Those who met Jesus asked themselves, “Who is this?”
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Every Christian needs to be able to answer that question well. One of the ways that Jesus often helped his disciples to understand him better was the use of “I AM” statements. Here at Copper Hill Church, during this Lenten Season, we will be exploring the I am sayings of Jesus. This past Sunday, Pastor Kelvin discussed one of the most crucial of them. Lisa Griffin’s inspired and dramatic reading of the morning text from John 8:31-59 was very moving. Then Pastor explained how Jesus was relating his comments to the experiences of the Jews during the Feast of Tabernacles and in the process keeping in touch with the historical background in the life of Moses as well. One common reading for the Feast of Tabernacles was:
“You are My witnesses,” says the Lord,
Isa 43:10 NKJV
“And My servant whom I have chosen,
That you may know and believe Me,
And understand that I am He.
So the people quickly connected the dots when Jesus said, “Before Abraham was born, I AM!” (John 8:58). They recognized immediately that he was applying to himself an Old Testament phrase which had referred to God. That is why they attempted to stone him for blasphemy. But Jesus was simply helping his listeners to understand who he really was. He was the divine Son of God. After the message, we sang an old Gospel song of worship to Jesus called, “Take the Name of Jesus with You.”