ANNOUNCER: Why did Jesus, rather than saying He would give life or He would give resurrection, say “I am the resurrection and the life”? How do these statements make Christianity distinct and unique from any other religion or philosophy about reaching or finding God? We’re going to talk about that today right here on Grace in Focus, and we’re excited that you’re with us for this episode. This is a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Our website is faithalone.org. Our annual conference is coming up soon, May the 18th through the 21st, and pre-registration closes soon, May the 7th, so make sure and get that in, and also be sure to let us know if your kids are coming for our VBS during that time. The theme is “Believe in Him for Life” and the Grace Evangelical Society will be celebrating our 40th anniversary. It’ll be a great conference. Get the information you need, and get signed up today at faithalone.org. 

Now with today’s question and answer discussion, here’s Bob Wilkin, along with Sam Marr. 

SAM: All right Bob, we’ve got a question on John 11:25. 

BOB: Which is one of our favorite verses. 

SAM: It is, it’s a good one, and there’s a good question. It’s a question from Greg, and first he wants to say thanks for always commenting on his name, meaning watchful or one who watches. But so his question is, in John 11:25, this is where Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life,” he asks, why do you think Jesus uses the nouns here instead of verbs? Why doesn’t he say, I will resurrect you, and I will give you life instead of, I am the resurrection and the life? 

BOB: It’s a great question, Greg. In John 11:25-27, He does say, “I am the resurrection and the life,” but there are other places where He says, I will raise up on the last day those who believe in Me, and there are other places where He says I give Him eternal life, and they’ll never perish. 

So this is one of seven, “I am” statements in John’s gospel. That is, there are seven places where Jesus tells us something about Himself that is vital for us to know, and these things are crucial evangelistic terms because they appear in the book whose purpose is evangelistic. 

And by the way, the reason why we really like John 11:25-27 is because, after Jesus says He’s the resurrection and the life and asked Martha if you believe this, she says, yes, Lord, I do, and here’s why. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who is to come into the world. So she explains what it means to believe that Jesus is the Christ, and it doesn’t mean that His last name is Christ or that He’s merely the King of Israel or merely God’s Anointed One, it means He’s the one that guarantees resurrection and everlasting life that’s irrevocable to all who believe in Him.

And this ties in with the purpose statement in John 20:31 where John says, these signs I have written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name. So this passage is important, let’s go through the seven I am statements. Do you have them there, Sam? What’s the first one? 

SAM: First is bread of life. 

BOB: Okay, so Jesus said, I am the bread of life in John 6:35. 

SAM: “I am the bread of life, he who comes to Me shall never hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” 

BOB: So He could have said, I am the source of eternal life, right? Instead of saying, I am the bread of life, or He could have said, I give eternal life to those who believe in Me. Well, He does say that elsewhere, but here He’s making a statement about who He is. He is the source of life, that is, bread of life. The second one is the light of the world? 

SAM: Yeah, John 8:12, “I am the light of the world, He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” 

BOB: Okay, so here He’s saying He’s the light of the world. And of course He’s both the light in terms of revealing the way to eternal life, which is through faith in Him, but He’s also the light of the world in terms of those who follow Him will not walk in darkness. And I think this is important from an evangelistic perspective because people should know, who are unbelievers, that if they come to faith in Christ, there’s a potential life that’s free from all of the darkness that is part of our world. It’s not that I have to somehow abandon the darkness to be born again. It’s attractive to come to faith in Christ and to know that my life can have real meaning and purpose. Okay, what’s the third one? 

SAM: Third is John 10:7. He says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep,” or I think some say gate, the sheep gate. 

BOB: So He is the way for the sheep to have everlasting life. The thief, which is the devil has come to steal rob and destroy. But the Good Shepherd is the one who is the door or the gate to everlasting life. 

SAM: Well, that’s the next one later in this passage. He says, “I am the Good Shepherd.” So these two are closely related. But I think we’ve kind of already seen it with the previous ones and then we’ll see it with the next ones. I think part of the answer to the question is, He’s using a lot of different examples, kind of symbols to help clarify what He’s saying. Everybody has to eat. So he says, I am the bread of life. He who believes will never hunger, never thirst. So they’re examples to try and explain what He’s saying in a symbolic way, I guess. 

