Sermon Central
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Jesus The All Sufficient
Contributed by Lindsey Mann on Jul 30, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: The seven covenant names of God of the Old Testament can be directly linked to the seven "I AM" sayings of Jesus, and they show us that Jesus is the all sufficient One.
THE SEVEN “I AM” SAYINGS OF JESUS
When Moses met with God by the burning bush he asked the Lord a question:
“Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 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.”
To the Hebrew people the statement “I AM” became a very holy phrase. They would refuse to say this word as they believed the Name of God was too holy to repeat.
What does it mean?
It is the expression of what God is, the sum of His being and the greatest of all His names.
A commentator paraphrases the verse: "If Israel shall ask: What are the nature and attributes of Him who hath sent thee to bring us out of Egypt? tell them it is the eternal, self-existent, immutable Being who only can say that He always will be what He always has been.”
The Lord was saying, “Let Israel know this, I AM hath sent me unto you. I am, and there is none else besides me. All else have their being from Me and are wholly dependent upon Me”
The attributes of God
This is His name: Jehovah (YHVH).
His name shows us a number of things:
(1) He is self-existent: He has his being of Himself. In one sense God is continually and eternally recreating Himself. And yet in another He is always the same. He is ever youthful and yet He is the “Ancient of Days.”
(2) That He is eternal and unchangeable, (immutable) and His character is always the same, yesterday, today, and forever.
(3) That He is incomprehensible. We cannot by searching find Him out.
(4) That he is faithful and true to all his promises, unchangeable in his word as well as in his nature.
Whenever Jesus used this Name some of His hearers would be scandalized and others would be confused. It was a Name which was simply not used by them, because it was so holy. Only God would use it. But Jesus did so many other things which confused or offended His hearers.
We, however, must not be in any way limited in the use of this name. After all the Name Jesus means “Jehovah saves”. Every time we say the Name of Jesus we are using the Name Jehovah and all that it means. And then the Name is supported by all that the Kingdom of heaven is: it is irresistible.
God’s covenant names
In the Old Testament we see that God calls Himself by seven covenant Names..
Jehovah Jireh meaning the Lord my provider.
Genesis 22:13-14 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen
The Lord never asks us to do anything without making the provision. If He gives us the vision He will always give us the provision. Often we do not see clearly how this provision has been made so we use other means. If we were to slow down we might find that we can do it His way and therefore be more successful. It is valueless just to talk about waiting on God we have to actually do it.
However, there have been those who have relied entirely on the Lord. St Francis of Assisi did not make himself poor because he had a poverty mentality. He did so because he wanted to prove that God could provide everything he needed. In the context of the day Francis lived very well indeed. When we read of the remarkable provision made for George Muller and Hudson Taylor we cannot but be impressed.
In the case of Abraham, the Lord even provided that which was necessary for sacrifice. Abraham had even prophesied concerning this:
“And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together” (Genesis 22:7-8)
Interestingly the animal provided was not a lamb, but a ram. The ram was a picture of the coming Lamb of God who would be the best provision ever made for the needs of mankind. Notice how good the picture is.. the ram was caught in a thicket - he was crowned with thorns.