Paul the Poke

Jesus’ “I am” statements during his arrest in John 18:5, 6, 8, shed light into multiple facets of who He is. First, it is His identity. The Romans, officers from the chief priest, and Pharisees were seeking Jesus, the Nazarene. Jesus answered them twice, “I am.”
Second, His omnipotence is on display. With those two words, the arresting crowd drew back and fell to the ground. This is a small example of what His speech is capable of. His speech also raised the dead (Lazarus) and He spoke the creation into existence (Genesis, Colossians 1:16).
Jesus’ sovereignty is demonstrated during the arrest. Scripture was fulfilled in that His apostles were protected and not one of them was lost. Jesus was in control to the point that He allowed Himself to be arrested. Jesus had the power to resist and avoid arrest. In this setting, He caused the pursuing crowd to fall to the ground by the words of His mouth. Jesus informs the crowd He could call on God the Father for twelve plus legions of angels for His protection (Matthew 26:53). Escaping arrest would not have been a problem. Jesus overcame Peter’s disobedience and subsequent knife attack to the right ear of Malchus. Peter’s violence was halted by Christ’s words (Luke 22:51); and the mob’s potential response was stopped with the healing of Malchus’ ear. Jesus states these circumstances are His cup to drink (John 18:11). There is little doubt He is in control of the events.
Lastly, the statement “I am” is a direct link to the deity of Christ. When Moses asked God His name, God responded “I am” (Exodus 3:14). Throughout the Old Testament God would describe His characteristics to the Jewish people, “I am …”
Jesus came along and filled in the blanks. His “I am” statements in the Gospel of John point to His deity. The response Jesus gives to the high priest when asked directly, “are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One,” (Mark 14:61). “I AM.”

This entry was posted on April 6, 2014 at 3:33 PM and is filed under Gospel with tags gospels, I Am, Jesus, Yahweh. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.