There are a group of passages in John’s gospel that are sometimes referred to as the I AM statements. These are deemed to be very powerful claims to divinity on the part of Jesus, and not on the part of Christian scholars, but quite evidently on the part of the Jews who heard Him speak these things. The bulk of this section will be considering those declarations from John, but before I can properly consider their import, I need first to return to the establishing of God’s highest, most significant name, the name Yahweh, I AM.
i. I AM WHO I AM
The scene is familiar, I think, even to the secular culture thanks to Disney. Moses has fled to the desert, having slain an Egyptian guard. He has encountered a most wonder-inducing sight: Out there in the desert burns a bush, yet the bush seems to remain untouched by the effects of the flame. Fire does not consume the bush, but rather, seems to perhaps rest upon it. Now, I confess, that idea of flames resting upon the bush will not be found in the text, but it seems to me the reasonable implication. If the fire does not draw its fuel from the bush, then it is not the bush that burns. Rather, the flames alight upon the bush. It puts me in mind of the scene in Acts 2. “And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them” (Ac 2:3), and like this bush in the desert, they were not consumed by the flame.
[05/27/19]
So it is with this bush in the desert. Not surprisingly, this got Moses’ attention, so he went to investigate. What he found was God, and God had plans for him. We have explored these plans already as we have considered this name already, but I return to that point when Moses, unsure of himself and his abilities, and unsure of what sort of reception he might expect from the Israelites, asked God, “Who shall I say has sent me?” Now, observe that God had already made perfectly clear who He was. “I am the God of your father, the god of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob” (Ex 3:6). But, Moses needed more than that. Yes, yes, You know my ancestors, but who are You? “I AM WHO I AM” (Ex 3:14). Hayah Aser Hayah –God self-existent and eternal. There is no other. The power of this declaration is found in that Moses went. But, before we go, I want to see this added point in what God says in regard to His name.
“Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My covenant name to all generations” (Ex 3:15). By this name He is commemorate, He is known, He is brought to remembrance, that His covenant promise to His people, and His living, intimate relationship with His people may be brought to mind and His people thus be strengthened and reminded. These two thoughts are connected, but in the end, “I AM” is not a translation of Yahweh, it is that which the name Yahweh ought to remind us.
Understand, then, that Yahweh is God. He has given this name by which to be known to all generations forever, and for all generations, this name is to be a reminder of Who it is that has them in hand, Whose they are. It is at once assurance and humbling corrective. It is assurance, insofar as we abide amidst the true promises of God, because the One who promised is I AM WHO I AM. He was not coerced into promising. Such would be impossible. He cannot be coerced into reneging on His promise. Such is entirely unthinkable. God is self-existent, answering to no one apart from His own Perfect self. He cannot be compelled nor can He be prevented from accomplishing all His good and perfect purpose. Thus, the covenant name, or memorial name as the NASB renders it, reminds us Whose we are.
This must surely put us in mind of our own simultaneously blessed and precarious state, for if we are His, then He has full right of us, to do with us as He pleases. He is also perfectly and fully aware of our every thought and action. As the author of Hebrews puts it, “There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Heb 4:13). This name, then, Yahweh, reminds us of our place. Yes, we are sons of the kingdom, and that is wonderful, but we are not King. Jesus is King. We are not, in all honestly, fit company for the King. But, He has chosen us, and He has chosen to prepare us; that when we come to stand before Him, we will in fact be prepared, clothed in holy array, a bride suited to this perfect Bridegroom. In the meantime, the name of Lord, the name above all names, must remind us hour by hour that we are to live with one central tenet: “Thy will be done.”
ii. I AM He
I have belabored this scene once more because it sets the stage for what we find transpiring in John’s gospel. This is the reason that when Jesus made claims, the authorities had no doubts of what those claims were intended to be. I will begin by considering a couple of points where those claims become unequivocal. The first of these follow upon another of what are traditionally known as the “I AM” statements, but it gets at the response to His previous words. What He was about to say had already been recognized in what was said, but recognition had led to stiff resistance rather than faith. Rather than seizing upon His words of life, they sought to seize Him, but they could not, “because His hour had not yet come” (Jn 8:20).
But, He has more to say to them. “I go away, and you shall seek Me, and shall die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come” (Jn 8:21). That caused some consternation. It might seem surprising that they skipped right over the ‘you shall die in your sin’ part and focused on His going away, but if we’re honest, I suspect we’ll have to admit we all tend to want to dance past our sins, and few if any have much desire to confront death. So, they transfer the thought. Is He saying He’s going to kill Himself, maybe? I mean, that would certainly save them the trouble, and further, would confirm Him as a sinner, which would be a great relief. But, that’s not His meaning, and He makes this clear in what follows.
“You are from below, I am from above. You are of this world. I am not. Therefore I said to you that you shall die in your sins; for unless you believe that I AM, you shall die in your sins” (Jn 8:24). Now, He has come right to it. It’s not about where He is going or what He might do there, or what he might do to get there. It’s about this: Believe that He is I AM. Note well: He has not offered any adjective to specify what they – and by extension we – are to believe about Him. That’s not His point. His point is that here before them, in the humble person of Jesus, stands I AM WHO I AM, the very one they are to recall to mind when they hear the name Yahweh. This is no mere man before you. It is God Incarnate!
This, of course, leads us into a prediction of the mode of His death. “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me” (Jn 8:28). Wow, but that had to cause no end of consternation to those who heard Him! It’s bad enough that He makes Himself out to be God, and have no doubt, that’s what He knowingly did, and that’s what they clearly heard. But, He also, now, indicates a plurality of Persons. He says He’s God, but then He speaks of being commanded of the Father. But, isn’t God answerable to no one outside Himself? Oh! But that had to stir up some serious opposition. “Behold, the Lord your God, He is One!” This was the absolute lynchpin of faith, and continues to be to this day. In that era, under the occupying forces of yet another polytheistic heathen army, it was more significant than ever, and it was ever significant.
Then, too, He speaks of a mode of death which, if they understood His meaning at all, must yet again have disturbed them no end. For, to hang on a tree was a curse. Paul clearly picks up on this when he writes to the Galatians. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us – for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’” (Gal 3:13). He draws from his training, but the thought would no doubt have been quite familiar to those listening to Jesus, for it was a matter of law. Death by hanging on the tree was a particularly gruesome means for purging the sin from Israel, but for some cases it was in fact prescribed, albeit with time limits. “His body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God” (Dt 21:23a). That plays into the response of the Jews to Jesus’ crucifixion when it comes about. His body must be down by nightfall. If it was a defilement of the land to leave the cursed one hanging overnight, how much more if it was the Passover?
But, come back to that scene in John 8. Here is this guy claiming to be God, and in the next breath, having already posited what sounds suspiciously like polytheism, He speaks of crucifixion, of dying the death of the cursed of God. Assuming anybody there understood what He was saying, which is doubtful, this could only cause greater opposition to the original claim. Who could accept a claimant to being God then saying He was to be cursed by God? What? Will He curse Himself? The whole thing is simply unacceptable. It was unacceptable for them, to the degree they understood. I fear we are not much better off. We, too, continue to struggle with this God Who makes Himself a curse for us. Yet, we must come to see, as Paul did, that this was the price He paid for our redemption. For God so loved…
[05/28/19]
If there remains any doubt as to the significance of Jesus saying, “I AM”, it must surely be removed when we consider the scene of His arrest. The events of that night are familiar. He had gone out of Jerusalem proper to an olive grove on the heights across the Kidron valley. This was a place familiar to Him and to His followers and Judas knew to lead those soldiers who came with him to that place. As Pastor Dana was preaching a few weeks back, that contingent of soldiers, based on the terms used, would have numbered somewhere around five hundred to one thousand soldiers plus the temple contingent, which likely added another few hundred. It’s quite a show of force.
And Jesus, fully aware of what was happening, went out to meet them, and asked, “Whom do you seek?” (Jn 18:1-8). They indicate that Jesus the Nazarene is their quarry, and He says, “I AM.” We are told that when Jesus said, “I AM”, those who had come with Judas ‘drew back, and fell to the ground.’ This informs us that what Jesus had said was more than merely identifying Himself as the man they sought, though He was that. He was declaring the Godhead present before them in His person. Now, there’s no reason to suppose Roman soldiers had much of a clue about Jewish religion, nor that, had they a clue, they would have much cared. But, at the name of God, these hundreds of well-armed, militarily trained men not only backed away from this one robed man, the fell to the ground.
If that does not put you in mind of the assurance that “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Php 2:10), I must assume you’ve not read that passage, nor its precedents. This is not necessarily an act of worship, but it is an act of unwilling obeisance. Every knee bowing does not require us to suppose that every person bowing does so joyfully. But, the majesty of God is such that every man, and every heavenly being for that matter, must bow, cannot but bow, for here is Final Authority, and like Him or not, one will acknowledge His rule.
At any rate, Jesus asks again, “Whom do you seek?” And they reply again, this time apparently from their knees, “Jesus the Nazarene.” To this, Jesus answers, “I told you that I AM. If therefore you seek Me, let these go their way” (Jn 18:8). Now, John tells us this was done to fulfill prophecy He had made in His prayer of the previous chapter; the assurance that He had not lost a one of those the Father gave Him. But, particularly when we de-anglicize the phrasing, it becomes a most intriguing thing, doesn’t it? I told you that I AM. We might well say, I told you Who I AM. And by their involuntary taking of the knee, they had acknowledged the truth of it. Now then, “If you seek Me, let these go.” In what way seek, Jesus? It’s almost an invitation, even as He willingly submits Himself to what He knows is coming. If you seek God, let these go. Could we go so far as to see something of an act of forgiveness even here – not for Judas, perhaps, but for these men who are, after all, acting under orders? They have not, as their leaders have, violated the laws they were sworn to uphold. They have not, at this juncture, acted in any way that violates godly principle, even if they have come to arrest the Son of God.
