Complimentary Story
August 2026“And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.’” (John 6:35 NKJV).
I want to begin a series on the seven ‘I AM’ statements of Jesus Christ recorded in the Gospel of John. I would encourage you to read my article, “What’s with the Twelve Baskets?” published here in the Wisconsin Christian News, Volume 24, Number 4 as it contains an interesting take on why Jesus had the disciples gather the fragments of leftovers from the feeding of the five thousand in John 6.
While this article is an introduction to the series and we will only be introducing Jesus first ‘I AM’ statement, I feel it is important to mention each of them now, so you are familiar with them. The seven ‘I AM’ statements of Jesus are as follows: “I am the bread of Life.” (6:35, 48, 51), “I am the light of the world.” (8:12; 9:5), “I am the door of the sheep.” (10:7, 9), “I am the good shepherd.” (10:11, 14), “I am the resurrection and the life.” (11:25), “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (14:6), “I am the true vine.” (John 15:1, 5).
I want to do this series because it amazes me the number of people who think that Jesus was a prophet, or good teacher, but who do not believe He ever claimed to be God. Some might know Christ as the Son of God, but they fail to truly understand what that means. Jesus Christ is God, and He is clear “I and My Father are one.” (John 10:30 NKJV).
Muslims are taught by their Imams to ask us Christians, “Show me where Jesus said, ‘I am God worship Me.’” Of course, this is a clever tactic because they will not accept any evidence if it is not a verse stating exactly that. This leads to confusion on both the Muslim and Christian view. When a believer fails to produce that exact verse, the Muslim feels vindicated in their view that Jesus is not God, while the believer feels frustrated and unable to prove their view definitively.
This is a result of Biblical illiteracy. We fail to properly convey, or perhaps even fully understand, who Jesus truly is because we do not know what He said of Himself because we refuse to read the Bible in its entirety and allow it to interpret itself. We have become lazy and biblically illiterate in the modern Church, choosing to allow online influencers and even our church Pastors to spoon feed us, rather than feasting on the Word of God for ourselves.
Jesus clearly and repeatedly claimed to be God and this series will invite you to investigate these statements for yourself and to view them in their scriptural and cultural context.
The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand is the fourth miracle that John shows us in his Gospel. The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle which appears in all four of the gospels. Jesus’ first miracle, the turning of water into wine, speaks of the blood of Christ, foreshadowing His sacrificial death upon the cross and referencing communion. In the Bible, the number “one” speaks of the unity of the Father and the Son, and thus the deity of Christ. The turning of the water into wine clearly demonstrates Christ's power to create, and thus it speaks of His Deity as God. The 4th miracle, the feeding of the five thousand, demonstrates Jesus’ Power to create and alludes to communion regarding the bread.
Of all of Christ’s miracles, the feeding of the five thousand is the clearest demonstration of the power of Jesus Christ to create. This fourth miracle undeniably demonstrates that Jesus Christ is God, and it also sets the stage for the first of Jesus’ “I AM” statements, “I am the bread of Life,” and His discourse concerning that statement in verses 6:22-40.
As I conclude this article, I invite you to think about the introduction in John 6:2, “then a great multitude followed Him because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.” Notice what it says. They followed Him because they saw His signs which He performed. Oh, if we would follow Jesus because we believe, because we love Him, because we desire to be with Him. However, much like the people in this passage, many often follow Jesus only for what they can get from Him.
Next month we will begin to unpack what Jesus had to say in His first “I AM” statement. Until then, feast upon the Word, and follow Him — because you love Him not for what you can get.
Email:
AliveMinistriesUSA@gmail.com
