A VERY SPECIAL “I AM” OF JOHN’S GOSPEL – “EGO EIMI” – “I, I AM” – SO MUCH COMFORT IN IT – PART 1
SHORT INTRODUCTION
In John’s Gospel there are found very crucial sayings of the Lord Jesus all containing “I AM”. These relate to His Person and work and ministry. They are essential for our faith. So far, as have progressed in these great revelations, we have looked at “I am the way, the truth and the life,” and “I am the resurrection and the life,” and I am the Door and the Shepherd of the sheep.” The one for the current study is not so obvious, but is every bit important as the others.
This is all contained around the “I AM” itself and we take great comfort in that fact. John constantly brings out the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ and these “I AMs” are important in doing that. With that small introduction, let us continue with this next examination of these beautiful truths.
ALMIGHTY GOD IN THE MIDST OF THE WIND STORM
Let us open at John 6 and read verse 16 to 21. {{John 6:16 “Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea John 6:17 and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. John 6:18 The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. John 6:19 When therefore they had rowed about three or four miles, they beheld Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat and they were frightened, John 6:20 but He said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.” John 6:21 They were willing therefore to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.”}}
You must note here in verse 20, the tense the Lord used. It is a present tense. The thing with this statement, “It is I”, is that if I say it right now, today, in the same way as the statement, “I am” – then the application to the immediate present is obvious, but if I say it tomorrow, then the application at that time is just as relevant to the present then, tomorrow. Jesus is the I AM through all of time and space.
The great comforting aspect of all this is the Greek that is used in the Gospel. The Greek translated as “It is I” is “e?µ? ???” (eimi ego). It means “I am - I”, or “I, I AM”. Now understand the picture in this event. The night was dark and the wind was howling. The disciples were afraid as they battled every inch of the way. Then Jesus came and was walking on water! No man can do that! He came and declared Himself to be the great I AM.
To a devout Jew the term “I AM” was powerful and clothed with awe and fearsomeness. It was the very presence of the living God! Their minds would go back to the incident in Exodus - {{Exodus 3:13 Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM” and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”}}
This is the One they knew about, the “Elohim” God, who had the encounter with Moses. The One who is the “I AM WHO I AM”, the Existent One, the All Powerful and All Present One is – this is the very same One who was standing before the disciples in the tossing boat and said to that fearful bunch, “I – I AM.” The whole creation would bow to that Name.
Did they grasp the dynamic significance of that? The very One who was the Creator of the universe in Genesis 1 – the One who spoke the universe into being – this is the One who could move them from the raging waters of the sea, to their destination on land IMMEDIATELY. Just like as in the twinkling of an eye. How mighty is that. The awesomeness of very God in their presence! The great I AM of the Old Testament is Jesus their Lord and Master!
There is a fantastic truth contained here as well. We are now as the disciples were - tossed about by the raging winds of the storm but it is the I AM, the Lord Jesus Christ who shall come to us, and immediately, in the twinkling of an eye, remove us from the sea to the land of His dwelling place. The “sea” in scripture in prophecy means the world, more specifically, the Gentile world. There we have it. Jesus shall come in the Rapture to remove us from our little “boats in the raging world” and take us to be with Him in the place of safety. That is, to His home in heaven. That is such a beautiful thing. What a magnificent type this incident is for us. The great I AM is always near, always with us until the end of the Church age, and personally, shall come for/to us and take us to our destination – the Father’s House in which are many rooms.
The wording of John 6:21 is important – “{{They were willing therefore to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.”}} There are two expressions here that must, or should apply to us. The first is the word “willing”. How willing are we to receive Him into our boat? We may be Christians, but Christians can sometimes be aloof and keep the Lord at arm’s length. Always, we must be willing to keep Him near, right beside us. Again, how willing are we to receive His coming for us? The Rapture is very close, when Jesus will take us from the stormy sea of the world to His home, but how willing are we for that to happen. Do we love our life too much here? Do we love the flesh pots of Egypt too much? Would we prefer the Lord to delay His coming so we can have a good time in the world? Does His sacrifice mean so little to you?
I said there were two expressions here. The second one is “to which they were going.” They had a destination and were eager to get there and that is why they were rowing hard in the night. They were looking forward to the final destination. Are we? Are we looking forward with great anticipation to our destination? We ought to be. There is something wrong if it is not a burning love in our hearts to claim our destination where we will see Jesus, not the glories of heaven, but Jesus Christ Himself. Are you really eager to reach the place where you are going? It should be our motivation for all we do. This world is not our home. We have a more excellent one above.
“I – I AM” NOT “I – I WAS”
There is one short verse – {{Hebrews 13 v 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes, and forever.”}} (NASB) which does not seem to have any part in the context where it is found. Therefore that makes it independent of any particular application and makes it a universal truth for all time and eternity. I hope to come back to that verse later.