What would constitute a wrong on their part would be to now expand the warrant to cover those found in company with Jesus. “If you seek Me, if you seek God, let these go.” Play those words alongside the famous message from the Sermon on the Mount. “Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened” (Mt 7:7-8). Do these in fact connect? Should they? I cannot say that with absolute certainty, but when I consider the power of Jesus’ claim, “I told you that I AM,” it strikes me as entirely reasonable to hear an offer in what follows. That offer, if offer it was, extends in spite of the arrest, and in spite of the cross that will follow, just as that offer extends to us in spite of who we are, in spite of what we have done to malign God and defy Him. Thus it ever is, that God gives freely this gift of life to those most wholly undeserving of any gift whatsoever.
Now, before we proceed, I think it needs to be said that those two words “I AM” cannot be taken as ever and always indicating the divine name. The mere combination of ego eimi is not sufficient to identify a claim to the Godhead. Often, where we see an “I am” statement in the New Testamant, I observe that it is simply eimi, but even where it is not, we cannot assume a claim to divinity. Gabriel, for instance, in introducing himself to Mary, uses the declaration, ego eimi Gabriel. Is he claiming divinity in that? I grant that Jesus, in using the phrase, supplies no further name, for no further name is needed. But, it cannot be the lack of object that defines the divine claim, for the bulk of those declarations which we take to be divinity claims have an object in view, if not a name.
Perhaps we can say this much: Where it is solely eimi, we might reasonably conclude there is no appeal to the divine name, and perhaps where only ego is found, and the ‘am’ is derived from the tense of some companion verb we could infer the same. But, where the two are found in connection, we shall have to look further to discern whether there is a declaration of divinity involved, more merely a statement of fact.
Looking at the list I have before me in this section, I am certain some of those which I have included are not of the standard list, so I shall need to consider as I go whether they rightly belong to the topic of those things Jesus spoke which declared His divinity of Person.
iii. I AM the Bread of Life, the Living Bread
[05/29/19]
It is interesting that one of the earliest of these declarations of Jesus which John records comes as something of an instructional rebuke. We find this occurring in the days after He had fed the five thousand. As I look back to John’s coverage of that event, there is another interesting detail included in the narrative. “Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand” (Jn 6:4). That apparently does not mean this was the evening of Passover, nor even the day before, but it was coming soon, and would therefore be on the minds of the people. But, they are not as yet headed for Jerusalem, they are gathered across the Sea of Galilee from Capernaum. The crowd follows and needs feeding, and Jesus sees to it. He then sends His disciples back to Capernaum by boat, but remains behind, taking to a mountain both to pray, and to remove Himself from those who would attempt to force upon Him the role of king (Jn 6:5-15).
Now, it is to be observed that, “When therefore the people saw the sign which He performed, they said, ‘This is of a truth the Prophet who is to come into the world’” (Jn 6:14), which is to say, they had some sense that Messiah was here, even if their understanding was a bit muddled. At any rate, Jesus proceeds to cross the sea without benefit of boat, and is soon ashore on the other side together with His disciples, but those who had been fed follow, surprised to find Him already there, being as they had seen no boats depart. Jesus rebukes them. “You seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled” (Jn 6:26). You don’t understand, you just want the benefits. In the back and forth that follows, they ask what seems a stunningly unnecessary question. “What do you do for a sign, that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform?” (Jn 6:28). That would seem to confirm Jesus’ assessment. Give us more! Just hours ago, they had affirmed that this was Messiah, but now they need proof. Why? They didn’t care for the message.
Jesus continues on the theme of bread which they have brought up. They point back to Moses and the manna as a sort of suggestion as to what kind of sign they’d find particularly convincing. But, then, He already did that, didn’t He? But, He doesn’t point them there, but back to God. Moses didn’t give you that manna, God did. Do you see how muddled their thinking had become? And then He explains, “The bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world” (Jn 6:33). But, they still think in worldly terms. Sounds good. Give us that, then, and forever, so we shan’t have to deal with planting and harvesting anymore. Now hear the response Jesus gives.
“I AM the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (Jn 6:35). Many promises are hung upon that statement, although those promises are not our immediate concern at present. I assure you, those promises are indeed of utmost interest to the believer, and a foundation for assurance, but at present we look to the claims, not the promises that attend those claims. This is reiterated by John. They people are reacting poorly because Jesus said, “I AM the bread that came down out of heaven” (Jn 6:41).
Now, whether John is giving us an additional declaration Jesus made in the course of the conversation or whether he is paraphrasing to make the implication clear to his readers, I cannot say, but from the narrative, it’s clear enough that those with whom Jesus was talking took His meaning, and the connection is surely there to be seen. We are discussing not mere bread, but manna, at the suggestion of this crowd. We see where their thoughts are, as does Jesus. He speaks to them where they are, and identifies first the real source and nature of that bread, and then, Himself as being that bread. So, yes, the claim is there, that He came down from heaven, for that is where said bread is from.
Again, we enter into some doctrinal truths that are of utmost and central significance to faith. I suspect we shall return to this chapter again and again as I proceed with this work, but here, stick with the central matter of who this is. “I AM the bread of life” (Jn 6:48). Here, the message turns just a bit from presenting Jesus as perhaps a reiteration or fulfillment of what Moses performed, but as something so thoroughly superior as to defy comparison. Those who ate the manna, Jesus observes, died. To a man. What is on offer in Jesus, however, is that Bread which, if one eats of it, he shall not die. If the prior claim was shocking, this was coming up on purest offense. “I AM the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh” (Jn 6:51). Oh, dear, we’re pushing into cannibalism, now, and lest there be a doubt, He adds this: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves” (Jn 6:53). “My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (Jn 6:56). “This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate, and died, he who eats this bread shall live forever” (Jn 6:58).
It will come as no surprise that many walked away after that. What is perhaps more surprising is that any of His disciples remained. But, here is the truth of the matter, “No one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father” (Jn 6:65). Nobody comes to this faith because it’s so pleasant and plain. Nobody is going to accept what Jesus has to say on merit, although reason and merit will surely find cause to concur when once understanding is granted.
But, I have wandered very far afield, I fear. What can we say as to this central claim of, “I AM the Bread”? I think the connection is laid out rather well by Jesus Himself. Amongst other things, He is pointing His people to something far superior to the Mosaic order, for that order could not impart life. He can and does. More critically for us, there is that clear claim to divinity, not merely in His use of the ego eimi phrase, but in His identification of coming down from heaven. If He has come down from heaven, He is clearly more than a mere man, at the very least. I suppose we could speak of angels as also having come down from heaven, but I don’t know that you’d ever find one speaking thus in regard to himself. Perhaps there are echoes of that in Gabriel’s claim, although I hear that more as saying he’s still there. “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God; and I have been sent to speak to you, and bring you this good news” (Lk 1:19). I observe that with Mary, he had nothing at all to say concerning himself, nor did she find it necessary to ask.
To that end, I can hear Jesus making a higher claim. It’s not that He is in the Father’s presence, although He is sent of the Father. Here is something Gabriel certainly could not claim: “I give life.” Now, any good Jew would certainly have recognized God as Creator and giver of life. He, after all, had formed Adam from the dust and breathed life into him to make him a living being. For Jesus, then, to lay claim to that office was a clear and certain declaration of identify with God. It’s there as well in the title Son of Man which has arisen in that conversation, but I have to say that it is in this claim to being the source of Life that we find the boldest and clearest assertion of divinity.
That speaks much of Jesus and who He Is, which topic we shall come two more fully in considering the Trinity. What does it say, however, for our sense of who God is? That must be a central question for us as we consider these I AM statements, for as much as they are primarily given as evidences or claims for the divinity of Jesus, they are also declarations of the character, the essence of God Himself.
[05/30/19]
To that end, God being the bread that gives life speaks to many facets of His nature. It speaks to us, given the surrounding context, of His role as life-giver to mankind, and indeed to all creation. Thus, it speaks to us, though said by Jesus of Himself, of God our Father, for the one who gives life to us is quite rightly and naturally spoken of as our father. It speaks to us, as well, of God our Provider, for bread is food, and food is necessary to life. Thus, God the giver of Life, is also the sustainer of Life by His provision. Then, too, it speaks of the gracious generosity of God, for His Life is given to secure the lives of His children, children by nature of the fact of His being their creator, but children as well in that He has adopted them as His own. For none can come to Him except He draws them to Himself (Jn 6:44). And here, we see that He is also our salvation, for those whom He draws, He saves unto eternal life. I see, then, that Life is central to this particular declaration of I AM.
Before I leave this one, though, I need to return to that odd detail that John threw in, regarding the timing. This was said as Passover approached. What was Passover about? Well, it was a time of no bread, apart from the unleavened bread associated with the need for quick travel out of Egypt. But, primarily, it was a time of deliverance from slavery. Egypt stands as representative of the world and thus, of sin. The Exodus was God’s deliverance of His people from slavery to that worldly order of sin. The Passover marked the dividing out of God’s people from the world order. Those who bore the mark of God in the marking of their lintel by the blood of the sacrificial lamb would be preserved to life. Those who did not bear the mark would taste of death, as their firstborn died.
