Life Talk Devotion 05/15/2023 –
One Little Word:
And He (Jesus) said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” John 8:23-24
It is amazing how one little word can alter the meaning of a discussion or sentence. In verse 24 above, the original Gospel manuscripts do not contain the word ‘He’ (in bold). It was added by the translators to our English Bibles. Try re-reading the passages without the He in it.
In the original text Jesus is declaring that He is the “I AM” which is the personal Name for God in Hebrew (Yahweh or Jehovah). The Jewish Pharisees He is speaking to understood clearly Jesus is saying He is the One who appeared to Moses in the burning bush. This was a stunning statement by Jesus and a stumbling block for the Pharisees. It also is the reason they sought to kill Jesus accusing Him of blasphemy.
Even today this same declaration of Jesus as God in the flesh is a point of unbelief for many. But Jesus does not offer us any other option saying “if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins.” . The hard truth is you cannot have Jesus without having Him as God incarnate.
“The heart of true faith is rooted in and guided by truth; truth established by God through the essence of His nature and His Word. Without His truth as revealed in the Bible, man can only stumble in his effort to know Him and be redeemed by Him.” M.P. Bramble
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