How The ‘I Am Statements’ of Jesus Connect The Old Testament and Now Testament Dots
Book Reviewed by Dr. David P. Craig
J.V. Fesko does a wonderful job in this short book (93 pages) showing the Old Testament connections of Jesus’ New Testament claims in his eight ‘I Am’ sayings in the book of John.
Fesko elaborates on how in the Old Testament “Only Yahweh walks on the water, but Jesus walks on the water and tells the disciples not to fear because He is I Am” with reference to John 6:20 when Jesus says “Do not be afraid. I Am.”
When Jesus says He is the “Bread of Life” in John 6:35, 40 the author shows how “Jesus draws the crowd’s attention to the exodus, when God fed Israel with manna from heaven. Jesus tells the crowd that He too is from heaven and that God intends to feed them with His Son, the bread of life.”
Commenting on John 8:12 where Jesus says He is “the light of the world” Fesko states, “During the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus invokes the exodus , particularly the theme of the pillar of fire guiding Israel by night. Israel identified the pillar with Yahweh, but now Jesus tells the crowds that He is the light of the world, not just Israel.”
With each of the eight sayings the author does a thorough job of exploring the themes, types, shadows, and fore-shadowing of Jesus in the Old Testament and how He comes to reveal the incarnation and redemptive plans of God in the New Testament.
J.V. Fesko’s book is concise, thorough, and contains good food for thought and discussion. I recommend this book especially for small group study (7-8 weeks) – as each chapter concludes with 3-4 questions for discussion. I found the book helpful as I preached on the ‘I Am’ sayings of Christ in a recent 8 week series in my church.
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