JESUS IS “I AM”

“BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS BORN, I AM” JOHN 8: 58

‘Very truly I tell you,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’ ⁵⁹ At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. (John 8: 58-59)

PART 1: WHO IS HE?

Warren Wiersbe stated in his book “He walks with me”: “If the founders of the world’s philosophies and religious systems were alive on earth today, they could only say ‘I was’. They are dead and they can’t personally help you. Jesus doesn’t say ‘I was’. He is alive and says, ‘I AM.’”…because He “is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13: 8). “Past history, present reality and future certainty all unite today in Jesus Christ, the great I AM”.

Jesus made INCREDIBLE claims while He was alive. Can you imagine how you would feel if I stood up right now and claimed to be the “resurrection and the life” or “the way, the truth and the life”. You would think I was bonkers! Yet, these are the very claims that Jesus made – and none greater than the claim He made when He was challenged by the Pharisees as to who He was:

See what He claimed in John 8: 25-59 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBl3XBuk96Y&list=PLCpgggEg1JgogOpSQ795yBb5486QRlVFH&index=8 (from 4 mins 59 secs)

This passage begins with “Who are you?” (v 25) as asked by the Pharisees. During this discourse they then tell Jesus who THEY say He is: “a Samaritan and demon possessed” (v 48). Jesus, though, claimed something much different – He claimed to be the “I AM” (v 58) and it is because of this that they took up stones to kill Him (v 59).

Who do YOU say He is?

[Using the human figures on your tables, in groups of about 5, write down as many things that you can about who YOU say He is – looking at His head – what does He know? His eyes – what does He see? His mouth – what does He say? His heart – what’s in His heart? His hands – what does He do? His feet – where does He go? But…you are not, at this time, allowed to use any of His “I AM” statements]

In conclusion to this section let us watch this famous film clip – “He’s my King”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzqTFNfeDnE

PART 2: HOW DO I KNOW HIM?

Have a look at this famous episode in the life of Jesus – when He calms the wind and the waves on the Sea of Galilee: Visual Gospel of Matthew (from 54: 55): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc8qOXeTsUQ

Matthew 8: 23 tells us:

Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him

We know Jesus by following Him. Jesus always had His disciples with Him and they knew Him intimately. However, the bottom line is that He is no longer physically with us so how do we know Him?

[Time now to get back in our groups and to try to find 10 ways in which we can know Him even though He is no longer physically present with us]

PART 3: WHO WAS JESUS CLAIMING TO BE?

When Jesus said:

“I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am!” (John 8: 58 NCV)

He was saying something very profound. The moment He stated “I tell you the truth” or “truly, truly I say to you” He was making a declaration that in Jewish ears was something very solemn that had to be listened to. When He used the “I AM” He was using the same words that God the Father used when declaring who He was to Moses at the Burning Bush in Exodus 3: 14. The Pharisees and other Jews KNEW that He was claiming to be God Himself, God made flesh, God who had come down to be with them. They were horrified! In picking up stones to stone Him they were accusing Him of blasphemy – for which stoning was the punishment.

But, was He REALLY claiming to be God? Or was it simply as slip of the tongue – to use the “present continuous” tense rather than the past tense?

No! There was no doubt to the Jews and there should be no doubt for us. The words, given in Greek, that Jesus used when He said “I AM” were TWO words put together: “ego eimi”. The significance of this is that “ego” means “I” and “eimi” means “I AM”. So, in effect Jesus is saying “I…I AM” – repeating Himself on the “I”.

Jesus knew EXACTLY what He was saying. It was a claim He was making to the Jews then and that reverberates down through time to now. He is categorically saying that He is YAHWEH – He IS God made flesh!

OVERVIEW OF THE REST OF THE SERIES

Now that we have seen that God is YAHWEH and that Jesus claimed (and still claims) to be the great “I AM” – God made flesh and come amongst us – Immanuel – now we are able to look at the “I AM” declarations that He made which He made so that we might know Him – the great “I AM”.

So let us watch this marvellous film clip that summarises all the “I AM” claims that He made:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7LsvHo5u3g

FOR FURTHER STUDY – EITHER AS AN INDIVIDUAL OR A HOUSEGROUP

In this session we have seen that Jesus claims to be the “I AM” – Yahweh. In our last session we saw that there are 9 times when titles are added to “Yahweh” in order to understand what God is like and who He is. Amazingly, each of these 9 has a parallel in the New Testament story of Jesus – further proof to the claims of Jesus to be the great “I AM”

JESUS CLAIMS TO BE YAHWEH

A COMPARISON OF OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT NAMES OF GOD

Can you find any more???