This event finds its fulfillment and its fullest significance in the death of Christ Jesus, whose blood is the seal of life to all who have tasted of it through faith. He died as the true Paschal Lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. But, it is quite clear – painfully, sadly clear – that not all are in fact saved by His work. Surely, Judas was not, nor Caiaphas. Surely, we can recognize others who, through the course of history, have gone to their death beds unrepentant and unwilling to acknowledge God as Lord. But, for those whom the Father has called, here is the True Bread, which gives life forevermore, because here is the True Passover, Who seals His own, that the avenging angel shall not touch them.
iv. I AM the Light
The next I AM at which we shall look takes place on the last day of the Feast of Booths. This feast followed after the Day of Atonement, as established by Moses (Lev 22:33-43). This was established as an annual reminder that God had the Israelites live in booths, or tents, when He brought them out of Egypt (Lev 22:43). It was a feast which all males were required to attend, a ‘pilgrim’ festival, in that attendance required being in Jerusalem for the eight days. It began with the Day of Atonement, and ended, in the seventh year, with a public declaring of and agreement to the terms of the Mosaic covenant. During that feast, to great candlesticks were kept lit in the temple court as a reminder of the pillar of fire in the wilderness, for again, the feast was designed to keep God’s deliverance of His people in mind, as well as His guidance and provision in their wilderness wanderings. Fundamentally, however, it reminds that God is in charge. They were in tents because He had commanded it. They had need of making atonement to Him for their sins because He was their rightful and ultimate King. They had cause to remember His covenant because He, their rightful and ultimate King, had made known to them what was required of them, and they, through their ancestors, had assented to His terms – not that there was a great deal of choice, honestly.
So, then, we find Jesus, on this last day of the feast, as those lights are being extinguished, standing before the nation (for all men of Israel were present), and saying, “I AM the Light of the world” (Jn 8:12), and this life, we learn has connection with life. But, it also, and I would say primarily, has connection with Truth. Light, while it has long association with the holiness and sanctity of God, has a primary significance, particularly in John’s writings, it seems, in its connection with the powers of reason and understanding. The Gentiles are in darkness until a great Light has shone upon them. What is that light? It is the revealing of the True God. It is the granting of a capacity to recognize that here is the True God, and the gloriously good news of the Gospel, that this God has come not to exact vengeance but to give salvation. He is not merely the God of Israel, but God of All.
But there is, I think, a less welcome side to the God of Light, as well, for He being Light, His knowledge is perfect and complete, and nothing is ever truly hidden from His view and therefore from His full knowledge. “Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there… If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to Thee, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to Thee” (Ps 139:7-12). God’s knowledge is complete, and therefore, as Jesus tells His interlocutors at the feast, “Even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and He who sent Me” (Jn 8:16).
This aspect of light as knowledge plays out further as the Pharisees seek to embarrass Him with their own knowledge. They’d been doing their research it seems, and had learned of the rather unusual circumstances of His birth. “Where is Your Father?” they asked (Jn 8:19). Does He even know who His real father is? Well, as it turns out He does, but they clearly don’t. “You know neither Me, nor My Father. If you knew Me, you would know My Father also.” Here is the True Light! He has full knowledge, for He is fully God. His Judgment is pure, perfect, just, because His knowledge is full, because He is the Light.
But, Lo! The Light is the Light of Life. It is life, for it brings to the enlightened an awareness of their sins and wisdom to repent. It is life, for it brings understanding of the plan and purpose of God for salvation, and causes the child of God to cry out, “Abba, Father!” It opens the eyes to the reality that God desires to save, not to destroy, that sin need not be the end of the story, but may in fact be made the beginning, as we turn from it, and through rebirth into Christ by the Holy Spirit, to new life.
What do we learn, then, of God? We learn that His knowledge is pure and perfect and complete. We learn that He already knows all about us, and there’s not much point in trying to hide away from Him. We learn that God is comprehendible, if not in full, at least in great part. We learn that He desires to be known by us, that He has made Himself known to us. We learn, then, that faith is not some baseless insistence on things as they aren’t, but rather a fully rational acceptance of the God who has revealed Himself to man, has brought understanding and has chosen to know us most intimately, and to be known by us. It is, furthermore, assurance that in the course of time, we shall in fact see Him as He truly is, when once we have been made like Him so as to survive the encounter and even thrive in it.
“God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1Jn 1:5b). That light, while it speaks to matters of reason, knowledge, and understanding, speaks also to purity.
[05/31/19]
He alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light (1Ti 6:16). No man has seen Him. No man can. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen. He dwells in the unapproachable light of His own purity. It is unapproachable because that purity is more than sinful nature can bear or withstand. No man can see Him because no man is fit to approach. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (Jn 1:4-5). The light of purity must, cannot but pierce the darkness and destroy it utterly. Rather, that true light, coming into the world, enlightens every man (Jn 1:9). The purity of God has touched upon every man, informed him of God’s nature, informed him of his own intended nature, and thus informed him of his sinful present and his need for repentance and forgiveness. That light touches, enlightens, informs every man. But, not every man heeds the information and acts upon it. For no one comes to the Father but through Christ Jesus (Jn 14:6), and no one comes to Jesus unless the Father draws him (Jn 6:44). This makes a wonderful segue into the next of our I AM statements to be considered.
v. I AM the Door
None come to the Father but through Christ and none come to Christ but by the Father’s call. Is it any wonder, then, that Jesus declares, “I AM the door” (Jn 10:9)? This comes amidst a teaching on the subject of sheep and shepherds. It is interesting to me that for all that the Jews came to despise shepherds, yet it is an image common to the dealings of God with His people and their priests. The priests are described as the shepherds of Israel, and this was their intended purpose, at least in part. We might see that particular task depicted more in the actions of the prophets, but it was in the priestly role to shepherd the sheep of Israel, God’s sheep.
The prophets may have acted as protector and rescuer in their way, but if we look to the familiar picture of Psalm 23, we see the shepherd leading the sheep to good pastures and still waters, places of safety and plenty in which the need for protection and rescue are minimized. The prophets may have come to rebuke, remind, and urge to repentance, but the priests were supposed to be training up the people in the ways of God. Had they done their jobs right, one might argue, the role of prophet would have been rendered unnecessary, at least as regards their prosecutorial role.
Instead, we find the shepherds of Israel called out for their failures, and indeed, for their wickedness toward the sheep. Rather than protect them, they had become wolves in their own right, taking from the sheep to fatten their own hides. “Should not the shepherds feed the flock? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool. You slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock” (Eze 34:2b-3).
The whole image is one of reversal. Shepherds were likely to be lean men, for they lived hard, out in the open, trekking the hillsides with the flocks, in order that the sheep might grow fat. They stayed fit and trim, in order that they might fend off predators, as David did in his youth. They did not lounge about as the sheep ran free. They worked hard, and for little remittance. What God points out in His shepherds is that their sheep are starving as they grow fat. “Behold! I am against the shepherds, and I shall demand My sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep. So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I shall deliver My flock from their mouth, that they may not be food for them” (Eze 34:10). “I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day” (Eze 34:11).
All of this serves as background for the message Jesus is delivering as we come to John 10. He takes the common image of a sheep fold. The sheep fold, rudimentary as it might be, was a staunch defense for sleeping sheep. The walls were high to keep out predators, and in fact there is but one way in or out, the door. That door, has a doorkeeper, I suppose drawn from amongst those shepherds whose sheep are within. That doorkeeper will open the door solely to another shepherd, and the shepherd who comes will call his own sheep, and only his own sheep. Indeed, as Jesus observes, only his own sheep will follow him when he calls, for they know his voice and won’t be bothered to follow any other (Jn 10:1-5). Now, here the additional point there. Anyone who comes in by other ways is a thief and a robber. He has attempted to bypass the doorkeeper, and this cannot be to any good purpose. Beware the so-called shepherd who would seek to force his way in, or make demands that he be recognized!
But, Jesus found it needful to expand on this point, for they didn’t understand. And so, He says, “Amen, Amen – Truly, truly, I say to you, I AM the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I AM the door. If anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (Jn 10:7-9). Hear it again: None come to the Father but through Me. If anyone enters through Me he shall be saved. The clear and constant implication is that anyone entering through any other avenue shall not. Indeed, if Jesus is the door, then anyone entering by any other avenue is in fact a thief, a robber come to maraud the sheep and fatten himself at their expense.
Anyone coming by such an avenue, Jesus says, comes to steal, and kill, and destroy. But, He has come that they might have life, and that abundantly (Jn 10:10). Now, I confess I am uncertain how widely to apply the ‘they’ of that sentence, but I incline to hear it applying even to those who have come with such evil intent. I came that even they might have life. But, they chose otherwise. They did not come to the Door and find entrance. They sought to steal their way in by another way, but none can come to the Father except through Him, through the Door, and none can come to the Door except the Father draws them hence. Thus, it seems that while this self-destructive act is a willful choice made by the individual, yet there is a certain inevitability to it, insomuch as God has apparently not drawn them to the Door. They chose of their own accord, but at the same time, it was impossible that they would choose otherwise. They were not automatons, and yet there could be no other outcome, for God’s purposes do not fail.
But, the Door: The message is clear. There is one path, a narrow path that leads to life (Mt 7:14). That way is the Way prescribed by God, to follow as He leads, to live as He instructs, to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Mt 4:4). God being the creator and ultimate Father of all life has right of authority over all life. It is for Him to say what we should do, where we should be, and for how long. It is for Him to say for how many days we shall live and in what fashion. It is for Him to say whether it shall be in sickness or in health, for richer or for poorer. He has the authority, and, thanks be to God, He has the wisdom to know what is best for us, when our attention tends to be on what is easiest or most pleasant for us.
He is the Door. If we would have true security as to our eternity future, or even as to our immediate present, it is through Him that we must enter into the fold of His choosing, and if we are to leave that fold, it shall have to be as He calls us to go forth into such fields as He has chosen to lead us into. It may seem a stretch to see this as an application in regard to the church, but I think it fitting. God, the Door, has chosen the fold. He established the Church as the place wherein He would gather and protect His sheep. It is there that He stands as the Door, guarding against those who would seek to maraud His flock, and also, by their entry into the fold, marking out those who truly are His own.
