“I AM the Resurrection”
John 11:25
Part One
Hidden within the Eternal Words of Jesus lie the treasures and fullness of the Godhead. As we come to know Jesus there is a quiet unfolding of Him within the depths of our own hearts. He is an eternal spring pouring forth renewing and invigorating waters of life. His ongoing-revelation is like a flower blooming and bringing forth fresh and life-changing fragrances of wonder and glory. As one man* observed hundreds of years ago, “the I AM is the eternal verb.” A verb denotes action and movement. Here it speaks of The Life which is simply the revelation of the Divine Will and Purpose at work in the human heart.
Here on earth life is much more than just breathing and existing. We are to be caught up in a Will which captures and inspires the heart to grander things. It is a Will founded and governed in something higher and deeper than our own selves; a Will which lifts us out of its menial pedantic self. It anchors the soul in the wonder and power of Love; God’s Love. Christ is the Face*, the Word and the Substance of all that God is. It is in our abiding, growing and following Him where we are raised out of the religion and base concepts of men and are brought into the very Will of a Life far beyond the statements and dogmas of religion.
Christ Himself the Living Vine
The I AM is much more than an event; He is the continuum of unfolding life and power. He is not just a resurrection, He is the ever-resurrecting ONE and it is in Him alone we live and move with the endless flow of His heart beating within. The precepts and concepts of doctrine must give way to something much more than a single “born again” experience. Birth is but the mere beginning of life; not an end in itself but the matrix of a journey of growth, learning and enlargement of the life of Christ within. The branch which is united to the vine* is ever-developing in its ability to participate IN the Will of the Vine to the bearing of fruit. It is in the bringing forth of fruit that the Father is glorified*. The Will of the vine is summed up in one great passion: to honour and glorify the Father. A branch which does not have this eternal Will as its singular purpose is not in vital union with the vine. It is the relationship of the branch to the vine through which the Eternal Will causes the branch to blossom and move into a life of bearing fruit.
Christ Himself the Tree of Life
“In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations”
Revelation 22:2
“Life is much more than words, teachings and religious prayers;
it is the essence of God Himself.”
The I AM is the boundless cause and source of The Life. The Life cannot be had by mere intellectual learning. It must, by its very nature, be held within the wonder and power of relationship. A relationship where the inspiration of His love becomes the very bond that binds and hold us to His being. Life is much more than words, teachings and religious prayers; it is the essence of God Himself.
God in Christ has/is giving to us Eternal Life and this life is IN HIS SON. It is a commodity that cannot be known apart from Him. It must be known as it is given; eternally and continuously, the living branch abiding in, and forever sustained by, the very life of the vine.
“And this is the record,
that God hath given to us eternal life,
and this life is IN his Son”
1 John 5:11
The eternal record states that the Life is in His Son and we will only know its power by our continual interaction with Him.
“He that hath the Son hath life;
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life”
1 John 5:12
The I AM beckons and calls to all who have ears to hear, eyes to see and hearts that hunger and thirst for Him. It is the true in heart who know intuitively that it is only in Him where we can “live, and move and have (true) being.” *
“O taste and see that the Lord is good…”
Psalm 34:8
* Joseph Parker – (1830 – 1902)
* 2 Corinthians 4:6
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”
* John 15:1-2
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit”
* John 15:8
“Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples”
* Acts 17:28
“For in him we live, and move, and have our being…”
Brian Troxel
