I AM

Okay, we begin with a prayer. Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to our hearts, from our hearts to our lips, from our lips to the life, that as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purposes for which You send it, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen. Alright, we are officially now into the thick of it when it comes to the book of Exodus. Last week we began with Exodus chapter 1. Today we are partway through chapter 2. And what we're doing as we're working our way through this text is we are making note of the fact that Old Testament and New Testament work together.

It's almost as if you need to be paying attention to your cross-references when you're reading the Scripture and the reason for that is simple, is you should. You should be paying attention to your cross-references because in very real ways, all of this is pointing to Christ, the story that we find ourselves in and the salvific work of God on our behalf.

So, that being the case, where we last left off, Moses had murdered an Egyptian and he got found out. Moses is going to end up on Egypt's most wanted television program every single Saturday. Hosted by John Walsh.

That's right, hosted by John Walsh. That's right. The ancient Egyptian version of him. His painting and portrait are in every Egyptian post office. He's at the top of the most wanted, but here's what it says, kind of backing up and noting here.

One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people, looked at their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that way, seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian, hit him in the sand, and when he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together and he said to the man in the wrong, why do you strike your companion?

He answered, who made you a prince and a judge over us? Well, the answer is nobody did. Moses is acting on his own recognizance. Do you mean to kill me as you kill the Egyptian? So then Moses was afraid, not surely the thing is known, and when Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

Now the story gets really interesting. We're going to get up to our text today from the Old Testament. Here's what it says. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

The shepherds came and drove them away. But Moses stood up and saved them and watered their flock. Shepherdesses apparently experienced workplace harassment back then. If the shepherdesses were watering their flocks, the shepherds mistreated them.

So here's Moses. He shows up and basically says, that's all right, ladies. I'll take care of this for you. And so in one way or another, he ends up licking the other shepherds and making it so that these women can have their flocks watered without being harassed by these other guys.

So when they came home to their father, Reuel, he said, how is it that you have come home so soon today? They said, an Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.

And he said to his daughters, well, then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him that he may eat bread. And he's probably thinking, quick, call the man over. Maybe I can give one of you away as a wife.

So Moses was content to dwell with the man and he gave Moses his daughter, Zipporah. She gave birth to a son and he called his name Gershom. For he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land. So Gershom sounds like the Hebrew word for sojourner.

During those many days, the king of Egypt died. The people of Israel groaned because of their slavery. They cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God and God heard their groaning.

God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God saw the people of Israel and God knew. Now, important little note here. God has remembered us as well. And note here, it says, remembered, zakar.

This is the same word used in the Noahic covenant. When Noah comes off the ark, God says, I make a covenant with you and with all the creatures of the earth that I will never again flood the whole world with a flood.

And covenants always have a sign of the covenant oftentimes, a sign so that you can remember what is promised in a covenant. And so the sign of the Noahic covenant is the rainbow. The rainbow. When we see the rainbow, we sit there and go, oh yeah, God's promised never to flood the whole earth with a flood, not so much so with the Red River Valley of the north.

And we would prefer that he not send those floods in the summer. So the idea then is that God sees the rainbow and remembers the sign of the new covenant. Well, we just saw the sign of the new covenant today, the bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ.

And when we see that, we remember God's promises to be merciful and forgiving to us. And God remembers his promises to forgive you, to not destroy you. And so here, important little note here, God heard their groaning.

God remembered his covenant with whom? Abraham. God cut a covenant with Abraham. Remember that? It's in the book of Genesis. Let's see if I can find this real quick. I think we are in... Yep, here it is.

It's Genesis 15. Let's take a little bit of a note. You got to pay attention to your biblical covenants. In the book of Galatians, Paul reminds the Christians that the covenant of note for us as Christians is not the Mosaic covenant.

Mosaic covenant has come to a close. The covenant of note for us Christians is the Abrahamic covenant. That's the one of note. And here's the notes on the covenant. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision.

Fear not, Abram. I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great. Abram said, O Lord God, what will you give me for I continue childless and the heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.

Behold, the word of the Lord came to him. This man shall not be your heir. Your very own son shall be your heir. And he brought him outside and said, Look toward the heaven and number the stars if you are able to number them.

