Let’s move on and continue exploring the question: Who is Jesus? This week we will look at two other aspects of Jesus. He shows up all throughout the Old and New Testaments as both the great I Am and The Warrior King.
First, we will look at Jesus as the Great I Am.
Exodus 3:13-14 “13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I
am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
If you just look at this passage alone, you won’t see Jesus at all. Even if you look at the context of the passage being the episode of Moses at the burning bush, you won’t recognize the presence of Jesus. This is where we have to study the logos or entire word of God, in order to connect the dots of scripture. Let’s jump over to the New Testament and see what we find in the gospel of John.
John 8:56-59 “56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.”
When Jesus said “before Abraham was, I Am” the Pharisees knew exactly what He was saying. He was saying that He was God. The same God who appeared to Moses at the burning bush. Jesus was claiming that He was Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That is why they freaked out and tried to kill him. In the Bible, when people were picking up stones, their intent was to murder you. But what made them think Jesus was claiming to be God? It was because they knew the Exodus passage very well.
Jesus didn’t shy away from this claim. He spoke the seven famous “I Am”statements in the gospel on John.
John 6:35 “35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
John 8:12 “12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 10:7 “7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”
John 10:11 “11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
John 11:25 “25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrectionand the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,”
John 14:6 “6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.”
Every time Jesus made one of these I Am statements, the Jews around Him knew he was claiming to be God. This is what infuriated the Pharisees.
How can we understand Jesus as God? This is more theology stuff. Last week I told you about H2O, and how there was Ice, liquid water and also steam. Three different manifestations of the same element. Here is an even better analogy to help us understand the way God the Father, Jesus, The Word and the Holy Spirit interact.
Let’s say you built a terrarium and filled it with little creatures.You would be outside of your creation...not part of it. Then, let’s say you took your hand and reached down into the terrarium to adjust something. How do you think the little creatures would perceive you? If they described you, they would say you are a hand, without a face, body or legs. Would that be a correct description of you? From what they witnessed, it would be accurate, but it would not be the whole story or complete picture.
What if you just blew into the terrarium? Would they understand what had just happened? No, the would not. They could witness the affect that your breath had on their environment, but they didn’t see anything.
God is the creator, but He exists outside of His creation.
When we witness him inside of the creation, we are seeing Jesus, the Son of God.
When we witness the affects of His intervention in us, His creation, that is the Holy Spirit, the breath of God.
So we can see that God has revealed Himself in different ways, depending on how He chooses to interact with His creation. Jesus is God, He is The Great I Am. Let’s move on.
This is something you may not have thought about: Jesus...The Word of God...the bible...is a book of battles and war. Have you ever noticed that? These battles take place in both the spiritual realm and the physical realm.
We spent 23 weeks in the timeline series talking about the battles that were being waged in the spiritual unseen realm. But what about here on earth? Take a minute and think about all the battles the Bible talks about.
There are at least 85 major battles in the Old Testament between human armies. Abraham and his men fought three kings to rescue his nephew Lot, Israel was always having to fight their way through the region on their way to take the promised land. The battle of Jericho was a big one. There was the Philistines, remember Goliath? The Amalekites, the Amaorites, the Ammonites, Babylonians, the Midianites and more.
And in addition to all these physical battles, there are all the spiritual battles that we read about. Battles between the gods of Egypt and Yahweh, the fight between the angel who was bringing the answer to Daniel’s prayer and the prince of Persia. This battle required the archangel Michael to get involved. The time the prophet Elisha asked God to open the eyes of his servant so
he could see the spiritual army of heaven ready to fight to protect them from the physical army of Syria.
If you read the Bible you cannot avoid the concept of war and battles. Every army needs a strong leader if it is going to be successful. Jesus is that Leader for the armies of heaven.
Revelation 19:11-16 “11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies ofheaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharpsword with which to strike down the nations, and he willrule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”
This is a passage where we learn much more of who Jesus, The Word of God, the Great I Am, really is. Jesus is the victorious Warrior King. He is the Leader of the armies of heaven.
Jesus is the One who, in righteousness, judges and makes war against His enemies. He will execute the wrath of God. He is Judge, Jury and Executioner of those who would stand in opposition to God. After His crucifixion, when He descended to tartarus and confronted the Watchers, this was His role. He announced to them their defeat and final judgment to come.
Jesus set the captives free!
Jesus is the exalted King of kings, and Lord of lords, in the New Testament. But we also see Jesus as a warrior in the Old Testament.
Joshua 5:13-15 “13 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” 14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of
the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” 15 And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.”
This is none other than Jesus Himself, the commander of the army of the Lord. Notice what Jesus commands Joshua to do. Take his sandals off because he is standing on holy ground.If you are familiar with the Old Testament, that should remind you of another event. Moses is given the exact same command back in Exodus at the burning bush.
Exodus 3:1-6 “Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in- law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain ofGod. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not
burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.”
Jesus, the Great I Am, the Leader of the army of Heaven, is the One who will return to earth and lead the charge in the battle that will defeat the Beast and the false profit in the end times from the New Testament.
And yet with all this power and authority, The mighty King of kings did this.
Philippians 2:5-11 “5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to begrasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of
a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore Godhas highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the
earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father..”
The King of the universe emptied Himself and became a man... He became teddy bear Jesus, to love sinners, heal the sick and teach us how to live. But even though His humanity was on display while He walked the earth...the demons recognized who He was. They trembled before Him and obeyed His commands.
Luke 4:33-36 “33 And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are
—the Holy One of God.” 35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. 36 And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”
How can we wrap our minds around the fact that Jesus, the Warrior King, who demons fear, could be the same one who humbled Himself unto death...even death on a cross? His love drove Him to set aside His heavenly glory and suffer on a Roman cross in order to reconcile someone like me and you to the Father. His sacrifice is something that is hard to understand.
If you have accepted the salvation that Jesus offers, will you serve Him the way He requires...in humility? When we talk about conforming ourselves to the image of Christ, it means having both the understanding that we are children of the most powerful King of kings. We can walk through the valley of the shadow of death without fear. And at the same time also understanding we must walk in the same humility He had. The same attitude He had must drive our attitude daily.
For those who have not surrendered to this Great King Jesus.
How will you respond when you stand before Him as Judge at the Great White Throne judgment? Will your reasons for rejecting His sacrifice stand up? Now that you know who He is, do you really want to meet Him face to face, after rejecting His gracious offer of salvation?
If you have not accepted His salvation, please come and see me or one of our elders after the service. We would love to talk to you about how to receive the greatest Gift you will ever be offered.
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