“And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of
the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and
the bush was not consumed…And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said,
Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of
Israel, the Lord God 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” (Exodus 3:2 & 14-15).
The Apostle John makes reference to this in his gospel writings. John’s goal is to demonstrate the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thus the “I AM’s” we find in his gospel. Any Jew that heard Jesus say, “Verily,
verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am” would understand. Indeed, no
Jew worth his or her salt would have mistaken the intent of this statement. In
the very next verse the people are ready to kill him on the spot. To this end it
is clear that John is making an unmistakable connection when he records the “I
AM’s” of Jesus and the “I AM” that Moses met.
There are seven “I AM’s” in John. “I am the door of the sheep” (John
10:7), “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11), “I am the way, the truth, and the
life” (John 14:6), “I am the true vine” (John 15:1). In John 6:35 Jesus says,
“I am the bread of life” not long after feeding the 5,000. “I am the
resurrection and the life” after raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-25). Then
there is this, “Still at the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus now makes a second
claim: “I am the light of the world.” This pronouncement would also have
electrified the crowds. Every night of the feast, four huge lamps were lit to
accompany joyful singing and dancing. On the last night, the main candelabrum
was deliberately left unlit as a reminder that Israel had not yet experienced
full salvation…Jesus is now declaring himself to be the one who can provide
that salvation”[1]
(John 8:12-59). John is using the very words of Jesus Christ to make his point.
John is an eyewitness. He heard the words He recorded. There can be no
argument. Jesus never hid who He was. He is fully man and fully God. Let there
be no talk about the divinity of Jesus Christ. John certainly doesn’t beat
about the bush. Pun intended.
[1] Blomberg, Craig. "Additional Teachings of Jesus
in Matthew, Luke, and John." Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and
Survey. 2nd ed. Nashville, Tenn.: B & H Academic, 2009. 346. Print.
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