And then he said to him, So shall your offspring be. And he believed the Lord and God credited it, counted it to him as righteousness. And in Romans chapter 4, this is invoked as being identical to the same kind of faith that we have as Christians.

We believe God that he forgives our sins for Christ's sake. He credits that to us as if it were righteousness because it is. We're credited with the righteousness of God. And so he said to him, I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.

But he said, O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it? And he said to him, Bring me a heifer, three years old, a female goat, three years old, a ram, three years old, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon.

He brought all of these, cut them in half, laid each half over and against the other, but he did not cut the birds in half. Sounds like quite a mess. So we have all of these animal halves. And this is one of the reasons why when covenants were made back then, it's called cutting a covenant.

You see, get the cutting part? It's right there. So the birds of prey came down on the carcasses and Abram drove them away. And as the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. So notice his job in the cutting of the covenant.

At this point, he's just to be quiet. Fall asleep, and God will take care of the rest. Behold, dreadful and great darkness fell on him. And then Yahweh said to Abram, Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for 400 years.

But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterwards they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace, you shall be buried at a good old age, and they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

And when the sun had gone down, it was dark. Behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day, Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your offspring, not offsprings, to your offspring, I give this land.

From the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates, the land of the Canaanites, the Canaanites, the Cadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, and the Canaanites, the Gergeshites, and the Jebusites.

Now Paul makes a big deal about this in the book of Galatians, that the promise given to Abraham was not for the offsprings, but for the offspring, singular. This is invoking then, pointing to Christ.

That's how Paul develops this. So God has made this covenant, while he's making all of these promises, where's Abraham? Snoring. Just snoring. He's gone. Just totally incoherent, unconscious. But God makes these promises to him.

This is a one-way covenant. And so the idea then here is, is that Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in the book of Galatians, interprets this for us, so we understand how this rightly points to us as Christians, as via Christ, the one whom it's pointing to, to the offspring, singular.

And we kind of take that up. So here, in Exodus chapter 2 then, God has remembered his covenant. God heard their groaning. God remembered. Zachar. His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

God saw the people of Israel, and God knew. God knew. So, who's going to be doing the saving? Who's going to be doing the real heavy lifting here? God is. God is remembering his covenant. And now, one of the most important chapters in all of Scripture.

Absolutely one of the most important ones. 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 of God.

Horeb and Sinai are synonymous, by the way. Same exact mountain. Jabal al-Lawz is where it is at. It's actually in Saudi Arabia. We'll talk about that more later. So 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. And Moses said, I will turn aside to see this great sight. Why, the bush is not burned. When Yahweh saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, Moses, Moses.

And he said, Here I am. And they said, Do not come near. Take your sandals off your feet. The place on which you are standing is holy ground. And he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.

Moses hid his face. He was afraid to look at God. Who's he talking to? God. And you'll notice the text says that the angel of the Lord appeared to him. This is the passage that helps us understand that when we see in the Old Testament stories the angel of the Lord showing up, this is a theophany.

It's God showing up. And we're gonna be even a little more specific because remember, there's one God and three persons. One God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Not three gods, one God. How many members of the one God, how many persons of the one God, were incarnate, born of the Virgin Mary?

One. And that's the Son. So we're gonna find out who's actually doing the talking here because when you start doing the cross-reference work, it gets to be oh so fun. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.

Moses hid his face. He was afraid to look at God. Smart man. Then Yahweh said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians to bring them up out of the land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey to a place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Balitites, the Uptites, and the Jebusites.

And now behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me. I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.

But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? He said, But I will be with you. Isn't it fascinating here? Doesn't Moses understand it's all about having a purpose-driven life and there's God revealing his purpose to him and he says, That's okay, I'll pass.

He says, I will be with you and this shall be the sign for you that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. Then Moses said to God, If I come to the people of Israel and I 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? 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. Huh. Hmm. I am? Yeah, I am what? Oh, we'll talk about that in a second.

It's quite the name if you think about it. So I mean, just pause there for a second and think about it. So what is the name of God? I am. It's like an incomplete sentence. I'm what? Every time we say I am, you expect like something else to follow.

