Good morning.
I would like to ask you to turn to Exodus 3. This is a story I believe all of you are familiar with. We will read some verses, and then a few in the New Testament.
And Moses tended the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian.
And he led the flock behind the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.
And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a thorn bush: and he looked, and, behold, the thorn bush burned with fire, and the thorn bush was not consumed.
And Moses said, Let me now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the thorn bush is not burnt.
And the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, and God called him out of the midst of the thorn bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
And He said, Draw not nigh hither: loose thy sandals from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
And He said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
And then verses 11 through 14:
And Moses said to God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
And He said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be the sign unto thee that I have sent thee: when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.
And Moses said to God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say unto me, What is His name? What shall I say unto them?
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
And now, if you will also turn to John’s Gospel, John 8, we will read a verse. Again, I think you are probably familiar with this verse.
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
And then finally, John 14:6—again, a familiar verse:
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
So let us have a word of prayer.
Lord, we are so grateful we have Your Word. Without Your Word, where would we be? We would be lost. But Your Word—truly, the psalmist was right—“The entrance of Thy words giveth light.” We pray that that light will shine vividly this morning as we open Your Word, as we consider Your Word, as we meditate and share Your Word.
Lord, we are utterly dependent upon You, and we always say, as we come to You and open Your Word, You alone have the words of eternal life. Speak to us. To whom shall we go? There is no one else. But if You speak by Your Holy Spirit, we will be greatly helped.
So we ask together, in the name of the Lord Jesus, would You speak to us for Your name’s sake and for Your glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Well, I think these are stories and verses with which you are quite familiar. The title of the message that I have been burdened with for some months now is simply, “I Am: The Great Revelation.”
I think when you look at the Bible as a whole, you have to see this revelation playing out from the beginning to the end of the Word of God. It is not an exaggeration to say, “I am” is the great revelation.
These two words have so impressed me: “I am.” I began to think about them in relation to Moses’ calling, and then I began to think about them in relation to the New Testament. I realized that the revelation given to Moses that day in the wilderness of Midian was deepened in the New Testament with even further and greater meaning.
I think, brothers and sisters, it is absolutely essential that we have a grasp of what this means if we are going to live a full Christian life. It is not just some title. It is not just some name—the name, by the way, that God took. It is for us to know and, finally, to experience and live through.
We are to know what this means to such a degree that we literally experience the “I am” in our lives.
So, in a broad way, I would like us to look at three things:
Moses said it was a great sight, and we need to see that great sight. If we do not, we will never be able to serve the Lord. If we do not, we will never be useful. If we do not, we will never understand who He is.
The second thing I want us to look at is this: when you come into the New Testament, rather than this being just an Old Testament vision that Moses had of the burning bush, the apostle John took this very phrase and enlarged and deepened its meaning when the Lord uttered those seven famous “I am” phrases in the Gospel of John.
Finally, I think we need to see that it is a progressive and complete revelation. If we see that, it is not just a momentary experience, but something we need to know progressively. If we know it, we will begin to understand how complete this phrase, “I am,” is.
It is only two words, but it is full of very deep meaning for us as believers. And this one other thing: it will change your life.
It will change your service. It will change your expression as a people, as a testimony of Jesus, if you see, as Moses saw and as John saw, the greatness of these single two words.
So that is something of the burden that, for some months, I have been reliving, meditating, considering, thinking, and dwelling on: “I am.”
And this verse came to me at the end, and I will share just some perspective from it: John 14:6.
I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by Me.
So, for those of you that like outlines, that is a bit of where, by the grace of God, we will head.
I believe this story in Exodus 3 was when everything changed for the people of God. You know the story. It is quite a vivid story.
Moses represented the glory, the wisdom, and the power of Egypt. It is hard to overstate the place Moses had in Egypt.
When you come to this story in Exodus 3, you see how the Lord brought him to Himself, changed and transformed the man, and prepared the man for service—true service.
He had more natural ability than all of us put together here in this room, and maybe many in the world. No one had more wisdom, it seems, or more power in the court next to Pharaoh. No one knew and represented such a greatness of Egypt.
And yet, the Lord had to do something—something He needs to do to all of us. There needs to be a place of spiritual reduction to bring us to a place of true service.
I believe that is what Moses saw. You remember, Moses must have thought himself to be something in Egypt. It began to dawn on him about his brethren, and he saw this Egyptian taskmaster mistreating his Hebrew brethren.
