God the Father said to Moses:
“I AM Who I AM,” and He said, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Exodus 3:14
Jesus echoed this statement:
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM.” John 8:58
The “I AM” statements explain God as eternal. God is now – always now. There is no past or future with God. He exists as “I AM!”
Knowing peace means knowing and trusting God as eternal.
God is eternal. You are not. God sees your past, your present, and your future as “now.” You can only see now as “now.”
God sees your past and says, “Forgiven in Jesus!” God sees your future and says in Romans 8:28, “I’m working all things for your good.”
Letting God take care of our past and future means that we can enjoy “now.”
Jesus encouraged you in the Sermon on the Mount:
Don’t worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:33
Let’s illustrate the I AM of God with the following diagram: Note that diagrams are an integral part of my brain, and they always make sense to me!
The line is my life. Time! A beginning and an end. I know the line is angled down, as my daughter reminded me at my last birthday, “Dad, it’s all downhill from here.”
The “X” is my “now.” I can somewhat remember the past and I know nothing of my future.
The circle is God. My time is encircled by His eternity. He sees everything about my past, my present, and my future as “I AM” – as “now!” Same with you, wherever you are on your timeline.
The sacrifice of Jesus “I AM” over 2,000 years ago counts for your past. The God “I AM,” when sacrificed, is a sacrifice for all “now!” – for all human history. Whenever “now” happens to God it is eternal. Since He is eternal, there is no past or future with God, only “now.”
Pause and reflect a moment. Then say, “Wow!”
Jesus looks at your past, from even before creation, and says, “forgiven.” Revelation 13:8 reflects the eternality of the sacrifice of Jesus when it reads:
All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast – all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. (NIV)
“Slain from/before the creation” only makes sense when you understand the eternality of “I AM.” If there is no past or future with God, then all is present, including Jesus’s sacrifice.
Implication #1: You can deal with your past by ignoring Jesus, resulting in your death. Spiritual, psychological, and finally physical death! Or you can accept the sacrificial work of Jesus and all your sins are forgiven – past, present, and future.
They are forgiven “now.” You do not have to dwell in self-condemnation or worry about the future.
Implication #2: You can know peace! The past is forgiven, and the future is assured. Go get a Starbucks today and drink it slowly while thinking, “Wow, Jesus is the I AM and because of His sacrifice, my sins were forgiven before I was born. All my sins and my future are shrouded in Him “now” for all eternity. What is there to worry about?”
Yep, think #2 at Starbucks or just say, “Thank you, Jesus! I can have peace about my past, present, and future.”