A Very Special "I Am” Of John’s Gospel – "Ego Eimi” – "I, I Am” – So Much Comfort In It – Part 2 Series

A VERY SPECIAL “I AM” OF JOHN’S GOSPEL – “EGO EIMI” – “I, I AM” – SO MUCH COMFORT IN IT – PART 2

We looked in PART 1 at the marvellous I AM of John’s Gospel. It means “I, I am.” It stamped the authority of Jesus as the Elohim of the Old Testament, and that came with all authority. One of the most important usages of this term was in John 6 where the disciples battled the storm and Jesus drew near with the assurance and authority of “I, I AM”. We continue from the last posting.

{{John 6:16 “Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea John 6:17 and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. John 6:18 The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. John 6:19 When therefore they had rowed about three or four miles, they beheld Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat and they were frightened, John 6:20 but He said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.” John 6:21 They were willing therefore to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.”}}

VERSES 19 AND 20

Look at verse 19. When does despair become relief? When does the dangerous trough of despondency become the glorious hill of deliverance? The answer is in verse 19. Jesus drew near to the boat. The answer is all concerned with the nearness of Jesus. When Jesus walked on the water and came closer to the boat, all the perspective changed. The immediate reaction of the disciples was one of fright. Yes, they were frightened as it was, but this appearance on the sea unsettled them even further, so they thought they were seeing a ghost or apparition.

I might say something here about a Christian’s reaction to his own trouble. He may be in the battle with something dark and fearful, with his soul tortured and his hopes forlorn, but he may not have the courage of faith to reach out and claim the I AM as a very present help in time of trouble. It is a strange quirk of the fallen nature of man that the very thing that can help him is often rejected. A Christian should know better, but when in the storm, he tries every device, every avenue, every means at his disposal to extricate himself from his problems, but the Lord is on the bottom of the “to do” list. Where should He be? Why, at the top.

I think the substance of verse 20 is sublime. Jesus spoke because He cared. He loved his own, indeed, loving them unto death. What is this verse telling you about the character of the Lord? He is caring, and has the full concern for His own. He is the Comforter for His own and has sent the Holy Spirit to be of greater comfort to us. The Lord will not allow us to cope with more than we can endure. Some trials are fiery hot, and we may have our fingers burned in the fire, but whatever the Lord has allowed for us, He will never fall short in drawing near and speaking with us. I went through years of deep uncertainty in one event, and it seemed I was buried in the depths of the earth, but the Lord spoke to me. He did, not audibly, but in so many of the promises in the Psalms. They were given as gems falling from heaven. It is true that even today the Lord is speaking with some of His persecuted, and vilely treated children, in dreams as we hear occasionally from the Middle East (the Man in white). The Lord knows how to deal with each one of us. He is our Great High Priest and He is faithful and merciful. We need that don’t we? We need that ministry to us all the time.

The disciples certainly needed the Lord’s ministry, and the Lord knew that. He drew near to give them an assurance. He always does that. He assures us. We do not read in this story that the disciples cried out or called on the Lord for deliverance as Jonah did. Maybe it happened but it is not recorded. None of the gospels says they prayed or asked of God in their circumstances. It was the Lord who took them up. It was the Lord who took that first step. After Elijah's great victory against the prophets of Baal, he was hounded by Jezebel, and because of the spiritual battles he had been through, and the physical strain upon him, the pressure became too much for mortal man. Elijah ran away, then took shelter under a castor oil plant (it is not a gourd) and just wanted to die. He was so battered he could not rise up to heaven in his prayers or stand on the ground of rejoicing. He just sat in his misery. What happened then? Well, apart from the vine being stripped by a worm swarm (blue worm), it was the Lord who drew near to this hurting prophet. Can you appreciate just some of the tenderness of this event. There are some similarities with that night on the Sea of Galilee. It was the Lord who made the approach.