In the Old Testament, Jehovah -- once -- calls Himself "I AM". In Hebrew, the word is אֶהְיֶה , meaning "being", or "coming into being". This naming occurs in Exodus, when God appears to Moses in a burning bush, in the wilderness of Mount Horeb. It is one of the main spiritual turning points in the Bible, and the source of one of its deepest statements about God.

In that story, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had become enslaved in Egypt. They are numerous, but their connection with their forebears and with the land of Canaan is tenuous. The Pharaoh of that time "knew not Joseph". Their spiritual progress had stalled out.

Jehovah chooses Moses, herding sheep in the desert, to go back to Egypt and lead his people to freedom.

"And Moses said to God, 'Behold, I come to the sons of Israel, and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you; and they shall say to me, What is His name? What shall I say to them?' And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO is I AM'; and He said, 'Thus shalt thou say to the sons of Israel: I AM has sent me to you'." (Exodus 3:13, 14)

"I AM". It goes right to the very core of existence. Bigger than space, beyond time, uncreated.

Then, after many hundreds of years, with some people in Judea and its neighborhood still waiting for the promised Messiah, Jesus -- this maverick teacher and healer -- says the same thing. People sit up and take notice.

Here are the examples...

The disciples are in a small boat in a storm-wracked sea. Jesus comes to them, walking on the water:

"But straightway Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Have confidence; I am; be not afraid'." Matthew 14:27

Jesus is talking with a Samaritan woman at a well:

The woman says to Him, "I know that Messiah comes, who is called Christ; when He has come, He will announce to us all things." Jesus says to her, "I am, who speaks to thee." John 4:25, 26

Jesus is talking with his disciples:

"I said then to you that you shall die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am, you shall die in your sins. Therefore they said to Him, Who art thou? And Jesus said to them, The Beginning, who also am speaking to you. John 8:24, 25

Later, in the same chapter, Jesus says again to the disciples,

"Amen, amen, I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am." John 8:58

Near the end of his physical life, Jesus is talking with the disciples at the Last Supper:

"From henceforth I tell you before it come to pass, that when it has come to pass, you may believe that I am." John 13:19

Finally, when Jesus is being arrested, there's this powerful scene:

"Judas then, having received a band of soldiers and attendants from the chief priests and Pharisees, comes thither with lanterns, and lamps, and weapons. Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that were coming on Him, went out and said to them, Whom do you seek? They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus says to them, 'I am'.

And Judas also, who betrayed Him, stood with them. When therefore He had said to them, I am, they went away backward, and fell on the ground. Again, therefore, He asked them, Whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I told you that I am; if then you seek Me, let these go away, that the word which He said might be fulfilled, Of those whom Thou gavest Me I have lost none. John 18:3-9

These "I am" statements by Jesus are not the same as the seven "I am" statements that are often listed -- those are also very interesting, but on a different track. The ones listed here are places where Jesus is declaring that He is God, that he is "I AM".

This is hugely important.

Isaiah prophesied that the Christ child would be God Himself, in human form:

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6.

Jesus is saying that same thing. Internally, He is "I am". And as he gradually puts off or purifies the more external human elements he took on so that He could walk among us, the internal shines through more and more.

2446. 'Brimstone' means the hell of the evils of self-love, and 'fire' the hell of falsities deriving from these. This is clear from the meaning in the Word of 'brimstone' and of 'fire' produced by it as self-love together with its evil desires and derivative falsities, and so as hell, for hell consists of such. That 'brimstone' and 'fire' have these meanings is clear in David,

Jehovah will rain on the wicked, snares, fire and brimstone. Psalms 11:6.

The fact that it is not fire or brimstone but something else that is meant here by 'fire and brimstone' becomes clear also from its being said that 'Jehovah will rain snares'. In Ezekiel,

I will dispute with him with pestilence and blood; and deluging rain and hailstones, fire and brimstone will I rain on him and on his hordes, and on the many peoples that are with him. Ezekiel 38:22.

This refers to Gog who lays waste the land of Israel, that is, the Church. What Gog is, see 1151. 'Fire' stands for falsities, 'brimstone' for derivative evils, and at the same time for the hells of those who lay waste. In John,

Those who worshipped the beast were thrown into the lake burning with brimstone. Revelation 19:20.

Here they stand for hell. In the same book,

The devil was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Revelation 20:10.

Here they plainly stand for hell. In the same book,

As for abominable people, and murderers, and adulterers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their lot will be in the lake burning with fire and brimstone. Revelation 21:8.

Here also 'fire and brimstone' plainly stands for hell.

[2] That these two stand for the evils of self-love and for falsities deriving from these, in which the hells have their origin, is seen in Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah's vengeance - the year of retributions in the controversy of Zion - and her streams will be turned into pitch, and her dust into brimstone, and her land will become burning pitch. Isaiah 34:8-9.

Here 'burning pitch', mentioned instead of fire, stands for dense and dreadful falsities, 'brimstone' for evils which are the product of self-love. In the same prophet,

Its pyre is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah is like a stream of burning brimstone in it. Isaiah 30:33.

In this reference to Tophet, 'a stream of burning brimstone' stands for falsities which are the product of the evils of self-love. In Luke,

On the day Lot went out of Sodom fire and brimstone rained from heaven and destroyed them all - so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Luke 17:29-30.

[3] Anyone may see that it is not fire and brimstone that will rain down at that time but that the falsities and desires of self-love, which are meant by 'fire and brimstone' and which make up hell, will be predominant. 'Fire' in the Word means evil desires and at the same time the hells, in which case the smoke from the fire means falsity which arises from and exists in those hells, see 1861. And in John,

I saw horses in the vision, and those seated on them had breastplates of fire and of brimstone. And the heads of the horses were like lions' heads, and out of their mouths there went forth fire, smoke, and brimstone. By these three a third part of mankind was killed - by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone. Revelation 9:17-18.

'Fire, smoke, and brimstone' stands for evils and falsities of every kind, in which, as stated, the hells have their origin.