In John's gospel we find seven statements by Jesus starting with "I am." For instance "I am the bread of life." Many preachers focus on the "bread" or "the light of the world" but it is very important to focus on the significance of the "I am" because when Jesus uses this He is stating that He is God. In the story of Moses at the burning bush we find that God tells Moses His name. Moses is to tell the Israelites that "I am" has sent him to them to bring them out of Egypt. At another time Jesus said to the Jewish rulers,"Before Abraham was, I am" This looks like poor grammar to us but no Jesus is claiming to be the God who always is and has no beginning or end, or to put it another way He is alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. The Jews understood what He was claiming because they wanted to stone Him for blasphemy. So if anyone tries to tell you that Jesus never claimed to be God you will know now that they are wrong.
Every time I take a few days off from my blog my ratings slump. Very rarely do people go back into my old posts and read again. This is a typical attitude of the human heart, always wanting something different. At this time of year we should not be greedily wondering want new thing we will be getting for Christmas. Instead we should be looking at the old, old story, which is ever new of a baby who amazingly was God incarnate, God's gift to those who will put there trust in this one who was to grow up to give His life for His people. Set aside the controversy over whether December 25th is the actual date of His birth.(Shepherds do not keep their sheep out at night in Israel in December.) and set aside time to think about the fact that He did come and ponder if He came to set you free and if your answer is ,"Yes," He will make you free indeed.
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