“Assertion of Jesus: “I AM”
I’m beginning a new series of blogs on Next Steps today. I’m calling it “Assertions That Unsettled the World.” I want to look into assertions Jesus made about himself that shook his world and still reverberates today. In fact, these outrageous claims of Jesus still affect the lives of people 2000 years later.
Over the years there have been historical figures, famous people, and athletes who have made some pretty outrageous claims to capture the public's attention. In 1961 John Kennedy said we’d put a man on the moon before the end of the decade; Muhammad Ali claimed he was the greatest fighter of all time; Al Gore claimed he invented the internet; John Lennon asserted that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus; Joe Namath, hours before his New York Jets were to play the powerhouse Baltimore Colts in the Super Bowl, claimed, “We're going to win Sunday. I guarantee it.”
But no one made more shocking and revolutionary assertions about himself than Jesus of Nazareth. In fact, the religious leaders of his day asked Jesus, “Who do you think you are?” 2000 years later people are still asking “Who do you think you are” concerning Jesus. So, I want to spend time looking into some of the assertions Jesus made that require a personal response. Along the way, we’ll gain more insight into who Jesus is.
The Assertion: Jesus said, "I AM"
In John 8:12 Jesus asserts that he was the light of the world; he said, “…if you follow me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness because you will have the light that leads to life.” Well, the Pharisees didn’t like that a bit and countered with their own claim: “You are making false claims about yourself!” So, a great deal of John chapter 8 is about the Pharisees and Jesus exchanging serious and escalating challenges. However, there was a stark difference between the Pharisees response and how Jesus countered. Jesus didn’t have smooth talking points, he was speaking God’s truth and sometimes that truth was downright inconvenient and confrontational; but it was a truth from God; a truth that was eternal, life-changing, soul-saving, and revolutionary and it was driving the 'stuck in religion' guys nuts! Take a moment to read John 8:45-59...
The Pharisees called Jesus “a Samaritan devil.” What got the Pharisees into such a mudslinging mood? Jesus made some assertions about himself that either needed to be believed or rejected. Jesus said:
“I am the light of the world, follow me and you won’t
stumble through the darkness.”
“The Father wants to glorify me.”
“Anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!”
“I know and obey the Father but you don’t even know him.”
“Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming.”
But the real coup d'état for the Pharisees was when Jesus said, “before Abraham was even born, I AM!” When Jesus said he was the “I AM,” the Pharisees new exactly what Jesus was claiming and their collective heads exploded! At the peak of this heated exchange, Jesus referred to the name God gave himself to Moses in Exodus 3. The book of Exodus gives the account of God calling Moses to go to Egypt to rescue the Israelites out of 400 years of slavery. In that scene, Moses was standing before a burning bush that wasn’t being consumed by the fire. The voice of God came from the bush telling Moses to go to Egypt and lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. Moses asked God this question, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘the God of your ancestors has sent me to you, and they won’t believe me, what should I tell them?” We read God's response in Exodus 3:14-15…
14 God replied to Moses, “I am who I am. Say this to the people of Israel: I am has sent me to you.” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations.
Thousands of years later, Jesus used this name (I am who I am ) to unequivocally proclaim to the Pharisees that he was God in the flesh. No sane and significant spiritual leader had ever claimed that—not Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or Moses. And since then, neither have Buddha, or Confucius, or Muhammad. Of all the spiritual leaders who have grown to prominence, Jesus alone made the assertion to be God. In fact this is one of the most powerful, outrageous statements ever spoken by Jesus. When he said that he existed before Abraham was born, he undeniably proclaimed divinity—he claimed to be God.
Jesus, The Divider
If this were an easy claim to believe or understand, everyone in the world would believe it. But they obviously don’t. Christianity has always been about a faith centered in the person of Jesus Christ as the eternal God and Savior. Jesus has always been a lightning rod for both agreement and disagreement. He once said of himself in Luke 12:51-53…
51 Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! 52 From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against. 53 ‘Father will be divided against son and son against father; mother against daughter and daughter against mother; and mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’
Ironically, we read in the Bible that Jesus also has the name, Prince of Peace. The peace he offers is between God and each person who believes in him as Savior and Lord. That line is a powerful divide. Those who believe in Jesus as the I AM are on one side and those who do not are on the other. Those who believe are placed into a relationship with God. Sin no longer separates. Jesus took care of that as he absorbed the sin of the world upon himself and suffered the due penalty of death. It was at the cross that Jesus created the possibility of a lasting relationship of peace with God for every believing person. The Apostle Paul understood this dichotomy when he wrote this about Christ-followers in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16…
15 Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. 16 To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume…
Jesus as the “I AM” is, has been, and always will be the place of demarcation; the place of separation. He is where you “get on” or “get off” with God. There’s no in-between space. You either believe in him by faith or you reject him.
A Claim That Demands a Response
In John 8:59, we’re told how the Jewish leaders responded to Jesus claim to be God, “At that point they picked up stones to kill him. But Jesus hid himself from them and left the Temple.” Christianity has always proclaimed what Jesus said about himself: Jesus is God. The outrageous assertions of Jesus demands a response: reject him or fall on your knees before him. How do you respond to Jesus? There are several possible responses:
1) Jesus is just a legend.
2) Jesus was outrageously crazy.
3) Jesus was a liar and purposely deceiving people.
4) Jesus was speaking the truth, and he is both Savior and Lord.
Over the last 2000 years billions of people have placed their faith and trust in Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jesus is both Savior and Lord. And if Jesus is the “I AM” then he not only has the power and authority to save your soul for all eternity but the right to rule over your life today.
Who Do You Say Jesus Is?
If you haven’t embraced the “I AM” do it today. C.S. Lewis in his book “Mere Christianity” has a famous quote that is appropriate for today’s discussion about Jesus being the great “I AM.”
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him Jesus): I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
Jesus made assertions that unsettled the world. 2000 years later, what he said about himself still leaves people uneasy. You can’t seriously consider what Jesus said and not make a decision of what to do with him. Who do you say Jesus is to you?
Next Step
1. If you have been ignoring Jesus because he makes you uncomfortable, or forming opinion from what others say about Jesus, that really is like an ostrich with the head buried in sand. Ignoring Jesus or being ignorant of Jesus doesn’t change who he is, he's Savior and Lord. Face him. Read one of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John) and make a decision.
2. If you know this Jesus, make him known this week by how you live your life in the marketplace; how you interact with those around you each day. Show others an accurate picture of the Great I AM.