Does this mean that every man or woman who identifies as a pastor is a true undershepherd of God? No. Does this mean that every person we find seated in a pew is a believer in possession of God’s saving promises? No. The Church, and here I wander very far ahead of my schedule, is a spiritual thing, not the physical plant, nor even the full number of those who come to said physical plant. The Church extends through all time and I suppose through all space. It encompasses all whom the Father has called from the dawn of time through its completion. In our temporal present, the visible church is a mixed bag. The news makes that painfully, sadly clear. The Church militant, as we might call it, the visible church, is plagued by false pastors and false members. The age of shepherds growing fat off their sheep did not end with Ezekiel, nor even with the destruction of Jerusalem, in which we might see the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy. That age continues, and doubtless continues right to the very end of days.
But, God knows His own, and His own know Him. The good undershepherd does his best to discern the true sheep from the false, all the while knowing his discernment is insufficient to the task. The good undershepherd therefore leans hard upon the Good Shepherd. He does his utmost to safeguard the flock entrusted to his care, for he knows they are not his, but his Master’s. He works, then, in the trust that God knows His own, and will in fact care for them, and protect them from the evil one. It is often a sad and sorrowful task, as we see those we thought on the path that leads to life abandon that path for the wide road that leads to hell.
For the sheep, there is much to hear in this identification of the Door, and the fold He has chosen. I would say first that there is a call here to attend to church, be part of the body, enter the fold that has been provided, and stop trying to go it alone out in the fields. The Door and the fold are there for good reason. Avail yourself in obedience to your Shepherd. Second, I would say there is a significant message about remaining with that church in which God has set you. Yes, there are reasons for which it would be well to depart. I would say if it has become clear that the undershepherd is false and the main body of those sheep who follow him are disinclined to seek another to shepherd them, it may be needful for the sheep that would remain healthy to depart and find a proper fold. I have to say, though, that minor disagreements, even over matters of secondary or tertiary doctrines, though they may make us less than comfortable in the fold, do not properly constitute just cause to depart. I may be overly conservative in this regard, or overly harsh by some perspectives. But, if God has indeed put you in the church where you are, it had best be God, the Door, who determines when and if you depart that fold as well as determining to which fold you ought turn thereafter.
vi. I AM the Good Shepherd.
[06/01/19]
The next of our I AM statements comes from the same passage, and in fact comes immediately following. “I AM the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep” (Jn 10:11). There follows an observation in regard to the hired hand in the face of a threat to the sheep. The hired hand will see to his own safety and leave the sheep to fend for themselves, but the good shepherd, who owns the sheep, will lay down his own life to see to their safety. The message is repeated. “I AM the Good Shepherd. I know My own, and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep” (Jn 10:14-15). There is more that follows in regard to the Shepherd and His sheep, as well as the relationship between Father and Son, but what we have here is enough for our purposes at present.
The message here is quite clearly of a piece with the message of the Door, and one chief point it makes is that the priesthood of the day, here represented by the hired hands, have not done well by the sheep. They have left the sheep prone to whatever wolves may have come along. This shows in the many ways in which Israel’s beliefs in that period are more of a mythology than a faith founded in Scripture. In particular, Israel’s views about Messiah had been so shaped by erroneous opinion that they failed to see Messiah was talking to them then and there. They had dropped the holiness from His role and kept only the power. They wanted a Victorious Warrior, and this they had in Messiah. But, they wanted this detached from the rest. They wanted this now, in the physical plane, on their terms, and that, they did not have.
The priests had not rightly raised the sheep. They had altered the message, corrupted the training, and delivered a faith that was more to do with their works and their prestige than with God and His holiness. And as we see from the behavior of the Pharisees and Sadducees as events develop, they in fact had an intense disdain for the people they supposedly shepherded. These people know nothing! Well, dear shepherd, why would that be, except that you have failed to instruct, or instructed in nothing?
How greatly this would seem to parallel our own day, and I suspect you would find men of faith saying the same in every age. The failures don’t really change that much except perhaps in their details. We, too, have too many hireling preachers, too many false shepherds preying on the sheep rather than feeding them. We, too, have too many who look to their own worldly security instead of the security of those over whom they have charge. We, too, have leaders with disdain for the led, who do no real leading, but merely revel in their power over the hoi polloi.
But, the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep, and He calls His under-shepherds to abide by His example. That is not to suggest that any pastor worth his salt will become a martyr. There have been periods where this seemed the right thing, and otherwise sound men and women of faith would seek out martyrdom in their fervor to honor God. But, that is not the way. Life is sacred because we bear the image of God. There may come a time when God deems it best that we be martyred for our faith, but that is His to determine, not ours to press. Should the occasion come, may we face it like men, face it like those who have faced it before us, and hold fast our confession of faith. But, it is not a thing to be sought.
Observe: the Good Shepherd does not lay down His life to prove a point. He doesn’t do so to secure a name for Himself. He already possesses the name that is above all names, the name of Lord at which every knee must bow and every tongue confess. What need has He to burnish His reputation? His reputation is spotless! No. He lays down His life for the sheep. He lays down His life in successful defense of the sheep. Indeed, as the record shows, He lays down His life to secure the life of the sheep permanently. And then, because He is I AM, He takes His life up again. “I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again” (Jn 10:18). Given the events about to transpire, this was something the Apostles would need to bear in mind. Whatever the circumstances of His death, it was not man who brought it about. Man had a hand in it, and would bear the moral cost. Indeed, it wasn’t just Judas, Caiaphas, and Pilate who would bear that cost. We all had a hand in it, for all have sinned. All have made His death needful for their own life to be secured.
I would also stress that what Jesus says there is not that He has been authorized to do these things. He is I AM. While He might well speak of obedience to the Father, and while this act of laying down and taking back up His life is done in obedience to the Father’s will, it is also His will, His authority. He is I AM. He and the Father are One God. The Persons of the Trinity have one will, act of one accord, and may even be said to operate in covenant amongst their self (how does one express this with grammatical propriety?). No, Jesus was not granted authority, for as we have established, nobody can grant God anything. He is who He is. He does as He pleases, and what pleases Him is, of necessity, good.
Events make clear that as much as this was an act of self-volition for Jesus, that doesn’t mean it was comfortable. The Godhead could face events with certainty, knowing full well the authority and the outcome. But, the Man Jesus knew the trepidations of a human soul. He felt the fear that death imposes, and particularly when death was to take so gruesome and painful a form. He knew, too, as no other could, the anguish that must await when the sin of all mankind fell upon His shoulders as the scapegoat for humanity. He must have known, for His knowledge is perfect, what terrifying hollowness would arise in Him when it became necessary for Father God to look away, for the eternal, perfect fellowship of the Trinity to – in some mysterious fashion fit for an unchanging God – experience isolation. But, the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
God sees to us, cares for us. When we don’t want His aid, yet He is there. When we are set on blindly chasing after our own ways, He is there. He pulls us back, seeks us out when He must. That, of course, is an image for our own benefit, for it’s not as though He ever loses track of us or our whereabouts. It’s not as if He weren’t perfectly and fully aware of our every thought and deed. But, we seek to be lost and succeed in large part, until our faithful Good Shepherd comes and retrieves us from our stupid mess.
There is no danger our Shepherd will not face to see us safely home to the fold of heaven. He has already faced His own death – and won. What threat can be thought to outstrip that one? I see, as I so often do, that it is impossible to look at one aspect of sound doctrine without being put in mind of its other points. I look at this Good Shepherd, and the extent of His care, and how can I not recognize the security of the saint? Whom He has called, He has saved. Whom He has saved is saved indeed, for God does not, cannot fail. It is no license for us to just go about our days without a thought for God or for holiness. But, it is the great and only comfort of the saint on those daily occasions when we discover we have fallen short again, have sinned again against this Perfect, Holy, Good Shepherd. How marvelous, in those moments, to remember that He is yet there, yet guiding and guarding, yet pulling us back from the brink and setting us back in good pastures, by the still waters, where we can grow strong in peace. He is yet working on us, and we shall be made like Him, for we shall see Him as He truly is.
vii. I AM the Resurrection and the Life
[06/02/19]
Our next I AM statement comes at the first burial of Lazarus. Lazarus and his sisters were clearly quite dear to Jesus, yet when news had come to Him that Lazarus was dying, He tarried, not coming to see His friends until He knew that Lazarus had been dead some three days. This, we learn, was the threshold for Jews to account the death certain. Up to that point one might discover a mistake had been made and the man thought dead was not so dead as had been supposed. Given the state of medical knowledge at the time, that’s not so crazy a notion as it might sound to us today. At any rate, Jesus had waited until the point of death certain for Lazarus, and then He came.
The two sisters are understandably grief-stricken, not to mention dealing with a large crowd of mourners come to call, for the family was well known around Jerusalem. Martha, who seems to have been the one inclined to take charge of affairs in this family, comes out to meet Jesus and gently scold Him for the delay. Her grief is evident in her words to Jesus. “If you had been hear, my brother would not have died” (Jn 11:21). Yes, there is a note of rebuke in that, but only a note. It’s actually quite a statement of faith, which is followed by this, “Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” She’s upset, yes, but she has some sense of Who she’s talking to. She may not understand fully, but she has an idea of it. And for all that, His nearest disciples still did not understand fully, so she’s hardly to be blamed for partial knowledge at this juncture. Jesus certainly lays no blame upon her for her words, but instead speaks words if infinite comfort.
