Ego Eimi
The I AM statements of Christ

 egoô eimi

I AM

Merced church of Christ

February 3, 2002

 G1473  eg-o'

A primary pronoun of the first person, “I” (only expressed when emphatic):— I, me.

G1510  i-mee'

First person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and
defective verb; I exist (used only when emphatic):—am, have been, X it is I, was. See also

I.       Introduction

A.   Thanks to the Elders, etc.

B.   The Character of the Lord

1.     In our Sunday morning class in the fellowship hall, we are beginning to study how to have a personal relationship with our Lord.

2.     And, in order to have a personal relationship with the Lord, we have to understand the nature and character of our Lord.

3.     Throughout the book of John, Jesus makes many statements about the nature and the character of our God.

4.     Although the statements were made specifically by Jesus about himself, we can see in the book just as he chastises Phillip in John 14:8 for asking:
Lord, show us the Father

5.       Jesus replied in verses 9-11
“Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me,

6.     So we know that any statement Jesus makes of himself, he makes of the Father, Our Lord in Heaven

C.   I AM statements

1.     There are 23 I AM statements found throughout the gospel according to John

2.     I AM is from the Greek words ego eimi (e-go I-mee) which specifically means a primary pronoun with a prolonged form of the first person singular present verb

3.     Typically, you will see these words used together in the Greek text to be an absolute, obvious, glaring or emphatic meaning.

4.     These I AM statements are just that! The obvious and absolute nature of our Lord that is prolonged-timeless, always, and forever!

5.     Our God is that which is unchanged, unmoved, and absolute in His nature.

6.     As was referenced earlier, today we are going to focus in on seven of the distinct statements that Jesus makes about himself throughout the book of John.

7.     Many refer to these as the I AM metaphors.

D.   Metaphors of the I AM statements

1.     Throughout these I AM statements, Jesus is telling those around about the nature of God and the nature of Himself.

2.     As he did come down from heaven, he led those to know the saving relationship of our Lord Jesus Christ as he came to the world to save us from our sins.

3.     The first of the I AM statements we will cover today is found in John 8:12. Jesus said:

II.    “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

A.   Jesus is specifically saying that He is the light within the world and that the light of His being brings forth life, unlike the death that darkness brings.

B.   Intellectually, “life” refers to biblical truth and darkness refers to error or falsehood. Morally, “life” refers to purity and holiness whereas “darkness” refers to sin and wrongdoing.

C.      Looking back throughout the Old Testament, we see many verses allude to the same metaphor such as

1.     Psalms 27:1
The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?

D.   The Old Testament often described God as the light and as a fire, especially when dealing with His physical description.

1.     Ezekiel 1:28
Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

2.     We can further look to the close encounters of Moses with God to show us that God’s likeness is bright:

a)    The burning bush in Exodus 3-The bush was described as a “great sight” in verse 3 and he was afraid to look upon God in verse 6

b)    the descending of God on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19-The mountain was covered in smoke and the Lord descended upon it in fire verse 18

c)      and the affirming of the covenant between the nation of Israel and God. In Exodus 24:17
The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire.

d)    Why? All encounters describe God as bright, like a fire, glowing.

E.   The New Testament alludes to much of the same

1.     The transfiguration of Jesus Christ in Matthew 17:2
”His face shown like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

F.    It is not the physical condition that concerns us, however, the physical description shows us the likeness of His Glory and further develops the character and the nature and the awesomeness of God.

G.  He is what has brought back life into a lifeless world. His presence and His sacrifice brought redemption to all and saved all that will hear His voice from everlasting death.

H.   Jesus, as our light, is our messiah, our savior which really gets down to the heart of the book of John. Showing us that Jesus is our Messiah, Our savior.

I.        The next I AM statement comes from John 10:7, 9.

III.  “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

A.   As we just looked at, we see that Jesus is our light-our illumination in a world of darkness. As we look to that light, in order to come into the light we need to go through Jesus, our gate into the pen of the sheep.

B.   The pen that Jesus is describing here is where His sheep will find their pasture. The nurturing and caring environment where those sheep will protected and built up.

C.   Jesus is the gate into His church-Where we are fed through the fellowship, trained and nurtured in the admonition of the Lord.

D.   For Jesus alone is our door, our one and only hope for salvation, the freedom from sin and bondage. He is our gate.

E.   Not only is he our gate, but in verses 11 and 14 of chapter 10, he also says:

IV.“I am the good shepherd.”

A.   The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.

B.   The description of a good shepherd is one that will lay down their life for their sheep. No matter what comes their way, the sacrifice is always there to be made.

C.   The idea of “good,” brings us back to the period in which Jesus was in.

1.     His good qualities as a shepherd were a contrast from the present day evil leadership of Israel-the Pharisees.

2.     Also, His good qualities as a shepherd are contrasted to that of a hireling-One whose aim is only their own self-interest

D.   Jesus is the good shepherd. One who watched over the pen, brought in those who needed to be in the light, those that needed protection from the darkness, those that needed the caring and nurturing that only He can provide.

E.   He brought the saved in to the pen, so that He might feed us from himself. Because He also said:

V.   “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

A.   As Christ brings His sheep into the pen, he feeds us. No longer will we ever hunger, and no longer will we ever thirst.

