I AM: The Ever-present One!
Infinitely awesome: without a beginning and without an end; omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient; the same in the past, the same in the present, and in the future: “I am Who I am” is His name. The Almighty fills the Universe (Ex.3: 14).
JESUS: The I AM from Eternity to Eternity, the same yesterday, today and forever more.” (Heb.13:8)
His Manifold Declarations:
I am the Bread of Life.
He is the irreducible minimum everyone needs to be alive, now and in eternity. Bread is the metaphor for food — man’s existential need. Man eats to be alive. Every living being needs ‘bread’. It’s the minimal requirement to sustain life apart from oxygine. Food comes before other human considerations — before cloths and shelter.
It was the road to the Fall, and is the road to the restoration of life. Jesus is “the Bread” we need to live now and in eternity.
I am the Light of the World.
All humans entered into the world blindfolded, in need of a guide. To walk without a guide is to stumble and fall into the pits that lie along the path— path to “the promised land.” The Light exposes the gullies, hurdles, corners, and the yawning pits along the way. The light shines on the darkness from outside of it. Light and darkness are mutually exclusive — not bedfellows.
In Jesus was life, and ‘that life was the light of all mankind.’ The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness (cannot) overcome it.’ …The true light that gives light to everyone — came into the world. Even so, many were misled into the darkness — many are still groaping in the darkness and never experienced the true light (John 1: 4–9).
Countless humans have lost their lives for walking with closed eyes — Without the light their lives were cut short by the prince of the kingdom of darkness.
I am the Door.
The door leads back to Life — Life eternal with God — the Giver of life. “I am the Way.” The Door opens to the way — the narrow way to the Father. One who walks in the way must stay focused — undistracted by side attractions — such as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life” (1 John 2:16).
Though it is appointed unto man once to die, no one wants to die — for after death is the judgement. Come to think of it, the only thing that is certain is death. Yet the fear of death, like the sword of damocles hangs over all humans. We shy away from death — struggle to resist death every inch of the way — doing whatever it is within our power to prolong our time here on the Earth.
Yet people die daily — the old, the young, men and women die.
Sure, we were not created to die but to live eternally in God’s presence. Dying without God is to be eternally separated from God — eternal death. And though condemned to die without Christ, mankind longs to live for ever. The breath of God in him craves to be with the eternal God.
I am the Resurrection and the Life.
There is a difference between those who die in the embrace of the Giver of life — the One who is the Bread, the Light, the Door, the Way, and the Resurrection and Life — and those who die rejecting the offer of life — eternal life. For the former, physical death is the pathway to Life eternal, but for the latter, it is eternal separation from God.
Life or Death? The Choice is yours!
