Identity - Part 3

“I AM”

When we read through the Old Testament, we see the word “LORD” in all capital letters hundreds of times. When we see this, we need to understand that we're not merely talking about “the Lord” here. “LORD” is actually the respectful way to write God's sovereign name – without actually using it carelessly or casually. The actual word that we read “LORD” is “Yahweh”...sometimes said as “Jehovah.” This is the eternal, awe-inspiring name of almighty God – It is “I AM THAT I AM”! It's the name that God revealed to Moses from the burning bush, it's the name that Jewish people still refuse to write for respect – it's the name of the Great I AM!

Of course we already know that the name of Jesus has this name hidden inside of it – Jesus means “Yahweh Saves”. But did Jesus ever claim the name of Yahweh for Himself? Let's look and find out.
In Mark 14, we see the account of Jesus' trial before the Jewish leaders. Unable to find a single wrongdoing, they brought several false witnesses before the council. These men made some off-the-wall accusations against Him. The problem was, not one of these witnesses agreed with another. By law, the priests needed two witnesses to testify to the same accusation before they could condemn Jesus as guilty. Desperate for any grounds of conviction, the high priest then attempted to goad Jesus into condemning Himself.

In verse 60, the High Priest demanded, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against you?” In response to that question, Jesus said nothing. This must have outraged the High Priest even more! Who does this Man think He is to ignore the question? Finally, the priest asked a much more direct question - seen in verse 61 - “Are You the Christ (the Messiah) the Son of the Blessed?”

To be sure, this was a loaded question – but there was no answer that would've made Jesus guilty. There were two parts to this question: One, are You the Messiah? Two, are You the Son of God? Saying yes to either of these questions wouldn't be wrong for any man to say

Everyone believed that the Messiah was going to be a man. Claiming to be the Messiah may have made a man crazy, but it wouldn't have been a crime. As far as being the Son of God; and any Jew could claim to be a son of God. In fact, the Pharisees themselves made this claim in John 8:41. If the high priest knew these claims weren't crimes in themselves, why ask the question? I believe he was fishing for something more substantial, something serious to accuse Jesus of...and he got that in Jesus' response. 

In verse 62, we read Jesus' answer to the priest's question: “I Am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” When Jesus said those two words - “I Am” - He wasn't merely giving a “yes” answer to the High Priest's question. He was claiming God's eternal, sacred name for Himself! He was calling Himself THE I AM! We know this is true based on the response of the council. Verse 63 tells us, “Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, 'What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?' And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death.” Claiming to be the Messiah was not blasphemy. Yet these highly religious men heard blasphemy in Jesus' response...why? Because they knew what Jesus was actually saying! He wasn't saying "I am the Messiah." or "I am the Son of God." Jesus was clearly saying "I AM"!

This was not the only time Jesus made this claim about Himself. To see more, we need to move into the book of John. In John 8:24, we read these words from His own mouth, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” Notice that the word “He” is italicized. This means it was added by the translators, but it wasn't actually what Jesus said. What He said was “You have to believe that I AM, or you will die in your sins! What a statement to make about Himself!

But He wasn't done there...He claims this name for Himself two more times in the same dialogue! Verse 28 says, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.” Verse 58 profoundly says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” We can clearly see that Jesus wasn't confused about Who He was, and He didn't shy away from saying so.

Perhaps the most powerful of Jesus' “I AM” claims came in the Garden of Gethsemane. As the Jewish soldiers arrived to arrest Him, they announced that they were looking for Jesus of Nazareth. In response, Jesus declared those two simple, earth-shaking words - “I AM” When He pronounced that powerful name, it dropped these men flat on their backs. Can you see this picture? Jesus, after stating Who He was, had to wait for the guards to get back up so that they could arrest Him! Even in His arrest, His power could not be hidden!

The Savior

Recently, the world spent a month (as they do every year) celebrating the birth of Jesus. During this time we talk about “the night of our dear Savior's birth” and the fact that “Jesus Christ our Savior was born to us this day”. Through the month of December, you'll hear Luke 2:11 quoted often. In this verse, we read the words of an angel to a group of shepherds, “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior...” But what Americans hear in that verse is drastically different from what those shepherds heard!

Being Jews, these shepherds knew the scriptures. When they heard the word “Savior” they must have remembered the words of God in Isaiah 43:11, “I, even I, am Yahweh, and besides me there is no Savior.” Knowing this, these shepherds must have been overwhelmed by the angel's next statement, “Who is Christ the Lord.” Those words - “the Lord” - had to have resonated with these simple, God-fearing men. After all, Jews referred to God as “the Lord", since His name was too sacred to use. This angel just announced to these men that “the Lord” was just born to be their Savior!

In agreement with what the angel said, Paul also declares that our Savior is no one less than God Himself! In Titus 2:11-12 we read, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ...” Our God and our Savior are one and the same – Jesus Christ! This is also why Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:47, “The first man (Adam) was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man (Jesus) is the Lord from heaven.” This Lord from Heaven, the one who came to be our Savior, is the same one that the angel called "Christ the Lord."

