Jesus Great Confession (Part 2)

I would like to finish this message, Jesus' Great Confession. Today will be part two.

So if you have your Bibles, please turn with me to John chapter 8. John chapter 8, as we study through John, this wonderful gospel that brings out the deity of Jesus Christ more than any other gospel.

We're at the conclusion, chapter 8. Here we see that the

Lord has His enemies before Him. There's antagonism, holy antagonism that Jesus gives.

He confronts His enemies. There's blasphemy and the sense of His enemies gives that to Jesus.

And Jesus responds always with gracious truth and an invitation.

That's the pattern that we see before us here. There's always blasphemy from the enemies of Jesus.

Jesus gives a gracious invitation in response to the truth.

So I'd like to read the text beginning with verse 48, concluding words to 59.

Hear the word of the living God. Then the Jews answered and said to Him, Do we not say rightly that You are a

Samaritan and have a demon? Jesus answered, I do not have a demon.

Notice how patiently, calmly He answers this. But I honor My Father and you dishonor

Me. I do not seek My own glory. There is one who seeks and judges.

Most assuredly, I say to you, If anyone keeps My word, he shall never see death.

Then the Jews said to Him, Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham is dead and the prophets.

And you say, If anyone keeps My word, he shall never taste death.

Are you greater than our father Abraham who is dead?

And the prophets are dead. Who do you make yourself out to be?

Jesus answered, If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is

My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known

Him, but I know Him. And if I say I do not know

Him, I shall be a liar like you. But I do know Him and keep

His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see

My day. And he saw it and was glad. Then the

Jews said to Him, You are not yet fifty years old and have you seen

Abraham? And Jesus said to them, Most assuredly,

I say to you, Before Abraham, I am.

Then they took up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

May God give us ears to hear. From our ears to our hearts this morning, please bow with me in prayer as we seek our

Lord's face and favor within this hour of worship. Our Father in heaven, we bow now in your most holy presence.

May we take off the shoes of our feet and our heart as we know we are on holy ground as Moses did when he stood before the great

I Am, yourself. Giving you all the honor and the glory, our prayer,

Lord, is oh God, be exalted above the heavens. For you alone are holy.

Lord, you are a gracious God, a gracious Father. Lord, we pray that Jesus, your

Son, will be lifted up, your beloved Son, in whom you are well pleased in.

May we see Jesus. That is our desperate need today, here and in all other churches as well.

May we see Jesus, high and lifted up with His train filling the temple in His majesty and glory.

I pray, O Spirit of the living God, apply these words today to our lives.

And as David said, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight,

O Lord, my strength, my Redeemer. And Father, we will be careful to give you all the glory.

For we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Here in chapter 8, verses 48 to 59, we see

Jesus confronting His enemies. J .C. Ryle, in his commentary on the

Gospel of John, makes this statement concerning these verses we just read. He says this,

Without controversy, these remarkable words are a great deep.

They contain things which we have no eyes to see through or mind to fathom.

But if language means anything, they teach us that our Lord Jesus Christ existed long before He came into this world.

Before the days of Abraham, He was. Before man was created,

He was. In short, Ryle goes on to say, they teach us that the

Lord Jesus was no mere man, like Moses or David. He was one whose goings forth were from everlasting.

The same yesterday, today, and forever. Very and eternal

God. J .C. Ryle is absolutely correct, according to the

Word of God. Beloved, we may struggle to understand the boldness of Jesus' claim this morning, but make no mistake about this.

Those standing there on that day, knew Jesus was claiming to be

God in the flesh. Thus the response was, they picked up stones to try to kill

Him. And Jesus hid Himself. That was their response.

Jesus Christ spoke with power and authority like no other ever spoke.

And this is His most weighty words that He ever spoke. The most weighty words you can read in the

Gospels itself. And actually, it literally makes me tremble to even preach on this text this morning, because of the greatness and the majesty of who

He is. Again, of all the words that Jesus ever spoke, you will not find any words more weightier and more eternally important than these words.

In which Jesus makes His claim, especially from verse 58, Most assuredly, or truly, truly,

I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. So why?

Why the claims? Because if this claim is not true, nothing

Jesus said or did matters. Let me emphasize a little bit on this.

