I AM

I AM : M. M. Ninan
I AM
SYMBOLS JESUS USED TO EXPLAIN HIMSELF
CHAPTER ONE
I. INTRODUCTION
In the last days of his life Our Lord Jesus was particularly strained
because he knew that his days are coming to an end, and that he
had very little time left with his disciples to teach and reveal to
them the great mysteries of the incarnation. The communication of
the mysteries of heaven is particularly difficult to convey, as they
do not usually have terrestrial images. Words that correspond to
the concepts are totally or partially missing in human conceptual
world. As a result, these messages are shrouded in symbolic
language with the hope that his disciples will be able to grasp its
significance as they meditated over his words and teachings. These
great symbolisms are handed over to us in the gospels. The
following studies are an attempt in understanding what Jesus was
trying to put across to the human mind.
The importance of the phrase ‘I am the’ can be understood from the
mere fact that out of the total of 218 occasions in the Bible (using
NIV) nearly 200 of these are declarations of God which states
explicitly “I am the Lord” or “I am the Sovereign Lord” or to such
effect. In the Old Testament, the title I AM is considered holy and
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