You all know the story, so I am not going to go into so much depth. But he saw this Egyptian taskmaster mistreating his Hebrew brethren, and he looked around, and he did not see anybody, and he smote and killed the Egyptian. He buried him in the sand.
Well, Moses, again, with all of his wisdom and all of the power that he represented, began to have this burden for his own people, the Hebrews. And so, the very next day, he saw two Hebrew brethren quarreling.
He went to intervene and said, “Why are you quarreling?” And one of the Hebrew men said, “Who made you king and judge over us?”
What a prophetic utterance that was. At this point, he was the glory of Egypt, but God would make him judge. God would make him lord, so to speak, over the Hebrew people.
I think that he expected these two to fall in line and listen to his great wisdom and great power. And they said, “What are you going to do? You are going to slay us the way you slew the Egyptian?”
And maybe, for the first moment in his time, this great warrior, this great prince, this great man of wisdom, feared. Maybe it was the first time. And he thought, “Oh, no.”
Here, this great man fled to Midian, the wilderness of Midian. His idea to be deliverer was completely forsaken. He only had sheep.
Well, he did find a wife. Thank goodness Jethro had daughters. He did find a wife, and he did have children. But this great force of Egypt was relegated to the wilderness of Midian.
And this was God’s design.
Now, brothers and sisters, I believe if ever there was a divine appointment, this is a divine appointment. The Lord arranged all this. The Lord allowed Moses—you know the story—back in the reeds and the basket, to go to Egypt and to be saved alive by water. His name, therefore, Moses.
But the Lord had something greater in mind for this man. This was all the arrangement. He let him ascend to the heights in Egypt, and yet, in Midian, He brought him to a few sheep in the wilderness.
So you know the story. When you read this story, we already read those verses. He was in the desert of Midian, tending Jethro’s sheep. I do not even know if they were his sheep.
Talk about reduction. I do not even know if the Bible says they were his sheep. I think they were the father-in-law’s sheep. Can you imagine working for the father-in-law without even your own sheep, being this great mind of Egypt?
And then he saw a sight. There was a thorn bush, and this thorn bush was on fire. But the miracle of it is that this thorn bush was not consumed.
Now, a thorn bush in the desert of Midian was a common sight. These things tumbled all over the place. And this dried-up, old, dead thorn bush was something that Moses had to see.
He thought he represented the glory of Egypt. He thought he had all the wisdom and learning of the current world that exceeded every generation that passed before it.
But God had something to show him. He wanted to show him that he was a dried-up, old thorn bush. When it comes to serving God, when it comes to making a difference in the things of God, it was not Moses. That is what the Lord wanted to show him in this vision.
He called it a great sight.
Now, you know, we think of thorns differently here in the United States. I used to play in the woods. Back in my day, we did not have to wear helmets when we rode bikes, and we played in the woods all day long.
My mother, like many of your mothers, had one of those supersonic voices. At the end of the day, they could just yell out, and it reverberated through half the county. You would come out of the woods, go home, and have a family dinner—sit down and actually talk to people, not look at your smartphone. It was amazing.
And I got caught up in more thorn bushes than you can imagine. I would get tangled in them, playing army in the woods. They would stick into you and stick into every part of you. These were green, lush, big thorny things, and boy, they hurt. You know what I mean.
Well, this was not exactly the same. This was not some green, lush, living thing. This was a dead, old thorn bush. As a matter of fact, the Bible literally says it means bramble.
I also grew up watching Western television movies. I do not know if they even have those anymore. They are probably not politically correct. Nobody in this room probably remembers Hopalong Cassidy, but I remember Hopalong Cassidy, Gunsmoke, and Bonanza, and all of these things.
They were our entertainment in black and white. The young people are staring at me like I am a Martian when I talk about black-and-white television. “What on earth are you talking about?”
And in those scenes, these brambles, these old thorn bushes, would roll across the scene right in front of John Wayne, you see. Dead old things. Worthless old things. Things of no value.
But often in the desert, it was so hot, so searingly hot, that these things would instantly catch on fire, and they would be consumed just instantly.
Now, that was the strange sight. Moses saw this thing, and he said, “I saw the thorn bush, and it burned with fire, and the miracle of it was it was not consumed.”
And out of that thorn bush, God spoke to Moses and said, “Moses, Moses.” And Moses said, “Here I am.” And the Lord said, “Take off your sandals, for the place you stand is holy ground.”