Everything we believe about Jesus hinges right here, on who

He is. Who He is, the very Son of the

Living God. And that's why Jesus told Peter, when

Peter confessed, when Jesus asked the disciples, who do you say that I am? And then

Peter, as the head spokesman of the apostles, says, Thou art the

Christ, the Son of the Living God. That's the confession of the church. But Jesus here makes

His confession of who He is. Now that was true because it's from the

Spirit of God, of what Peter says. But here is Christ, the Living Word, speaking of Himself, being the

I am, the I am. Everything we believe about Jesus hinges on Him being the very

Son of the Living God. Paul Washer put it like this, Because only God can satisfy

God's law, only He can pay the price. And if Jesus is not

God, then we are all going to hell. Me and you and the rest of us.

So this is how important it is to believe that Jesus is

God. Just look around. How many cults, how many so -called churches do not believe that Jesus Christ is

Lord? And that's why Scripture says, Let him be accursed.

That does not believe that. Verse 58,

Most assuredly I say to you, Jesus says, Before Abraham, I am. That's a

Selah on top of a Selah, folks. He was saying, I am God in flesh.

I am God in flesh. And this is exactly where John starts in his

Gospel. John 1 .1, In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the

Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

If you go to verse 14, And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, tabernacled among us.

And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

There is where he begins, and he goes all the way through. The evangelist takes it through this

Gospel to emphasize that Christ is God, truly

Messiah. The promised Messiah. He is God.

Jesus says in verse 56, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it.

He saw it, and was glad. Now we've already seen that in part 1,

Jesus is the I Am. The one who points to the Father. In verse 49 to 50, we have seen that Jesus is the

I Am. The one who offers eternal life. From verse 51 to 57.

And now Jesus is, or 52. And Jesus says here,

He is the I Am. He identifies himself as I Am.

The name of God. This is the fulfillment of the Father's promises.

And since the Jews insisted on bringing Abraham into the argument here, the

Lord reminded them that Abraham had looked forward to the day of the Messiah. And he had actually seen it by faith.

And Abraham was glad. He was glad when he saw it. The Lord Jesus was saying that He was the one to whom

Abraham looked forward. Abraham's faith rested in the coming of the

Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah. Actually, if you read in Hebrews chapter 11 in the

Hall of Fame of Faith, that great chapter, we see this.

In verse 13, it says this, These all died in faith. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

And He goes on to say, For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.

And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.

In verse 16, But now they desire a better, better. That is a heavenly country.

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

So Abraham was faithful to embrace all that God has said.

If you go to verse 8, By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out of the place which he would receive in his inheritance.

And he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of the promise, as in a foreign country dwelling in the tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.

For he waited for the city which has foundation, whose builder and maker is God. And by faith

Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed. And she bore a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

So there you see that fulfillment. The seed that came through the

Abrahamic covenant was none other than the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, in chapter 8, let's pick up at verse 57. Then the Jews said to him, speaking to Jesus, You are not yet 50 years old.

Why they chose 50 is interesting. He might have looked 50. He was very worn,

I'm sure, of all that he went through. He looked older than he probably was since he was around the age of roughly in his early 30s here.

He began his ministry, Scripture tells us, at 30 years age. And three years of ministry, and here is two and a half, so he's roughly, what, 32 years old.

And they say, you look 50, you're not yet 50 years old. And have you seen

Abraham? You have seen Father Abraham? And Jesus makes that great declaration, that great confession.

Most assuredly, I say to you before Abraham, I am. A powerful, powerful confession of our

Lord Jesus Christ. Jews insisted on this argument and winning this argument, but now, as I mentioned, usually to try to win an argument or a debate, it always starts intellectual, doesn't it?

And then if you've ever been into a heated argument, and I'm sure everyone has in this room, you see that it begins intellectual, calmly, then it goes to emotional, and then it gets emotional, and it becomes violent, and then when that passes,

I forgot the abusive stage, it gets verbal, doesn't it? It could become abusive, verbal abuse, and then once that passes, the end phase is, it becomes blow striking, striking the blows, and that's exactly where this was heading to.

So, if you look at verse 57 here, then the Jews said to him, are you not 50 years old, and have you seen, you have seen

Abraham, question. Note this, they got it wrong really, they did not have ears to hear, did they?

Because Jesus actually did not say, have you seen me, even though in a theophany, we will look at in just a minute, through many theophanies and appearances of God and Christ in the

Old Testament, he did appear. But Jesus said in verse 56, notice what he says,

Abraham rejoiced to see, what? My day, my day, and he saw it, and was glad.

