I am really excited as we start this new series. In the gospel of John, Jesus makes numerous I am statements throughout the book, as we go through this series, we will look at the meaning of each statement as we learn more about the character of our savior and Lord. In the Bible, both Old and New Testament, the phrase “I am” is used 1,036 times, 61 of these are highly significant passages. Most of the I am phrase is used in common language like we would use it, but 61 times, the phrase is used either to describe God from God’s own mouth or as the proper name of God.
In the New Testament, John uses the Greek phrase e?? e?µ? when Jesus says these “I am” statements. In Greek, like many other languages, the congregated verb does not need to have the definite pronoun attached to it to give the meaning. ??µ? is the first person verb form of the verb to be. It translates I am by itself, but when used with the word e?? translated as I. Together this phrase e?? e?µ? translates, I, I am. It is an emphatic since of the phrase and unique in John’s letters, but it was used long before John to describe in the character of God.
The first instance of an emphatic I am statement comes from God in Exodus 3; Moses is standing before the burning bush talking to God. God is calling him to lead the children of Israel out of bondage and slavery. Moses starts to question God’s choice in sending him. First in verse 11, Moses asks Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh,” but God told him that God would be with Moses and they would worship God at this very mountain. The second thing Moses asks is in Verse 13
13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
14 And 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 Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’
God identifies himself to Moses as “I AM WHO I AM…I AM has sent you…” In Jewish tradition the phrase I AM becomes synonymous with the name of God. The Jews would never speak the Name of the Lord, Yahweh. The phrase I am, in Hebrew is ni hu, is then often used as a substitute for the phrase ni Yahweh, I am the Lord. In the Septuagint, the Greek translation for the Hebrew scriptures, translated in 70 BC translates the phrase ni hu to e?? e?µ?. Isaiah 43 uses this phrase exclusively it is translated to English as I, even, I am He…ni hu…e?? e?µ?. Turn with me to Isaiah 43…if you have a pen or highlighter, I want you to underline or highlight every time we read an I am statement….let’s start at verse 10…
10“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. (underline)
Before Me there was no God formed,
Nor shall there be after Me.
11I, even I, am the Lord,
And besides Me there is no savior.
12 I have declared and saved,
I have proclaimed,
And there was no foreign god among you;
Therefore you are My witnesses,”
Says the Lord, “that I am God.
13 Indeed before the day was, I am He;
And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand;
I work, and who will reverse it?”
14Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel:
“For your sake I will send to Babylon,
And bring them all down as fugitives—
The Chaldeans, who rejoice in their ships.
15 I am the Lord, your Holy One,
The Creator of Israel, your King.” 16 Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea
And a path through the mighty waters,
17 Who brings forth the chariot and horse,
The army and the power
(They shall lie down together, they shall not rise;
They are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick):
18 “Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.
20 The beast of the field will honor Me,
The jackals and the ostriches,
Because I give waters in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My people, My chosen.
21 This people I have formed for Myself;
They shall declare My praise
Jump down to verse 25
25“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake;
And I will not remember your sins.
26Put Me in remembrance;
Let us contend together;
State your case, that you may be acquitted.
Here in Isaiah we see 2 things crucial to understanding for the Gospel of John. The phrases I am He., I, even I, am He… e?? e?µ?…here the Lord is describing who he is, and what he can do, but even more this passage is talking about Jesus. Verse 25 e?? e?µ? I, even I am he who blots out your transgressions. Here is a prophecy of Isaiah about Jesus!
The reason this is so significant for this series is that in John’s gospel, this phrase would have been familiar to the readers. The Septuagint becomes the Scriptures of the common people. Most people in the first century spoke Greek. Just like the Hebrew phrase ni hu had become a substitute for the Lord, so had the Greek phrase had the same divine significance and the first century reader would have heard the I am phrases and understood their meaning instantly.
The first I am statement we are looking forward is glossed over by many Bible scholars. We will study the seven unique utterances of the I am’s over the next several weeks…I am the bread of life, the light of the world, the door, the good shepherd, he resurrection, the way, the truth and the life, the vine, but this one I feel is even more powerful. This week we are looking at Jesus as the great I AM, the I am who I Am. And we see this powerful usage in four different places with four different responses. This first one we will look at occurs in John 4, please turn with me this morning. Read 4:1-26
We talked about this story a few weeks ago in Sunday School. Jesus is here a Jew in Samaria…He finds this woman, at about noon getting water, 3 separate times she tries to insight an argument so that she would no longer have to talk with Jesus. The first time in verse 9 she reminds him that she is a Samaritan women and he is a Jew…talking together as man in women in public was a social faux pas, but even worse the Jews hated the Samaritans and yet this didn’t stop Jesus, then she tries a religious view point, by asking are you greater than our father Jacob. The Jews didn’t really believe that the Samaritans were rightful descendants of the line of Jacob, but this did not stop Jesus from talking with her and showing love. In verse 20 she tries again with religion by mentioning where they ought to worship, with anyone else this would have been enough to drive them away, but Jesus stays.
IN verse 25 she says that the Messiah is coming and He will tell them all things, and Jesus says it…e?? e?µ?! I, I am he who speaks to you! He is saying, I am divine, I am the Messiah…this is huge! So how does she respond?
Read vs 27-30.
