I, I Am
I, I Am
"Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am'.” John 8:58
One of the great questions of the ages is who is Jesus, and yet no one was clearer in understanding their own identity than him. No less than fifteen times did Jesus explicitly state, I Am, and for good reason.
Jesus never suffered through an identity crisis. He knew precisely who he was. In fact, he knew himself better than anyone who ever lived. He not only knew himself, on multiple occasions he clearly communicated his identity by name.
Jesus wants to communicate his identity to you by name.
He introduced his self-disclosure with the distinctive words of veracity, truly, truly. I know what I am talking about. He then followed with the emphatic, I, I Am. No one in all Greek literature ever used these emphatic words together--not just I Am, but I, I Am.
In the original Greek language Jesus said, ego eimi. Eimi is translated I Am. Ego is the stand-alone I. But Jesus strung them together more than a dozen times, accentuating the uniqueness of his identity as if to say, I, and none else, Am. I, and I alone, Am.
If you don't know who Jesus is, he does. And you can trust what he says about himself.
Jesus, great I Am, I trust you as I Am. All sufficient in yourself. I take you by name.
YEAR ON FIRE
© Fred A. Hartley, III
All rights reserved
The English Standard Bible (ESV) is normally used, unless otherwise indicated.
This daily Christ-encountering, fire-starter is not intended to replace your daily Bible reading and prayer time, but rather to motivate you to spend extended time in His presence.
"Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am'.” John 8:58
One of the great questions of the ages is who is Jesus, and yet no one was clearer in understanding their own identity than him. No less than fifteen times did Jesus explicitly state, I Am, and for good reason.
Jesus never suffered through an identity crisis. He knew precisely who he was. In fact, he knew himself better than anyone who ever lived. He not only knew himself, on multiple occasions he clearly communicated his identity by name.
Jesus wants to communicate his identity to you by name.
He introduced his self-disclosure with the distinctive words of veracity, truly, truly. I know what I am talking about. He then followed with the emphatic, I, I Am. No one in all Greek literature ever used these emphatic words together--not just I Am, but I, I Am.
In the original Greek language Jesus said, ego eimi. Eimi is translated I Am. Ego is the stand-alone I. But Jesus strung them together more than a dozen times, accentuating the uniqueness of his identity as if to say, I, and none else, Am. I, and I alone, Am.
If you don't know who Jesus is, he does. And you can trust what he says about himself.
Jesus, great I Am, I trust you as I Am. All sufficient in yourself. I take you by name.
YEAR ON FIRE
© Fred A. Hartley, III
All rights reserved
The English Standard Bible (ESV) is normally used, unless otherwise indicated.
This daily Christ-encountering, fire-starter is not intended to replace your daily Bible reading and prayer time, but rather to motivate you to spend extended time in His presence.
Posted in Year on Fire
No Comments