So, the question arises here is, when did Abraham see Christ's day?

When did he see Christ's day? So, the answer is, as the wonderful, on the radio,

I pick up segments of Back to Genesis, I don't know if you've heard that on the Christian radio, but I hear it driving my milk truck here and there, and it's really a great excerpt.

Back to Genesis. So, let's go back to Genesis chapter 22. This is a very important passage of Scripture, and we're going to see how

Abraham saw Christ's day. How did he see his day? His faith was confirmed, wasn't it?

He grew in faith, we see this, because at one time he really was not very strong in faith.

Actually, you read the story, when Abraham and Sarai, at that time, Abram, Sarai was in Egypt, he was not trusting the

Lord, he leaned on the arm of flesh, and he lied about his wife to Pharaoh.

And then God brought a plague upon them, and then he said, please leave. But we see that he grew in faith, and he grew in faith later on, and now here he's come to the height of his faith, and his faith is confirmed in Genesis 22.

Let me read it. Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him,

Abraham, and he said, here am I. And I love this. Notice what he says. And he said, now take your son, your only son,

Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains.

God always speaks and does many great things on mountaintops. Go to that mountain, the mountains of which

I shall tell you. And so Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and he took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which

God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

Now listen closely to what Abraham says, and this is faith, beloved. Listen to Abraham's faith.

Abraham said to his young men, you stay here with the donkey, the lad, speaking of Isaac, the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.

This man had faith, and he believed God would answer this test, this prayer.

So Abraham took the wood and the burnt offering, and he laid it on Isaac. Can you imagine being

Isaac? What would Isaac be thinking at this time? His son. And he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and the two of them went together, father and son.

Verse 7. But Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, My father, my father.

And he said, Here I am, my son. And then he said,

Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

Where is the lamb? Abraham said, My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.

So the two of them went together. And nothing else is said from that point, really. That's faith.

That's faith. He's obeying God, even though he doesn't know what's going to happen, but he obeys

God. Then they came, verse 9, they came to the place which God had told them.

And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order. And he bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. And I want you to notice here, we're going to return back to this, but the angel of the

Lord, this is more than just a mere messenger or ordinary angel.

We believe, I personally believe, and you can check me out on this, that this is a theophany here, called to him from heaven, from heaven, saying,

Abraham, Abraham. So he said, Here I am.

And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him. For now

I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

This is a shadow. This is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, of the Father sending the

Son, His beloved Son, to die on a cross. And that is the

Lamb. That's the Lamb. Now notice in verse 13, Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a, not a lamb, but a ram.

And God meant it that way. He didn't send a lamb at that time, because the lamb has not come.

The Lamb of God. It was a ram that was caught in the thicket by its horns.

So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering, instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place the

Lord will provide, as it is said to this day. In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.

Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said,

By myself I have sworn, says the Lord. Now you notice that right there, the angel of the

Lord, and then in verse 16 it says, says the Lord. There are many times we're going to look at this throughout

Old Testament Scripture. It speaks of the angel of the Lord, and it's none other than the

Lord Himself. And there's appearances, theophanies, Christophanies, that appears in the

Old Testament. Now, a lot of the wrong interpretations has come from the cults. They claim that this is

Michael. But this cannot be Michael, the archangel. This is the Lord Himself.

Scripture says it. And He says, Because you have done this thing, I have not,

I'm sorry, I have not withheld your son, your only son. Blessing I will bless you, and multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and the sand of the seashore.

And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. And in your seed all nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice.

So Abraham returned to his young men, just like he said. And they rose up and went together to Beersheba.

And Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. There you see

Abraham. He saw Christ's day. Christ's day.

So, we see this in this passage, the whole drama of the

Messiah's death, the resurrection, was acted out at that time.

And it is very possible that Abraham saw it by faith. By faith.

Thus the Lord Jesus claimed to be that fulfillment of all prophecies in the Old Testament concerning who

He is, the promised Messiah. Here, especially in verse 11, like I said, the angel of the

Lord called to him, Abraham, Abraham. Angel of the Lord.

And again, it's a theophany. We see this. The Greek is theos, God, theni, and means to appear.

So, these words mean appearances of God or appearances of Christ before Christ was incarnate.

The Old Testament mentions the angel of the Lord quite often on several occasions. And there are many passages in the

Old Testament that mentions the angel of the Lord. Actually, it makes a good study. I believe somebody,

Brother Ben, you said knew that wrote a book on this. What was his name? Matt Foreman. Matt Foreman of Reform Camp has a very good book on this.