This was the beginning of the transformation of Moses. This was the beginning of the entire change for Israel, bringing them to be a corporate expression of who God was.
This is the great revelation of the Old Testament.
Moses must have wondered what this thing meant. Moses must have thought, “What is this? What can it mean?” But it has very deep meaning.
When you look at it, you realize this is the vital and humbling lesson for Moses. What God wanted him to see was that he was that dried-up, old, dead thorn bush.
Though he had all the wisdom of Egypt, though he represented all the glory of Egypt, and though he was the best of Egypt, he was merely a dried-up, old, dead thorn bush. What a humbling experience. Think of it.
I would say this is spiritual reduction. You remember the story of Gideon—very spiritual reduction. You remember Judges 7, the story of Gideon, right?
They had an army of 32,000, and the Lord said, “Gideon, this is too much, lest Israel vaunt themselves and say, ‘Our hand hath brought us salvation.’”
So He said, “Let the timid and those that fear go back.” And that very day, 22,000 of the 32,000 went back. You know the story.
But God was wanting to do something even greater that only He can do. So He said, “Gideon, it is still too much. Send them to the water.”
That strange scene—have you ever thought about that strange scene at the water’s edge? Let those that lap like dogs when they take the water be separated from those that bend over and drink the water, bowed down.
It ended up that those that lapped like dogs were selected to be the army of the Lord: 300 out of 32,000.
Now, that is spiritual reduction. I am a numbers guy—you know that; you have endured with me all these years—but that is less than one percent.
Yet the great revelation of the Old Testament is that God wants to do the impossible, and not through us. He will do it in us, but not through us.
Do not ever take credit for what He does. Allow Him to do in you that spiritual reduction, to bring you to the place where you are utterly dependent upon Him.
At the end of your vision is “I am.” Moses said, “Here I am.” That was not the point of Exodus 3.
The point of Exodus 3 was not, “Moses, who you are.” It was, “Moses, I AM THAT I AM has sent you.”
“What shall I tell them? Who shall I tell them the name?” Tell them, “I am.” Two powerful words.
Aren’t you thankful it does not say, “I was”? Aren’t you thankful it does not say, “I will be”? So good: “I am.”
Could you think of a more perfect revelation? It does not give a name like, “I am peace. I am hope. I am power.” But in this profound revelation, He simply says, “I am.”
Now, you may have also noticed it is all in caps: “I AM THAT I AM.” “Tell them I AM hath sent you.” It is all in caps. Have you noticed that?
Bible scholars tell us that when it is all in caps—like you are not supposed to do in your email, I found out, by the way—that is the very name of God. The very name of God is “I am.”
That was the fire inside the bush. That was what Moses needed to see. That is what we need to see.
It is not who you are. He happened to take the best and show us that they were nothing. But He could equally have taken the worst, and you would agree, and show them they are nothing.
Because in the end, what He wants to show us is, “I AM THAT I AM.”
Brothers and sisters, this was the great sight. The bush was burning—this old, dried-up, dead thorn bush—but this bush was not consumed.
And for all of us who follow, we are to know this great revelation: we are that thorn bush.
But that is not the end of the story. I love Paul Harvey. The kids are going to again look at me: “Who is this Martian talking about?” Paul Harvey used to always say, “And the rest of the story.”
When you look at the rest of the story, you see the great revelation and the great secret of service. You see the great revelation and the great secret of the Christian life. You see the great revelation and the great secret of testimony.
And that is the “I am” that is in the thorn bush. That is what Moses saw. He was captivated by this sight.
This sight transformed man, transformed ministry, and transformed the children of Israel. This, to me, is a tremendous revelation.
It is not too much to say it is the greatest revelation in the Old Testament: “I AM THAT I AM.”
Now, you remember what John the apostle said in 1 John 4:4. All of you know this verse.
Ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.
This is the fire in the bush. This is the secret of life. This is the power of service. This is the reason for testimony. To me, that makes it the great sight and the great revelation.
Now, the second thing I want us to look at—pardon me, I have had a cold this week, and I do not want to sniffle all over you. So do not let me hug you, even if I am tempted to.
When you come to the New Testament, this great revelation is not abandoned. It is actually strengthened.
John the apostle, in his Gospel, took ownership of this phrase, “I am,” and, in an incredible way, deepened the revelation and made it clear that the revelation of the Bible is the “I am.”
