![]() Jesus has been asking this question for 2,000 years “Do you believe this?” I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life ![]() After this life and death, they will, and we who trust in Christ will, live again. ![]() Do you believe this” (John 11:25-26)? Martha and Mary, Lazarus’ sisters, found this statement to be true, even though Jesus was speaking of those who have eternal life by believing in Him. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. ![]() Since Jesus raised people from the dead, He could say with authority, “I am the resurrection and the life. The sheep are helpless without the shepherd because the shepherd leads them to green pastures, leads them to still waters (Psalm 23) because sheep are easily frightened by moving water, but this Shepherd says willingly, “I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:15). The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). Shortly after saying He was the door, He then adds, “I am the good shepherd. No one gets in the pen without going through the door, and that door is Jesus Christ. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9). He guards the door to the sheep pen, by lying down at the door, as shepherds used to (and some still) do. I Am the Door or the Good Shepherd could both apply to John 10:7 where Jesus says, in speaking about His sheep, “I am the door of the sheep” (John 10:7). The light of Christ brings us out of darkness and into the light, and for those who believe, they will no longer walk in darkness. For those who don’t believe, whether they realize it or not, they are walking in darkness and in the ways of their father the Devil, however, such were we too. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life”(John 8:12). With the Pharisees and other religious leaders there, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. For on him God the Father has set his seal”(John 6:27), and “I am the bread of life whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35), so “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out”(John 6:37). They only wanted more bread for their stomach, so Jesus said, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. Just after Jesus fed the 5,000, which if you counted the spouses and children, could have been 15,000 or more, they followed Him, but not for the right reason, so He told them “you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves” (John 6:26). Like us, there was a time when Abraham did not exist, so Jesus directly tells them (and us) He existed before Abraham, therefore by application, He must be God (and He is!). The Jews knew what Jesus meant and that’s why they tried to stone Him, but Jesus hid Himself from them because it wasn’t His time (John 8:59), so Jesus was before Abraham. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ”(1st Cor 10:4), which explains why Jesus could authoritatively say, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). Paul acknowledged that ancient Israel “all drank the same spiritual drink. Only after birth did we come into being, and we are human, finite beings, but God is and always was, since He inhabits eternity. I AM means the self-existent one and always “being,” unlike we who at one time didn’t exist. When God revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush, He told Moses His name is “I AM,” and “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Ex 3:14b). That’s what the Apostle Paul seemed to understand as well. They actually prove that Jesus is God and was the God of the Old Testament. There is another “I am” statement in the Book of Revelation, but these “I am” statements in the Gospel of John point back to the Old Testament and also into the kingdom. The Gospel of John is the only Gospel that contains all seven of Jesus’ “I am” statements, and each one is significant and had special meaning which only the Jews could understand. Jesus said “I am the light of the world,” and several other “I am” statements. ![]()
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