B.   Those of his day saw Jesus miraculously feed 5,000 people with only five loaves of bread and two small fish. We call this account the feeding of the multitude and it is found in John 6.

C.   The next day, his apostles were looking for Jesus and when they found Him. Jesus saw that they were only looking for him because they ate and were filled with the bread. It seemed that they were looking again for more food rather than to follow after Christ and His Father’s will.

D.   Jesus continued to tell them in John 6:27
Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

E.   The group propositioned Jesus once again in
John 6:30-31     Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

F.    Their logic appeared to say that the miracle of feeding the multitude was small in comparison to what Moses did while feeding the children in the wilderness. The entire nation of Israel was fed for 40 years because of the miraculous works of the Lord.

G.  Jesus chastised them crediting the work to Moses and not to the Father in the feeding of the children in the wilderness. The manna from above came from God through Moses, and not from Moses alone.

H.   He further replied with this IAM statement, letting them know that no longer should they be seeking to be filled with the food from this life, but with the food that leads to everlasting life.

I.        He continued to explain in John 6:47-51

1.     Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

J.    Our God came down to us and now feeds us through His holy word. He is the Bread of Life.

K.   Which brings us to another of His I AM statements. In John 15, Jesus said:

VI.“I am the true vine

A.   Jesus, throughout this passage refers to the relationship between His believers and Him as the symbolic relationship of the fruit and branches of the vine.

B.   Read John 15:1-11

C.   In the Old Testament, Israel is often referred to as the vine Psalms 80:9-16, Isaiah 5:1-7, 27:2-6, and others.

D.   Here, Jesus calls Himself the True Vine and He labels the Father as the caretaker of the Vine.

E.   He also distinguishes two types of believers 1)those who produce fruit  and 2)those that do not.

F.    We can further see that those that produce fruit are those that abide in the Vine (Jesus) and are promised to have all their needs granted. Those who do not abide in the Vine are in danger of being cut off and thrown into the fire.

G.  Jesus is our only source for the true nourishment that only the vine can give. Also, He is the only way we may be able to bear any fruit (new converts, righteous actions, and for us to be molded into His image and to develop the spiritual attitudes of our spiritual leader).

H.   Since He is our light and in Him is no darkness, we understand that He is the only gate into the church. He will be there to look over us (as He is the Good Shepherd) and only in Him will we receive the bread that will lead us to everlasting life. Furthermore, we can only receive that true nourishment from the true vine where we will grow and bear fruit for Him. In this, we come to fully realize as He says in John 11:25  .

VII.          I am the resurrection and the life.

A.   Not only did Jesus come to save us from our sins, He did act as a Good Shepherd and he gave his life for us. He rose from the dead the third day and gives life to all those who believe in Him.

B.   In this instance, Jesus just raised Lazarus from the dead and Martha exclaims her belief that Jesus does have the power to raise from the dead.

C.   Jesus affirms this belief and reaffirms that he alone can raise from the dead. Our Lord has the power over death because He is the resurrection and the Life.

D.   In John11:25-27
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

E.   If you do not truly believe that Christ is the Son of God, as Martha confessed. “Do not be unbelieving, but believing!” John 20:27

F.    Realize today that you are lost in your sins and you have no hope of everlasting life. Our Lord is everything that He has said!

G.  And finally, we know that what He has said is true in John 14:6

VIII.       I am the way, the truth, and the life

A.     Starting in John 14:5,

1.     Thomas said to Him, “How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”

B.   There is no way to get to be with the Father, except through Jesus Christ our Lord. He is the truth of God and the Life of God.

C.   This is obvious, it is glaring, and it is unchanging. It is emphatic.

D.   Jesus as the way is a timeless truth, a prolonged absolute.

E.   Ego eimi-He says I AM.

IX.            Conclusion

A.   Where are you today?

1.     Are you in the darkness? Can you not see the light of the Lord all around you this morning? Without the light, there is only darkness.

2.     Have you come inside the gate? The only true way into the church I through the immersion in baptism-the washing away of your sins through the soul cleansing blood of the lamb-the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.

3.     Are you being looked after, under the care of the Good Shepherd? Nurtured and built up through the pure milk of the word.

4.     Have you been feasting on the bread of Life? The manna that came down from the heavens is now open for all. Jesus is the bread of life! It is he who builds us up.

5.     Are you in danger of being cut-off from the vine? Are you abiding in His love? Are you bearing fruit? Have you even been connected to the Vine through baptism. Repentance can reconnect you

6.     Because Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He has the power to save souls and resurrect those from their sin. You have the choice to be saved.

7.     Come to the Father today, before it is everlastingly too late. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through Him. Lay you burdens down at his feet and confess His name as Martha confessed her belief.

8.     “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who has come into the world.” John 11:27.

B.   Ego eimi-Our Lord is and this is everlasting, a timeless truth, a glaring and prolonged absolute.

C.   Where is your faith? Give your life over to the one who was, and is, and is to come.

D.   If you need to respond, there is no reason to wait. Do it today by coming down and taking a seat on the front pew while we sing this song of Invitation.

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