In John 8:12-30, I want to highlight four verses…
12 “I am the light of the world.”
18 “I am the one who bears witness about myself…”
24 “Unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”
28 “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he…”
Do you notice the short two-word phrase that is repeated in each of these four verses? Take a minute to read them again. Do you see it? It is a simple-sounding phrase that can be easily overlooked, but it is a phrase that has profound theological importance. The phrase is, “I am.”
I’m sure that many of you are thinking to yourselves, “Hey I know what that means!” Sure enough, it is the English phrase that translates the Name of God, Yahweh. This is such a sacred name that our Jewish friends don’t even pronounce it. Back in Exodus 3:13-14, Moses asked for God’s name and God answered with the Hebrew word “Yahweh.” When the Old Testament was first translated from Hebrew into Greek, about 100 years before the time of Jesus, the short two-word phrase that they chose to translate God’s Name was: ego eimi, which translates into “I am” or “I am he.” These are the Greek words that are used in each of the four verses above.
Now, here’s the tricky part. Although the New Testament was written in Greek, Jesus would have been speaking a version of Hebrew called Aramaic. That means that in each of these four verses, Jesus would have used a version of the word Yahweh in each instance, thus identifying Himself with Godself! Wow!
Later in John 18:6, the text says, “When Jesus said, I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground”!! Words so powerful they knocked people over!
As we look at these verses again, may they cause you and I to be knocked off our feet. May we fall to the ground in worship of Jesus today.
Josh Rose
Discipleship Pastor