“I AM the resurrection and the life” (Jn 11:25). He’s supplying some of that lacking understanding. “Your brother shall rise again,” He had said, but she heard only a theological position statement. Yes, Jesus, I know he will rise on the last day. I believe that, too. I know you’ve had to argue with the Sadducees over this, but really, this isn’t the time. But, Jesus is correcting and consoling. No, no, Mary, we’re not talking doctrinal niceties. We’re talking now, today. Yes, that future resurrection is real. Trust Me on that, but I AM the Resurrection. I AM the Life. You see, it’s My call, and he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies.
Now, if you don’t have a bit of difficulty wrapping yourself around that, then I have to suppose you’re taking it on faith, as we say, that it makes sense. That is to say, you’re not thinking about it, just accepting it. OK. Jesus said it, it must be true. But, that sets you in the same place Martha is. It’s all a fine bit of philosophy, but it really has no bearing on my day. It doesn’t answer my hurts. It doesn’t address anything that matters to me right now. So, I’ll file it away as a bit of Christianese and maybe some day it’ll mean something to me.
But, His point is entirely directed at her present grief, and Lazarus’ present state. In plain point of fact, He is answering her veiled request. “Even now, I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” So ask, already, would You please? But, in this instance, Jesus didn’t need to ask. That may sound wrong, given that Jesus does only what He hears from the Father, but He had already heard. Why do you think He delayed? He already knew the cause for His delay, and He knew what was coming next. So He could speak with certainty. “Your brother will rise again.” Not in some indefinite future, Martha, today. Today, because I AM.
Now, we see resurrection and life in tight connection here, and rightly so. Clearly, resurrection without life would be rather pointless. It cannot be resurrection if it does not surrect. But, the connection runs the other way, as well. Life cannot really get started unless there is a resurrection. That resurrection is a now thing, not a future thing; or I suppose we must say it is both. It begins now. For the believer, it began the day that faith was found planted in our heart. “Everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die” (Jn 11:26). Again, that’s hard to hold on to when we know full well that every believer before or since (we’ll make exception for Enoch and Elijah) has in fact died, and even they, insofar as their continued existence on this earthly plane has come to an end must be said to have died. So, what’s He on about?
Well, we can look to that day on the mount when Peter, James, and John caught a glimpse of Jesus in the fullness of His heavenly glory. I say a glimpse, for the full view of it must even then have been the death of them on the spot, yet they lived to tell of it. But, there, together with Jesus, was Elijah, and there, too, was Moses. They may have died, but they were quite clearly still alive. “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Mk 12:27). But, even this does not capture the fullness of what Jesus is saying.
That life doesn’t point solely beyond the grave; and we learn from Paul that even those found on the earth when Jesus returns will undergo a resurrection (1Co 15). The bodily change that comes of physical resurrection is needful if we are to abide in eternal realms. This present body can’t handle the task. But, the resurrection life is already begun here. Go back to that meeting Jesus had with Nicodemus. “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn 3:3). There is more than that said, but that captures the point we need to observe. That rebirth is of the Spirit. It is necessary. One cannot see the kingdom apart from that rebirth. I would take this to mean that unless the Spirit has already brought about rebirth, it is impossible that you should choose entry into the kingdom. You won’t get it. You won’t accept it if you hear about it. “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1Co 2:14).
“I AM the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and shall in fact never die. Do you believe this?” Those last words have struck me to the core since the day I undertook to study this passage. Do you believe this? They are an acknowledgement that what has just been said is difficult to accept. They are also a warning of sorts that what has just been said is critical to accept. But, more to the point, Jesus is asking something deeper than, “Do you get it?” It’s more than giving a nod to some philosophical position. Yes, Jesus, I believe Your views, not the Sadducean position. You see, if you truly believe this, then you must recognize that the grave is rather pointless. Yes, it hurts to say goodbye to a loved one, but if they have died in Christ, they are not truly dead, but transferred into a blessed life in His presence. “For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain,” Paul wrote, “But if to live in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. I am hard-pressed. I desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake” (Php 1:21-24).
Paul believed this. Death held no threat for him, for he served the One who had overcome sin and death. He served the Resurrection. What was death, then, but the welcome mat at eternity’s door? At this juncture, though, as concerned Lazarus, the time to cross over that welcome mat had not yet come. His life, His resurrected life, would serve more fully to glorify the living God. And so, Jesus calls for the stone to be rolled away from the grave, much to the concern of those present. Oh, Jesus, but he’s going to stink! He’s been there four days now, decay will have set in, and no amount of funereal spices is going to block the odors completely. But, Jesus is not dissuaded. “Didn’t I tell you? Believe and you will see the glory of God!” He then prays, not, on this occasion, because He sought instruction, but, “that they may believe that You sent Me” (Jn 11:42). And then, with but a word, He calls Lazarus back to the land of the living. “Lazarus, come forth.” And he did, still bound in the wrappings of the grave.
Now consider that. Those wrappings did not intend to leave room for movement. It is doubtful that in coming forth, Lazarus could even so much as wiggle an ankle. He was bound ‘hand and foot’, and those wrappings would have been saturated with a significant weight of spices and ointments. Cement shoes had nothing on this arrangement. He was not about to come forth of his own motive power. And yet, come forth he did, and so stunned were the onlookers that Jesus had to stir them to action. “Unbind him. Let him go.”
So, let’s be clear about this. Lazarus most assuredly returned to the grave at some later date. This was not an escape from physical death for him, nor was it the bodily resurrection to come. This was one thing, and one thing only. It was demonstration that Jesus meant what He said. “I AM the Resurrection.” You see it in the result. He spoke, and it was.
He gives life to whom He will, when He will, for so long as He will. Man, quite frankly, cannot do anything to alter that. Whatever it was that caused the first death of Lazarus could not alter that. It wasn’t time yet. And his return to life, in so public a setting, for remember, there were crowds there seeking to comfort the sisters, was news that spread like fire through the streets of Jerusalem – just in time for the grand entry of Jerusalem’s King, and much to the consternation of those forces arrayed against Jesus. Indeed, so great was the impact of this return from the grave that those plotting against Jesus expanded their plans to include returning Lazarus to the grave at soonest opportunity. After all, many were believing Jesus because of this, and that was not a thing to be tolerated by the current religious order.
But, our concern is with the God of the living, the God Who IS Life. He knows the number of our days, for He it is who determines that number. I must avow that all the efforts of man to extend life and avoid the grave are in the end for naught. Yes, the achievements of modern medicine are to be appreciated, for they work to preserve life, and life is precious in the sight of God. But, they can only work so far as God permits and even commands, though those who pursue the wondrous cures may have no thought for Him. If He did not desire to see the scourge of cancer met by medical interventions, those interventions would serve no purpose. If He did not desire that diseases such as malaria and polio and so on were made treatable by the efforts of men of science and medicine, then they would remain the death sentence they had been. But, God works not only through overt miracle, but through means of men given inspiration of truth through His Spirit. God works not only through men of faith, but through men of all stripes, whomsoever He chooses, that His will may be done.
As ever, I seem to have got rather far afield in my thoughts today, but I see that our next I AM continues on the theme of Life, so let us pick that one up on the morrow and see where it leads us.
viii. I AM the Way, the Truth, the Life
[06/03/19]
As with so many of these I AM statements, Jesus draws from the immediate context in proclaiming Who it is that He is, and how exactly the Godhead is evident in Him. On this occasion, we are given an inside view of the final meal the disciples had together with Jesus; that meal whereby He established a new covenant in His blood, and whereby He began the final work which would fulfill the feast of Passover. It has been a difficult time, these last days in Jerusalem. There have been increasingly vehement confrontations with the Sadducees and Pharisees, coming to the point of Jesus telling them point blank that they cannot come where He is going. Arguably, Jesus has been doing His part to escalate tensions, ensuring that their decisions will maintain God’s timetable.
But, now He has come to the table with His disciples, and the message for them, coming on the heels of this public conflict, must have pierced to the core. “What I said to them, I now say to you as well: Where I am going, you cannot come” (Jn 13:33). Now, observe that Judas has already departed the gathering at this point, and Jesus has a commandment for those who remain: Love one another, but for the time being, you can’t follow Me where I’m going. You will later. Again, observe: There is a distinction here from what was said to the Pharisees. For these, the inability to follow is temporary, and furthermore, the eventual ability is certain. Indeed, it is more than mere ability, it is assurance that “You shall follow later” (Jn 13:36).
To add to the sorrow and confusion that must have been felt by the disciples, there follows the prophecy that Peter, that boisterous rock of faith, would deny Jesus three times before dawn! But, this is immediately followed by a word of comfort. It’s best to hear this without the intervening chapter marker, I think. “Peter, you will deny Me three times before a cock crows again. But, let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in Me” (Jn 13:38-14:1). Do you see it? The one is the antidote for the other. Right now, you don’t have it in you to follow, but you will. Right now, your fears get the better of you, but it won’t always be so. Faith will be your strength in due time. There is a place being prepared for you in heaven – even knowing this, Peter. There is a place being prepared for you by Me. You – all of you – know the way where I am going. Again, I stress that Judas is gone at this juncture; that one who did not know the way. Thomas, who I think represents our own sense of things far better than Peter, pipes up. “We don’t even know where You’re going. How could we know the way?”
And here comes our statement. It is well known. “I AM the way.” In full, “I AM the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father, but through Me” (Jn 14:6). Much follows after this, but the sum of it is that you know Me, and you know the Father is in Me. You don’t know it perfectly. Your understanding is still exceedingly shaky. If it weren’t, you wouldn’t even ask such a question. But, believe Me. Believe I am in the Father, and He is in Me, and this shaky faith of yours will become strong; that faith of Peter’s that will have him denying me tonight will become the faith of a true rock, unshaken be even the most dire events. Here is the truth: “You know the Father. You have seen Him” (Jn 14:7). How? He is in Me, and you have seen Me! And blessed – to jump ahead a stretch or two – are those who will believe without having seen Me.
