Our sermons for the next few weeks are focused on the I AM statments of John. I am the light of the world is the main "I AM" statement of this week, but there is another I am statement in this passage.
John 8:24 concludes with Jesus simply saying "If you do not believe that I am he, then you will die in your sins." And to us English readers, that is a simple statement. However, looking more closely at the Greek, the statement blows up a little bit. The Greek for "I am he" is ego eimi, literally meaning "I am." But eimi means "I am," adding ego (meaning "I") only intensifies the statement. When Jesus is dropping this construction, He is bringing us right back to "I AM who I AM" from Exodus 3. Jesus is laying down the importance of His divinity, and how important His divinity is to salvation.
If you want more proof, read down to John 8:58, when Jesus says "Before Abraham was, I am." The reaction from the Jews is very telling- they pick up stones and get ready to execute Jesus for blasphemy. They rightly deduce that Jesus is equating Himself with God.
So what is the effect of Jesus' divinity? How does that impact our spirituality?
It certainly impacts our prayers- we pray to Jesus. After all, He is the King of the universe, so I can't imagine asking anyone better to pray to. We turn to Jesus with our salvation, a help in times of trouble, and to pray for justice and peace on the earth. Jesus' divinity is really important to our spiritual lives- what does it mean to you?
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