You know the name of it? The Angel of the Lord. Okay, there's a good book.

But it would be a great study to go through the Old Testament to see these appearances in which God makes and Christ, and God Himself being

Christ. So, it's interchangeable there. But I like for us to take this time to,

I'm going to go through a few here. This is not exhaustive. But just what the

Word of God in the Old Testament mentions about the angel of the Lord. To stir your fire this morning on this wonderful subject of these appearances of theophanies,

Christophanies. Christ, who Christ was before He came in flesh. That He appeared.

He was always the same. The same yesterday, today, and forever. It's just here

He appears in the Old Testament. And we're going to see some very clear evidences here in the

Old Testament as the angel of the Lord is given in various passages. Let me bring out several things about the various passages that we're going to look at and some of the characteristics of this awesome angel of the

Lord. Here's six that I came up with here.

Seven, I'm sorry, seven. Had to have seven in there. That's a number of perfection. I like that number.

But listen to this. Here's some characteristics. The angel of the Lord is referred to with masculine pronouns.

There's never a feminine pronoun. Second, He is identified as God.

Third, He is seen performing miracles. Fourth, as we will see, we're going to turn to this,

Gideon and Manoah thought that they would die because they saw the angel face to face.

Fifth, the angel of the Lord accurately foretold future events.

Don't believe a normal angel could do that for they don't know the future like God knows the future.

So the angel of the Lord does this. We will also see from Scripture that as He wrestled with Jacob that His name is given as Wonderful.

Wonderful. And seventh, and this is not exhausted, but this is some of the characteristics

I found, that He destroyed from the Scriptures according to 2

Kings 19 .35 that this angel of the Lord destroyed 185 ,000 soldiers of the

Assyrian army in one night. According to the Scripture. Now that's power.

And I really believe that the angel of the Lord here is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ in His pre -incarnate appearance.

So while angels have occasionally performed some of these actions, yes, such as miracles and prophecy, there are clear examples here from Scriptures when the angel of the

Lord cannot be viewed as normal angel, He is occasionally identified as God, He accepts worship, and at least two people from Scripture, Gideon and Manoah who saw

Him thought that they would die because they seen Him face to face.

And they even mention God face to face. These same attributes and activities are clearly attributed to God Himself elsewhere in Scripture.

Now, these Theophanies affirm the uniqueness of Jesus. The uniqueness of Jesus.

They also show the intimacy of God with His creation. I think that's interesting because unlike the distant

God lowercase of deism that some people incorrectly associate with God of the

Bible, so these appearances of Christ, these pre -incarnate appearances, Christophanies in the

Old Testament confirm the fact that Jesus existed prior to His incarnation.

So it's important that we recognize these Scriptures as Jesus Christ Himself in His pre -incarnate state.

And as Jesus plainly stated to the Jews and the Pharisees here in John 8, 58, most assuredly

I say to you before Abraham, I am. He makes that statement. So that's the truth.

And Jesus is that truth. The Creator of the ends of the earth that demonstrates

His existence prior to His first advent. So in saying that, let's look at a few of these appearances of God, Christ, in the

Old Testament. We first read the very first time we see God Himself seen and appear in a physical form in Genesis chapter 3.

At the beginning. Let's go to Genesis 3. Since you turned to Genesis, back up to 3.

Sin has come into the world. This is the chapter that temptation and the fall of man, sin enters into the world through Adam, through his disobedience.

But notice in verse 8. I'm just going to focus right here. After all this in verse 7.

Let me back up. The eyes of both of them, speaking of Eve, was before she was named Eve. Because she becomes the mother of all living, that's what

Eve means. But we'll say it's Eve. Both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked.

And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings trying to hide their shame.

And what does it say in verse 8? They heard the sound of the

Lord God walking, walking, in the garden in the cool of the day.

He was walking. And I would say that He's in a visible form perhaps.

Maybe in His Shekinah light as He later appears. But we definitely see a spirit as God is spirit.

But here He's walking in a physical form. And that's the earliest scriptures that I can see from the

Word of God that He comes in an appearance. And He comes to Adam and Eve.

Physically. Now there's others. Let's go to Genesis chapter 18.

And we go to Abraham once again. This is the son of promise that's given in chapter 18.

Very important chapter. Look at verse 1. Then the Lord appeared to him in the terebinth trees of Maverin.