You know the story. You know the Gospel. Now, John’s Gospel is completely different from the other three, which they call the Synoptic Gospels.
“Synoptic”—I know you hear people sometimes speak of a Synoptic Gospel, and you wonder what on earth they are talking about. It simply means summary or synopsis. It comes from maybe the root “optic”—what you see.
So, in the three Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—we see sort of a summary of the Lord’s miracles, words, sermons, and parables. In John’s Gospel, you do not read a single parable. It is somewhat odd.
John’s Gospel takes a different perspective. Now, please do not think I am bashing the other three Gospel writers. If we did not have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we would not have a complete picture of who the Lord Jesus is.
In Matthew, we see Jesus as King. In Mark, we see Jesus as the Servant of God. You always read the word “immediately,” how He responded immediately.
In Luke, we see Jesus as Son—the Son of Man. We see Him as man. And when we come to John’s Gospel, we see Jesus as the Son of God, as God Himself.
Amazing Gospel. Unique Gospel.
What John does is begin to take that understanding of that great revelation in the Old Testament and deepen it. He shows how full it actually is.
Let me read to you three things from John 8. Three times, the Lord Jesus Himself used this phrase in John’s Gospel to describe who He was.
John 8:23–24:
And He said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.
I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for except ye believe that I am, ye shall die in your sins.
Now, brothers and sisters, for all of you Bible scholars, the “He” there is in square brackets in my version. Darby put it in square brackets. In other words, that was added in English translations to make it clear to our understanding. It is an added word; it is not in the original.
So it literally means, “Unless you believe I am, you will die in your sins.” The Lord did not use “He.” He seized upon this great revelation.
Well, look at John 8:28:
Jesus therefore said unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am, and that I do nothing of Myself, but as the Father taught Me, I speak these things.
Look at John 8:58. This is a remarkable verse. When the Lord was speaking, He said, “Before Abraham was, I am.” A startling phrase.
Before Abraham was, I am. Now, those Jews knew exactly what the Lord was saying. They knew the Lord was taking ownership and saying, “I am the I AM.” That is what they knew.
There was no doubt in their mind. As a matter of fact, this was the height of blasphemy on their part. So you immediately read in the next verse that they took up stones to stone Him.
It was not that they did not like His Hebrew. He invaded the ultimate. He said to them, “Before Abraham was, I am.”
They knew what He said. There was no doubt. There was no confusion. They said, “He has assumed the place of God Himself, the great I AM.”
Well, indeed He did. John saw this. John recorded this. The Lord said this on purpose: to show them the deepening revelation of the New Testament.
Now let me just read to you some of those other seven phrases, and then we will go to our last point.
John 6:35. These are the seven phrases. By the way, seven is a perfect number in the Bible. You know that, right? Seven is the complete number.
So, if you think about it, what the Lord was doing was showing that He was the complete “I am.”
Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.
Brothers and sisters, this great I AM is our portion forever. He says we will never hunger, and we will never thirst again because we have this great I AM. That is the first one.
Look at John 8:12:
Again therefore Jesus spake unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Tremendous statement. Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus is the light. Those of us that know the Lord Jesus never again walk in darkness, but He says an incredible thing: He is the light of life.
“I am.” Those two words uttered to Moses by the angel of the Lord from the burning bush are who the Lord Jesus is.
John 10:9:
I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find pasture.
Brothers and sisters, this morning, when we began our time for remembering the Lord, we were talking about a door of access, were we not? We now have a door of access that will never be closed.
Think of that. This door to God will never be shut. We have full and complete access because the Lord Jesus said, “I am the door.”
And then look at John 10:11:
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd layeth down His life for the sheep.
Brothers and sisters, think of it. We do not any longer lack One who can lead us and care for us. He said, “I am the good shepherd.”
You go on in the New Testament, and that revelation deepens. You understand He is the great Shepherd of the sheep.
“I am the good shepherd.” Listen to this: “The good shepherd layeth down His life for the sheep.” Has there ever been a shepherd like that?
Remember, what the Lord is doing is taking this phrase of great revelation given to Moses and building upon it until He shows the completeness of His work.
John 11:25–26. I think you all know this. Hardly a funeral I have been to where I have not heard this preached.
I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth on Me, though he die, yet shall he live;
and whosoever liveth and believeth on Me shall never die. Believest thou this?
