Written by Jared Anderson and recorded by Phillips, Craig and Dean, a holiness anthem rooted in Exodus 3 and Revelation 4, whose verses long for a nearness the cross already gave.
What This Song Gets Right
The title comes from the burning bush. When Moses asked for God’s name, “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM’” (Exodus 3:14). The chorus pairs that name with the song of heaven, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty” (Revelation 4:8), and asks the only question worth asking: who else is worthy? The answer is none.
The New Covenant heart of the song is who that name belongs to. Jesus took it for Himself: “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58). So a congregation singing this chorus is confessing the deity of Christ. The bridge stays on solid ground too. Darkness does not stand before Him because the cross already settled that fight: “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15). That is a finished victory being celebrated, not a battle being won by volume.
Where the Framing Drifts
The verses carry the one tension worth naming. Each opens with longing, “I want to be close, close to Your side,” and then a second time, a desire to be near His heart. Nothing is false about wanting God. But sung by a believer week after week, the longing can harden into an assumption that He is somewhere over there and the worship set is how we cross the room.
Under the Old Covenant that assumption was accurate. The bush could not be approached in sandals, and the Holy of Holies was curtained off. The New Covenant tore the curtain. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13). Near is not where the believer is trying to get. It is where the blood already placed them.
The Grace Re-Read
So is this a New Covenant song? Its chorus and bridge are, fully. Its verses become one the moment the longing is heard as delight rather than distance. The great I AM did not wait at the top of the mountain for you to climb. He came down, took flesh, and said His name again in a Galilean accent, and then He went to the cross so that the closeness you want would be yours before you ever asked for it.
You can sing “I want to be close” the way a child says it while already sitting in her father’s lap. Not a plea to be let in. A joy at being there. The holiness this song exalts is not a wall between you and Him. It is the very thing He shared with you when He made you righteous.
Short lyric excerpts are quoted for commentary and criticism; all songs remain © their respective writers and publishers. This is a theological reading of the words, not a judgment of the songwriters or of anyone who sings them. Any linked video is the artist’s own official upload; linking is not endorsement, and no endorsement is implied in either direction.