But our focus is on that first part, “I AM the way.” It ties most thoroughly with the declaration that none come to the Father but through Him. Here is the Door again. The Way leads to the Fold, and there is no way in but through the Door. He knows His own and gives them entrance. He leads them out when the time is apt, and guards them whether within the fold or in the fields. He is the Way. One either obeys His guidance and comes to Life, or disregards His guidance (ala Judas) and comes to death, or more properly, remains in death, for he never left that state.
I observe that the Way comes close-coupled not only with that Life which the Way both makes possible and preserves, but also with Truth. Hear it well. “I AM TRUTH.” This is not to say that everything heard outside the pages of Scripture is false, but it is to say that everything that sets itself over against Scripture is false. All Truth is God’s Truth, because God IS Truth. Truth is the expression and outworking of His essence. The Way, then, cannot be pursued with falsehoods, nor will it offer falsehoods to be followed. God is not a man, that He should lie. Indeed, in Him there is no shifting shadow, no variation (Jas 1:17b). What He said was Truth today continues to be Truth tomorrow. What He spoke in Truth to Adam yet applies to man today, and shall right on through eternity. What is True in heaven is True on earth. There is a reason that Jesus could so readily draw from the examples of earthly life to proclaim heavenly Truths: The same God of Truth that was speaking is that God of Truth who created the world and its examples. Of course the systems of man’s devising will have something of the divine to them, even when put forward by the most ungodly of men, for even the most ungodly of men continues to bear the image of God who is True.
It needn’t shock us that men such as Plato, in their pursuit of understanding Truth, though they had no particular place for God in their philosophy, yet offered insights that could quite readily be heard as coming from Jesus Himself. Indeed, as I have often observed, some of Plato’s words seem to parallel the teachings of Jesus most precisely. But, then Plato veers off. While he remains true, his words necessarily reflect God’s Truth. Where he departs from God’s Truth, his words are no longer true. They may be interesting. They may even provide food for thought, but those thoughts must return to the Way, the Truth, the Life and test his words by the standards of heaven’s King.
A further observation: This close-coupling of the Way with Truth and Life informs us that our way, if it is to lead to life, must hew close to the truth of God. We cannot, as has been tried down through the ages, take it upon ourselves to reshape the pursuit of God after our own liking. This morning’s reading in Table Talk happens to have focused on the point, as the text turned to the death of Uzzah for having dared to lay hands on the ark of God – which even the Levites did not do. They bore it on poles lest they profane the holy throne of God, but Uzzah in his presumption, thought God needed him to keep the ark from falling. God needs no man.
This brought up the example of Nadab and Abihu, priests of God and sons of Aaron (Lev 10:1-3). If any should have known the necessity of serving God according to His dictates, these should have known. They were present to witness the pillar of fire by which God visibly accompanied the camp of Israel. Indeed, it must be supposed that said pillar was present to witness their deeds, for the events that led to their demise took place during the days of wilderness wandering. They figured they knew how to make the incense, and they were priests, so they could offer it whenever the pleased. They were wrong. They thought they could shape the worship of God to their schedule and their desires. They were wrong.
The same could be said of Rome, I should think. They have, down through the centuries, sought to reshape the worship of God to suit their preferences. They have, in various seasons, made the worship of God a source of wealth, of power, and of prestige. They have made it something of a welfare system for the scions of the wealthy, a refuge for men and women of loose morals, a means for political leverage, and all manner of other errors which have come and gone with time. I don’t propose to you that the Protestants have been error free, but this has led to a doctrine that departs from the Way, and sets up a competing authority in the pope. He is assigned an authority he never had and never shall. His words are granted, at least on occasion, a weight equal to those of Jesus, and that will never do, for his words have proven fallible and changing, reflecting not the will of God as expressed in the Scriptures, but the changing whims of man.
So, yes, the same can be said of the Protestant church, and must be said. It, too, has fallen prey to changing standards having nothing to do with God and everything to do with the shifting – ever downward shifting – standards of man. Has man decided that sexual immoralities no longer matter? These churches in name only concur, because to do otherwise might threaten their numbers and their livelihood. Wherever the Church makes decisions based on attendance, wherever the Church seeks to change here ways in the hopes of remaining relevant to changing culture, the Church falls into the same error that led to the destruction of Nadab and Abihu. Christ Jesus is the Way – the ONLY Way. He is the Truth – the ONLY Truth. He is the Life – the ONLY Life. None comes to the Father but through Him, by the Way He has made, and has made evident. Beware the novelty that leads to death. Narrow is the Way that leads to life.
ix. I AM the Vine
[06/04/19]
If God is the source of life, and entrance into life, He is also the sustainer of life. In point of fact, we are told that the life we have we have together with Him, and that life cannot be had except together with Him. Faith does not find itself complete in having nodded in agreement to some particular Truth. While faith surely does agree with Truth, else that faith is pointless opinion or delusion, faith goes deeper. Faith enters into a relationship more intimate even than that of marriage. It must, for the life of faith must be drawn from the source of life.
So, then, we come to the last of the generally acknowledged I AM statements. “I AM the true vine” (Jn 15:1). By itself, that doesn’t speak much to us, although as it happens I am looking at a backdrop of vines on my screen this morning as I type. But, to our thinking, the vine is the whole plant, root, stem, leaf, and flower. Jesus is speaking, however, particularly, and He is speaking to a point. That point is the need to abide. The life of faith must abide in the Life, and that life which abides in the Life must prove fruitful. Recall that for Israel, the vine was primarily associated with grapes, and the whole point of the vine and the vineyard was to produce fruit.
You may recall as well that this imagery has shown up in negative fashion when it comes to the assessment of Israel’s faith. Here were tenants in the vineyard, but they refused the owner the profit of his harvest. Here was a nation represented by a fig tree, but like that fig tree outside Jerusalem, though by all appearances there should be much fruit from so flourishing a tree, there was in fact no fruit to be had. All their religious show was producing nothing. They had separated from the vine which was the life of faith.
So, then, “every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, the Father, the vinedresser, takes away. Every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes so that it may bear more fruit” (Jn 15:2). But, observe closely, “The branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (Jn 15:5). And here’s the part we hate to hear in our self-sufficient delusion. “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” That’s the cold, hard reality that we are forever laboring to disprove. But, we can’t.
“I AM the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him bears much fruit.” This points to a deep, intimate relationship. If marriage is to be a one-flesh relationship, this goes deeper. Indeed, marriage, as we may consider in due course, is designed to serve as a visible image of the heavenly relationship. It is our first experience of abiding in one another. It is the deepest, most intertwined relationship into which we can enter in this life. But, at root, it is but a type of the antitypical relationship we are called to have with God.
If we are exposed to our spouse with what may at times be a discomforting degree of transparency, that’s got nothing on how exposed we are before God, and how transparent He has chosen to be with us. God had no particular cause to explain to us Who He Is, or what He desires of us. But, He did. He condescended to graciously declare to us the Way that leads to Life, the way to unity with Him, intimacy with Him. He has adopted us into His perfect family, a family that abides together.
This might also help us to understand the image a bit more. If you have been so fortunate as to have children, you know that particularly in their earliest years, they are utterly dependent upon you for health and safety. Apart from you, it might be said, they can do nothing. They cannot procure food or shelter. They cannot travel. They cannot obtain clothing. Apart from you, their survival would be a terribly short-lived thing. Even into adulthood we discover this dependent relationship continues, thought independence grows apace. There will always be a connection there, however severely tried. There will always be a tie between branch and root. For many years you abide together. You share a roof. You share meals. You share thoughts and dreams to some extent. You know perhaps more about the developing life of your child than you would prefer to have known, and in due time, they come to depend on your wisdom more than they care to admit that you have wisdom to offer.
Isn’t this just us and God? We are children utterly dependent on the Father, and yet we struggle to prove our independence. Truth be told, all those struggles serve to prove the point. “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” I suppose we should have to qualify ‘nothing’ by saying nothing of any value. Yes, you can certainly manage to sin apart from God. Indeed, it would be difficult to imagine how one could do so otherwise. And yet, one is never truly apart from God. He sees. He knows. But, He is yet our Father, and He forgives when once we come to our senses and seek forgiveness. But, in the meantime, yes. There are things we can do, but they are pointless, fruitless things. Whatever achievements a man might make in life, they will fade to insignificance in due time. He will be forgotten eventually, and his legacy come to naught. There is one lasting legacy, and that is the legacy of faith, for faith leads to life, and life eternal.
That life can only be had on the Vine. It requires abiding and obeying. There’s the trimming and pruning part. Loving God does not somehow hand one a guarantee to an easy life. Far from it. There will be pruning, and it may at times be severe. But, it is for your good. There will be occasions where it feels as though we suffer from spiritual drought. But, the waters will come, the sap of faith will flow, and we shall be restored in due course. Yet, there is the risk inherent in Christ’s words. “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up, and they gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned” (Jn 15:6). Does this then mean that my faith could fail, that my salvation may be lost after all? It can read that way, but I must maintain the answer is no. This is a message for those who do not abide, not for those who do not obey perfectly. If it were for those who do not obey perfectly, that vine would be nothing but stem, and would itself whither, were such a thing possible for God.
