7 Important truths about Christ found in the Gospel of John

And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 15 And God furthermore said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name from generation to generation.

Exodus 3:14-15 LSB

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

John 8:58 LSB

Jesus didn’t come to tell us the answers to the questions of life, he came to be the answer.

– Tim Keller

At every turn in the Bible, only one conclusion is possible, to make sense of all these statements, taken together as a whole: Jesus is God the Son. He is the eternal, all-powerful, all-loving, self-existent Creator God.

– Dave Armstrong

1. Jesus said, I AM the Bread of Life

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will never hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. Now this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I
Myself will raise him up on the last day. Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop grumbling among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and also the bread which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

John 6:35-51 LSB

Farmers everywhere provide bread for all humanity, but it is Christ alone who is the bread of life…Even if all the physical hunger of the world were satisfied, even if everyone who is hungry were fed by his or her own labor or by the generosity of others, the deepest hunger of man would still exist…Therefore, I say, Come, all of you, to Christ. He is the bread of life. Come to Christ and you will never be hungry again.

– Pope John Paul II

Man has an inborn hunger for God. He cannot be satisfied with anything less than God. God alone can supply the bread which satisfies the inner longing of your soul and the hunger of your heart. . . . The Bible says that He is the Bread of Life.

– Rev. Dr. Billy Graham

2. Jesus said, I AM the Light of the World

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

John 8:12 LSB

The Bible is not the light of the world, it is the light of the Church. But the world does not read the Bible, the world reads Christians! “You are the light of the world.”

– Charles Spurgeon

All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.

– Saint Francis of Assisi

3. Jesus said, I AM the Door

So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

John 10:7-9 LSB

Jesus does not merely show us a door; He Himself is the door.

– Rev. Roy Hession

It is easy and common to skip over this reference of Jesus to himself as the door and jump straight to him as the shepherd (also in this passage in John 10). But pause and consider that Jesus says he is not only the shepherd of his sheep but he is also the door. In other words, Jesus is not only the shepherd of the sheep, but he is also the way through which he leads every one of his sheep into the presence and blessing and salvation of God.

– Pastor Justin Huffman

4. Jesus said, I AM the Good Shepherd

I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees—and the wolf snatches and scatters them— because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,

John 10:11-14 LSB

Contrary to the false shepherds who are the strangers, who are the thieves, who are the robbers, and who we will see in verses 11 to 21 are the hired hands.  The true Shepherd cares for His sheep.  So, this picture, everybody would affirm.  They would all say that’s exactly what a shepherd does.  He has his own sheep, he has the responsibility to care for those sheep, he puts them in a safe place, he calls them out of the fold, he calls them by name, he names them, they know his voice, they follow him, they don’t follow a stranger, they have to be protected from the danger of thieves and robbers, they are led out by the shepherd to places where they can eat and drink.  That’s a good shepherd.  That’s a picture of salvation. 

– Dr. John MacArthur

Yahweh is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will pursue me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of Yahweh forever.

– King David

5. Jesus said, I AM the Resurrection and Life

Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die—ever. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, the One who comes into the world.”

John 11:21-27 LSB

The earliest Christians believed in the resurrection not because they couldn’t find a dead body but because they found a living Christ.

– Barry McCarty

Genesis ends with Joseph’s death. Deuteronomy ends with Moses’ death. Joshua ends with Joshua’s death. The Gospels end with Jesus’ resurrection. And that changes everything.

– Tony Merida

For Says the Scripture, ‘May bodies of the saints that slept arose,’ their graves being opened.  He descended, indeed, into Hades alone, but He arose accompanied by a multitude

– Saint Ignatius

As Lazarus rose from the dead, so also did many bodies of the Saints rise again to shew forth the Lord’s resurrection; yet notwithstanding that the graves were opened, they did not rise again before the Lord rose, that He might be the first-born of the resurrection from the dead

– Saint Jerome

6. Jesus said, I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going. How do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.

– John 14:5-6 LSB

Jesus said, “I Am the Truth”, and it is your duty and mine to speak the truth. Then it is up to the person who hears it whether to accept or reject it.

– Mother Teresa

Truth is timeless. Truth does not differ from one age to another, from one people to another from geographical location to another…the great all-prevailing Truth stands for time and eternity.

– Billy Graham

The question is not, “Why is there only one way to God?” but “Why is there even one way?”

– Rev. R. C. Sproul

7. Jesus said, I AM the True Vine

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine-grower. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He cleans it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

John 15:1-5 LSB

Jesus had already said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12); “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35); “I am the Way” (John 14:6); and “I am the Door” (John 10:9). Now, the night before His death, He tells them, “I am the Vine.” Like the other great “I am” passages recorded in the Gospel of John, it points to His deity. Each one is a metaphor that elevates Jesus to the level of Creator, Sustainer, Savior, and Lord—titles that can be claimed only by God.

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. (John 15:1-8)

The metaphor in John 15 is of a vine and its branches. The vine is the source and sustenance of life for the branches, and the branches must abide in the vine to live and bear fruit. Jesus, of course, is the vine, and the branches are people. While it is obvious the fruit-bearing branches represent true Christians, the identity of the fruitless ones is in question. Some Bible students say the barren branches are Christians who bear no spiritual fruit.  Others believe they are non-Christians. As always, however, we must look to the context for the best answer.

The true meaning of the metaphor is made clear when we consider the characters in that night’s drama. The disciples were with Jesus. He had loved them to the uttermost; He had comforted them with the words in John chapter 14. The Father was foremost in His thoughts, because He was thinking of the events of the next day. But He was also aware of someone else—the betrayer. Judas had been dismissed from the fellowship when he rejected Jesus’ final appeal of love.

All the characters of the drama were in the mind of Jesus. He saw the eleven, whom He loved deeply and passionately. He was aware of the Father, with whom He shared an infinite love. And He must have grieved over Judas, whom He had loved unconditionally.

All those characters play a part in Jesus’ metaphor. The vine is Christ; the vinedresser is the Father. The fruit-bearing branches represent the eleven and all true disciples of the church age. The fruitless branches represent Judas and all those who never were true disciples.

– Dr. John MacArthur