Notes of Faith July 2, 2024
Who Christ Is
Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
John 8:58
Consider how often we use the phrase, “I am,” in conversation. It is interesting to note that God used the phrase “I AM” in answering a question from Moses who wanted to know how to identify God to the Hebrew slaves. God’s answer was, “I AM WHO I AM.” Moses was to tell them, “I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14).
I AM is full of theological significance when applied to God. And Jesus used that significance to identify Himself to the Jews as being one with God: “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58). So holy were these words to the Jews that they tried unsuccessfully to stone Him (John 8:59). Jesus went on to expand on the meaning of I AM by using the phrase seven times to describe aspects of His being: I am the Bread of Life, the Light of the World, the Door, the Good Shepherd, the Resurrection and the Life, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the True Vine.
Meditating on each of these aspects of God’s Person in Christ reveals untold riches about who He is and what He does.
God is not the great I WAS, He is the great I AM.
Eric Alexander
God is, has always been, and will always be, whether we want to believe in Him, submit to His authority over us, or have a personal relationship with Him or not.
I AM are powerful words given to us in the Bible representing truth of God. God is not something that we make up in our mind, something that we create to fit the lifestyle we live, that makes us comfortable with our choices and decisions, that makes us feel warm and fuzzy. He is! We cannot make Him who we want Him to be. Through His Word, through prayer, real relationship (the reason we were created), we can begin to know God, His character, His sovereignty, His love, and multiple pages of other attributes. We need to recognize that God is and we are not Him. Since He is in control of all that exists, we must submit to His authority and seek to do His will, learning and growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ who left heaven to take on human flesh, live the life we live (without any sin), give His life as a payment for the debt we owe God for our sin against Him, and through believing in Jesus’ work, be forgiven and have opportunity to follow Jesus, turning from our sins, seeking to do the righteous things of God, understanding His promise to take us to be with Him forever… eternal life!
We must know God is!
Pastor Dale