The great encouragement about this John verse is the present tense. Jesus did not say, “I, I WAS” as in “I was the same yesterday, and today . . . ” Yes, we know He was, but what use is that to any of us if we ONLY look to the past for the activity of God. One precious verse is this one – {{Psalm 46 v 1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”}} We want God to draw near right now when we need Him. He is with us in the present time. Being with Moses and Abraham and Noah in the past, is not really what each of us needs now, and that is why the Lord addressed His statement to the present. It is I.
The trouble with a lot of Christians, and I do say “a lot’, is that they live in the past and they can recall the blessings of God in the past, and the way God worked in the churches in the past, and how they walked along hand in hand with the Lord “in the past”. Their memories of spiritual things are “in the past”. Now that is sad. I wonder if we could call those people, “Yesterday’s Christians”. Psalm 42 has the thoughts of the sons of Korah and here is a verse – {{Psalm 42 v 4 “These things I remember, and I pour out my soul within me, for I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, with the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.”}}
Ahhh, all that is past but the psalmist was not prepared to live with past blessings and past memories. Here is the next verse – {{Psalm 42 v 5 “Why are you in despair, O my soul, and why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence.”}} When a person has ceased walking with the Lord and has only past memories to place before Him, then recognise the despair of soul, and turn to the Lord, who is a very present help in times of trouble. “Return unto Me” says the Lord. With great sadness I have to say that too many people in churches today, just come and go each week, and their spiritual lives are dead. They may have been active in the past, but now they are of no help to the Lord, and often a hindrance to others. Churches are the same way. They are “yesterday’s churches”.
I would challenge you here today, don’t dismiss the past as irrelevant, but live with the Lord in the present, as if every day is the start of the new experience. He is the Great I AM. {{John 7 v 29 “I am from Him, and He sent Me.” John 8:28 then you will know that I am He, John 10:36 ‘I am the Son of God’. John 14:20 I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. John 18:8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He.”}} Just one more, a really great I AM - Matthew 28 v 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”}}
“I – I AM” NOT “I – I WILL BE”
But, on the other hand, Jesus did not say, “I, I WILL BE”. It is the idealist who looks to the future with little reference to the present, who might use “I will be,” no better than saying it might be. I remember it used to be said, “Some Christians are so heavenly minded, they are of no earthly use.” Whatever you think of that statement, it suggests that some church people don’t live in the real world, and Jesus wants us to be real. If Jesus Christ is going to be something mainly in the future, to help us, then what use is that now in the present?
This is how wonderful God is. The Lord is the Great I AM right now here for us. He certainly was the I AM when the disciples needed His presence on the wild Galilean Sea. For the repentant sinner, He is the, I AM. For the Christian struggling with the burdens of life, He is the, I AM. For the child of God taking the last breaths of physical life, He is the, I AM. For the Church in all eternity He will ever remain, THE I AM.
NOW BACK TO THE INCIDENT OF JOHN CHAPTER 6
We will take a look at the context of this great I AM utterance of John 6. The momentous statement of “I, I AM” was made on the Sea of Galilee or sometimes called the Sea of Tiberius. This is an important incident to put into context and please look at this in your bibles. Look at verse 17. We know that the disciples had become very dependent on the Lord as they saw Him to be the Messiah, but Jesus had not met up with them after the great event of the feeding of the multitude, that had just happened. They did not know what was happening. In verse 15 Jesus withdrew when the people were trying to take Him by force to make Him the Ruler (king in the passage) for they wanted an earthly king and a deliverer from the Romans. Their intentions were not heavenly; they were material and earthly.
Jesus had just fed the multitude, 5 000 John said, but he used the distinct word for “man/men” ???? (anér) and not for people in general, ??d???, (andros) and that means there were many more than 5 000. Matthew 14 v 21 from the ESV says, {{“And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.”}} The fickle people saw their continual meal ticket with no regard for their sin. Easy food and hero worship. The disciples saw Jesus withdraw in those disturbing circumstances and now He was still missing. Where could He be? That in itself was unsettling for the disciples, but to delay His rejoining them, was an agitation to the heart.
Also in verse 17 it states that it had become dark. Light is a marvellous thing. It sets our perspectives better. A howling gale is worse in the night. Any terror or frightening experience, is worse in the night. To be lost in threatening circumstances, is worse at night. By the end of verse 17, you can imagine the disciples were becoming quite disturbed in themselves. In verse 18, it was not just the disciples who were stirred up, but the sea as well. Their senses tuned into the wind as it gusted and made noises through parts of the boat, and the sea responded by crashing noises of the waves. Matthew says the boat was battered by the waves which were contrary, ie opposing them. When you can not see what is happening at night, it is all the more fearful, and it is said these men were used to the turbulent sea, being fishermen, but remember, not all the disciples were fishermen (Matthew tax collector. John = seaman), but they were brave men and struggled on with their rowing for three or four miles. That would have been tough going.
Matthew adds it was the 4th watch of the night making it after 3 a.m. and they had been rowing since before the darkness came. Where was the Lord? How often, that is our reaction in trouble. “Where was God when I was going through that?” “Why did the Lord not come when I needed Him?” Failing faith leads to questions, and questions lead to doubt, and doubt leads to rejection, and rejection leads to cynicism and hardness of heart.
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