You know, I am overweight. You know, I am no longer young. I am tired. I am sick. I am feeling well. I am poor. I am rich. I am, you know, this is what we expect. So I am? It's like this incomplete thought, right?

No, it's actually kind of all verb without direct object. My Bible says. Mm-hmm. Yeah. All right. So let's take a look at the Hebrew on this. I am. The verb without any inflection is chayah. The name for God, which we translate as Lord, is Yahweh.

All right. And so the idea is that the name of God, Yahweh, has something to do with chayah. They're related as far as their semantics are concerned. And which kind of begs the question, if Yahweh, it doesn't in some sense, mean the self existing one, the one who is kind of, that's really the thought behind the, you know, where this is all going.

I is the is one. I is the ising one. So it's bad English to kind of make the point. All right. So God said to Moses, I am who I am. He said, say this to the people of Israel. I am has sent me to you. God also said to Moses, say this to the people of Israel.

Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever. Thus, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. So this is an important name here.

God wants us to know this I am stuff. Make a note of it. Write it, meditate on it, think on it. And let's take a look at the implications regarding this name as it relates to the New Testament. We're going to look at a ton of biblical texts, one from the gospel of Matthew and another, a bunch of them from the gospel of John.

We're in Matthew chapter 14 and this amazing story of Jesus walking on the water. And we're going to note something in the Greek that gets lost in translation in the English. Matthew 14. Immediately, Jesus made the disciples get into the boat, go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds.

This is the feeding of the 5 ,000. After that, he dismissed the crowds. He went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. And the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves for the wind was against them.

And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, ah, it's a ghost. And by the way, at this time, there was a folklore for the fishermen on the Sea of Galilee.

The Sea of Galilee had a tendency to take the lives of fishermen. You know, when it would get white capped, it would easily capsize a boat and people would drown. And the way that the lore went is that if you saw a ghost, that was the ghost of the last guy who drowned.

And if you saw that ghost, that means you're going to be the next guy. That's how the, that's how the lore goes, right? Yeah, exactly. And I would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for those rotten kids.

They scream out, it's a ghost. They cried out in fear. Jesus immediately spoke to them saying, take heart. Here's the Greek. Ego Emi. Take heart. I am. Take heart. I am. Do not be afraid. That's what he said.

Take heart. I am. Do not be afraid. And there it is. I am. And by the way, Ego Emi is kind of a weird, funny way of doing things. If you were just in normal conversation, the Greek word Emi would be sufficient.

Okay? If I were to say, I am tired, I would just say, Emi, tired. Right? I'm tired. Ego Emi is like emphatic. That's like saying, I, I am tired. So he says, I, I am. That's how it gets translated in Greek.

I, I am. It's emphatic. It's a strange form. What's going on here? Is Jesus saying he's the I am from Exodus 3? How much you wanna bet he is? How much you wanna bet he is? Now, we're gonna spend a lot of time in this chapter.

John chapter eight. John chapter eight. We're gonna start at verse 12. I know. And I just, it would be better for them to just translate it, I am. Yeah, there are a few of some of the older ones that translate it just as I am.

That's the thing, is that our modern translators sometimes just kind of just run roughshod over this. They want it to be readable. But the problem is, is that this is intentionally written in such a way that if you're reading it in Greek, you're gonna trip on the words.

And you're, it's, that's the way it's supposed to be. But in my experience, when they say, it is. Yeah, exactly. Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah. All right, John eight. I'm gonna make a little bit of a note. Jesus is not politically correct.

And I'm gonna make another note. Jesus is not Norwegian. Jesus has no problem getting in people's face. And it's not because he's trying to be ornery for the sake of being ornery. He speaks the truth and confronts people for their sake.

We're going to see a little bit of a verbal battle between the Jews and Christ. And it's going to intensify as the story unfolds. And the back and forth is going to get stronger and stronger. And at the end of this, Jesus keeps kind of making his point about who he is.

And then when we get to the punchline, it becomes absolutely clear what he's saying. No way around it. And the result is going to be fascinating. But let's read. John eight, 12. Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world.