And by the way, we're going to see that He appears in a physical form. And there's two other men with Him.

It's not said who those two other men are but we definitely know one of them is the Lord from heaven in a physical form.

As He was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. This is Abraham. And so He lifted

His eyes and looked and behold three men were standing by Him. And when

He saw them, He ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed Himself to the ground. Interesting.

He bowed Himself to the ground. And notice what He calls them. He said, My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant.

Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree.

You know what I love about Abraham here? He is so hospitable. He's so humble. And He's offering hospitality and service to these three men.

And again He says, My Lord. And then He says this in verse 5, I will bring a morsel of bread and you may refresh your hearts after that you may pass by as much as you have come to your servant.

And they said, Do as you have said. They didn't say a whole lot.

They just go ahead. So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said,

Quickly make ready three measures of fine meal and knead it and make cakes.

And Abraham ran to the herd. You see the urgency here. He's just showing hospitality.

Took a tender and good calf. The best he could get. Gave it to a young man and hastened to prepare it.

And so he took butter and milk and the calf which he prepared and set it before them and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.

And this visit was very important. And then they said to him, Where is

Sarah, your wife? She needs to be here, right? So he said,

Here in the tent. She's here in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return to you according to the time of life.

Behold, Sarah, your wife shall have a son. Sarah was listening in the tent door that was behind him.

Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.

And verse 12, Therefore Sarah laughed within herself. And it's almost comical here.

After I've grown old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord, being old also?

You've got to be kidding me. That time's over with. She's way up in age.

But God can do anything. And the Lord said to Abraham, And there it says, capital

L -O -R -D, right? That's Yahweh. The Lord said to Abraham, Why did

Sarah laugh? Saying, Shall I surely bear a child since I'm old?

Is anything too hard for the Lord? And at the appointed time,

I will return to you according to the time of life. And Sarah shall have a son. So we'll stop right there on that appearance.

So there's three. And one of them is the Lord, Yahweh. We see that clear from Scripture because of the capital

L -O -R -D. Definitely comes in a physical form.

Amazing. Not an incarnation, but a pre -incarnation.

So we see that theophany. Although Abraham perhaps did not recognize at first one of his visitors, but it came to him as he humbly greeted and entertained him, showed hospitality.

He properly sent on his way. And verse 16 was God himself. God himself.

So there you have a theophany. Jump to Genesis 32. Let's look at another one.

Genesis 32. This is really a good one. And it keeps getting better and better.

Amen, Brother Keith. Jacob. Notice with me, he wrestles with God.

He wrestles with God. And notice I'll pick up on verse 23.

He took them and sent them over to the brook and sent over what he had, talking about his wives. Then Jacob was left alone.

And a man, now my translation says that man is a capital M. Capital M wrestled with him until the breaking of day.

Just kind of throws us right into a wrestling match. A wrestling match that Jacob has with this man until the breaking of the day.

The capital M. Now when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his hip.

And the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, let me go for the day breaks.

But he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. Beloved, that's the kind of urgency that we should have toward God.

We prevail. We persevere not to let God go until you bless me.

And I love this. So he said to him, what is your name? What is your name?

He said, this is the angel of the Lord speaking to Jacob. And he says, Jacob. And Jacob is like, in verse 28 says, and he said, your name shall no longer be

Jacob, but Israel. In other words, your name is not going to be a deceiver, a liar, but you are going to be prince with God.

That this is type of conversion, folks. This is how conversion looks like. There's a change.

But Israel, for you have struggled with God, just not a mere angel, but God, and with men, and have prevailed.

And then Jacob asked, saying, now you tell me your name, I pray. This is a very interesting passage.

Listen to this. And he said, why is it that you ask about my name? And he blessed him there.

And then Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

And just as he crossed over Peniel, and the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip, therefore to this day, the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip, and the muscle that shrank.

He prevailed with God. That was a most definite appearance, a theophany, a

Christophany, Jacob wrestling. Actually, there's a commentary, a good commentary on this, in Hosea chapter 12, verse 3 through 5.

Let me read it to you. Hosea says this, he took his brother by the heel in the womb, and in his strength, he struggled with God.

Verse 4, yes, he struggled with the angel, and prevailed. He wept and sought favor from him.

He found him in Bethel, and there he spoke to us. Verse 5, that is, the

Lord God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial name.

