Who Is Jesus? (2)

We’re in the beginning of a 9-week sermon series called What’s In a Name, and so far, we’re still getting acquainted with the path. Last week we talked about the name of God, and how it develops over the bible to an ultimate point in Christ… And today our focus will be on the seven “I Am” statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John.

In Greek the phrase is “Ego eimi,”—I Am—but we saw last week that the history of the phrase goes all the way back to Moses at the burning bush. When Moses asked God’s name, he was told Yahweh, I Am, in Hebrew. The background is important for understanding the impact of Jesus’ repeated use of the expression in John’s Gospel.

But before diving into them, we need to spend a little time getting to know John and the account he left us of Jesus’ life.

The first thing you notice about John’s gospel is that it is different from the other three—very different. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels because they are so similar. Those other three contain a lot of shared material, almost verbatim in some cases. Scholars believe Mark was written first, and that Matthew and Luke each borrowed sections from Mark to fill out their account. John was written much later, and contains no shared material from the other three. Matthew quotes a lot of scripture, Mark lists miracles, and Luke reels off parables. Each has their own special focus, but the one thing they all have in common is to say something about the time Jesus lived on the earth. John, on the other hand, seems to have something else in mind, and an uninformed reader would hardly guess that his Jesus and the Jesus of the other three Gospels are the same person.

John has no account about when or where Jesus was born.  He says nothing about his baptism.  There’s no record of the wilderness temptation in John, or the Mount of Transfiguration; and nothing about how Jesus told people to eat bread and drink wine in his memory. There is no mention of Jesus’s ordeal in the garden the night he was arrested, or how he was tried before the Sanhedrin as well as before Pilate. There’s nothing in John about the terrible moment when Jesus cried out that God had forsaken him at the very time he needed him most. Jesus doesn’t tell even a single parable in John. So what, then, according to John, does Jesus do? He speaks.

And John seems to know that when God speaks, things happen. When God speaks, John says, creation happens. And when God speaks, what comes out is not ancient Hebrew or King James English. Rather, “The Word became flesh,” John says, which means that when God wanted to say what God was all about, and what life is all about, it wasn’t a sound that emerged, but a person.  His name was Jesus, and he was the Word of God. 

In John’s gospel, even when Jesus works miracles—which John calls “signs”—it seems he’s thinking less about the human needs of the people he’s working them for, than about something else he wants to say about who he is and why he is here. 

So, when he feeds a crowd with a little boy’s lunch, he says, “I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (6:35) 

When he raises his friend Lazarus from the dead, he says, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” (11:25-26).

One way to think about the difference between the Synoptic Gospels and John’s Gospel is this: the other three are introducing us to Jesus; John is showing us the Christ. 

But that’s just the point, of course—John’s point. It’s not the Jesus people knew on earth that he’s mainly talking about, perhaps because John—writing much later than the other three—had had time to reflect on these matters decades longer than the other writers.  Jesus, for John, is the Christ he knew in his own heart and the one he believed everybody else could know too—even you and me. He is the Jesus John loved not just because he had healed the sick and fed the hungry, but because he had saved the world.

Today, as we open God's Word to the Gospel of John chapter 8, we come face to face with one of the most searching questions any human being can ask: Who is Jesus?

This entire chapter pulses with that question. The Pharisees ask it directly in verse 25: “Who are you?” The crowd debates it. The religious leaders challenge it. Even the woman caught in adultery encounters the answer in silence and mercy. And Jesus Himself answers—not once, but repeatedly, with words that echo through eternity.

So who is Jesus according to John 8?

Jesus Is the Light of the World

John 8:12 CSB

12 Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”

John 8 unfolds in the temple courts during the Feast of Tabernacles, a time when lamps lit the night sky, reminding Israel of God's guiding pillar of fire. Into that setting Jesus steps and declares in verse 12: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” This is no ordinary claim. Jesus does not say, “I teach about light” or “I point to light.” He says, I am the light. He is the source of truth that exposes sin, the holiness that reveals our need, the hope that banishes despair. Without Him, we stumble in spiritual darkness—lost, blind to God, bound by sin.

Jesus Is the One Sent by the Father

John 8:16–18 CSB

16 And if I do judge, my judgment is true, because it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. 17 Even in your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. 18 I am the one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”

John 8:26–29 CSB

26 “I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the one who sent me is true, and what I have heard from him—these things I tell the world.” 27 They did not know he was speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own. But just as the Father taught me, I say these things. 29 The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”

Repeated emphasis on being “sent”

Unity between Jesus and the Father

Authority rooted in divine origin, not human validation

Key idea: Jesus speaks and acts with God’s own authority.

Jesus Is the Only One Who Can Truly Set People Free

John 8:31–36 CSB

31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 “We are descendants of Abraham,” they answered him, “and we have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.

Slavery defined not politically, but spiritually

Freedom tied to abiding in His word

The Son’s unique authority to liberate

Key idea: Jesus exposes false freedom and offers real freedom.

Jesus Is Greater Than Abraham

John 8:37–40 CSB

37 I know you are descendants of Abraham, but you are trying to kill me because my word has no place among you. 38 I speak what I have seen in the presence of the Father; so then, you do what you have heard from your father.” 39 “Our father is Abraham,” they replied. “If you were Abraham’s children,” Jesus told them, “you would do what Abraham did. 40 But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.

John 8:56 CSB

56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.”

John 8:58 CSB

58 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”

The tension builds. The religious leaders boast, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus replies that true children of Abraham would welcome Him. Then He confronts their unbelief head-on: “You are of your father the devil” (v. 44)—harsh words, but they expose the spiritual reality: rejection of Jesus aligns one against God's truth.

Finally, the climax arrives. They ask, “Are you greater than our father Abraham?” Jesus answers:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (v. 58)

Before Abraham was, I am. Not “I was”—I am. Eternal existence. Timeless being. Divine identity. The crowd understood exactly what He meant—they picked up stones to stone Him for blasphemy (v. 59). Jesus was claiming to be God.

Physical descent vs. spiritual lineage

Abraham rejoicing to see Jesus’ day

Shock value for a Jewish audience

Key idea: Jesus stands at the center of redemptive history, not downstream from it.

Key idea: Jesus does not merely claim to represent God—He claims to be God.

Conclusion: The Inescapable Question

John 8 does not allow a neutral response

Jesus forces a decision: reject, believe, or worship

The question remains: Who is Jesus to you?

This chapter forces a decision. The Pharisees saw miracles, heard truth, witnessed mercy—and still picked up stones. Many in the crowd believed (v. 30), yet some turned away when the claims grew too clear.

Today the question returns to us: Who is Jesus to you?

Is He merely a good teacher? Then His claims are arrogant or delusional.

Is He a moral example? Then His “I am” statements demand worship, not just admiration.

Or is He the eternal Son of God, the Light who came into the world, the One who was lifted up on the cross so that we might know He is who He said He is?

If Jesus is truly the I AM, then everything changes. Our sins are exposed—but forgiven. Our darkness is pierced—but replaced with light. Our bondage is broken—because the Son sets us free indeed (v. 36).

My friends, believe that He is who He says He is. Trust Him. Follow Him. Abide in His word. And you will know the truth—the truth about who Jesus is—and the truth will set you free.

Let us pray

Lord Jesus, Light of the world, we confess that without You we walk in darkness. We thank You for coming from above, for revealing the Father, for bearing our sins on the cross, for rising to prove You are the great I AM. Help us believe, truly believe, and follow You all our days. In Your holy name, Amen.

Go in the light of Christ, and live as those set free.