After the angel announced the birth of the Savior to the shepherds, we read that a multitude of heavenly hosts joined that angel in the sky and praised God, saying “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” Just how many angels were in the sky that night? Hebrews 1 :6 tells us: “But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: 'Let all the angels of God worship Him.'” That night every angel in Heaven appeared in the sky over Bethlehem to praise God. It's amazing to me that only the shepherds saw this! And how did this multitude of angels praise God? By worshiping the Son!

The Incarnate Word

John chapter one tells us more about what happened that night in Bethlehem. Let's take a close look, starting in verses 1 and 2 
In the beginning was the Word... – So God's Word was already there in the beginning. The Word had no beginning, there was never a time when the Word wasn't!

...and the Word was with God.. - The literal meaning is that the Word was face-to-face with God. Now we see that the Word wasn't merely a thing, but it had a face (It's own face) and was together with God.
...and the Word was God. - Uh oh, this is where Christians are separated from every other world religion. The Word - Who was a person that was face-to-face with God – was also God Himself!
He was in the beginning with God. - Another look at the person-hood of the Word. The Word was a “He”. 

Now let's move on and read verse 10, “He was in the world...” - Now we see that this Word/Person who was God, was personally in the world.

...and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. – If the world was made through the Word, then why didn't it know Him when He was in it? Why didn't they know their Creator?

The answer is found in verse 14, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us...” - Now we see why they didn't know Him, because He became flesh. This Word/Person Who was God became a flesh and blood man! What an amazing concept, God became a man!

Lastly, let's look at verse 17 so find the identity of the Word, “For the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” The Word made flesh is Jesus Christ! This is the incredible meaning of what happened in Bethlehem - God humbled Himself to be born as a baby!

The Form of God, The Appearance of a Man

In our last look at Jesus' incarnation, let's go to Philippians 2:6-7. This passage of Scripture should be added to our list of Christmas time traditions – this is, after all, the true meaning of what we celebrate. 

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God... - Jesus knew that calling Himself God wasn't taking anything away from the Father. He and the Father were one, so to exalt the Son is to exalt God – we don't rob our Heavenly Father when we put the Son on equal footing. Why? Because there is only one God, and He is Jesus! 

...but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. - Do you see this? Jesus was God first and then became a man. This runs contrary to the cult of Mormonism, which says that He was a man first and then became a god. Jesus was the Word that was God and took on the form of a flesh-and-blood servant.

We'll look at the rest of this passage later on, because there is so much more to Jesus' divinity in the next few verses. Let's end this section with one last quotation by Paul, from 1 Timothy 3:16. “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.” Jesus, the Man Who was born in Bethlehem, was the direct manifestation of the eternal God. He was the flesh-and-blood expression of God's own nature!

Redemption

Psalm 107:2 “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so”

Job 19:25 “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth”

What do you believe about redemption? Why did we have to be redeemed? What were we redeemed from? What were we redeemed with? It’s a sad thing that most believers can quote these verses, but have no clue what they mean when they say it. Redemption is such a beautiful concept, but how many Christians could describe it if you asked?

The word redemption in the Hebrew is gĕullah. It’s a legal term that to buy back something that was lost; specifically something that was lost because of debt. When someone accrued up a debt that was too large for them to pay, they were sold as slaves by their creditor. As a slave, they were required to work until their debt was paid off. The more debt they had, the longer they were forced into labor. Once their debt was paid, they were said to have redeemed themselves. Sadly, many times the debt was so great that entire families were sold into slavery to pay what was owed.

Sometimes a family member would find out about their relative’s slavery and want to help. They would learn how much that person owed on their debt and pay it in full. With no more debt, the person forced into slavery was legally set free - their relative redeemed them.

You’re already seeing the spiritual side of this, aren’t you?

God created mankind to serve Him. But when Adam sinned, he sold us into slavery. Jesus said in John 8:34, “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” Paul said in Romans 7:14 that we are “sold under sin.” Every human being on this planet was born into slavery. Although it entered our life as a family debt that was owed by Adam, it became a personal debt the moment we first sinned. We have been sold as slaves to sin and death.

The problem is, we can’t pay our debt. The payment of our debt is a sinless death. I can’t pay for my sin because I’m not sinless; and you can’t pay for my sin for the same reason. We were hopeless, destined for an eternity in Hell.

But, God had it all planned out! Psalm 130:7-8 says, “For with Yahweh there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.” God’s plan was always to redeem us from our sin, but where could He find a sinless person to pay our debt?

The answer is, He took it on Himself! Hebrews 9:12 declares, “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” God came in the flesh (Jesus) to give His own life to buy us back to Himself - that is the doctrine of redemption.

We’ve been redeemed from the penalty of sin.
Ephesians 1:7 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace”
We are no longer required to bear the punishment of our sin. Jesus paid the price in full!

We’ve been redeemed from the power of sin.
Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”
Romans 6:18 “And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”
When Jesus redeemed us, He broke the power that sin had over us. Now, we are free from our sinful nature!

We will be redeemed from the presence of sin.
Luke 21:28 “...look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
Romans 8:23 “...eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.”
Ephesians 4:30 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
One day, our bodies will be redeemed - when we’re caught up to be with the Lord in the air! The Bible says that “when we see Him, we will be like Him” (1 John 3:2). On that day, every trace of our old nature will be annihilated, and we will be in the presence of our Redeemer forever!