"I AM"

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

“I AM”

John 8:48-59

48 The Jews answered him, "Aren't we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?" 49 "I am not possessed by a demon," said Jesus, "but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50 I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."  52 At this the Jews exclaimed, "Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?" 54 Jesus replied, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."  57 "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!" 58 "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"  59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

NIV                    

   

We are at the end of this exchange between Jesus and the Jews. After all he said to them, they now accuse him of being possessed by a demon. Is it not the way of the world, even those who think themselves religious, but do not have a personal relationship with the Lord. Those of us who are “Jesus freaks” are weirdos, or crazy. Because Jesus spoke the truth, they had to make him appear to be out of his mind or possessed by a demon so it made them look like the right ones. Jesus makes it clear the right way is to honor God. The wrong way is to dishonor Jesus. Again he makes it clear the right way is not to seek glory for ourselves, but to give glory and honor the only one who is worthy and he is the judge of all. Jesus also makes it clear that in order not to taste death, we much keep his word. This word translated as keep, in the Greek means to attend to, or take care of. It can also mean to observe. The idea is not as to the letter, but to the idea, to attend to his word, to use it to live by. We can make it into law, a set of commands that require absolute adherence to, as the Pharisees did to the Law of Moses. That would mean that one slip up would mean forfeiting eternal life. One act of disobedience means losing our salvation if we are to keep his word in that manner. Yes, there are many areas of our life that are transformed as a result of keeping or attending to his word. But his word as he has said, sets us free. We just heard him say the if we hold to his teaching, that is to accept what he says is true, then we are his disciples and the truth will set us free. If we are bound to a set of rules to live by, rules we say are his commands, nevertheless, we have made law from his word and we are not free, but bound by a law of our making. Again, once we have become born again, or justified, there is a process of scarification or transformation which occurs in our lives, but it comes from the work of the Spirit within us, and not by our efforts at “Good works”. Once more Jesus makes it clear that he has seen the Father, that he came from heaven to earth and he is the Divine Holy One of God. The people are still refusing to hear the truth, they can only conceive in natural life. Abraham is dead, therefore you could not have seen him. We know have one of the great “I AM” statements of Jesus. Overall, there are seven times this “I AM” appears. It is always present tense. Jesus is the “I AM”. He has always been and will always be, he is one of the three in one, the living God. At present, he is at the right hand of the Father and he has sent the other person of the trinity to work in our lives, to sustain us, to reveal the truth to us, to work in our, transforming us from our old self into a new life in Christ, bringing us into the likeness of Christ. Again, we cannot do this on our own efforts. We cannot set up a law to live by, rules and regulations, even if we think they are from the word of God. We will always fail, but the Spirit never fails. So should we continue to live by our efforts or by the Spirit? If we live by the Spirit, then we keep in step with the Spirit, which means we allow him to set the cadence. This means he directs our path, our journey, just as God directed the Israelites with the pillar of smoke by day and fire by night. They only moved when he moved. So it is with us and the Spirit. They may be times we need to camp out in some area, other times we need to move on. They may be places he brings us to, calls us to specific tasks, and uses us by empowering us with one of his gifts, at that same time producing his fruit in our lives. It is all God, none of us, we are to keep, attend his word, for he is the “I AM”, we are not.