Memorial name. There's another one. Let's go to Exodus chapter 3.

This is well, very familiar, like Jacob wrestling with the angel of the Lord. But the burning bush, we see

Moses. Let me read it very quickly. I'm going to jump around on some verses because of time, but we're in a devotion time.

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father -in -law, the priest of the Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the desert and came to the mountain of God.

And notice here in verse 2, and the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the flame of fire from the midst of the bush.

So he looked and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.

God is a consuming fire, isn't he? But here this bush was not being consumed.

Moses was interested, he found this very interesting, and he said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.

And when the Lord saw that he turned to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said,

Moses, Moses, just like he said to Abraham twice, Abraham, Abraham. And he said,

Here I am. And then he said, Do not draw near this place, take off your sandals, off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

And he goes on to say, the Lord, moreover, he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the

God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

So we know there the angel of the Lord is none other than Yahweh, Theophany, Christophany, no doubt.

Jump to verse 14. God said to Moses, after Moses asked him,

What am I going to tell the children of Israel? Your name. What's your name? And Moses said to God, This is the

God of your fathers who sent me, and they say to me, What is his name? What shall I tell them?

What shall I say to them? And God tells him. God said to Moses, I am who

I am. He's the great I am. He's the self -existent

God. He never ages. No beginning. No ending. He's the

Alpha. He's the Omega. As Jesus said in Revelation. And he says it here.

And he said, Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am has sent me to you.

This is my name forever. This is my memorial to all generations. Yahweh.

The self -existent God. No origin. Always is. Always existed.

And we are created beings. Made in the image of God. Scarred by sin.

And here yet, God says to Moses, I am who I am. Where there no doubt is a theophany.

A Christophany. Let's go to another one. Jump to Judges chapter 6.

Judges 6. Keep on going. Just flip.

Keep on flipping. I'll tell you what. Before we go to Judges, let me go to a book before Judges.

Go to Joshua. Go to Joshua chapter 5. Since we're on your way.

Trekking towards Judges. Joshua is right before Judges.

This is a good one. Chapter 5. Keep in mind here.

I really believe this is the Lord Jesus Christ, folks. And notice what he says to Joshua.

Look at verse 13. And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a man, again a capital

M, stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand.

And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries?

Now this is a military man. Joshua was a powerful military man. And notice here in verse 14, he said,

The Lord of the host here. No, but as commander. He's the commander, folks, of the army of the

Lord. I have now come. What was

Joshua's response? He fell on his face to the earth and worshipped.

And said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant? This is powerful.

Verse 15. Then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua. This is all he said to him.

And he's already worshipping. He said, take your sandal off your foot for the place where you stand is holy.

Just like he told Moses. He's worshipping. Take your sandal off.

That unclean thing. Take it off. And Joshua did so.

He did exactly what the commander of the Lord of hosts said. This is none other, folks, than a pre -incarnate

Lord Jesus Christ appearance of Christophany. Now, like I said, let's go to Judges.

Next book over. Very quickly. Time is going by so quick. He appears to Gideon.

He appears to Gideon, this Lord of the hosts. This Lord, this angel of the Lord. Chapter 6 of Judges.

Very quickly. Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the Tirpith tree. Just like Abraham.

Which was in Ophira. Which belonged to Joash, the

Abrazeite. While his son, Gideon, threshed wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the

Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor.

Of course, you know the story. He wants a fleece. This shows weak faith on Gideon's part.

Verse 20 again. The angel of God said to him, Take the meat and unleavened bread and lay them on the rock and pour out the broth.

Verse 22. Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. So Gideon said,

Alas, O Lord God, I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. Then the

Lord said to him, Does this not sound familiar with the words of Jesus when he came in the incarnation?

Peace be with you. Do not fear. You shall not die.

Sounds very, very so much like the Lord Jesus Christ. We can go on about that.

Jump just a few chapters over. Judges 13.

And we see this on the appearance of the angel of the Lord to Manoah and his wife,

Samson's parents. In chapter 13. Again, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the

Lord. You see this repetitively in a book of Judges. There's a cycle. And the

Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for 40 years. And now there was a certain man from Zorah, the family of the

Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. And verse 3,

And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman, said to her, Indeed now you are barren and have born no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.

Now, therefore, please be careful not to drink wine, similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean.

Gives the instruction. For behold, you shall conceive, bear a son, and no razor shall come upon his head.

For the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb. He's consecrated.