BOB: And by the way, on that one, we didn’t point out, but guess what immediately precedes his statement in John 6:35, one of His great miracles, the feeding of the 5,000, which was 5,000 men plus women and children, maybe as many as 20,000 people. And they were saying to Him, give us this food always. And He says, look, Moses gave you manna in the wilderness and you kept on hungering. He said, the bread that I give, once you eat of it, you’ll never hunger again, just like the water I give, once you drink of it, you’ll never thirst again. So yeah, I think that’s vitally important. 

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BOB: In terms of the resurrection and the life, the two statements He makes, both are statements of eternal security. He said, he who believes in Me, though he may die physically, yet he shall live. That’s not referring to everlasting life. That’s referring to being resurrected with a glorified body. 

That’s especially important because in this context, Jesus is there because Mary and Martha’s brother has died and He’s, they don’t know it, but He’s going to raise Lazarus from the dead. And so now to illustrate that He’s the resurrection and the life, He’s about to raise Lazarus. And He’s saying the one who believes Me, though he’s going to die physically, yet he’s going to be raised. He’s going to be glorified. That’s a guarantee. If we’re believers in Christ, we’re guaranteed to be glorified. And then He says, whoever lives and believes in Me, shall never die. Well, that’s a statement of I am the life, that is I am everlasting life, so that the living person who believes in Jesus will never die spiritually. 

And by the way, it’s interesting, elsewhere in John’s Gospel. It’s always for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever “believes in Him” should not perish, but have everlasting life, nothing about whoever lives and believes in Him. This is the lone place where we get whoever lives and believes. And I think the reason that’s stated here is because it emphasizes the fact that we need to believe in Christ before we die. There’s no postmortem conversions. You can’t be born again after you die. You need to believe in Christ in this life in order to have everlasting life. 

SAM: Yeah, and I think it’s important to mention here, like with the bread of life, the reason he uses this phrasing instead of saying, I will resurrect and I will give life is because Martha’s statement was in regards to Lazarus. Jesus says your brother will rise again. Martha says, I know that he will rise again in the last day. And Jesus is saying, not in the last day, I am the resurrection. He’s going to rise now. So it’s in response, like with the bread, they wanted bread, to keep eating it and He’s saying, I’ve got something way better than bread that you can eat every day. I have something that you only need to eat once. 

BOB: Just like the woman at the well.

SAM: And the woman at the the well. Yeah. 

BOB: I’ve got this water and it’s terrific. Now, the sixth one is probably the most famous, John 14:6, I am the way, I am the truth. I am the life. No one comes to the Father, but by Me. And so Jesus is the way to the Father. He’s the truth concerning life and everlasting life. And of course, how to have fullness of life as well. And the life, He is everlasting life. 

It’s interesting that both John 11:25 and John 14:6, Jesus says “I am the life.” 

SAM: This is proceeded by Thomas asking, “Lord, we don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way?” And Jesus says, “I am the way.” So again, the reason He’s using these symbols or these statements is because they’re direct responses, but they’re not really answers that these people were expecting to get. So he didn’t give Thomas a roadmap. He said, I am your roadmap. The next one is John 15:1-5, where He says, I am the true vine. My Father is the vine dresser, and He has more details about the being the vine. 

BOB: Yeah, I am the vine. You are the branches, that kind of thing. So there are seven statements in John’s Gospel where Jesus says, I am—something, and He lists it. There are also a few places where He just says, “I am” like, “Before Abraham was, I am,” or to the woman at the well, He said, “I who speak to you, am.” We supply the word He, but is I am. All of these statements are statements about the fact that Jesus gives everlasting life or in the case of Him being the light of the world, I think that one is both for having the life and then for following Christ and not being in darkness, but all of these are important ones. 

And so many people have said, the other religions of the world, their founders point to something else, right? The sevenfold path, or they point to the divine essence, or they point to the way or something. But Jesus didn’t point to something else. Jesus pointed to Himself. Jesus called for faith in Himself. Jesus said, “I am,” and He kept saying it over and over and over again. So Christianity really is about Christ and we can’t have eternal life without believing in Him. If we think somehow we can get it some other way, we’re deceived. And we can’t have abundant experience of everlasting life without Him, without loving Him and following Him. We’re born again by believing in Him and we experience fullness of life by following Him. 

And so I like the question, Greg, thank you for the question. I would encourage all of you to especially study John 11:25-27, fantastic passage. We’ve got some articles at faithalone.org if you want to see more about it. 

Keep your questions coming, make them short and send them to radio at faithalone.org. And remember, keep grace in focus. 

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On our next episode: does a lack of conviction of sin prove that you’re not saved? Please join us for that, and until then, let’s keep grace in focus.