Brothers and sisters, Martha had a wrong impression. She knew the brother that she loved would be raised in the last day. She told the Lord that.
In her deep grieving, she told the Lord, “I know, I know he will be raised in the last day.” But that was not the revelation that the Lord Jesus had for Martha and for Mary.
He said, “Martha, I am the resurrection. And more than that, I am the life.”
Brothers and sisters, I think believers think we are waiting for resurrection. We now, because of the Lord’s great work, can experience resurrection life while we are here on earth.
That is the fire in the bush. Do you get it? “I am the resurrection and the life.”
John 14:6—we will touch on that a little bit more:
I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
And finally, John 15:1:
I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.
There are two promises here. First, “I am the true vine.” We are in the Lord Jesus. His life is our very life.
From that vine comes incorruptible life, and we are ensured—or assured, whichever you like better—we are told that we shall bear fruit. It is a promise.
Then we are told another remarkable thing. I think it is wonderful when you read this. There is a second promise: “My Father is the husbandman.”
Now what does that mean? It means He is the Master Gardener. When we do not bear fruit, there is a steadfast promise that this Master Gardener will prune and cut and deal, so that in the end we shall bear much fruit.
That is the dual promise: “I am the vine.”
These are seven absolute and remarkable statements. These are the deepening revelation of what Moses saw in Exodus 3.
I think I read Billy Graham said that the Lord Jesus enlarges, fills out, and completes the vision Moses had. It is the Lord Jesus. This is the great and good news, and this is the deepening revelation.
Now let me talk, at least for a few moments, about John 14:6. I call it the progressive and complete revelation.
It is the only one of those seven absolute “I am” statements that has three things spoken about. It is the only one that has three.
I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
That is the reason I want to speak about it. There is a completeness to the Lord’s statement that fills out this revelation.
I had a competitor. He is now gone, by the way. I did not do anything to him. He died a natural death, but I may have thought about it at times.
He would always, ad infinitum, at every engineering group we went to, speak about the three-legged stool. He always did. It meant so much to him, I could tell.
Many of you have seen those old wooden stools with just three legs on them, sort of in the shape of a triangle, right? That is what makes the stool stable.
Now, if you want to play around, you can cut one of the legs off. Just do not tell your mother. Cut one of the legs off and then try to sit on the three-legged stool, and you will discover that you and the three-legged stool both fall on the floor.
You understand? What the Lord Jesus is saying, that John recorded, is, “I am that three-legged stool.” Everything is provided in Me from the beginning to the end, and all the middle in between.
“I am that stool.” You never have to fear lacking because of what is available in Christ.
I remember when I was first saved what this verse meant to me. I remember the light that came on. I saw it. It was a flash of divine light.
I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
And I thought, “This is it. This is the Gospel. This is the full revelation, complete.”
I remember seeing it, and I thought, “He showed me a way like nobody else has showed me. He taught me truth like nothing I have ever heard before. He gave me life—and I had none, really—in this old thorn bush.”
But, brothers and sisters, as I have grown in the Lord, I think it is more than that.
It is not just that He shows us a way. It is not just that He teaches us truth—the best truth. It is not just that He gives you eternal life and you will not die and you will live forever.
It is far greater than that. He says to every one of us, “I am your way. I am the truth. I am the life.”
That is His message. For me, it was a progression. I saw something which caught me when I was first saved, but as I have grown a little in the Lord, I have seen something even deeper.
It is not just, “He showed me a way.” You know, I get lost pretty easily. This is confession.
I love my smartphone. It has GPS, and I love it. I do not know what happened to my brain genes, but here I am, an engineer that deals with numbers and figures and design all the time, but if you put me out on the road, I can get lost.
And please do not do one of these things where you give me directions, if I happen to ask for them. “Well, you take a left here and a right here and a left there and take a long curve there, and then you are there.” I never hear it. It goes right in and out, and I am lost.
But I love my GPS. I can talk to it. GPS—not GPR. GPR is engineering: ground-penetrating radar. GPS. See, I am a confused human being. You knew that already.
But I can talk to it and say, “Take me to so-and-so,” and it listens to me. People do not listen to me sometimes, but my phone listens to me. I can ask it questions. It answers me. This is remarkable.
I tell people I will never be alone. I can talk to it; it will talk back.
But, you know, I have depended on GPS sometimes, and I have gotten lost. I hate it when you go up and it says, “Your location is on the right,” and it was not.