He's set apart. He shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. And the woman came and told her husband, saying,

A man of God came to me. And his countenance, his countenance was like the countenance of the angel of God.

Very awesome. But I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name.

Again, he did not say his name. And he said to me, Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son.

Now, drink no wine, no similar drink. And he goes on, she goes on. For the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb of the day of his death.

And Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, O my Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born.

And God listened to the voice of Manoah and the angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field.

But Manoah, her husband was not with her. And it goes on to say that the woman ran in haste, took her husband and said to him,

Look, the man who came to me in the other day has just now appeared to me. So Manoah rose and followed his wife and he came to the man, capital

M. He said to him, Are you the man who spoke to this woman? The woman, he said,

I am. Manoah said, Let your words come to pass. What will be the boy's rule of life and his work?

And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Of all that I said to the woman, let her be careful.

It goes on, verse 16. The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Though you detain me,

I will not eat your food, but if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the

Lord. And Manoah did not know it was the angel of the Lord. But Manoah said to the angel of the

Lord, What is your name? That when your words come to pass, we may honor you.

And the angel of the Lord said to him, Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful? And Manoah took the young goat and grain offering, offered it upon the rock to the

Lord. And he did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on. And it happened as a flame went up toward heaven and from the altar, the angel of the

Lord ascended in the flame of the fire of the altar. And when Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.

And when the angel appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, Manoah knew that he was the angel of the

Lord. And Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die because we have seen God. You see this.

This is the Christophany. This is the angel of the Lord. None other. His name is

Jesus Christ. Jesus. So many more we can look at.

Daniel. Let's go to Daniel. I cannot miss this one. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

This is the fourth man in the fiery furnace, folks. And it was a heathen pagan king that saw the fourth man.

Right there. In the mist. In a burning fiery furnace. You got to jump a little bit.

Almost right in the middle of your Bible if you want to find Daniel. After Ezekiel.

You got what we call the major prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel.

Go to Daniel chapter 3. Chapter 3.

And you know the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. That's the heathen names that's given to them.

That's not their Hebrew names. They changed their names because they were in Babylon captivity. But notice here in verse 19.

Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.

It was very hot. He commanded a certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, turbans, and other garments, and they were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

Therefore, because the king's command was urgent, the furnace was exceedingly hot. The flame was so hot, the scripture says, the fire killed those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

It was so hot, those men perished. They burned alive right there in throwing them in. These three men,

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound in the midst of the burning fiery furnace. King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished.

He rose in haste, spoke and said to his counselors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?

And they answered, he said to the king, True, O king. Verse 25,

Look, he answered, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt.

The form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Absolutely.

That fourth man is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Time is pressing by.

Let me bring this down to a conclusion. Of what we have here. John 5, 58,

Jesus' confession. This verse makes us claim to be

God, and He's very God. A very God. This is actually why they crucified

Him, folks, and you know it. Because He claimed equality with God, and they say it was blasphemy.

That's why they took up stones at the end of the chapter to kill

Him, to throw at Him. But Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

But there are other seven I am's. I'm going to go through these quick. But Jesus says this about who

His claims are. And listen to this from Scripture. God in flesh, Jesus Christ, He is

Yahweh in flesh. The Son of the Living God. The second person of the Trinity.

John 6, 35. The seven I am's right here. Jesus says, I am the bread of life.

John 8, 12. Jesus says, I am the light of the world. John 10, 7.

Jesus says, I am the door of the sheep. John 10, 11. Jesus says, I am the good shepherd.

John 11, 25. Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. John 14, 6.

Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. John 15, 1 and verse 5.

Jesus says, I am the true vine. Seven I am's of our

Lord Jesus Christ. In total perfection. He's all that we need, folks.

Everything that we need. And if you have Jesus, you got it all. You could be the poorest pauper on the face of this earth and you have everything if you have

Jesus. And that's why the martyrs didn't mind going to a martyr's death, no matter how horrific it was, because they knew who they were going to be with and that this pain here is only temporal.

That's eternal. They had more of a fear of the eternal one.

They feared God more. Of throwing them into the fiery furnace of the lake of fire more than anything else because they feared

God. May God give us that kind of fear, folks. Jesus is the great

I am. All the fulfillments of the Father's promises, all the promises of God is yes and amen in Him.

In Jesus. Oh, I did not forget this.

