5, 20, 24-25, 27)

You see, Jesus is the Truth; and that Truth is only found within ourselves.
​
Is it any wonder that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2)?

From the Cross

For the past six weeks I have pondered the "I AM" statements of Jesus, realizing that I must follow Him by embodying these words.

To refresh everyone's memory, the seven statements are:

   1.  I AM that bread of life (John 6:48) (referring to the manna from heaven).

   2.  I AM the door (John 10:9) (referring to the sheepfold).

   3.  I AM the true vine (John 15:1) (referring to the fruit and family of God).

   4.  I AM the good shepherd (John 10:11)

   5.  I AM the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6)

   6.  I AM the resurrection and the life (John 11:25)

   7.  I AM the light of the world (John 8:12)

In my opinion there is no greater irony than the fact that Jesus ― who declared to the Samaritan woman at the well that whosoever would drink of the living water should never thirst (John 4:14) ― hung upon the cross and cried, "I thirst" (John 19:28).

Speaking of, there are (coincidentally) seven statements that Jesus made at Calvary during His crucifixion (which are mostly allusions to the Psalms; see in particular Psalm 22 and Psalm 31:5; notice the hyssop branch used to give Jesus sour wine (vinegar) and compare to Psalm 51:7). 

Each of us must learn the mystery of I AM from the source of all good and truth.

We must learn that we are saved not by Christ acting upon us, but by Christ acting through us.

I have attempted to turn the key; I have tried to open the Door of I AM as Jesus showed us, so you might see: but we must each walk through it.

I would note, simply, that as you ponder the seven I AM statements of Jesus along with the seven sayings of the Cross (which I have listed below), and apply them to Jesus, I would ask you to also (here's the fun part) apply them to yourself.

Become the Bread.
Be the Door.
Extend the True Vine.

   To him that overcometh
   will I give to eat
   of the hidden manna,
   and give him a white stone,
   and in the stone 
   a new name written,
   which no man knoweth
   saving he that receiveth it.

(Rev. 2:17)

I share my love with each of you, in the bonds of everlasting brotherhood, and say, as our Savior:

​   "I thirst."