..and Jesus saith unto them, "I AM."

I posted yesterday about something I wanted to share. I usually try to hold off posting daily because it makes your readers feel like they have to "keep up" a pace to read all you post. But this is one of those times wherein I feel the need to share and can't really hold it back.

This is something I discovered through sermons and reading. It's a revelation! We'll set the scene by reminding ourselves of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane on the night that Judas Iscariot betrayed our Lord for 30 pieces of silver. I'm taking this from both Mark and John's versions of the events that night. Both men saw things different and the same. Mark saw something that night that John did not. Or, John doesn't recount the same events but may have seen it also.

So, now, the "band of men and officers" (as it states in John 18:3) have come for Him. Here begins this beautiful revelation of who Jesus Christ is. If we had doubts, as the Jehovah's Witnesses do about the Trinity, this answers that question for me. Two things happen when the men confront Jesus. We'll begin with John's version wherein Jesus is confronted by the men and says, ..."Whom seek ye?" John 18:4. The band of men and officers reply, "Jesus of Nazareth..." John 18:5. I'm quoting from the King James Version because it's an early translation and hasn't been quite as changed as some of the later "easier to read" versions. So, Jesus says only two words in reply to men seeking Him. The King James version has added a word (in italics for easy reading) but remove that italicized word, add the events that take place after it, and you have yourself a revelation! Jesus says, " I AM." John 18:5 Remember, remove the added word "he." Here's what happens when He says, "I AM." In verse 6 it states, "As soon then as he had said unto them, I AM, they went backward, and fell to the ground." WOW!! Why did they fall? Because, God has just spoken His mighty name to them and with that comes great glory and power!! So much glory and power that it knocked them to the ground. That's the first thing that happened. Now, we'll go over to Mark to see what he saw.

We're again in the same scene. We're looking through Mark's eyes now. Notice what Mark sees in the middle of the chaos, in Mark 15:50, Mark says, "they all forsook Him and fled." But then, what's this? A man in a linen cloth appears in verse 51, "And there followed Him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him:" vs. 52, "and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked." First thing we have to know is that a linen cloth is another word for grave clothing. Back then, people were buried in their linen cloth. As we know by the story of Jesus' tomb being empty save for His linen cloth folded neatly. This is the second revelation of what happened when Jesus spoke His name, "I AM." A certain young man was raised from the dead. As I studied this, I saw there was no other explanation for the young man's appearance in grave clothing. And why did he run away naked? What would cause a man to run away while shedding the garments that represented his death? I welcome any and all thoughts on that. I've told all I know thus far.