45. He is with us,

And God said unto Moses, "I AM THAT I AM": and He said, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Exodus 3:14

Jesus said unto them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM."
John 8:58

The first passage above is of God speaking with Moses through the burning bush, declaring Himself to be the self-existing, eternal God. The Hebrew for I AM is ha^ya^h (haw-yaw') it is always emphatic and means; to exist. The next passage, taking from the gospel of John, is the climax of a debate between Himself and the pharisees, Jesus here makes claim of the very same truth that He is the eternal God. The Greek word is eimi (i-mee'); I exist (once again only used emphatically). And as a result of His declaration, "Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. John 8:59"

The reason for pointing all of that out, was to actually show the striking resemblance between the next two verses, of which have opposing chapters and verses.

But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, "Be of good cheer; IT IS I; be not afraid."
Matthew 14:27

To "be of good cheer" in the Greek can be rendered, to have courage, the word is tharseō (thar-seh'-o). And when Jesus says, IT IS I (emphasis added), He is using the same Greek word used earlier; eimi; I AM. So the disciples would have understood something closer along the lines of this,

"Be of good courage, I AM, be not afraid." The God eternal was with them, in flesh, walking on water.

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
Psalm 27:14

The Hebrew for "LORD" is yehôvâh (yeh-ho-vaw'), where we get the Name Jehovah, The Jewish national name of God. It means (The) self Existent, from the Hebrew word listed above (EX. 3:14) as the name God declares Himself to be.

My point to all of this, is such, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, God calls out to His people commanding them, strengthening them and empowering them to, Be of good courage and trust the He is God. Today, Jesus speaks to us in the same manner, where ever you are at, whatever you are dealing with; pornography, broken marriage, debt, unemployment, worry, anxiety, He speaks to all of us and comes to us, God comes to us saying,

Be of good courage, I AM; do not be afraid!

Have you put your trust in Jesus today? Do you know Him personally as your Lord? It is not enough to know about who Jesus was, this is not the faith that saves. You must get to a point of such disregard to yourself that you, not only accept that He is your only means of salvation, but that He also is LORD, the great I AM. Let us come together and worship the King, that loved us unworthy people to death, even the death on a cross.