Who Is Jesus?

His disciples had just seen Jesus feed 5,000 men and their families with only five loaves of bread and two fish. Before that, He had healed countless incurable people with a word or a touch, and had cast out demons, demonstrating his power over illness and evil spirits. But they were still not prepared for what they saw – a man walking on water! Great prophets in ancient days had performed wonders, but even Moses had had to part the Red Sea to pass to the other side on dry land. Limited by their inexperience and only a dim understanding of their Master, they could only assume that a ghost was approaching them, so they responded with a cry of terror. Jesus calmed their hearts with two commands surrounding a momentous truth. “Cheer up! Don’t be afraid!” Why? “It is I!” In the Greek, “It is I” is literally, “I am,” the two-word phrase which God had used to name Himself to Moses at the burning bush. Thus, when the water-walking Man identified Himself as “I am,” He revealed His full divinity. Jesus was – and is – none other than God, Yahweh, come in the flesh. No wonder He could heal the sick and deliver the demonized! For Him, multiplying loaves and fish presented no difficulty, for the entire universe had been created through Him (John 1:3) and owes its continued existence and order to His powerful word (Colossians 1:17: Hebrews 1:3). Is there anything He cannot do for us now? With Him at our side – indeed, dwelling within us – why should any true believers be afraid?