The Seven I AMs

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Hello friends 🙂

Do you ever meditate on the Lord’s “I AM …” sayings in St. John’s Gospel? Since there are exactly seven (the number of fullness in the Scriptures), it seems to me that they should be known and studied very carefully by us with much prayer.

The Seven I AMs are:

I AM the bread of life. 6:48
I AM the light of the world. 8:12
I AM the door. 10:9
I AM the good shepherd. 10:11
I AM the resurrection and the life. 11:25
I AM the way, and the truth, and the life. 14:6
I AM the true vine. 15:1

The eighth (beyond fullness) is: “Amen amen I say to you: before Abraham was, I AM” 8:58.
 
As the Bread of Life, He feeds us with Himself, provides us with all our food, sustains us with water, and is the one through whom Life was created…

As the Light of the world, He enlightens all ignorance, darkness, sin, depression, anxiety, and all else that may be felt as dark or shadow…

As the Door, He is the royal gate into the Kingdom of God…

As the Good Shepherd, He ceaselessly leads us - and He laid down His life that we may be redeemed, and that we may know how to take up our Cross for His glory…

As the Resurrection and the Life, He is the One who is the conqueror of death and the triumphal king of all that is good and holy.

As the Way, the Truth, and the Life, He is Holy, Holy Holy - God mighty & immortal, the one Truth from which all things come, and the royal road on which we must go to live.

As the True Vine, He is the fulfillment of Israel, and we are completely dependent upon Him as branches. Let us absorb all our life from Him…
 
Classicist said:
Hello friends 🙂

Do you ever meditate on the Lord’s “I AM …” sayings in St. John’s Gospel? Since there are exactly seven (the number of fullness in the Scriptures), it seems to me that they should be known and studied very carefully by us with much prayer.

The Seven I AMs are:

I AM the bread of life. 6:48
I AM the light of the world. 8:12
I AM the door. 10:9
I AM the good shepherd. 10:11
I AM the resurrection and the life. 11:25
I AM the way, and the truth, and the life. 14:6
I AM the true vine. 15:1

The eighth (beyond fullness) is: “Amen amen I say to you: before Abraham was, I AM” 8:58.
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What about Exodus 3:14?

God said to Moses: I AM WHO AM. He said: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: HE WHO IS, hath sent me to you.
 
Classicist said:
Hello friends 🙂

Do you ever meditate on the Lord’s “I AM …” sayings in St. John’s Gospel? Since there are exactly seven (the number of fullness in the Scriptures), it seems to me that they should be known and studied very carefully by us with much prayer.

The Seven I AMs are:

I AM the bread of life. 6:48
I AM the light of the world. 8:12
I AM the door. 10:9
I AM the good shepherd. 10:11
I AM the resurrection and the life. 11:25
I AM the way, and the truth, and the life. 14:6
I AM the true vine. 15:1

The eighth (beyond fullness) is: “Amen amen I say to you: before Abraham was, I AM” 8:58.
Click to expand...
What do you mean by the number of fullness in Scripture?
 
JamesCaruso said:
What about Exodus 3:14?

God said to Moses: I AM WHO AM. He said: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: HE WHO IS, hath sent me to you.
Click to expand...
I am speaking of the specifically-seven I AM-s in John’s Gospel. They are very clearly part of John’s overall narrative structure.
TwinMommy said:
What do you mean by the number of fullness in Scripture?
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Seven Days in creation. Seven candlesticks & Seven Angels of the Seven Churches in Revelation. Seven times Naaman the Syrian washes himself in the Jordan. We must forgive our brother “seventy times seven” times.

Wherever Seven occurs in the Scriptures, it is fullness, completion, and totality. 🙂
 
Whoever would like to name their favourite “I AM” of Jesus, and elaborate on what it means to them, is welcome. 🙂

I myself am deeply moved by the title “Light of the World”. In John 1, it says that the Word, who was with God and is God from all eternity, is also the Light, and that light is the very life of humanity. Christ Himself says He is the Light just before healing the young man born blind in John 9. The full teaching of our Lord on this “I AM” title is:

*I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark, but will have the light of life. *

This is such a dark world, especially today. The neon lights and advertisements only fill our hearts with darkness of self-gratification. Only the one who says “take up your cross daily and follow me” can truly be the Light: brighter than all the street corners and shopping malls.
 
Classicist said:
I am speaking of the specifically-seven I AM-s in John’s Gospel. They are very clearly part of John’s overall narrative structure.

Seven Days in creation. Seven candlesticks & Seven Angels of the Seven Churches in Revelation. Seven times Naaman the Syrian washes himself in the Jordan. Wherever Seven occurs in the Scriptures, it is fullness, completion, and totality. 🙂
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Don’t forget… The mystery of the seven stars, which thou sawest in my right hand… Rev 1:20

Or the seven Sabbath years in a Jubilee… 8Thou shalt also number to thee seven weeks of years, that is to say, seven times seven, which together make forty-nine years: Lev 25:8

Or… And in the solemnity of the seven days he shall offer for a holocaust to the Lord, seven calves, and seven rams without blemish daily for seven days: and for sin a he goat daily. Ezekiel 45:23

And don’t forget… The seven heads are seven mountains, upon which the woman sitteth, and they are seven kings: Rev 17:9

There are also the seven loaves of bread that Jesus multiplied. Matt 15:36

Then there were the seven apostles, if you don’t count the first five. Luke 24:14

Sorry, I got carried away on that last point. 😃
 
Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to him,
went out and said to them, “Whom are you looking for?”
They answered him, “Jesus the Nazorean.”*
He said to them, “I AM.”
Judas his betrayer was also with them. When he said to them,
“I AM,” they turned away and fell to the ground. So he again
asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” They said,
“Jesus the Nazorean.” Jesus answered, “I told you that I AM.
So if you are looking for me, let these men go." John 18: 4-8

I find it interesting that the solders fall at the voice of God.
 
Classicist
I am speaking of the specifically-seven I AM-s in John’s Gospel. They are very clearly part of John’s overall narrative structure.
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But, in addition to what you posted, Jesus was speaking to the Jewish hierarchy, who knew that the term “I AM,” is what God told Moses who he was, in Exodus 3:14. It’s why they sought to have him put to death, because he was claiming to be “I AM.,” or God.

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
Classicist

But, in addition to what you posted, Jesus was speaking to the Jewish hierarchy, who knew that the term “I AM,” is what God told Moses who he was, in Exodus 3:14. It’s why they sought to have him put to death, because he was claiming to be “I AM.,” or God.

Jim
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Yes sir! I only meant this thread to focus on the “seven theological I AMs”, as it were. 😉

Of course, the “I AM” of John 8:58 is the most scandalous, shocking, and amazing one - even if it isn’t part of the seven. It wraps up and concludes and summarizes them all, even though it comes before the final five!
 
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