I Am!

John 8:56-58 – Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

Exodus 3:14 – God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

Exodus 6:3 – I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them.

John 6:35 – Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 1:1 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 8:12 – When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Application:

• ·         Jesus probably was not referring to any one occasion but to Abraham’s general joy in the fulfilling of the promises of God in the Messiah, by which all nations on earth would receive blessing.
• ·         Jesus did not say “I was” but “I am”, expressing the eternity of His being and His oneness with the Father.
• ·         “I AM WHO I AM” was the name by which God wished to be known and worshiped in Israel—the name that expressed His character as the dependable and faithful God who desires the full trust of His people.
• ·         The patriarchs were not totally ignorant of the name Yahweh, but that they did not understand its full implications as the name of the One who would redeem His people.
• ·         That fact could be comprehended only by the Israelites who were to experience the exodus, and by their descendants.
• ·         Jesus was God in the fullest sense.
• ·         “God is light”, but Jesus is also the light from God that lights the way for life—as the pillar of fire lit the way for the Israelites.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV