What is His name? That was the question that Moses was most concerned about. The Children of Israel had been oppressed and enslaved by the Egyptians for over 400 years and now God was ready to set them free. God had called Moses to be the one to lead them out of Egypt and into the promised land, but Moses was scared. He asked God, “What do I tell them when I say I’ve talked to the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob and He was the one who sent me and then they ask me Your name.” God replied powerfully in Exodus 3:14-15.
“I am who I am. Say this to the people of Israel: I am has sent me to you.” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations.”
With that declaration God's relationship to the world changed forever. He revealed a mindblowing attribute about Himself — He revealed His aseity. By declaring His name as “I am”, God was telling Moses and the Children of Israel a number of things. First, He was telling them that He was eternal — He had no beginning and He had no end. He simply “is” eternal, uncaused, and unchanging. He was also telling them He is complete in and of Himself. He does not rely on people, creation, or circumstances for joy or His power. He is and He alone is entirely self-sufficient. He was also declaring that He is the source of everything. All of creation, all joy, all beauty, all good things come from God alone. God was telling Moses and Israel that He was everything that they would ever need. This name was such a sacred name for God. It is only used a handful of times in the entirety of the Old Testament and is only used when God would speak in reference to Himself through the prophets. Therefore, God answered Moses' question in a very powerful way. God is the great “I AM”. 1400 years after Moses' encounter with God on Mount Sinai we have recorded an encounter between Jesus and the religious leaders of the Jewish people at the temple in Jerusalem. The religious leaders were pushing back not only against Jesus’ teaching that were in direct contrast to the religious leaders teachings and lifestyles, but also against His declarations about who He was. There is a particularly heated exchange that occurs when Jesus was talking about God the Father (the first person of the Trinity). The leaders continually brought up the fact that they identify as children of Abraham to establish their authority on the matter at hand. However, Jesus tells them the truth about Abraham in John 8:56, “Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad.” This confused the religious leaders because they didn’t understand why Jesus was saying He had seen Abraham when He was in His 30’s. Then in verse 58, Jesus makes sure that everyone in the temple that day would have no misunderstanding about what He was speaking about and on whose authority He spoke. Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am!” With this statement Jesus was declaring that He was indeed the eternal God. He was not saying He was a god, but He was saying He was THE GOD. The eternal one, the uncaused first cause, the all sufficient one, the one from whom everything that exists came into existence. This is arguably the most powerful statement that Jesus ever made. He was declaring that everything the religious leaders were looking for or ever would need would be found in Him because He is God. Make no mistake, this is exactly how the religious leaders understood Him. They picked up stones to kill Jesus as was required in Levitical law concerning anyone who would commit blasphemy by claiming to be God. There was something different here. If you or I claimed to be God we would be committing blasphemy. When Jesus did, He was declaring that I am the same I AM that came and supplied and sustained the Israelites with all they needed as they journeyed out of Egypt and into the promised land. I am the one who will supply everything you need in your journey as well.
Jesus didn’t just leave this one time declaration ambiguous, for 7 times in the Gospel of John we see Jesus use the term ἐγώ εἰμι (Ego eimi) or I AM and then goes on to specifically explain how He provides for all people and their needs. So this morning I want to start a new sermon series that will take us through Easter entitled ἐγώ εἰμι (Ego eimi) where we will look at the 7 “I AM” sayings of Jesus that are recorded in the Gospel of John. We will see the importance of each of these statements and what it means for us today. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to John 6:30-35 as we look at the first of these sayings.
Seeking the Wrong Source - John 6:30-33
They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
Those who were talking to Jesus here in verse 30, had been following Jesus for at least a few days because they had seen Jesus perform the miracle of feeding the 5,000. Because of what they say, they had followed Jesus all the way across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum and it’s there that Jesus confronted them. He tells them that they are only seeking Him because of the physical food that He provided for them. He also states that God has placed His seal of approval on Him and that they should put their faith in Him. Although those people had seen the miracle, they didn’t think it was good enough especially because of what Jesus was saying about Himself. They asked to see another greater miracle like one that they accredited to Moses. They say that Moses had given bread from heaven to their ancestors to eat and they wanted to see something as wonderful as that. This statement reveals a problem those people were struggling with and something we struggle with as well. We do not realize where the good things in our lives come from. James 1:17 tells us that “Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God …” but many times we like to credit these things to others. God has blessed us all with a variety of gifts and talents and when we use these God-given talents, gifts, and abilities to provide for ourselves and our families. We can struggle with pride creeping into our minds. We have a tendency to take a step back and say “Look at what I’ve done”. All the things you have collected, all of the things you have been blessed with you take the credit for instead of pointing to the one who gave you the ability to do these things and the source of all good things. That’s what those who Jesus was addressing were doing. They were ascribing a blessing that came from God to a mere man — Moses. That’s when Jesus steps in and tells them it wasn’t Moses that blessed the people with food, but it was God that had supplied for their needs in the wilderness. Jesus makes sure that their perspective is correct because of the truth He is getting ready to bring to them. God needs to get the praise, honor, and glory for it because just as God provided for the Israelites according to their needs, God was in the process of providing for them again. The last time God used a man to bring His blessing into their lives, but this time God Himself would step down out of heaven to bring what they needed.
