I AM: The Heart of Who Jesus Is - Introduction

Exploring the “I AM” Statements in the Gospel of John

Before We Look at What Jesus Does, We Need to Understand Who He Is

When we talk about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we often talk about what He has done for us. We talk about how He provided when we didn't know how we were going to make it. We talk about how He brought us through the storms, and how He made a way out of no way and led us to victory when we couldn’t even see the path. Those experiences matter so much. They remind us of His faithfulness and help to deepen our trust in Him. But for many of us, what we know about Jesus mostly comes from what He has done in our lives. We need to ask ourselves how much of our knowledge of Him actually comes from what He has revealed about Himself in His Word? There is a difference between knowing what Jesus can do and understanding who He is. Both of those matter of course, but we shouldn’t become so focused on what we need Him to do that we miss what Jesus wants us to understand about Himself.

In the Gospel of John, our Lord and Savior makes a number of statements that begin with the words “I am.” He calls Himself the Bread of Life, the Light of the World, the Good Shepherd, the Door, the Resurrection and the Life, the Way, the Truth and the Life, and the True Vine. These descriptions aren’t just used in His Word because they sound profound or spiritual. They are actually incredibly important to understanding and getting to know our Master Jesus.

Each one teaches us something important about Jesus Christ—about His relationship with the Father, and what it means to be His followers and belong to Him. For example, when He calls Himself the Bread of Life, He is telling us something about the life that only He can give. When He calls Himself the Good Shepherd, He is showing us how He knows each of us intimately and how He cares for, and protects those who belong to Him. And this is what makes these statements so important to study. Jesus is giving us a deeper understanding of His character, His authority, and His relationship with those who follow Him.

These two small words, “I AM” are immeasurably important to our relationship with Christ. When God spoke to Moses from the burning bush, Moses asked what he should tell the Israelites when they asked him for God's name. In Exodus 3:14 (NLT), God answered, “I AM WHO I AM.” In the New Testament, in John 8:58 (NLT), we find Jesus saying, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I AM!” Jesus was making an amazing statement about who He is. He wasn't simply talking about the fact that He had been around longer than Abraham. His words pointed to His divine identity, and the response of the people in the verses that follow shows just how seriously they took what He said. This is one reason we need to pay attention when Jesus tells us who He is. His words are not casual statements, and we shouldn't treat them that way.

The “I AM” statements in the Gospel of John invite us to look beyond the familiar words and consider what Jesus was actually revealing to us. We may know Him as our Provider, our Comforter, and the One we call on when life gets hard, but we also need to understand what He has revealed about Himself in Scripture. We can love the Lord, walk with Him for years, and still have so much more to learn about Him. That's one of the reasons we need to spend time in His Word instead of relying only on what we've heard other people say about Him. Even passages we've read many times can teach us something we didn't understand before. And sometimes, what we discover challenges the way we've been thinking or shows us that we haven't understood something quite the way we thought we did. That's part of growing in Christ. We have to be willing to let God's Word teach us, correct us, and help us see Jesus more clearly.

When we begin to understand the One we have placed our faith in, it gives us a deeper foundation for trusting Him, following Him, and standing on what He has said, even when our circumstances are difficult. Let’s look closely at the words Jesus used to reveal Himself. There is much more here than we may have realized.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

“I AM: The Heart of Who Jesus Is - Part1”, written by Alex for Springfield Fellowship © 2026. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.