Let's take a look at the Greek. And there it is. I, I am. Again, that emphatic form. I am the light of the world. Now he could have just said, Eimi ta phos tu cosmu. I am the light of the world. Instead he said, Eigo eimi ta phos tu cosmu.

Hmm. It sounds like Jesus is intentionally invoking Exodus three. But we'll let this one slide. I am. Eigo eimi. I, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of light.

Man, that sounds like Jesus is talking like he's God. I mean, what would you think about me if I tried this on? You know, I am the light of the world. Anyone want to follow that light? I promise we're not going over the cliff.

You guys just don't seem confident when I start talking like that. What's wrong with you? Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness. Any takers? Yeah, I know. There goes my chance of being the Messiah.

Now you're laughing because it's ridiculous. But who is Jesus making himself out to be? I, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. So the Pharisees said, you're bearing witness about yourself.

Your testimony's not true. So Jesus answered, even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.

You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true. For it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your law, it is written that the testimony of two people is true.

I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me. They said to him, therefore, where is your father? Jesus answered, you know neither me nor my father. If you knew me, you would know my father also.

These words he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple, but no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come. Now notice what it says there. No one arrested him. Arrested him for what? Yeah, it's blasphemy.

So this text itself tells us that when Jesus said, I, I am the light of the world, he was claiming divinity for himself, and the expectation was they should have arrested him. That's what the text is saying.

The story continues. So he said to them again, I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I am going, you cannot come. So the Jews said to him, will he kill himself? Since he says where I'm going, you cannot come.

He said, you are from below. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins for unless you believe that, and there it is, egoimi, unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.

I know the ESV says I am he. Let's just leave it with the Greek. Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. Think about that. Unless you believe I am. And there it is again, the emphatic, egoimi.

This is the divine name from Exodus 3, and Jesus is literally saying to everybody, unless you believe that I am, you're gonna die in your sins, which is a bad result for your life. Huh. So they said to him, who are you?

Jesus said to them, this isn't just what I have been telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declared to the world what I have heard from him.

They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said to them, when you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am. There it is again. When you have lifted up the Son of Man, you will know that I am.

This chapter's like chock full of hi-yah. Yeah, what did the centurions say? Truly this man was the Son of God. When you have lifted up the Son of Man, you will know that I am, and that I do nothing of my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me, and he who sent me is with me.

He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him. As he was saying these things, many believed in him. So Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

So Jesus is equating his words with the word of God. If you abide in my word, you will know the truth, the truth will set you free. Which kind of begs the question, free? We're not slaves. So they answered him, we are offspring of Abraham, and have never been enslaved to anyone.

How is it that you say you will become free? Jesus answered them, truly, truly I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. So now we start to see the connection between Exodus and Jesus.

Jesus is the I am. John 8, where Jesus is talking, I am all over the place, right? Now the motif of slavery and freedom comes up, and Jesus is saying, I'm going to set you free. They say how, how are you going to set us free?

We're not slaves. Oh yes you are. Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. So the slave does not remain in the house forever, the son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Who is it that's setting the children of Israel free in the book of Exodus? That's way too vague. I am. And who is the I am? Too vague. Jesus. Yeah, Jesus, that's the thing. That's the whole, that's kind of the whole point.

Who's Moses talking to? He's talking to Jesus. So if the son sets you free, you'll be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill me because my words find no place in you.

I speak of what I've seen with my father, and you do what you've heard from your father. Get ready, here comes the insult. They answered him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, yeah, right, that's so adorable, but if you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works that Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who's told you the truth that I heard from God.

That is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did. They said to him, we were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, even God. Jesus said to them, well, if God were your father, you would love me, for I came from God, and I am.

There it is again. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It's because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.

He was a murderer from the beginning, and from the beginning does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.

Notice how blunt, how firm Jesus is, how well, doesn't pull any punches. He just calls the spade the spade. So the Jews answered, and this is where it gets really funny, are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?

Wow. Now comes the ad hominems. Jesus was speaking the truth about them. Now they are just pulling out the lies. You're a Samaritan. No, Jesus is no Samaritan. He is the actual direct descendant of King David and the heir to the throne of David.

