THE GREAT I AM

John 18:4–6 (KJV) Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.

I want to look at the fact that Jesus wasn’t saying, “I am Jesus.” It seems as though Jesus identified Himself as the great I AM. The reason it looks that way is because when He said, “I am,” the “he” was added in the King James for clarity. The Young’s Literal Translation put the “he” in brackets to denote that it is not in the original. Even if Jesus said, “I am He,” the power of God was released at that moment in a way that acknowledged to them that you are not dealing with an ordinary man.

It is just like when Jesus died on the cross and there was an earthquake, and the sun went dark, and one of the soldiers said, “Surely this was the Son of God.” God, the Father, was allowing supernatural things to happen where the people could once again see that Jesus is the only begotten of the Father; this was His Son with whom He was well pleased.

When you look at the original word for when they fell down, it is aperchomai, and it means to stagger and stumble backwards. Then, the word piptō, which means to fall so hard the person appears dead or they fell like a corpse, makes you think about the times many of you have seen or even experienced when hands are laid on you and the power of God overwhelms you that you “fall out under the power of God.”

When we dive a little deeper into the original language when Jesus said, “I am (he),” it is also found in other scriptures. The word in Greek is ego eimi, which literally means “I am” or “I exist.” The original word can also be found in John 8:58, “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” This same verbiage is found in John 13:19, “Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.”

God was known as the Great I Am. In the Old Testament in Exodus 3:14–15, God told Moses to tell them that the Great I Am sent you. God told Moses, “I AM THAT I AM.” What a statement. Our Father, our Lord, is the Great I Am. He is the superior and the supreme One. He always has been, and He will always be. There is no one like Him and definitely no one greater than Him.

He is the Great I Am. Jesus tells them and us that He is the I Am. He dropped so many clues to them along the way by using certain wording or phrases during His teachings and talking to the disciples. He used the phrase “I am” and then added to it to explain what He does and will do for us. He said, “I am the bread of life,” “I am the light of the world,” “I am the door of the sheep,” “I am the good shepherd,” “I am the resurrection,” “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” and “I am the true vine.” These are all descriptions of, as the Great I Am, what He will do for us. With those descriptions, the power of God is released to fulfill this in our lives.

He is the Great I Am, and He is all we need. One of the last things we have recorded that He said along this subject was to John the Revelator. Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.” It is so good to know that the Great I Am is at the beginning of every part of our lives and He is at the ending of every part of our lives.

Let’s praise the Great I Am.