But, faith, understood aright, is not so much ours as His. He gave us that faith, and what He has given, He has given for keeps. He has engrafted us into the vine, and caused us to abide, drawing life from His flow. He sees to it that we are well-tended, in order that we may in fact bear fruit – much fruit. We may not always see it. We may not always feel terribly fruitful. In fact, we may feel very much like branches due for trimming away. But, our faithful Vine will pour fresh life into us, tend to us until we are once more fruitful. Fret not! God is with you yet. It’s no call for laxity. It’s no excuse for inattentiveness. Love abides, but love obeys. “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love” (Jn 15:10). Well, are we back at works, then? Are we not condemned to fail just as spectacularly as the Sadducees and Pharisees? Fortunately not. Jesus is not heaping up an interminable weight of regulation upon us. He moves immediately to reduce the task to one. “This is My commandment: Love one another just as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12).
Looking to what His love did, that may be weak comfort, for it’s a commandment as impossible for us to manage as any that Moses ever declared. Love as He has loved? That’s beyond me. That level of self-sacrifice is a goal too far. But, I can love better than I did. I can give of myself when I’d rather not. Some day, perhaps, I’ll be able to do so without grumbling, but at least I can get that far. There is, in fact, a love that develops between believers that can prove profound. It is not love as the world around us tends to think of it. It is something grander than comradery. One can find comradery on the fields of war, and that certainly has value, but when the war is over, that comradery can be set aside without feeling any great sense of loss. Oh, I know, there are plenty of veterans who keep in touch with their squad over the years, for they have faced things together that others cannot truly appreciate and understand. But, there are many more who return from such experiences and shed the experience as quickly and as thoroughly as they are able.
But, the bond amongst believers is something more. It does have the taste of the battlefield to it, for we are in a war; a lifelong war. But, there is more to it. This is family. Indeed, this is, for many, family in a way that physical family never was. Here are people who love me, who care for me, who are willing to risk themselves to help me grow as I should. Here, if I draw on Paul’s imagery from 1Corinthians, are builders building alongside me, helping me to build well and accepting my help that they, too, may build well. Here is a connection of like belief and like character that transcends time and geography. We discover, over the years, that should it prove needful to pick up and relocate, wherever we may be, this same family is there. The Vine is present and we continue to draw life. We find, as well, that however long we have been parted, those who have had a particular hand in guiding us in the Way remain dear memories, and even, I suppose, voices informing our conscience still.
I think, for example, of Dennis, my first mentor of a sort when I came to faith. While I’ve not seen him for decades, yet his wisdom offered in those earliest years still serve. I think of another Jeff, actually a couple of other Jeffs, who have had an impact on who I am. I miss them, and I am quite sure that if we were to meet again at some juncture, while things would be different, yet the bond would remain. These are not friends to be dispensed with at the first disagreement, or even the hundredth. They are family, and they abide. Whatever the distance and however long the time, they abide. For they, too, are branches of the Vine. The connection cannot be severed, for the Vine sees to it that we all remain connected and abiding in Him.
x. I Am the Son of God
[06/05/19]
I turn to some of the less explored declarations which, at least in our English translations, bear the stamp of I AM. I will begin with what is perhaps the boldest claim of Jesus. “I said, ‘I am the Son of God’” (Jn 10:36). Let me say right off that this does not contain the ego eimi phrase that is associated with Yahweh. There is only the eimi, with the first person reference left to syntax. Yet, this is a stunning claim, even if made somewhat obliquely. It is, actually, almost a secondary claim but it comes as reiterating what He had just said before, “I and the Father are one” (Jn 10:30).
This is indeed a strong, even shocking claim. Were we to hear it from anybody today we would almost certainly conclude that person was either suffering from insanity or a blasphemous charlatan. The Jews to whom Jesus had been speaking took the latter view, perhaps because the person and the works of Jesus were simply too coherent to allow the idea of insanity to enter their minds. So, they did what was right if indeed blasphemy had been encountered. They took up stones to stone Him (Jn 10:31).
Now, this is not presented in a good light, and with good reason. Yet, their actions, while misguided and not done quite according to the Law in full, were yet actions that one with concern for God and holiness had been instructed to undertake. If the people of God fell into blasphemy, this was the answer, to purge the blasphemy from their midst. The problem was not in their effort to cleanse the blasphemy from their midst. The problem was that they had not undertaken to determine the if. They had simply jumped to conclusions. So Jesus gives them cause to question those conclusions.
“I’ve shown you all manner of good works from the Father. For which of these are you planning to stone Me?” But, they skip the works and jump to the presumption of blasphemy, “because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God” (Jn 10:32-33). And so, Jesus points out that His saying He is the Son of God is no blasphemy, and indeed the Scriptures make reference to mere humans as being not just sons of God, but gods. The quote is from Psalm 82:6, which reads, “I said, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you.”
Now, this is itself a most challenging bit of text, describing many things that at face value would leave us wondering how it got into Scripture in the first place. But that ought to give us pause, for it is Scripture. It is likely that the text is not the problem, our understanding is. From it’s opening, it challenges the understanding. “God has taken his place in the divine council. In the midst of the gods he holds judgment” (Ps 82:1). But, there is only one God. How can He be amidst others? Well, true there is but one God, but there are certainly many false claimants to the title. Yet, I don’t believe that is the picture being painted here, for the Psalm proceeds to God’s assessment, and that assessment doesn’t appear to hinge on matters of deity.
“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?” (Ps 82:2). This is a strong hint that the gods amongst God holds judgment are not spiritual beings at all, but rather men; men given authority to stand in judgment over their fellows. We know that for long years Israel’s leadership consisted not of kings but of judges. These were commissioned by God for a particular time and purpose to answer Israel’s cries for rescue. Their job was to bring about justice, typically by way of warfare against the forces of incorrigible evil. If, then, the Just God, the Holy God, has appointed these men judges, surely they ought to judge justly. Surely, He should not find it needful to come along with a question like this, and a reminder to be just. Yet, repeatedly in the course of scriptural history we find He needs to do precisely that. And it wasn’t just in the period of the judges. The kings were no better as a rule, and in fact often far worse. Israel, the people of God, those rescued out of slavery by God personally, swiftly and repeatedly fell into sinful practices of self-interest. They had been warned of this from the very beginning. When you enter the land and are enjoying the prosperity thereof, you will forget Me. Watch out!
So, God takes His place in divine council to judge the judges. The declaration that Jesus chose for His purpose is God speaking to those judges. “I said, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you. Nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince” (Ps 82:6-7). Don’t think your position will protect you. You are sons of the Most High. Act like it. You have been granted power and authority from God, and are as gods to your fellow men. Don’t abuse it. But, you have abused it, and have bent justice from its course. Your authority is ended, and your own sentence passed. You shall die like any other man – for your own sins.
Now, let us look at where Jesus takes this. He begins by simply pointing out that the mere association of humanity with the concept of being sons of God cannot be sinful for ‘your Law’ says the same, as we have seen. This is not, as some would make it, cause to claim mighty powers for oneself. It is a reminder of the great need for humility, and for pursuing your task with utmost circumspection. You are sons of God. Act like it. There is a call that resounds through the ages. It holds as true for the least Christian today as it did for the most powerful judge of that age. But, to Jesus’ point, God called them gods to whom the word of God came (Jn 10:35). This isn’t pointing to prophets in this instance. As we have seen, it is pointing to those given authority to pass judgment – the very thing these Jews had taken upon themselves to do. And, in pointing at them, it points out the limits and boundaries of authority. The judge has authority to judge only so long as his judgments are just. Yet, here they have bypassed due process, ignored the evidence before their own eyes, and taken up stones to impose an unjust sentence. “If I am not doing the works of My Father, then don’t believe Me. But, if I do those works, even if you don’t believe Me, believe the works. They are evidence, and by them you should clearly see that the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father” (Jn 10:37-38).
There is the message in full. Yes, I said “I and the Father are one.” But more than that, I proved it. I showed you, not by empty claims but by solid evidence. Yet, you reject the evidence in favor of your preformed conclusions. Oh, there was indeed strong reason for choosing that passage, but it wasn’t primarily to defend His words. It was to remind them of the end result of unjust judgment. They were themselves acting in the very role they accused Him of claiming, taking it upon themselves to act as God in regard to His person. This might be allowed to come to pass, although not at this juncture, but it would never be allowed to stand.
In fairness, this is not an ‘I AM’ statement, and the claim, if we follow the logic, is somewhat of a lesser claim. It is the claim that Jesus the Man, God Incarnate, is in fact a just Judge. He is the Son Who in every aspect properly reflects the Father, for He and the Father are One. His judgment is just – perfectly just – for He is Just. What He does are the Father’s works. What He says are the Father’s words. What He judges are the Father’s judgments. As such, His actions, His words, and His judgments are all True – perfectly True.
xi. I Am Teacher and Lord
[06/06/19]
This morning I look at another aspect of God revealed in Christ. “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right for so I am” (Jn 13:13). Once again, this is not an ego eimi declaration. Furthermore, it is a more private pronouncement; Jesus speaking to His closest disciples. Finally, it comes as an observation of their understanding, and a basis for teaching, whereas the major “I AM” statements have been public pronouncements to all, clearly announcing His centrality to true religion.
This one is interesting in its own right, however, and particularly given the lesson built upon the point. It leads into Jesus’ explanation of His humble act of washing the disciples’ feet. “I gave you an example that you should also do as I did to you” (Jn 13:15). But, here I am trying – really I am – to remain focused on what we are being shown of God by these declarations. We are told much in this simple acknowledgement. You call Me Teacher. I am in fact your Teacher. God is your Teacher. He teaches both by word and by example. His words are true and to be heeded. His example is not mere entertainment but instruction. If I go back to “I AM the Way”, here is the Way showing us the way. How, then, shall we say we don’t know the way to where He is? He has shown us.
But, observe the second part. You call Me Lord, and so I am. This is the part that matters, and also the part with which we most struggle. If He is Lord, obedience is not optional. His instruction is in fact command, and as our rightful Lord, His command is to be obeyed without question and without delay.