And please do not follow it deep in the country. You will be going over hills with cows and streams, and, “Is this what GPS—GPR—GPS meant?”
“I am the way.” You are never lost when He is the way.
You do not wake up and say, “Show me the way.” The good news about the fire in the bush is that you have the Way inside of you.
You can say, “Lord, today”—this is very practical, by the way—“You are the way today.”
You can say, “Lord, You are the truth. Teach me Thy way.”
And you can say the greatest progressive revelation: “Lord, You are my life.”
To me, that was the greatest discovery as a Christian. One day, when I saw in the Word that it was no longer me that had to live—it is impossible to live the Christian life.
I have bored you all with that saying of mine over and over. It is not just difficult; it is impossible to live the Christian life.
How can a thorn bush—a dried-up, old, dead thorn bush—live the Christian life? But when the fire is in you, the impossible becomes possible.
I will never forget it. I saw in a flash Philippians 1:21:
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Brothers and sisters, I cannot tell you what that did for me. It opened my eyes, and in an instant I saw it: He is my life.
John says in his first epistle that we might live through Him. Paul, writing to the Colossian believers, says, “When He who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.”
What a revelation that is. Do you know you do not have to live the Christian life? Isn’t that good news?
I always say to people, “You know, when the Lord died for you, you need never die.” That is true, by the way.
But the Lord lives for you, that you may not ever have to live. The I AM, like He reduced Moses and showed Moses, wants to be that One living within us.
And that is the secret of the great revelation.
I am crucified with Christ;
nevertheless I live;
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
“I am the way. I am the truth. I am the light.”
It is not just eternal life. Thank God for eternal life. You may not like living with me for eternity, but I am going to look forward to living with you for eternity.
You know, the first emperor of China—if Isadora is going to correct me on this word, I am preparing myself for it. She says I am half Chinese. I still have not figured that out. Qin Shi Huang—is that close enough?
Well, anyway, he was the first emperor of China. This thing of eternal life got him. He wanted all of his potion makers and whatever to find a potion for eternal life.
As a matter of fact, I have heard that he died drinking what he thought was one of those potions. He never slept in the same place a couple nights in a row, always afraid somebody might kill him. He was obsessed with eternal life.
I do not know if you have ever heard: he was the one who united China. He did a remarkable thing, and he had the terracotta army. Have you heard of the terracotta army?
In 1974, farmers in China discovered the terracotta army in the ground: 8,000 life-size soldiers, 500 full-size horses, chariots, all these things, so Qin Shi Huang would be protected for eternal life.
As a matter of fact, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has the terracotta army display. This is one of my clients. This is a shameless pitch. I do not get any money for it, but I had to do the support for the terracotta chariot and horse.
You know, this thing is thousands of years old. I am thinking, “Boy, if I mess this one up.” And to do this thing of this terracotta horse—well.
But we are not enthralled with just eternal life. What makes a difference is when Jesus said, “I am the life.”
We found the secret. We have discovered the truth. We know the way, and it is altogether complete in the person of the Lord Jesus Himself.
This is the great revelation. Brothers and sisters, this is the fire in the thorn bush. This is the secret of living. This is the way we can do the impossible.
You remember, to the rich young ruler, it was said, “With man it is impossible.” Well, what is the other part of that phrase?
With God all things are possible.
That is the deepening revelation of the New Testament. Well, that is really the burden.
Have you seen this great sight? Has it captivated you the way it captivated Moses?
Have you seen the deepening and completeness of this revelation in the Lord Jesus?
When God gave us His only Son, He gave us everything. There is only one description that can describe that everything, and that is these two profound words: “I am.”
It is a progressive and complete revelation. He is our beginning, and He is our end, and He is everything in between.
I am the way,
and the truth,
and the life.
Lord, we come to You. Open our eyes to see who You are. We do not want to live our days in frustration and bring what we have in service. Reduce us to the place where You can show us who You are.
We want the fire in the thorn bush. Lord, we want the reality in our lives. We want to experience every day You as our way, You as our truth, You as life itself.
Lord, we offer ourselves to You. Pray You would cause the Holy Spirit to make real what man cannot make real, and bring us into the living experience of this great revelation.
Lord, may we all wake up in the morning and say, “Lord, You are.” That is the secret.
May You be exalted. In Jesus’ name, amen.