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.

790. 'Waters' here and in what follows means falsities. This becomes clear from the places in the Word quoted in the preliminary section of this chapter ¹ and from those at verse 6 of this chapter, where the flood or inundation of waters is the subject. In those places it was shown that 'inundations of waters' meant desolations and temptations, which entail the same thing as falsities, for desolations and temptations are nothing else than inundations of falsities that have been activated by evil spirits. The reason why such waters mean falsities is that generally 'waters' in the Word means that which is spiritual, that is, that which is intellectual, rational, and factual. And since waters mean these they also mean their opposites, for every falsity is a factual matter, and seemingly rational and intellectual since it is a matter belonging to thought.

[2] That 'waters' means spiritual things is clear from very many places in the Word. But that 'waters' also means falsities, let the passages that follow, in addition to those quoted already, serve to confirm the point. In Isaiah,

This people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go out gently. Therefore, behold the Lord is causing to rise up over them the waters of the river, mighty and many. And it will rise up over all its channels and go over all its banks. Isaiah 8:6-7.

Here 'waters that go out gently' stands for spiritual things, 'waters mighty and many' for falsities. In the same prophet,

Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Cush, sending ambassadors to the sea, and in vessels of papyrus over the face' of the waters! Go, you swift ambassadors, to a nation marked out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled. Isaiah 18:1-2.

This stands for falsities, which belong to 'the land shadowing with wings'.

[3] In the same prophet,

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. Isaiah 43:2.

'Waters' and 'rivers' stand for difficulties, and also for falsities. In Jeremiah,

What have you to do with the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor? And what have you to do with the way to Asshur, to drink the waters of the River? Jeremiah 2:18.

'Waters' stands for falsities arising out of reasonings. In the same prophet,

Who is this coming up like a river, like the rivers his waters are tossed about? Egypt comes up like the river, and like the rivers his waters are tossed about. And he said, I will go up, I will cover the earth, I will destroy the city and those who dwell in it. Jeremiah 46:7-8.

'Waters' stands for falsities arising out of reasonings.

[4] In Ezekiel,

Thus said the Lord Jehovah, When I make you a city laid waste, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I shall cause the deep to come up over you, and many waters have covered you, I will cause you to go down with those who go down into the Pit. Ezekiel 16:19, 20.

'Waters' stands for evils and derivative falsities. In Habakkuk,

You did trample the sea with Your horses, the mud of many waters. Habakkuk 3:15.

'Waters' stands for falsities. In John,

The dragon poured water like a stream out of his mouth after the woman, to swallow her up in the river. Revelation 11:15, 16.

Here 'waters' stands for falsities and lies. In David,

Send forth Your hands from on high, rescue me, and deliver me from the many waters, from the hands of sons of the foreigner, whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hands are right hands of falsity. Psalms 144:7-8.

Here 'many waters' clearly stands for falsities, and 'sons of the foreigner also means falsities.