He is no Samaritan. And no, he is not demon possessed. He is the one who casts out the demons. So they said, are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my father and you dishonor me, yet I do not seek my own glory.

There is one who seeks it and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. Who's Jesus talking like again there? God. So the Jews said to him, now we know you have a demon.

Abraham died. So did the prophets. Yet you say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham who died? And the prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?

Notice with each round, this gets a little bit more intense. And they are beginning to see exactly what Jesus has been saying all the way back from verse 12. He's talking like he's the I Am. He's speaking as if he's God.

And it's finally starting to settle in and they're getting more and more agitated with each time around the track. So are you greater than our father Abraham who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?

Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me of whom you say he is our God. But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say I do not know him, I would be a liar like you.

But I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. Pause for a second here. Where in the book of Genesis does it say that Abraham longed to see the days of Jesus?

There's no text that says this. How does Jesus know this? He was there. They immediately pick up on the fact that this is extra biblical information. This is something about Abraham that is not written in the Torah.

Jesus is talking about Abraham as if he knows him. And he knows stuff about Abraham that has long ago been forgotten in the sands of time, but he has remembered it. That's the way he's speaking. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day.

He saw it and was glad. So the Jews said to him, You're not yet 50 years old and you've seen Abraham? And here it comes. Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. This is Exodus 3 stuff right here.

And the light bulb goes on. Verse 59, So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. Why did they pick up the stones? To stone him to death. Because they believed that he had blasphemed, making himself equal with God.

Now listening to that discourse, do you think that Jesus was making himself equal with God? Yes or no? Yes. From the word go, he was. From the word go, he's speaking as if he's God. If you keep my words, you will never taste death.

If you keep my words, you will have life. That you will know the truth. The truth will set you free. Set you free from slavery to sin and all these kinds of things. And they're going, It sounds like he's saying he's God.

So they understood the words I am. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And at this point, Jesus punctuates it. Before Abraham was, I am. There's only one way to understand it. He's claiming to be the guy speaking from the burning bush.

There it is.

So what do we do with that? Well, it's human nature. No.

Yeah. They were suppressing it. There, that's better. Yeah. They were suppressing it. They didn't want to see it. Yeah. I want you to think about that. Jesus is exactly who he claimed to be. And if you truly believe that he is who he claimed to be, and listen to what I'm saying, for you, what impact does that have on your life?

He sets you free, right? It makes all the difference in the world. But what if you really like your sin? Huh? Yeah, we've all been there. Now all of a sudden, well, we want to keep Jesus over here. Now what if believing Jesus, well, that's going to result in the whole empire that you've created for yourself and the whole power structure that you operate in to make that all just blow up and go away?

Uh-huh. There's a cost to believing this, and it's a big one. Oh, of course. I agree. No doubt about that. But see, this is not how these Jews and Pharisees are thinking. Do you remember when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead?

What is the reaction of the Jews? We'll take a look at that because there's another series of I Am statements. Okay, we looked at this a few weeks ago, but let's reexamine this again. John 11, 1. We'll go around this track again.

We'll pick up a little bit of notes here, and it's never a drudgery to keep walking back over the same text and kind of seeing what you can see. Now we're going to look at this text from the I Am statements.

A certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was ill.

So the sisters sent to him, saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill, but when Jesus heard it, he said, This illness does not lead to death, for it is the glory of God so that the Son of Man may be glorified through it.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, and when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to his disciples, Let us go to Judea again.

And the disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews who are just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again? And Jesus answered, Are not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. And after saying these things, he said to them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him. The disciples said to him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.

And Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest and sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, Okay, boys, listen, Lazarus has died. Oh, okay. And for your sake, I am glad that I was not there so that you may believe, but let us go to him.

So notice that all of this is so that they may believe. But let us go to him. So Thomas called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go that we may die with him. Just absurd. This is like overcooking your piety by about half.

Okay? It sounds so pious, and it just is nonsense. I love the fact that the dumb things the disciples said and did are actually recorded for us. So now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus was already in the tomb for four days.