Go to Revelation. Revelation. Chapter 1. And I want you to notice that chapter 1, the first chapter and the last chapter,

Jesus speaks that He is the I am, the

Alpha and Omega. Both times. In the beginning of the book and the last of the book.

We're studying Revelation now. And this is a wonderful study. But notice what

He says in chapter 1 verse 7. Behold, He is coming with clouds and every eye will see Him. And even they who pierce

Him, one time or another, they're going to see, they're going to stand before the judgment, before the judge of all the earth.

And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, amen. This is holy justice.

I am the Alpha Omega and the Omega, Jesus says. The beginning and the end says the Lord who is and was and who is to come, the

Almighty. Notice He says it again. After verse 10,

I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet.

That's the best way He can describe it. As of. Saying I am

Alpha, the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. And Jesus goes on. What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia and to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos and Thyatira, Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.

And then the description of the Son of God is given. A powerful description.

He says again in verse 17, after John fell at His feet dead, He laid

His right hand on me saying to me, Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am He who lives and was dead.

And behold, I'm alive forevermore. Amen. And I have keys of Hades and of death.

If you go to the end of the chapter, again, the Lord Jesus Christ gives this conclusion.

Verse 12 and chapter 22. And behold, I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to His work.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. I am,

He says, blessed are those who do His commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city.

But outside are dogs and sorcerers, sexual, immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie.

Jesus said it. Truly I tell you, before Abraham was I Am. And I'll close with a verse from Spurgeon.

Keep in mind that our Lord Jesus Christ condescended, took on flesh.

That was part of His humility, His humiliation. And went all the way to a cross for us, the great

I Am. Folks, you think about this every day. This will keep you and I from entering into temptation.

Watching and praying and knowing that we sin against such One that is so great and mighty and so loving and so majestic that He gave

His all to go to a cross for us. Spurgeon said this.

They asked him, Who do you make yourself out to be? And now they have

His answer. It is the name by which God revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush,

I Am. Yet Jesus takes this title to Himself, I Am. As if His life was once a continued presence, present existence.

As indeed it is. For with God there is no past or future. But all things are ever present to His infinite mind.

Jesus' statement claimed the Godhead. He declared that He was certainly God, self -existent from all eternity.

Then they took upon stones to cast at Him. Verse 59. They counted Him as a blasphemer.

And so He was if it was not all He claimed to be. If He was not really

God, He led men to think He was. If He was not God, He was the biggest imposter who ever visited this world.

But He is God. And nonetheless.

He was liar, lunatic, or He's Lord? Folks, I'm here to tell you right now

He's Lord. He's the Lord of life. He's the

Lord of all. And He will not have no rivals. He will have no rivals.

So the Jews were unwilling to accept the truth that the Messiah was standing right in their midst.

They would not have Him as Lord to reign over them. And how many people are the same.

They do not want Christ in their life. We don't want

You. But yet, there's no other way to heaven but through Jesus Christ.

There's no other way to eternal life but through Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and life.

Everybody wants heaven, but without Jesus. You notice that? They want to see their mama.

They want to see their daddy, and their granddaddy, and their past wife, or their past husband. But folks, there's no getting into heaven unless it's through Jesus.

And there is a cost. There's a cost. And our cost is nothing compared to what

He did. What about you, beloved? There's a saying

I used to hear quite often in the Pentecostal churches. He's Lord of all, or He's Lord and not at all.

And what He's talking about is in your own personal life. He will not have any rivals.

He will not have second place. Have you given up all your rights, your personal rights?

Have you surrendered with sweetness and sweet peace to His Lordship? Again, Jesus will not have second place.

He will be exclusively Lord over all in your life, or nothing. Submit your life to Him today, and come to Jesus as He has given

His gracious invitations. Let's pray. Father, we thank

You so much as we bow in Your presence. Lord, we are so small.

And Lord, we are humbled before You in Your presence of who You are in Your greatness. Oh God, You have spoken through Your Word.

Such power in Your Word. It's living. It's powerful. It's sharper than any two -edged sword.

Lord, it pierces to our hearts. It's so amaral. It divides. And yet, it heals.

And we thank You for that. So Lord, we praise You. We praise

You that Jesus came in the Incarnation, this Angel of the

Lord. The Angel of the Lord. The I Am. Father, You sent

Him from Your right hand. And yet, He came in His fullness and humility to the point of death, even to the death of the cross.

Lord, we thank You. And we bless You. May we all surrender our will to Your will by Your grace today.