It is in the connection of the two, however, that I find God most revealed. He not only commands holiness, He teaches us how to be holy. Reverse it and it’s just as true. He not only teaches us how to be holy, He commands holiness. If we had only command and no clue as to how we might comply, we would have a tyrant God. He asks the impossible, and doesn’t even offer help of any sort. If we had only the lesson and not the legal ramifications of command, we would have no more than a philosophy. These are nice ideas and even nice ideals, but I live in the real world and must be pragmatic. Ideals are wonderful, but they never survive contact with real life.
You can find plentiful examples of one without the other in the world of man. Tyrants we have aplenty, and so many commands binding upon our actions as to render it virtually impossible for any man to be truly innocent in the eyes of earthly law. Philosophies we have aplenty, and each has their own utopian vision of how things would be if only everybody would think as they do. But, every one of those philosophies fails on exactly that point: Everybody doesn’t, and everybody won’t. People will not act according to your fine principles, because your fine principles deny fundamental human nature.
Here, however, we are addressed by the God of Truth, and He knows in full what man is like – quite certainly better than man knows himself. He sets forth His commandments fully aware of man’s incapacity, fully aware of man’s character being far removed from what is commanded. So, He undertakes to instruct, but He instructs not in fine ideas and if onlys. He instructs in the holiness He requires. He provides examples. He provides correction. He provides lifelong tutoring, and patient instruction tuned to the individual’s progress.
“You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.” Learn, therefore, from Me and do not be satisfied with head knowledge of theological points. For I am not satisfied with your head knowledge and your ability to propound fine doctrinal views. What I teach I command, and what I command I require of you. I will show you how, and I will correct you when you err – and you will. But, don’t take it lightly, and don’t take it as a head game. It’s far more than that. It is the stuff of character, the stuff of Life. I AM the Way. Walk ye in it.
xii. I AM Not of the World
Now, I turn to a trilogy of declarations which do contain the ego eimi formulation, whether or not they are to be heard as I AM statements. I will have to start with the last, however, in order to express myself in regard to the former two. So, let us begin. “I AM not of the world” (Jn 17:16b). This comes in the course of Jesus’ High Priestly prayer, but it expresses a point He has been making throughout, and will continue to hammer home even as He undergoes trial before Pilate. It would be a wonderful exercise to just bask in that prayer and explore its many wonderful implications for us as believers, but that’s not the direction I wish to take right now.
What we have is a statement in the negative. If you followed Greek word order, you would have am not I, but that violates all sorts of rules in English. We could, perhaps, approach the order with I not am. But, if Christ, God, is not of the world, what does that say to us? We can take the simplest view. God is in heaven. He is a heavenly being, and whatever or wherever that heaven thing is, that’s where He is. Jesus, being God, could make such a claim, certainly. He came down from heaven. He has told us that already. But, then, He is there, standing, or sitting as the case may be, amidst His disciples praying. Clearly He is in the world, and not in heaven just at the moment, or at least not only in heaven. But, then, He says, “I am not OF the world,” not, “I am not IN the world.” It makes a world of difference.
Bear in mind what this declaration follows in the prayer. “I don’t ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (Jn 17:15-16). Clearly, this has nothing to do with present location, nor even point of origin. The disciples, whatever may be said of them, did not come down from heaven. They were born of man; as much a product of creation as anything else one can come across in the world. But, something happened to change their status, to change their genus, if you will. These were born of man, it is true, but there had come another birth, a rebirth by the Spirit of God. These have moved out of the family of man and into the family of God. The world may be said to be the kingdom of man. Man was given dominion, and while he’s done rather poorly with it, and even managed to throw it to another in the person of Satan, yet that urge to dominate remains.
We go about as if things must bow to our will, and so often, it seems they actually do. We devise clever tools to increase our power to force compliance. We develop weapons by which to subdue those who would stop us. We create engines and vehicles to carry us all across the earth and even out to the stars. What is there that we cannot do? We have those who are determined to come up with a path to immortality apart from God. Let it be supposed that they can succeed, and I must conclude that success will be their worst nightmare, for the very definition of Hell, could readily be said to be immortality apart from God – always knowing that He Is, always knowing the mistake of unbelief, and eternally incapable of repentance and restoration. To know that just out of range lies an eternity of pure, holy goodness with every trace of sin and sorrow gone, but for you, that same eternity ranges ahead with no least taste of that pure, holy goodness… what worse future could one contemplate? An eternal hunger for what can never be: It’s the stuff of drama, if not of nightmare.
And that, I fear, prepares us for the other two passages I want to contemplate under this topic. The first of these comes at a time when Jesus had returned to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths. The Jewish leaders are stiffly opposing Him, accusing Him of being possessed, and rejecting any proposal that He is Messiah. One of their arguments, it seems, comes from the understanding that no man would know where Messiah had come from. But, they knew He was from Nazareth, right? So, He couldn’t be the one. And, I think, there’s a hint of awareness as to the popular understanding of the circumstances of His birth. With a start in life like that, could this one really be some holy man?
Jesus more or less acknowledges their argument, but does not concede the point. Yes, you know Me – you can identify Me on sight. Yes, you know where I am from – although I wonder if any knew of His birth in Bethlehem. But, you don’t know the One who sent Me. I do, because I am from Him. He sent Me (Jn 7:27-29). Some, it seems, were recognizing the reality of Christ, but others not. But the officials are concerned, purportedly for the peace of Jerusalem during the feast lest the Romans sense a riot brewing, but more likely because they felt their positions threatened. So, they send officers out to seize Him, but Jesus just continues. “I am with you a little longer, then I go to Him who sent Me. You shall seek Me and not find Me, and where I AM you cannot come” (Jn 7:33-34).
Now, those listening hear this as maybe news of plans to travel. Perhaps He means to depart Israel and go to one of the other Jewish communities. Maybe He’s off to teach the Greeks? But, I’m hearing something different there. It’s not about location or travel plans. It’s about I AM. If I AM is not of this world, then where I AM is likewise not this world. Obviously, that is not to say He is not present here, for He is very much present as He speaks those very words. But, observe: They are not spoken as future tense. “Where I AM.” It’s Present Indicative. It’s now and, I would say, now and always.
There is a companion message to those who are His own. “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I AM, there shall My servant also be” (Jn 12:26a). Here, again, I AM is present indicative. It’s no surprise to find that ‘shall be’ is future tense, although it remains indicative. At this point, the qualifying activities of the if clause are already presumed. If this is you, you will be where I AM. Now, here’s an interesting thing. The voice changes. When Jesus says “I AM”, it is active voice. He Is by His own action. When it comes to our being there, however, it is neither active, as indicating our own action getting us there, nor passive, as if His actions dragged us along in His wake. It is a middle voice action, with both parties involved. This at least hints at the nature of sanctification. Salvation remains a work wholly passive on our part, as God chooses of His own will to save, and undertakes to do so. “By My own right arm, I will do it.” But, sanctification, while utterly dependent upon God for any success, also, by His design, requires that we are actively involved in the process. Apart from God, we can’t. Remember? He’s the Vine, and apart from Him we can do nothing! But, apart from us, God won’t. He can. But, He won’t.
If we contrast these two declarations regarding where God IS, we find the truth of it, don’t we? “Where I AM, you cannot come.” Why is that? Because the necessary ingredient of God’s will is absent. You cannot because God will not. But, for His servants, those who follow Him, however halting their steps as they follow, and however imperfect their service, yet they will because He wills.
What I come to is this: Where I AM is not a place, except in the loosest of terms. Where He IS is not geographically locatable. Neither is there a place that is geographically excluded from it, at least so far as presence and awareness go. “If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there” (Ps 139:8). Yet, hell is eternity apart from Him. There is a seeming paradox here. God is everywhere present, and yet, there is this place where He IS not.
This gets us to a condition of knowing God as God. Those in hell will, must necessarily acknowledge His being and His Lordship. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess Jesus is Lord. Like it or not. Because, He IS Lord, like it or not. Forgive me if I think briefly of current political winds. It seems for the last many years, decades even, whoever has been in the White House, some portion of the country has sought to insist that he is not their President. But, it’s one of those cases where opinion really doesn’t enter into it. Your preferences do not change reality on the ground. You may not like that this man is President, but he is. To the degree that this rarely has any great bearing on your life, maybe you can go about your day on the pretense that he is not, but reality doesn’t change. Push too hard and you will soon discover the truth of it.
So, too, with God. You may find it possible to go about your days as if He is not Who He IS. Sadly, even as believers, we are terribly adept at this self-deception. But, the self-deception does nothing to alter the facts, and eventually, whether with joy or trepidation, we shall have to acknowledge the truth of the Self Existent One, Almighty God, Maker of heaven and earth.
So, if this is not what “Where I AM” is about, what is it about? Is it the realm where He rules, which in time shall encompass all creation, and in reality already does? No, or at least not entirely. After all, His rule extends to Sheol. His rule still governs in the final punishment of hell. And yet, in spite of His omnipresence, there is that sense in which He is not there. His presence is absent somehow. I think our best hope is to view it as His back being permanently turned, that He need not look upon such unrepentant sinners. Of course, God being Spirit, has not back, but it the most readily comprehensible approach I can think of at the moment.
Where God IS is not only where He reigns – for that is everywhere – but where His reign is joyfully accepted, where His will is not seen as the iron scepter of the tyrant, but as the welcome guidance of the Father. It is that community in which He is Father by name, Father by right, and Father by relationship. It is that particular community in which God’s reign is wholly welcome and wholly realized because those in that community have been made one, even as God is one. There, it is most truly and fully said, “I AM”.
