The Lord of Glory: Meditations on the person, the work and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ — John Shaqi
The Lord of Glory: Meditations on the person, the work and glory of our Lord Jesus ChristGaebelein, Arno Clemens
Religion
The Lord of Glory: Meditations on the person, the work and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ
Gaebelein, Arno Clemens
Jesus Christ -- Meditations; Jesus Christ -- Person and offices
WHEN Moses in the desert beheld the burning bush God answered his
question by the revelation of His name as the "I Am." "And God said
unto Moses, I am, that I am: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto
the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you" (Exod. iii:14).
He who spake thus out of the bush to Moses was the same who in the
fullness of time appeared upon the earth in the form of man. Our
Lord Jesus Christ is no less person, than the I AM. If we turn to
the fourth Gospel in which the Holy Spirit pictures Him as the Son
of God, one with the Father, we find His glorious title there as the
I AM. In the eighth chapter of that blessed Gospel we read that He
said to the Jews, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham
was, I am" (v:58). And the Jews took stones to cast them upon Him.
In the fifth chapter we read that they wanted to kill Him, not only
because He had violated the Sabbath, but also said that God was His
Father, making Himself equal with God (v:18). They wanted to stone
Him because in saying that word "Before Abraham was, I am" He had
claimed that holy name for Himself, which was revealed to Moses. The
Jews then, as the orthodox Jews do still, reverenced that name to
such a degree that they did not even pronounce it, but substituted
in its place the word "Adonai." Little did they realize that the
same "I am" who spoke to Moses out of the bush, saying, "I am;" who
descended before Moses later in a cloud and proclaimed the name of
the Lord (Exod. xxxiv) was standing in their midst in the form of
man. And this is not the only time He used this word. We find it in
the xviii chapter of John. When the band and officers of the chief
priests and Pharisees came with lanterns, torches and weapons, Jesus
stepped majestically into their presence with the calm question:
"Whom seek ye?" When they had stated that they were seeking Jesus
the Nazarene He answered them with one word "I AM." What happened?
They went backward and fell to the ground. What a spectacle that
must have been. The dark night, a company of people, all on the same
satanic errand, with their lanterns, torches and different kinds of
weapons. And then the object of their hatred steps before them and
utters one word and they fall helpless to the ground. What warning
it should have been to them. Once more He asks the question; again
He answers with the "I am" and with the understanding that His own
should be free, He allows Himself to be bound.
He likewise called Himself "I am" in talking with the Samaritan
woman. In John iv:26 we read, "Jesus saith unto her, I that speak
unto thee am he." This does, however, not express the original. This
reads as follows: "I AM that speaks to thee." After this mighty word
had come from His lips the woman had nothing more to say, but left
her waterpot and went her way back to the city. The I AM had spoken
to her. In chapters vi:20 and viii:28 we find Him using the same "I
am" again. In the former passage "It is I" should read "I am."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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