Have there been times in your life whether they are seasons that feel like you wandered in the wilderness or seasons where you were on the mountain tops that God interceded and blessed you, but you only thanked others or took pride in yourself and believed that you brought about that blessing yourself? Now I’m not saying we are not to be thankful to others who have helped us, because we are. However, when we leave out the one whom all blessings come from we are missing the point. We must give credit where credit is due. Thank and worship the One from whom all good things come. When we do this we will be shifting our perspective in order to understand the next truth Jesus shares.
Desiring the Wrong Things - John 6:34
“Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.”
Those who were following Jesus that day not only had the problem of recognizing where their blessings came from, but they also struggled with identifying the things they wanted versus the things that they needed. If you go back in the Book of John to the previous day and read about Jesus’ miracle of feeding the 5,000, once it is all over, we are told that when the people saw what Jesus did, they were ready to force Him to be their King. They wanted Jesus as a King, but Jesus was something much greater than a King, He is the King of Kings. Because of their reaction to Him, Jesus slipped out into the hills and headed across the sea. Not only was Jesus going to have to address the source of their blessings, but He was going to have to address the blessings that they were seeking. When they heard Jesus speak about bread from heaven, they were thinking of how the children of Israel would go out and collect manna to sustain them for the day, and did so for 40 years. That sounded great to them. That meant that they would no longer have to labor to make bread for their families each day and they could spend that money on whatever else their hearts desired. However, the problem was that what they wanted from Jesus and what God had given the Israelites in Moses’ day were temporary things — they both would fade away. What Jesus was truly offering was something that was not temporary but something that would never fade away. We see this “want versus need” played out in the conversation Jesus had with the Woman at the well. They could not see past their temporary needs to focus on the things that really matter — their eternal needs. Everything we have in life, the things that most people think will truly satisfy them, will pass away at some point. Our possessions, our gifts, our strengths, our relationships, and everything in this world will pass away. However, God will never pass away. His Word will never pass away. Those who trust in Him as their Lord and Savior will never pass away. He is the God who truly satisfies our deepest need — a need for a Savior.
The Christ who Satisfies - John 6:35
Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Jesus speaks to their request with the powerful statement, “I AM”. and while everything we have seen about this statement is true in Jesus' declaration to these people He adds a little to it to address their ultimate need. Not only is He God almighty, but He is also the Bread of Life — the bread that brings eternal life. The bread that will satisfy man's greatest need once and for all — the need for a Savior. He also adds that whoever believes in Him will never thirst as well. We see Jesus speak of this again in Revelation 21:6 - “And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.” But what does this mean? The Psalmist in Psalms 107 tells us that everyone has a soul that longs for something that they can never provide themselves. You probably didn’t need the Psalmist to tell you this because you have experienced this, we all have a hunger. We try to satisfy this hunger with all sorts of things: people, relationships, busyness, possessions, and emotions — you name it. We have tried to use it to satisfy, but sadly they have always left us hungry. This hunger, the hunger of our souls, can only be satisfied by God Himself and a relationship with Him. When we try to obtain this relationship by ourselves, we are still going to be left hungry because we can never restore this relationship ourselves. Isaiah 59:2 tells us that our relationship with God (that thing that we are truly hungering for) was broken because of our sin and we have all sinned and have suffered this brokenness with God (Romans 3:23). We cannot do anything to repair this relationship with God ourselves, but people try. Devotion, sincerity, prayer, giving, service, and Bible reading, for we try all sorts of things in the name of "religion" to get God to accept us and fulfill our desire and need for Him, but all of these things will ultimately fall short. However God loves us, even in our worst moments. God loves us and since we couldn’t do anything about the relationship that we broke between a Holy God and a sinful me — He made a way back to Him. That’s why Jesus came. He came to bring the bread we truly need for our seeming insatiable hunger. He came to be the water of life that we truly need for our insatiable thirst. He did so by willingly offering His life for us, to pay the price we owe for our sins and to offer us forgiveness. Romans 10:9 tells us that if you confess that Jesus is the Lord of your life and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. That is how you partake in the Bread of Life Jesus is offering here. You must make Jesus the Lord of your life to experience eternal life in Him.
We all have needs in our lives and our greatest need in our lives whether we realize it or not is to be saved from ourselves. Our sins have dug us deep into the mire and we are stuck, hopeless, and even more so when we trust in ourselves to fix our sin problem. The moment we put our faith in Jesus Christ alone, we are immediately saved from our sins. We are forgiven and set free from sin’s bondage. This is what Jesus came to bring and offer to all mankind. You can partake in the Bread of Life if you will by faith trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
