"I AM" Sayings of Jesus Christ
by G. Campbell Morgan
"I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. . . . and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them" — John 17: 6, 26.
"Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD in vain," is a great and very serious commandment of God to man. God revealed Himself to Moses by that name. He revealed Himself as "I AM, THAT I AM" (Exodus 3:14). However, the greatest revelation of that name came from the Son of God. He said to His Father, "I have manifested Thy name." What is that name? G. Campbell Morgan brings together some of the sayings of Jesus regarding the Name.
He took again the word that had been spoken incompletely from the splendor of the burning bush, "I AM," and completed the revelation, "I am the Bread of Life," "I am the light of the world," "I am the Door," "I am the good Shepherd," "I am the resurrection, and the life," "I am the way, and the truth, and the life," "I am the true Vine." Thus He linked the sublime declaration of essential Being to symbols so full of simplicity that all our children love them; the simplest words of human speech. "I am" the formula of the fundamental fact in the nature of deity, that God is the self-existent one, without beginning and without support other than that within His own Being; Jesus linked to every-day symbols;--bread, light, a door, a shepherd, a resurrection, a way, a vine. When His ministry of teaching was complete, the One Who had uttered these words came into the presence of the Father, Who bears the essential and eternal name, and He said: "I have manifested Thy name unto these men."
That manifestation may thus be summarized:
"I am the bread of life." God Himself as the very bread of life to man.
"I am the light of the world;" God Himself as the illumination of man's life and pathway.
"I am the door." God Himself as the safety of His people.
"I am the good Shepherd." God Himself as the Love that cares for His people.
"I am the resurrection and the life." God Himself as the power by which men shall come to the consummation of purpose, and that in spite of the tragedy of death which results from their sin.
"I am the way, and the truth, an the life;" God Himself as the very pathway or course in which men shall proceed in order to the fulfillment of that purpose.
"I am the vine." God Himself in intimate association with men, making their ministry, perfecting them, and enabling them to fulfil high and holy service.
This was the sevenfold unveiling of the Name. . . .
Such was the manifestation of the name, and in every case He was manifestation through Himself. In every case He was, in human guise and form and fashion, the unveiling of Deity; and as men touched the warm flesh of the Son of Man they were thrilled by contact with God through the Son of God. And now at the end the said, "I have manifested Thy name."
. . . . Holiness of character is the attitude of life adjusted towards God in response to the revelation of the Name through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(The Teaching of Christ, pp. 190-92).