The disciples walk up and see Jesus talking, they hear him say e?? e?µ? they still don’t really realize what is going on, but the women responds by running to town, this women, who was a social outcast, who was at the well during the heat of the day to avoid everyone else, the women who everyone in town knew she had been married 5 times…can you just imagine the gossip, the lies, the things spoken about her behind her back…to her face, but when she hears these words she runs and tells everyone in the town who Jesus is, look again at verse 28-29…
She leaves her waterpot, she literally drops everything, and goes changes to tell the men, the village what had happened and the whole city comes out to see Jesus. This woman met the Lord, he identified himself to her as Messiah and Lord in this short dialogue. The Samaritan Women responded by leaving Jesus empowered, no long ashamed and telling all who would listen that she had met the Christ. She must have been pretty successful because everyone comes to see what she was talking about. No longer was the woman who had had 5 husbands, now she was the Woman whom had met Jesus. She has been changed.
Let’s look at the next passage go ahead and turn a page to John 6:16 Let’s read--Read John 6:16-21
The storm is blowing the disciples are 3-4 miles away from the shore and they see Jesus walking on the water and verse 19 they were afraid. He said to them It is I, do not be afraid…he said to them e?? e?µ?! He is saying I am He; I am in control over the storm, over the universe…Look what happens, they willing receive him and Immediately the end up where they were going. The sea of Galilee is 12 miles long—North to South and 6 miles wide E-W. They had gone 3-4 away from the shore. They would have been about in the middle of the Lake, and yet the immediately made it to the land where they were going. Here Jesus told clearly tells them He is the Lord…e?? e?µ? and showed them his unlimited power by first walking on water then they immediately end up where exactly where they were going.
When the disciples heard this divine proclamation, they responded by receiving him. But there was one disciple who took it a step further. Look at Matthew 14:24. In Matthew’s account of this story, one disciple had a different reaction. Read 14:24-33
Peter hears Jesus say I, I am…I am the I am, do not be afraid and his response is Lord let me join you! I want to do what you are doing! No one else in the boat responds this way…they receive him…yes…but Peter says Lord let me come to you…Peter runs towards Jesus. Yes, he gets distracted and doubts as his attention shifts from focusing on Jesus to focusing on the things of the world and he begins to sink, but Peter is the only other person in the history of the world to walk on water! He is the only person to say Lord let me join you in doing the impossible! We don’t know how far Peter walked, just that he walked…just that he was willing to go where no one else was willing to go. The sea of Galilee was not a small lake. This lake is over 600 feet deep and they were in the middle of this lake in a small boat fighting a fierce and terrifying storm and Peter decided to join Jesus in the lake. Everyone else was still gripped with Fear and Peter walks with Faith. Peter responds by joining Him in the impossible.
Turn with me to our last story in John 8 starting in verse 37
Read 8:37-59
…Before Abraham was…??? ??µ?! I am! This may be the most divine declaration Jesus made to Jews at large. They were in the temple listening and questioning him. Jesus doesn’t back down, he keeps at them, they call him a Samaritan…claiming he in not a proper Jew, claiming he was demon possessed, but Jesus clearly refutes them and tells them that he is greater than all the prophets and Abraham. The verb here is ?e?es??a the same root as genetics and translates better was Born, so Jesus is saying before Abraham was born, I am…the I am that I am, but also, I am and always have been. Jesus declares to the Jews that he has no beginning, unlike Abraham who was born, who had a specific start and end…Jesus saw Abraham’s day. He is God incarnate and was most likely the one who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush…often in the Old Testament that often the person who is described as the angel of the LORD is often the Lord himself…who would be the incarnate LORD…Jesus. Before Abraham was born, I am, to Moses…I am Who I am…I am has sent me, translated into the LXX as e?? e?µ? and spoken by Jesus as the same. Jesus is clearly showing his Lordship and divine nature to the Jews.
The Jews in the temple responded by first rejecting him and then trying to kill him.
What about us? How do we respond to the Divinity of the Jesus, how do we respond knowing that He is Lord of all, that he the promised one, that He has power over all the earth, that He has always existed?
Turn one more time a little further in John, John 18 verse 4
Read verse 4-8a
Do you see it? The power of the name…the power of Him saying I am He, I, I am…??? e?µ?…causes them to fall back…those that came to arrest Jesus, fall back because there is power in their name! The I Am had spoken…Jesus is the Lord and here even though he is surrendering himself…the power and authority of the Name of God!
Do we respond like the Samaritan Women, leaving everything and telling all we see that We have met the LORD and invite others to join us? Allowing the Lord to change who we are, finding new identity in Him?
Do We respond like the disciples by receiving him and watching all his glorious power or like Peter, joining him in the miracles that He is doing all around?
Or Do we reject him like the Jews did? Do we miss our chance to know Jesus because we are too arrogant? If Jesus came to our church today, would we recognize him? How would we react to hearing him say ??? e?µ?? I am the I am…I am Who I am.
Do we receive him like the soldiers? Impacted by his words, by his power…they felt the Power of God, looked at God incarnate, at Jesus in the face, proclaiming his divinity and yet they still arrested him and turned him over to be beaten, and killed. They saw the power yet they did nothing….
Personally I want to be more like Peter, running after God, thinking about nothing else…in the middle of a storm…in the middle of the lake, wanting to go after Jesus, or the Samaritan woman dropping everything and telling everyone about the one who can save me, forgive my sins and change my life. How would you respond. As we sing this song, let this be our response to go after God…offering all of ourselves over to him!
(Altar music)
Next week we will be continuing with this Series as we learn more about the Character of Jesus…the great I am…I look forward to you joining us then. Have a great week!
