The Indisputable ‘I AM’ John 8: 21-31
In John 8:12 the LORD Jesus validates His own deity in identifying Himself as THE Light of the World that “whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” We saw the indispensable character of Jesus Christ in that, it is IN HIM alone that you have life by faith and apart from Him you cannot possibly have forgiveness and life. There are two conditions for man: Walking in darkness which will result in an existence in “outer darkness” (which is not a suburb of Heaven but everlasting separation from God’s presence), or walking in the Light of the Love and Grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today we pickup in John 8:21 (NKJV): “Then Jesus said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come." 22 So the Jews said, "Will He kill Himself, because He says, 'Where I go you cannot come'?" 23 And He said to them, "You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am (He), you will die in your sins."
25 Then they said to Him, "Who are You?" And Jesus said to them, "Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. 26 I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him."
27 They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father. 28 Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am (He), and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. 29 And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him." 30 As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. 31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.”
Jesus’ Origin
I want to look first of all at verses 21-24: here Jesus explains that His origin is not within the realm of man but from the realm of God. Jesus said in John 8:23: "You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.” The crowds had been discussing, “Where did this man come from.” They knew that He had grown up in Galilee and if they had done their research they would have found that He had actually been born in Bethlehem from the line of David as a fulfillment of the promised Messiah; but they refused to see that Jesus’ place of origin was beyond the realm of fallen and rebellious man. Jesus’ kept insisting that He came from the realm of God, not this creation, that He came from the realm of the Creator, NOT the creature, and as John had written in John 1:9-11, He was “the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.” Jesus was the Creator God not the creature.
But fallen man’s natural desire is to reject this Jesus. John 1:11 explained it this way: “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” “Receiving Jesus” is believing in all of Jesus’ claims about Himself, and without a spiritual birth from above, this is impossible to do…but it does not in any way negate who Jesus is and neither does it reduce man’s responsibility to believe in this Jesus. Jesus warned in verse 24: “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am (He), you will die in your sins." [We’ll look at the words “I am He” in a minute.]
It is extremely important to believe Jesus’ claims concerning Himself, as a matter of fact, believing in Christ’s deity is a matter of life and death. We studied this fact back in John 3:18-19: “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” But praise be to God, it is not without evidence that we are commanded to believe; the evidence is astounding, but man’s heart is indeed dark!
Jesus is the I AM of the Old Testament
We are going to take a few minutes to look at verses 24&28 in John 8. There is something extremely important in these verses which solidify the deity of the Lord Jesus. The verses read: “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am (He), you will die in your sins." Verse 28 Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am (He), and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.”
The words “that I AM He” actually should read: THAT I AM; The word “He” is not in the original text. In some translations the words “the one I claim to be” are incorrectly added. Jesus was clearly identifying Himself with the name of God in the Old Testament, the “I AM” God who led His children, Israel, out of Egypt.
Exodus 3:14 said: And God (the Heb. plural form “elohiym” used for God) said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.' " 15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD (YHWH or Jehovah, the root word being “I AM” or “hayam” in the Hebrew) God ( again the Hebrew “elohiym”) of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.”
Those verses use three different references to the One True God (elohiym) revealed in the Old Testament: God, “I AM” and LORD (used with all capitals in the OT when the proper name YHWH is used). When God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM” the Hebrew verb meaning “to be or to exist” is used, namely “hayam”. It denotes God as existing as God by His very nature. It also denotes his uninterrupted existence, His boundless duration, His timelessness (He has forever been outside of time and He is the creator of TIME.) “I AM” speaks clearly of God’s quality of SELF-EXISTENCE; His name indicates the very being and essence of God which is unique to Him alone and none other; This God reveals Himself to His chosen people and to all those who will believe in Him. All others will reject Him, as Jesus said in John 8: “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am (He), you will die in your sins."
Deuteronomy 32:39 gives us another example: “Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides Me.” Notice that the wording is the same which Jesus uses: “If you do not believe that I am (He), you will die in your sins.” So Jesus IS the I AM who redeems His People, the very same as The YHWH of the Old Testament.
Look at Isaiah 41:4: “Who has performed and done it, Calling the generations from the beginning? '(Remember how the Bible begins: “In the beginning GOD created.”) I, the Lord, am the first; And with the last I am He.'” So the “I AM” is the first and the last. Listen to Revelation 1:17: “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.” Here Jesus is applying the Old Testament name from Isaiah 41:4 to Himself: The First and Last of Isaiah is the First and Last of Revelation. Jesus is the promised I AM of Isaiah.
Jesus again speaks in Revelation 2:8: "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, 'These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life...” And again in Revelation 22:13: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." The Biblical evidence leaves no room for doubt: Jesus is undoubtedly and indisputably the Great I AM; Scripture identifies Him as such and He witnesses to the same in His words (as the Word Incarnate) and in His actions.
Look at Isaiah 43:10,25: "You are My witnesses," says the Lord, "And My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me…(People do not have the capability of becoming little gods because then there would be more than one God. There is not and will not ever be any God but the One revealed in the Old and New Testaments.) "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”
It is God alone who forgives sins, and Jesus is claiming that HE IS THE “I AM” of the Old Testament. In John 8: 24, Jesus clearly states: “If you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” Mere man cannot “save” created man because all men have sinned and fallen short of God’s Glory. God promised to save and He saves by His grace and faith alone, but “believing in Jesus” includes the highest possible view of Christ! Jesus is LORD! He is God! He is Christ! He is the I AM. He is the First and the Last.
Look again at Verse 28: “Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am (He), and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.”
When Jesus uses the title, “Son of Man”, it resembles His own conception of Himself in His essential nature as of heavenly origin and possessor of Heaven’s glory. He would keep His Word concerning Himself as the very Truth of God in the Flesh; As Jesus speaks, God Himself is being revealed and is occurring in His very conversation.
Here Jesus uses a play on the word “lift up” in order to point to the type of death He would suffer as well as the fact that His death for sin on the cross would accomplish the highest glory of His earthly visit. Normally the Greek word for “lift up” means “to lift up on high, to exalt” and metaphorically it means “to raise to the very summit of opulence and prosperity, to raise to dignity, honor and happiness.”
When Jesus would complete His work on the Cross, the Jews and the rest of the world “will know that I am (He).” Everyone will know for certain that Jesus comes as Savior of all who believe…and if not, they will die in their sins and know Him as Judge of all who have died in their sin and rejection of Him. YHWH, the Great I AM, of the Old Testament is the ONLY GOD and SAVIOR and this Savior is Jesus, God revealed in the flesh. The Cross was where Jesus paid for the sins of all who would believe in Him and continue to follow Him. Jesus is the “I AM” and to accept and receive Him on His terms grants Life and Light in His Name to those who believe and follow Him.
What grace, what glory! What a God, who saves helpless and hopeless sinners by grace through faith alone! Hallelujah! Praise this Lord! What a Savior!
Outline
I. Jesus’ origin is the realm of God not the fallen and rebellious realm. (vs. 21-24) (NOT the difference between the spiritual and the material but of the Creator and the creature, the Holy and the fallen.
A. Jesus is from the realm of the Creator not the creature.
B. The natural desire is to reject Jesus, not to believe.
C. Believing in Christ’s deity is a matter of life and death. (Jesus would soon return to the Father: Since the hearers did not receive and follow Jesus in life, they would not follow Him to His Father in death.)
II. Jesus indisputably IS the “I AM” of the Old Testament.
(vs. 24 & 28) (Ex. 3:14, Deut. 32:39a, Isaiah 41:4, 43:10, 43:25, Rev. 1:17, 2:8, 22:13)
A. Jesus IS the I AM who redeems His People.(The YHWH of the OT)
B. Jesus IS the promised I AM in Isaiah.
C. Jesus IS the First and Last of Revelation.
D. “Believing in Jesus” includes the highest possible view of Christ! Mere man cannot “save” created man because all men have sinned and fallen short of God’s Glory.
E. Jesus would be glorified (exalted or “lifted up”) on the Cross.
F. “Believing in Jesus” is to accept Him on His terms.
